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Standards Based Lesson Plan Individual Lesson

Intern: Krista Guest
Grade Level: 3rd/4th Grade Blended
Wednesday, January 25th 2017.
9:00-10:00

The purpose of this lesson is for students to identify character traits that themselves or characters
in a story possess. They will also observe how a character can change throughout the story based off
of the setting or other characters in the situation. Throughout the year, weve focused on decomposing
a story by its elements but have not analyzed how a character changes throughout the story. The story
the students will be reading is centered on mean pranks, which is a very timely topic for the students
in my class. A couple weeks ago, I observed some students making jokes to another student in the
class that caused tears and hurt feelings as a result. Reading this story will be beneficial for the
students to be able to reflect on how pranks can be hurtful and not always how they intended them to
be.
I have observed the group of students I have to be very creative and very comfortable in front of
each other. They continue to show that they enjoy talking to one other, being in front of the class and
drawing pictures to visually represent an idea. Throughout this lesson, I have tried to incorporate
different modes and outlets for the students to showcase their knowledge and ideas.
Students will be able to describe each vocabulary term in their own words and interpret it
through actions or pictures.
Students will be able to identify traits for a character in a story and support the trait with
evidence by describing what the character thinks, says or does.
Students will be able to explain how a character changes over time and provide examples from
the story to support their reasoning.
Listen to oral directions: Throughout the lesson, students will be introduced to new content and a new
chart to use when applying their knowledge while reading a story. In order for the students to be
successful with this lesson, it is necessary that they are able to listen and process oral directions given
by me. My directions for what to do throughout the lesson will be as clear as possible and will be
stated more than once to ensure the ultimate success of the students.
Apply background knowledge of character traits: The content of this lesson will be centered on
character traits. It is essential that students recognize their background knowledge of character traits
from previous grade levels and either build upon their knowledge and definition or alter their
preconception of the concept. Students will use their background knowledge to begin answering the
Question of the Day, which instructs them to choose a character trait to describe them and provide
examples that support it.
Apply their understanding of previously learned vocabulary words: Students will be introduced to the
five new vocabulary words the day before this lesson and many of the words will already be familiar
to the students prior to the introduction. During this lesson, students will be working independently on
their slates to describe the word in their own words and also interpret it through a picture. In order to
be successful during this vocabulary review game, students will need to be knowledgeable with the
vocabulary words learned the day before.
Utilize prior knowledge of emojis: When working on identifying character traits for the main
character in the story, students will also be designing their own emojis to go along with each one. To
ensure success, it is important for students to understand what emojis are and how they are used to
communicate through technology. To spark the students brainstorming, I will have a list of emoji
stickers that have many popular emojis used by people around the country. It is necessary for students
to have an understanding of common emojis, so they are successful when designing their own.
Read a text for comprehension: During this lesson, students will be reading an article in the

Storyworks magazine titled How Bad Could It Be. The students will already be familiar with the story
because we will have already read it the day before and also answered comprehension questions as a
class. During this lesson, it is important that students have an understanding of the content so they are
successful when specifically looking at the main character and identifying how he changes throughout
the story. I will begin the reading by asking students various questions to review the content of the
story before the students will reread the text in partners.
Identify and record supporting examples from text: When the students begin to actively engage with
the text by identifying character traits of the main character, they will also determine examples in the
story that support the trait. This year, students have worked with finding supporting details in a text
when answering extended response questions or summarizing the main idea of various sections of a
story. This skill is essential for students during this lesson because the chart they will use to record
their thinking requires text evidence to support the character trait they identified and the emoji they
designed.
Participate in discussions about the text with a classmate: After modeling how to identify character
traits and find evidence in a text, students will be partnered up with another classmate to work
together and complete the rest of the chart. In order to be successful, students will have to be
comfortable with reading a text out loud to someone and also engage in a conversation about the text
details. Students are often put into partners during all subjects throughout the day and should have
ample experience with this skill prior to this lesson.
Write in complete sentences to answer a question: Throughout the year, students have had a lot of
whole group, small group and independent practice answering a short response question in complete
sentences. Ive continued to model how to answer a short response question by restating the question,
and providing supporting details as evidence throughout the response. The summative assessment in
this lesson is answering a short response question, which entails all of these components. Students will
be able to use their premade chart to help them but will be responsible for putting their ideas into
sentences.
Third Grade
Common Core State Standard

