TE 405 Reading Lesson Plan

Small Group Reading Instruction Project

Name: Madeline Andrews Date: 3/12/18

Mentor Name: Shawn Millhouse School: Pinecrest Elementary School

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

Title/Topic: Building Comprehension

Grade Level: 1st

Broad Literacy Concept Focus (e.g., phonological awareness): Identify your broad area of
focus in instruction.
 Building post reading comprehension by looking for evidence

Common Core State Standards (CCSS): Choose one reading standard and one (optional)
language standard that may also apply depending on the concept you are focusing on.
 “Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding” (CCSS.ELA-
LITERACY.RF.1.4.A)

Learning Objectives: Develop ONE or TWO objectives that are specific to your lesson. These
may be written as one sentence: During [activity], students will be able to ________, as
demonstrated by _________.
 During the activity, students will be able to answer (at least) two comprehension
questions based on a passage or text that they will read out loud, as demonstrated by the
worksheet they will be given to complete

Content Rationale: Why is it important that these students learn this specific content now (refer
to your assessment data)?
 It is important that my student learns how to answer comprehension questions for a text
for a few reasons. One of those reasons being that he can understand what the text is
actually about, rather than using his own background knowledge to fill in the blanks of
what he does not understand. By teaching my student to take a closer look at what he is
reading, he can build skills in paying attention to the details of a text, and applying those
observations to answering comprehension questions
 In my assessment data from the QRI, my student used background knowledge about his
own experiences about his mother working, rather than using what he read about in the
text. Some of his answers would be something that a working mom could do, but were
things not explicitly mentioned in the story. While using prior knowledge can be a great
skill to use while reading, I would like my student to be able to use clues from the texts
that he reads to answer comprehension questions, rather than guessing, based on the prior
knowledge that he has.

Instructional Strategy Rationale: Why did you choose these pedagogical strategies for these
students (refer to your assessment data/knowledge of the students/and classroom norms)?
 There are a few reasons that I chose to use these pedagogical strategies with my students.
The first reason for choosing this type of lesson format is because it is something that my
students see on a weekly basis when they work in their small reading groups with my
 mentor teacher. They will often read a short text appropriate for their reading level, and
then work on answering questions about the text they just read, often through different
worksheet formats. This way, the students are still learning about these skills in a new
and effective way, but are also still familiar with the format of the lesson.
 I also chose to work on comprehension skills based on the assessment data that I
collected from my focal student, Rob. While Rob did a great job using prior knowledge
to help increase his reading comprehension, he often times would use the background
knowledge he had as a basis for the answers to the questions he was asked. This activity
asks students to go back in the text to look for evidence that supports their answers. This
is a great way to help Rob have a better understanding of how he can use text as a basis
for his answer, rather than guessing based on his prior knowledge.

Differentiation: Above you have thoughts generally about instruction for this group of students,
but each student has individual needs. Here, using the table, briefly describe each student in your
group with learning and/or participation challenges that each student may face in learning the
content of this lesson. Think about academic, social, or linguistic support they might need during
the lesson. (Note that students may not need all three types of support).

Add lines to the table based on the number of students you are teaching:
Student: Academic Support: Social Support: Linguistic Support:

Rob Working on building N/A Rob’s mother is an

comprehension and fluency in emergent bilingual. While
reading, and building confidence Rob speaks English rather
in reading. He is not afraid to ask fluently, there are some
for questions when he needs help, terms or phrases that he
but often lacks the confidence to does not always
figure out problems on his own, understand, which could be
and often sounds shy or timid due to the lack of exposure
when reading aloud. he has to those phrases
outside of school

Danica Working on building reading N/A N/A

skills and confidence. Student
frequently asks for help, even if it
is something that she is able to do
on her own. She often feels like
she is unable to do problems,
unless she has someone there to
constantly help her.

Mino N/A Working on taking time to N/A

focus in on work, and not
become distracted by
others around her. She
often takes a long time to
finish her work because
she enjoys talking to those
around her.
Henry Working on becoming less
frustrated when he encounters
problems that he does not know
how to solve right away. Building
confidence to be able to work on
his own, and ask for help, rather
than shutting down and not being
able to complete any more work.
Student has a very busy N/A
body and has a more
difficult time focusing his
attention on one thing, and
becomes distracted by
what is around him.
Working on helping
Henry to stay focused and
attentive while still being
able to move as needed.

Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence (Assessment)

Formative Assessment: How will you know what students learned/if they met the lesson
standard(s) and objective(s)?
 The formative assessment for my students will be completing a worksheet with the
reading passage on it. Students will read the passage, then highlight the text for evidence
to support the comprehension questions on the worksheet. For each question, they will
use a different color to highlight the evidence that they find, and then they will write their
evidence under the question prompt. If there is extra time, then the students will draw a
picture about what happened in the story, and then label their drawing

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences (Procedure)

Instructional Sequence / Procedures: What activities will take place during this Number
lesson? (Note: Use bullet points to outline your ideas.) of
Minutes

Opening/activator: How will you set the purpose for the lesson? What can you 1-2
help them connect to that they’ve been working on previously?
 Tell students that we are going to be reading and then answering a few
questions about what we learned about
 Relate back to reading small groups that they do in class. My mentor
teacher will frequently have them read a short text, and then answer
comprehension questions, or do an activity based on what they read
o “I know that you guys have had some great practice of working in
small groups with Mrs. Millhouse, so today we are going to keep
working on becoming better readers!”
 Purpose is to see what they can tell me about a text that they read, and
what skills they can use to help them become better, more attentive
readers
o “When we read, there are lots of things that good readers like you
should be looking for! Today, we are going to be using our
reading skills to looks for hints in our text that help us to answer
questions about the story!”
Part 1 - Modeling: What will you show students how to do? 2
 I will show students the worksheet that they are going to be doing
 I explain to them what the steps are to complete our task
o First they will read the passage by themselves
 “The first thing that we are going to do is read this story.
The first time that we read, I want you to read it to
yourself. After you have finished reading, put your finger
on your nose to show me that your finished.
 “Now that everyone has read the story by themselves, we
are going to read the story out loud together. Sometimes,
good readers need to read a story more than once to
understand what it is about.”
o Then we will talk about what the story was about
 “Let’s talk about what happened in our story that we just
read? Who can tell me something important that
happened from the story?”
 Does anyone have any questions about what we just
read? Is there anything that you would like to talk about
to know more?”
o Next, I will explain to them that we are going to look for
evidence, and highlight it in the text, to show what we know- we
will do an example together, and then students will do the next
two on their own.
 “Wow readers, we have done such a great job reading to
ourselves, reading together, and talking about what
happened in our story. Now, I have a task for you; we are
going to be detectives and look for evidence in our story
to help answer the questions that we have. When
detective readers look for evidence, they go back to the
story that they just read, and look for words right there in
the story to help them answer questions.”

Part 2 - Guided Practice: What will you engage in together as a small group? 5-10
 The students will share their initial responses to the text that they read,
and what the general idea of the story was
 After students have had the chance to look for evidence to support their
answers in the text, they will share their answers with the group to
compare how they found their evidence, and how it answers the question
provided. If students have different answers, we can compare, and figure
out together how to show the correct answer to the question
o “Alright detectives, you have done a great job searching for
evidence in our story. Now that we are finished working by
ourselves to find evidence, we are going to work together with
our detective team to compare answers and look at the evidence
we found.”
 If there is extra time, students will share their drawings and captions that
they created to show what happened in the story. Students will share what
they drew, and explain why it shows the events of the story.
Part 3 - Independent Practice: What will students do on their own? 5-10
 Students will read the given text passage on their own. Once they are
finished, they will wait for instructions on how to complete the rest of the
worksheet.
o “The first thing that we are going to do is read this story. The first
time that we read, I want you to read it to yourself. After you
have finished reading, put your finger on your nose to show me
that your finished.”
 Students will look for supporting evidence in the text that helps them to
prove their comprehension skills. The first example will be done as a
whole group, and the other two will be done individually.
o “Now that we know that good readers are detectives are need to
look for evidence while they read, we are going to use markers to
show where our evidence. Let’s look at the first question. It
says… Now, let’s look in our story to see if we can find any clues
that help us to answer that question. What do you see? When we
find our clue, we are going to take our marker, highlight our clue
in the story, and then write our evidence below our question.
o “Now it’s your turn to try the rest on your own, detectives!”
 If students finish, they can draw a picture to summarize the story by
themselves.

