Old Dominion University College of Education

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Early Reading Lesson Plan

Overview__________________________________________________________

Lesson Plan Overview

1. Date: December 14, 2017
2. Lesson Title/Theme: The Importance of Giving with The Giving Tree by Shel
Silverstein
3. Authors: Alyana Lara
4. Grade: 1st Grade
5. Short Description of Lesson: In this lesson, the students will be reading The Giving
Tree by Shel Silverstein. They will learn about the importance of giving and why giving
makes people happy. The students will be able to communicate ideas for various purposes
and also demonstrate comprehension of this text.

SOL & Instructional Objectives_______________________________________

6. Lesson Plan Standards of Learning

v SOLs that align with Shared Reading activities:
1.1 The student will continue to demonstrate growth in the use of oral
language.
b) Tell and retell stories and events in logical order.
e) Express ideas orally in complete sentences.
1.3 The student will adapt or change oral language to fit the situation.
a) Initiate conversation with peers and adults.
b) Follow rules for conversation using appropriate voice level in small
group settings.
c) Ask and respond to questions.
d) Follow simple two-step oral directions.
1.5 The student will apply knowledge of how print is organized and read.
a) Read from left to right and from top to bottom.
b) Match spoken words with print.
c) Identify letters, words, sentences, and ending punctuation.
1.7 The student will use semantic clues and syntax to expand vocabulary
when reading.
a) Use words, phrases, and sentences.
b) Use titles and pictures.
c) Use information in the story to read words.
d) Use knowledge of sentence structure.
e) Use knowledge of story structure.
f) Reread and self-correct.

Modified by Blakeslee 10/14/2015


 v SOLs that align with Vocabulary Learning activities
1.7 The student will use semantic clues and syntax to expand vocabulary
when reading.
a) Use words, phrases, and sentences.
b) Use titles and pictures.
c) Use information in the story to read words.
d) Use knowledge of sentence structure.
e) Use knowledge of story structure.
f) Reread and self-correct.
1.8 The student will expand vocabulary.
a) Discuss meanings of words in context.
b) Develop vocabulary by listening to and reading a variety of texts.
c) Ask for the meaning of unknown words and make connections to
familiar words.
d) Use text clues such as words or pictures to discern meanings of
unknown words.
e) Use vocabulary from other content areas.

v SOLs that align with Guided Reading activities:

1.9 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of a variety of
fictional texts.
a) Preview the selection.
b) Set a purpose for reading.
c) Relate previous experiences to what is read.
d) Make and confirm predictions.
e) Ask and answer who, what, when, where, why, and how
questions about what is read.
f) Identify characters, setting, and important events.
g) Retell stories and events, using beginning, middle, and end.
h) Identify the main idea or theme.
i) Read and reread familiar stories, poems, and passages with
fluency, accuracy, and meaningful expression.

v SOLs that aligns with Writing activities:

1.12 The student will print legibly.
a) Form letters accurately.
b) Space words within sentences.
c) Use the alphabetic code to write unknown words phonetically.
1.13 The student will write to communicate ideas for a variety of purposes.
a) Generate ideas.
b) Focus on one topic.
c) Revise by adding descriptive words when writing about people,
places, things, and events.
d) Use complete sentences in final copies.

Modified by Blakeslee 10/14/2015


 e) Begin each sentence with a capital letter and use ending
punctuation in final copies.
f) Use correct spelling for commonly used sight words and
phonetically regular words in final copies.
g) Share writing with others.

v SOLs that align with Word Study/Spelling activities

1.2 The student will expand understanding and use of word meanings.
a) Increase listening and speaking vocabularies.
b) Begin to ask for clarification and explanation of words/ideas.
1.4 The student will orally identify, produce, and manipulate various units
of speech sounds within words.
b) Count phonemes in one-syllable words.
c) Blend sounds to make one-syllable words.
d) Segment one-syllable words into individual speech (phonemes).
e) Add or delete phonemes to make new words.
1.6 The student will apply phonetic principles to read and spell.
f) Use word patterns to decode unfamiliar words.
g) Read and spell simple two-syllable compound words.
h) Read and spell commonly used sight words.

v SOLs that align Read Aloud & Independent Reading

1.1 The student will continue to demonstrate growth in the use of oral
language.
c) Participate in a variety of oral language activities, including
choral speaking and reciting short poems, rhymes, songs, and stories with
repeated patterns.
e) Express ideas orally in complete sentences.
1.3 The student will adapt or change oral language to fit the situation.
a) Initiate conversation with peers and adults.
b) Follow rules for conversation using appropriate voice level in
small-group settings.
c) Ask and respond to questions.
d) Follow simple two-step oral directions.
1.5 The student will apply knowledge of how print is organized and read.
a) Read from left to right and from top to bottom.
b) Match spoken words with print.
c) Identify letters, words, sentences, and ending punctuation.