rd(s)Standa

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3

Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their
actions contribute to the sequence of events
Power Standard
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills to support comprehension in order to
read grade-level texts with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression to support comprehension. (RF
3.3, 3.4)
Fourth Grade
Common Core State Standard

em
sesA
sasA
stn

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3

Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details
in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
Power Standard
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills and use context to confirm or selfcorrect word recognition and monitor understanding, rereading as necessary to support
comprehension. (RF 4.3, 4.4)
Formative:
Throughout the lesson, there were many points where I embedded formative assessments that allowed
me to check for students understanding and improve my instruction as I moved forward in my lesson.
Vocabulary: During the vocabulary lesson, students will have one minute to describe the
vocabulary term in their own words and also interpret the word through a drawing. During
each independent work session, I will walk around and observe the students boards to see
whether they are able to interpret and describe the vocabulary word. If I observe many students

are unable to generate knowledge of the word, I may go over the definition of the word and
also provide alternate examples that will assist the students knowledge. If there are only a few
students who are unable to showcase their knowledge of the word, those are the students that I
will either provide additional assistance at that moment with the definition of the word or I will
go up to them during partner work and assist them in understanding the word when embedded
in the context of the story.
Question of the Day: The Question of the Day that the students will work on when they first
walk in the door will be used later in the lesson as a teaching tool for the topic of character
traits. As a couple students read their writing out loud, I will determine whether they identified
a character trait with supported examples within themselves and also if the class is able to
listen to their classmates and confirm that the examples support the trait given. Not all students
will have a chance to share, however, the overall analyzing of a students short response will
model what needs to be included when identifying a character trait with supporting examples.
If many of the students are not sharing accurate examples of supporting details, then I will
provide another example for myself and have the students write another example that include
supporting examples.
Before Reading Questioning: The day before, we had the chance to read the story that we will
continue to reread today. Before we begin I will ask the students some specific questions that
probe them to recall main ideas from the story. These questions will allow me to observe how
well the large group of students remember the events of the story from yesterday before
reading it a second time. If students are showing me that they are unsure about the sequence of
events, I will take more time on the comprehension side when I read the first section aloud to
the class to make sure they understand the content of the beginning.
Emoji Character Chart: After completing one section together, the students will work in pairs
and read the remaining sections of the story. As students are working together, I will walk
around to each pair and observe their discussion and intervene if I find they misunderstood the
directions or are stuck with a part of the story. As we go over the chart together, I will ask for
volunteers to share their character trait, evidence support and emoji with the class for that
section. As the students share their examples, I will make sure the evidence backs up their
design and character trait. If a students idea is not supported, I will make sure the whole class
is involved in helping that student support their character trait with evidence from the story.
Summative:
Emoji Character Chart: At the end of the partner work, we will come together as a class to
share the character traits, evidence support and emoji with each other. As we go over some of
the ideas, I will instruct the students not to erase any of the work they did when working in
partners and will instruct them to turn in their chart at the end of the lesson. I will then be able
to look at each chart and determine how well each individual student did with identifying
character traits and supporting them with evidence when working in pairs.
Short Response: At the end of the lesson, each student will complete a short response, using
the chart they created earlier in the lesson. This short response will tell me if they are able to
reflect on the different character traits and evidence they identified and be able to explain how
the main character in a story changes over time. This assessment will provide me with
information about how the students can meet the objective independently.

Resources
Opening - Engagement

Question of the Day notebooks (each student has one in their desk)
List of character traits (each student has one5 words highlighted)
Pencil (each student has one)
Plastic headbands (5 of the plastic headbands from the game Heads Up!)
Vocabulary word cards (notecards with each vocabulary word written on it)
Whiteboard (each student has one)
Expo Marker (each student has one)
Sock (each student has one)
Large Dice
Emoji stickers
Character Traits anchor chart
Character trait/emoji large chart
Character trait/emoji chart (30 total)
Markers
Storyworks magazine (each student has 1)
Storyworks story (3 modified)
Short response assessments (5 modified)

