Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template

Student Name: Hannah Schmidt

Required for 4881 - Rationale: (Why are you teaching these objectives? Why did you select the
instructional strategies that you did?)

I used the PALS assessment data that my mentor teacher gave me for this group of students to
figure out what objectives to target. I found that all of the assessment data except the spelling
section indicated that these students are beginner readers with a solid concept of word. None of
the students wrote more than the initial sound for each of the 5 CVC words despite being able to
read beginner level texts and showing solid COW on PALS. I interpreted this to mean that the
students needed extra support and instruction in spelling since they probably have the knowledge
necessary to spell the words but might not have been taught how that knowledge translates to the
letters on the page. The instructional strategies I selected included a blending task and
segmenting task, modeling through a think-aloud, and gradual release of responsibility for the
spelling task. I chose the blending and segmenting task because they are both standard
procedures in reading instruction that support students phonemic segmentation, which is the
first step in being able to successfully spell a word. I chose to model through a think-aloud in
order to explicitly teach the steps of the spelling strategy, since that was what I identified as the
need for this group of students. I chose to use the gradual release of responsibility so that
students felt supported in their attempts to spell the words which is going to be a tricky process
that they dont pick up on right away if they have only been able to write the initial sound in the
past.

Enduring Understandings: (What big idea(s) will students understand as a result of this
lesson?)
There are many strategies writers use to spell words.
Essential Questions: (What question(s) will students grapple with as they learn through this
lesson?)
What can I do when I dont know how to spell a word?
Primary Content Objectives:
Students will know: (facts/information)
Words can be broken down into different sounds
Each sound has a letter that goes with it
Students will be able to do: (skills and behaviors)
Orally break up words into their different sounds
Start to spell CVC words
Related state or national standards: (Examples include State Standards of Learning, Common
Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards or National Curriculum Standards for
Social Studies)
SOL K.7 The student will develop an understanding of basic phonetic principles.
b) Match consonant, short vowel, and initial consonant digraph sounds to appropriate
letters.
d) Identify beginning consonant sounds in single-syllable words.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.K.2.D
Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships.

Assessment: (How (and when) will students be assessed? What evidence will you collect to
determine whether students have met the lesson objectives? Will the assessment(s) be a pre-
assessment (diagnostic), formative (ongoing feedback) or summative?)

Students will first be assessed through my observation of their performance on the segmentation
and spelling tasks. I will be looking for evidence that students are breaking up words into sounds
as they complete the segmenting task and when they are thinking through the spelling tasks. This
would include their success in pushing a chip for each sound in the word and their success in
orally breaking the word into its sounds. I will also be looking for evidence that they are
attempting to match a letter to each sound and represent it in their spelling. This would include
writing 3 letters and having them (especially the initial and final letter) correctly represent the
oral sound. These assessments are formative because they will guide how my instruction
progresses in this lesson (e.g., spending more or less time on a topic, revisiting or stressing
certain parts of the lesson). They will also have a summative assessment (in virtue of the fact that
I will not be teaching any additional lessons) in which they will be asked to spell 2 CVC words
with help and 3 CVC words independently to see if there is any progress when compared to the
initial PALS spelling assessment.

Materials and Resources: (List here all materials that you will need in order to successfully
teach this lesson. Include technology and website links, texts, graphic organizers, student
handouts, physical manipulatives, etc.)
Sheet of paper and pencil for each student
Chips to push in the segmentation task (or small squares of paper if chips are not
available)

Lesson Procedures:
1. Introduction and goal orientation:

Today we're going to talk about a strategy you can use to spell words. When you hear a word and
you arent sure how to spell it, there are some steps you can go through to help you figure out
what to write. First, you can think about how to break the word up into all of its sounds by
stretching it out and listening for the changes in sound. Then you can think of what letters make
those sounds, and those are the letters you write on the page. By the end of this lesson, you will
be able to use the strategy of breaking up words into their sounds and then matching those
sounds to letters in order to spell some short words.
 2. Connecting to prior knowledge and experiences: (Questions or activities that help
students make links)

Ms. X sometimes has you all count the number of letters in words. How many letters are in this
word, "Wednesday"? How do you know? So every word is made up with letters that all make
sounds that go into that word. Some words like Wednesday have more letters than there are
sounds, but for all of the words we talk about today, there is one letter for one sound. So, if you
hear 2 sounds in a word, there are 2 letters. If you hear 3 sounds in a word, there are 3 letters. If
you hear 4 sounds in a word, how many letters do you think there will be in that word?

3. Tasks and activities: (What challenging tasks and activities will students engage in as
they construct knowledge, learn new skills or behaviors and develop understandings?)

