Title: Guided Read Lesson Plan

Name: Hallie Mazurkiewicz

Author Contact:

Book Title: Mouse SoupPublisher: “I Can Read” Book HarperTrophy

Author: Arnold Lobel Readability Level: 2 or J

Grade: 2 (K-3 range)Unit/Theme: “Soup”

Introduction/Before

Curriculum Area: English Language Arts
Time Required: 30-40 minutes
Instructional Groupings: Small groups (5-6 children) grouped by like-readability levels; preferably in a circular formation. Students work alone; students discuss in pairs and as a group.

Standards: This lesson plan is in accordance with several General Curriculum Outcomes for the Atlantic Canada English Language Arts Curriculum K-3:

GCO 1: Students will speak and listen to explore, extend, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences.

  • SCO1.2: ask and respond to questions
  • SCO 1.4: listen to ideas and opinions of others

GCO 4: Students will be expected to select, read, and view with understanding a range of literature, information, media, and visual texts

  • SCO 4.4: use written text to determine content and what might happen
  • SCO 4.5: use a combination of cues to make predictions based on “what makes sense;” “what word could this be? What makes sense here?”
  • SCO 4.6: use strategies to make inferences, predictions; identify character traits

Overview: As children in Grade 2 have a varying range of literacy skills and knowledge bases, it is important to evaluate in a non-threatening manner, noting proficiencies and areas of concern; this is essential in order to ensure each child receives quality, differentiated instruction that will guide them to successful acquisition of Grade 2 outcomes. This lesson is designed to provide guided reading instruction for a median leveled Grade 2 reader. This lesson is appropriate for an advanced or end of year Grade 1 student, or an average readability Grade 2 student. This lesson may be adjusted into a multi-day lesson. You might even have a themed unit on “Soup” where you could read “Stone Soup” as well and have students make soup as a class. You could connect this to other subject areas like math (counting soup ingredients) and science (growing your own spices as a class).

Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to evaluate, develop, and remediate existing reading skills, specifically though the use of Arnold Lobel’sMouse Soup. Guided reading is essential to achieving the General Curriculum Outcomes for K-3 Atlantic Canada English Language Arts Curriculum.

Objectives:

  1. Improve stamina
  2. Teach comprehension strategies
  3. Explore the idea of a “story within a story”
  4. Use preexisting schemas for “making soup” to investigate students’ ability to make inferences
  5. Discuss “tricks.” Is it ever okay to “trick” someone? Why? Does the mouse trick the weasel? How about the bees?
  6. Build sight vocabulary.
  7. Introduce new/difficult words; use sound/letter relationships to make inferences
  8. Differentiate between common “ou” sounds to pronounce words correctly (Ie: mouse verses soup); introduce by reading the title: “The words ‘Mouse’ and ‘Soup’ both have ou in the word. How come they sound so different? One sounds like “oo” and one sounds like “ow…” Discuss how the vowel on the end changes the way the word sounds.

Assessment:

Guiding questions:

  • Does the child seem to comprehend what they are reading?
  • Are they able to answer the prompts after each section?
  • What steps do they go through when they come to a difficult word?
  • Are they able to give a summary of what they just read?
  • Are they able to make connections between the mini-stories, and the narrative as a whole?

Use the checklist/rubric to record your observations.

Resources:

  • (Checklist)

Materials:

Each student will need:

  • A copy of Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel
  • Pencil and paper (for Writing Connection)

The teacher will need:

  • A copy of Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel
  • Chart paper (for KWL chart)
  • Markers
  • Assessment sheet/checklist
  • A “Story Soup” pot to hold the children’s stories (See Writing Connection)

During

Activities and Procedures:

  1. Pre-assessment:Before reading Mouse Soup, ask students “What do you think this book is about?” They will give answers about soup, a mouse eating soup, or a mouse being made into soup, etc. ask them “How do you know?” Check their understanding by asking, “What is soup? How do you make soup? What are ingredients?” You might discuss some common ingredients in soup. You can create a KWL chart for soup. Then introduce the book: “This book is about weasel making soup. The weasel catches a mouse and wants to make him an ingredient in his soup, but the mouse is very smart. The mouse tells the weasel he must use stories as ingredients in his soup. Do you want to find out what happens?”
  2. Have student take turns reading Mouse Soup aloud. Encourage the others to follow along. As this book is separated into an introduction, 4 mini stories, and a conclusion, it already has natural breaks built in.

