Georgina Stephens

English Language Arts: K.LD-Q.2. Share information, opinions, and questions speaking audibly in coherent sentences K.LD-Q.3 Describe people, places, things, size, color, shape, and action K.LT-U.1 Make predictions about the characters or setting for a story using illustrations and titles K.LT-U.2 Retell story events in sequence K.LT-U.3 Ask and answer questions about the important characters, settings, and events Math: (Brief Review, connection made in first pre-reading activity) K.G.2. Describe attributes of two-dimensional shapes (e.g., number of sides, number of corners) K.G.3. Identify and compare three-dimensional shapes Throughout the Lesson: SWBAT share information, their opinions, and answer questions audibly and in coherent sentences in order to demonstrate their Communicative Competence SWBAT communicate and collaborate effectively in order to continue building their community and expressing their creativity Pre-Reading Activities: SWBAT make predictions about the characters or setting for the story after hearing the title and participating in a short picture walk. SWBAT identify a cylinder and review how many sides and corners there are in a square SWBAT describe people, places, things, color, shape, and actions in the story using descriptive vocabulary During-Reading Activities: SWBAT ask and answer questions about important characters, settings and events in the story in order to demonstrate their comprehension of the story Post-Reading Activities: SWBAT reflect on the theme of the story and apply the theme to creating a visual display of dreams they have for themselves in order to more meaningfully connect with the text SWBAT retell the events of the story in the proper sequence in order to demonstrate their comprehension of the story Comprehension Note: There will be some vocabulary instruction, but that is only to enhance the comprehension of the text-- Comprehension is MAIN FOCUS Kindergarten (According to Fry Readability, the chosen book falls right at grade level. It has short, simple sentences. One sentence per page. Large print.) I Dreamt I Lived by the Edge of the Sea Written By: Betty Paraskevas Illustrated By: Michael Paraskevas I will be supplying the materials on my own The storybook Flipchart Cloth bag Different artifacts that represent the things mentioned in the book (toy ship, beach ball, miniature umbrella, inflatable raft, miniature beach chair, kite, picture of waves, bag of sand, saltwater taffy, as well as other things one might find at the beach- seashells, dried starfish, piece of coral, driftwood, seaweed) Plastic bin Bags of sand Cups of water Plastic cups Camera

