College of Education

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

ELED 450

Standards w/Assessments Named-​Write standard out and label it correctly! :

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1

Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the
basis for the answers.

Learning Target (I can statement in student speak):

I can distinguish facts from opinions.

I can use facts and opinions from the text to answer questions.

Strategy Selected from ​The Reading Strategy Book ​w/ pg number:

8.20 Determining Author’s Purpose, Point of View on page 242. ​Modified to fit the lesson more
appropriately.

Criteria for Success (this should be tied to your assessment and is measurable):

During work time, I will look for opinion words the author leaves for us to find at least 3 facts and 3
opinions that the author wants us to know.

Assessment:

Measurable conversation:
“ ____ is a fact because _____.”
“The author said, ‘______.’ This is a fact/opinion because it can/cannot be proven/is the author’s
thoughts, (etc.).”

T-Chart Activity:
Students will list at least 3 facts and 3 opinions found in Jump!

Fact Opinion

Larry was bigger and quicker. Larry was luckier.

When he was twelve, Michael’s baseball team Hanging on the swing set must have helped him
won the state championship. grow taller.

Michael only wanted to play basketball. He gave Michael loved everything about basketball.
up baseball.
 Michael out jumped Larry. The author thinks Larry is the master.
Type of Lesson:

Reading Workshop with a mini lesson and read aloud. Work Time will consist of a partner activity.

a. What different instructional strategies and learning activities do you plan to use to engage students in
the lesson and to enhance their learning? Provide a rationale for your choice of each strategy/activity.

- We will use a mini lesson to teach and review the difference between facts and opinions while
introducing terms students can look for to distinguish between the two. We will also use facts and
opinions in our text to discover the author's purpose. The read aloud will be used to complement
the lesson. I will model the strategy and then have students practice by participating in turn and
talks. Work time will consist of students working with a partner to review (go back through) the
story and use what they learned to practice finding facts and opinions. They will document these
as on a t-chart to use for assessment.

b. How do the instructional strategies connect to the learning goal(s) to facilitate student learning?

- These instructional strategies help students reach their learning goals by allowing students to first
learn and see examples of the strategy and then practice what they learned. These strategies also
allow for students to collaborate and practice with their peers. In addition, students will be able to
discover facts and opinions in their own independent reading to ask questions and determine the
author's purpose.

Contextual Factors:

a. Describe your classroom. Include the grade level, content area, subject matter, and number of students.
Provide relevant information about any of your students with special needs.

- 3rd grade classroom during their designated reading time. There are 18 students in the classroom;
8 boys and 10 girls. One student is on an IEP for Speech, two are in Title 1 for Reading, and three
students are on reading IEPs. Most students, however, are currently on level.

b. Describe any physical, social, behavioral, or developmental factors that may impact the instruction that
occurs in your classroom. Mention any linguistic, cultural, or health considerations that may also impact
teaching and learning in your classroom.

- The classroom is set up with student desks in a square type shape where each student has a
neighbor to their right or left, but not in front or behind them. Before reading, students will have
just come from their designated RTI groups and will be transitioning for the reading lesson.
About half way through the reading lesson, one student leaves for resource for the remainder of
the reading time. Immediately following reading, students line up and prepare for lunch.
c. Describe any rituals and routines that you have observed the classroom teacher doing that you may also
want to implement for a successful lesson.

- To get students attention I might say, “Freeze,” and then give further instruction. To gather
students for the read-aloud, I might have girls gather their materials first and then the boys. This
creates less congestion at the bookshelf and provides a flow of events. Because of the structure of
the desks, instead of moving to the floor students will grab their books and head back to their
desks. I will then move a chair or stool and sit in the front of the room to read the story.

Materials and Resources Needed:

Text title: Jump! From the Life of Michael Jordan by Floyd Cooper

Lexile or Grade Lexile: ​760L

Level of the text Grade Level: ​3rd-4th grade reading level

Other Required Fact and Opinion Anchor Chart

Materials Journeys Textbooks (1 for each student)
Fact and Opinion T-Chart Worksheet (1 for each student)

Resources The Reading Strategies Book

(website you used Lexile: https://fab.lexile.com/
to support
planning, etc)

A. The Lesson ​(Including a time frame may help in planning.)

Introduction (​2-3 minutes​)-​ (Think about the connection on pages 87-89 The Art of Teaching Reading)

Getting attention Okay, third graders! Let’s get ready for our read aloud. Girls, you
may quietly grab your Journeys book. And now, boys, you may do
the same. Go ahead and open your books to page 366 and have your
listening ears on.

