Reading/Language Arts Lesson: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes. Sarah
White – Kindergarten. Wednesday February 29, 2012. 09:50-10:25am. Standards
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Reading/Language Arts Lesson: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes Sarah White – Kindergarten Wednesday February 29, 2012
09:50-10:25am
Standards: Virginia Standards of Learning K.11
The student will write to communicate ideas. a) Draw pictures and/or use letters and phonetically spelled words to write about experiences, stories, people, objects, or events. b) Write left to right and top to bottom. IRA/NCTE Standards 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works. 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions, media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts. 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes.
Intended Audience: Kindergarten, Whole Class. This group is comprised of students with a variety of prior knowledge about and experience with writing and communicating their ideas. The students have all been participating in a writer’s workshop for the past three weeks. Background/Overview: Students are still working on developing a plot in their writing and adding details to their main ideas. Behavioral Objectives: After hearing the story of Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and observing the teacher doing a write aloud, the student should be able to create a short story related to Pete the Cat. Resources/Materials, Time, Space: Materials – Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, written by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean, is a story about a cat with white shoes. He steps in different things that change his shoes, but he stays positive. Document, paper, pencil, crayons. Whole class. Time – Approximately thirty minutes. Five minutes for the read aloud, five minutes for the sample writing, fifteen minutes for student writing, five minutes for sharing and closure. Space – Whole classroom. The Lesson Proper Introduction: In order to get students interested in the lesson, begin by asking the class if they have ever heard of Pete the Cat. Then show the students the cover and the title page and ask the students to predict what they think the story will be about. Call on two students to share their ideas with the class. Instructional Strategies: Read/Think Aloud – Begin the lesson by reading Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, written by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean. While reading the text, take the time to pause and
ask the students questions that encourage questioning, prediction, and evaluation of the text. Ask questions including the following specific questions: Do you think he is going to sing his song this time? Is Pete upset about getting mud on his shoes? Ask a couple students to share their thoughts on the story. Did they like it? Writing Sample – Ask the students to think of a time when something went wrong during the day and what they did to say cool like Pete the Cat. Tell them that you have been thinking about something that happened to you. Illustrate the situation and then begin to formulate a sentence. Model the beginning of your story on the document camera. Be sure to model the thinking process as you write. Writing Sample: See attached. Student Writing – Tell the students it is their turn to write their own story about time when something went wrong during the day and what they did to stay cool. Encourage students to think about something that happened to them and to write with as much detail and specific parts as possible. Remind students that this is just a first draft and that they should not be concerned with spelling because those may be corrected later on. While students are writing, walk around and hold conferences with individual students. Differentiation: Since the bulk of this lesson is done individually, differentiation will take place the entire time. Conferencing will be the primary way to address individual student needs. If I observe students struggling, I can scaffold their writing as needed using prompts or encouraging illustrations. Accommodations/Modifications: When conferencing with students, provide higher levels of support or alternative means for those who seem to be struggling. For students with limited writing abilities, encourage them to label their pictures before they start writing their story. Tell them that this is a good way to get down all of your ideas before you begin writing. Closure: Encourage students to share their writing with the class. Call on a few students in the time remaining and encourage students to continue their writing during writer’s workshop time. Assessment/Evaluation: Formative: The teacher will conference with each student individually at least once a week during writing time. The teacher should keep a brief journal of this conferencing in order to have a record of the needs of each student. Summative: The teacher will check to see that the student has begun their short story and illustration. Reflection This lesson ended up being very successful with my students! They enjoyed the Pete the Cat read aloud and thinking aloud while reading. The most critical piece of this lesson ended up being the write aloud. My students had just begun the writing workshop process at this point, so the idea of drawing a picture, labeling it, and thinking about writing is still new and very
unknown. My students have had limited access to modeling of the writing process, which meant that this lesson really was a huge stepping stone. This writing process seemed to result in much better writing samples from the students. I know that with more practice with and exposure to this lesson style, my students will better their writing skills. It was also rewarding to hear my Cooperating Teacher say that she was excited to see a new type of lesson that she had never heard of before. After reflecting on the lesson, we both agreed that this lesson was a success and something that we will certainly try again in our classroom.
