LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE FOR Early Childhood Education STUDENTS

Lesson Title: Understanding Nonfiction

State Standard: RI.LCS.8 Interpret and analyze the authors use of words, phrases, text features, conventions, and
structures, and how their relationships shape meaning and tone in print and multimedia texts.
Indicator(s): 8.2 Use index, headings, bullets, and captions to locate key facts and information; explain the
relationship between these features and the text.
Learning Objectives: Students will match examples of and reasons to use each of the text features to the correct
feature.
Essential Question: Why do we use text features?

Materials: What resources and materials will be needed during the lesson? A summary should be provided for any book
(title/author/summary) or website used. A link to a website should also be included.

The included chart and matching pieces

Glue sticks
Language Arts Notebook
How Science Works by Judith Hann. A science textbook, to be used only as a source of Nonfiction work. Use
Index in back (pg 188), the Heading that says Energy (pg 44) Bullet points for Converting Energy, Energy
Conservation, etc. (pg 44) and Captions under all the pictures on pg 44.

Activities/Procedures (Describe each step in a bulleted list format):

How will you establish the behavioral expectations for students? (The teacher will The student will)

The teacher will call the students by table number to put their things away and walk quietly to the carpet.
The teacher will remind students of their Fab Five carpet rules: 1. Eyes on me (the teacher) 2. Listening ears 3.
Lips closed. 4. Hands in lap 5. Sit like a pretzel
What is the hook? How will you link it to the standard? (This is your opening).

The teacher will ask, Have any of you ever been reading a book, and sometimes you just feel lost? You just dont
know what theyre trying to tell you. Or maybe, youve read the book before and you want to find a specific fact,
but its a really long book and you cant remember where that fact is?
The students will nod or say yes.
The teacher will say, Today, were going to learn to how to help with that! Were going to learn how to find and
figure out the clues that the book gives you to help you find a certain part of it, or to figure out what in the world
theyre trying to tell you.
How will you activate prior knowledge of the students about this topic?

The teacher will say, Remember, youve been learning a lot about nonfiction books. What does non-fiction
mean?
A student will answer, It means it really happened, or, Its not just telling a story.

The teacher will say, Thats right!

The teacher will hold up the book, How Science Works. She will say, this is my example today for a nonfiction book. Im not teaching you all the stuff in this book, just using it as an example.

What content will you teach/explain?

Skill-Guided practice, independent practice

Cooperative Group: All work together in a group: product, assign roles;
share limited materials
Content: No practice; direct instruction

What will you and the students do during this lesson? What will you say?

The teacher will say, The things that we are learning about today that will help you find information in nonfiction books are called features. The first text feature is an index.
The teacher will open the book to the back (page 188).
The teacher will say, The index is usually in the back of the book. This helps you find specific information about
the book, because it has a bunch of key words, and then what page they are on in the book. So, if you want to find
out something about energy, for example, then you look up the word energy in the Index, and it tells you what
page to find it on.
The teacher will ask, does everyone understand? So, what does an Index do? (call on someone) And where is it
usually located? (Call on someone else)
A student will answer, Helps me find information, and it is in the back.
The teacher will say, Very good! I love how well you are listening. Now, the next text feature is called a
Heading.
The teacher will turn to page 44, and point to the heading that says, energy.
The teacher will say, This is a heading. Its kind of like a title for a page, and it lets us know what the next part of
the book will be about, or at least the next few paragraphs. This heading says, Energy. So, what will the next
part of the book be about?
The students will answer, Energy!
The teacher will exclaim, Thats right! See, youre getting the hang of this.
The teacher will say, Now, the next text feature is called Bullet Points. Bullet points are easy to find, because
they always come after a dot, or a point! Sometimes they are used to make a list, and they always show that what
comes after them is important, so listen up!
The teacher will ask, So what is special about a bullet point?
A student will answer, It comes after a dot.
The teacher will say, Thats right! Now, were at the last one for today. This text feature is a Caption. A caption is
a sentence or two that is written right under or beside a picture that tells what the picture is or what its about. Its
usually in a different font than the rest of the book, or in italics, which makes the letters look different so you can
find it easier.
The teacher will ask, So where is a caption?
A student will answer, Under or beside a picture.
The teacher will ask, 1. Why do you think authors of nonfiction books put these text features in their books?
What are their reasons for doing that? 2. What are some good and bad things about having text features? 3.
What might happen if there were no text features in books?
At least 3 students will respond.
The teacher will say, Very good! You have all come up with such fabulous answers, I think were ready to do a
worksheet on it.
The teacher will whisper, okay, I need you to be very quiet and listen to my instructions so you know what to do,
okay?

The teacher will say, When I say to, I want each of you to walk to me. I will hand you a paper and these squares
and then you may walk back to your seat. Next, I want you to get out a glue stick. Then you need to figure out
where each of the squares fits into each of the spaces on the worksheet. Once you have put them all where they
need to go, you can glue them down, and then put your name on the paper and the paper into the completed works
basket. Any questions?
The teacher will answer any questions asked. She will then say, If you need help reading what is on the squares,
raise your hand and Ms. Kutz and I will come around and help you. Are you ready? Okay, come get your paper.
The students will come and get their papers and squares, and then go back to their seats.
The students will fill out the papers while the teacher walks around and reads, answers questions, and fills out her
checklist.
When everyone is finished, the teacher will say, okay, I need four people to tell me one thing they learned today.
Four students will respond, and the lesson will be over.

Questioning: Develop and use questions based on at least three higher levels of Blooms Taxonomy of Educational
Objectives during the lesson (as they are asked in the Activities/Procedures section. Beside each question, identify the
level that corresponds to it.
1. Why do you think authors of nonfiction books put these text features in their books? What are their reasons for doing
that? - Analyzing
2. What are some good and bad things about having text features? - Evaluating
3. What might happen if there were no text features in books? Creating

Assessment: How will you know that the students met the learning objectives of the lesson? How will the assessments
accommodate the differences in the students? (Attach a copy of your assessment with each lesson turned in). Keep in
mind that assessment has three parts: the student activity, how the activity is recorded and how you will re-teach those
students who have not mastered the concept.
Students will be assessed with a glorified checklist. The checklist will ask if each of the students has completed the
worksheet assigned to them, and then commented how much the child got right or wrong. The teacher will then decided
who need to be retaught.
Students who do not meet the goal will be retaught by showing them one-on-one during center time later that day.

Closure: Ask a variety of questions as they relate to the EQ; and, evaluate student responses. (Let students tell you
what they learnedexample: think, pair, share; ticket out the door; graphic organizers/anchor
charts/KWHL/thinking maps)
The teacher will ask four people to tell her one thing they learned today.
List the ways you will take into consideration, or accommodate for, the individual differences among students in rates of
learning, styles of learning, interests, and special needs, as in the following list:
Visual learners
ESL

Auditory learners
Gifted

Kinesthetic learners
Physical disabilities

Cognitive disabilities
Integrated Curriculum: In what ways are other subjects integrated into this lesson?
For visual learners, I showed examples from the book, and they could see the handout. For auditory learners, I spoke and
told them everything they needed to know. For Kinesthetic learners, they could manipulate the worksheet.
I integrated science by using the science book as an example.