Lesson Plan Template

Teacher Candidate: Kelly Willinger

Academy
Grade level: 3rd Grade

School: Promise
Room Number: 221

Planning
Need for this lesson:
This close reading lesson appears at the beginning of our 3rd Grade Mystery
Unit, Solving the Mystery Before the Detective: Inference, Close Reading,
Synthesis and Prediction. This particular lesson is crucial for setting students
up for success within the larger mystery unit by reacquainting students with
familiar story elements and skills from other fiction sub-genres including:

Character
Setting
Problem
Solution

This lesson focuses on roadmapping a mystery passage in order to identify

and interpret character, setting, problem and solution. By setting the
foundation with this lesson, students will be ready to comprehend their
mystery passages on a deeper level and answer corresponding
comprehension questions later in the week.
Lesson content:
Unit:
Solving the Mystery Before the Detective: Inference, Close Reading,
Synthesis and Prediction
Focus/Topic within the unit:
In this lesson, students will learn that mystery readers read alertly with their
eyes open for clues that might help them solve the mystery. Mystery readers
pay attention to characters, setting, and problems and scour for clues that
will help them come up with the solution, before the detective if possible.
(Geller & Reicherter, 2016)
Teaching Point/Goal/Central Focus: What will students know, and be able
to do, as a result of this lesson?

Objective: Students will be able to roadmap a mystery text for story

elements including character, setting, problem and solution and gather clues
to help them solve the mystery alongside the detective. (Geller & Reicherter,
2016)
Connection to Previous Learning/Prior Knowledge: Considering the
teaching point/central focus of this lesson, what prior academic learning and
requisite skills will students require?
In order to be successful in this lesson and unit, students will need to
activate their background knowledge from other fiction units throughout the
year and bring with them their toolkit of story elements that show up in all
fiction stories (mystery included). These skills include:

identifying and interpreting setting

analyzing character
recognizing problem and solution
interpreting lessons and themes

This lesson will revisit and build upon skills and strategies that students have
learned across the year and prepare them for upcoming lessons in the
mystery unit.
Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks to be demonstrated:
1. The first instructional strategy and learning task that will be
demonstrated for students is orienting themselves to a mystery
passage. Readers do this by examining the following and making
predictions:
a. the title
b. illustrations (if applicable)
c. the blurb with background information (if applicable)
2. Once Ive modeled how to orient ourselves to a mystery passage, I
will demonstrate how to read and roadmap a mystery passage for:
a. character
b. setting
c. problem
d. solution
e. additional understandings and predictions
What language skill/function/grammar vocabulary do I want my students
to develop and use in this lesson?

Unit and lesson specific vocabulary will be introduced at the beginning of the
lesson with verbal definitions, pictures, and/or actions. Students will be

encouraged to recognize these terms when they come across them in their
reading passage and use them in classroom conversation.
Term
mystery (noun)

Picture

Definition
a story dealing with a
puzzling crime or
problem

detective (noun)

a person whose job is to

investigate and solve
crimes

retraced (verb)

went back over the

same route just taken

Note: word parts will

help us.
re + trace + ed
(again) + (follow) + (in
the past)
Link To Standards: What competencies from the NYC/NYS Common Core
Standards are addressed in this lesson?
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.1

Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to

the text as the basis for the answers.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3

Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how
their actions contribute to the sequence of events

Instruction
Lesson Implementation:
Describe the learning environment:
School:
K-12 urban charter school
Approximately 100 students per grade
7:30 am 4:00 pm school day

11 month school year

On-site health center, family services, and after school programming
2 staff members per classroom, plus special education teachers for
students with IEPs
180 minutes of literacy instruction per day including:
o Reading Workshop
o Writing Workshop
o Close Reading/Guided Reading
o Word Study
Curriculum: Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP)

Classroom:
24 students: 13 girls, 11 boys
12 students are on or above grade level in reading (levels M-T)
1 student is approaching grade level in reading (level L)
9 students are 1 or more level behind in reading (levels F-K)
0 students with IEPs
4 students with social-emotional needs
3 English Language Learners
Table groups and small group instruction are based reading level and
assessment data
Teacher materials required:

Vocabulary cards (mystery, detective, retraced)

Anchor chart: The Elements of Mystery
Model passage: Mystery at Dads Office
Roadmapping bookmarks
Document camera
Post-It Notes
Markers and pens
Anchor Chart: Read to Self
Clipboard checklist
Conferring notes
Exit ticket sentence starters
Jot lot

Student materials required:

Guided/Independent passage: The Solver

Roadmapping bookmarks
Post-It Notes

Pencils
Exit ticket sentence starters

What is the timeframe for this lesson?

