Literacy Unit

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LESSON PLAN 1

Name: Joshua Hakimian


Lesson Title: Using Context Clues to Define Text
Based Vocabulary

Grade/Level: 2nd
Number of Students: 21
Structure(s) of grouping for the lesson:
o Whole Class
o Small Group
o One-to-one

Curriculum Standards
RL.2.1: Ask and answer such questions as who,
what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate
understanding of key details in a text.

Essential Question(s)
How does the author provide clues within the text
to assist the reader with defining text-based
vocabulary?
How can the reader utilize context clues to
decipher the meaning of text-based vocabulary?

RL.2.7: Use information gained from the


illustrations and words in a print or digital text to
demonstrate understanding of its characters,
setting, or plot.
Lesson Objective(s)
Students will utilize context clues to decipher the meaning of text-based vocabulary.
Instruction
Material/Resources:
o A Chair For My Mother by Vera B. Williams
o SMART board

Motivation/Connection: In subsequent lessons the children will work on identifying how characters from
the story respond to the challenges and events that happen to them. In order to understand the challenge
that the family faced in this story, the children will need to acquire an understanding of what certain words
that the author utilizes to describe the events that happen to the family. This lesson will help children to
define key text-based vocabulary words so that the children will better understand the events in the story,
and can thus begin to see how the characters respond to the challenges they face.
Instructional Procedure:
o Model: The teacher will model the type of thinking the students should do in order to decipher the
meaning of key vocabulary words in a text. The teacher will demonstrate to the children how one
should utilize their background knowledge as well as clues from the text to help come up with the
meaning.
o Guided Practice: The teacher will begin by describing context clues. Then the teacher will inform
the children of the word they will be defining. The children will also be asked to turn to the
page in which the word is used and one child will be asked to read the sentence aloud to the
children. The teacher will then assess the childrens experience with that word by asking
them how familiar they are with the word and its definition. The children will express their
understanding by pointing their thumb in the direction that is in accordance with their level
of understanding. From there, the teacher will understand how much background knowledge
is required for the children to bring up before the children begin discussing the definition of
the words with their group members. The children will be asked to use text evidence to
Revised Spring 2011

support the definitions. The teacher will circulate to different groups, and scaffold
instruction as needed, as well as ask for students to refer to the text for evidence. The
teacher will then ask the children to reconvene, and begin a discussion about the word and
its definition. Children will be allowed to agree or disagree with their fellow classmates and
their claims, as long as they bring up evidence from the text to dispute it.
o Independent Practice: The children will work on completing the context clues worksheet.
Closure: Students will share out the sentences they created for the words in the text.
Differentiation/Planned Support
Progress Monitoring: During the independent practice the teacher will circulate the classroom to assist
those children who need help with filling out the worksheet. The teacher will scaffold instruction to those
students who need it by offering additional questions and feedback to assist them with the task. Based off
of the teachers observations, the teacher can be inclined to pull a small group at a later time to reteach the
concept or provide direct instruction so that the child can work towards meeting the intended objective.
The teacher will help guide the students with the task. The teacher will prompt the students by asking them
What do you think the word means? and What clues does the author provide that made you think this
way?
The teacher will explicitly explain the directions at the beginning of the lesson when he or she is modeling
the activity to assist those students who may need assistance with processing the directions. The teacher
will also break down the directions into simple terms. During the group discussion the children will be
paired heterogeneously in that stronger students will be paired up with weaker students in reading. The
stronger student will assist the weaker student with the task being worked on during the lesson. Also, when
finding supporting details to find the meanings of the words, the children will be allowed to use both the
text and illustrations. The worksheet provided also have tiered questions. Children will be asked to
complete as much as the sheet as possible. The teacher will assist the children with the objective by
providing the necessary amount of background knowledge in order for the children to come up with the
meanings of the intended words. The amount of background knowledge the teacher provides will be based
off the assessment the children at the beginning of each new word. The students who are struggling readers
will be inclined to use the illustrations while the more advanced students will be inclined to use the text.
Lastly, this lesson will also support students with different learning styles, as the lesson supports many of
the multiple intelligences originated by Henry Gardner. Some of the multiple intelligences that will be
benefited include, but are not limited to verbal/linguistic, visual, interpersonal, and intrapersonal learners.
Assessment
Formative (Informal): Students will be evaluated based off the responses that they provide during the
think pair share portion of the activity. The students will also be assessed informally based upon the
responses they provide during the closure portion when they share out their answers from the independent
practice to the entire class. The teacher will also assess the students when he circulates during the
independent practice portion of the lesson. The teacher will ask the students to express their level of
understanding with each new word they work on defining.
Summative (Formal): The students will be assessed formally on their performance on the worksheet.

