GCU College of Education

LESSON UNIT PLAN TEMPLATE

Section 1: Lesson Preparation

Teacher Candidate Name: Tiffany Solis
Grade Level: 1st Grade
Unit/Subject: Identifying Main Characters/English Language Arts
Title of Unit and Brief Summary: Active Reading “The Enormous Watermelon”- The focus of this 3-day mini-unit is for students
to identify main characters through repeated readings of a variety of nursery rhymes. Students will develop skills in the four literacies
(reading, writing, listening, and speaking) through listening to different stories, using partner talk and group word, writing, and
reading chorally and independently.
Day 1 Title of Lesson and Brief Summary: Main Characters in Nursery Rhymes- The focus of this lesson is to have students read
the five different nursery rhymes and identify the main characters in each nursery rhyme. Students will practice reading chorally at the
carpet and independently using an online tool.
Day 2 Title of Lesson and Brief Summary: Main Nursery Rhyme Characters in “The Enormous Watermelon”- The focus of this
lesson is for students to identify the main nursery rhyme characters (identified during day 1) in “The Enormous Watermelon”.
Students will use what they know about these main characters to make predictions about the story.
Day 3 Title of Lesson and Brief Summary: High-Frequency Word Practice- The focus of this lesson is for students to identify high
frequency words from “The Enormous Watermelon”. Students will practice these words by playing a matching game in their groups.
Classroom and Student Factors/Grouping: 30 students in the class (6 groups of 5), 14 males & 16 Females, 4 students are ELLs, 13
are low socio-economic status, 5 students have IEP/504 plans, 4 students are learning disabled, 1 student in emotionally disabled, 5
students that are tier 2 RTI reading, 3 students that are tier 2 RTI math, 2 students that are tier 3 RTI math, 1 student that is tier 3 RTI
reading & math, 8 students that are one year below grade level in reading, 3 students are gifted, 1 student has hearing aids, 1 student is
diabetic, 1 student is allergic to peanuts, 9 students do not have access to internet at home

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National/State Learning
Standards
List specific grade-level
standards that are the focus
of the lesson being
presented.
Day 1
NCTE/IRA NATIONAL STANDARDS
FOR THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
ARTS
3. Students apply a wide range of
strategies to comprehend, interpret,
evaluate, and appreciate texts. They
draw on their prior experience, their
interactions with other readers and
writers, their knowledge of word
meaning and of other texts, their word
identification strategies, and their
understanding of textual features
(e.g., sound-letter correspondence,
sentence structure, context,
graphics).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and
major events in a story, using key
details.
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Day 2
NCTE/IRA NATIONAL STANDARDS
FOR THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
ARTS
3. Students apply a wide range of
strategies to comprehend, interpret,
evaluate, and appreciate texts. They
draw on their prior experience, their
interactions with other readers and
writers, their knowledge of word
meaning and of other texts, their word
identification strategies, and their
understanding of textual features
(e.g., sound-letter correspondence,
sentence structure, context,
graphics).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story
to describe its characters, setting, or
events.
Day 3
NCTE/IRA NATIONAL STANDARDS
FOR THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
3. Students apply a wide range of
strategies to comprehend, interpret,
evaluate, and appreciate texts. They
draw on their prior experience, their
interactions with other readers and
writers, their knowledge of word meaning
and of other texts, their word
identification strategies, and their
understanding of textual features (e.g.,
sound-letter correspondence, sentence
structure, context, graphics).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.1.3. G
Recognize and read grade-appropriate
irregularly spelled words.
Specific Learning
Target(s)/Objectives
Based on state standards,
identify what is intended to
be measured in learning.
Academic Language
General academic
vocabulary and content-
specific vocabulary included
in the unit.
Unit Resources,
Materials, Equipment,
and Technology
List all resources, materials,
equipment, and technology
to be used in the unit.
 Students will be able to read
the five nursery rhymes at
95% accuracy
 Students will be able to
identify the main character in
each of the five nursery
rhymes
 Main Character
 Nursery Rhyme
 Main Character video
https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=Aq4jnZfnKS4
 Main Character worksheet
(Free Resource from TPT)
 Colored pencils
 Pencils
 Anchor chart paper labeled
with the five nursery rhymes
 Marker
 Teacher iPad or computer
 Projector or apple TV
 Student iPads
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 Students will be able to
identify all five main nursery
rhyme characters in “The
Enormous Watermelon”
 Students will be able to
predict what main character
from the nursery rhyme will
come next in the book “The
Enormous Watermelon”
using text and picture
evidence
 Main Character (Review)
 Enormous
 Predict
 Evidence (Text and Picture)
 Anchor chart paper labeled
with the five nursery rhymes
and main characters (from
day 1)
 Marker in a different color to
mark when students find the
character in “The Enormous
Watermelon”
 Teacher iPad or computer
 The digital book “The
Enormous Watermelon”
https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=PldvwIhcZ98
 Students will be able to read the
15 sight words at 93% accuracy
 Students will be able to
recognize the 15 sight words in
“The Enormous Watermelon”.
 High-Frequency Word
 The digital book “The Enormous
Watermelon”
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=PldvwIhcZ98
 Projector or Smart Board
 Use Nearpod to create a visual
for each of the 15 sight words
(coordinate the words to a
sentence from “The Enormous
Watermelon” Include an area for
students to practice writing the
sight word after each slide.

