Abbey Myers

Ms. Sutton, Ottobine Elementary

October 23, 2017
November 28, 2017
Read 436

Mentor Text Writing Lesson Plan Assignment

PART ONE: THE LESSON

A. TITLE OF LESSON (Writing Focus): Adding Detail and Depth to Writing with Sylvester and the
Magic Pebble

B. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING

4.7 The student will write cohesively for a variety of purposes.

i) Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation.
k) Include supporting details that elaborate the main idea.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

UNDERSTAND -
Students will understand how they can use other authors writing to help their own writing.

KNOW -
Students will know how William Steig adds detail and depth to his book, Sylvester and the Magic
Pebble.

DO -
Students will begin to add more detail to their sentences and add more depth to their stories.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING

Students will be informally observed during the discussion of the mentor text. As we discuss how Steig
used detail to bring his story to life, students will be observed on their participation in the discussion and on
their own conversations about detail used by Steig. To meet the objectives students will discussion how
Steigs writing can influence their own writing and they will pull out sentences of the story where Steig uses
great detail to expand the main idea. Then students will produce a new writing sample or expand on a
previous idea with the skills Steig uses in his writing in mind. The writing produced by each student will be
assessed with a rubric (attached at the bottom of the lesson). The rubric will be looking for supporting
details, adjectives, and elaboration of the main idea.

PART TWO: LESSON PLAN PROCEDURE

A. CONTEXT OF LESSON
I will be teaching students to add more detail to their sentences and developing their story ideas further with
the use of Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig. The read aloud will take place during Power
Up a week prior to teaching the writing instruction whole class during Power Up time. Students have
Abbey Myers
Ms. Sutton, Ottobine Elementary
October 23, 2017
November 28, 2017
Read 436

already practiced writing stories throughout the beginning of the year and this lesson will be a review and
an expansion on previous knowledge. The ideal end result of this lesson will be to develop students as
more creative writers with sentences that contain more than one detail.

I came up with the focus of the lesson, adding detail and developing the story, from my cooperating teacher
as she saw it a skill that students needed more practice with. After researching books online to use as a
mentor text for adding detail, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble was presented by
http://mentortextcentral.blogspot.com/2016/06/sylvester-and-magic-pebble-by-william.html.

B. MATERIALS NEEDED
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
Rubric
Blank Paper
Pencil
Sticky Notes

C. PROCEDURE

CONNECT Students will be called to the back table. Show students

Students learn why todays
instruction is important to them
as writers and how the lesson
relates to their prior work (if
applicable). The teaching point is
stated.
Before
During TEACH
the cover of the Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. Raise
your hand if you remember the story we read last
week? Raise your hand if you can tell me what
happened in the beginning of the story? The middle?
The end? Today we are going to use the story of
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble to help improve our
own writing. To make the story of Sylvester come to life
the author William Steig uses adjectives and details in
every sentence. Many other authors use this idea too,
but William Steig was recognized with the Caldecott
Medal in 1970 for Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.
Think to yourself about what the main ideas might be of
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. Ask for volunteers to
share.
Think to yourself again to see if you can remember any
details for our reading of this story. Ask for volunteers to
share.
Think to yourself for a moment about what those details
did to the main idea. Share with your neighbor.
Today we are going to closely examine how William
Steig uses detail to expand the main idea of this story
so we can expand our writing with detail.
Lets examine Steigs writing to see where we can find
Abbey Myers
Ms. Sutton, Ottobine Elementary
October 23, 2017
November 28, 2017
Read 436


The teacher shows the students the most detail.
how writers accomplish the Have the picture on page 2 previously cover by paper.
teaching point in the mentor text Read page 2.
Take a moment to think in your head what this picture
might look like behind the paper. Have students share.
What would do you think the picture would look like if
this page read, Sylvester found a rock. Ill give you a
quick minute to draw a sketch of what this might look
like. Be prepared to explain your picture using words.
Hand out sticky notes to students. Tell me what the
picture would look like based on the sentence,
Sylvester found a rock. Thankfully Steig provided a
sentence with so much detail that we were able to get
this picture to help use visualize the detail. Take paper
cover picture off the page. Raise your hand if you can
tell me words that add detail to this paragraph and help
the picture come to life. Look at how many words Steig
used to describe this scene in the story and this is just
one page of the whole book! Today we are going to try
to be like Steig and add detail to our writing to help
expand the main idea. You can use a previous idea for
a story you have been working on or come up with a
new story idea. Think to yourself about what you might
be able to write about today. You could write about a
story you have written this year such as your summer
vacation or your spooky story that you all just finished.
Turn to your neighbor and share what you will be writing
about today and how you will add detail.