7. Instructional Objectives
v Shared Reading instructional objectives
Once students complete the shared reading section, they will be able to use
various reading strategies such as making inferences, predictions,
connections, etc. in order to build comprehension of the book.


Modified by Blakeslee 10/14/2015


 v Vocabulary Learning instructional objectives
Students will have their vocabulary expanded by examining sentence and
word structure, word meanings, use context clues to identify words, etc.
These skills can be used in other content areas and subjects.
v Guided Reading instructional objectives
In the guided reading portion of the lesson, students will be able to answer
questions about the story as well as make personal questions to the book.
They will identify important elements in the story, such as main idea.
v Writing instructional objectives
During the writing section, students will engage in creative writing. They
will be able to generate ideas and brainstorm, create a first draft which will
be revised, and create a final draft of their assignment.
v Word Study/Spelling instructional objectives
For word study and spelling, students will be able to look closely at
elements of word structure such as syllables, vowel sounds, and phonemes,
and they will be able to improve their decoding skills.
v Read Aloud & Independent Reading instructional objectives
For Read Aloud and Independent Reading, students will be able to orally
express their ideas, match spoken words within print, and develop
questions to ask and respond to others regarding the text.

Procedures_________________________________________________________

8. Rationale
The purpose of this lesson is to learn about the act of giving and its effects. Students will
not only learn new vocabulary, reading strategies, or writing techniques, but also learn
why giving is important, especially when the holiday season is around.

9. Techniques and Activities

Shared Reading: (20-30 min.)

The teacher will first introduce the book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. They
will introduce the book and the idea of giving by asking the students questions before
reading, such as:
• Why is giving a good thing?
• What kind of good things do you give or offer to people?
• What do you think this story is about?
Once the questions are discussed, the teacher will issue a class set of the book to
finger-point read. Another option may be to use the Promethean or Smart Board to
have the students read along as a class.


Modified by Blakeslee 10/14/2015


 Once these questions are
answered, the students will begin
to read the book with the teacher
and utilize various reading
strategies with strategy puppets.
1) The teacher will ask the
students questions throughout
the book with the puppets.
• What have you learned
about the boy in this story?
(Character Puppet)
• What do you think will
happen in the next page? (Predicting puppet)
• Can you connect what’s happening in the book to your life? (Connection
Puppet)
• What can you infer about the Giving Tree? (Inferencing Puppet)
2) Each time the teacher uses a puppet, they will pick a few students to try to answer
the questions they are asking to create class discussion.

Guided Reading: (45-55 min.)

In their guided reading groups, students will answer questions such as:

• Name some of the things the tree gave the boy.

• What is the main idea of this story?
• What did you observe about the boy and the tree as the story
progressed?
• How do you feel when you give or get a gift?
• What is something you can give to someone that doesn’t
require money?
• What do trees give us?
• Is there someone that you know that you feel is similar to the
Giving Tree?
• How would you feel if you were the boy in the story? The
tree?

Once these are answered, students will then write their ideas
based off of their questions on the idea web (left).

Modified by Blakeslee 10/14/2015


 After completing the web, students will take a paper leaf
and write one of the ways that they can be giving. The paper
leaf will be decorated and posted on the bulletin board or
the classroom door (right) with other student responses to
create a big tree that the students will be able to see in the
duration of the lesson.

Writing: (25-30 min)

After completing their idea web in their guided reading

sections, students will use the web to begin a writing
assignment on either “How to be a Giving Person” or “A
Giving Person I know is _______.” They will be given two
papers for this assignment: one for their first draft (with
room to brain storm on the back of the paper), and another
for their final. Once these are completed, the writing assignments can be displayed
on the same bulletin board or in the hallway by the classroom where the leaves from
the guided reading activity were placed.