Revised Spring 2011

LESSON PLAN 2
Name: Joshua Hakimian
Lesson Title: Inferring Character Traits

Curriculum Standards
RL.2.1: Ask and answer such questions as who,
what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate
understanding of key details in a text.

Grade/Level: 2nd
Number of Students: 21
Structure(s) of grouping for the lesson:
o Whole Class
o Small Group
o One-to-one
Essential Question(s)
How does the way in which a character responds
events and challenges in the story help tell us
about the character?

RL.2.3: Describe how characters in a story


respond to major events and challenges.
RL.2.7: Use information gained from the
illustrations and words in a print or digital text to
demonstrate understanding of its characters,
setting, or plot.
Lesson Objective(s)
1. Students will understand how a characters thoughts, feelings, and actions help us better
understand the character.
2. Students will also understand a character responds events and challenges in the story help tell us
about the character.
3. Students will infer character traits based off evidence from the text and illustrations.
Instruction
Material/Resources:
o A Chair For My Mother by Vera B. Williams
o SMART board
o Character web graphic organizer
o Inferring Character Traits Graphic Organizer
o Inferring Character Traits Anchor Charts
Motivation/Connection: The children will be asked to recap the challenges that the family in the story had
to face. In recapping these challenges, students will be encouraged to refer back to the text, and find
relevant text evidence to support their claims. Children can also utilize their acquired knowledge from the
previous lesson to describe the familys circumstances, as the vocabulary words that the children worked to
define directly relate to the familys challenges. In the story, the family end up losing all their possessions
in a fire, and the words explain the outcome of many of their possessions after the fire. The teacher will
then explain how a reader can better understand a character by the way in which the character chooses to
respond to the events or challenges that he or she faces in the story. In order to do this, the reader needs to
pay close attention to how the characters thoughts, feelings, and actions in the story. The teacher will also
explain that the author provides clues in the text, and illustrations that tells us about the character, similar
to the previous lesson. Similar to how the children used context clues to figure out the meaning of
vocabulary words, they can also infer character traits by looking at the characters thoughts, feelings and
actions. Character traits are inferred when the author doesnt directly tell us something about a character.
Revised Spring 2011

