Kellie Yust

Third Lesson Plan: Nonfiction

Rationale: The first grade curriculum states that students need to be curious readers who learn about the
world. This can be done by introducing them to nonfiction books. Students have been introduced to text
features such as the table of contents, glossary, diagrams, captions, labels, and more. This has been done
by having the teacher do a mini lesson where the students compare and contrast nonfiction and fiction
books. In addition to having students focus in on particular aspects in these books, they have also begun
looking at and reading some nonfiction books for independent reading. The literacy development amongst
the whole class ranges from transitional to advanced beginning readers. By addressing text features and
the purpose of nonfiction books, the students are able to investigate areas of interest. Furthermore,
they will be able to answer any questions they may have by synthesizing the information they
have read in their nonfiction books.

Goals (Standards):
The students will:
CCSS.RI.1.4: Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic
menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in text.
CCSS.SL.1.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and
texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

The teacher will:
WTS #5: Use an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning
environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self
motivation.
The teacher values the role of students in promoting each others learning and recognizes the
importance of peer relationships in establishing a climate of learning.

Objectives:
The students will:
Know what the various text features are and how to use them so that they can find
specifically what they are looking for.
Use nonfiction books to learn about a topic.
Distinguish the difference between facts, misconceptions, and opinions so that they can
make conscious decisions as they read as to whether or not they should believe what is
written.

Assessment:
As I am walking around the room and conferring with students, I will be reading what the students have
written in their notebooks. The main aspects that I will be checking specifically for is if the students are
writing down facts that they read in the book or are they just making assumptions based on the pictures
they are seeing. Additionally, I will also be paying attention to see if they labeled what they found with a
(C) for confirmation, (M) for misconception, (O) for opinion, and (N.L.) for new learning. Another point
of assessing is when the students come back together on the carpet to share what they have found. As the
students share, I will be listening to how they classify the facts that were stated at the beginning of the
lesson and their explanation of why they are choosing it to be confirmed, a misconception, an opinion, or
a new learning.

Strategies for children requiring additional assistance:
For those students who need additional assistance, I will confer with them by choosing a book about
space and having them read a part of it. After they read, we will discuss whether what we just read goes
along with a fact that was mentioned and wrote on the board or if its a brand new fact. After, I would
have the students who are in his/her group work together to discuss facts that they are finding in their
reading which aides the student/s with additional support.

Kellie Yust
Materials Needed:
White board and marker
Sticky notes
Various books relating to space

Total Time Needed: 1hour and 15 minutes

Procedures:
Introduction:
On Wednesday, Mrs. Wuenstel had you think of all the facts that you know on the topic of sharks and
then she wrote them down. Afterwards, she had you go off and look at books on sharks to see whether or
not those facts were true. On Thursday, you shared as a class whether those facts were misconceptions
(what you thought were right but turned out to be incorrect), confirmations, or opinions (states how
someone feels and cant be confirmed in books). You also added to the list with new facts that you
learned after reading.

Participation:
Today, we are going to do the same thing but this time our topic is going to be space. So what facts (or
true statements) do you know about space? (I want to see what the students know first and then I will
provide a fact, opinion, and misconception of my own.)

(As each student raises their hand to share, I will be writing each students fact down on a sticky note
and then putting it on the white board even if it is a misconception or opinion. If students start debating a
fact, remind them that they are not allowed to have a discussion about the fact right now because it will
be the students responsibility to confirm or disprove a students original fact using the books.)

After the students are out of facts then tell them their job in their notebooks is to write down all the
facts they can confirm, their new learning, and misconceptions that students may have had. Additionally,
if they have a specific fact that they want to look up explain to them they should use the text features to
help them that way they arent reading the entire book. Lastly, emphasize and model for the students that
they need to be focusing on and reading the text and not just looking at the illustrations and coming up
with our own guesses of what the pictures mean.

Okay readers off you go.
Practice:
Each table of students will receive several books and they are to look through and read about space. As
they are doing so, they should be focusing on whether facts that we came up with as a class can be
confirmed or if its a misconception. Likewise, they can also be looking for new learning and jotting those
facts down as well. They are allowed to talk with their neighbors and share books with one another.

Performance:
Once the students have had about 30 minutes of reading and looking through the space books, I will call
them back to the carpet and begin by asking the students, Are there any facts that you are able to
confirm? then I will move on to Are there any facts up on the board that you know now are
misconceptions (something we thought was true but turned out to be incorrect)?. With the sticky notes
that are left and/or havent been marked, I will read them to the students and they can tell me what they
are thinking the fact could be classified as. Some may be opinions (states how someone feels and cant
be confirmed). Once we have gone through the sticky notes, I will then ask the students if there is any
new learning they found and write those down on a sticky note. After each students responses, I will ask
them to explain their thinking.

Closure:
Kellie Yust
Normally this lesson takes two days, so if we do not get through everything, then I will say that since
there are so many good ideas and facts found about space Mrs. Wuenstel will finish up this lesson on
Monday.

If we do finish, then I would remind the students that whenever we are reading nonfiction, we need to
first figure out what it is that we already know about our topic. From there, we need to identify what we
want to know or find out more about on this topic. The features in the text help us to find what we are
looking for that way we dont need to read the whole book.

Possible Next Steps:

If students do need more practice, do the same activity again but have the students focus
on a new topic.
Have the students be able to do this independently but having them choose a topic, record
all the facts they already know about the topic, and then have them look at books
relating to their chosen topic and write down confirmations, misconceptions, opinions,
and new learning.
Introduce the concept of biographies.