LESSON PLAN OUTLINE-Kelly Baucom

JMU Elementary Education Program

The following information should be included in the header of the lesson plan:
TEACHER GRADE SCHOOL

I. TITLE OF LESSON Read Aloud lesson on Tap the Magic Tree by: Christie Matheson
II. CONTEXT OF LESSON
Throughout the semester, we have been presented with a lot of literature that has supported the
significance of read-aloud lessons within the classroom. Read-aloud lessons support the expansion of a
students vocabulary as well as assist emergent readers with their reading comprehension skills. Readaloud lessons can also enhance a students interest in reading when they listen to a teacher read a story
with dramatized emotional and inflection. For students that cannot read on their own, read-aloud
lessons give them the opportunity to invest in creative stories with the help of their teachers and peers.
This is especially important for my case study child considering his reading level is extremely
low for his age; for instance, he would not be able to read this book on his own. It is important for
students that have delayed literacy development to be exposed to books through read-aloud lessons so
that they can become familiar with concept of word and become more proficient in reading on their
own. My practicum class has just completed a unit on the four seasons and I think that this book is a
great and interactive review of the seasons. During this unit, my class has focused on how the apple
tree changes throughout the year. This book uses student interaction to demonstrate the changes of the
apple tree throughout the four seasons.
III. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand: The student will be able to understand more about the four seasons.
Know: The student will be able to know, learn and memorize what happens to the apple tree during all
four seasons.
Do: The student will be able to describe what happens to the apple tree during the four seasons and
could draw it if prompted.
IV. COLLECTION OF ASSESSMENT DATA
Students will be able to answer the questions: What happens to the apple tree during the winter? What
happens to the apple tree during the spring? What happens to the apple tree during the summer? What
happens to the apple tree during the fall?
They will be able to complete a worksheet that involves labeling illustrations of an apple tree during all
four seasons.
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They will be able to complete a picture sort that involves sorting a series of pictures into four groups
based on their season.
I will discuss how well the students complete the sort in my reflection.
V. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (K & 1)
Reading
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 and ideas.
c) Use common singular and plural nouns.
d) Use vocabulary from other content areas.
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.
VI. MATERIALS NEEDED
-Tap the Magic Tree by: Christie Matheson
-Labeling worksheets (18 copies)
-Labeling poster for students to follow along (matches labeling worksheet)
-Partner activity (picture sort): plastic baggies (9), seasons headings: fall, winter, spring, summer (9
copies for each), pictures (9 copies for each), paper clips (9 paper clips)
VII. PROCEDURE
The students will gather on the rug in their assigned spots facing the 'teachers chair with a pencil.
Before starting to read: So you all have learned about what happens to an apple tree during all of the
seasons, right?
This book is about a magic apple tree that needs your help to make it change during every season! Do
you think you can help me make the magic apple tree change during the seasons?
Okay, Ill call you up one by one to help me with the magic tree. If you get up from your seat and I
didnt call you, you wont get a turn with the magic tree!
IMPLEMENTATION
Now were going to do a worksheet that shows our magic tree during all four of the seasons. You will
label your worksheet while I label the poster on the board.
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Get our your pencils and follow along.