Share Time: What will students do to share their work? 5

 Students will compare their answers to see how/why they chose to
support their answers to comprehension questions
o “Now that we have had time to look for clues in our story, I want
to see what you found! What did you get for each answer? Where
did you find that evidence in the story?”
 Students can share their drawings of the story if there is time at the end of
the lesson

Closure/Summary: How will you wrap-up the lesson? 1

 Re-explain to students how we can learn about the stories that we read by
going back to support our answers with the text
o “After this activity, we now know that we can use our detective
skills to go back into our text, look for clues, and use the evidence
that we find to help us answer questions about the story.”

Other Important Information:

Materials:
Teacher: Worksheet, colored pencils/markers
Students: Worksheet, colored pencils/markers

Modifications and Accommodations you will incorporate into this lesson to support students
in the ways described in the table above:
 There are multiple ways that this lesson can meet the accommodation needs of all of the
students in my group. The first is that it incorporates kinesthetic movements like
 coloring, drawing and highlighting for those students who work best when moving. This
is also helpful for students who learn best from visual cues. For auditory learners, the
directions will be read aloud, and students will be able to converse with each other about
what they are thinking. Finally, there is a combination of group and individual work, so
students have multiple ways to work with their peers. There is at least one part in the
lesson that can meet the needs for every student so they can feel like they are able to
accomplish the goals and standards in place in a way that is accommodating for them.

Extension Ideas - what will you do if you have extra time?

 If we have extra time, students can draw a picture of what happened in the story, and
write a caption about their picture. They can share their drawings with everyone else in
the group and talk about what/why they drew what they did.

Contraction Ideas - what will you do if you are running out of time?
 If we are running out of time, I will just have students highlight their evidence, rather
than highlighting and having students write down their answer. This way, I can still see
what students know, but it won’t take as long for them to write down their answers

TE 405 Reading Lesson Plan

Small Group Reading Instruction Project

Name: Madeline Andrews Date: 3/12

Mentor Name: Shawn Millhouse School: Pinecrest Elementary

School

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

Title/Topic: Re-telling through the Yellow Brick Road

Grade Level: 1st

Broad Literacy Concept Focus (e.g., phonological awareness): Identify your broad area of
focus in instruction.
 Re-telling concepts from a text

Common Core State Standard(s) (CCSS): Choose one reading standard and one (optional)
language standard that may also apply depending on the concept you are focusing on.
 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2
 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their
central message or lesson.
Learning Objectives: Develop ONE or TWO objectives that are specific to your lesson. These
may be written as one sentence: During [activity], students will be able to ________, as
demonstrated by _________.
 During the activity, students will be able to retell the main ideas, characters, and setting
of a text, as demonstrated by the placement and movement to cards that contain those key
concepts
Content Rationale: Why is it important that these students learn this specific content now (refer
to your assessment data)?
  There are a few reasons why I felt that it was important for my student(s) to work on their
retelling skills. My focal student Rob, was only able to retell a few, very broad statements
about the QRI passage I gave him when I asked him to retell me what had happened in
the story. He was able to grasp the main idea of the story, but was not able to recall more
specific details about the events of the story. Retelling is a skill that Rob can work on to
help build his attention to detail in a text, and potentially help to increase his reading
comprehension skills as a whole.
 When looking back at my assessment data, Rob was able to retell 3 out of the 12 key
points that were presented in the QRI. In the passage that Rob read aloud, there were
multiple events that happened between the characters, but Rob was only able to retell me
the key point of the story; the girl went to work with her mother. Working on this skill
now with Rob will help him to become more aware of the components that make up a
story. This will help him pay attention to detail, and understand that there are multiple
points to a story, not just a main point.