Depth of Knowledge
Lesson Questions
What questions can be
posed throughout the lesson
to assess all levels of
student understanding?
 Level 1: Recall
 Level 2: Skill/Concepts
 Level 3: Strategic
Thinking
 Level 4: Extended
Thinking
 https://www.enchantedlearnin
g.com/Humptyrhyme.html
(use this website to access
each nursery rhyme to read
to the students)
o Humpty Dumpty
o Jack & Jill
o Little Miss Muffet
o Old Mother Hubbard
o Wee Willie Winkie
Level 1: What is a main character?
Level 2: Who is the main character of
Humpty Dumpty?
Level 3: How do you know Humpty
Dumpty is the main character?
Level 4: Do you think there can be
more than one main character?
Why? Can you think of a movie or
book that has more than one main
character?
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 Student iPads
 Teacher iPad
 Index cards for memory game
o Write the following
words on the cards two
times (a total of 30
cards)
 Big
 In
 Said
 But
 It
 She
 Could
 Little
 The
 Day
 Not
 Was
 Went
 One
 Home
Level 1: What does it mean to Level 1: What is a high-frequency word?
predict? Level 2: Why is it important for us to
Level 2: Looking at the cover of “The learn high-frequency words?
Enormous Watermelon” what do you Level 3: What are some words you think
predict the story will be about? would be high-frequency words? Can
Level 3: What in the story made you you find any of these words in the story
predict that character would come we have been reading?
next? What in the story made you Level 4: How can learning high-
predict that would happen next? frequency words help you become a
Level 4: What else do you think we better reader and writer?
can predict? Why is it important to
make predictions?
Section 2: Instructional Planning
Anticipatory Set
How will students’ prior
knowledge be activated as
well as gain student interest
in the upcoming content?
Multiple Means of
Representation
Day 1
 I will have the students gather
at the carpet to begin the
lesson.
 I will show a short video called
“Story Elements:
Character” and ask students
what is a character?
 I will ask the students to
explain their answer to their
elbow partner.
 I will pick a couple of students
to share their answers with
the class.
 I will write students answers
on the whiteboard under
Character Elements for
students to reference during
the lesson.
 I will then present our nursery
rhyme anchor chart.
 I will then explain to students
that today we will be
identifying the main
characters in these five
nursery rhymes.
Presentation of Content
 I will use the digital resource,
Enchanted Learning, to
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Day 2 Day 3
 I will have the students gather  I will have the students gather at
at the carpet to begin the the carpet.
lesson (this always gets the  I will have “The Enormous
students excited). Watermelon” displayed on the
 I will have the anchor chart screen and Nearpod open on the
that we made yesterday up on Apple TV.
the board.  I will start by reviewing our
 I will ask the students to lesson from the day before on
review with their elbow finding main characters in our
partner what a main character story.
is.  I will then use this information
 I will have a few students to explain that today will we be
share their thoughts with the finding special kinds of words
class. called High-Frequency words in
 I will then ask the students to our story as we read it today.
remind me what story each of
our characters came from.
 I will then tell the students
that today we are going to
read a book that includes all
these main characters.
 I will display “The Enormous
Watermelon” on the board
and tell the students that
while we are reading the story
I want them to try to find our
nursery rhyme characters by
making predications.
 I will start by explaining what  I will use the Nearpod
a predication is. application to present each word
to the students (each word will
Describe how content will present each of the five
be presented in various nursery rhymes on the board.
ways to meet the needs of  I will read each nursery rhyme
different learners.
aloud to the class.
 I will then have the class
chorally read each nursery
rhyme.
 After each read aloud and
choral read I will ask the
students to think-pair-share
with their elbow partner about
who they think is the main
character and why.
 I will have students share their
ideas with the class and we
will discuss the main
character of each nursery
rhyme.
 I will write the main
character, decided by the
class, on the anchor chart
under each nursery rhyme
(this will be used during the
day 2 lesson).
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 I will tell the students that
predict means using what we
know to make a guess.
 I will have the students think-
pair-share with their elbow
partner about a time they
made a predication.
 I will then have the partners
share with the class about
when they made a prediction.
 I will have the class ask them
questions, like “was your
prediction, right?”.
 I will then explain that we are
going to use what we learned
yesterday about the main
characters in the nursery
rhymes to see if we can
predict when they will appear
in our story.
 I will then tell the students
that as we find each character
we will mark that character
with a star. Our goal is to find
them all.
have a sentence that shows the
word in context to the story).
 I will explain the importance of
knowing high-frequency words
by sight to the students.
 I will then begin reading “The
Enormous Watermelon” aloud to
the class and tell them to look
for the 15 words we talked about
during the reading.
 I will then have the class
chorally read “The Enormous
Watermelon” and we will stop to
locate each sight word.
 I will have students come to the
board to point out the words as
we read.
Multiple Means of English Language Learners: I will
Representation speak in a clear tone and be concise
Differentiation with instructions. I will also use
Explain how materials will visuals during explanations to provide
be differentiated for each of ELL students with a visual cue to go
