PART B: LESSON PLANNING TEMPLATE- First Lesson

Plan for the Teaching of a Reading Comprehension Strategy- Questioning

TOPIC: History- Stories of the First Fleet, including reasons for the journey, who travelled to Australia, and their
experiences following arrival.
Yellow= Structure

Year Level: 4

Time: 60 minutes approximately

Relevant Elaborations: Asking and answering questions

Blue= Teaching and

learning strategies.

During this lesson students will: Ask questions to understand the text. The children will use a range of nonfiction and fiction books to develop questions before, during and after the read to make sense of the text and
gain information.
Yellow= Structure
Beginning of lesson

LESSON INTRODUCTION: The Hook 1-5 minutes: Teacher draws a big question mark on poster paper.
A child scribes, teacher prompts children asking them what they know about questions. E.g. what type of
questions do you ask? When do you ask questions? Keep poster to have on display with other questioning
poster for comprehension strategies.
State learning intention
so students know what
they are learning today.

Literacy learning intentions 2-5 minutes:

Comprehension
Strategy for the
literacy lesson

We are learning toAsk and answer questions before, during and after the read to wonder and gain
information.
Learning behaviours: To provide visual prompts/reminders for children so they know what to do, the teacher
will have a questioning poster displayed that students made in a previous lesson.
I need to ...be able to ask and answer questions before, during and after the read to gain information.
Structure- next state success
criteria so students know how
they can be successful.

Success criteria for whole class:

I am doing well if Ican ask questions and wonder about the text read. Also if I can note when information is
found that answers questions.
Success criteria for focus teaching group:
I am doing well if I...can ask both red and yellow light questions and find information in the text to answer my
questions as well as infer, discuss and research questions where answers are not directly stated in the text.
Shared Text for whole class: The Little Wooden Horse written by Mark Wilson. See Appendix 1.
Consider your role for whole class and focus group instruction: In the whole class activity, the instructional
strategy used is a read aloud, with the teacher modelling how an effective reader reads. The instructional
strategy used within the focus group is guided reading, where the teacher scaffolds students thinking and
reading of a new text.
BEFORE: Whole class instruction/strategy preparing for reading the text (5-10 mins):

Structure- After
introduction is during
the lesson (Whole
class and focus group)

Explain the strategy to students, activating childrens prior knowledge of the subject matter. Ask questions such
as What do you know about the first fleet and convicts?
Read the blurb of the book and analyse the front cover to make predictions and identifying key vocabularyconvict, imprisonment, deportation. Clarify through the questioning strategy, e.g. What is an orphanage? Use
Mary Buffon

S00134651

students background knowledge and discussion. Ask questions before reading- Why is it called the little
wooden horse? How long did the journey take? Who are Elizabeth and Tom? Chart questions.
DURING: Whole class strategy for reading the text:

Structure- during
whole class activity

the

lesson=

Teacher thinks aloud: We ask questions to propel us forward, to take us deeper into reading and to gain
information. Continue to record students questions/wonderings on the chart during the read: Why do you
think Elizabeth looked after Tom? Why do you think Tom carved Elizabeth the wooden horse? Where is
North London? During the story note with students when information has been found that answers a
question. At the conclusion of the story note that some questions have been answered and some have not.
AFTER:

Structure- after the lesson= after whole class activity, students break into whole class task and
focused teaching group

1. Whole class activity/thinking routine to explore the text using the reading comprehension strategy (5-10
mins): In pairs students, select a text/magazine on convicts and the First Fleet to share (see back page
for list of texts/magazines students may use). Using the 3-2-1 Bridge thinking routine students record
their initial responses to the text before reading. While reading students again record 3 thoughts/ideas, 2
questions and 1 analogy (See appendix 3). Students will be successful if they complete the 3
thoughts/ideas, 2 questions and 1 analogy and share their questions and answers with their partner.
2. Focussed teaching group (15-20 mins):

5 Children who are at the Interpretative reading phase and 1 child in the Inferential reading phase.

Explain to students how questioning deepens understanding and is the master key to understanding.
Students are encouraged to ask questions before, during and after the read noting when they find
information that answers their questions. Students begin to categorize questions they may have,
recognising that some questions are answered in the text, others require further discussion and
research.

Use guided reading as the instructional strategy. Have students read the blurb and the front cover of the
print-based text The Migrant Mouse. Ask questions using the thinking routine- Red Light, Yellow Light.
Students will have a pile of red and yellow sticky notes, posting a red note for questions they feel may
be answered in the text and yellow for questions that lead to inferential thinking or further discussion and
research, where the answer is not directly stated.

Break the text into sections. Students read each section quietly in their heads recording red and yellow
light questions. At the end of each section students share and discuss their questions noting whether in
fact red questions have been answered.

At the end of the read discuss red and yellow light questions further. What new information did we learn
from our red light questions? Can we answer any of the yellow light questions from further discussion,
making inferences or using our iPads to research our questions further?

Restate the success criteria to the students in the focus group so they know if they have been
successful.

Assess the group by looking for evidence that students stopped and asked questions, wondered about their
reading (red and yellow sticky notes) and students read with questions in mind noting when they found
information that answered their questions and when further discussion, research, inferential thinking was
needed
Structure- lesson conclusion= whole
LESSON CONCLUSION (10-15 mins):

class activity= time for reflection

Have all students return to the floor as a whole class. Ask students to turn to a person near them and to share a
question they made where the answer was found in the text. Now ask students to share a question where the
answer wasnt found in the text directly. Which question was the most intriguing? Discuss how it is often the
unanswered ones that make us dig deeper often stimulating the most stirring discussions. Direct students back
to the success criteria of the lesson- Have students use their thinking thumbs pointing up (confident),
horizontally (not sure) or down (confused) to show whether they feel they have been successful.

Mary Buffon

S00134651