Name: Nicholas Anderson

Natural Disasters – What is a natural disaster?

Text needed: Natural Disasters by Kathleen M. Reilly, supplemental: kid’s choice

(*optional for beginning the unit)
Materials: Fix-up strategies bookmark, Natural disasters wheel foldable, sticky notes, chart
paper.
Common Core State Standard:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text
as the basis for the answers.
3-ESS2-2 Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
Key Points: Natural disasters, science, climate, and weather

Before Reading

Anticipatory Start the lesson by talking about reading comprehension and what our
Set/Hook inner conversation is. Ask: Do you know what comprehension means?
How about inner conversation?

After giving the students information on what reading comprehension and

inner conversation is about, talk about fix-up strategies. This is where the
bookmarks can be handed out that have fix-up strategies on them.

Introduce the natural disasters wheel foldable. The students will fill this
out as we learn about the specific events covered on the wheel and in the
text.

Lastly, go over the exit ticket. It may be a good idea to go over this after
reading too, but at least give them an idea of what is expected of the exit
ticket to check for understanding and closure of the lesson.

Ask: What questions do we have before we begin the lesson?

I will then move on to talking about weather. Ask: What is weather and
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what are natural disasters?

Divide your chart paper into 3 columns or rows, write: before, during,
and after on it and use the question that was posed about What is weather
and what are natural disasters? to model what the students should be
doing during reading. This is a great place for students to start with
questions or comments before really digging into the book.

● Reading Skill or Strategy:

● Comprehension Skill or Fluency: Comprehension questions, fix-up strategies

● Vocabulary:

o Oxygen – a gas in the air that people and animals need to breathe to stay alive.

o Earthquake – when pieces of the outer layer of the earth move suddenly.

o Erupt – to burst suddenly.

o Volcano – an opening in the earth’s surface through which lava, ash, and gases
can burst out.

o Atmosphere – the gases surrounding the earth.

o Water vapor – the gas form of water in the air.

o Lava – hot, melted rock that has risen to the surface of the earth.

o Tsunami – an enormous wave formed by a disturbance under the water, like an

earthquake or volcano.

o Civilization – a community of people that is advanced in art, science, and

government.

Learning I can read and discuss “What is a Natural Disaster?”.

Target

I can use fix-up strategies to help me comprehend the text.

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I can think critically about weather.

During Reading

During Choose a sentence to misread to demonstrate how the fix-up strategies can
reading work. (Example: “Imagine ancient times, at the base of a huge, smoking
mountain.”. Our sentence is incorrect because I was reading too fast and
missed some words. Ask: Could I reread the text, so it makes sense? Do you
think that maybe I should adjust my reading speed and read slower?”).

The students will continue to use sticky notes to ask or answer questions
based on what they are reading. If the student has a question that prevents
them from moving forward with reading, encourage them to raise their hand
or even provide the question mark cards. There will be a spot for during
reading on our chart paper for the student questions and answers.

After Reading

After We will take a moment to post question/answers sticky notes on the chart
Reading paper before we move on to answering questions throughout the reading.
Hopefully at this stage the before and during questions will be answered.

We will discuss any fix-up strategies the students used during our reading of
this section of our book.

Check for understanding: Have students post the sticky notes throughout the lesson, if a
question is answered, put a smiley face or check mark on that post it notes on the bottom right
corner.

Closure: Exit ticket. 3 things I learned, 2 questions I have, and 1 sentence summary.
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Next Steps: The students will learn about the next weather event during our next lesson and
learn how to use that to make a connection with the content.

Reflection: What went well? What surprised you about the lesson? What changes can you
make for next time? Who needs what reinforcement?

This was day one of our six-lesson series, which also integrated our first lesson on

monitoring comprehension. We began our lesson by discussing the different components and

expectations of this unit, as the students would also need an end project as per CT

recommendation. The idea was to do a project the students could return to the whole class and

talk about, it was the hope of the CT that students would want to do their own from the

inspiration of their classmates. I introduced the chart paper first and split it into three sections

titled: before, during, and after. I instructed that we would use sticky notes to ask questions or

write down ideas throughout the lesson. I then introduced the weather wheel. The group was

given two options. 1. They follow along with the weather event we are discussing and add one

fact about that event and move on to another event. 2. Students picked a weather event they were

interested in, and they had to use the weather wheel to tell five facts about that weather event.

The weather wheel components were handed out to the students and option 2 was chosen. We

then discussed who wanted to study which weather event. The last introductory item for

discussion was our exit ticket. I went over the ticket with them and encouraged they do the best

they can. Our template asked for three things they learned today, two questions they had, and a

one sentence summary.

My group is a mix of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students. The standards chosen for the lesson

were set at third grade level as the students chosen were at a higher achievement level. Starting

our lesson, I asked if the students knew what comprehension or inner conversation were. That
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became question number one on their sticky notes. I asked for a volunteer to tell me what they

were thinking about, one student said they were thinking about what natural disaster we were

learning about today. I pointed out that thinking that in the mind was part of inner conversation. I

then made an example on comprehension using the exit ticket. One thing I will learn about

today… signifies part of our comprehension on what we learned today. I made sure to use more

examples to model the “I do” for the students. Leading into our lesson was the question “What is

a natural disaster?” at this time I handed out the section we would be reading together. I asked if

there were any questions prior to reading, and if there were to write them down and post them on

the chart paper.

Our during reading phase, I paused in the middle of the text to ask some questions. One

question was, what were natural disasters for our ancestors? The students answered the question

with “mysteries”. I then asked what all we’ve learned about up to this point? I told them that I

learned about tsunamis, and they answered with “earthquakes, tornados, and volcanoes”. At this

stage we continued reading to finish our section. My final question to them was why do you

think this section has earthquake safety information? The students answered with, “to help us be

prepared for one.” I asked if we had any further questions before referring them to the exit ticket.

I told them they should fill out as much as they can being that this was our first session together.

I asked that they please turn them in so I can get pictures of them before they went in the

student’s folder, but I only received one.

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The weather wheel

Student response (1) exit ticket

Name: Nicholas Anderson

I feel this lesson went well. The objectives of the lesson were covered, and the students

really seemed excited to learn about natural disasters. This theme was chosen as a suggestion

from my CT, and I was able to find a book that deals with natural disasters and could create the

lessons to follow by weather event. I was surprised to learn that there was no type of lesson

support for this book, so it is going to be fun working with the book. There are projects that we

might even explore with the weather events. What surprised me most was the student

participation and their thoughts and ideas as we got started up to the conclusion of our lesson for

the day. The group selection was appropriate for the lesson. I included my example of a weather

wheel and a student response for the exit ticket as evidence to support the comprehension

component, the weather wheel is an ongoing project that will continue to monitor student

comprehension on the weather even they have chosen. What I would change about this lesson

was maybe not having so much to cover to start the weather unit. The students did great with

going over everything, but it just seemed a tad cumbersome. We did discuss fix-up strategies and

the students’ received bookmarks. These bookmarks proved useful for not only holding a place

in the weather book of their choosing, but also to help them with reading issues. One student

during reading time called me out for missing a word unintentionally, so then I prompted the

question as to which strategy(ies) could I use to fix my error. The responses were read slower

and reread the sentence. This was an impressive first lesson. Even though there were a lot of

componenets involved, it was evident the students were able to learn what I was teaching and

were able to demonstrate that they understand and use comprehension is reading.
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Fix-Up Strategies Bookmark