Instructional Strategy Rationale: Why did you choose these pedagogical strategies for these
students (refer to your assessment data/knowledge of the students/and classroom norms)?
 There are a few reasons that I chose to use these pedagogical strategies with my students.
The first reason for choosing this type of lesson format is because it is something that my
students see on a weekly basis when they work in their small reading groups with my
mentor teacher. They will often read a short text appropriate for their reading level, and
then work on answering questions about the text they just read through different
activities, some of which involve kinesthetics. This way, students can engage in an
activity format that they can feel comfortable with, while still getting to explore and learn
in new ways that can be helpful to different types of learners.
 I also chose to work on comprehension skills based on the assessment data that I
collected from my focal student, Rob. While Rob did a great job of being able to
summarize the main idea of a text, he still needed some support with finding and retelling
the details of a story. By giving Rob the support to build his confidence in his reading
skills, he can work on retelling in a fun, and engaging environment with his peers.
Because Rob is not always as confident in his reading skills, placing him with peers who
can support him in the activity will be beneficial for his confidence, and carry over the
classroom norms of teamwork and supporting others.

Differentiation: Above you have thoughts generally about instruction for this group of students,
but each student has individual needs. Here, using the table, briefly describe each student in your
group with learning and/or participation challenges that each student may face in learning the
content of this lesson. Think about academic, social, or linguistic support they might need during
the lesson. (Note that students may not need all three types of support).

Add lines to the table based on the number of students you are teaching:
Student: Academic Support: Social Support: Linguistic Support:

Rob Working on building N/A Rob’s mother is an

comprehension and fluency in emergent bilingual. While
reading, and building confidence Rob speaks English rather
in reading. He is not afraid to ask fluently, there are some
for questions when he needs help, terms or phrases that he
but often lacks the confidence to does not always
figure out problems on his own, understand, which could be
 and often sounds shy or timid due to the lack of exposure
when reading aloud. he has to those phrases
outside of school

Danica Working on building reading N/A N/A

skills and confidence. Student
frequently asks for help, even if it
is something that she is able to do
on her own. She often feels like
she is unable to do problems,
unless she has someone there to
constantly help her.

Mino N/A Working on taking time to N/A

focus in on work, and not
become distracted by
others around her. She
often takes a long time to
finish her work because
she enjoys talking to those
around her.

Henry Working on becoming less Student has a very busy N/A

frustrated when he encounters body and has a more
problems that he does not know difficult time focusing his
how to solve right away. Building attention on one thing, and
confidence to be able to work on becomes distracted by
his own, and ask for help, rather what is around him.
than shutting down and not being Working on helping
able to complete any more work. Henry to stay focused and
attentive while still being
able to move as needed.
Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence (Assessment)
Formative Assessment: How will you know what students learned/if they met the lesson
standard(s) and objective(s)?
 The formative assessment will be having students complete a “Yellow Brick Road”
worksheet after listening to a read aloud read by the teacher. Students will listen to the
teacher read aloud a short text, and look at the pictures that accompany the story. After
they are done reading, they will cut out “bricks” that contain characters, setting, and
events in the story. Then, they will match the “bricks” to their appropriate spot on the
yellow brick road worksheet, according to the clues or prompts. Once they have matched
their bricks to the appropriate spot, they will glue them down, and share with their group
mates where they glued down their bricks. Then, the same bricks (in larger size) will be
laid on the floor, and students will have the chance to jump to the brick that matches the
prompt/question that the teacher reads aloud to them.

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences (Procedure)

Instructional Sequence / Procedures: What activities will take place during this Number
lesson? (Note: Use bullet points to outline your ideas.) of
Minutes

Opening/activator: How will you set the purpose for the lesson? What can you 1
help them connect to that they’ve been working on previously?
 Tell the students that we will be working on how we can work on skills to
show that we can others about what happens in the stories that we read
 Explain to students that we will be using the “yellow brick road” to show
others how we can follow the path of a story from start to finish
o “Okay everyone, today we are going to be working on how to
retell a story. We will work on being able to tell others about
what happened in the story, who the characters were, and where
the story took place.”
o “We are going to read a short story together, and after we finish
reading, we are going to take a trip down the yellow brick road
where you are going to be able to show me the order of the story.
When you travel down the yellow brick road, you need to start at
the beginning by learning about who is in the story, and as you
learn more about what happens, you can keep traveling from
brick to brick until you get to the end!”
 Relate to the activities that the students often do in their small reading
groups during daily 5 literacy time, and how a better understanding of
how to retell will help them become better readers
o “I know that you guys have had some great practice of working
in small groups with Mrs. Millhouse, so today we are going to
keep working on becoming better readers!”