Before we break words up into their letters, we're going to play a quick game about putting
words together. I'm going to say a word by stretching out its letters, and you have to try to figure
out what the word is. Let me show you an example. If I say (choppy hand motion) "mmmm-
aaaaa-nnnnn," I want you to say "man" when I move my hand like this (sweeping hand motion).
Let's try it. Remember, wait until I move my hand like this for you to say it.
Words: nap, dog, lid, pen, bun, rag, set, fix, hug

Now we're going to start breaking words up. Let's take one of those words we just used: hug. Try
to say it really slowly and use your hands to break up the sounds like I did. Let's do it together:
hhhh-uuu-gggg. Now take these chips/pieces of paper and slide one up like this (demonstrate)
each time you hear a sound in a word. This is like what your hand was doing to break up the
sounds. Let me show you. (Demonstrate moving one chip for each sound in hug). The number
of sounds you hear in a word can give you a clue about how many letters are in the word. So
since I pushed up 3 pieces of paper for the word hug, I know there are 3 letters.

Let's practice this. I'm going to give you a word, and I want you to try to stretch it out and push
the pieces of paper for every sound you hear.
Words: sun, hop, let, pad, big

So we realized that all of these words have 3 sounds in them, and they all have 3 letters! Now we
can use our knowledge of what sounds different letters make to actually spell these words! Are
you ready?

Let's go back to hug. Let me tell you how I would think through spelling the word hug. First, I
would say to myself, let me stretch it out and hear how many sounds there are. Hhhh-uuuuu-
ggggg. 3 sounds, so I will need 3 letters. Let me listen to the first sound to figure out what the
first letter is. Hhhhh. What letters makes the "hhhh" sound? H! So my first letter is "h" and I'm
going to write that first (write on paper). Now I need to listen for the second sound. Hhhhh-
uuuuu-gggggg. In the middle it sounded like "uhhhhh" and I know the letter that makes the "uhh"
sounds is "u." So I'm going to write a "u" after my "h (write on paper). So now my words says
"hh-uu" and I want it to say "hug." I need my last letter sound. Let's listen again "Hhhhh-uuuuu-
ggggg." The very last sound I hear is "ggg." What letter makes the "ggg" sound? G! So I'm going
to write my "g" after the "u." Now I'm looking at my word. I see that I wrote 3 letters for the 3
sounds I hear in hug. I have "h" for my first sound "hhhh," "u" for my second sound "uuuh," and
"g" for my third sound "gggg." And all together, these letters say "hug."

4. Closure: (How will you wrap up the lesson and reinforce key ideas? Closure may include
some form of assessment or exit slip)

Now you are going to try to figure out how to spell some words using the strategy of listening for
sounds and matching letters to those sounds. Let's do one together. (Repeat process for "let.")
Now I want you to do one together but without my help (Have students do "pad"). Now let's see
if you can do some on your own (Have each student do "sun," "hop," and "big." Assess how well
students can independently spell the words.)

You all are on your way to being strategic spellers! Let's review the steps of this strategy. When
you want to spell a word what's the first thing you do? Then what? When can you use this
spelling strategy? (Connect to daily writing worksheets). Does this only work with words that
have 3 letters?

Accommodations for individual differences: (How will the lesson be differentiated to support
diverse learners? Describe additional supports that can be used for re-teaching if needed, and a
challenging extension for students for demonstrate mastery quickly or show evidence of a lot of
prior knowledge.)

This lesson is already being taught in a small differentiated group format based on assessment
data about the students stage of reading and spelling. Note that the words chosen as part of the
activities target letter sounds that some students had difficulties with based on the PALS
assessment data. If re-teaching is needed, Elkonin boxes can be provided for more support during
the segmentation task. For students who demonstrate mastery quickly, there can be another set of
words to try to spell that all come from the same short vowel word family so as to support that
students identification of the correct medial vowel. The short vowel word family to target would
be based on which medial vowel sound the student struggled with in the initial spelling task. It is
expected that they might make the common errors like e for i or a for e.

Behavioral and organizational strategies: (What behaviors will you model or discuss with
students? What do you want to remember about organizing the lesson and materials? Use this
section for reminders to yourself about behavioral and organizational strategies. For example, do
you want to explicitly model how to work with partners in this lesson? Or demonstrate how to
use mathematical tools?)

I will remove the students from the general classroom area so that they can focus in the small
group setting away from the distraction of other students who may want to be included in the
lesson. I will have the students materials ready so that the lesson does not have to be interrupted
to get them. I will discuss with the students what it looks like to help a friend in anticipation of
the stage of the gradual release of responsibility model where the students work together to spell
a word.