Culturally Relevant Pedagogy Lesson Plan

Name: Kelsee Palmer

Title: Helping Others with Maddis Fridge

Grade: 2nd

Concept/Topic: the importance of helping others

Time Needed: approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour

Backward Design Approach: Where are you going with your students?

Identify Desired Results/Learning Outcomes/Essential Question:

Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to identify the main ideas in the

read aloud of Maddis Fridge. These main ideas are that childhood hunger in the

United State can affect those involved in various ways, we can overcome big

obstacles when we help each other out, and when is the appropriate time to break a

promise. Students will also recognize the different challenges each character faces.

Students will also be able to write a paragraph about either when they helped

someone or when someone else helped them.

Essential Question: What are some challenges each character faced in this

story? How did their emotions play a role in how the responded to these challenges.

Ensuring Lesson Supports District and State Goals

NCSCOS Standards:

Reading Literature 2.03: Describe how characters in a story respond to major events

and challenges.
Writing 2.03: Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or

short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings,

use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

Assessment Plan:

Discussion: Students will predict what they think is the main idea from the

story before reading the book. During the book there will be a few moments for

students to discuss with a partner what issues the characters have been facing. Then

after the reading the entire book I will ask students How did the characters get

passed their challenges? I want them to recognize the importance of friendship in

this story, and how true friends look out for each and help each other. They should

also recognize that sometimes we have to break promises if it is for our friends well

being.

Writing Worksheet: Students will have the choice to either write about a time

they helped someone or a time someone else helped them. In their writing they

should include who helped them/was being helped, what happened in the situation

(what did they do to help someone/someone helped them), and how did it make

them feel. They should use complete sentences. When talking about their feelings

they should use adjectives such as happy, glad, excited, loved, proud, etc.

Meeting the Student Where They Are

Prior Knowledge/Connections:

Most students should already know how to identify the main topic of a story.

Some will also be able to easily recognize the emotions that the characters are
having throughout the story. Students should also be able to make logical

predictions by looking at the pictures and the cover page. While writing I expect all

students to be able to write in complete sentences, and provide the three things I

ask for in the writing. Students may also connect the discussion of hunger to being a

responsible citizen. They should know that it is important to get involved in your

community; helping those who do not have enough food would be a great way to do

this.

Lesson Introduction/Hook:

Before reading the book, ask the students what they think the book is about.

They should look at the title and the cover page for some clues. Do a quick picture

walk and have students shout out what they observe while looking at the pictures.

Tell students to be looking out for any challenges that the characters face, and the

emotions that the characters display while going through these challenges.

Heart of the Lesson/Learning Plans

Differentiation/Same-ation:

This lesson is centered around a read aloud. All students should be fully

engaged in this read aloud. The book has vibrant pictures and it is about two girls

who could be close to the students age group. It is a very relevant story as it focuses

on friendship and hunger. Students will later be asked to write about a time they

were helped by someone/helped someone else, which will give all students the

opportunity to practice their writing skills about a personal experience.

Lesson Development:
 1. Preparation: Print out enough copies for both worksheets (helped

someone/helped by someone). Write my own story about when someone

helped me and draw a picture (this will be shown to the class as an example).

Make sure you have the book and have made sticky notes on good stopping

points.

***Transition: Students should be seated on the carpet or gathered as a class in some

way. They need to be able to see the pictures on the book.

2. Before Reading:

a. Ask students if they know what a challenges are. Can they define it?

Can they think of any challenges they have faced?

b. Then show students the cover page of the book. Read the title to them.

Ask them to make predictions about what they think the book will be

about.

c. Do a quick picture walk through the book. Make sure students are

taking note of what they observe just by looking at the pictures. Then

ask students if they can predict what challenges the characters might

face.

d. Before you begin reading tell students that they should pay close

attention to the challenges the characters face and what emotions the

characters have while facing these challenges.

3. While reading:

a. Page 5: turn and talkHow do you think Maddi is feeling right now

since her best friend just found out they dont have any food?
 i. She is probably embarrassed and scared that Sofia will tell

somebody.

b. Page 11: turn and talkWhat do you think Sofia is thinking? Whats

her idea? (prediction)

i. She wants to give Maddi some food. She will bring her some in

her backpack to school.

c. Page 17: just askWhat challenge is Sofia having with the climbing

wall? What is she feeling?

i. She cant stretch high enough to climb it like Maddi. She feels

like she should give up, like its impossible to do.

d. Page 19: observationLook at Sofias face. Think about what she

must be feeling right now.

i. (think in your head) She looks angry or maybe frustrated.

e. Page 24: just askWhat was Sofias challenge here? Do you think

Maddi will be mad that Sofia broke her promise?

i. She didnt know whether she should tell her mom about Maddi

or not. Maddi might be mad or she might not depending on

how Sofias mom reacts.