This book would work best as a two-day lesson plan. Each student reads 3-4 pages on each day.

Day 1:

  • Introduction (pages 6-11)
  • Bees and the Mud (pages 12-21)
  • Two Large Stones (pages 22-31)

Day 2:

  • The Crickets (pages 32-41)
  • The Thorn Bush (pages 42-51)
  • Conclusion (pages 52-64)
  1. Pause after each section. Ask prompting questions. Ask the child who just read, “What happened in this section? Ask the other children, “What do you think will happen next? Why is the mouse doing this?”

Questions for each section:

Introduction (pages 6-11)

-Is this book fantasy or reality? How do you know?

-I am wondering how the mouse will escape the soup pot: Do you have any ideas of what he might do?

-Why do you think the mouse is going to tell the weasel stories?

Bees and the Mud (pages 12-21)

-What is the mouse doing in this story? (trying to get away from the bees)

-Why does the mouse want to get away from the bees?

-How did the mouse get rid of the bees (tricking them by walking into the swamp)

Two Large Stones (pages 22-31)

-Why were the stones sad?

-How come they were happy in the end. What changed?

The Crickets (pages 32-41)

-Why was the mouse frustrated?

-What happened when she talked to the cricket?

-How did she finally get the crickets to leave?

The Thorn Bush (pages 42-51)

-At first, the policeman tried to pull the thorns out of the chair. Why?

-Why was the woman really crying? (her thorn bush was sick)

-What happened when they watered the thorn bush?

Conclusion (pages 52-64)

-How did the mouse finally get away?

-What happened to the weasel?

-The mouse tricked the bees. The mouse tricked the weasel. What do you think about this? Is it okay to trick someone?

  1. As each child is reading, take note of the strategies the child uses while reading. What do they do when they encounter a difficult word? This is an opportunity for direct teaching. Help children with strategies for word-building
  2. How fluid is their reading? This will help you develop future guided reading lessons and mini lessons. Take note of this on your assessment sheet/checklist.

Differentiation:

  • For a child who has particular difficulty reading, have them read a smaller section, or offer to read aloud with them (letting them lead, of course!); You could also have them listen to an audio tape while reading to assist them.
  • For advanced students, ask enrichment questions or give them a more challenging writing task in the writing connection.

After/Post-Assessment

Tying it together:

  1. Ask students to talk with a partner: What was this book about? Who were the characters? What did you like about this story?
  2. Come together as a group. Discuss their answers. “What else have we learned about “soup” while reading this book? Do you think we could make our own soup? Finish the KWL chart.
  3. Make sure assessment sheets have been filled out!
  4. Writing connection: Ask students : Pretend you were going to tell a story to the weasel like the mouse did. What would your story be? What ingredient would you have him fetch? Let’s make a STORY SOUP! Give students an opportunity to write a short story (a few sentences) either individually or in partners. Advanced reader/writers can be prompted with further questions. Delayed reader/writers will need extra guidance during this part.
  5. Allow students to share their stories in pairs and read to their partner.Students then can put their stories in the “ Story soup” pot when they are finished.
  6. Allow the class to provide feedback about the activity. Ask them in pairs: “What did we learn today? Talk with your partner!” Give them the opportunity to share with the large group. As a teacher self-evaluate: what worked and what did not? Take notes for the future.

Sample KWL Chart: (a larger version of this should be made on chart paper or a SmartBoard, and completed as a class)

Know: What do you know about SOUP? / Want: What do you want to know about SOUP? / Learn: What did we learn about SOUP?
  • You make it in a pot
  • It is hot
  • It is food
  • It is a liquid
/
  • How do you make soup?
  • How many kinds of soup are there?
/
  • Things you put in soup are called “ingredients”
  • The book “Mouse Soup” is about a mouse that escapes a weasel by telling him to use “stories” as ingredients!
  • How to make story soup!