Lesson Planning Template

Lesson Title: The Descriptive Beginning Grade: 5

Goals or Objectives:
Students will effectively demonstrate use of descriptive words by writing a paragraph that both
describes and introduces a character or setting.

After analyzing excerpts from Lemony Snicket’s work, students will define one new term in a
creative way that engages the reader and provokes imagery.

Students will be able to compare and contrast the provided text and a Netflix episode based on
the book.

Grade Level Guide: Content Standards – you will have 4

Content Curriculum Focal Points
http://www.ncte.org/standards/ncte-ira
NCTE & ILA standards
Standard 4: Students adjust their use of spoken,
written, and visual language (e.g., conventions,
style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with
a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
Within this lesson, students adjust their use of
language to describe and visualize characters
similar to those presented in a text and a video.
These skills can be translated into history. In 5th
grade, students learn about Early Indian
Civilizations; students can adjust their use of
language to communicate what they have learned
about these civilizations.

Standard 5: Students employ a wide range of

strategies as they write and use different writing
process elements appropriately to communicate
with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
Within this lesson, students are using descriptive
writing skills to describe a character. These skills
can be translated into the realm of science. In 5th
grade, students learn about the solar system;
students can use descriptive writing skills to
describe each planet in the solar system.

ISTE standards (1 tech component) 5b. Educators design authentic learning activities
http://www.iste.org/standards/standards that align with content area standards and use
digital tools and resources to maximize active,
deep learning.
PreK-12 Proficiency standards Standard 2: English language learners
http://www.tesol.org/docs/books/bk_prek- communicate information, ideas, and concepts
12elpstandards_framework_318.pdf?sfvrs necessary for academic success in the area of
n=2 language arts.

Common Core State Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.3

Write narratives to develop real or imagined
experiences or events using effective technique,
descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.3.D
Use concrete words and phrases and sensory
details to convey experiences and events
precisely.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.7
Make connections between the text of a story or
drama and a visual or oral presentation of the
text, identifying where each version reflects
specific descriptions and directions in the text.

National Standards for Catholic Benchmark 7.6 Classroom instruction is designed

Elementary to engage and motivate all students, addressing
the diverse needs and capabilities of each student,
and accommodating students with special needs
as fully as possible.

Academic Language: What Academic Language specific to your content area is necessary for
learning to occur?
Description
Vocabulary
Setting
Character
Imagery
Narrative
Sensory detail
Students’ Needs: What experiences, prior knowledge and/or knowledge gaps do students
have that relate to the lesson goals?

English Language Learners During class, everyone will receive a

character description sheet. This handout
was made especially for ELLs so that they
 can jot down synonyms or more common
words under each question. They can then
search for new vocabulary online.

A discrete teacher-made Quizlet with

compiled terms and definition taken from the
students’ writings will be available to ELLs.
This will help them gain age- appropriate
vocabulary and understand their peers’
works.

Students with ADHD Each student with ADHD will be provided a

task card that reviews on-task behavior
during individual writing time in class.

Gifted Students Before class, students are assigned to sit

with certain students who may need the
prompt or questions repeated.

Gifted students will also participate in

scaffolding by encourage their peer and
listening to them read their work if desired.
This allows the gifted students to put the
National Standards for Catholic Elementary
into practice.

Materials:
Student Needs: A copy of The Bad Beginning, paper, pencil and other writing utensil of their
choice.
Teacher Needs: A copy of The Bad Beginning, Netflix clip, prepared google slides, and the
character description sheet.

Language Function: How will you move your students beyond lower level thinking to engage
them in your content area (ie: “thinking like an Historian”)? Which of the following are
appropriate for providing evidence of learning these objectives? Describe how you and/or your
students incorporated these terms into the lessons.
Analyze, Argue, Describe, Evaluate, Explain, Interpret, Justify, Synthesize

Describe - This is the main point of our lesson and the students are encouraged to both read a
descriptive text and write accordingly.
Interpret - Students are asked to compare a rich text to a creative episode. As teachers, we
hope to facilitate learning and prompt students to consider the material presented while making
it their own.
Explain - Through the prompt, each 5th grader is asked to bring a new vocabulary term to light
as they attempt to describe their character or setting. The teachers will also be walking around
asking students to explain their reasoning and literacy choices.
Lesson Plan: Procedures will be bulleted and scenarios are concisely written.

Before:
● Before leading a think-aloud, the teachers will prompt students to be looking for
descriptive elements within the text
● Place students in assigned seats and hand out materials that meet student needs
Miss Caroline:
● Start off group discussion by presenting prompt and saying: “By the end of class
today you will be prepared to write one paragraph describing a real or fictional
character or setting. Use as many details as possible so that the reader can
imagine the character or setting you describe. Please incorporate one new
vocabulary term and address it creatively in your writing.”
● Explain that the goal for today is to help students create descriptive writing after
analyzing Lemony Snicket’s text.

Describe how you will introduce the activity or problem. Consider questions that will elicit
students’ prior knowledge needed for the activity, get students curious about the task,
and/or relate to their personal background or interests. In addition, consider giving
directions for getting started on the focus task.