Relating to past experience
and/or knowledge
Creating a need to know
Sharing objective, in general
terms
For the past couple of weeks that I have been in your classroom, I
was hearing a lot of conversations taking place about fact and
opinion. Just last week, before Thanksgiving, Mrs. Bly read a story
about Thanksgiving and you had the opportunity to find the
difference between facts and opinions.
Well, that made me think about how good readers can rely on facts
and opinions to answer questions we have about what we are
reading. So, today I want to talk to you a little bit more about how
good readers find facts and opinions while they are reading and why
they are important.
Our learning target for today has to do with distinguishing facts and
opinions in a story and using those to answer our questions. We will
 practice that today by finding at least 3 facts and 3 opinions that the
author gives us in the story.

1. Methods (core of the lesson) (​time frame: total of 30-40 minutes with worktime​)

Before Reading Before we start reading our story, I brought with me a little chart (or cheat sheet)
(Think about the to help us remember the difference between a fact and an opinion.
teaching phase on
pages 89-91 in The (​Pull out anchor chart for review)
Art of Teaching
A fact is a statement that can be proven true or false. For example,
Reading) Be sure
“Thanksgiving was on Thursday, November 23rd this year.” I know this is a fact
you include a
because I can prove it by looking at a calendar.
strategy from ​The
Reading Strategies And an opinion is a statement that tells what someone thinks or feels. For
Book. example, “My favorite holiday is Christmas!” I know this is an opinion because
that is what I think and how I feel. I also know it’s an opinion because someone
else might have a different “favorite holiday.”

Now, when we read a new story, we have to think about the author and what his
or her is reason for writing the story is. It is important to know whether the
author is stating a fact or an opinion because it may influence your thinking and
how you feel. (Serravallo, pg. 242) *This strategy will be used a little differently
than it is specifically written in ​The Reading Strategies Book ​to fit the
curriculum.* So, we can look out for opinion words such as fair/unfair,
right/wrong, brave, love, good/bad, deserves, etc. -- (These will be written on the
anchor chart.)

For example, ​Jump! ​is a biography about Michael Jordan’s life. Which means
someone else, Floyd Cooper, wrote about Michael Jordan. So, we have to be on
the lookout for what? Right, his own opinions about Michael Jordan.

During Reading- I Do (modeling-Making your thinking visible)

List specific
questions and P. 367 - Our essential questions asks, “How can you tell what an author thinks
pages you might about a topic?” Well, we just learned that we tell what an author thinks by
ask them looking at the facts and opinions he shares. Let’s see if we can find a few as we
(Think about the read.
active involvement
P. 370 - “Trouble was, no matter how Michael tried, it seemed as if Larry was
phase from your
bigger, quicker and luckier.” So already in my mind, I’m thinking about what
–91 -94 in The Art
the author wants us to think here. If I look at this sentence, I actually see a fact
of Teaching
and an opinion wrapped up into one. The fact is see is that Larry is bigger and
Reading). Be sure
quicker. Are those things I can prove? (​wait for response). ​Yes! And I think the
to model the
strategy you author’s opinion was luckier. Unfortunately, luck cannot be proven or measured.
choose from ​The Let’s keep reading.
Reading Strategies
Book. We Do (Asking questions, and giving them a chance to try whatever strategy or
concept your teaching)

P. 375. I think I found a clue here that leads us to a fact. Did you hear a fact and
opinion on this page? Turn and talk to your neighbor and tell them one fact and
one opinion you found. ​*Go out and listen to student talking - listen for evidence
of facts and opinions.

P. 376 - Which facts does the author gives us that supports the opinion that
“Michael started to live and breathe basketball?” Turn and tell your neighbor.

After Reading- Review the strategy one more time.

