Book it! Watch it! Repeat!

By: Whitney Staggs

1st Grade/Language Arts

Common Core Standards:

Key Ideas and Details

- RL.1.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

- RL.1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

- RI.1.9 Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in
illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).

Lesson Summary:

This lesson plan that I have brainstormed for my future classroom is for my students to gain complete
knowledge of how to identify characters, the setting, and major events in both a book and a movie setting.
Before this assignment students previously learned the definition of what characters are, what a setting is, and
what events are in a storyline. Following what my students learned before, they will be assigned to spin a
digital wheel that will randomly select 1 of 6 books in which they will be assigned to read through there EPIC
book account both in class and at home. Once the students have completed their novels, I will provide the
episode/short film of the book that they chose on a smartboard in my classroom for my students to watch.
When the students have finished reading the book of their choice and watched the animated film of the story,
they will fill out a digital Venn-diagram that I have set up on a google classroom for their personal accounts
and they will compare and contrast their movie and book choice. I will ask my students to make sure to take
notice of the descriptions of the settings, characters, and events in both written story and animated story. They
will turn in their completed diagram that they worked on in the classroom folder through their google
classroom account. (parents/guardians may need to assist their child with this final step of this assignment).
After the students have completed their Venn diagrams, they will be required to take two short quizzes on the
book that they chose to read and the movie that they watched.

Estimated Duration:

Five 50-minute class periods + extended time to work on the digital Venn diagram and finish assigned reading
at home if needed.

Commentary: This lesson is one that I intend to introduce at the beginning-middle of the year to my 1st
graders. I will begin the lesson by reading a book aloud, (such as the Berenstain Bears) to hook my students
and then after reading the book, I will display the short episode of the book of the Berenstain Bears for my
students to enjoy. Then, I will present a large Venn-diagram on the smartboard to my students that also
includes information/a word bank that includes information from both the movie and the book that I read. I
will call on each student to come up one by one and place a tab in the Venn Diagrams where they think it
belongs between or if it belongs in the middle of the Venn-diagrams which means that the tab fits both the
description for the movie and book. After I have showed my students what a Venn-Diagrams is used for,
which is to compare and contrast this particular book and show, I will provide the students with 6 choices of
books where they will each get the opportunity to spin a digital wheel that will pick what book they are
assigned to read. This way students will not all choose the same book to read, based on the length and
“easiness” of the storyline. The students will complete the reading of their choice in approximately 2 class
times, and after that I will project each of the films for the other 3 class periods which will take majority of the
assignment. The main challenge that my students will approach will be contrasting the difference between the
book and the movie because they are most likely to have more similarities than differences.

Instructional Procedures:

Day 1:
First 15 minutes: I will have all of my students gather around on the class carpet and have a seat while I wait
patiently until everyone is quiet. I then will introduce the book that I am reading, (The Bernstein Bears) to the
class, and remind them to keep their hands to themselves and to pay attention to the illustrations, characters,
events, and the setting of the story. Then I will begin to read the short story.
Next 10 Minutes: Read the entire short story to the class.
Next 5 Minutes: Set up the short episode of the book that I just read to my students.
Last 20 Minutes: Watch episode with students.

Day 2:

First 10 Minutes: Set up smartboard and project the digital Venn-Diagram that I made for the example that I
will be presenting to my students as a reference to their upcoming project. Then introduce what the purpose of
the Venn-diagram is, and why I am using it to help the student gain better knowledge of the elements of a
story.

Next 20 Minutes: Call up each student buy random (with my popsicle stick names) and have them choose one
piece of information into one of the three circles of the Venn diagram that they think is either different between
the movie or the book, or something that was similar between the two.

Next 10 Minutes: Look over what the students have come up with and correct any mistakes that they have
made, or put in the wrong circle.

Next 3 Minute: Pull up smartboard, with the digital spinner that I created on https://tools-
unite.com/tools/random-picker-wheel?names=Bernstein Bears,Judy Moody,Junie B. Jones,The Giving
Tree,Clifford the Big,Dr. Suess
previously to this class period.
Last 6 Minutes: Randomly pick students out of my popsicle stick jar which has each induvial student name on
them to come up and spin the spinner to see what book they are assigned to read for this lesson.
Day 3:
First 5 Minutes: Call up students by alphabetical order to come up and retrieve their classroom iPads to use to
pull up their EPIC accounts so they can begin to read their story that they were assigned by the spinner.
Next 30 Minutes: Students will be split up into groups based on what book they have been assigned to read.
They will take turns reading aloud to one another and complete 1/2 of the book. If they did not complete the
targeted goal of reading they may finish at home on their EPIC accounts using their computers. I will walk
around during this time to make sure everyone is reading within their groups and taking turns page by page.
Last 15 Minutes: I will announce to the students if they did not finish reading they will finish that night for
homework and come in tomorrow to read the second portion of the book.
Day 4:
First half of the class: Students will resemble into their groups and finish reading their books.
Second Half of the class: Have each student get their classroom iPad and log into YouTube, where I have
rented the short films of each of the different books that each student has read. They will watch the film for the
remainder of the class.
Day 5:
First 5 Minutes: Have students retrieve iPads, and log into google classroom where I have embedded a link that
will redirect the students to a Venn-diagram where they can compare and contrast the book and movie that
they completed.
Rest of Class Period: Have the students work on Venn-Diagram and if they do not complete the assignment
they can finish for homework and then submit the finished Venn-Diagram through google classroom, and then
I will check who has completed the project and grade their assignments accordingly.

