READ 3226

IMB Mini Lesson

Vocabulary
The area of literacy that this small group lesson is going to support is vocabulary. This
lesson is intended for struggling readers in the classroom who may have trouble comprehending
the story Daedalus and Icarus due to lack of knowledge pertaining to unfamiliar words in the
text. The small group for this lesson will consist of three students.
The lesson will begin by the students reading the warm up text. This text contains six
vocabulary words that will be used throughout this lesson. The words are: brilliant, spread,
luxurious, astonishment, nudged, and plunged. Once the students have finished reading, the
teacher will ask what the words nudged and plunged mean. The students will be asked to use
their context clues to determine the meaning. They will then be asked to explain how they found
the meaning of the remaining vocabulary words using their context clues.
The students will then be shown a sheet with the vocabulary words listed with their
definitions. The students will be asked to read each word and their definitions. Students will then
return to the warm up text and chorally read the sentences that contain the vocabulary words. A
fill in the blank worksheet will then be given to the students. They will need to determine which
vocabulary word would fit most appropriately in the sentences. For example, The children
looked in ___________ at the space shuttle when it blasted off. (astonishment). Students will
then be asked to write the vocabulary words and their definitions in their writers notebook.
The mini lesson will come to an end by discussing the concept vocabulary word
judgement. Judgement means an opinion or conclusion reached through reasoning. Students will
be asked to give an example of a time when they or someone they know used bad judgement.
What would have been a better decision? This will prepare students for the story Daedalus and
Icarus. The theme of the story is risks and consequences.
The intended outcome of this lesson is for students to master the understanding of the
vocabulary words in the text, in order to properly comprehend the story Daedalus and Icarus
which will be read after this lesson.
The small group lesson was a success. The students were engaged and enjoyed learning
the vocabulary words along with their definitions. When asked what they thought a word meant,
each student raised their hand and had a response. Even if their answer was wrong, the students
didnt give up and continued to use clues from the text to find the correct meaning. The students
worked together very well and gave each other feedback on their responses. Each student
mastered the fill in the blank worksheet. At the very end of the lesson when students were asked
to give an example of when they used bad judgement, the students shared their experiences with
enthusiasm and understood what judgement meant very well. Students were asked again, what
the definitions of the vocabulary word were and they were able to answer correctly. I feel that
teaching this small group lesson to the students really helped them learn difficult vocabulary and
will help them better understand the story Daedalus and Icarus when it is taught.

Name: ____________________

Date: _____________________

Fill in the Blank Sentences

1. The children looked in _________________ at the space shuttle when it blasted off.
2. The brand new sports car was very _________________ and expensive.
3. The sun was ____________ during the early summer morning.
4. Mary ____________ the map over the table.
5. Jonathan ______________ Carmen's arm with his elbow and snickered softly.
6. The boy jumped off the diving board and _____________ into the pool.