Listen in on conversations to hear everyones topic. If

they do not have a topic, make note and ask them to
hang back once everyone is dismissed to help develop
a topic so they can get right to work once dismissed.

So in a minute, but not yet I will be letting you all go

and practice writing. Some things that you need to be
thinking about while you write are, adding multiple
aspects to detail to each sentence and uses detail to
expand your main idea. So remember that we want our
readers to see the picture that is on page two of
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, show picture again.
We want them to be able to visualize a picture from all
the detail that is in on sentences. If you want to use a
word that adds detail, but are unsure how to spell it
Abbey Myers
Ms. Sutton, Ottobine Elementary
October 23, 2017
November 28, 2017
Read 436

sound it out to the best of your ability and we can look it
up later as we are focusing on detail and not correct
spelling. If you need to refer back to the story we just
read I have a few copies on the side table available for
you to look again at the detail added by the author. Can
someone tell me what we are focusing on in our writing
today? Anyone have any questions about the task?
ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT Students will practice writing and I will be around trying
After we teach something, to conference with every student using the conference
students are given a chance to form found at the bottom of this document.
practice what has just been
taught with new writing or
revising a prior piece. (May
assess during this time)

After LINK
The teacher reiterates what has
just been taught and gives
students an opportunity to share
(May assess during this time)
Students will come back from their spots to the back
table.
Think in your head for a moment about how you used
detail to expand your main idea in your writing today.
Share with your partner.
Would anyone like to share their writing with the group?
You could read it to us or just share how you used
detail.

So today we used the Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

as a mentor text. Who can share what we learned from
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble?
Use student answers to state that William Steig showed
us an example of how we can add multiple details to our
writing that help to expand the main idea. These are
things that we can be constantly thinking about and
trying to add to our writing.

D. DIFFERENTIATION
Since the ETMC has multiple copies of Sylvester and the Magic Pebbles, all available will be open for
students to look through to find more examples of detail and depth while they are practicing their own
writing.

As students are working on their own, I will be around the room trying to meet with each student. Those
that may need some help getting started and a review of the directions will be meet with first. Then those
that have trouble staying on task will be met with during the middle of this independent time. Those that
usually are able to get started and stay on task will be met with near the end so all students are able to
meet with the teacher.
 Abbey Myers
Ms. Sutton, Ottobine Elementary
October 23, 2017
November 28, 2017
Read 436

E. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?

Students are really concerned with spelling every single word correctly and this could take away from their
writing, as they dont have time to look up every word in the dictionary. I am going to really encourage them
to use invented spelling and to sound it out to the best of their ability since we are focusing on detail, not
correct spelling.

Students could also struggle to think of detailed words to add to their writing. If case this happens Sylvester
and the Magic Pebble will be available for students to refer back to for adjectives if needed.

Conference Form:

Student Name:

1 2 3

Needs improvement Has some Has total

understanding understanding

Understands task

(Has started writing, in

either a previous topic or
has created a new story
idea, with some details):

Working Independently:

(Focused and on task)

Rubric

Student Name:
Abbey Myers
Ms. Sutton, Ottobine Elementary
October 23, 2017
November 28, 2017
Read 436

3 - Exceptional 2 - Developing 1 - Improving

Uses adjectives to Has adjectives Has adjective Uses no

add detail to adding detail in adding some adjectives in
sentences every sentence detail in the multiple
majority of sentences
sentences

Expands the main Paragraph is full Story has some Story has no
idea with detail to of detail, detail and detail or
multiple sentences allowing for descriptive words descriptive words
reader to view an but could use
image in their more
mind

PART THREE: REFLECTION

Originally my CT and I had planned on completing this lesson with a small group, but there
was a schedule change on this particular Tuesday resulting in me teaching this lesson to the
whole class. This changed my plans as I had imagined that students and I would be meeting at
the back table. Since I was working with more students than expected I had students meet on the
front rug. In my plans I wanted students to sketch what the picture on page 2 might look like, if
we were at the back table this would not have been a problem as I could have had students work
there. Since we were on the front rug I do not feel that this part of the lesson was important
enough to have students move back to their desk, then back to the carpet to finish our discussion.
Instead I had students picture in their minds what the image might look like and then verbally
describe it. I also forgot to tell students on the rug that this was just the beginning of writing and
that spelling did not matter, as detail was our focus. As a result of this multiple students called
me over and asked how to spell certain words, which is when I explained to them that spelling
was not our focus.
Dr. Bodle formally observed this lesson and I am really glad he did as he pointed out some
things that never crossed my mind. I told students the expectations on the rug and reinforced
them as I walked around, but I never gave the students any other form of the expectations besides
verbally. If I were to teach this lesson again I would have a visual for students either printed our
or on the whiteboard that included something along the lines of how to add detail to a certain
Abbey Myers
Ms. Sutton, Ottobine Elementary
October 23, 2017
November 28, 2017
Read 436

