Intern Name: Zhenja Lourenco

Lesson Title (Subject/Topic): Service Project (letter writing)

Grade: First grade
Length of Lesson: 10-15 minutes per group of 4-5 students
Date Taught: 05/22/18
LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE
In this lesson…
Overview  Students will be able to use basic reading and writing skills.
SOL 1.10
Standards of SOL 1.12
Learning SOL 1.13
Students will be able to…
Objectives  I can write to effectively communicate.

The students will write letters for some of the dogs at the VBSCPA in order
Learning Target to help them get adopted.
Necessary Prior N/A
Knowledge
 Pictures of some of the dogs at the VBSPCA with their information
 Pencils
Materials  Crayons
 Letter paper (which Ms. Tyler got for me)
 Clipboards to hold the papers down (we went outside to write them)
The class before the one I introduced the letters, Ms. Tyler discussed with the
class that I worked for the Virginia Beach SPCA and all the students were very
Introduction/Hook enthusiastic. This made the day when I had the students write letters for the
dogs at VBSCPA very exciting, due to the connection they were able to make
with Ms. Tyler having a discussion with them.
Instructional The students were given the picture of one of the dogs at the VBSPCA, as well
as letter paper with enough room to also draw a picture. They were instructed to
Activities & try to read the dog’s information and then to write about the dog. They could
Strategies also draw a picture if they had time.
Key Vocabulary or  Community service
 Letter
Concepts
Assessments N/A
Closure Activity N/A
Accommodations N/A
Due to my employment at the VBSPCA, I was able to easily access the
Resources information about the dogs that I used for this service project.

Adapted from the Teacher Cadet Curriculum, Property of CERRA—South Carolina © 2004, and/or the Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow Curriculum
John M. Merritt, English Teacher at Kellam High School (Virginia Beach City Public Schools)
Reflection on a Lesson Plan Taught
Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow
Intern Name: Zhenja Lourenco
Lesson Title (Subject/Topic): Service Project (letters to dogs at the VBSPCA)
Date of Lesson Taught: 05/22/18
Cooperating Teacher & School: Hermitage Elementary School, Ms. Tyler
Grade: First grade
Time of Day: 1:00 p.m.

1. What steps did you go through to create this lesson? With whom did you talk, discuss, or edit your lesson?
This lesson required me to go to work and select dogs to use for the project. Other than this, it was a very
simple idea that did not require much thought!

2. How did the SOLs and Objectives help focus your instruction?
They did not. I took the assignment for what it was: service.

3. What parts of the instructional plan worked as you anticipated?

The students thoroughly enjoyed learning about the VBSPCA and I loved to see how enthusiastic they were
about the place that I work and what we do for the animals.

4. What, if any, adjustments needed to be made once you began?

If I could redo this lesson, I would have made the letter a group effort, in order to help them grasp the concept
of letter writing better.

5. How well did you anticipate the materials needed?

The materials I had were perfect, other than the one or two groups I took where one of the students forgot
their pencil in the classroom. Then, I told them to improvise and write with a colored pencil, but made sure to
tell them we don’t ever write with a colored pencil unless instructed to do so.

6. How effective was the assessment you chose to use? (If no assessment was used, what will the future
assessment be and how will you gauge its effectiveness?)
No assessment was used or would ever be used for an assignment like this, due to its nature being a service
project, which in no case should ever be graded.

7. To what degree do you feel that this lesson was a success? What evidence do you have for the success of
the lesson? (Hint: Student learning is the key to a lesson’s success!)
I feel that the students understood the value of service, however, I feel as though I didn’t do the best job
describing and explaining the purpose of a letter.

8. How did the time spent preparing for your lesson contribute to it’s success?

Adapted from the Teacher Cadet Curriculum, Property of CERRA—South Carolina © 2004, and/or the Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow Curriculum
John M. Merritt, English Teacher at Kellam High School (Virginia Beach City Public Schools)
I spent less time then I should have, considering the students have probably never written a letter, so in that
essence I feel as though I needed to have done a bit more preparation to explain how and why we write
letters.

9. If you could do this lesson again with the same students, would you do anything differently? If so, what?
Yes, I would change how much I underestimated the importance of explaining why exactly we were writing
letters. This again as I just said, is because I forgot to realize that they have probably never really written a
letter and were probably just confused.

10. Any last comments/reflections about your lesson?

I think many of the students felt that this letter was going to be graded, even though it wasn’t, so
unfortunately, I think they felt a bit more pressure than I had intended. If I ever do such an activity again I
think I will just need to be more clear, but otherwise I loved doing this lesson and I think they enjoyed learning
about the VBSPCA! 😊

Taught Lesson Plan Grade Sheet

Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow II

Intern Name: ______________________________Lesson #________

● Written (typed) Lesson Plan: _____/50

[See comments on LP]

● Supplemental materials: _____/10

Comments:

● Self-Evaluation: _____/15
Comments:

Total: _____/75

Adapted from the Teacher Cadet Curriculum, Property of CERRA—South Carolina © 2004, and/or the Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow Curriculum
John M. Merritt, English Teacher at Kellam High School (Virginia Beach City Public Schools)