Curricular ObjectivesIn accordance with District of Columbia Public Schools

Lesson Objectives

Focus of Lesson Grade Level Title of Book

Materials Needed

Georgina Stephens
Pebbles Computer/YouTube clip Large roll of brown butcher paper Markers Felt Tissue paper, tulle Scissors Glue Tape Yarn I designed this lesson for students of low socioeconomic status who live in urban communities. Some of my students may have little prior experience with or background knowledge about the beach. I do understand that background knowledge is essential for comprehending texts and I will activate this background knowledge among the students who have it. But, I also believe that it is important for me to begin building background knowledge with the children who dont have same experiences as others. I should expose all of my students to a variety of texts. That way, all of my students can have an equal opportunity to enjoy the adventures of reading and to discover the books they can relate to and like best. Therefore, I devised activities to introduce students to the beach, facilitate text comprehension, and encourage students to constantly strive for all of their dreams. The literacy activity will take the form of a read-aloud and focus on students text comprehension. Students will participate in pre-reading activities that familiarize them with the setting as well as certain language/aspects used in the story. Students will review basic geometrical concepts and build their own sandcastles since the premise of the story is a childs dream that he lives in a sandcastle. Students will then learn about and describe various objects mentioned in the story as they pull them out of a bag. During the readaloud, I will hold on to students attention as they answer questions and participate in brief exercises. The during-reading activities will allow me to monitor and assess comprehension. After the read-aloud, students will summarize the events of the story, make evaluations, and reflect on the theme of the book. The post-reading activities will assess overall text comprehension and also lead into a final art project. Students will apply the theme of the book in order to determine and visually represent their own dreams. Pre Reading Activity One (Familiarize students with the setting of the story- a sandcastle home): During another activity or while students are at recess, I will place a large plastic bin at each table. Inside the bin, I will pour a considerable amount of sand. When students come in, I will ask them to sit at their tables and tell them not to touch anything until I explain the directions. I will pull out the book and walk around the room to show each student the cover. I will then read the title aloud On the Edge of the Sea. I will do a quick picture walk and flip through the illustrations as I walk around the room. I will then say, Who can use their prediction skills, and predict, or make a good guess, about what this book will be about after hearing the title and seeing the pictures? I will walk around the room and stop in front of each child to hear his/her prediction. This will help me formatively assess the coherency of each childs response as well as ensure that each child can formulate a general understanding of where the lesson is headed next. I will then ask students, Who knows what this is? (I will be pointing to the sandcastle on the cover) I will either acknowledge students answers or I will explain that this is a sandcastle. I will ask students to predict what the setting of the book is, or where the story takes place. Depending on how comfortable students seem about sandcastles, I will ask if anyone has built a sandcastle before and explain that we are going to build another one today, or I will say, Its okay if no one has built a sandcastle, because today we are going to build our own! I dont want assume anything about the amount of my students background knowledge. I need to determine that. I will explain that in order to build a sandcastle, we need really wet sand so the sand can become sticky. I will then come around and pour water in each of the bins. In order to review geometry skills, and to make sure everyone feels included in the activity, I will explain step-by-step how to build the sandcastle. There are four students seated per table, so each student will have a turn building a part of the sandcastle. This will promote taking turns, community building, and valuing each others contributions. I will begin by telling students to pick one person to form a wall out of the sand. I will demonstrate in my own bin. I will tell them to take turns and have each person in their group do this until they form a square. To review their geometry, I will ask them how many sides they need to make in order to make a square. We will confirm that there are four sides in a square. Each student will form one side. Then I will pass out plastic cups, and tell students to scoop sand into the cup and level off the top. I will demonstrate. I will tell students to turn over the cup at each point, or angle, on the square, in order to make four towers. We will confirm that there are four corners in a square. Each student will make one tower. I will demonstrate. We will identify the tower as a cylinder. I will explain that each tower is in the shape of a cylinder. I will

Lesson Overview

Before Reading Activities

Georgina Stephens
then pass out pebbles and have students work together to decorate their sandcastles in order to encourage collaboration, communication, and creativity. After about 10 minutes, I will walk around and take a picture of the students by their sandcastles. I will explain that the sandcastles cant last forever because the sand will dry out, so we will take pictures to preserve the memory. I will hang up the pictures around the room later. I will then break apart my sandcastle by dumping water on it. I will tell students that sandcastles need just the perfect amount of water to stay up. Too little water will make the sand dry out and crumble, but too much water will wash the castle away! I will tell students to remember that because it will be important later in the story. (I will let students keep their castles until they dry out naturally- I will just move them off their tables at some point).

Transition: I will ask students to clean off their tables. Then I will walk around and pick the cleanest table with the quietest students to move over to the story mat and sit in big circle around the mat. This will help me maintain classroom management. Having students transition one group at a time instead of all at once will help me maintain order and reduce possible chaos. I will stand in between the table area and the story mat so I can watch both groups until all students transition over. Once all students transition over, I will move to the story mat and sit in the front of the circle. I will begin the next pre-reading activity. Pre-Reading Activity Two (Familiarize students with certain aspects/language of the story- contextualize to facilitate comprehension) I will pull out a large cloth bag. The bag contains artifacts or miniature replicas of the artifacts mentioned in the story. The bag also contains other items one might find at the beach. This is to familiarize students with the things they will hear mentioned in the story in order to facilitate their comprehension. This is also to expose students to a variety of objects they may find at the beach so they can learn about the beach beyond the story. Students will demonstrate their comprehension as they discriminate between the objects mentioned in the story, and the objects found on the beach, but not mentioned in the story (explained more below.) This is to ensure that all students develop a certain amount of background knowledge so may start the story around the same level. Essentially, I want to equalize the playing field since I may have some students who have some experience with these items, and some who dont. Id like to give the students who have prior experience a chance to activate their background knowledge, and Id like to start a fund of background knowledge for the students who arent familiar with these items. I want students to stay seated for classroom management purposes, but I also recognize that if I dont give them an opportunity to move, they may get restless. So I think the best solution may be to have each student come to the front of the circle, close their eyes, and reach in the bags. They will take their object back to their seat in the circle. As soon as the student sits again, I will have the next student come up and repeat the process. I will tell students not to come up until the previous child returns to his/her seat in the circle. Once all the students have chosen their items, I will go around the circle and ask each student to tell the class what they have. If they arent sure, I will ask them to make a really good guess. I will also ask students to describe the color, shape, texture, etc. of the object and predict what the object does. This will also help me assess their coherence and communicative competence. After each student speaks, I will tell the class what the object is and what we use it for (if they havent said it already). I will then write the name of each object as we discuss it on the large flipchart that will be positioned next to me at the front of the circle. I will then tell students that I want them to listen very carefully to the story. I will explain that I want them to raise their object in the air if they hear me read about it. I will tell students they can help each other. I will remind students not to feel bad if they dont hear about their object in the book, because while all objects are found at the beach, not all objects are mentioned in the story. I will explain that we will talk about this some more after we finish our read-aloud. This activity is another form of monitoring comprehension. During the story, I plan to formatively assess whether or not students understand and recognize their object, its purpose, and its place within the story. Since I am allowing students to help each other, I will also be able to determine which students comprehended the story (the ones who know their own object, or eagerly tell their