the following groups: along with my verbal explanation. I
 English Language will model when needed and provide
Learners (ELL) examples.
 Students with
Students with Special Needs: I will
special needs
ensure that my student that is
 Students with
gifted abilities emotionally disabled is seated in a
 Early finishers comfortable area on the carpet and we
(those who finish will set up a sign before the lesson that
early and may he or she can give me to indicate that
need additional they are not comfortable and would
sources/support) like to go to their “safe zone”.
I will wear a microphone and place
my student with hearing aids toward
the front of the carpet. This student
will also benefit from speaking in a
clear tone and concisely.
Students with Gifted Abilities:
Students with gifted abilities can write
their own anchor charts in their
reading journal during the lesson. This
would provide them to make their own
notes on the characters.
Early Finishers:
As this is a group activity and
completed as a class their will not be
any early finishers during the first
section of this lesson.
Application of Content
Multiple Means of  I will explain to students that
Engagement they will now have the
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English Language Learners: I will English Language Learners: I will
speak in a clear tone and be concise provide a visual for each sight word. I
with instructions. I will also use will also have the words translated into
visuals during explanations to provide their home language.
ELL students with a visual cue to go Students with Special Needs: Students
along with my verbal explanation. I with special needs with benefit from
will model when needed and provide having visuals for each sight word and
examples. seeing the words in context.
Students with Special Needs: I will Students with Gifted Abilities:
ensure that my student that is Students with gifted abilities with be
emotionally disabled is seated in a asked to identify new sight words within
comfortable area on the carpet and we the text.
will set up a sign before the lesson Early Finishers: As this is a whole
that he or she can give me to indicate group activity their will be no early
that they are not comfortable and finishers during this section.
would like to go to their “safe zone”.
I will wear a microphone and place
my student with hearing aids toward
the front of the carpet. This student
will also benefit from speaking in a
clear tone and concisely.
Students with Gifted Abilities:
Students with gifted abilities can
write about a time they made a
predication and illustrate it.
Early Finishers:
If pair a done before we are ready to
share, then they can talk about
predictions we make every day.
 I will begin reading the story  I will tell the class that they will
aloud to students. be playing a “Matching Game”
How will students explore,
practice, and apply the
content?
Multiple Means of
Engagement
Differentiation
Explain how materials will
be differentiated for each of
the following groups:
 English Language
Learners (ELL)
 Students with
special needs
opportunity to explore these
nursery rhymes on their own.
 I will tell the students to get
an iPad, open MS notebook
and click on the link to go to
enchantedlearning.com
(Students have been
explicating taught how to use
iPads earlier in the year).
 I will model going to this
website on the iPad.
 I will explain to students that
why they are exploring this
website I would like them to
fill out the Main Character
worksheet.
 I will model how to complete
this worksheet for them on the
document camera.
English Language Learners: English
language learners will be shown how
to change the language of the website.
This website offers many different
language options. ELLs will be able to
reference the anchor chart to fill out
their worksheet.
Students with Special Needs: My
student that is emotionally disabled
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 I will stop as I read to ask
students to predict what they
think will happen next and
what character they think they
will see.
 I will have students think-
pair-share about their
predications.
 I will ask students to share
their ideas and we will
conduct class discussions.
 I will pause reading when we
come to our main characters
and ask students if their
predications where correct.
 I will have them explain why
they their predication is
correct and why they made
that predication.
 I will have students come up
and point to the character and
their name in the text as we
come to each character.
 I will have students mark the
characters with a star when
we find them in the story.
English Language Learners: I will
use visuals during instruction. I will
find or make vocabulary word cards
that have the word translated into my
students’ home language.
Students with Special Needs: My
student that is emotionally disabled
will be allowed to work where they
feel the most comfortable. I will
with the 15 high-frequency
words they learned today.
 I will have students go back to
their seats.
 I will tell the students that I will
be passing out cards with these
words on them. They must keep
their word hidden and not let
anyone see it.
 I will pass out one card to each
student and tell them that when I
say go they are going to walk
around the classroom and find
the student that has a matching
card.
 I will tell the students that when
they have found their match to
come sit at the carpet with their
partner.
 After all the students have found
their match I will ask each pair
to show their cards to the class
and say the word they found.
 I will then have the class say the
word on the card.
English Language Learners: English
language learners will have card that
have pictures and translation on the card.
This will help them understand what
word they have. I will also help them
pronounce the word, so they know how
to say it.
Students with Special Needs: Students
with special needs with have large font
  Students with will be allowed to work where they
gifted abilities feel the most comfortable. I will
 Early finishers continue to wear a microphone and
