Learning Opportunity Planning Form

(Avoid opportunities associated with holidays)

Student Name: Bradi Baschke

Resource Used: Stewart, P., & Riddell, C. (1999). The Birthday Presents. New York, New York: HarperCollins.
Date to be presented: 4/8/15
Site Supervisors Signature _________________________________________ Date __________________

It is required to discuss your final written plans with your site supervisor and obtain a sign-off signature one week before presenting this learning opportunity.

Primary Curriculum (content) Area: Literacy

Learning Opportunity Name: The Birthday Presents by Paul Stewart
Brief description/type: I will read The Birthday Presents by Paul Stewart. The children will then write what happened
at the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
WHO Its For: twenty-one 5/6 year olds
List specific accommodations/adaptions:
Children are having difficulty sitting stilly and listening to stories. - Make sure the length of the activity is age appropriate. Let
children hold fidget toys during story time. (Caras Kit page 8)
WHY-Rationale: Listening to stories builds phonological awareness, listening skills, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Childrens writing skills develop at the same time as their language and early reading skills. When children engage in early
writing behaviors, they are building skills with print awareness, print conventions, and other important early literacy
skills.
Objective(s): By participating in this opportunity, the children will

Shows increasing comprehension of a story through retelling the story and/or recognizing story elements.

Expresses an interest and enjoyment in listening to books

Demonstrates increased skills in using writing tools

Standard(s): Area 11: Communication, Language, and Literacy 11.2 Early Literacy
Area 8: Physical Well-Being and Motor Development 8.3 Small Motor Development
HOW to Prepare: What you need:
MATERIALS: The Birthday Presents by Paul Stewart, 21 beginning, middle, end papers and pencils.
TIME: 20 minutes
SETTING: large group
SET UP/SPACE: Front carpet space and their desks
HOW to Teach:
Introduction: Raise your hand if you ever had to pick out a present for a friend or family member. How did you choose that
present? When you received a present you did not really like, what did you do? Watch and see what Rabbit and Hedgehog do
with their presents. Today I am going to read The Birthday Presents by Paul Stewart.
Teaching steps:
1. As I read I would like you to think about the story and what happens at the beginning middle and end.
2. Once the story is over, we will review what happened.
3. Explain what burrow means when Hedgehog thought about the burrow where Rabbit was fast asleep.
4. Talk about how Rabbit and Hedgehog accepted their gifts when they say But Im not- They both did not really like it
at first but caught themselves in mid-sentence and realized what they were about to say was not very polite.
5. Finally, everyone will return to their seats and write what happened at the beginning, middle, and end.
Closure & Transition: What happened at the beginning of the story? What happened in the middle? What happened at the
end of the story? Have you ever received a gift that you did not think you would like? What did you end up doing with the
gift? What did Hedgehog and Rabbit do with their gifts? Dismiss the children by their birthday months to come up and get a
beginning, middle, end paper. Have the children skip back to their desks.

HOW to Assess and Document

Objectives
Shows increasing comprehension of a
story through retelling the story and/or
recognizing story elements
Expresses an interest and enjoyment in
listening to books
Demonstrates increased skills in using
writing tools

Evidence of Learning
Children might
Look at the childrens work. In the
middle, they figured out what to get
each other.
The children are alert during the book.
I like this book. I have read this book
before.
Children will write neatly on their papers

How to Document This Evidence

Anecdotal record, work sample, photo

Observation, anecdotal record, photo

Work sample, observation, photo

Assessment Documentation:
Work Sample, Photo
Childs name: Candace
Learning Opportunity Name: The Birthday Presents by Paul Stewart
Primary Curriculum (content) Area: Literacy
Primary Domain: Cognitive
Secondary Domain: Language
Date: April 1, 2015
Setting: Large Group
Objectives: Shows increasing comprehension of a story through retelling the story and/or recognizing story elements and
expresses an interest and enjoyment in listening to books

Candace was facing forward and not messing with anything as I was reading the book. At the end of the story, Candace
was able to tell me what happened at the beginning of the story. She said, They did not know when their birthdays
were.
Comment: Candace was able to fill out her beginning, middle, and end paper from the story. Also, she demonstrated
nice and neat handwriting while using her writing tool.
Evaluation:
What evidence of childrens engagement and learning did you see during this learning opportunity? How were the
objectives met? The children seemed to all be paying attention. As I was walking around the room observing them while
they were writing on their papers, I noticed most of them knew exactly what to write. By noticing that, that shows that
the children were able to comprehend the story. They also showed interest and enjoyment by making connections to the
characters with a previous book they have read.
What did you learn from planning and presenting this learning opportunity?
a) About the learning opportunity itself: I learned that the children were actually able to pinpoint what happened at
the beginning, middle, and end of the story without giving them any cues or clues. Also, I learned children really
like the read stories that have the same characters as other stories they have read in it.
b)

About children: The children were able to make a connection with the book. They read A Bit of Winter by Paul
Stewart a few weeks ago and made a connection that the characters are the same and recognized them before I
even started talking about the book.

c)

About your own abilities: I learned that I was able to choose a developmentally appropriate book without
realizing they already read a book with the same characters in it before. Also, I seemed to be able to keep the
childrens engagement throughout the book.

Evaluate this learning opportunity as a whole. Share suggestions, as discussed with your site supervisor, for improvement.
a) As I reflect on this learning opportunity, I feel my strengths were: I feel like one of my strengths was giving
the children their assignment before I started reading. I made them think about what was happening in the
beginning, middle, and end of the story. I feel like by doing this also helped the children stay on task because
they had to actually listen to figure out what happened.
b)

As I reflect on this learning opportunity, I realize that I could improve by: I feel like I could improve by slowing
down my reading. I seemed to read rather quickly and started to stutter over a few words. Also, by slowing
down I would also be able to annunciate a little better for the children.