Lesson Plan 2 Whole Group

	Dinosaurs Before Dark
Date created:		11/13/2013 7:52 PM (CST)
Format:		Arkansas Tech Format

Just in case links don't work, all worksheets and pictures are attached below! :)

GENERAL COMMENT AREA
General Comments
VITAL INFORMATION
Author	Jessika Hintson
Grade/Level	Grade 2
Subject(s)	Information Literacy, Reading
Standards	CCSS.ELA-Literacy.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
Objective(s)	Students will identify at least 5 characteristics of 4 dinosaurs in a columned-comparison chart with 100% accuracy. BL-1                              MI-Linguistic
IMPLEMENTATION
Set	In whole group, I will ask a few questions: What do you know about dinosaurs? Are they friendly or mean? Do you know if their skin is rough or soft? Do you think they are reptiles or mammals? When did they live on the Earth? Were there people that lived on Earth with them? Why do you think that? Name a few dinosaurs that you know of (Barney, Little foot, Ducky, Dino, Godzilla, and King Kong). Are the dinosaurs you know real or fictional?      From here, I will bring out the book and introduce it to the class. I want everyone to see the cover and then I will ask them to predict what happens in the book. Do you think we will talk about dinosaurs? Which dinosaurs do you think we will talk about? We will then bring out the graphic organizer.      This organizer is going to work like a KWL chart except we are going to talk about what they know before and then what they know after about the four dinosaurs in the book. I am using a picture to represent each column because at grade level 2, students are going to struggle with the names and this will be something we might try to use as an opportunity for invented spelling. Also, the pictures will help students with noticing the characteristics of the dinosaurs.
Learning Activities/Time Required	Time required: one hour a day for six days. Day 1 (Friday)           The book has 10 chapters. It would be a lot for students to read two chapters by themselves, so I will introduce the book and read the first chapter. After reading the first chapter I will ask students what descriptions they heard in the book. I will write the descriptors on a sticky note and then ask the students if they can remember what dinosaur that description was talking about. I will choose a student to add the sticky note on the smart board which will have the graphic organizer on it. Remember that this part of the graphic organizer will go below the line to represent after reading the chapters. To give the students a writing opportunity, I will have the chosen student copy the descriptor on the SMARTboard below the sticky note.          The students will read chapter two on their own over the weekend. I want all students to keep sticky notes of any description they see about each dinosaur. These descriptions should be a one word answer and will help students with their writing skills and comprehension of the book. Day 2 (Monday)       The first thing we will work on is reviewing chapter 2 with the students. I will ask for the class to break up into groups of 5 students. In this group, I want all students to talk about the chapter: what happened, what descriptors they got, what more do they know about the dinosaurs, have they seen those dinosaurs before? After about 10 minutes, I will have everyone go back to whole group and we will talk about the answers they got. We will again convert the answers to sticky notes and add them to the organizer.        On the reading carpet, I will read chapter 3 for the class and repeat the discussion steps. It is important that students make text to self-connections about similar dinosaurs that they know and whether they are similar or different. Students will read chapter 4 at home. Day 3 (Tuesday)         We will again revert back to groups and discuss what happened in the chapter. I will go around and make sure students are on track and give a little support when they can't identify the words or they may have missed a characteristic in the book. We will go back to whole group and convert to sticky notes which will go on the organizer. Then I will read chapter 5 for the class on the reading carpet and discuss it. Students will be asked to read chapter 6 at home. Day 4 (Wednesday)        Follow the same steps for what we have been doing all week. I will read chapter 7 for the class and discuss it; students will be asked to read and keep notes on chapter 8. Day 5 (Thursday)        Follow the same steps for what we have been doing all week. I will read chapter 9 for the class and discuss it; students will be asked to read and keep notes on chapter 10. Day 6 (Friday)        The book has been completed. On the final day of the lesson we will finish up our group and whole group discussions. Then I will take off all of the "after reading" sticky notes and I will go through the "before reading" knowledge. I want to go through each of the sticky notes and find out if the class agrees or disagrees with each of the statements.
Closure	In closure, I will remove all of the sticky notes and ask a few questions: Did you learn a lot about dinosaurs? Would you like to go back to those times to see them or would you be scared? What dinosaurs did you learn about? I would then ask the final question: what did you learn about each of these dinosaurs?      We will be in whole group and we will start with the graphic organizer again. My goal is to see how much the students truly retained over the whole week. I believe that this may be difficult and they will need a bit of guidance. Here is where I want the students to be able to have retained at least 5 characteristics of the 4 dinosaurs. This will be a review before the final assessment.
Resources and Unit Handouts	Materials and resources: "Dinosaurs Before Dark" by Mary Pope Osborne (The first Magic Tree House Book--Chapter book) You will need a book for every student for the next week. Assessment and Activity Sheet Sticky Notes for all students Technology resources: Open Office, SMARTboard The number of computers required is 1. Students Familiarity with Software Tool: The SMARTboard is used every day in the class: for morning work and classroom activities. Students get to use it at least twice a week. The SMARTboard will be how we keep the graphic organizer interactive for all the students. It will display the organizer. Attachments: 1.    Dinosaurs Characteristics.docx Activity Sheet/Graphic Organizer
