The Great Kapok Tree - Understanding

Name: Ali James Time Allotted: 45-50 min.

Grade Level: 3
rd
Subject: English Language Arts
Materials Required:
Book The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry
Story Tree Story Map
Pencils
The Great Kapok Tree Game
Small objects for game markers
Die
Hamburger Writing outline sheet (#17)
Lined paper
The Great Kapok Tree Comprehension Worksheet
Art supplies

Michigan State Standards:
R.CM.03.01 connect personal knowledge, experiences, and understanding of the world to themes
and perspectives in text through oral and written responses.
R.CM.03.02 retell in sequence the story elements of grade-level narrative text and major ideas
and relevant details of grade-level informational text.
Objective(s):
The learner will relate (application) prior knowledge of the world to the theme of the text by
writing out a connection of the world to theme on their worksheet during independent practice to
demonstrate proficiency.
The learner will summarize (comprehension) a story by sequence of events by correctly
sequencing 10 out of 12 events on the worksheet during independent practice to demonstrate
proficiency.
Student Friendly Objective(s):
I can relate (application) prior knowledge of the world to the theme of the text.
I can summarize (comprehension) a story by sequence of events.

Assessment:
Objective 1 Informal/Formative
During guided practice, students will be verbally sharing thoughts and ideas of how the story
connects to the world around them. They will also be writing a short paragraph of their thoughts,
connecting the theme to the world.
Objective 2 Informal/Formative
During guided practice, the students will be filling out the story tree story map to summarize the
story by the sequence of events in which they occurred.
Objectives 1 & 2 Formal/Summative
To assess if the students have mastered the objectives of relating prior knowledge of the world to
the theme of the text and summarizing a story by sequence of events, I will have the students
complete the independent work, The Great Kapok Tree worksheet. For this worksheet students
will be asked a number of comprehension questions from the story, both sequencing sort and
short answer. The students will also be asked to share one connection of how the theme of the
story relates to the world around them. Once the students have finished, they will turn their
worksheet in to be assessed. By looking at the students worksheet, I will be able to assess the
students understanding of the story.
If the students have met the minimum proficiency, then I would move on to the next lesson; giving
a brief review of the materials covered in this lesson before I begin. However, if the students have
not met the minimum proficiency, then I would find the areas where the majority of the students
are struggling and go back and re-teach the material in a different way. During this time, I will
provide additional resources and materials for the students to work with/through so they can
gain a better understanding of what is being taught. After the lesson I will give the students
another assessment to assess their understanding.
If it is only one student who does not meet the minimum level of proficiency, I will meet with them
one-on-one to review/correct the missed sections. After that, the student will have an
opportunity to retake the assessment to demonstrate mastery.

Instructional Procedure:
1. Anticipatory Set:
a. To begin, I will have the students read a short story that is posted on the front board
and then write down what happed at the beginning, middle, and end.
b. Once all students have finished I will ask them to share what they have written
down.
c. I will then explain to the class that today we will be working on comprehension,
focusing on understanding what happens in the story and using the organization
strategies that we have been working on to help us.

2. State Purpose and Objective of Lesson:
a. I will tell the students that today we are going to be practicing understanding stories
by connecting our prior knowledge about the world to the text and by summarizing
a story by sequence of events, what happened first to what happened last.
b. I will say that it is important to be able to understand what we read because
throughout school, as well as life, we are going to be asked to read texts and
complete assignments based on what we read. By understanding the text we read,
we will be able to complete assignments with ease. Also, by understanding texts, it
will help us understand other forms of communication through similar connections.