Word Study/Spelling: (15-20 min)

In word study and spelling, students will be observing the

structure of words. One worksheet that they will work on
is examining the “long E” words that were presented in the
book. Some of the words in the word sort include “tree,”
“went,” “there,” and “left.” This worksheet can be
changed to have students sort out the number of syllables
in words or sort the words based on their beginning letter
sounds. These sheets can also be sorted out by the guided
reading groups that the teacher has made, so some groups
may focus more on syllables while others may focus on
beginning sounds, or long and short vowel sounds within
the words of the book.

Modified by Blakeslee 10/14/2015


 Vocabulary Learning: (15-20 min)

In vocabulary, students will be given words from

the book such as “shade,” stump,” and “trunk” to
write definitions for on a vocabulary connection
worksheet. Other words that may also be used is
“gather,” “happy,” and “swing” for this activity.
After thorough review of the words, the students
will play a spelling game called Sparkle, where
all of the students gather around the room in one
big circle and spell the word the teacher assigns.
For example, if the teacher wanted the students to
spell “crown,” the student closest to the teacher’s
right-hand side would say the first letter, the next
student will say the second letter, and so on. Once
the last student says the last letter of the word
“crown,” the student next to them says “sparkle!”
and the teacher assigns a new word. (This game can also be used in word study)

Read Aloud & Independent Reading: (20-30 min.)

In read aloud and independent reading, students will be

given a reading tic tac toe chart. This chart has a list of
nine activities that the students can do, however not all
of the objectives need to be completed. A minimum of
three activities have to be completed, but more can be
done at the student’s discretion. Some of these activities
include “3x Each,” an activity that gets the student to
read the book to three different people; “Sequence the
Story,” which allows students to draw or write the scenes
from the book in chronological order; and “Cover Art,”
an activity that lets students create a new book cover for
the text we read.

10. Assessment/Evaluation

Shared Reading

During shared reading, the students will be evaluated based on their participation
and the answers they produce for each of the puppets used during the reading. The
articulation of the students’ answers will be focused on more than their
participation, but all of the students will have participated in this part of the lesson.
Verbal feedback will be given to students as the book is read.


Modified by Blakeslee 10/14/2015


 Guided Reading

Within guided reading groups, the teacher will evaluate their understanding of the
book by examining the answers they produce and their ability to make connections
to check for comprehension. Also, their responses that they write in their paper
leaves and idea webs will be checked for articulation. Some of the feedback the
teacher will give will involve mostly grammar corrections so as to not take away
from the students’ answers.

Writing

In the writing portion of the lesson, the teacher will evaluate and assess the
students’ work by looking at their first drafts with brainstorming on the back, the
revisions they have done, and see the improvement made for their final drafts.
When students complete their first drafts and finish revising, the teacher will give
feedback by looking for corrections that can be made after revision. The students
will then write their final drafts to be posted on the bulletin board.

Word Study/Spelling

Students will be issued their word study worksheets within their guided reading
groups, and they will individually work on their word study worksheets to turn in
to the teacher so their understanding of syllables, phonemes, and letter sounds can
be assessed. Feedback for this portion will be shown by making corrections on the
worksheets to be given back. Within their guided reading groups, the teacher will
explain some of the corrections they made.

Vocabulary Learning

Vocabulary learning will be evaluated based on their answers that they have
written on their worksheet. Like the word study/spelling portion of the lesson, the
teacher will make corrections, give papers back, and gather students in their guided
reading groups to explain some of the feedback the teacher made within those
groups. For the “Sparkle!” spelling game, the teacher will be able to evaluate the
whole class’ ability to spell a vocabulary word from the book as well as their
listening skills and following directions. (Sparkle can also be used in word study)

Read Aloud & Independent Reading

Students will be evaluated on read aloud and independent reading by their progress
that they have made on their “Reading Tic Tac Toe” worksheet. Each activity will


Modified by Blakeslee 10/14/2015


 be individually assessed as the students complete them. When students have
completed a minimum of three activities and “win” the game (having three
activities done in a row), the teacher will evaluate the student’s work as a whole.
Once the teacher has given written and verbal feedback to the student, if there is
enough time the student can complete other activities on the sheet.