Question of the Day 9:00-9:10

As the students walk in, they will unpack their backpack and supplies and then have a seat at their
desk. The students will get out their math homework from the night before and place it on the corner
of their desk and then take out their Question of the Day notebook. (This is a routine that they are used
to and will not need much direction from me). Projected on the board there will be a question for them
to answer that will connect to the content that will be learned later in the lesson.
Choose a character trait you would use to describe yourself. Give examples to support why it
describes you.
o There will also be a sentence frame located below it that says, I would describe myself
to be because
Good morning! As you are coming in, please get unpacked. I know fourth graders had math
homework from last night. Please place your math homework on the corner of your desk so I can
check it in after morning announcements. There is also a question on the board so please open up your
Question of the Day notebook and begin writing. I will be passing out a pink paper that has a list of
character traits to help you answer the question. You do not have to use one that is listed on the sheet
but it will help you start brainstorming. You will get about 7 minutes to write. Please spend the entire
time generating ideas and do not worry about spelling. Please keep it quiet in here this morning so
everyone can do their best thinking.
I chose to add a sentence frame at the bottom of the question as an option for students to use to
start their writing. I do not want students to get stuck on how to start, but rather want them to spend
the time generating examples and ideas of how that character trait describes them. When I observe
students to be siting at their desk I will also pass out a list of character traits that they can choose from.
The students will receive a list to choose from because this will be the first day discussing the topic of
character traits. Many, it not all students, will have background knowledge of what character traits are
from 2nd or 3rd grade, but may need the list of examples as a reminder.
As the students are working, I will check in the homework from last night on the clipboard. I will
also support two students (Michael and Anthony) that may have trouble beginning their brainstorming
and will assist them in choosing a character trait and figuring out why that describes them. After about
7 minutes I will instruct the students to stop working and give them the next directions. Please finish
writing your last thought and stick your character trait sheet inside your Question of the Day writing
and close your notebook. Do not put your notebook away because we will get a chance to share some
of our writing later this morning. Leave it closed on the corner of your desk and get out your slate,

sock and marker.

Vocabulary Review 9:10-9:20
Yesterday we introduced five new vocabulary words from our story we are reading. Lets first
start by listing off the five words we talked about yesterday. Show me by raising your hand if you
remember one of them. (I will call on students one at a time who are siting quietly to share a
vocabulary word. As they share the words I will write them on the board). Today we are going to be
reviewing those words by playing a vocabulary version of the game Heads UP! Raise your hand if you
have ever played this game before? I know theres a board game version and also a version that you
can play with on your phone. I have seen many of you playing this game during indoor recess and this
is also one of my favorite games to play with my family.
Heres how were going to play the vocabulary version of this game. One person is going to be
the vocabulary guesser and they are going to wear the headband with the word on their forehead. The
student standing up front will face the rest of the class so we can see the word. On your whiteboards
you are going to split your board in half. Can everyone right now put a line straight down on your
board. On the right side label it Describe and on the other side label is Picture. Once your board
looks like mine please close your marker and look at me so I know you are ready. (I will draw what I
described on a whiteboard for the students to see as a visual model). Everyone in the class is going to
get one minute to describe the word on one side using your own words and then will draw a picture of
the word on the other side. Dont worry; I will make sure the guesser is not looking while you are
brainstorming on your board. After one minute, we are going to roll the dice, if the dice rolls an odd
number we are going to describe the word to the guesser and if the dice rolls an even number we are
going to act out the word. I will choose one person to describe the word brainstormed on their board
or act out the picture they drew for the guesser to guess the word. (I will write the directions of the
dice on the board).
Who would like to be our first guesser? (I will choose one student that I have observed
playing this game during indoor recess so I can be sure that the first guesser will already have an
understanding of the rules of the original game). I will then place the headband on the students head
and adjust the sizing to make sure it does not fall down. The student will face the rest of their
classmates so they can see the word and then turn around to face the back so they will not see what is
happening on each of the students boards. (Each of the headbands will already have a vocabulary
card in the top of it so we do not have to wash the headband after every time we switch to a new
vocabulary word). During the one minute of brainstorming, I will walk around to observe the thinking
that is happening on the boards and assess how the students are describing the word and interpreting
the word through a picture. After about one minute I will stop the students and call on someone to roll
the dice. Based off of the number rolled, I will then choose a student to either describe the word to the
guesser or act out the word. If the guesser is unsure after one of the clues, he/she may ask for one
more clue from another student. I will then call on another student to add to the description of the
word. Once the guesser guesses the correct word, we will pick someone else to be the guesser for the
next word. We will complete this procedure until all 5 words have had the chance to be described.
I chose to review the vocabulary words using a game similar to Heads Up because of the
students interest in this game during recess. Every student will also have a chance to participate in the
activity on their whiteboards, even if they are not one of the students that are picked to share. Using
the whiteboards to work independently will also give me a chance to formatively assess the students
understanding of the word based off of their interpretation through a picture or how they describe it in
their own words. This small assessment will help determine if I need to review the vocabulary word
before we read the story again later in the lesson.