Pre-Assessment:
For my pre-assessment, I will be using a formative approach. I plan to use the example of the lesson that I am
completing with my students (during day 1&2) to see if they understand that knowledge/definitions of the
following…. Character, setting, and events, and if they know how to identify them. I will keep notes of which
students seem to be comfortable with the Venn-Diagram and identifying which information goes between the
three circles of the Venn-Diagram.

Scoring Guidelines:
I plan to closely evaluate each student when they are listening to the book that I am reading aloud to the class,
and I will observe each student as they take part in the placing information in the class Venn-Diagram. If a
student is hesitant, or does not seem like they understand what is going on, or is asking many questions that I
have answered multiple times, I will lace those specific students in a separate group with me during the
actually lesson/assignment so I can monitor and assist them with completing the assignment and gaining the
knowledge that I am trying to achieve or them to know. The students that look and feel confident in the
assignment and understand the criteria, I will allow them to spin the wheel and take forth in the assignment.

Post-Assessment:
The final copy of the students Venn-diagram will give the teacher an idea of a particular student’s mastery of
the lesson and comparing and contrasting two texts and understanding and identifying key events and details. I
will also have a formative assessment as my post assessment and will be in the form of a short multiple-choice
quiz that my students will take in class on the classroom iPads. A combination of the students final copy of
their completed Venn-diagrams and quiz will allow me to evaluate what each student learned from the lesson.

Scoring Guidelines:
For each student Venn-Diagram I will evaluate them by a grading scale from 0-4. A “0” on a project till mean
that the student did not attempt nor complete the assignment. A “1” will represent that a student’s Venn
diagram has minimal information and the student did not participate during the in-class lesson. A “2” will
represent that the student has some information but some of the information is placed into wrong places. A “3”
will represent that a student has a good amount of information and only a few errors of where the information
is misplaced. A “4” means that a student had no errors and seemed like they completely understood the
assignment and participated in class when the lesson was being taught. In addition to this grading scale based
on the student’s final project I will also be provided a short 10 question quiz in which my students will
complete on the final day of the lesson, (Day 5). This quiz will be based on a 10-point scale, where each
question is 1 point, which means I will grade it on a percentage scale. Based on the completed assignment and
assessment I will evaluate the student’s mastery of the lesson.

Differentiated Instructional Support

For students who seem like they are already exceling in this lesson I will pull them aside and encourage them
to choose a more difficult book to use for the assignment, such as a second-grade level book. I will also let
them read the book by themselves instead of being in a group with the rest of the class that is reading 1st grade
books, so they will not have to sow down for the other students.

If the student still seems like they are struggling with the content I will refer them to student tutors in the
school, and I will even work with them after school or during recess hours to make sure they at least are close
to mastery of the subject.

Extension
https://www.education.com/activity/first-grade/fiction-comprehension/
Students can go to the website above if they are having a difficult time with this particular lesson of learning
how to compare and contrast between two versions of the same story. This website provides activities that can
help students learn how to identify character traits, settings, and important events in an anecdote.
Homework Options and Home Connections
With teaching 1st grade students, homework isn’t an overload of work, however as a future teacher I will still
provide some sort of homework every week for my students to gain more confidence knowledge for
themselves, and also to prepare them for 2nd grade the following year. I will encourage parents to read to or
with their child every day for at least 15 minutes so their child can experience downtime and learn new
vocabulary and hopefully gain a love for reading. Also, I will encourage parents/guardians to monitor their
child while playing on technology, and limit them to have their child spend only an hour a day on any type of
technology that they are using for their enjoyment. Time spent on educational based websites, games, and
activities exclude my recommendation of time they spend on technology.

Materials and Resources:

For teachers - Smartboard

- Computer
- Projector
- Digital wheel spinner
- Selected Movies
- Digital Venn diagram on class website
- Popsicle Sticks with names on them

For students - Computer or desktop, or laptop, or iPad

- Smartboard
- Google Classroom Account
- An “EPIC” Account

Key Vocabulary
-Characters, setting, compare, contrast, similar, different, Venn – Diagram,
Links for Tech-Based Applications
https://tools-unite.com/tools/random-picker-wheel?names=Bernstein Bears,Judy Moody,Junie B. Jones,The
Giving Tree,Clifford the Big,Dr. Suess

https://my.visme.co/edit/67772202e610da7a603447b44534dbd8/8i4p5CHKVC3FiyoqToP8INZh7XIusy2KCV
2-m62cOK8=

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1v8q6xsipah_V1ZzPE3Q26UTflAxsvGPaTun7vjcKbd4/edit

References:

https://www.education.com/activity/first-grade/fiction-comprehension/

https://tools-unite.com/tools/random-picker-wheel

https://my.visme.co/edit/67772202e610da7a603447b44534dbd8/8i4p5CHKVC3FiyoqToP8INZh7XIusy2KCV
2-m62cOK8=#

http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Learning-in-Ohio/English-Language-Art/Model-Curriculum-
for-English-Language-Arts/Grade-1-Revised-ELAMC-Feb2018.pdf.aspx?lang=en-US