Lianna Zolkower-Kutz

Taryn Williams
November 18, 2014
EDUC 520
Term III Literacy Lesson
What:
The focus on this lesson will be in sequencing stories - fairy tales in particular - in
order for students to develop an awareness of narrative structure and meaning. Our chosen
text is The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst, which connects with Lianna's class's
unit on fairy tales, and Taryn's classs study of variations on The Gingerbread Man tale. We
will engage student in sequencing activities in order to build skills of summarizing and
retelling. We will also briefly touch upon character attributes during an independent
writing exercise, which will encourage text-to-self connections. Finally, we will briefly
discuss the idea of message or theme as it relates to this text.
How:
This lesson will start with a read-aloud punctuated by comprehension questions to
involve students as active readers. At the beginning of the lesson, we will explicitly state
the skills the students will be cultivating: the ability to sequence and summarize a story
and to discuss its message or theme. We will start the read-aloud with ICQs before
beginning and continue with CCQs throughout the story, purposeful questions that will
focus students on story structure, character and theme. In order to teach sequencing, we
will clearly model this skill, after which students will try it independently using a graphic
organizer as a scaffold. We will also explicitly state why this skill is important. Group
discussion will also support students in this process, as well as providing a way for the
class to tackle the more complex idea of theme.
Why:
One of the main focuses in this lesson is ensuring students understand the purpose
of these activities. This is necessary, because students need to know that there is a reason
for doing these activities so that they understand it is not just busy work meant to keep
them occupied. We chose these particular activities and books so that we can ensure our
lesson is aligned to both the common core standards and our teachers curriculum plans.
We hope that, through this lesson, students will be able to make deeper engagement with
texts, a foundation that will be important for students in later grades.
Taryns inquiry question for Seminar is on using formative assessment to better
adapt lessons to your particular students needs. By using CCQs and ICQs throughout the
lesson - particularly while reading the text - we can gauge which students are struggling, as
well as which parts of the lesson are particularly difficult for the students, so that we can

tailor the rest of the lesson to the students needs, as well as understand which students
may need more support later on.
Lianna's inquiry question has to do with instructional practices that help students
cultivate a growth mindset. Evidence for this would be examples of student perseverance
on challenging tasks. In this lesson, such instructional strategies that have the potential to
develop this mindset are modeling summary writing and teacher questions that push
students to grapple with concepts of summary and theme. The effectiveness of these tools
would be measured by students' ability to work through challenges, especially during
independent work, as well as sustained engagement in the group discussions.
Lesson Dates:
Wednesday, November 26th (Lianna)
Wednesday, December 3rd (Taryn)
Anticipated Time: 40-50 minutes
Goals/Objectives

1.
2.
3.
4.

Objectives:
SWBAT understand the events in a story well enough to sequence the events on
their own.
SWBAT draw on their knowledge of what happened in the story to form opinions
and write about what they heard.
SWBAT remember other versions that they have read and will also be able to
compare and contrast how the stories relate to each other.
SWBAT use the information from the story to understand what the moral/theme is.

Teacher Objectives:
1. WWBAT model the expectations clearly and concisely and address student concerns
before the activities begin, IOT enable students to acquire these new skills within
the designated timeframe.
Standards:
With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details (CCSS.ELALITERACY.RL.K.2).
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a
story (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3).

 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine
their central message, lesson, or moral (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.2).
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning
introduces the story and the ending concludes the action (CCSS.ELALITERACY.RL.2.5).
Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided
sources to answer a question (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8).
With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences
or gather information from provided sources to answer a question (CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.K.8).
Materials and Preparation:
The Gingerbread Girl
CCQs and ICQs for the read-aloud
Pictures for sequencing (K)
Sequencing Graphic Organizer (2nd)
Gingerbread character sheets
Paper
Glue
Pencils
Chart Paper
Classroom arrangement and management:
Taryn:
For kindergarten, this will be a whole-group lesson. The students will be on the
carpet in their normal squares for the read-aloud, and they will move to their tables for the
activity. It is important that lessons allow students to be in their usual locations, because
routines are still being established to prepare students for the rest of the their schooling,
and we do not want to disrupt that.
Lianna:
Lianna will conduct a small-group lesson with six students (Leonor, Daniella, Jack,
Ruben, Fayol, and Morghan) in the second-grade pod, which will provide both tables and a
carpeted area. She will remind them of classroom norms (hand raising, attentive listening)
at the beginning of the lesson. The read-aloud and discussion will occur on the floor, after
which the students will transition to tables to do the writing activities. Lianna will ask one

of the student to distribute the worksheets. Students will sit two to a table to minimize
distractions in seat that Lianna will assign. The students are very familiar with read-alouds
and should have little trouble remaining on task; quick reminders should be enough to
bring a student's focus back to the story if necessary. During independent practice, Lianna
will circulate to assist students who need extra help. She will also sit students in strategic
pairs (Morghan and Fayol, Jack and Ruben, Leonor and Daniella) so that the more able
student can help his or her partner if necessary, which will minimize distractions by
making sure every student can complete the tasks.
Plan:
Introduction (7 minutes):
Inform students that were going to read a book, but first introduce concepts of
sequencing and summarizing
Introduce concepts one at a time
Ask students if they can define them
Respond based on student answers
Introduce book (The Gingerbread Girl)
Connect back to previous units: Fairy Tales (second grade) and The
Gingerbread Man and The Gingerbread Boy (K)
Read-Aloud (13 minutes):
Begin reading story to students
Ask ICQs in the beginning
Let's review the story of the Gingerbread Man.
This story is different. We are going to learn to summarize it by
writing a sentence (or two) to describe the beginning, middle, and
end. Explain importance of learning to summarize.
As we read, think about how this story is different from the original.
Ask CCQs throughout the story:
What has happened so far?
Why do you think the Gingerbread Girl is running?
How is this different from the original?
How do you think the story will end?
Sequencing and Summarizing (18 minutes):
Introduce sequencing
Ask students to think aloud about what happened.
Lead them to think about how each event leads to the next.
Model the sequencing

