USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan

Grade Level Being Taught: Subject/Content: Reading/

K
Retelling

Group
Size: 19

Name: Chante Trudel

Date of Lesson: 3-4-2015

Lesson Content
What Standards (national
or state) relate to this
lesson?
(You should include ALL
applicable standards. Rarely
do teachers use just one:
theyd never get through
them all.)
Essential Understanding
(What is the big idea or
essential question that you
want students to come away
with? In other words, what,
aside from the standard and
our objective, will students
understand when they finish
this lesson?)
Objectives- What are you
teaching?
Rationale
Address the following
questions:
Why are you teaching this
objective?
Where does this lesson fit
within a larger plan?
Why are you teaching it
this way?
Why is it important for
students to learn this
concept?

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.2
With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.

Who are characters?

What is a setting?
What is an event?
Beginning, Middle, and End
What makes up a story?
retelling

After teacher read aloud and questioning, students will be able to retell the story Horton
Hears a Who, by creating a story matrix that illustrates the elements of the story,
including: characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end.
This week is Dr. Seuss theme because of his birthday, and kindergarten is
celebrating him by reading several of his books and discussing the characters,
settings, and sequence of events that make up Dr. Seuss stories.
Students are asked to retell what happens in a story, in which this objective allows
for students to do so in a different way that has them use pictures to tell the story.
I am teaching this concept with a story matrix, as students are placed in groups of
5 to create a story matrix displaying the characters, setting, beginning, middle,
and end of the story Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss. This will allow for students
to work together and share ideas about what happened first, last and in the
middle, in addition to where the story took place. My groups will be mixed-ability,
so all students have an opportunity to learn from one another.
This fits into a larger plan because every grade level, incorporates retelling of a
story in some way. Students will later on be asked to provide a summary of a story
and that is basically what retelling is, which is to get students to explain in their

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan

Grade Level Being Taught: Subject/Content: Reading/
K
Retelling

Evaluation Plan- How will

you know students have
mastered your objectives?
Address the following:
What formative evidence
will you use to document
student learning during
this lesson?
What summative evidence
will you collect, either
during this lesson or in
upcoming lessons?

What Content Knowledge

is necessary for a teacher
to teach this material?

Group
Size: 19

Name: Chante Trudel

Date of Lesson: 3-4-2015

own words what happened in the story, including beginning, middle, and end.
This is an important concept to learn and helps to strengthen the students reading
comprehension skills.

Formative:
During the teacher read aloud and student practice, the teacher will informally evaluate
student answers to questions being asked about the different story elements.
During student practice, the teacher will informally evaluate students as they work in
groups to retell the story Horton Hears a Who, with illustrations.
During student practice, the teacher will take notes, while students share their groups
story matrix, to identify who grasped the idea retelling and who needs extra support.
Summative:
After upcoming lessons on identifying the elements that make-up a story, the students
will be formally evaluated with a multiple choice and written exam on the benchmarks:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.2: With prompting and support, retell familiar stories,
including key details.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.3: With prompting and support, identify characters,
settings, and major events in a story.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.7: With prompting and support, describe the
relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what
moment in a story an illustration depicts).
The teacher must know:
What story elements make-up a story.
What a character is.
What a setting is.
How to find the beginning, middle, and end of a story.
How illustrations help depict what the story is about.
How illustrations and text connect.
How to retell a story.
What a story matrix is.

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan

Grade Level Being Taught: Subject/Content: Reading/
K
Retelling
What background
knowledge is necessary for
a student to successfully
meet these objectives?
How will you ensure
students have this
previous knowledge?
Who are your learners?
What do you know about
them?
What do you know about
their readiness for this
content?

What misconceptions
might students have about
this content?

Group
Size: 19

Name: Chante Trudel

Date of Lesson: 3-4-2015

How to identify each story element in a story.