What might
students practice in You do (what can they do to show progress/mastery in the concept or topic)
When you are reading in your own books, I want you to always be thinking
their independent
about whether the author is telling you facts or opinions about a story. This helps
reading time
us determine what the author thinks about a topic and helps us determine what is
(Think about the true.
link—pgs 94-96 in
The Art of What words did we have to look for to tell whether the author was giving us
Teaching Reading) facts or his opinion? That’s right! Now, we are going to practice this by piling
together facts and opinions from our story today.

Measurable conversation:
“ ____ is a fact because _____.”
“The author said, ‘______.’ This is a fact/opinion because it can/cannot be
proven/is the author’s thoughts, (etc.).”

Fact Opinion

Larry was bigger and quicker. Larry was luckier.

When he was twelve, Michael’s Hanging on the swing set must have
baseball team won the state helped him grow taller.
championship.

Michael only wanted to play Michael loved everything about

basketball. He gave up baseball. basketball.

Michael out jumped Larry. The author thinks Larry is the master.
 Student Worktime: We’ve mentioned a few facts and a opinions that the author tells us about
Time Frame:_____ Michael’s life. So now, it’s your turn. Today, I will be pairing you up and you
Describe what will work together with your partner to find as many facts and opinions from the
students will be story. I want you to list at least 3 of each, but I know there are many others.
Walk around to listen to discussion and look for measureable conversation:
doing to practice
“ ____ is a fact because _____.”
what you have
“The author said, ‘______.’ This is a fact/opinion because it can/cannot be
taught. This will proven/is the author’s thoughts, (etc.).”
be during a
reading workshop.
This should be very ​*After reading and student work time will be intertwined. After reading
closely connected the story, I will review with students the strategy distinguishing between
to the after reading fact and opinion and how they can use it in their own reading. Next I will
component. introduce the activity where they will actually compile and separate the
facts from opinions with a partner.
Closure: Our learning target today was to distinguish facts from opinions and to use those
Time Frame:_____ to answer questions. We practiced that by finding clues the author leaves for us
Think about the and by determining what the author wants us to know by using facts and
follow-up pgs opinions. So, you and your partner found at least 3 of each. Who can tell me one
fact they found? Great! How did you know it was a fact? ​Continue this
96-99 in The Art of
conversation if time allows.
Teaching Reading.
Make sure to tie
this back to the
learning target of
the day

Ideas for Low level readers - ​Read aloud with a follow along.
differentiation Gifted Students
(account for all English Language Learners
scenarios IEP modifications - ​Ty will leave part way through the read aloud to resource.
described in your
contextual factors)

Note: Make sure to attach copies of any worksheets that you use.

(Worksheet and anchor chart used can be found below the reflection.)
 Reflection

a. To what extent did the lesson, including instructional strategies, learning activities, materials, resources,
and technology, help to facilitate student learning? How does the evidence you collected support this
finding?

For this lesson, I taught reading workshop with a mini lesson, read aloud, and student work time.
The strategy that I used for the mini lesson introduced fact and opinion to students and showed them how
to look for fact and opinion in stories. I utilized an anchor chart to show and model fact and opinion,
including why good readers look for facts and opinions and why it’s important. We discussed that good
readers distinguish between facts and opinions because the author’s opinions may influence our thinking.
I modeled this strategy by giving examples and while reading ​Jump! From the Life of Michael Jordan.

After modeling the strategy, I gave students the opportunity to try it out. On certain pages, I
would have students turn and tell their neighbor one fact that we read and/or one opinion. I listened in on
these conversations and heard phrases such as, “It’s an opinion because you can’t prove it;” “​This ​is a fact
because the sentence says, ‘in fact;’” and ​“This ​is a fact because it has numbers and it can be proven.”
During work time, students completed a fact and opinion activity (below) where they were partnered
together and had to identify at least three facts and three opinions from the story we just read. After
students found at least three, I challenged them to look for a couple more. For opinion #5, I asked them to
write their own opinion about the story or Michael Jordan. Unfortunately, I do not have the completed
worksheets as Mrs. Bly decided to keep them and use them as a grade. But, the students did an excellent
job locating facts and opinions. I heard a lot of conversations between partners about why they believed a
sentence was a fact or opinion. One student actually went above and beyond and filled up the backside of
the page with more, finding little details that may have been missed. For example, “Michael’s father set
up a basketball hoop in their backyard.” In addition to them finding the facts and opinions in the story,
they were able to distinguish between the two and justify their reasoning behind why it was a fact or an
opinion. Therefore, each material, strategy, and activity that was used helped to facilitate student learning.

b. How did the students use the content presented to demonstrate meaningful learning? Provide specific
examples from the lesson and from the student work to support your analysis.