Instructional Strategies (Procedures) Instruc

Beginning 9:20-9:30
Can everyone please put away your slate, sock and marker and open up your Question of the
Day notebook to the question that we worked on this morning. Before we begin, I know I handed you
a list of different character traits that many of you have seen before in either 2nd or 3rd grade. What is a
character trait? (I will call on a few students to give their definition of character traits in their own
words. I will then take out my premade anchor chart that states, Character traits are adjectives that
describe what a person or character is like on the inside. We find evidence for these traits in what a
person or character, thinks, says or does.
I also chose to write in my notebook about the Question of the Day and would like to share
about a character trait that describes me. As I read, listen for the character trait being read and decide
if my example is based off of what I think, say or do.
I would describe myself to be adventurous because I love to travel around the world. This past
summer I traveled to Mexico for the first time and loved getting to know the people and trying the
amazing tacos. I also traveled to San Diego and tried surfing for the first time. It was challenging
standing up on the slippery board but it was an experience of a lifetime.
Does my example state the character trait that describes me? What character trait did I
choose? (I will call on one student to recall the character trait of adventurous that I used in my
writing). What examples did I provide that gave evidence to why I thought I was adventurous. (I
will call on students to recall some of the examples I used to explain my character trait). Do those
examples explain either what I think, said or did? Yes, they explain things that I like to do that are
adventurous! Would anyone like to share what you wrote in your notebook out loud to the class?
(Based off of the time we have in the class, I will choose 2-4 students to share their writing from this
morning). As you are listening to your classmates writing, listen for the character trait they chose to
describe themselves and also the example they chose to explain why. Does the example explain what a
person thinks, says or does? After a couple of students have shared I will give the students other
instructions to transition into the next activity. I loved listening to your writing, if you did not get a
chance to share, please read your Question of the Day to the person siting next to you, then keep our
your character trait paper, put your notebook back in your desk and get out your Storyworks
magazine. Please grab a clipboard and meet my on the rug with all of those materials.
Middle 9:30-10:00
We already got a chance to read the story yesterday but lets review what happened.
Who are our three characters in the story? (Kevin, Ben and Truman)
Turn and talk with someone siting next you about the beginning of the story, what is the
relationship like between Kevin and Ben? (Give students about one minute to talk with their
partner about how Kevin and Ben are friends but Kevin wants Ben to help him play a prank on
Truman and Ben is very hesitant).
Does this relationship stay the same throughout the whole story? What changes? (Give
students about one minute to talk to their partner about the change that happens throughout the
story).
Raise your hand if you have ever seen an emoji before? Emojis are my favorite because they explain
exactly how you are feeling. Here are some examples of emojis that can be used to describe different
feelings. (Show students pictures of different emojis that are common on iphones or ipads). Today we
are going to be getting to design our own emojis to fit with our main character Ben in the story. As we
discussed earlier, Ben changed throughout the story from the beginning, middle and end. First we are
going to reread a section of the story and decide a character trait that would describe Ben and explain
why we chose that character trait based off of what he says, thinks or does. Then after we choose the
character trait, we are going to create an emoji that would fit that character trait.
Can everyone please open up their Storyworks magazine to page ten? I am going to read the
first section out loud and please listen for a character trait that we could use to describe Ben. (I will
read the first section of the story, How Bad Could It Be out loud for the students. During my reading, I
will be looking out to the students to check to make sure they are following along with me on to the

