Kathryn Ivy Gilley

A Reading Lesson on the story “Sarah, Plain, and Tall”

Grade 2, 3, and 4

Original Lesson Plan: http://lessonplanspage.com/lareadsarahplainandtall24-htm/

Before Class

Standards

ISTE NETS-S: Technology Operations and Concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations.

            a. Understand and use technology systems.

ALCOS: 2.) Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text. [RL.4.2]

Objectives/Goals: At the end if the lesson students will:

• Be able to read and understand, “Sarah, Plain, and Tall.”

• Be able to discuss and summarize.

• Contribute to group discussions.

• Seek the ideas and opinions of others.

• Begin to use evidence to support opinions

• Formulate questions that might be answered the selection.

• Summarize what has been read.

Focus: Summarizing and Theme

Pre- Requisite Knowledge:

• Before the lesson I will write Kathryn, small, and funny, ask the students to explain what they think it means. Have them predict from the name of the title who, where when and how?

• Before the lesson students will also be asked about their previous knowledge of “Little House on the Prairie” and discuss it. Therefore they will need to have some knowledge about it.

Resources/Materials Needed:

•  Book “Sarah, Plain, and Tall”

•  Edmodo

• Smart Board

• Pencil, Paper, and Markers

During Class

Time: This lesson will take 4 class periods.

Procedure:

• Students will come in everyday needing to have a certain amount of Chapters read from the book “Sarah, Plain, and Tall”.

• After reading the required chapters they will need to go to the EDMODO page for the class and summarize what they have read and what the main idea was like throughout those chapters.

• After they have summarized four different times for the four different class meetings, then they will be asked to get into groups.

• Upon getting into groups they will be asked to draw a picture of what they think life would have been like in Sarah’s time. Focusing mainly on what they wrote in edmodo about the main idea of the setting.

• After finishing their pictures, each group will come up to the smart board one by one and draw their picture as a group on the smart board.

• Then finally to wrap up the lesson, the very last thing they will need to do is take a quiz on the book that will be posted online on edmodo. This is to make sure that they have understood what they have read.

Content

General topics

• Summarizing

• Main idea of the setting

• Illustrating setting in the story.

Assessments:

Questions:

   Ask about previous knowledge of “Little House on the “Prairie”  

   Ask them to summarize what they have read in each chapter and post it on edmodo.

   Discuss and predict what will happen next also using edmodo.

   Ask the students to be able to identify the setting.

   What do you think life during Sarah’s time would have been like?

   What do you think it looked like on the prairie?

            Assessments:

• Once the student’s finish reading the story they will be given a quiz to make sure that they recall what they have read.

• The students will be required to write summaries on what they have read on edmodo to make sure they are not missing any details and in the chance that they are, the teacher can fill in those gaps.

• Through edmodo students will also be required to determine the setting of the certain chapters, which will reflect their knowledge that they understand the main idea of the setting in the story.

• By completing their drawing in groups, it will allow them to work together. Along with that it will show if therir drawings are truly reflecting what they considered to be the setting.

Quizzes:

The students will be given a quiz at the end of the book using edmodo.

Accommodations:

• For the quizzes students can take the quiz on EDMODO, take it in class on paper (if they do not have internet access), or have it read aloud to them. This is to make sure that every student gets this quiz done and that they do it in the most productive way they can.

• Having them journal through edmodo their parents can have access, so for students who may need help they are able to get it and maybe have their parents type if they are not capable of certain motor skills.

• Lastly putting them into groups allows them to work together and create something as a whole, instead of everyone doing something individually. Therefore students who may need more help can get that from a former student in their group.

Back-up plan:

            In the case that technology is not available then the lesson will be accommodated to be taught without technology.. First off, instead of them summarizing online using EDMODO I will have them write their summary on a piece of paper in class. For the main idea of the setting description, I will also have them complete that on paper instead of through edmodo. Even though I will offer the quiz electronically and paper- based depending on the particular student. In the case that there is no technology at all I will just make the quiz all paper- based instead. For the students who may need it read aloud I cans till do that and have them give me their answers orally. Then with the picture in groups, I will have them complete it on paper with markers as originally planned, but instead of having them come up to the smart board and draw it, I will have them present it to their class on the original piece of paper.

            In the case that this lesson is too short then I will give them more topics that we can discuss as a class about the book. Also if we have extra time that will allow us to go more in depth with the book. If we do not have enough time then they may have to complete the drawings as a group when we have free time in class. Also with that, it will require us breaking up when they will show their drawings to the class.