Part 1 - Modeling: What will you show students how to do? 2

 I will show the students how they are going to listen to the story, and how
they should be paying attention to big ideas that happen, such as the
theme, the setting, and the characters
o “We are going to read a short story called “Dave and Jake by the
Lake”. When we are reading, I want us to be looking for big
ideas about the story. Big ideas are things that we need to know
about the story! These can be things that happen in the story,
where the story takes place, or who is in the story.”
o “First thing that we are going to do is read our story. I am going
to give you the story, and we are going to read it silently to
ourselves. After we’re finished, we are going to read it aloud
again together as a group.”
o “What are some big ideas that we noticed in the story? I noticed
that there was more than one character. What did you notice in
the story?
 After we read the story out loud, I will show them the “yellow brick
road” activity that they are going to complete.
o Now that we have had the chance to talk about our story together,
we are going to take a journey down the yellow brick road!”
 o “On our road, we have the characters, setting, and what happens
in the story. Everyone will get a clue that I hand to you. It is your
job to journey down the road until you find where your clue goes.
For example, if I had a clue that said ‘Jane’s mom’ I would know
that she was a character in the story. Then, I would go down the
road until I got to the brick that says characters on it.”

Part 2 - Guided Practice: What will you engage in together as a small group? 5-10
 The first thing that we will do together as a group is listen to the read
aloud together. I will read them a short story and the students will listen,
looking for key points that happen, setting, and characters
o “Now that we have read the story to ourselves silently, we are
going to read it out loud together as a group.”
o “We got to read through our story twice, so I want to talk about
some big ideas that we noticed in the story! I saw that there were
different characters in the story. What did you notice?”
 The students will also do jumping down the yellow brick road as a whole
group, but I will be asking the students questions one at a time
o “Now that I got to show you an example of how to jump down
the yellow brick road, I want to see you try! We are going to do
an example together before we try it own our own. We are going
to read the clue together, and I want you to tell me where you
think it should go. Once you have figured it out together, you are
all going to travel down the path like I did to put it in the right
place.”

Part 3 - Independent Practice: What will students do on their own? 5

 After the students finish, they will take turns answering questions from
the teacher about what happened in the story The students will listen to
the questions, then jump down the yellow brick road, until they find the
correct answer to the question that they were asked.
o “I am going to give you each your own clue that has a special
place on the yellow brick road. First, I want you to read your
secret clue. After you have read it, I want you to think about our
big ideas we talked about together. Is this where the story
happens? Is this where the story takes place? Where did this
happen in the story?”
o When it is your turn, I am going to have you read your secret
clue, and go down the road until you find the matching brick”

Share Time: What will students do to share their work? 2

 When students are jumping down the larger bricks, they students can see
what others are doing, and how they are able to interpret the story when
they are using kinesthetic movements
o “Friends, what do we think about where so and so put the brick?
Do we agree? Why do we agree or disagree?”

Closure/Summary: How will you wrap-up the lesson? 1

  After each student has had a chance to individually go down the road,
have the students jump as a whole group by reading the question aloud to
everyone. The students will have already heard each of these questions,
so they will review for a final time, and work together to find the answers
to the teacher’s questions
o “It looks like we were able to complete our yellow brick road!
Now, we are going to travel down the road together! When I read
my clue cards, I want you to read the response card. Let’s
practice the first one together!”

Other Important Information:

Materials:
Teacher: Worksheet copy, read aloud text, large re-telling squares
Students: read aloud text, retelling squares

Modifications and Accommodations you will incorporate into this lesson to support students
in the ways described in the table above:
 There are multiple ways that this lesson can meet the accommodation needs of all of the
students in my group. The first is that it incorporates kinesthetic movements
like jumping from “brick to brick” for those students who work best when moving. The
students will also have the chance to read everything silently to themselves before they
read it aloud to their peers. This helps to build confidence in readers who sometimes feel
pressure when reading aloud. There is at least one part in the lesson that can meet the
needs for every student so they can feel like they are able to accomplish the goals and
standards in place in a way that is accommodating for them.

Extension Ideas - what will you do if you have extra time?