4. After Reading:

a. Ask students what challenges each character faced in the book. Talk

about Sofia, Maddi and even Luis. There are multiple challenges for

each character.
 b. Ask how these characters felt while they were going through the

challenges. Talk about how they may have a bunch of different

emotions depending on the challenge they face.

c. Ask the students how these characters got through their challenges.

Did they have help from anyone?

i. Conclude that friends and family and others can help you get

through problems or challenges.

***Transition: Students will go back to there seats when you dismiss them. Make

sure they grab one of the writing prompt choices. Each table should have some color

pencils/crayons fro when they draw their pictures.

5. Writing Portion:

a. Students will be given two options. They can write about a time they

helped someone or a time they were helped by someone else. Tell

students this can be anytime they can think of and it can include

anyone (parents, siblings, friends, family, teacher, stranger, etc.).

b. Show example of the writing to the students. Read through it with

them and highlight the parts in it.

c. Tell students this is a paragraph writing, which means they must use

complete sentences.

d. In this paragraph they must have, who was being helped, who was the

helper, what happened in a sequence of events (should be in correct

order), and how did this make them feel (whether they were the one

being helped or if they helped someone else).

 i. Should explain how they felt using adjectives. Some examples

are loved, happy, excited, thrilled, proud, relieved, thankful, etc.

e. Students can then draw a picture of what happened. They should use

colors to make it look presentable.

f. If there is time have students share their writing. If they finished they

can read their paragraph out loud. If they are not finished they can

just tell us about what they are writing about. Depending on how

much time there is, allow 3 or 4 students to share.

Specific Questioning:

1. What is a main topic/idea? What do you think it is for this book?

2. What is a challenge? What are some predictions you have about the

challenges the characters will face in this book?

3. What does observe mean? What can we observe while reading a book?

****All other questions are specifically for the book, which you can find in the step-

by-step lesson development.

New Vocabulary:

Apartment: a suite of rooms forming one residence, typically in a building

containing a number of these; sometimes found in a city or close to a city

Tofu: curd made from mashed soybeans, used chiefly in Asian and vegetarian

cooking

Promise: a declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that

a particular thing will happen

Growled: a low gurgling noise your stomach makes when you are hungry
 Nutrition: process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health or

growth; typically means it is not a treat, but it is healthy for you

Shadows: dark area or shape produced by a body or object coming between

rays of light and a surface

Treat: an event or item that is out of the ordinary and gives great pleasure

Concluding the Lesson/Closure/Debriefing:

Having students share their writing and pictures to the whole class is a great

way to wrap up this lesson. After they share their writing remind them that helping

others is really important. Some people may be having a rough day or be going

through something challenging. When we help them, even with small things, it can

make them so much happier. It will also make us happy knowing that we helped

somebody else. The extension for this lesson would be a great way for students to

learn how they can help others in our community that might be hungry.

Materials/Resources:

Copies of both worksheets for each student

Pencils (for writing)

Colored pencils/crayons for drawing/coloring

Book: Maddis Fridge by Lois Brandt

Sticky notes

Finished writing example

Teaching Behavior Focus:

Meeting Needs of Learners: An appropriate balance between direct and

indirect instruction, which matches and mismatches student intellectual, social, and
moral development is sought. Student engagement through discussion is fostered.

Learners interests and experiences are acknowledged and integrated into discussion.

Maintain useful records of learner progress. Utilize cooperative learning such as

jigsaw, think-pair-share. Equitable response opportunities are provided.

I chose this teaching behavior focus because I think this lesson utilizes the

personal experiences of the students very well. They also have plenty of

opportunities for discussion while I am reading the book. This lesson also touches

on students moral development because I emphasize the importance of helping

others in our community and what emotions helping others bring about.

Follow-up Activities/Parent Involvement:

1. How to help those who may not have enough food at home.

a. Show the last page in the book. It mentions a few simple ways to help

those who are hungry. Talk about the statistic One out of every five

kids in the United States is at risk of having an empty fridge like

Maddi.

i. If there is a classmate or friend who never eats breakfast or

does not have a snack, tell a parent or trusted adult.

ii. When you have friends over you can offer them a healthy

snack.

iii. You can even make encouraging posters to make people give

food or money to your local food bank.

iv. Volunteer at a local food bank, community kitchen, pantry, or

shelter. Can even invite your family.

 v. Create a school food drive or canned food drive to give to local

food bank.

b. Visit the website correlated with the book. (www.maddisfridge.com)

i. Go to Fighting Hunger page: links to Feeding America and No

Kid Hungry at the bottom

ii. Discuss these links. Talk about how students can do this with

their families or even at the school.

iii. Ask students if they have ever done anything like this or if they

have any ideas on something they may want to do.