Instructional Procedure:
o Model: The teacher will focus on examining the girl in the story as a character. When examining
the girl as a character, the class will be asked to fill out a character web for the girl. Upon receiving
the character web, the children will be instructed to write girl in the middle. The teacher will
direct the children to a moment in the story when the girl comes home from shopping for shoes
with her mother to see that fire trucks have blocked off the area near her apartment. Upon learning
that their apartment was on fire, the girl instantly asks about her grandmother who happened to be
home. The teacher will model his thinking aloud to the children, and explain how the girl is caring
because she thought about her grandmother and her safety before thinking about her own material
possessions. After this, the children will model how to fill out the character web. In each bubble,
the children will be required to write the trait. Next to the bubble, the child will evidence from the
text that supports their claim. Page numbers will also be required.
o Guided Practice: For the guided practice, the class will continue to focus on examining the girl as a
character. Along with the children, the teacher will continue to direct them to various moments in
the text that relate to how the girl responded to the challenge, and ask the children how her
behaviors help illustrate her character. In addition, the class will continue to examine how these
behaviors help us better understand her as a character. At another point in the story we see that the
girl puts half of the money that she earned into a jar that is being used by her family to collect
money that will be used to purchase a new chair. Upon bringing up this example, the children will
engage in a Think-Pair-Share with their assigned partner to see what this action tells us about the
character. The students will share out their responses. After a brief discussion, the students will
work on reaching a consensus on what character trait can be used to describe the girl, and then fill
out the character web accordingly.
o Independent Practice: The children will continue to look through the story to find other examples
that tell us about the girls character. The children will be encouraged to look for examples that
focus on the girls actions, thoughts, and feelings. The children can utilize the text and illustrations
to provide evidence to justify the traits they choose. The children will also be provided with another
graphic organizer that will allow them to infer character traits for characters of their own choosing.
Closure: The class will reconvene and the children will share out some of their responses from the
character web, as well as provide relevant text evidence to support their claim. The children will be
allowed to evaluate their fellow classmates interpretations, and state whether or not they agree or disagree.
The children must also explain why they agree or disagree. The teacher will fill out his character web
based off the childrens responses. The children can also state if they came up with different traits based
off of similar examples from the story.
Differentiation/Planned Support
Progress Monitoring: During the independent practice the teacher will circulate the classroom to assist
those children who need help with inferring character traits to describe the girl. The teacher will scaffold
instruction to those students who need it by offering additional questions and feedback to assist them with
the task. Based off of the teachers observations, the teacher can be inclined to pull a small group at a later
time to reteach the concept or provide direct instruction so that the child can work towards meeting the
intended objective. The teacher will help the students with making appropriate inferences when identifying
the character traits. The teacher will also direct the children through a picture walk through the book to see
if the children are about to identify events from the text that can be used for the task. The teacher will
prompt the students by asking them What does this event tell us about the girl? and What does the girls
reaction tell us about her character?
The graphic organizers will serve as a way for students to organize their thoughts in a collective and
efficient way. The organizers provides space for the children to identify character traits that describe the
girl, as well as room underneath each bubble for the students to provide relevant text evidence to support
Revised Spring 2011

their claim. The teacher will also model how to fill out the graphic organizer during the beginning of the
lesson, and will also model the thinking that needs to occur to make proper inferences to identify
appropriate character traits to describe the girl. The teacher will think aloud in front of the children so that
the students can utilize a similar thought process, or utilize similar types of questions when working during
the independent practice portion of this lesson. In addition, the teacher will also model how to fill out the
graphic organizer by having a copy of the character web displayed on the SMART board for the children to
see. The character web will remain on the SMART board throughout the entire lesson for the children to
refer to if they are having difficulty with filling out the web properly. The teacher can also redirect students
to look at the SMART board if they appear lost or do not understand directions. Moreover, the teacher will
also explicitly explain the directions at the beginning of the lesson when he or she is modeling the activity
to assist those students who may need assistance with processing the directions. The teacher will also break
down the directions into simple terms. During the independent practice, students will be given the choice to
work on the character web alone, but will be allowed to begin working with partners if they need
assistance. The teacher will pull those students who need extra assistance in identifying character traits and
these students will work directly with the teacher in a small group. During the Think-Pair-Share activity
the children will be paired heterogeneously in that stronger students will be paired up with weaker students
in reading. The stronger student will assist the weaker student with the task being worked on during the
lesson. Also, when finding character traits to describe the girls reactions, the children will be allowed to
use both the text and illustrations to make inferences. The students who are struggling readers will be
inclined to use the illustrations while the more advanced students will be inclined to use the text. Providing
the children with the choice to choose their characters during the independent practice is a form of
differentiation. Lastly, this lesson will also support students with different learning styles, as the lesson
supports many of the multiple intelligences originated by Henry Gardner. Some of the multiple
intelligences that will be benefited include, but are not limited to verbal/linguistic, visual, interpersonal,
and intrapersonal learners.
Assessment
Formative (Informal): Students will be evaluated based off the responses that they provide during the
think pair share portion of the activity. The students will also be assessed informally based upon the
responses they provide during the closure portion when they share out their answers from the independent
practice to the entire class. The teacher will also assess the students when he circulates during the
independent practice portion of the lesson, as well as when he works with the small group of students.
Summative (Formal): The students will be assessed formally on their performance on the character web
graphic organizer, and if they were able to locate relevant text evidence to support their claims A rubric
will be utilized to assess each childs performance.

