LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

Early Childhood & Elementary Education Programs

Name(s):

Sophia Schneider

Initial Plan

Revised Plan

Date & time activity is to be presented:

Date initial written plan is submitted to the practicum teacher and supervisor: 10/5/2015
(MUST be at least two weeks before the activity is to be conducted)
To be completed by the practicum teacher:
I have reviewed this initial plan and approve it as written.
I have reviewed this initial plan and approve it with the recommendations noted. I expect to have a revised
plan that reflects these recommendations on the day the activity is presented.
I have reviewed this initial plan and recommend modifications as noted. I expect to have a revised plan that
reflects these recommendations one week before the activity is presented.
I received this revised plan a week in advance.
___________________________________
Signature of Teacher /Practicum Supervisor

________________
Date Received

TITLE OF ACTIVITY

Read Aloud: Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

CONTEXT OF ACTIVITY
Read Alouds are very important for students because they help to introduce new vocabulary and compresension skills.
They give students an interest in reading and expose them to literature above their grade level. Students enjoy having books
read aloud to them and it is never a bad time to read a book about being kind to others.

CONCEPTS/SKILLS

OBJECTIVES

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

What do you want students to

learn as a result of this activity?
OR
What skill do you want
students to demonstrate?

How will students demonstrate

understanding of the concept?
OR
How will students demonstrate
success with the stated skill?

How will you assess student learning of the concept?

OR
How will you assess student demonstration of the skill?

1: understand
2: know
3: do

The students will be able to

explain
The students will be able to
name
The students will be able to

the concept of filling a bucket to be kind to others.

some ways to fill the bucket of others.
identify bucket-filling behaviors and bucket dipping
behaviors.
(Attach a copy of the data collection
instrument to this document.)

RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS

K.5 b) identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.
K.5 e) Match voice with print.

K.9 b) relate previous experiences to what is read.

MATERIALS NEEDED
Book: Have You Filled a Bucket Today? Written by: Carol McCloud and illustrated by: David Messing
Buckets for students
"bucket fillers" for buckets (I used small felt pumpkins to go with the fall theme)
paper bucket worksheets
markers, crayons, and colored pencils
PROCEDURE
Preparation of the learning environment (take a picture to include with your reflection).
Find a place where children have plenty of room to sit and have a flat surface to write on. I will have all of ther materials
for the activities with me so that I can pass them out during and after the read aloud. They will be less distracting this way.
Plan for taking turns during the activity
I will call on students who raise their hands quietly to answer questions during the lesson. I will make sure that
all students have a turn to answer. If students interrupt others while they are answering, I will explain to them
that they are using "bucket dipping" behaviors and that being respectful of others while they talk is a "bucket
filling" behavior. If students talk without raising their hands quietly, I will explain that they are dipping into my
bucket because they are not being respectful of me while I am talking.
Introduction of the activity to children (and families, if possible)
I will introduce the activity by sharing the name,author, and illustrator of the book. I will then explain that we will be
reading a story about how to fill a bucket.
I will ask for a few predictions about what students think it means to fill a bucket based on the cover of the book.
I will read the story to the students.
I will stop on page 7 to explain that our buckets today are visible, but usually we can't see the buckets like the story tells us.
I will continue to read and stop again on page 11 to ask students again how they can fill a bucket.
I will stop again after page 12 to reiderate what it means to fill a bucket.
I will stop again on page 18 to practice filling buckets. I will ask the students to pair up by finding their "pumpkin partner"
and say one nice thing to each other. Pumpkin partners can be found by matching the number on the back of their pumpkin
with the number of another stuent. We will go over a few nice things that we can say so they have some ideas then each
student will use their numbered pumkin to fill their partner's bucket.
I will then explain that when you fill a bucket you fill your own too because it feels good to make others feel good.

Implementation of the activity (specific procedure for teacher and students)

Once the story is over, I will pass out a paper bucket to each student and they will write their names on it. I will then
explain that they need to decide on a "bucket goal" that they think they can accomplish every day. I instruct them to raise
their hands when they have come up with a goal and write it on their bucket for them. We will then talk as a group about
what each student wants to do to fill a bucket today.

Closure and cleanup

Once the activity is over, I will collect the buckets and put the materials back where they belong.
PLANS FOR DIFFERENTIATION
If a student cannot write their name, I will write it in highlighter for them and let them trace it. To accommodate students
who may not understand certain words, I will stop on the words invisible, neighbors, purpose, caring, ignore, and neighborhood to
check for understanding. I may say the word then immediately state its meaning so that students who don't know the word can hear
what it means without taking up a lot of time. With words that most students may not know, I will pause and ask if anyone can