 Let's list the events of the story. What are the important details? How do we
decide?
If we were to choose just FOUR of these things that we have listed, what
would they be? What are the most important things?
As a class, we will write a sentence for the first event (The class will compose
the sentence as a brief shared writing activity. The teacher will write in on
the chart paper).
Now you will finish the summary on your own. You can copy the first
sentence from the board.
Independent Work
Transition to tables. Have one student pass out graphic
organizers/sequencing strips.
Students will compose one (or two, if they need to) sentence for each box on
the graphic organizer.
Writing Activity: Character (5 minutes)
After they have finished the sequencing, another will student pass out paper for the
writing response activity.
Question posed: what character (from The Gingerbread Girl for second grade, out of
the Gingerbread Man, Boy, and Girl for kindergarten) would you be or are you most
like? Why? Brief discussion.
Students write paragraph (4-5 sentences) about what character they chose and why.
They draw picture to accompany it.
Wrap-Up (7 min.)
Why is it important to know how to retell the events of the story/to summarize?
What did we do?
Discussion of message/theme
Let's go back to the idea of a message or theme. What does this mean?
Based on our discussions of the story, what do you think the message of The
Gingerbread Girl is? (If necessary, the teacher can ask more probing
questions about character motivations, such as "Why did the Gingerbread
Girl run away?" and the consequences of those actions).
How is the message different from the original Gingerbread Man? (If they
have trouble with this question, the teacher can scaffold their thinking by
asking them to compare what happened in each story, especially at the end.)
Assessment of Goals
For formative assessment, we will use the CCQs asked throughout the lesson to
gauge understanding and to make decisions about how much to scaffold the following

activities for each child. These will be important to clarify if the students are having any
trouble with comprehension throughout, so that we can be preventive of any problems in
this area. Throughout the sequencing and the writing, the teachers will be circulating and
observing the students, so that we can check their work and ensure they are understanding
the activities.
The main assessment of goals will be by looking through the student work
afterward. Because the students are producing several pieces of work from this lesson, we
will be able to gauge their understanding in the evaluation of the work itself. We will look
mainly for evidence of use of information from the text in the sequencing and writing, to
ensure that the students are using what they remember about the narrative to inform their
work. We will also look for at least 4-5 sentences from everyone, except for the
Kindergarten students who needed more scaffolding.
Anticipating Students' Responses
These students are familiar with basic story structure (beginning, middle, and end),
which will support their understanding of sequencing. What might prove challenging is
boiling down the events of the story to four. If so, the teacher's role would be to model this
thought process by posing questions as to which events are the most important to record.
Some students might suggest more minor details, to which the teacher could respond with,
"How important do you think that is? Could someone use your summary to understand the
story without it?" Discussion of the message or theme might prove difficult, as it requires
deeper thought about the text. To draw out possibilities, the teacher could point to
characters' actions and their consequences. Talk moves such as polling for agreement or
disagreement could serve to further tease out these ideas.
Accommodations
Lianna:
Some students in the second-grade class might need help during the independent
practice, so will circulate during this time to help students who need a little push. I will also
pair students strategically at tables (Morghan and Fayol, Daniella and Leonor, Jack and
Ruben), so that the more able student can possibly help his or her table mate. This will also
be my way of addressing students who finish early; they will help classmates who are
taking a little longer. Morghan in particular struggles with reading and writing, so I will be
sure to give her enough support; I hope that the read aloud will give her access to the text
without the burden of decoding the words, and that she will enjoy the story enough to be
interested. I will be purposeful about drawing all of the, into the whole-group discussion by
posing questions even without seeing a raised hand, which I will do this gently and
respectfully.

Taryn:
For Kindergarten, some of the students will need differentiated scaffolding
throughout the lesson. To ensure students are given adequate time to complete the
activities, I will pass out the papers to the students who need more time first. This way,
they can get started before everyone else and hopefully finish around the same time. Mr.
Andy (our classroom volunteer) will also be there during this time, and I will have him
work individually with Seth, Crystal, and Naeira, so that they can have the individual
attention they may need. For the writing activity, I will start the sentence for the same
students (I will write I would be), so that they can focus on the main idea of the writing.
Some of the students, as well, will finish much quicker. These students will need an
extra challenge, in order to be sufficiently stimulated by this lesson. For the sequencing
activity, most students will just be sequencing pictures that describe the events of the
story; these students will be provided with an extra challenge, as I will give them lined
paper so that they can write out the sequence of events, after they finish sequencing the
pictures. For the character writing piece, they will be expected to write 4-5 sentences,
instead of 1-2, as the other students will. I will really push them to think about how details
from the story influenced their decisions.

Graphic Organizer