The Pirates Lesson Plan

Mike Labagh

Lesson Plan

The Pirates

Subject:

Fountas and Pinnell Reading Series

Topic:

Resource references – dictionary, almanac, atlas, encyclopedia, telephone book, dictionary, and thesaurus

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 examples, students will be able to know and identify resource materials and how to use them

·         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 Pirates – fiction – Book 118 – Level L

·         Pirate artifact box – eye patches, treasure, compasses, for each student

·         Vocabulary Handout

·         Printables

·         Fountas and Pinnell word bags and journals

·         Pens and pencils

·         Atlas, encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, almanac, and telephone book

Motivation:

Teacher will say, “Today we will learn about resource materials, or how to find information. It is important to know where to look for information. We need to know how to get to places, find people, find restaurants, learn facts, or learn definitions of words. This is a skill that you will need to learn so you know what to do when you aren’t in school. We are also going to read a story about pirates. Has anyone ever heard of pirates before? What are they like? Let’s look in our artifact box before we start learning. I bet there’s something for everyone in the box that each of you can keep when we are done!”

Activities:

After the students look through the artifact box which contains eye patches, treasure coins, and compasses, the students will……

·         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 examples, students will be able to know and identify resource materials and how to use them.

·         Given related activities, the students will complete them.

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

Practice Activity:

After the students read, The Pirates, he students will be given an atlas, almanac, encyclopedia, dictionary, telephone book, and thesaurus. The students will orally discuss with the teacher the similarities and differences of each book. The teacher will reference the vocabulary handout that was given to the students before they began their reading. The teacher will ask the students what reference guide can be used to find the definition of a word, which book to use to find out how to get somewhere, where I can look to find a telephone number of a person, where to look to find out facts for the year 2009, where I can look to find information about the Presidents of the United States, and where I can look to find synonyms of words, like if I wanted to use another word for pretty. After each student orally responds and the teacher guides throughout this lesson, the students will complete a worksheet on filling in the blanks about reference guides. The teacher will guide the students as needed and as a small group, the group will review their answers when they have finished. The reference guides will remain on the desk as visual reminders of where to find information. The students may also use their vocabulary handout to help guide them throughout this exercise.

Independent Activity:

The students will complete an assignment on reference guides by matching the words to the definitions. The students can simply draw a line to match the words or they can cut out each section and glue the words to the definitions. The students will then complete 9 questions about reference guides that monitor their learned knowledge of these concepts. As a group we will review the answers. The students will be encouraged to do this assignment either independently or with a partner, but with no guidance from the teacher.

Evaluation:

·         Participation

·         Completed extension activities

·         Completed resource references assignments

Closure:

The teacher will restate what the purpose of the lesson was – using reference materials to locate information. The teacher will ask the students where they can find directions to a place, the meanings of words, synonyms for words, facts about something for the year 1997, the address to a restaurant with a telephone number, and information on the greatest wrestlers of all-time. The teacher will then state the information is all around us and we just have to know where to look to find it.

Assessment:

Assessments on this topic are on-going. Eventually the students will have to locate specific information in these reference guides, utilize alphabetical order practices, and use these guides when they become adults. The words and information will become more advanced as reading practices become more difficult. The students are also assessed on this information on the CMT’s and district reading programs that the students will eventually participate in.