(those who finish speak clearly to assist my student with
early and may hearing aids. I will use visuals and
need additional
large fonts to help students struggling
sources/support)
with reading. I will also work one on
one with any student that is struggling
to read the nursery rhymes.
Students with Gifted Abilities:
Students with gifted abilities will be
challenged to read a new nursery
rhyme from the website and decipher
the main character on their own.
Early Finishers: Early finishers can
read any nursery rhyme they choose
from the website.
Assessment of Content
Multiple Means of  Students will be observed
Expression during the independent
Formative and summative exploration of the nursery
assessments used to rhymes for understanding,
monitor student progress fluency, and accuracy. (Chart
and modify instruction.
will be used to track this
data).
 I will use questioning to
decipher students’
understanding of main
characters during the read
aloud and choral read.
 I will use the main character
worksheet to assess students
understanding of main
characters.
© 2019. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved
continue to wear a microphone and
speak clearly to assist my student
with hearing aids. I will use visuals
and large fonts to help students
struggling with reading
Students with Gifted Abilities:
Students with gifted abilities will be
given higher order thinking questions
to help them stretch their thinking and
challenge them.
Early Finishers: During this section
of the lesson their will be no early
finishers because it is a whole class
activity.
 Questioning will be used to
assess students understanding
of predications.
 Observations will be used to
assess student’s ability to
identify the five main nursery
rhyme characters.
and I will check to ensure they can read
the word they have before they play the
game.
Students with Gifted Abilities:
Students with gifted abilities can locate
the words around the room hung in
various locations.
Early Finishers: Early finishers and
during the time that I am pulling students
to the back table for assessments, will
work on the Nearpod application reading
and writing each word.
 Students will be pulled to the
back table and asked to say the
sight word on each card as it is
shown. This will be tracked for
each student and I will be able to
identify students that can read
these 15 words at 93% accuracy.
Small groups will be formed
from these results.
 Observations will be used to
assess student’s ability to
identify the sight words in the
text during the read aloud.
Multiple Means of
Expression
Differentiation
Explain how materials will
be differentiated for each of
the following groups:
 English Language
Learners (ELL)
 Students with
special needs
 Students with
gifted abilities
 Early finishers
(those who finish
early and may
need additional
resources/support)
Identify and describe any
extension activities or
homework tasks as
appropriate. Explain how
the extension activity or
English Language Learners: English
language learners can draw pictures to
explain their main characters. They
will have access to the anchor chart to
help with spelling on their worksheet.
They will also only be required to read
the nursery rhymes with 90%
accuracy. This can change depending
on their reading ability.
Students with Special Needs:
Students with special needs will have
access to the anchor chart for spelling
or character names. They will also
only be required to read with 90%
accuracy depending on their current
reading ability. I will try to set their
goal similar to their current reading
goal.
Students with Gifted Abilities:
Students with gifted abilities with be
required to read at 100% accuracy.
They will also be challenged to read a
new nursery rhyme that we did not
practice in class at 95% accuracy.
Early Finishers: Early finishers can
read silently or work on rainbow
spelling.
Extension Activity and/or Homework
 In class: Students can explore
the Enchantedlearning.com
website.
© 2019. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved
English Language Learners:
English language learners will be
given questions using visuals and
translation if needed. They will be
allowed to draw their responses on
whiteboards if needed.
Students with Special Needs:
Students with special needs will be
given questions that they can answer
with a little challenge. I will also be
sure to use visuals to help them
understand the question.
Students with Gifted Abilities:
Students with gifted abilities with be
given higher-order questions that help
challenge them.
Early Finishers: Early finishers can
read silently, work on their fluency
packet, or rainbow spelling.
 In class: Students can write
about a time when they
predicted something, and it
happened.
English Language Learners: Will have
the translated word on each card. I will
allow them to say the word in their home
language and then practice saying it in
English. We will work up to them saying
the words in only English. ELL students
will have a goal of 10/15 sight words.
Students with Special Needs: Students
with special needs will have large font
and visuals to help them with the word.
Their goal will be 10/15 words read
correctly.
Students with gifted abilities: Students
with gifted abilities will have 5 extra
words to read and be required to get
18/20 words correct.
Early Finishers: When students are
finished with the assessment they can
continue working on Nearpod practicing
the words or read silently.
 In class: complete sight word
scavenger hunt.
 Homework: Write rainbow sight
words.
 homework assignment
supports the learning
targets/objectives. As
required by your instructor,
attach any copies of
homework at the end of this
template.
 Homework: I will provide my  Homework: Make a
students with printed prediction about the weather
versions of the nursery for the next day. Write down
rhymes for them to read to your prediction or draw a
their families at home. picture.
 Homework: Student will
explain to their parents what
a main character is and show
them the main characters in
the five nursery rhymes.