The lesson will last approximately 45 minutes and follow the structure
outlined below.

Mini-lesson
o 10 15 minutes
Independent work time
o 20 25 minutes
Share/closure
o 5 minutes

Framing Questions: The questions that teacher and students will consider
throughout the lesson.

Who are the main characters? What is their motivation or what do

they want?
What is the setting? Where and when does the story take place?
What is the problem? How do the characters attempt to solve it?
What is the solution? How was the problem solved?

Connection/Motivation: How will you engage the learners?

Grab student attention by beginning with a story about a real-life mystery
that took place at our school. This could be anything from a missing stapler
in the classroom down the hall to mysterious smells coming from the
cafeteria. No matter which story is chosen, try to captivate the students and
build suspense as you tell the story of this mystery. Make sure to name out
the elements of mystery that students have learned in reading workshop
along the way and reference the anchor chart.

Next, explicitly name todays teaching point for students:

Objective: Students will be able to roadmap a mystery text for story

elements including character, setting, problem and solution and gather clues
to help them solve the mystery alongside the detective. (Geller & Reicherter,
2016)
Lesson Development: The steps you will take to teach the lesson and the
student participation you will foster.
Model/Demonstrate (I try):
Using think aloud and written demonstration under the document camera,
model for students how to roadmap a mystery passage using Mystery at
Dads Office. Both the passage and third grade roadmapping bookmark
should be visible to students.

1. First show students how to orient themselves to the passage.

Readers do this by examining the following and making predictions:
a. the title
b. illustrations (if applicable)
c. the blurb with background information (if applicable)
2. Once Ive modeled how to orient ourselves to a mystery passage, I
will demonstrate how to read and roadmap a mystery passage for:
a. character
b. setting
c. problem
d. solution
e. additional understandings and predictions
Active Involvement-Guided Practice (We try):
Using turn and talk, students will start roadmapping The Solver with a
partner. Students should have a copy of the passage and the third grade
roadmapping bookmark.

With their partner, readers will orient themselves to the passage. Readers
do this by examining the following and making predictions:
a. the title
b. illustrations (if applicable)
c. the blurb with background information (if applicable)
Roadmapping for character, setting, problem, solution and additional
understandings will be saved for independent practice. During the guided
practice, the teacher will listen in to student conversations to assess
readiness for independent practice and share out what was heard in
partnerships before moving on to independent work time.
Independent/partner activity/group activity/learning tasks (You try):
Give students directions for independent work time. Tell students that they
will continue reading and roadmapping The Solver independently. Remind
students of the tools that they have at their disposal to help them (anchor
charts, roadmapping bookmarks, modeled passage, peers). Remind students
of norms for independent work time before sending them off.

Circulate the room to confer with individuals and groups, using your
clipboard checklist to record notes about:

student reading behaviors

adherence to expectations for independent work time
whether or not students are able to roadmap a mystery passage for
character, setting, problem, solution and additional understandings

After 5 10 minutes of conferring, pull a small group to the meeting area to

revisit the skill with a lower level passage and with more scaffolded support.
Share/Closure:
Interrupt students to have them stop their mystery roadmapping for today.

put your pencil down

stack your roadmapped passages in the middle of your table
proceed to the exit slip

For the culminating activity today, students will be required to reflect on the
process of roadmapping a mystery passage
o What worked well for you? (Sentence starter: One thing that
worked well for me was)
o What was difficult? (Sentence starter: One thing that was hard
for me was)
o How does roadmapping help you as a reader of mystery?
(Roadmapping is helpful because)
Once students complete their exit ticket, they will get up out of their seat
and place their post-it in the classroom jot lot. If time permits, find an

exemplar student exit slip or roadmapped passage to display under the

document camera and conduct a classroom discussion.

