Little Cat, Big Cat Lesson Plan

Mike Labagh

Little Cat, Big Cat

Lesson plan

Subject

Fountas and Pinnell Reading Series

Topic

Setting

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 story, the students will identify the setting of the story and discuss how the setting of a story is an integral part of a story.

·           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 text – Little Cat, Big Cat – nonfiction – Book 97, Level L

·         Lion DVD

·         Fountas and Pinnell journals and word bags

·         Pens and pencils

·         Vocabulary handouts

·         Printables

·         Paw Print Stickers

·         Paw Print Shell

Motivation

Teacher will say, “Today we will learn about the importance of a setting in a story. The setting of a story is where the story takes place. If we change the setting in a story, the story may not make sense or it may not be able to happen at all! Before we begin, let’s look at a shell that has an imprint of a tiger paw on it. We will be studying lions and cats as we learn about the setting of a story.”

Activities

·         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 story, the students will identify the setting of the story and discuss how the setting of a story is an integral part of a story.

·         The students will complete related activities.

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

Practice Activity

The students will read the story, Little Cat, Big Cat. After they have reviewed the vocabulary and read the story, the students will identify what the setting for the cat and the lion are. The students will list details that helped them create the setting. The students will then change the setting of the cat and the lion. The animals will switch setting. The students must identify what will happen to the lion and the cat. The must use their new knowledge of these animals to predict what will happen. They can use their texts to help them with this. The students must create at least 1 realistic outcome and describe their position using at least 4 examples from the text. The teacher will guide the students as necessary. If the students prefer to use a graphic organizer to help them, they can do so. One is attached.

Independent Activity

The students will complete 2 different setting worksheets. The students will create characters or identify a setting to fit into a setting. The students will then make connections to stories or movies that they have seen or read and describe their settings based on where they happened.

Evaluation

·         Participation

·         Completed Extension exercises

·         Completed setting exercises

Closure

The teacher will ask the students what the purpose of the lesson was. The teacher will ask the students if they can identify the settings from Little Cat, Big Cat. The teacher will remind the students that the setting of a story is always important and without it, we wouldn’t have any stories that make sense.

Assessment

Assessments are on-going. The students will have to identify the setting of a story on their DRA assessments, during their small group reading books throughout the year and even on the state mandated Connecticut Mastery Tests.