Reflection
For this mini-unit I wanted to incorporate many different opportunities for my students to practice their speaking, listening,

reading, and writing skills. I adapted this mini-unit from the lesson plan I created during topic 1. I realized along the way that I tried to

include to many elements into one lesson and did not include many ways to differentiate. Therefore, this is a mini-unit that focuses on

teaching one concept each day where each concept builds on from the last one.

I start each day with a quick lesson on the carpet to introduce the lesson, teach vocabulary, and reflect on what was learned the

day before. I use a lot of think-pair-share during this time to help students learn to formulate a response before speaking it. This also

helps students build communication skills. According to Alberta Learning, think-pair-share affords all students with the opportunity to

participant, learn from others, and make connections with the content (2002).

After carpet time, I move onto the new content for that day’s lesson. For this mini-unit, the focus is around the text “The

Enormous Watermelon”. I wanted to give the students plenty of opportunities to read the text before practicing sight words. This way
© 2019. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved
they were familiar with the words we were studying. Students were able to listen to me read the story aloud uninterrupted, chorally

read the story together, and echo read the story. This is known as repeated reading. Repeated reading is an instructional strategy that

helps build students word recognition, vocabulary development, phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency (Brown, 2016).

To differentiate this mini-unit I wanted to include ways that all my students could benefit. However, differentiation is an area I

am still struggling with. For my English language learners, I wanted to ensure I had plenty of visuals to support their language

development. I also wanted to have translations available for them when I could. The website used for the nursery rhymes is an

excellent resource because it has translations included on the website. This is helpful for students that are proficient in their home

language. For my students with special needs, I wanted to provide additional support in the form of larger font because struggling

readers do better with larger fonts. I also wanted to have visuals available to help them make connection with words. My gifted

students were challenge using questioning techniques. I wanted to provide them with the opportunity to have a challenge in the

classroom with out them feeling like they are helping other students or doing extra worksheets.

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 Reference

Alberta Learning. (2002). Health and Life Skills Guide to Implementation (K–9): Instructional Strategies. Retrieved from

https://education.alberta.ca/media/482311/is.pdf

Active Reading Using The Enormous Watermelon. (2019). Read Write Think. Retrieved from

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/active-reading-using-enormous-35.html?tab=4#tabs

Brown, K. (2016). Repeated Readings: What Can We Learn from Eye Movements? Presented at the University of Utah Reading

Clinic. Retrieved from https://uurc.utah.edu/Educators/EdLinks.php

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