The students used the content (the story) to look back through and find facts and opinions. As
they looked back through the story, students searched the pages or tried to recall from the read aloud the
different facts and opinions that were mentioned. Some students remembered the ones we discussed as a
whole group while others found several others that we bypassed while reading. One specific example is
that the students found that “Michael was a better basketball player than Larry.” This was an opinion that
students found on their own. Students were able to use the content to find what the author wanted us to
know based on the facts and opinions presented.

c. While you were teaching, what adjustments to the lesson did you implement for the whole class to
better support student engagement and learning? Provide examples to support your decisions.

One of the main adjustments that I made to the lesson was to engage student conversation before
and during the mini lesson. When I first planned the lesson, I had prepared to simply teach the lesson and
not ask many questions to the students. However, when I began I wanted to engage students in the
learning process by asking them to give me examples of facts and opinions instead of just my own. I
wanted to make sure that they were understanding the difference between them before moving on. Also,
throughout the read aloud, I had students turn and talk about more than fact and opinion. One example is
that I asked students to compare their families to Michael Jordan’s. By during this, I wanted them to relate
to the story (if at least part of it).

d. What steps did you take to foster teacher-to-student and student-to-student interactions? How did they
impact student engagement and learning?

For teacher-to-student interactions, I first taught the mini lesson and read aloud by conversing
with the students. During student work time, I went around to each partner group and had short
conversations about where they found the fact or opinion, why they believed it was so, and what they
thought about it. Student-to-student interactions occurred when they were partnered together to find facts
and opinions from the story. I found that when I had conversations with students versus just telling them,
they had a better understanding of how to distinguish between fact and opinion. And finally,
student-to-student interactions involved each student as they engaged with their peers. It was an incredible
feeling to hear students defend their reasoning to their partners.

e. What feedback did you provide during the lesson to facilitate student learning? What impact did the
feedback have on student learning? Provide specific examples.

I used a lot of verbal feedback while students were completing their activity. Walking around the
room I would read answers and say things like, “Great job! Why do you think that’s an opinion/fact?”
This time of feedback first allowed me to provide positive feedback but also ensure that they learned how
to actually distinguish between the two. I provided this type of feedback with most, if not all, of the
students. When I came across a student who had written under the opinion column that “Michael was
bigger than Larry,” I redirected them and asked, “Can you prove that Michael was bigger than Larry?”
The student responded, “Yes.” “So is ‘Michael was bigger than Larry’ a fact or an opinion? Look back at
the chart if you need to.” The student then realized what they had done and rearranged their answer. The
feedback that I gave to the students had a positive impact on student learning. When I gave positive
feedback to students, they understood that they were doing it correctly and continued to find more and
more facts and opinions. In addition, when I provided feedback for them to do some adjusting, the
students were learning where or how they need to adjust their thinking to find the right answers. I also
provided feedback for where to find facts and opinions in the story. A couple students had a difficult time
looking back through the story and remembering some of the ones we discussed. So I would say, “Turn to
page 367 and look at this paragraph. Can you find a fact in here that you can prove to be true?”
Anchor Chart and Worksheet Used:
Name: ___________________________ 
 

Fact and Opinion 

A ​fact​ is a statement that can be ​proven​ true or false.  
An ​opinion ​is a statement that tells what someone ​thinks​ or ​feels​. 
 

With your partner, identify at least  

3 facts and 3 opinions about Michael Jordan’s life.  
 

FACT  OPINION 
1. ​______________________ 1. ​______________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________

2. _____________________ 2. _____________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________

3. ​_____________________ 3. ​_____________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________

4. _____________________ 4. _____________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________

5. ​_____________________ 5. ​_____________________
_______________________ _______________________
_______________________ _______________________