Reading Lesson Plan

JMU Student Name: Anna Holcomb Grade Level: Pre-K Date/Time you plan to teach the lesson: Feb. 14, morning read-aloud

Lesson Type: READ ALOUD

Title, Author & Summary of the Text Used in this Lesson:

“The Biggest Valentine Ever” by Steven Kroll, Illustrated by Jeni Basset
The story is about two mice, Clayton and Desmond, who try making a valentine for their teacher together, but end up
fighting as they don’t agree on how much supplies they should use. When they try making valentines on their own, they
both think that theirs isn’t as good without the other friend. The next day at school they work together to make a giant
valentine card that looks like a mouse for their teacher.
Describe how and provide a rationale for the way you have grouped students for this lesson:
Students will be sitting in their spaces on the carpet. It is the largest space for the children to sit, as opposed to the lunch
tables outside, and the best way to get all the children facing forward for the story.

Standard(s) Addressed: Virginia Literacy Foundation Block 5; Print and Book Awareness

Objectives: “The child will demonstrate knowledge of print concepts and understand the connection between the spoken
and written words”
The students will… upon being prompted, identify the cover of the book, and where the title is. They will be able to
follow along with the reading, as I move my finger with the text. They will be able to point to where the reading begins on a
page i.e. the first word. And they will be able to distinguish the words from the pictures.

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 Reading Lesson Plan

JMU Student Name: Anna Holcomb Grade Level: Pre-K Date/Time you plan to teach the lesson: Feb. 14, morning read-aloud

Tier Two Vocabulary Words and Student Friendly Definitions:

Valentine (person) – a person who you love on Valentine’s Day

Valentine (card) – a card sent to someone you love on Valentine’s Day
Glared – to look at someone in an angry way
Lopsided – one side of an object is a different size than the other side
Mischievous – a person who looks mischievous looks like they are going to cause trouble
Doily – a piece of pretty paper people use to decorate plates as well as art projects
Marched- marching in line

Materials needed/preparation of the learning environment:

The book, the carpet with the squares. To prepare the environment, I will stand at the front of the carpet to introduce the book

Plans for differentiation:

If students struggle to pay attention, I can ask them to move closer to the front of the classroom, the closer they are, the
more engaged they usually are

Before Reading
Engage: Describe how Once students are seated, I will tell them that during this book, the two mice will Time
you will: be making Valentines. I will ask the students to help me cut out paper using their
hands as scissors when the mice are cutting, and to put hearts on the paper 5 min
● capture students’

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 Reading Lesson Plan

JMU Student Name: Anna Holcomb Grade Level: Pre-K Date/Time you plan to teach the lesson: Feb. 14, morning read-aloud

interest and when the mice are by poking their hand.

introduce the text;
● activate students’
background
knowledge; and
● set the purpose for
listening

Explore: Describe how I will preview the text by asking students where the front of the book is, and where Time
you will: the title of the book is. I will then ask students what they think will happen in the
book based off of the title. 2 min
● preview the text

During Reading
Explain: Describe how On page 4, I will ask the students to cut out the valentines with their hands Time
you will: On page 5, I will ask the students to glue the hearts on with their hands
● model/explain your On page 7, I will ask the students if the mice are using kind words. The answer is 20 min
thinking (list page no, so I will ask what the mice said that wasn’t kind (It looks awful.)
numbers and what On page 15, I will ask the students to cut out the valentines with their hands
On page 17, I will ask the students to cut out the valentines with their hands
you will say/do)
On page 22, I will ask the students to cut out the valentines with their hands
● invite students to
On page 25, I will ask the students to glue the hearts on with their hands
model/explain their On page 28, I will ask the students to glue the hearts on with their hands
thinking about the
words? (list page
numbers and what
you will say/do)

After Reading

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 Reading Lesson Plan

JMU Student Name: Anna Holcomb Grade Level: Pre-K Date/Time you plan to teach the lesson: Feb. 14, morning read-aloud

Elaborate: Describe I will ask students if they learned anything from the text. I will then point out that the Time
how you will: words tell a really interesting story and help us to tell stories to more people.
● engage students in 2 min
developing a more
sophisticated
understanding of the
purpose for listening