next page). Talk to your partner and determine what character trait would be used to describe Ben in
this section of the story, prepare to explain why. It is definitely possible for there to be one right
answer. (I will give students about one minute to talk with their partner and will listen into the
conversations between the students to assess whether they are able to explain the reasoning of why
they chose the character trait based off of evidence from the story).
I am going to hand each of you a chart that matches my large chart up here. Would anyone like
to share with the class what character trait they used to describe Ben? (Call on a couple pairs of
students and record their character trait ideas on the large premade chart and also the evidence they
found from the story on the other column of the paper. I will record 2 or 3 possible character trait ideas
and the evidence they found from the story).
What would an emoji look like to go along with one of these character traits? Does anyone
have a design they would like to draw? (Call on one student to draw their design of an emoji on the
chart paper and have them explain it to the rest of the class). Great job! You are all going to get a
chance to design your own emojis for our main character Ben for the rest of the story. I am going to
assign you a partner and the two of you are going to spread out around the room and read the rest of
the story together. On your chart, it tells you what sections of the story to read before stopping and
identifying a character trait for Ben. After reading the section, you and your partner will discuss, using
the character trait list provided, what trait you think could describe Ben at this part of the story. You
will provide evidence from the story that supports why you think that and lastly design an emoji that
fits that character trait. Your partner is there to discuss possible ideas of character traits or emoji
designs. However, you and your partner can have different ideas for character traits or designs and
work independently to draw out the emoji you think fits best.
I will then assign students partners and dismiss them to find a spot in the room to work. I am
choosing to assign partners this day because I want the partner to be close to their reading level. I will
also choose to split up students who have an artistic ability because their inspiration may aide in
helping other students brainstorm ideas for emoji designs. However the resource teacher will push in
and will take her group to work together on the chart (5 students).
Throughout the partner work, I will walk around to each of the partnerships and make sure each
pair is working on task either reading the text together, discussing possible ideas of character traits and
emoji ideas or recording on their chart. Students who are having trouble thinking of a character trait, I
will help them by showing them a part in the text to use to look for a describing character trait.
End 10:00-10:15
I will use our university chant to get the students attention and give them directions to move to
the next transition. Me: Lets Go ISU! Students: Redbirds, Redbirds Eyes on You! Can everyone
please bring everything you have over to rug. (Give students about 30 seconds to come back together
on the rug). I am so excited to hear some of the character traits you decided and observe some of
your creative designs. I am first going to start by reading the second section of the reading before
listening to any ideas you came up with. After reading the section of the story out loud, I will call on
a few of the students to share the character trait, evidence from the story and emoji with the whole
class. I will then record the students idea and if time permits, we will listen to one more idea from
another pair. If a partnership did not have chance to share with the class, I will give them an
opportunity to hare their design with another pair nearby. We will follow the same procedure for the
third section as well.

Short Response: 10:15-10:30

Differentiation

Modifications/

Closure

At the end of the lesson, I will dismiss the students back to their desks. I will then hand out a
sheet that has a question at the top and lines at the bottom for the students to answer the question.
Compare our main character Ben from the beginning of the story to the end of the story. How did he
change? Give examples from the story and you can use your chart to help you.
Students will complete this question independently. After about 2 minutes of work time, I will
then add a sentence frame for the students to begin writing. In the beginning of the story Ben was..
However, at the end of the story he changed and would be described as.
Throughout the lesson, I have included various ways for the students to showcase their learning
and access their prior knowledge. This group of students loves to talk and share their ideas. However,
in order to be able to teach a full lesson, I found ways that all students can share and participate, even
it if it is not with the whole class every time. The whiteboards during the vocabulary lesson allows
every student to participate in the vocabulary review and also be able to share their design with the
person siting next to them. During past SEL lessons, the students have thoroughly enjoyed acting out
scenarios, which is why I added a component that allows the students to act out words as part of my
lesson. The students have already previously had lessons on character traits in prior years, which is
why I did not spend a lot of time on the instructional part, but rather allowed the students to actively
participate with the story we are reading. Lastly, I chose to use emojis as a big part of my lesson
because this age group loves emojis and continue to show up to school with shirts, school supplies and
toys in the shapes of the different emojis. I felt adding this component would create excitement for
many of the students.
There were also ways that I chose to modify some of my teaching methods to accommodate all
learners. Some of the accommodations I provided for the whole group and some resources I provided
for only some of the students. I made a couple of accommodations throughout my lesson for my
students who have an IEP. When giving them the list of character traits, I chose to highlight ones that I
felt would be familiar to them and also could be applied to the character in the story. I also modified
the extended response for the summative assessment by breaking up the prompt and giving them
sentence frames that allow them to finish the sentence. This will help make them successful when
answering the short response question. I also have three gifted students who have a higher reading
ability in the class. I chose to give them a modified version of the story that used higher vocabulary
words to challenge them, but still gave them the experience of reading the same story as the rest of the
class. The students will still follow the same guidelines when finding character traits, however, their
chart will be modified to fit the section titles of their modified story.
For any of the students who find the task when working in partners to be easy, I will encourage
them to determine if they can identify the main character to exhibit more than one character trait in
each section. Those students will then be able to combine the two character traits into one emoji
design.