Revised Spring 2011

LESSON PLAN 3

Name: Joshua Hakimian


Lesson Title: Understanding Why Characters
Make Certain Decisions

Grade/Level: 2nd
Number of Students: 21
Structure(s) of grouping for the lesson:
o Whole Class
o Small Group
o One-to-one

Curriculum Standards
RL.2.1: Ask and answer such questions as who,
what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate
understanding of key details in a text.

Essential Question(s)
How does the author provide key details in the text
to allow the reader to develop an understanding of
why people make certain decisions?

RL.2.3: Describe how characters in a story


respond to major events and challenges.
RL.2.7: Use information gained from the
illustrations and words in a print or digital text to
demonstrate understanding of its characters,
setting, or plot.
Lesson Objective(s)
1. Students will understand how the author provide key details in the text to allow the reader to
develop an understanding of why people make certain decisions
Instruction
Material/Resources:
o A Chair For My Mother by Vera B. Williams
o SMART board
o Contribution Graphic Organizer
Motivation/Connection: In the previous lesson, the children examined how the girl in the story responded
to events in the story, and described how she was as a character based off her reactions. For this lesson, the
children will now continue to look at the major events in the story, but focus on more characters than the
girl. In the story, the family loses many of their possessions in a fire. The family works hard to save money
so that they may purchase a new chair for the family to use. Other supporting characters in the story work
to also help the family restart their lives after the fire. The teacher will explain how the children will
examine why these characters help. This is so that they may start to develop an understanding of why
people make certain decisions. The students will begin the lesson by having a discussion about certain
times when they decided to help friends. The teacher will have a few students present some stories, and
then ask the children to think about why the students chose to act this way. Some students will present their
answers to the class, but all the children will be given time to come up with an answer. The teacher will
challenge the students to see if the characters in the story make certain decisions for similar reasons or
different reasons.