Evaluate: Describe I can encourage the students later to make their own Valentine’s for their families Time
how you will: later during centers if they want to. They can make hearts just like the mice did!
● encourage students 3 min
to assess their
understanding and
abilities
● evaluate (formally)
student progress
toward achieving the
educational
objectives

Closure: Describe how That week the students will be going over Fairy Tales. I will ask the students if they Time
you will: know of any Fairy Tales where people love each other. I will then remind the students
● remind students of that Valentine’s cards are given to people who we love, just like we made Valentines 2 min
the lesson objective for our friends!
● link the new
learning to future
learning

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 Reading Lesson Plan

JMU Student Name: Anna Holcomb Grade Level: Pre-K Date/Time you plan to teach the lesson: Feb. 14, morning read-aloud

What could go wrong with this lesson and what will you do about it?

Student’s could easily lose focus. They are inn Pre-K and around 4-5 so it is difficult for them to sit still for very long. To
try and fix this, I will encourage participation from the students who appear to be losing interest, to bring them back to the
subject.

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 Reading Lesson Plan

JMU Student Name: Anna Holcomb Grade Level: Pre-K Date/Time you plan to teach the lesson: Feb. 14, morning read-aloud

Reflect on this experience in a narrative format. Please do not include the questions in your reflection.

The lesson plan presented was intended to follow some of the core ideas of Virginia Foundation Blocks for Print and Book

awareness. The children in my practicum classroom are learning basic reading skills, so the main objective of my lesson was to

reinforce their ideas on concepts such as the front and back of the book, as well as the title. I helped meet these objectives by

addressing these as well as pointing to each word as I read. This hopefully helped the students to see the differences between the

words and pictures on the page. These ideas for how to instruct students in their literacy came from the quote “Instruction may include

modeling how print is organized, pointing to words on a page as they are read, and having children “finger-point read” memorized

text” (Dept. of Education, 2013). Although the lesson was taught in a whole-group setting, I helped by doing the “finger-point

reading” since the students couldn’t each do this. Another main objective of mine was to engage the students for an extended period of

time. I did this by continually asking students to engage in physical motions to go along with the text, such as cutting the hearts and

gluing them. I tried to make the read aloud as interactive as possible, taking inspiration from the quote “Probably the most valuable

activity is the instructional procedure teachers use to read stories and other books aloud that’s known as interactive read-alouds. As

they listen, children learn new vocabulary and acquire more sophisticated sentence structures” (Tompkins, 2010). I met this objective

of increased interaction with most of my students, but with both objectives, some students just couldn’t focus. I heard a few students

complain that Mrs. Long, their teacher wasn’t reading as “that’s what you always do Mrs. Long.” Additionally, although I tried to be

strict with the students by calling their names, some students just wouldn’t read along with me, or pay attention to the story at all.

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 Reading Lesson Plan

JMU Student Name: Anna Holcomb Grade Level: Pre-K Date/Time you plan to teach the lesson: Feb. 14, morning read-aloud

I chose this story because I wanted to do a themed story! I knew that I would be doing this lesson on Valentine’s day, and

because of that, I wanted to incorporate a Valentine’s story. I actually picked out this book as it was recommended to me by my CT.

She said it was a book she frequently read to her students in the past, and they enjoyed the story. This book, once I researched it was

recommended for Pre-K students as well, which made me feel better about my decision. Overall, the students who were paying

attention seemed to enjoy the story too! Every student brought in Valentine’s for their peers this year, so they were familiar with the

idea of giving Valentine’s to friends on Valentine’s Day. (Many brought cards for their teachers as well, like the mice in the story.)

The story went well because this was something the students had just recently learned about, and they were familiar with the concept

of giving Valentine’s cards and candy. The only thing I wish I had changed was being more direct with the students. I struggle with

this because I am afraid of coming off as “mean” or “over-bearing” and although my CT has encouraged me to be a little harsher, this

is still something I struggle with. As opposed to older kids, just asking Pre-K students to stop, I have learned does nothing. Sometimes

my CT has to physically make them stop doing something by grabbing them, or giving them explicit consequences for their actions,

but I struggle with this. I think that this was my biggest mistake with my lesson. Although I had good intentions, some students lost

focus, and I couldn’t bring them back in, several times my CT had to bring their attention back to me. I think also I began to read

faster at one point when I got nervous. I tried to catch myself at some points, but it was nerve-racking having so many little faces

looking at me.

