LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

Early Childhood & Elementary Education Program

Kelly Crawford
Kindergarten
October 13, 12:00-12:25
TITLE OF ACTIVITY Read-Aloud: Hooray for You! A Celebration of You-Ness by M. Richmond
CONTEXT OF ACTIVITY
Read-alouds are an important part of the school day. For young readers, listening to books help
children to develop their comprehension, vocabulary, and understanding of the reading process.
These kindergarten students will be able to identify their sight words but also expand their
vocabulary while celebrating their own qualities. It is important to help the students find the
uniqueness that everyone has, especially at this vulnerable age.
CONCEPTS/SKILLS
1. Identify one unique quality
about themselves

OBJECTIVES
The student will identify one
unique quality in themselves by
writing it on their paper

2. Draw a picture of their chosen

quality

The student will draw their

chosen quality

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

The papers will be collected after
the students finish. The teacher
should walk around during the
process, or ask the students as
they turn them in, what their trait
is. The teacher should write the
word that the student chose in
the assessment document.
The teachers will walk around
and ask students about their
drawing if they cannot identify
what the quality is. After the
students have finished, the
teacher will collect the papers
and analyze what each child
drew. If they drew one of their
characteristics, they will get a
check in that column of the
assessment sheet.

RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS

Reading
K.6 The student will demonstrate an understanding that print conveys meaning
c) Read and explain own reading and drawings
Visual Arts
K.5 The student will create works of art that connect to everyday life.
MATERIALS NEEDED
15 blank sheets of paper
15 pencils
4 boxes of crayons
Hooray for You! A Celebration of You-ness
2-3 markers
1 Smartboard or whiteboard and markers

PROCEDURE
Preparation of the learning environment
The teacher should make sure the carpet is cleared as the children will be sitting there to listen to
the story. The sheets of paper, crayons, and pencils should be at the tables ready for the students
to use. The book should be in ready at the teachers chair in front of the carpet.
Plan for taking turns during the activity
The children will be sharing crayons and taking turns with their colors.
Introduction of the activity to children

As the children enter from recess, instruct them to find their seat on the carpet and get
ready for a read-aloud.

Implementation of the activity

Today, we are going to be reading Hooray for You! A Celebration of You-ness

What do you think a Celebration of You-ness means? The teacher should call on a few
students to get some ideas.
Read the title and the author.
Read Hooray for You! A Celebration of You-ness
o After face page, the teacher should pick two students to ask the class if they look
alike. No, of course not! We all look different!
o After dreams page, Do you we all have the same dreams? I want to be a
teacher, but one of you might want to be an astronaut or doctor. Turn and talk to
your partner about what your dreams!
After reading, What do you think the Celebration of you-ness means now that we have
finished reading? The teacher should call on a few students and conclude that the author
was saying that we all have different characteristics.
Turn and tell your partner something special about you!
Tell the students that they are going to get to draw about what makes them special and
write their sentence using their sight words. Instruct the students to draw at least one
thing that makes them special and tell them that the teacher(s) will be walking around to
help them write their word.
The teacher should model the sentence structure I like ... by finishing the sentence with
what they like about themselves or their dreams, and draw their chosen quality.
Dismiss the students to their seats and let them get started
The teacher should walk around helping students write their words and asking the
students about their pictures
Instruct the students to put their names on the back of their papers
Keep walking around and helping the students as they are finishing up
Collect the papers as the students finish and tell them to get ready for their reading
groups.

Closure and cleanup

Have the students put their pencils back in their bins, the crayons in their boxes, and both
containers back on the shelf where they belong
Instruct the students to go to their stations for reading groups

PLANS FOR DIFFERENTIATION

All students will be able to participate in activity and reading as intended.
WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Kids could not understand the directions or find similar unique characteristics. The teacher could
explain to them that sometimes we have similar likes, activities, and features, but when we put
them all together we are truly unique.
SUPPLEMENTAL PLANS FOR PARTNER TEAMS

Help assist the students in writing their words

Make sure the students have written their names on the back
Help collect the student work and record on assessment sheet

REFLECTION
Through this lesson, I wanted to drive some points home that we had learned in the early literacy
class. We have been talking about read-alouds and how important they are. They help students
increase their vocabulary, recognition of sight words, and comprehension, among many more
things. Through the read-aloud, I made sure to ask questions and use voice inflection to keep the
students engaged. I also did a comprehension check at the end to ask the students what the
author was telling them. After the reading part of the lesson, the students were actually writing
their sight words, which we also talked about in class. The students are learning sight words I
and like and I made it a goal to incorporate these into my lesson. They wrote their sight words
and they were assisted by the adults to sound out words and work on their phonemic awareness,
specifically phonemes.
To prepare for this lesson, I looked at the diversity text set under the specific schools identity. I
thought that some of the books wouldnt fit as well in the class as others would. One other factor
that I noticed in this school is that some of the kids in my class come from rough home-lives.
These students may have parents divorcing, parents working all evening, or issues unknown
going on at home. I chose the book because I thought it was most fitting for these students:
celebrating themselves. I talked with my cooperating teacher and decided to do an activity with
the read-aloud as she normally does. I wrote a lesson and continued to tweak it. I went over it
with my cooperating teacher and it was implemented 2 weeks later. I think the students really
enjoyed the book because it fit them well. I would definitely continue to think about the specific
school that I was in. One of the things that I would change would be to actually walk through the
lesson plan with my cooperating teacher to make sure that is exactly what we were agreeing on
so I would be more comfortable to be in front of the class knowing I had support.
During the lesson, I was assessing their understanding of the book by listening to their answers
as they talked to each other. I would engage with a group sometimes to hear their answers
specifically. After the lesson, I collected the activity papers. I analyzed the drawings and the
sentences. All the students seemed to understand the idea that they were special. They were
engaged in the book as they were answering questions and talking to their partners. I stopped a
few more times than I planned to check their understanding and use the students in the class as
examples and they really enjoyed that. I told them a little about myself and they fed off that. With
the students so engaged in the book and talking about the thing they know best, themselves, they
really understood what the author was saying. They all at some point during the lesson thought
that they had a special quality about them.

For a future lesson, after seeing how involved the students were, I would make sure a lesson
connected to them, their lives, their family, etc. They loved getting to share about themselves and
their dreams. One thing that I would do differently in the future is make it more interactive. I would
have the kids stand up at the end, maybe even bring in mirrors, and have them say something
positive to themselves to enhance that comprehension. I also talked with my cooperating teacher
after the lesson that one of the great things about read alouds is the greater vocabulary. Next
time I plan a read aloud I would choose 3-4 specific vocabulary words that I can have the children
look for in the book. Another idea that I may want to do differently in the future is give some sort
of deeper part to the lesson. The pictures were fun for them to do, but I may plan to have them
create their own About Me books. I think the students would be able to do a lot more with a
book than one characteristic and one page.