Grouping for Instruction	Throughout the week, we will be working in groups, whole group, and interactive writing settings. We will begin the lesson in whole group and introduce the set and book. We will transition from whole group to the reading carpet for reading the chapter in class. Once complete, we will transition to groups so students can interact with others and discuss what they learned. Afterwards, we will go back to whole group to review and separate characteristics of the dinosaurs. There are a few ways that we will transition smoothly: from reading carpet or groups, I will state "Okay class, let's use our inside voices, rise up, and quietly tip toe back to your seats. To transition from desks to groups or reading carpet, I will use the tune of "Frère Jacques" "Are you listening, are you listening, table one, table one, come and sit on the carpet, come and sit on the carpet, table one, table one" this tune is sung in the rhythm of the song "Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques".
Adaptations / Modifications / Interventions	Academic The average student will be asked to come up to the chart and place their chosen object. The low performing student will need more help and should work two on one with the teacher. The student should not be kept from working with a peer because the student that needs the most help may be able to get that help from a student that can perhaps explain it in a different way. Keeping the student from peer help is also bad socially, as it promotes isolation. You may want to pair up a high performing student with children of lower performance to act as a guide. The high performing students have many options to them. These students may choose to work on the lesson alone to show their ability. These students may work with their groups and then (if finishing faster), may write a reflection on what they wrote with a journal. Behavior Students that present behavior problems such as acting out, ADD/ADHD, and uninvolved appearance may be asked to work one on one with the teacher. You may also choose to move these students to the front of the room or isolate the child from peers that keep distracting them. Cultural Some students may be ELL (English Language Learners) and may struggle with communicating the reflections of the chapters to their peers or to themselves. These students should have the necessary tools to translate what their language is into what English numbers they need to know. These students may also need direct instruction from the teacher to communicate more efficiently. Sitting the student with peers of the same cultural background may help with this activity, and possibly having the child sit near the teacher will help communications without isolations. Physical This activity will be best utilized on the floor or carpet area. If the carpet area is not large enough, the tables may need to be cleared to the sides of the room so that students may use the floor. Children with hearing problems may also need the chart discussed above as it will promote close interaction that may be beneficial to hearing easier. If you have a student that is completely deaf, have the student work one on one with the teacher to not only be communicated with through numbers but also so the child can visualize how much a number represents in objects. Students with eye problems will also benefit from the chart as it is easier to visualize the characteristics. Printing out the activity sheet for them to keep at their desk will help them reference it often to work on understanding the concepts and studying for future assessment.
Technology Integrated	Throughout this continued lesson, the entire class will get a chance to interact and write on the SMARTboard. The SMARTboard provides a great way to "blow up" our graphic organizer and helps students practice their writing with easy erasing and engaging colors.   Parent Connection I will be sending out a newsletter probably the Wednesday before we begin the lesson. I would like to ask that parents send plenty of sticky notes with their students and keep a package at home to help with the chapter readings. It is important for them to know that they really shouldn't read the book for their child, but let the child read the book to them. I would also send home a list of questions for each of the reading chapters and have the parents ask the children those questions to focus their comprehension. Questions like "What did you learn about the triceratops". Furthermore, it would be great if there was a discussion between the students and parents about all the sticky notes the child has kept. I will provide a blank sheet for each of the chapters read and I will ask the parents to watch and guide students into drawing the dinosaurs with coordinating characteristics and practice writing the name of the dinosaurs. I will ask that the parents send these drawings back to school the following days of the chapters.
ASSESSMENT
Assessment Activity	For the assessment over our lesson the students are going to match randomized characteristics of the four dinosaurs to the dinosaur it identifies. I think this will be good because it is hard for younger students to put their thoughts into words and come up with specific identities for each of the dinosaurs, but providing the dinosaur characteristics will help students identify the characteristics without recalling 20 separate facts.
Expectations for Performance	Students have to get 5 characteristics matched correctly for each of the 4 dinosaurs. I expect a high performance level of at least 90% (18 out of 20). I believe they will do well because we have taken a week to discuss, explain, and review over all of the characteristics the book identifies. Having the students match instead of think off the top of their heads will also increase the expectations I have.
Assessment/Rubrics	I am attaching the graphic organizer that will be displayed on the SMARTboard. This activity sheet will also be used for the comprehension assessment with sticky notes that have characteristics on them. Attachments: 1.    Dinosaurs Characteristics.docx Assessment and Activity Sheet
Reflection	I know that this lesson looks a lot like a unit plan. However, I am simply trying to show the process of using a chapter book with a lesson plan. If this were a unit plan, there would be many lessons and objectives to address and there would be far more activities to keep the students engaged. This lesson plan is focused on one objective and follows a single process multiple times. This activity would most likely be used as a unit plan and the activities here would be followed with actual hands-on activities after each reading and discussion.          I like this lesson plan because it works on student comprehension throughout the book. Furthermore, connecting dinosaurs to literature is great for integrated curriculum. Ultimately, I would like to add a few more interactive activities for the students to really grasp their comprehension in a visual way. Also, I know the assessment is the same worksheet used for the set, but the line that separates the "before" and "after" reading will be removed. This will ease students' minds with the assessment because it is a tool we have worked with before. Also point out that I added actual examples of what students would cut out and glue into their charts. I have extra descriptors so that the students are given hints by process of elimination to make the assessment more efficient.