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 Reading Lesson Plan

JMU Student Name: Anna Holcomb Grade Level: Pre-K Date/Time you plan to teach the lesson: Feb. 14, morning read-aloud

I think the biggest change I could have made was being more direct, but I also think this activity may have been more effective

for a teacher to do in small groups, but that wasn’t really an option in my classroom, as there wasn’t really a time for me to read this

story to small groups. If I were to do an activity similar to this in my own classroom, I would try and break the class up into smaller

groups, that way it is easier for me to keep track of everyone who was paying attention, and I could encourage the students to do the

“finger pointing,” as opposed to myself doing it. There was also little time to do a closure activity in the classroom, as the students had

nearly lost interest, so my CT quickly dismissed the students to centers. I assume this is something that comes with age as well to

some degree. I would have loved to talk more to the children about their interpretations of the texts and what they liked about it. As

stated in one of our texts, “Wells (1995) reported that when teachers controlled talk, they tended to guide meaning toward their own

interpretations, but when they acted as participants in discussions with students, meaning tended to be collaboratively constructed”

(Hoffman, 2011). Although I did define terms to the children and encouraged them to think about whether some things were kind, I

don’t think I engaged as much as I would have liked post-discussion, partially due to the length of the book. I wish I could have

paused to discuss more throughout the book as well, without losing the interest of the students.

References:

Hoffman, J. L. (2011). Coconstructing Meaning: Interactive Literary Discussions in Kindergarten Read-Alouds. The Reading
Teacher,65(3), 183-194.

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 Reading Lesson Plan

JMU Student Name: Anna Holcomb Grade Level: Pre-K Date/Time you plan to teach the lesson: Feb. 14, morning read-aloud

Tompkins, G. E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Virginias Foundation Blocks for Early Learning: Comprehensive Standards for Four-Year-Olds. (2013). Richmond, VA: Dept. of
Education.
Criteria Excellent Acceptable Needs work Self- Points
evaluation
score

OBJECTIV 3-4 Points 1-2 Points 0 Point 4 4/4

ES & Objectives are explicit Objectives are not clear Objectives
MATERIA and materials are listed. and minimal discussion are not
LS It is clear what you want about what students are there. Not
students to learn. The to learn. clear what
objective(s) matches the Worksheets are used. students are
lesson and no to learn.
worksheets were used. Worksheets
are used.
BEFORE 3-4 Points 1-2 Points 0 Point 4 8/8
Includes prompting Includes prompting Questions
questions and questions and is are not of
motivational activity connected to the book good
quality
DURING 3-4 Points 1-2 Points 0 Point 4 12/12
At least 3 Only 1 No stopping
questions/stopping questions/stopping points, Tier
points, questions include points, questions include 2
higher level thinking higher level thinking vocabulary
questions. Tier 2 questions. Tier 2 or student
vocabulary is introduced vocabulary is introduced engagement
and clear student but lacks clear student .
friendly definitions are friendly definitions
used. Only 1 differentiation

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 Reading Lesson Plan

JMU Student Name: Anna Holcomb Grade Level: Pre-K Date/Time you plan to teach the lesson: Feb. 14, morning read-aloud

Multiple differentiation options are discussed.

options are discussed. Student engagement is
Student engagement is incorporated.
incorporated.
AFTER 3-4 Points 1-2 Points 0 Point 3 15/16
Closure involves student Closure involves student Closure is
input and is directly input none
related to the book existent
REFLECTI 3-4 Points 1-2 Points 0 Point 4 19/20
ON All Reflection questions Reflection is minimal Reflection
are addressed (no page and very surface level. does not
limit) Discussion is too brief show
Discussion about how to how to improve lesson. growth of
improve the lesson. how to
change
lesson

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