The students must know:
What a character is.
What a setting is.
What the beginning, middle, and end tell you.
How to identify each of those elements.
How to work in a small group.
To ensure that students have this previous knowledge, I will ask them questions
before releasing them to do the story matrix. These questions will include: what
does a setting tell you? What is a character? What does the beginning tell you?
What does the end tell you? What does the middle tell you? What is re-telling?
This lesson is with whole group and students will be split into mixed-ability groups
to have opportunities to learn from one another.
I know that these students are ready for this lesson because we have worked with
story elements before and students have seemed to grasp the idea when we work
together as a whole group. This lesson is geared to the students showing me what
they can do individually and in small groups and then sharing them with the class
to discuss.
Students may have misconceptions about identifying the beginning, middle, and end.
When does the beginning end and the middle begin?
When does the middle end and the end begin?
Lesson Implementation

Teaching Methods
Step-by-Step Plan
(What exactly do you plan to
do in teaching this lesson? Be
thorough. Act as if you needed
a substitute to carry out the
lesson for you.)
Where applicable, be sure to

Time

Who is
responsibl
e

Students will transition from their first reading center to the carpet
as I call quiet students that have cleaned up their center and
showed me that they were ready to learn. Once all students are on
the carpet and showing that they are ready to begin, I will introduce
the book and state the purpose and objective of the lesson.
Hook:
Share the title and cover of the book and ask students to make

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan

Grade Level Being Taught: Subject/Content: Reading/
K
Retelling
address the following:
What Higher Order
Thinking (H.O.T.) questions
will you ask?
How will materials be
distributed?
Who will work together in
groups and how will you
determine the grouping?
How will students
transition between
activities?
What will you as the
teacher do?
What will the students do?
What student data will be
collected during each
phase?
What are other adults in
the room doing? How are
they supporting students
learning?
What model of co-teaching
are you using?
Student Management

Group
Size: 19

Name: Chante Trudel

Date of Lesson: 3-4-2015

predictions about what this story will be about.

Teacher says: As we continue to read and learn more about Dr.
Seuss and his books, we are also focusing on the different story
elements that make-up a story. We learned about characters,
setting, and beginning, middle, and end. Before we begin reading
this Dr. Seuss book, lets revisit how we identify each story element
in a story.
Questions to ask:
What is a character? (who the book is about)
What does a setting tell you? (where the story takes place)
How do you know when its the beginning of a story? (its the
first thing to happen)
How do you know its the end of a story? (its the last thing to
happen)
How do you know its the middle of a story? (its the majority
of the story. Tells you the problem. Includes the details)
Teacher says: Now that weve touched on each element we are
going to begin reading Horton Hears a Who. As I read the story, I
would like for you to think about and identify the elements in this
story.
Read story.
Teacher says: Now that we read the story and thought about the
story elements that make up a story, I am going to place you into
groups and we are going to create something called a story matrix.
A story matrix is used to tell you what happens in the story by using
illustrations. Here is an example I made from the book we read
yesterday Green Eggs and Ham.
** I will show them an example that I created, based on the story
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan

Grade Level Being Taught: Subject/Content: Reading/
K
Retelling

Group
Size: 19

Name: Chante Trudel

Date of Lesson: 3-4-2015

After the story is over, students will be asked to work in small

groups to create a story matrix that displays each element that
makes up Horton Hears a Who. Once the story matrices are
completed the class will come back together and talk about each
element. I will have the groups identified before the start of the
lesson and each group will be mixed ability groups. Students will be
allowed to move around the classroom and work somewhere
besides their desks, but if they receive a warning for not following
directions or not working together they will have to go back to their
individual seats.
Once students are placed in mixed ability groups, the teacher will
have them take a few minutes to discuss each element and identify
the character, setting, and beginning, middle, end before starting.
Each student in a group will have an element that they focus on.
One student draws the setting, one draws the character and so on
Teacher says: now that youre in groups, I would like for you to sit
with your group and discuss (turn and talk) each element start with
characters, then setting, then BME. Once each group has discussed
we will begin our matrices. I will hand you your construction paper
that has your element written on it. The element you receive is the
one you are working on. So if you get a paper that has setting
written on it, you are the one illustrating the setting of the story.
After the discussion, the teacher will send each group one at a time
to grab their crayon caddy, their construction paper, and white
board and find a quiet spot in the room. Once all groups have a
spot, they will begin working.
The teacher will walk around as students work on the story matrix to
ask students questions about each element and identify those
students who are struggling or mastering this content.