name the word. If a student is able to give an answer I will fill their bucket. I will also need to be aware of students who struggle
with behavior. I will need to make sure that I involve them as much as possible so that they will stay engaged in the lesson.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Opening of lesson: sometimes students get excited when they see a book cover so when I show them the
book they may immediately have a lot of questions about it. I can address this problem by reminding them that we
need to be quiet and respectful before showing them the book. If they still shout questions I will tell them that there will
be plenty of time for questions or comments later.
During the lesson: For all of the questions that I ask, I need to be prepared to help facilitate the conversation by
offering my own answers or rewording my questions until students are able to contribute. If I notice that students are
getting restless during the read aloud, I can try to ask more questions throughout the story to improve engagement. If
students need to go to the bathroom during the lesson I will let them go to avoid accidents. If students ask to get water
during the lesson I will ask if they can wait until the end of the lesson and if they cannot I will let them go quickly and
quietly. If students ask any questions or make any comments that are innapropriate I will tell them that we can talk
about them later.
Closing of the lesson: I need to be prepared to scaffold as needed with the bucket goals. I may also need to help
students brainstorm a bucket goal if they are having trouble coming up with one on their own.
SUPPLEMENTAL PLANS FOR PARTNER TEAMS

Reflection
This lesson reflects the course content because the book is slightly above grade level so it is perfect for a read aloud. It uses
language that is easy for a kindergartener to understand, but introduces a couple of new words as well. The story is about general
friendship and acceptance of all people and that subject area is always encouraged in a kindergarten classroom. As a part of my
activity, I used small felt pumpkins as bucket fillers which is on topic in this class because they are currently learning about
pumpkins. I also employed number identification because the class is working on counting. For my bucket worksheet, I made sure
that students wrote their own names because they are all able to and assisted with writing goals. I assisted with writing the goals
because the students cannot yet spell words since they are still learning their letters. I introduced the front cover, back cover,
author, and illustrator of the book, which is a standard of learning for this grade level.
To prepare for this lesson, I first had to make a decision about which book I would use. I decided that Have You Filled a Bucket
Today? was perfect because it does not overstep any boundaries, but it puts the idea into childrens heads that we need to be kind
to everyone. The book begins by claiming that we all carry invisible buckets that are filled when we receive kindness and dipped
into when we are treated unkindly. When choosing my first activity, I wanted the students to be able to visualize this metaphor so I
brought in real buckets and even asked them to share the buckets so we could practice as many ways to be kind as possible. I
decided to use the numbered partners so the children could find their partner themselves which gives them a sense of
independence. Rather than being forced into a partnership, its left up to chance. I decided on the bucket goal activity because I
wanted the students to have something concrete to hold on to after the lesson so they dont forget what we worked on. It also gave
me a great opportunity to assess how well the students retained the concept of bucket filling. Another important thing that I
thought about was how I would speak to the students. Ive been watching my cooperating teacher a lot to pick up on the tone and
cadence that she uses when she speaks because I want the students to respond to me and I thought that hearing a familiar tone
would achieve that. She also likes to pause before some key words in her instructions to let the students fill in the blanks so I tried
to incorporate that into my teaching as well.
I assessed student progress during the read aloud itself by asking questions. I planned out some questions ahead of time, but added
some in during the lesson as I felt out the concepts that students were responding to and misunderstanding. I asked a lot about their
ideas for how to fill a bucket and presented them with situations that they had to determine as bucket fillers or bucket dippers.
I also made sure to ask about the parts of the book. I assessed their number identification by watching to see who was able to find
their pumpkin partner. I assessed their ability to be kind to each other in an appropriate manner by observing while they practiced
bucket filling. I also assessed their ability to generalize the information that we worked on by asking them to come up with a
bucket goal that they can meet every day rather than asking for one nice thing that they could do in a specific situation. Many of
the students came up with impressive goals like I will love everyone while others struggled to make theirs more general and
ended up with I will give flowers to Landen.
There is always that one thing that you feel like an idiot for doing as soon as youre in the moment of the lesson. I wish that I had
made the pumpkin partners letter matching rather than number matching since this was a literacy lesson. That way I could assess
letter identification. I also think that I could have benefitted from planning out a break in the middle of the lesson. Halfway
through, I noticed the students getting antsy so my cooperating teacher suggested that we take a quick brain break and dance

around a little. The lesson involved a little too much sitting in one place for kindergarten. Another thing that I did not expect was
an abundance of hugging. We discussed the idea that giving a hug could fill someones bucket and all of a sudden all of the
students were up giving each other hugs. This was adorable and I couldnt bare to discourage hugging, but it got us a bit off topic.
Maybe next time I could set out a specific time for giving your neighbor a hug so that they get that out of their systems. I was very
pleased with how receptive the students were to the metaphor in the story and I would definitely read this book again. I think that
the students did a great job practicing bucket filling and discussing during the lesson as well so I would use the same facilitating
techniques that I did this time in the future. Even though some bucket goals were better than others, my cooperating teacher really
liked the idea and in fact hung all of the buckets up outside of her classroom. I really love the message of this story and have
actually seen some teachers use it as the basis for their classroom management plans. We even continued using the phrases bucket
filler and bucket dipper for the rest of the day.

A copy of the data collection instrument for this activity is attached.

This plan must be submitted to the practicum teacher AND your supervisor
TWO WEEKS prior to the activity date.