Small Group Literary Instruction Lesson

Corrie Shellnutt
Kindergarten
Crozet Elementary, Ms. Williams
April 25, 2016
My university supervisor will observe this lesson
Topic: Literacy
Required for 4881 - Rationale: (Why are you teaching these objectives? Why did you select the
instructional strategies that you did?)
Practicing sight words help emergent and beginner readers develop automaticity in reading. By
practicing sight words in small groups based on reading ability, teachers understand the needs of
each student while students practice this vital reading skill. Students practicing sight words using
the cup and popsicle sticks method helps make the process of reinforcing sight words more
enjoyable. Meanwhile the specific grouping allows the teacher to cater the specific sight words
to the needs of the students.
Reading stories appropriate for each students reading level helps motivate students to practice
reading. By selecting texts that align with the students literacy diet, teachers can observe in small
group settings each students progress. The Tree House at GR level B fits the needs of the group
of students that read the text. After introducing the text, choral reading, independent reading,
then selecting words out of text, students develop concrete understandings necessary for
developing fluency, automaticity, and confidence.
Enduring Understandings: (What big idea(s) will students understand as a result of this
lesson?)

Reading helps people understand information about the world.

Letters and sounds combine to make words.

Essential Questions: (What question(s) will students grapple with as they learn through this
lesson?)

How can letters and sounds combine to make words?

How does reading communicate stories or ideas?

Primary Content Objectives:

Students will know: (facts/information)

Building their sight words help reading skills.

Stories in books relate to concepts of print.
Illustrations help decode text.

Students will be able to do: (skills and behaviors)

Students recognize sight words.

Students use their understandings of concept of print to navigate text.
Students read The Tree House.
Students use their letter-sound awareness skills to decode unfamiliar 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)

Virginia SOL Oral Language

K.1 The student will demonstrate growth in the use of oral language.
b) Participate in choral speaking and recite short poems, rhymes, songs, and stories with
repeated patterns.

Virginia SOL Reading

K.5 The student will understand how print is organized and read.
a) Hold print materials in the correct position.
b) Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of the book.
c) Follow words from left to right and from top to bottom on a printed page.
d) Match voice with print: syllables, words, and phrases.
K.7 The student will develop an understanding of basic phonetic principles
b) Match consonant and short vowel sounds to appropriate letters.
c) Identify beginning consonant sounds in single-syllable words.
K.8 The student will demonstrate comprehension of fiction and nonfiction.
a) Use pictures to make predictions about content.

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 preassessment (diagnostic), formative (ongoing feedback) or summative?)

Pre-assessment: When students first sit down at the Rainbow Table, they begin reading
the text from the previous lesson independently. During this period the teacher observes

each student, making sure they are complying with concepts of print (directionality, book
orientation, and fingerpointing) as well as sounding out unfamiliar words based on lettersound awareness skills.
Formative assessments: While students participate in the cup and popsicle stick sight
word activity, the teacher will monitor word recognition for each student making sure that
they use understandings of letter-sound awareness to decode words. However, some sight
words do not follow this pattern (of, have, etc.). Students will simply need to remember
the unique characteristics of these specific words. Additionally, during the reading of The
Tree House, teachers must observe each student, making sure they are complying with
concepts of print (directionality, book orientation, and fingerpointing) as well as sounding
out unfamiliar words based on letter-sound awareness skills.
Summative assessment: Students highlight the words up and circle the words the in
The Tree House worksheet. Successful participation in this assessment involves students
highlighting the word up and circling the word the in each line of the worksheet.
Stickers are distributed to indicate to the students that they have successfully completed
the entire activity.

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.)

The Tree House by Joy Cowley (6 copies)

Cup filled with popsicle sticks depicting sigh words
The Tree House worksheet featuring the text of the book (6 copies)
Highlighters
Students Reading folders
Stickers

Key Vocabulary and Definitions:

Decode- using letter-sound awareness skills to read

Lesson Procedures:
1. Introduction and goal orientation: (:00-:03)
Teacher lays out books on the Rainbow Table that students reread from previous lesson. Teacher
monitors each students engagement in these texts by checking word and text comprehension.
Teacher may ask a question like, What was your favorite page from this book. In doing so, the
teacher indicates the importance of reading and comprehending stories. By engaging prior
knowledge about previous texts, the teacher reinforces the importance of reading and
understanding past stories.

2. Connecting to prior knowledge and experiences: (:03-:07)

Students participate in the cup and popsicle stick sight word activity. Prior to the lesson the
teacher has a cup of sight words catered to the level the group. Students select one popsicle stick
in and then read the word featured on the popsicle stick. If the students struggle to read the word,
encourage other group members to help the student or help the student segment and sound out
the word. Some popsicle sticks will have a star on them indicating that the student needs to select
another popsicle stick. The activity concludes when all popsicle sticks have been selected and the
students return the sticks to the cup.
3. Tasks and activities: (:07-:15)
Introduce the new text The Tree House, by asking the group, What is a tree house? Have you
ever been in a tree house? Have you ever seen a tree house? Students will be able to relate to the
text if they understand the concept of a tree house. Next conduct a book preview and picture
walk by talking about the events in the book (animals climbing into a tree house then the tree
house breaking). Next encourage students to choral read the text page by page. Afterwards, the
teacher passes out the books to each student and allows them to read the text independently two
times.
4. Closure: (:15-:20)
The teacher explains to the students, Now we will highlight some important words from the
text using a highlighter. Highlight the word up and circle the word the. The teacher will
model proper highlighter use then ask the students, What did you notice about the ways I used
the highlighter? Students may respond by saying, Writing on the paper. Enjoying the color that
they received. Highlighting the words up or the. The teacher distributes one copy of the
worksheet and one highlighter to each student while monitoring their use of the highlighters and
highlighting. Finally students will share the words that they highlighted and place the worksheet
and book in their folders. Stickers are distributed to indicate to the students that they have
successfully completed the entire activity.
The worksheet features the following passage:
Up went the giraffe.
Up went the zebra.
Up went the elephant.
Up went the tiger.
Up went the lion.
Up went the monkey.

Down came the treehouse.

Bim-bam-bumpy.
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.)
The student with developmental speech delay will work with his assistant during this lesson. The
teacher will focus on students struggling with unfamiliar elements of this text (bim-bam-bumpy)
helping students understand what these terms mean in this story. For students that have displayed
mastery, the teacher will ask, Why did the treehouse fall down? and ask higher level thinking
questions related to text comprehension.
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?)
The teacher will be mindful of highlighter use. In doing so, they will model the appropriate
strategies to accept and use highlighters in order to prevent interruption. Throughout the lesson
the teacher will reinforce positive participation that relates to the tasks at hand. For example I
see students decoding words that they don't know, All of you helped the reading activity by
sitting quietly and working hard, or Remind me what it looks like to be a focused reader. If
students can not comply by the classroom procedures by interrupting they will be sent to the
Think Chair.