Roseann Magrane

Lesson Plan
October 2, 2009

Grade Level: 3 rd

Subject: Library Instruction, Language Arts

Required Materials: Copy of The Z was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg
Smartboard
Paper
Crayons/Markers

Duration: One 40 minute class.

21st Century Learning Standards/AASL:

• Standard 2: Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply
knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge.

ELA Standards:
• Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for
information and understanding.
• Standard 2: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for
literary response and expression.

Anticipatory Set
Using the SB, I will recite and show the students several tongue twisters and ask them
what they notice about the words that are used. What do you notice about the words that
are used? I will ask some students for their own tongue twisters.

Objective/Purpose:
• Using The Z was Zapped, the student will identify the literary term alliteration.
• After completing the lesson, the student will create their own alliteration.

Teaching: Input
I will introduce the term alliteration and provide the definition to the students. Before
reading The Z was Zapped, I will give the students some background information on the
author, Chris Van Allsburg and discuss some of his other books, such as, The Polar
Express and note that he was a 2 time winner of the Caldecott Award. What is the
Caldecott Award? As we read the story I will explain to the students that they are to use
the picture clues to predict the corresponding word. I will encourage a variety of
responses before we check to see what is on the back of each page. Discuss the book and
ask open ended questions: What did you think of the book? What was your favorite part?

Teaching: Modeling
Pick one letter (M) and create a word wall on the SmartBoard. Encourage students to
use alliteration and list all the things that can happen to the letter “M”.
Teaching: Checking for Understanding
Have some students choose a letter and provide their own alliteration and share their
ideas with the class.

Guided Practice
Using a worksheet on the SB the class will practice using sentences where they will fill in
the blanks. They will come up and write their own words.

Closure
Have the students repeat the definition of alliteration and to identify it in their own
worlds outside of school. For example, the names of some cartoon characters use
alliteration, such as King Kong, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, etc.

Assessment:
I will evaluate the students’ comprehension by noting what they drew and wrote about in
response to the task.

Follow-up Activities (on Day 2):

• We will review what we learned about alliteration in the previous class. Explain
to students that they will be creating their own alliteration about library terms,
library materials and library resources using alliteration. Give examples. “The R
is reading a fiction book”. Using the SB, students will create a word wall of
“library words” or anything associated with the library. They can use this as a
reference tool. Assign one letter to each student. They will then use clues from
around the library, previous library instruction and our word wall to create a
picture using alliteration. The students will first make up a riddle, then draw the
picture clue. The students will write their letter and picture on one side of the
paper and the answer to the clue on the other side. Have some students share their
ideas. I will bind and laminate the students work to create a book for display in
the library. It will also be used to create a digital portfolio using Mixbook and
post on the library webpage.
• Ask students to look for more books by Chris Van Allsburg
• Provide students a collection of alphabet books that use alliteration.