3. Instructional Input/Direct Instruction:
a. I will start by reminding the students about the book that we finished reading
yesterday, The Great Kapok Tree. I will inform them that today we will be focusing
on relating the story to the world around us as well as sequencing what happened in
the story: title, author, characters, setting, beginning, middle, problem and solution,
and end.
b. I will then inform the students that we will be doing stations. There will be a total of
three stations. I will then go over each station with the students and explain and
demonstrate what they will be doing.
i. Station one will be The Great Kapok Tree game. At this station, students will
be playing The Great Kapok Tree game, a comprehension game. Each student
will need to first select a marker from the pieces provided. They will then
roll a die to determine who will go first; the student with the highest roll will
go first. Next, they will draw a card from the stack of cards and read it aloud
and answer the questions. The player to the right of the person reading the
card will look up the question number on the answer key and look under the
flap for that number to determine if the student it correct or not. If the
student is correct then they roll a die, and more their marker. If they are not
correct, their turn is over and the next person goes (modeling). [The answer
key will be a numbered and will have individual flaps for each answer so the
students do not see the answers for other questions.]
ii. Station two will be Book to world connections. At this station the students
will be brainstorming of ways that the book is similar to the world around
them. One person will be the recorder and will be making a list of the ideas
that the group comes up with. Once they have come up with a list, each
student will pick one of the connections and write up a short reflection, about
1 paragraph, of how the book connects to the real world (modeling). I will
inform the students that they will need to remember to use the rules for
writing paragraphs that we have been working on. I will then go over the
rules for writing paragraphs; topic sentence/main idea, supporting sentence
1, supporting sentence 2, supporting sentence 3, and concluding sentence.
There will be a Hamburger Writing (#17) graphic organizer that we have
previously used provided to help students organize their thoughts. I will first
remind students of how to use the hamburger writing graphic by pointing
out the specific areas in which they will need to identify, the main idea, three
supporting details, and a closing sentence. I will also show the students an
example of a paragraph that I have written with each of the five parts of a
paragraph heighted (modeling).
iii. Station three will be the Story Tree Story map. At this station the students
will be working to complete their Story Tree with the correct information
from the story The Great Kapok Tree. Each student will need to fill in the
title and author, characters, setting, what happened in the beginning, middle
and end, and the problem and solution (modeling). I will let the students
know what this story map is similar to the ones that we have been using with
other stories except for it is organized a little different to follow along with
our story.

4. Guided Practice:
a. Once I have given instructions and answered all and any questions that the students
have, I will split them up into groups and let them begin.
b. As the students are working at each station, I will be walking around and monitoring
their work and knowledge. By doing so I will be able to check the students
understanding of the story and help those who may be struggling.

5. Modeling: Embedded

6. Independent Practice:
a. Once the students have had time at each station, we will move into independent
practice. For independent practice, each student with be asked to complete The
Great Kapok Tree Comprehension worksheet.
b. During this time each student will be working independently to complete their
worksheet. The only things they will be allowed to use are their Story Tree Story
Map and the classroom word wall to assist them in completing their work.
c. When the students finish their worksheet they will be asked to turn them in to be
assessed.

7. Differentiated Consideration
a. If a student finishes early, I will allow them to write in their journal about a
topic of their choice or they may choose a writing prompt to write about.
They may also have the choice to create an animal from the story, with art
supplies provided, to be displayed in the classroom.
b. If a student needs more time to finish, I will allow them to take it. If they still
need more time then I will keep their worksheet at school and they will finish
it the following day or when they have free time.
c. For student(s) who struggle to complete the assignment, I will pull them
aside and work in a small group or one-on-one with the student(s) until they
have gained a better understanding of the material. If the problem is that
they are struggling reading the questions then I will assist them. If they are
struggling filling in the answers then I will have them give me the answers
and I will write them in. However, if they are struggling because they did not
understand the text, then I will have the student read the text again and
complete the worksheet once they have finished.
d. Targeting different learning styles:
i. Visual/Spatial: For this type of learner, I will allow them to look at the
pictures in the book as they are trying to complete the assignments at
each station. They will also be given visuals at The Great Kapok Tree
game as there are pictures on the board. The Story Tree writing web
will also assist them in visually laying out their information.
ii. Aural/Auditory-musical: For this type of learner, I will be verbally
explaining to the students what they will be doing at each station.
They will also be reading the cards aloud during the game in station
one. Also, in the background, I can play quiet instrumental music to
help keep the student quiet and on task.
iii. Verbal/linguistic: For this type of learner, I will use simply words and
writing to teach the concept as well as provide simple language on the
game cards.
iv. Physical/Kinesthetic: For this type of learner, I have them moving
around from station to station so they are not stuck in one spot for an
extended amount of time.
v. Logical/mathematical: For this type of learner, I they will be counting
during the game in station one as they move the number they rolled
on the die. They also will be looking up the card number to find the
correct answer when they are to the right of the reader.
vi. Social/interpersonal: For this type of learning, I have them working in
groups at each station. They will be allowed to discuss things with
their peers to complete tasks.
vii. Solitary/intrapersonal: For this type of learner, I will allow them
independent practice.