(I will introduce each picture of the magic tree and ask for volunteers to answer the correct season for
each picture)
Now were going to do a picture sort that will test what we have learned about seasons.
(My cooperating teacher will separate the class into partner groups)
You and your partner will get a plastic baggie with pictures and labels for the four seasons.
With your partner separate the pictures into four groups: fall, winter, spring or summer. Match each
picture with the season that it goes with.
CLOSURE
After about 8-10 minutes, I will review the sort with the students to make sure that they understand
how each picture should be categorized and why. I will ask for volunteers to answer the correct season
for each picture.
CLEAN-UP
I will ask the students to put all of the pictures and the labels back into the plastic baggie and collect the
baggies.
VIII. DIFFERENTIATION
For differentiation, I will be stressing the value of cooperation amongst the students and
throughout the classroom. This book is different from most read-aloud books because it involves
participation from the readers. Students will have to exercise patience and self-control in order to gain
the most educational value from this lesson. For first graders, it can be difficult to pay attention during
interactive lessons because they are still developing their sharing skills and could become distracted by
their desire to be involved in the lesson. The partner picture sort activity also requires a lot of
cooperation and respect from the students because they will be completing the task with another person
and will have to listen and rely on others to help them complete the activity. Prior to the read-aloud and
the sort activity, I will explain to the students how important it is to cooperate and respect your
classmates during interactive lessons such as these. I will also ask for volunteers to provide reasons
why cooperation and respect is so important in the classroom.
IX. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT
IT?
Lesson:
Because this is the first lesson that I am leading and completing with the class, the students
might not pay attention to me as well as they might to their regular teacher, Ms. Bazzle, and I might
lose control of the classroom easily. I can come up with ways to keep their attention or gain back their
attention if I lose it. For example, they are familiar with the call and response class, class yes, yes
exercise during which the teacher says class, class to get the students attention and notify them that it
is time to stop talking and be quiet; as a response the students say yes, yes to show the teacher that
they are ready to listen. Because Tap the Magic Tree is an interactive book that requires participation
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from the class, it is possible that I could lose control of the classroom if the students become too
excited about the actions in the book.
Another possibility is that students could become upset or frustrated if they do not get a chance
to participate in one of the actions in the book. Luckily, I have counted the number of actions in the
book compared with the number of students in the class and there will be enough pages for each
student to participate once. In order to ensure that I keep control of the class during the read-aloud, I
can explain in advance what the students should be doing during the lesson. I will explain the directions
saying, Everyone needs to be sitting on their white spot on the carpet criss-cross-applesauce! While I
am reading, you should not be talking and if I ask a question you need to raise your hand if you want to
answer it. If you shout out, you will lose your turn with the magic tree! If the students get too excited
during the read aloud because of the interactive motions, I will close the book and say, The magic tree
will not change unless you all are being quiet and listening!
My cooperating teacher, Ms. Bazzle, has implemented a color change behavior system which
involves changing a students color (green>yellow>red) if that student exhibits particularly poor
behavior. If need be, Ms. Bazzle has given me the authority to threaten color changes but I will only do
so in an extreme situation. For the picture sort at the end of the lesson, it is possible that the students
might complain about the partners that I assign for the activity. If this complaining becomes severe, I
could give the students the option of sitting at their desk with their head down while the rest of the class
completes the activity. I will also have to be specific when giving directions for this activity and make
sure that the students understand that they need to work quietly and politely with their partners.
Closing of the Lesson:
Some partner groups may experience some difficulty sorting the pictures into the correct
seasonal category. I will walk around the classroom and ensure that the students are sorting the pictures
correctly and help them if they are having trouble deciding which category a certain picture should go
in. The first grade classes do a lot of sorting during their math and reading lessons, so I imagine that
this activity will go fairly smoothly. After the students are finished with the sort, I will get their
attention by using the class, class yes, yes call and response. Then, I will go over the answers of the
sort holding up each picture and asking for volunteers to answer which season the picture belongs with.
Behavior:
I will pay attention to students that are being particularly disruptive and particularly attentive during
this lesson. I will praise those who are paying attention well by saying, _____ is listening and sitting
so nicely, thank you for sitting nicely, ____. If a student is being especially disruptive or restless
during the lesson I might say, ____, do you need to go to your seat and take a break? If the student
