Electricity and Magnetism Unit

Lesson Plan by: Kelly Harp

Lesson # 6: ___Read, Write, and Talk____________Length: ___40min___

Content Focus: Reading Intended Grade: 4th

Reference: My own knowledge

Academic Standard:

Reading

4.2.2Use appropriate strategies when reading for different purposes.

Performance Objectives:

Given an article, the students will demonstrate making connections and determining importance to help them understand the text and will demonstrate this by taking relevant notes on the article.

Assessment:

The students will be assessed on the depth of note taking done on the article. Did they ask questions, make connections, and note any words they did not know? These will be the questions asked when checking for understanding and application of the reading strategies.

Also, the teacher will observe the students as they engage in dialogue after the read and write. A check mark will be made by the names of the students that are sharing. This is a sign of level of understanding as well.

Advanced Preparation by Teacher:

Material: The Magic School Bus Electric Storm(and a copy of text online), Eyewitness Science Electricity photocopied certain pages for each student, smart board

Procedure:

Introduction/ Motivation:

In the last class we learned how to describe characteristics and then we guessed what object or person our classmates were describing. Well, today we will be doing an activity as we read called, “read, write, and talk”. Do a quick informal assessment on students monitoring skills as they read. “Give me a thumbs up if you ever hear a voice in your head while you are reading that asks questions about what you are reading. Today we will be practicing listening to the voice in our head as we read that is very helpful in understanding what we read.”

Step-by-Step Plan:

  1. (The class will have been reading The Magic School Bus book: Electric Storm.) The teacher will utilize reading strategies as she is reading to model for the students. Begin on chapter 6. Using an online version of the text projected on the smart board begin reading. When you come to difficult words circle them, say things like “I’m not sure what an electron is, so I will circle it and look it up in a little bit.” “Would his heart leap into his throat because he is scared?” The teacher will do this throughout the chapter making sure to say, “Good readers do this.” The teacher will model things that can be written down on the text (smart board). Engage the students through this. Ask them what they think certain things mean. If they have a question about the text while they are following along, let the students know it is okay for them to raise their hand and share their question. Read a couple pages where the students get to right their connections and questions on the smart board. (Gardner’s linguistic and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences) (Bloom’s analysis)
  2. Review the skills good readers use to help them understand what they read. Write them on the board. Write: make connections to something you already know, ask questions like- “Does this make sense?” re-read for better understanding, and create pictures in your head.
  3. Explain to the students that they will be practice these skills while they are reading an article about electricity. Let them choose from 3 different articles. Tell the students that they will be reading the article and then writing on it like we did with the smart board.
  4. Give the students plenty of time to read and write. (Gardner’s linguistic intelligence)
  5. The last part of the activity is to talk. Have the class form groups based on the article they choose to read. Have the students share what they wrote, the questions they had, and what they thought of the article. Encourage them to help clarify ideas and search for answer in the text with the help of their classmates. Have them pick a spokesperson that will share a summary of the article to the class. (Bloom’s knowledge, comprehension, application, and analysis) (Gardner’s linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences)

Closure: Give the students a chance to share with their class about the articles. Have them share the questions they had. Ask the students what skills they used the most while they were reading and writing. What did you find most helpful? Did you understand what you read better when you were able to write down thoughts as you read? Did you find it hard to remember to use certain skills? Which ones? (Bloom’s comprehension, application)(Gardner’s linguistic intelligence) Next time we are going to practice using similar skills in writing!

Adaptations/ Enrichment:

Adaptation: For a student with really poor reading skills, rewrite the article using the same context but element some of the difficult vocabulary. For a student with extremely poor fine motor skills that might struggle to write, have him/her draw a star next to a statement he/she makes and a “?” mark for a question.

Enrichment: Add some more challenging vocabulary in the text. Give the student an opportunity to read more than one article. Let them write a summary of the article and share it with the class. Encourage the student to look up some confusing vocabulary from the text in the dictionary and report back to the class on it.

Self-Reflection:

Did the students understand what they read? Where they able to read and write at the same time? Did they seem to enjoy this activity? Did they actually make notes on their paper? Was the group able to summarize the text? What would I do differently? Should I focus in on only one reading strategy at a time? How much time did the lesson take?