During:
Miss Sarah:
● Models a think aloud with an excerpt from The Bad Beginning
● During the think aloud, she will point out different ways the author describes and
uses vibrant vocabulary
● Have each student search the short text for a descriptive section that stands out
to them
● Next, have them pair up with another student
● They will then read that section to a peer and have the listener re-describe the
details from that section while highlighting descriptive words
● Ask students what about the character or setting the author describes: size,
color, smell, the way something feels, or the sound the thing makes
● Gauge how the students react to the reading
● Once students are done describing, transition back to the original prompt
● Ask students to close their eyes and imagine the person or setting they want to
describe
● Then have students brainstorm adjectives they can use to describe their
character or setting
● Use the character description sheet to help students brainstorm describing words

Miss Caroline:
● Direct students to powerpoint slides and review the academic language of the
lesson (this part of the presentation is review for the student)
 ● Students will then have a chance to ask questions or form discussion
● Next, students will online search for three new descriptive words and their
definitions
● Let students brainstorm on their own and challenge them to discover new words
using the online thesaurus
● They will record these findings and pick one term to coin in their paragraph
prompt
● After the students are done brainstorming and researching words, they will share
that list of words with their partner (teachers will walk around the room writing
anecdotal records)
● Students will then watch the six-minute Netflix clip to analyze differences in the
text and justify their preconceived notions after the read

Describe the expected actions of the students during this phase. What are they to be
doing? How are you making sure each child is accountable? What will you ask students
as you observe? (Ask questions related to your objectives and language function)
Describe possible extensions or challenges you will have ready for early finishers.
Describe possible re-teaching strategies for students lacking acceptable understanding.

After:
Entire class comes back together:
● Spend the remaining minutes giving the students time to write a descriptive
paragraph and ask questions
● Collect paragraphs at the beginning of next class to assess understanding of
prompt and use of descriptive vocabulary

This is the most important part of a problem-based lesson! What questions will you ask
students that will help them understand the content they explored in their task or activity?
How will you structure those questions (ie: think-pair-share, share with an “elbow
partner”) so that all students will participate in answering each question? Will students
be presenting findings? How will this be structured?
Assessment: How will you determine who knows which objectives? Describe the tools and
techniques you will use.

Type of Description of Modifications to the Evaluation Criteria- What

assessment assessment assessment so that evidence of student
(formal or all students could learning (related to the
informal) demonstrate learning objectives and
learning central focus) does the
assessment provide?

Informal Students will write Students who Since this is an

a paragraph want more time introduction to content we
describing a can take their want to simply see if they
character or paragraph home to can follow the
setting while continue the writing requirements of the
introducing key process before prompt, participate and
vocabulary words turning it in next define new words. We are
and descriptive class. looking for creativity in the
elements. content.

Resources: Include assessments, rubrics, and online resource links incorporated into the
lesson, if applicable.

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

http://aaa3rd.weebly.com/uploads/5/2/4/6/52460811/the_bad_beginning.pdf

Common Core Standards

http://www.corestandards.org/read-the-standards/

Clip from Netflix Series of Unfortunate Events - Episode 1

Article with insight on Netflix series and book relationship

http://www.thewrap.com/lemony-snicket-series-of-unfortunate-events-all-terms-defined/

Google Slides - Vocabulary Literature Review

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11zvTk6NtSgO8BGpCHrxNdZ0Lt0qfv7LzLRali04QAmQ
/edit?usp=sharing

Character description

What does my character or setting look like?

Does my character or setting smell a particular way?

How does my character or setting make the reader feel?

What does my character/setting sound like?

How does my character move?

If __________ were to happen, how would my character react?

Co-Teaching Reflection
Teaching Language Arts
Caroline Reel

I absolutely enjoyed this co-teaching exercise. The Series of Unfortunate Events books

were my first, engaging read growing up so I knew I wanted to incorporate it into our lesson. I

have never lead a writer’s workshop but felt very confident in the format and timing while

working with Sarah. We chose our standards together and created our activities as benchmarks to

foster content knowledge suggested in the standards. Although we didn’t explicitly choose a

technological standard, we tried to incorporate independent learning through the use of devices

and considered the Netflix content an additive.

During reflection, I became even more proud of Sarah and I’s teamwork! She didn’t miss

a beat despite her injury and we were pleasantly surprised by the level of participation from the

class. I think our lesson was a great example of the importance of planning. Although we didn’t

get to our cumulative activity of writing a descriptive paragraph, the students still practiced all

the skills necessary to fulfill our standards; knowledge builds. It’s better to have excess (quality)

material than too little. If we were established in a classroom and knew our 5th graders well I’m

sure we would have been able to budget our time better.

I completely agree with your comment following our lesson. We could have engaged our

gifted students in many other ways! Hopefully scaffolding the gifted students with struggling

students helped them to practice our Catholic standard. Ultimately, we wanted our 5th graders to

fall in love with literature while creatively introducing them to new ways of writing. We would

hope that our little readers would then choose to continue reading the series of books following

our lesson. This is a lesson I will modify and use in my future classroom. I’ve realized that

public speaking is very difficult for me when I’m addressing colleagues. In the classroom, it is a
very different situation and for that I am thankful! I learned so much about effective

communication and collaboration during this experience. Thank you.