Lesson Commentary

• Central Focus- Summarizing is the main focus of this lesson. They will need to sharpen up on their reading skills as they will be required to read chapters of the book on their own outside of class. They will also need to be re-taught what setting is and what exactly it means to summarize what you have read. They will need to read certain chapters then use what they know to summarize what they have read, as well as identifying what the setting is. They will also use that knowledge of setting to draw a picture of what they think the setting would have looked like.

• The lesson is being taught to show how everyone may summarize the story differently. Everyone has different thoughts and that will come across through this lesson. Also with drawing of the setting it will bring out creativity among students and show how each student sees things in a different way. That is why this lesson falls under the function of summarizing and determining the main idea of a story.

• I chose to integrate the technology tools I did because I believe it will truly benefit my two ciphers, Esha and David.

  • With Esha the summarizing on Edmodo will be helpful for her. She will be able to do it on her own time and may even get help from parents or her brother. Since her brother just got inducted into the honor society I assume he is smart and would be able to read the book to his sister if he needed to in order to help her.

  • For David focuses on the main idea of the setting throughout the story would be helpful for him. Since he already likes to doodle he has some sort of imagination , which would help him be able to picture the setting better than other students might be able to. This would also allow him to draw it out and post a picture on Edmodo of his artwork if he wanted to.

  • As for both Esha and David, I believe that the picture drawing activity would be the most helpful. When it comes to Esha she has recently been suggested to get put in the special education program. Therefore this activity would be helpful for her because it would allow her to work in a group to get help from her classmates so she would not have to work on it by herself. Then on the other hand as far as David goes this activity would be good for him because he gets bored in school, but likes to doodle. So by doing this, it would keep him entertained while also allowing him to express his art skills.

The modifications I have made to the original lesson plan include, making them do their summarizing on Edmodo instead of on paper, Creating a quiz for them to do at the end of the sotry on edmodo, and allowing them to get in groups for their drawings and complete it on the smart board instead of on paper.

• Making them complete the summarizing online allows them to express themselves while also using technology themselves. They are creating their own work and posting it through technology. The National Educational Technology Standard in the book backs up this idea. Standard 1 of creativity and innovation says, “Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovation products and processes using technology. Standard1.b. it says students will create original works as a means of personal or group expression” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2014, p. 16), which is what students will be doing by putting their summaries online

• Through students completing the illustration on the smart board as a group allows them to learn how to communicate efficiently with one another in order to create a successful illustration. Standard 2 in the book on communication and collaboration support this idea. It says, “ students will use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2014, p. 16). Standard 2.d. says, “Students will contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2014, p. 16). This standard fits the illustration since they will be working in groups and have to communicate with one another in a way to make sure it is done correctly.

•  

• The quiz part of the lesson plan allows students to complete part of the assignment online. This gives them practice learning how to work with technology when making sure to complete assignments.  This falls under the standard 6 of technology operations and concepts in the book.  This standard says, “students will demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2014, p. 16), which is they will have to have to possess to complete the quiz assignment. Along with that standard 6.c, says, ‘ students will select and use applications effectively and productively (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2014, p. 16), which falls under them being able to use edmodo in general in order to complete the assignment. Through the quiz they will learn more about how to use technology productively.

The assessments for this lesson include: a quiz at the end to make sure students have recalled everything they have read, journaling online that requires them to both summarize and identify the main idea, and to draw a picture in groups to test their skills on if they know what the setting of a story is

.

• Through completing the quiz online students are getting to see how well they really remember the story because they have to apply that when it comes to the quiz. This is back up by the NETS- S Standard 4.c, which says, “students will be able collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2014, p. 16). Through completing the quiz students will be able to look back at what they missed and see what they should have focused more on to insure that they do better the next time. The quiz will show students if they maybe need to pay attention better next time to make sure their grade comes up.

• The periodic summarizing and asking to identify the main idea they is more helpful for the teacher. The reason why I say this is because she will be able to look at it and see what students may have missed and what she really needs to focus on going over better.  This certain task is met through NETS-T standard 3.c, which says, “teachers will communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital- age media and formats” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2014, p. 15). Through them summarizing it allows the students, teacher, and parents all to communicate on edmodo. They can discuss what the student misunderstood, what was missing, and what they may have needed to focus on. This allows better communication among teachers, students, and parents.

• Through the drawing of the setting, it allows teachers to see if the students truly understand what the setting of a story is. If the students do not know what that is then she may need to go back over that better. At the same time it will also allow them to work on their skills with technology. This is something that the NETS-S standard 5.b. cover by saying, “students will exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology collaboration, learning, and productivity” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2014, p. 16) Through them completing this assignment on the smart board it will allow you to see if students are truly enjoying using technology in the classroom and what you may need to do in order to make it more fun for them.