Revised Spring 2011

Instructional Procedure:
Day 1
o Model: The teacher will model how to complete the graphic organizer.
o Guided Practice: For the guided practice, the class will continue to focus on how the family pays
for the new chair. Along with the children, the teacher will continue to direct them to various
moments in the text that relate to how the family responded to the challenge, and ask the children
how did each family member contribute to help purchase the chair? In addition, the class will
continue to examine how these behaviors help us better understand the girl as a character, from the
previous lesson. Upon bringing up this example, the children will engage in a Think-Pair-Share
with their assigned partner to see what each action tells us about the family member, including the
grandma and the mother. The students will share out their responses. After a brief discussion, the
students will work on reaching a consensus on finding out how each family member assisted with
paying for the new chair, as well as what can we say about each family member based off their
actions.
o Independent Practice: The children will continue to look through the story to find examples and
supporting details that tell us how other characters helped the family.
Day 2
The teacher will resume the conversation that the children had the following day with helping out
friends, and discussing why we choose to help friends. Once the children have completed their
graphic organizer, the children will be asked to write why they believe the characters in the story
chose to help the family members. The children must include evidence from the text, using their
graphic organizer. The children can also provide an illustration.
Closure: The class will reconvene and the children will share out some of their responses from the graphic
organizer, as well as provide relevant text evidence to support their claim. The children will be allowed to
evaluate their fellow classmates interpretations, and state whether or not they agree or disagree. The
children must also explain why they agree or disagree. The teacher will fill out his graphic organizer based
off the childrens responses.
Day 2
The teacher will also ask some children to share their writing response.
Differentiation/Planned Support
During the independent practice the teacher will circulate the classroom to assist those children who need
help with locating supporting details to fill out their graphic organizer. The teacher will scaffold instruction
to those students who need it by offering additional questions and feedback to assist them with the task.
Based off of the teachers observations, the teacher can be inclined to pull a small group at a later time to
reteach the concept or provide direct instruction so that the child can work towards meeting the intended
objective. The teacher will help guide the students with the task. The teacher will prompt the students by
asking them Who are we focusing on? and What are we trying to find out about this character? The
teacher will also compile a small group of students on the second day if students are having difficulty with
composing their writing.
The character web will serve as the graphic organizer for this lesson. The graphic organizer will serve as a
way for students to organize their thoughts in a collective and efficient way. The organizer provides space
for the children to identify the character as well as space to provide relevant text evidence to support their
claim. The graphic organizer will be scaffold, as some graphic organizers will provide no support, while
other graphic organizers provide more support by offering the characters name and/or page number. The
teacher will also model how to fill out the graphic organizer during the beginning of the lesson, and will
also model the thinking that needs to occur to make proper inferences to identify appropriate supporting
details. The teacher will think aloud in front of the children so that the students can utilize a similar thought
process, or utilize similar types of questions when working during the independent practice portion of this
lesson. In addition, the teacher will also model how to fill out the graphic organizer by having a copy of the
graphic organizer displayed on the SMART board for the children to see. The graphic organizer will
Revised Spring 2011

remain on the SMART board throughout the entire lesson for the children to refer to if they are having
difficulty with filling out the web properly. The teacher can also redirect students to look at the SMART
board if they appear lost or do not understand directions. Moreover, the teacher will also explicitly explain
the directions at the beginning of the lesson when he or she is modeling the activity to assist those students
who may need assistance with processing the directions. The teacher will also break down the directions
into simple terms. During the independent practice, students will be given the choice to work on the
graphic organizer alone, but will be allowed to begin working with partners if they need assistance. The
teacher will pull those students who need extra assistance in identifying supporting details and these
students will work directly with the teacher in a small group. The teacher will also compile a small group
of students on the second day if students are having difficulty with composing their writing. During the
Think-Pair-Share activity the children will be paired heterogeneously in that stronger students will be
paired up with weaker students in reading. The stronger student will assist the weaker student with the task
being worked on during the lesson. Also, when finding supporting details, the children will be allowed to
use both the text and illustrations. The students who are struggling readers will be inclined to use the
illustrations while the more advanced students will be inclined to use the text. The teacher will also provide
students with sentence frames to refer to when they are providing text evidence on their graphic organizer.
Struggling writers can utilize these sentence frames to assist when formulating their sentences. Struggling
writers can also quote directly from the text when they are providing text evidence, while more advanced
writers can paraphrase about the events from the text. When composing the writing piece, student will be
allowed to use a laptop to write their piece. Spelling and punctuation will not graded for weaker writers,
but will be for stronger writers. Lastly, this lesson will also support students with different learning styles,
as the lesson supports many of the multiple intelligences originated by Henry Gardner. Some of the
multiple intelligences that will be benefited include, but are not limited to verbal/linguistic, visual,
interpersonal, and intrapersonal learners.
Assessment
Formative (Informal): Students will be evaluated based off the responses that they provide during the
think pair share portion of the activity. The students will also be assessed informally based upon the
responses they provide during the closure portion when they share out their answers from the independent
practice to the entire class. The teacher will also assess the students when he circulates during the
independent practice portion of the lesson, as well as when he works with the small group of students.
Summative (Formal): The students will be assessed formally on their performance on the graphic
organizer, and if they were able to locate relevant text evidence to support their claims A rubric will be
utilized to assess each childs performance.

Revised Spring 2011

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