topic. For example, I could have a column labeled object and under that column have color,
shape, size, etc. If I did this with a variety of topics students would be able to check off each
aspect of detail as they added them to their writing, which also would be holding students
accountable. I would also model to students how to take a short, simple sentence and expand it
with detail. For example, on the board start with The cat went to the store then ask students
what we could do to make this sentence better. As they add detail to the sentence the sentence
expands to something like The yellow, fluffy, fat cat ran quickly to Target.

Based on the assessment my students learned that fourth grade sentences need to contain
aspects of detail as they make our writing easily for the audience to visualize, but some still
struggled with how to add that detail. For example the following sentences were pulled out of
writing samples written by students who understood that fourth grade sentences need to contain
multiple aspects of detail, As they roamed once again through the halls of Ottobine Elementary
they heard something and then they saw it a red balloon., The Dalmatian had over 138 dots
and some were together and some were little and some were big. and finally One day JJ was at
home playing with his sister Carmen then he heard a scratching on the door and went to see what
it was. If I were the classroom teacher I would have students continue to work on this writing
piece. They were much more excited that I had originally thought when it came to working on
this and many did not want to turn them in, but wanted to keep working on them. The next day
we worked on this I would give students a visual with the expectations and possible set a number
of details that needed to be included in each sentence.

This lesson reinforced how much students truly need guidance. I gave instructions on the rug
about what needed to be completed at their seats, yet I still had students that got to their seat and
then just sat there. I was actually a little surprised about how many students I needed to redirect
once they got to their seats. Once they were redirected and reminded about the task at hand they
worked hard, but without this redirection I do not know if they would have ever got to work.

This lesson reinforced that teaching could be and can be so adaptable. I felt restricted in a
practicum setting teaching this lesson as I was given a chuck of time to work with and had to
take what I was given. Students were really into their stories and were upset when I stopped them
to close the lesson as they were on a roll. In my own classroom this lesson will be built in a little
more to the week, giving students more opportunity to practice descriptive writing. This lesson
could also be adapted to fit into a story students were already working on. If I were in my own
classroom I would have fit this lesson into writing we were currently working on, though it could
also be used as a review.

Teaching this lesson reinforced for myself that when I write out certain plans I like to stick to
them exactly. As this lesson required me to write out specific questions that I was planning on
asking I really wanted to ask those certain questions because they allowed my lesson to flow
nicely. Of course not every question I wrote down was asked in the exact order I had hoped,
students brought up different topics and we took the conversation down different paths than I had
prepared for. Having this happen not only for this lesson, but also for others this semester it has
Abbey Myers
Ms. Sutton, Ottobine Elementary
October 23, 2017
November 28, 2017
Read 436

reinforced that I need to learn to go with the flow more often. Even though I carefully planned
each question, not all will always been asked and this is something that I think we get better with
time as lesson plans are not so in depth.

Student Sample:
Abbey Myers
Ms. Sutton, Ottobine Elementary
October 23, 2017
November 28, 2017
Read 436

 Abbey Myers
Ms. Sutton, Ottobine Elementary
October 23, 2017
November 28, 2017
Read 436

Student Name:

1 2 3

Needs improvement Has some Has total

understanding understanding

Understands task Expanded on

Spooky Story,
(Has started writing, in asked about how
either a previous topic or
she could add more
has created a new story
idea, with some details):
detail

Working Independently: Got to work

 Abbey Myers
Ms. Sutton, Ottobine Elementary
October 23, 2017
November 28, 2017
Read 436

(Focused and on task) without prompting,

Shared story idea

with neighbor
Abbey Myers
Ms. Sutton, Ottobine Elementary
October 23, 2017
November 28, 2017
Read 436

Abbey Myers
Ms. Sutton, Ottobine Elementary
October 23, 2017
November 28, 2017
Read 436