City Mouse and Country Mouse Lesson Plan

Michael T. Labagh

Special Education

Lesson Plan: The City Mouse and the Country Mouse    

Subject:

Fountas and Pinnell Reading Series – Book 87 – Level K

Topic:

Comparing and Contrasting

Objectives:

·         Given vocabulary, the students will participate and practice new vocabulary words in the story by giving an example of each word in a sentence of their own.

·         Given a text, the students will complete a picture walk and make oral predictions about what may happen in the text or what the text is mainly about.

·         Given the text, the students will complete a read aloud of the text in small groups.

·         Given a printable worksheet, the students will know and be able compare and contrast the city mouse and the country mouse from their text.

·         Given a text, the students will know and be able to read it while participating in a running record assessment.

Methods:

·         Direct instruction – small group

·         Modeling

·         Guided practice

·         Application

·         Assessment

Materials:

·         Fountas and Pinnell – The City Mouse and the Country Mouse – fiction – Book 87 – Level K

·         Artifact Box – 2 stuffed mice, a mouse trap, plastic food, hay, and a bottle of bubbles

·         Vocabulary Handout

·         Printables

·         Fountas and Pinnell Word Bags

·         Fountas and Pinnell Journals

·         Pencils and Pens

Motivation:

Teacher will say, “Today we are reading about a city mouse and a country mouse. Let’s look into our artifact box and see if we can tell what will be in the story and if we can predict what will happen in the story before we read it.”

Activities:

·         The teacher will introduce the book; The City Mouse and the Country Mouse after the students have made predictions from the artifact box. The teacher will activate the students’ prior knowledge of what a city and what a country is.

·         The students will practice the vocabulary in the text.

·         The students will complete a picture walk of the text.

·         The students will complete a read aloud of the text.

·         The students will complete a Venn diagram comparing the City Mouse and the Country Mouse.

·         The students will complete related activities.

·         The students will complete a running record of The City Mouse and the Country Mouse.

Practice Activity:

The teacher will provide a Venn diagram of himself and a paraprofessional in the classroom. Together the teacher and the students will complete the Venn diagram. As the teacher draws a Venn diagram, the teacher will refer to it as both, a Venn diagram or the double bubble. The teacher will label the Venn diagram as different (one part of the Venn diagram – to the left, same – where the two circles overlap one another, and different – to the right, or over the second bubble). The teacher will then label Mr. Labagh on one side and Ms. Samone on the other. The students are not copying their own Venn diagram at this time, they are participating by orally giving responses and having them placed in the Venn diagram, either by the teacher, or by them writing their response. The teacher will guide as needed. In this case, the teacher will provide at least one answer for each bubble of the Venn diagram, with a minimum of 4 responses for each section of the Venn diagram.

Independent Activity:

On a separate sheet of paper, the students will complete their own Venn diagram using the characters from The City Mouse and the Country Mouse. Each student must identify, 4 four differences for each mouse and 4 similarities in the same section of the Venn diagram for a total of 12 responses.

Evaluation:

·         Oral responses throughout the lesson

·         Completed Venn diagram

·         Completed extension activities

·         Completed running record

Closure:

The teacher will ask the students what the purpose of the lesson was. The teacher will be looking for responses that denote new vocabulary, comparing or contrasting, or participating in reading lesson of new text. The teacher will sum up the lesson after the students have shared their responses.

Assessment:

·         Assessments are on-going. Narrative writing prompts are administered on 3^rd and 4^th grade level CMT’s. The students will be participating in narrative writing throughout the course of the school year.

·         Comparing and contrasting is a skill utilized during many academic areas. Using a Venn diagram visually assists students when they are learning to compare and contrast. As the students become more familiar with this skill, responses will be increased from 4 to several, pending on each student’s ability to compare and contrast.

·         Running records are on-going. Each lesson plan created contains a running record. This assessment provides information to the teacher that each student can individually read a story that is presented to them independently.