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan

Grade Level Being Taught: Subject/Content: Reading/
K
Retelling

Group
Size: 19

Name: Chante Trudel

Date of Lesson: 3-4-2015

Teacher says: Now that each group has finished their story matrix,
we are going to come back together and share our illustrations. As
we share we will discuss each element and use our matrix to retell
the story.
I will grab the students attention by clapping out a rhythm that they
will repeat back, once each student has their eyes and ears on me I
will explain that they need to go back to their seats. Then I will call
each group up one at a time to share their matrix.
After each group shares we will discuss some similarities and
differences we may have had within our different story matrices.
Closing:
Today we read, Horton Hears a Who and focused on retelling the
story by creating a story matrix to highlight each element needed to
retell a story.
Questions to ask:
What is a character?
What is a setting?
What does the beginning, middle, and end help us do?
Higher order thinking questions
Compare and contrast Horton Hears a Who to another Dr.
Seuss book weve read. What similarities and differences can
you identify with the characters, setting, and sequence of
events?
Tomorrow we will continue on with our focus of identifying story
elements, but we will be reading another Dr. Seuss book called, One
fish two fish red fish blue fish.
What will you do if

a student struggles with the content?

If a student(s) struggles with this content, I would use questioning to identify what areas

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan

Grade Level Being Taught: Subject/Content: Reading/
K
Retelling

Group
Size: 19

Name: Chante Trudel

Date of Lesson: 3-4-2015

the student struggles with. If its with characters and setting, I could read additional
stories to the students and have them point out the characters and where the stories
take place. In addition to using activities that have the student match settings to
characters. If its with sequencing, students can practice with activities that include
placing events in order. Once they are able to order and retell shorter stories, then I can
revisit texts to have them identify the events in a story and place them in order.
What will you do if

a student masters the content quickly?

If a student(s) masters the content quickly, I would challenge them by having them
create their own story that includes a beginning, middle, and end. They could trade with
others to identify the characters, setting, and BME of each others stories. In addition,
there are many interactive activities online that students can engage in to further their
understanding of the concept and take it to the next level. They can work with another
piece of text to identify the story elements independently.

Meeting your students

needs as people and as
learners

If applicable, how does this lesson connect to the interests and cultural
backgrounds of your students?
The students enjoy Dr. Seuss books and regardless of cultural background students are
able to make connections with the different messages that these books bring about.
These students are very visual and love to draw pictures, so this lesson will allows
students to use those skills to learn more about retelling.
If applicable, how does this lesson connect to/reflect the local community?
Dr. Seuss books are known internationally and students will learn many great messages
from these books that will make them better citizens for their local communities. Horton
Hears a Who shares that everyone is a person and should be treated equally. This is a
great positive message students are being exposed to that may be applied in their
everyday lives, not just for this lesson. In addition, retelling is a skill that is used even
outside of the classroom, for example: you may tell a friend what happened on your
favorite TV show, which is considered re-telling or summarizing. These skills will be used
on a daily bases with things that happen and connect with our communities and outside
of the classroom.
How will you differentiate instruction for students who need additional

USF Elementary Education Lesson Plan

Grade Level Being Taught: Subject/Content: Reading/
K
Retelling

Accommodations (If
needed)
Materials
(What materials will you use?
Why did you choose these
materials? Include any
resources you used. This can
also include people!)

Group
Size: 19

Name: Chante Trudel

Date of Lesson: 3-4-2015

challenge during this lesson (enrichment)?

These students may be challenged by writing their own stories and identifying the story
elements within their stories. In addition, students could read independently or listen to a
story and identify these elements independently. Also, there are many interactive stories
online that are on different levels that students can read and look for these elements.
How will you differentiate instruction for students who need additional
language support?
For students who need additional language support, I will read aloud the text and
emphasize those key parts of the text, in addition to showing the pictures so that
students can make the connections with the illustrations and what I am reading out loud.
I will highlight the vocabulary and use illustrations, repetition and pointing to help
students make a connection.
B.C (Aspergers)
may need additional time to complete activities

Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss- used to discuss and identify the story elements
that make-up a story
Construction paper and crayons- to create an illustration of the story elements.
Resources: collaborating teacher, common core Florida standards, and college of
education.