Georgina Stephens
peers when to their raise objects) and which students may need some extra support (students who dont raise their object, rely on help from others, raise their object at the wrong time, or raise an object thats not mentioned in the story). This activity is critical, especially for students who may not have a lot of background knowledge, because students must understand their objects in order to fully comprehend the story. Furthermore, this activity will help me hold my students attention since I turned my means of comprehension assessment into a game that requires them to listen carefully. And since they should be listening carefully, I will hopefully obtain more accurate measurements of their comprehension. I will ask the students if they have any questions, and then begin to read the story. Monitoring Comprehension- through the use of attention holding activities that keep students interested and thus enable more effective assessment I will read first page. I will pause to allow student with the bag of sand to raise it. I will pause to allow this to happen, if necessary, I may have to prompt. I will then turn to the flip board and check off sand on our list. I will also make a quick mark on my assessment checklist- check plus if the student raised it right away, check if the student a gentle reminder, or check minus if the student needed significant prompting. I will read second page and stop to ask what it means to watch the sun climb the morning sky. This figurative language may be difficult for kindergarteners to understand, so I will scaffold according to their response. I might ask them to act out climbing, I ask them to act out what the sun does when it comes up, etc. Eventually, we will determine together that author is referring to a sunrise. On page three, the student with the toy ship should raise it. I will pause to allow this to happen. Prompt if necessary, make quick assessment, and check off on list. After reading page 5, I will pause to allow student with the picture of waves to raise it. I will prompt if necessary, make quick assessment, and check off on list. I will then ask students to show me what riding the waves means. I may demonstrate along with them. Page 7 tells us the waves stopped short of my castle door. I will ask students to recall what they learned from the pre-reading activity about sandcastles and what a lot of water may do to them. Then I will ask students to turn to their neighbor and predict what could happen if the wave came up too close to the castle. After a few minutes, I will ask students to share. On page 8, I will pause for the students with the toy beach chair and the mini umbrella to raise their artifacts. I will prompt as necessary, make quick assessment notes, and check objects off the list. I will ask all students to look at the illustrations and turn to their neighbors (with illustrations in mind) to discuss why the chair and the umbrella in the pictures are different from the chairs we sit in at school and the umbrellas we use in the rain. After a few minutes, we will share. On page 10, I will read the phrase shimmering kite of brilliant designs. I will show students the illustration and point out how bright and vibrant the kites look. I will then ask students to use their context clues skills and turn to their neighbors to discuss possibilities for the definitions of shimmering and brilliant. After a few minutes, I will ask students to share. I will scaffold as necessary. Eventually, we will arrive at the correct definitions. On page 11, I will read the line climbing the sky, tugging their lines. I will ask students to apply what they recently learned about kites from our pre-reading activity as well as recall what the author meant when she wrote that the sun climbed the sky earlier in the book. I will ask them what it means for the kite to climb the sky. This may be difficult, so I will scaffold and explain as necessary. At this point, I will pause the story and ask for a volunteer to summarize the story thus far. If the volunteer needs help, I will first show illustrations thus far in the story, again. Then, if the volunteer is still struggling, I will ask another student to help out his/her neighbor. I will remind students about the importance of a community and helping each other when our neighbors need help! Page 12 tells us about a peppermint raft. I will pause for the student with the raft to raise his/her object. Then I will prompt if necessary, assess, and check off list. I will show students the illustration and ask students to use their describing words to describe the raft. I will ask them what treat this reminds them of that we can get in the wintertime. I will scaffold if necessary to help students arrive at a candy cane. I will say that the author described the raft as peppermint because it has the same colors and stripes as a peppermint candy cane. After reading page 13, I will pause for the student with beach ball to raise it. I will prompt if necessary, assess, and check off list. On page 16, I will pause to discuss the figurative language they were diamonds on the water and a crystal blue sky. I will show the illustration and ask students to use their describing words to describe what they see. Then I will ask students to describe what a diamond and crystal looks like (we would have talked about this during a previous science lesson- I want students to make connections from past information). Then I will point out some of the same describing words that we heard. I will explain that the