Plan for Differentiated Instruction/Activity: What modifications will you

make to meet the needs of all students?
What special needs of students in the class should be addressed in this
lesson?
First of all, the various learning styles of different students need to be
leveraged. This includes:

visual learners
auditory learners
those who learn best through reading and writing

Additionally, reading levels of students are a huge factor when planning for
differentiation and modification of this lesson plan. Fountas and Pinnell
reading levels in the class range from F to T.
Specifically, how will you address those needs? Content, Process,
Product, Assessment
Extra Support
Content

During the introduction to new

material and vocabulary
introduction, visual aids will be
provided in the form of pictures
and anchor charts to support
visual learners.

Challenge
Rigorous follow up questions will be
used throughout the lesson, including:

Why?

How do you know?

Can you find evidence in the

text that supports that?

Process

Students who need extra

reminders will be provided with a
mini anchor chart that reminds
them of what they should be
identifying as they roadmap their
mystery passage.

Students who are fast-finishers will be

given leadership opportunities to coach
their peers who are still working and
need support. This will allow them to
access the process of roadmapping in a
new way by explaining it to others.

Product

Students who are pulled in the

small group during independent
practice will work with a mystery
passage at a more accessible
reading level, allowing them to
focus on the product
(roadmapping) rather than
deciphering a passage too far
above their reading level.

Students who need a challenge will be

encouraged not just to roadmap their
passage for:

Character

Setting

Problem

Solution

They will also be encouraged to jot

additional understandings, thinking and
predictions in the margin of their
passage.
Assessment

Struggling readers and

writers will be given
sentence starters for the
exit slip activity at the end.

Conferring questions will be scaffolded

for different students. More rigorous
questioning will be used with students
who need a challenge. Examples:

Why?

How do you know?

Can you find evidence in the

text that supports that?

Assessment
Formative/Summative
Students will be assessed both informally and formally during this lesson
using the following methods:

During the teacher model and guided practice, turn and talks and
verbal questioning will be used to assess student readiness for

independent practice with their own mystery passages.

An additional form of informal assessment will occur during the
independent practice when the teacher circulates the room to confer
with individuals and groups, recording conference notes on their
clipboard checklist.
At the end of the lesson, students will complete a written exit ticket
where they reflect on the process of roadmapping a mystery passage
and how it helps them as a reader.

Assessment of Objectives: How do you plan to assess what the students

have learned in this lesson? In this unit?
The framing questions will be used to assess students throughout this lesson.
This will be in the form of discussion, turn and talks, their independent
practice, and ultimately an exit slip written on a post-it note and placed in
the classroom jot lot.

Who are the main characters? What is their motivation or what do

they want?
What is the setting? Where and when does the story take place?
What is the problem? How do the characters attempt to solve it?
What is the solution? How as the problem solved?

Note: Within the unit, students are assessed via a formal pre-assessment and
post-assessment.
How will independent work be assessed? What artifacts/evidence
will be examined?

Student independent passages will be collected and assessed for

mastery with roadmapping (identifying character, setting, problem,
solution and any additional understandings).
Student exit slips will be collected and reviewed to gain information
about student process and as a means of self-assessment.
Conferences during independent practice will be coached into and next
steps will be recorded on my clipboard checklist or in my conferring
notes.

How will your assessment of this lesson inform your plan for reengagement?
Observations from independent practice, the exit slip, and conferences will
help plan for small group instruction during the coming days. Any students
who have not shown mastery in this area will be pulled to a small group
during future close reading periods to revisit the skill in a smaller setting and
with immediate feedback.

Homework/Lesson Extension:
Students will read a mystery passage called Mystery at the Beach.
Students will roadmap the passage for:

character
setting
problem
solution
additional understandings and predictions

Students will use the same passage for close reading homework each night
this week, with a new skill or question being layered on each day.

Reference
Geller, B. & Reicheter, A. (2016). Mystery: Foundational skills in disguise.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.