8. Closure:
a. After the students have finished their worksheet, I will ask the students a few
questions to check their understanding of the story. I will also ask them what
connections they were able to make form the book to the world around them.
b. We will then review the objectives again and review the organizational tools that we
used to help gain a better understanding of the story, the story tree story map and
the brainstorming and listing of words and thoughts.
c. Finally, I will thank the students for their hard work today and get them thinking
about our next lesson.
9. References:

Kathy. (2012, March 27). The Great Kapok Tree Game. Retrieved from:
http://firstgradealacarte.blogspot.com/search/label/reading

Explanation of Identified Instructional Strategy

Why you selected that specific strategy to utilize in the lessons? What other options did you
consider and why?
I selected the Hamburger Writing Strategy to utilize in this lesson because I thought it
would be a helpful tool for students to use as they wrote a paragraph. This strategy provides
students with a fun visual as they identify the five parts of a paragraph, main idea, three
supporting details, and a closing sentence. This visual will allow students to make a
connection between the layers of a sandwich and the layers of a paragraph.
Another option that I considered to use for this lesson was a basic graphic organizer for
students to organize their thoughts. I considered a basic organizer because it would be one that
students would be very familiar with due to using them over the years and in other classes.
However, I chose the Hamburger graphic because it was more visually appealing and helped
established a connection between the items on a hamburger and the items found in a paragraph.

Why would this be the most effective strategy? ( benefits)
This strategy is the most effective strategy to this lesson I believe because it provides the
students with a fun visual representation that they can use to create a sound paragraph. This
strategy is also helpful in that it allows students to see how a paragraph is made up of different
parts, a main idea, three supporting details, and a closing sentence.

What might be some possible cons or barriers that you may encounter from utilization of the
strategy? How would you counter act these issues?
One con that I may encounter from utilizing this strategy is that students may not fully
understand how to combine the items from the organizer to form a paragraph. For example, if a
student simply put one word in each of the five spots on the hamburger instead of writing out
sentences then they may struggle to form sentences to create a sound paragraph. I can counter
act this issue by instructing the students prior to the activity, during instructions and modeling,
that they need to write out one sentence for each item. So they will have one sentence stating
the main idea, one sentence identifying each of the tree supporting details, and one complete
closing sentence.












Accompanying Materials for Lesson 1



















Game Board & Example Cards






The Great Kapok Tree
Comprehension Worksheet

Directions: Put the information below in the correct order by placing the letter of the event
next to the number in which it occurred.

1. _______
2. _______
3. _______
4. _______
5. _______
6. _______
7. _______
8. _______
9. _______
10. _______
11. _______
12. _______

Directions: In the space provided below, make a connection of the world to the book, The
Great Kapok Tree.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
1. The man walked out of the rain forest
2. The big man left the small man in the forest
3. A bright tree frog squeaked in the sleeping mans ear
4. The man awoke and saw the child and animas
5. A child from the rainforest tripe spoke to the man
6. The man fall asleep on the Kapok Tree
7. A snake talked to the man
8. Two men walked into the rain forest
9. Monkeys chattered to the sleeping man
10. The small man hit the Kapok tree with an ax
11. Tree porcupines spoke to the man
12. The man dropped the ax

Name:_________________________
Date:__________________

Answer Key

1. Two men walked into the rain forest
2. The big man left the small man in the forest
3. The small man hit the Kapok tree with an ax
4. The man fall asleep on the Kapok Tree
5. A snake talked to the man
6. Monkeys chattered to the sleeping man
7. A bright tree frog squeaked in the sleeping mans ear
8. Tree porcupines spoke to the man
9. A child from the rainforest tripe spoke to the man
10. The man awoke and saw the child and animas
11. The man dropped the ax
12. The man walked out of the rain forest