During Reading Activities

Georgina Stephens
author used a metaphor, or compared the two things because they looked so similar. I will explain that sometimes authors do this to make reading more exciting. On page 19, I will pause for student with saltwater taffy to raise it. I will prompt as necessary, assess, and check off list. On page 20, I will read the line the bright orange sun slowly slipped away. I will ask students to remember what we called it when the sun climbs the sky in the early morning. I will tell students to think about what the opposite of this is. Through appropriate scaffolding based on their responses, we will arrive at the conclusion that author is describing a sunset. On page 22, I will read the line playing tag with the waves that rushed the shore. I will play a quick video clip on YouTube of waves crashing on the shore. I will ask students to turn to their neighbors and talk about what they think this may mean. I will ask students to share their ideas. Together we will discuss the ideas and arrive at a conclusion. On page 26, I will ask student to draw from the pre-reading activity and recall one more time about what happens when sand dries out. I will then ask them to infer why the ledge began to crumble. On page 26, I will read the line, my mother said, its time to start a brand new day! Get up sleepy head! I will ask students to think about this quote and infer whether or not they believe this story actually happened, or if it was just a dream and why. Transition into post-reading activity (Evaluations): I will read the last page, I never had another dream as wonderful as that, but sometimes when I see the moon I wonder why I never found my hat. The last page depicts the little boy all grown up, standing on the beach and staring at the moon. (In earlier pages, he lost his hat in the wind). I will ask students to do a think-pair-share considering the new evidence. Do they still think it was a dream, even though he really did loose his hat? Why or why not? We will have a brief discussion about it, and I will scaffold as necessary. We will then begin the next half of our first post-reading activity. Post- Reading Activity One (Evaluations) I will turn to our word list and ask students to repeat after me the names of the objects we heard in the story. I will sound out each letter in the word, and indicate the letter I am sounding out on the list, so students can visualize and practice letter- sound relationships. (oral experience is necessary to retain new vocabulary) I will then ask students to determine what objects they did not hear about in the story (seashells, dried starfish, piece of coral, driftwood, seaweed) I will say a sentence using the names of one of the items and ask the student who has that object to raise it high into the sky. This way I can assess the other students as well. For example, I will say When I go to the beach, I love collecting seashells so I can make a necklace out of them! I will prompt as necessary, assess, and mark the word off on the list. Starfish live on the very bottom of the ocean. They have a mouth right by their stomach! Prompt, assess, mark list. I will repeat this process for the following: Sometimes, when people swim in the ocean, they see coral. Coral is beautiful and can come in many colors. It looks like a big, hard plant, but it is actually an animal! Some people collect driftwood from the beach and use it to make a sculpture! Be careful when you are swimming in the ocean! Sometimes we can get seaweed tangled around our feet! After I ask all these questions, I will make a brief closing statement to close out this activity. This statement will actually help me transition into the next post-reading activity. We learned all about the beach from this book! We heard about some of our objects during the story, and some of our objects after the story. But we described each one, and we learned what they are, and how we could use them if at all possible. Can we summarize the story now, and talk about one thing we learned from it? Post-Reading Activity Two (Summary and Reflections) I will ask each student to take part in the summary process. I will explain that we will start with one student who will summarize the first part, and then ask the student to tap his/her neighbor on the shoulder when he/she finishes summarizing his/her part. If students become long-winded (as some kindergartners might) or become stuck (also common) I will either praise them for the contribution and ask them to pass it on in a nice way, or I will provide an appropriate fix-up strategy (perhaps looking at illustrations). I will make appropriate check marks on the assessment sheet as students retell events in proper sequence. This activity not only measures a specific objective, but it also measures overall comprehension. Each student will have an opportunity to share. Once we recap the story, I will ask each student to share one thing they learned, one like and one dislike from the story. We will start and go around the opposite direction in the circle. I will assess communicative competence (as I have been throughout the lesson) as well as level of connections. After all students share what they learned, their likes and dislikes, I will make a statement that discusses the theme of the book and also transitions into the third and final -