11. Adaptations for Diverse Special Learners

ESL Learners
ESL students will be able to participate in all activities within the classroom. An
ESL teacher can come into the room with the student to read the story with them
during the shared reading portion of the class. If needed, the student can be taken
to the ESL teacher’s room to read the book separately. A translation of the book
can also be provided for the student to read along so that they understand the story
and throughout the entirety of the lesson, (especially read aloud and independent
reading) they can use both the English and the translated copy.

Learners with Special Needs

For learners who have special needs, these students will be permitted to different
means of reading the book or completing the other writing and word activities. For
example, those students who have ADD or ADHD will be given shorter and more
straightforward directions to redirect their attention. Also, shortening their
activities and allowing flexibility for those students who may get easily frustrated
with the work may help with easing the pressure of completing an assignment.

Learners with Disabilities

Students with disabilities will have a variety of ways to read the text. For example,
if a student has a vision impairment, the student can either have the book available
for them to view on a computer or iPad screen, or the student can listen to the
audiobook version of the story. Those with physical disabilities may opt to have a
presentation instead of doing the writing portion so that they can still orally
express ideas. In independent reading and read aloud, students will be able to read
with their resource teacher.

Gifted Learners
Gifted Learners will be able to be flexible with the writing, word study,
vocabulary, and independent reading portions of the lesson. For writing, if they
would like to write about a different topic under the same prompt, they may. Also,
the word study and vocabulary words that they are given can be altered slightly to
give them more challenging words to work with. In independent reading and read
aloud, they can be placed in small groups with their other peers to read the book to
each other.

Modified by Blakeslee 10/14/2015


 12. Differentiated Instruction

Shared Reading
While the shared reading activity is in duration, the students who answer most of
the questions or volunteer the most can be helpers or partnered with other students
who may have trouble using their reading strategies. This can also be done for
sharing books if there is a small number of books in a class set.
Guided Reading
In their guided reading groups, students can be partnered to answer some of the
questions about the story, such as figuring out the main idea or analyzing the
characters in the story. These questions will be verbalized with the teacher, and the
teacher will ask additional questions to look for comprehension.
Writing
If needed, students can be given a brainstorming template or graphic organizer to
write on before they begin writing the first draft of their assignment. This graphic
organizer will contain various elements for writing, such as topic sentence, body
sentences, and concluding sentence.
Word Study/Spelling
Word study and spelling worksheets can be changed depending on the needs of
students. Each guided reading group will have a specific set of words for a word
sort that they will complete. If the sorts are too hard or too easy for them, the
teacher can change the sorts that they have.
Vocabulary Learning
The “Sparkle!” spelling game can be played within guided reading groups instead
of with the whole class if that is preferred. Like the word study and spelling
portion of the lesson, the worksheets can be changed depending on the student’s
own needs. Vocabulary cards can also be made for guided reading groups.
Read Aloud & Independent Reading
Students have a wide variety of activities they can do, as only three are required to
be finished and there is a total of nine activities. If students are seen struggling
with certain activities, those can be done with their partners. If students finish
early, they are allowed to do another activity if they would like.

Resources________________________________________________
13. Materials and Additional Resources
• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
• Class sets of the text
• Paper Leaves
• The Giving Tree Idea Web (Link in Credits)


Modified by Blakeslee 10/14/2015


 • The Giving Tree first draft and final draft worksheets (Link in Credits)
• Reading strategy puppets (Link in Credits)
• iPads
• Laptop computer
• Colored pencils and markers
• Scissors
• Word study worksheet (Link in Credits)
• Vocabulary worksheet (Link in Credits)
• Reading Tic Tac Toe worksheet (Link in Credits)
• Promethean or Smart Board
• Bulletin Board Paper
• Vocabulary cards

14. Credits
All external materials’ links will be found here.

Shared Reading
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Comprehension-
Activities-READING-STRATEGIES-Bag-Puppets-1544867

Guided Reading
http://www.uniqueteachingresources.com/Giving-Tree-Lesson-Plans.html

Writing
http://www.uniqueteachingresources.com/Giving-Tree-Lesson-Plans.html

Word Study/Spelling
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sub-Plans-The-Giving-Tree-by-
Shel-Silverstein-510828

Vocabulary Learning
https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/618478
http://teacherlingo.com/resources/items/the-giving-tree-vocabulary-connections-
second-grade.aspx

Read Aloud & Independent Reading

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Tic-Tac-Toe-Menu-Story-
Elements-Edition-2089254

Modified by Blakeslee 10/14/2015