does not settle down after this conversation, I will consider threatening a color change.
X. REFLECTION
Overall, the read-aloud lesson was very successful. The students were very pleased that I was
reading aloud to them and were very excited for the lesson which set a positive tone for the read-aloud
lesson. My class is not read-aloud to very often by Ms. Bazzle, she tends to put on YouTube videos of
books being read-aloud while she sorts or grades papers. Throughout my time in Ms. Bazzles class, I
have only witnessed her read-aloud to the class once. Although the class enjoys the videos, I think that
the personal element that is offered by a teacher reading aloud to the class in person is taken away
when the books are presented in video form by voices that are unfamiliar to the class. The students like
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having me in the classroom because I talk with them and have conversations with them on a regular
basis; I think this had a lot to do with why the students were so excited to have me read to them along
with the fact that they do not get to be read aloud to very often.
The class became much more excited once I announced that I needed their help with this book,
Ms. Bazzles class really enjoys interactive activities, so they were excited that this book allowed them
to be involved with the story. Liza Karass, another first grade practicum student at John C. Myers, did
the same book for her read-aloud lesson and advised me to go around the room with the book and have
the students interact with the book from their seat on the carpet instead of having them come to me. I
took her advice and this tactic worked very well. Each student knew they were going to get a turn to
interact with the book and sat patiently waiting for their turn. The class would become very excited
when the tree would gain or lose objects (i.e. leaves, blossoms, apples) or change color and would
move from their spots on the carpet or yell out. It was very hard to gain back control of the classroom
after the students would get so excited, every couple of pages I found myself closing the book and
waiting for the class to quiet down saying things like, Everyone please quiet down if you want to hear
the rest of the story!
The class really enjoyed the book and I think that it was a good selection for this age group and
this class specifically. My cooperating teacher asked me to choose a book that was in line with the
seasons unit that they were completing. When I discussed doing Tap the Magic Tree as my read-aloud
with my cooperating teacher, she informed me that it would be a good choice because this particular
class handles interactive lessons very well and likes to be involved with the story. After I completed the
read-aloud, I introduced the activity that we would be doing. Unfortunately, my cooperating teacher
told me that we did not have time to do both the worksheet and the sort so I had to choose between the
two activities. I decided to do the sort instead of the worksheet because it was a more interactive
activity that required the students to work together and recall the information that they had learned
about the seasons throughout the unit. I chose the partner groups for my students which caused some
backlash due to the fact that some of the students were not happy with the partners that they were
given. In the future, I might want to choose partner groups ahead of time so that I can decide which
students would work together best for the given activity.
When making the sort, I tried to choose pictures that were unmistakable for each season. There
were 16 pictures in the sort, four pictures for each season. I explained to the students that there would
be the same number of pictures for each season. Before beginning the sort, I asked the question, Who
can tell me what it means to sort? After receiving answers from a few students, I reiterated what they
would be doing and gave directions for the sort. While I was giving directions, the students were
playing with their baggies, opening them and taking out the pictures. The class was distracted by the
baggies and had some difficulty listening to my directions. In the future, I might explain the directions
before giving out the materials for the activity so the students are not distracted by the materials while I
am trying to explain the activity. The students did very well with the sort for the most part, some groups
were confused by some of the holiday pictures like Easter and Thanksgiving, but overall they sorted the
pictures correctly.
While the students were completing the sort, I walked around and helped some of the groups
that were struggling. The noise level became a little too loud and I had to quiet the class and explain
that they needed to use their inside voices. After about ten minutes I used my own baggie of the sort to
review each picture. I held each picture up to the class and asked for volunteers to answer which season
the picture belonged with. This review tactic worked fairly well, however, it took up a lot of time and I
could tell that my cooperating teacher wanted me to finish the lesson so that we could move on.
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The clean-up for the lesson went very smoothly, each group put their pictures back into the
baggies and returned them to me in an orderly fashion. In general, I think the lesson went very well. In
the future, I might want to be more strict when explaining instructions to the students so that they
understand exactly what they are supposed to be doing and when they are supposed to be doing it. My
confidence level could also improve, but I understand that being confident when controlling a
classroom is something that improves with time and experience. I look forward to teaching my next
lessons as a practicum student and believe that this lesson was a good starting point for my teaching
career.

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