Post-Reading Activities

Georgina Stephens
post-reading activity. What I liked most about this story was that it was all about dreams. It made me start thinking about some of my dreams. But what I didnt like was that the story only talked about dreams we have at nighttime while we are sleeping. There are other kinds of dreams. We may think about them while we sleep. But these dreams can come true. For example, when I was a very little girl, I dreamed about becoming a teacher. I thought about it all the time, day and night. And now here I am! What is your dream? What do you want to be when you grow up? I will choose on some students to answer and then transition into final activity. Post-Reading Activity Three (Applications) We have now made a real life application. I want my students to understand from an early age that they can be anything they want to be. We will start a Dreams We Wont Wake Up From Wall. I will explain that this means that this dream doesnt have to end when we wake up, we can constantly work towards making this dream a reality. At this point, I will call the quietest students one by one to head back to their seat. Once everyone is seated at their tables. I will pass out cutouts of life-sized children that I made the night before. I will then pass out markers and crayons. I will ask the students to draw themselves as what they want to be when they grow up. I will walk around and help as necessary. As students finish, I will glue googly eyes and yarn on the face and head. I will work with students as to style the hair however they want. After we finish these people, I will ask students to clean their areas up, and I would come behind as necessary. I will then ask each student to share what he or she chose to decorate his or her person as and why. I will assess communicative competence for a final time. I will collect the people and dismiss for the next activity. After school, I will hang the students work up on our Dreams We Wont Wake Up From wall. I will decorate the wall with flowing tulle to give it a dreamlike appearance. This will be a part of a yearlong activity that will teach students what they can do to achieve their dreams. It will also serve as a constant reminder to work hard to reach these goals. Finally, it will serve as an interest inventory for me. I can use this information to select books that appeal to different students interests and therefore stimulate more connections with reading as well as foster a desire to read. I will have informal formative assessment scattered throughout all the activities- I will make quick notes on the attached checklist throughout the activities. The checklist corresponds with each objective (except math). During the activities, I will write a check minus, check, or check plus, depending on how well students accomplish the objective. If there is no evidence, I will write a 0. At the end of the day, as I reflect on the lesson, I will elaborate on the scales. I will specifically address why a particular student received the marks he/she did, and also why a particular student may not have demonstrated any evidence of an objective. Pre-Reading Activities I will assess students communicative competence (coherent and audible sentences) as they make their predictions and explain their objects I will assess whether students can make reasonable predictions based on the title and illustrations when I ask each student for his/her input I will also assess students prediction abilities when I ask them to predict what their object is used for I will assess students ability to describe objects shape, color, action, etc. as they talk about the object they chose from the bag I will assess students knowledge of squares and cylinders as students form these shapes for their sandcastles (this is not indicated on the checklist because this is solely for review. The purpose of assessment for this lesson is to evaluate comprehension abilities) During Reading Activities I will assess students communicative competence (coherent and audible sentences) as they ask and answer questions about the text I will monitor students comprehension as they answer text-explicit and text-implicit questions about the text I will assess students comprehension of some key vocabulary as students raise their objects to indicate if they recognize it Post-Reading Activities I will assess students communicative competence (coherent and audible sentences) as they discuss their reflections and evaluations of the text I will assess students overall comprehension of the text as they summarize, reflect upon, and evaluate the text I will assess students ability to recall events from the story in the proper sequence as I ask them to summarize the text Throughout all the activities, I will assess students ability to communicate and collaborate with each other. I will also assess their creativity skills.

Assessment