 If we have extra time, then there are a few things that students can do. After the students
have jumped down the yellow brick road once, they can reshuffle the road, and take turns
asking other students questions, and having them find the answers. This gives students a
chance to practice reading and speaking skills with their peers, while being able to have a
sense of leadership. If there is still extra time after that, the students can draw about their
favorite event that happened in the story.

Contraction Ideas - what will you do if you are running out of time?
 If we are running out of time, students will only read the text once. We will read through
it all together as a group, but this way students will still have the chance to understand
and ask questions, and have the reduced pressure of reading the book as a whole group.

Summary And Reflection

Link to Lesson Video: https://youtu.be/OuPHHG0RQA4

Overall, I feel like my students did a good job of understanding the goal of our small

group assignment, and grasping the concept that I had presented to them. Although the lesson did

go well, there are still some aspects (both in lesson design and pedagogy) that I hope to improve

on for further lessons.

 The first thing that my students and I did was make our way down to the library so we

could set up our workspace. Because I had a group of students who have very busy bodies, and

are often engaged with their surroundings, I wanted to go somewhere where they would have the

most ability to focus on the lesson. I explained to them that this would be a small reading lesson,

like the ones they often do with my mentor teacher during Daily 5 (reading) time. I told the

students about our goals for the day, which were to understand that good readers often have to

read a text more than once to ensure their comprehension, and that good readers are often like

detectives; they can use the clues and evidence that they find in a story to help them answer

questions about what they are reading.

The next stage of the lesson was to read our text, Bob the Pig. I first had students read the

text silently to themselves, and then indicate to me that they were finished by putting a thumbs up

close to their chest. After everyone had finished reading silently, we read the text aloud as a

group together, knowing that sometimes it takes good readers more than once to read a story.

Once we had read the story twice so students could have a better understanding of the text, I

reiterated to them that good readers are like detectives; they look for clues and evidence in the

story to help them answer questions. I gave them each a magnifying glass (cut out of paper) and

showed them that we could use this as a tool to help us look for evidence.

Finally, we began to explore how to answer our comprehension questions about what we

had read. Since there were four questions for students to answer, I completed the first, modeling

for the students what they should be doing. We did the second question together, by reading the

question aloud, using our magnifying glass to look for evidence in the text, highlighting our

answer, and then writing it down. After I had shown an example, and we had done a problem

together, I told students that they were to complete the last two questions by themselves. There

were some students in my group who were able to finish rather quickly, while others I had to help

and offer more support to, in order for them to complete the assignment.
 Overall, I did feel like the lesson was successful. All of the students were able to

complete the task using the skills that I had shown them, and seemed engaged for most of the

lesson. They did a wonderful job of taking the time read aloud and to themselves, in addition to

following directions and asking questions if they needed support. I also think that the students

enjoyed being able to work with markers to highlight their evidence and write down their

answers, since almost all of the worksheet based activities they complete in class are done in

pencil only; this could have been a helpful motivator in engaging my students!

While I do think that the lesson went well for the most part, there were still things that I

believe could have gone better, or that I should take into consideration next time I plan a small

group lesson. Even though all of the students were able to complete the small group lesson, some

of them found it much easier than others. This was tricky, as I only had one focal student’s data to

base my lesson around, and did not have as much information about some of the other student’s

reading skills. Because of this, I spent a good part of the lesson helping one of my students read

through and answer questions, as she needed more support than the other three students in my

group. That being said, there were also some students in my group who finished much quicker

than I had anticipated, and were able to complete the activity without much instruction. In the

future, presuming I have more information about my students, I would create a second activity for

my kids who finish early, so I have time to help those who are still working.

Another part of my lesson that did not go as planned was creating magnifying glasses that

the students could use to look for evidence, since they were playing the role of “reading

detectives” during the lesson. As soon as I brought out the magnifying glasses, my students

promptly told me that, “they weren’t real”, and “wouldn’t work because they were made out of

paper.” Ultimately, they became more of a distraction, and my students did not use them for the

lesson, and rather, wanted to color them with the markers they were using to look for evidence.

Even though the magnifying glasses seemed like a fun idea, it was a good reminder that
sometimes, lessons do not always go as planned, and that some tools are more helpful than

others!