Imagination: Real or Make Believe

Preschool, Kindergarten Reading

by Angela Coleby September 22, 2015

Can cartoon bears talk? Can fish sing? Engage your students by teaching the difference between real and make
believe.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to decide if something is real or make believe and speak clearly about the topic.

Materials and preparation Key terms

Projector real
Speakers make believe
Goldilocks and the Three Bears story
Ball
Video of Real Tiger
Daniel Tiger's Day & Night
Whiteboard
Fact or Make Believe worksheet

Attachments

Fact or Make Believe (PDF)

Introduction (10 minutes)

Tell students they will be learning about things that are real and make believe. Explain that real things
exist and we can see, hear, feel, taste, or touch them, while make believe is when something cannot
happen in real life because it doesn't actually exist.
Tell students to listen attentively to Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Play the story.
Ask the class if they think everything in the story could actually happen.
EL

Beginning

Provide definitions or brief explanation of "real" and "make believe" in students home language (L1).

Intermediate

Share examples of things that are real and make believe to review and familiarize students with the
concept (e.g. show pictures of unicorns vs. horses).

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (10 minutes)

Call a few students to the front of the room.

Present a scenario that is either real or make believe. For example: "The pink elephant flew around the
classroom."

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 Have the students illustrate and describe the scene. Remind students to speak clearly and loud enough
for people to hear their thoughts, feelings, or ideas.
Explain why the scenario is real or make believe. For example: "It is make believe because elephants are
not pink, they cannot fly, and are not in classrooms."
Repeat several times, giving both real and make believe examples and allowing many students to
participate.
EL

Beginning

Demonstrate how to act out a scene that is either real or make believe prior to having students try it.

Intermediate

Provide images or objects to support students in deciding if the scene is real or make believe.
Play a sorting activity with students to sort real vs. make believe images.

Guided Practice (15 minutes)

Write the words "real" and "make believe" on the right and left side of the whiteboard.
Tell students that you will show them two videos: one of a real tiger and one of a make believe tiger.
Play both videos for the class.
Ask the class for things the real tiger can do.
Write their responses on the board.
Ask the class to say things the make believe tiger can do.
Write their responses on the board.
Compare and discuss what the real and make believe tiger can do with the class. Remind students to
express their thoughts and ideas clearly and loudly.
EL

Beginning

Watch the videos one at a time and pause between videos to discuss.
Pair students together to share their ideas using the sentence starters "A real tiger can ____" and "A make
believe tiger can ____."

Intermediate

Pause at intervals while watching the video and ask students to share what they see the tiger doing or
how the tiger is acting. Connect this to either real or make believe behaviors.

Independent working time (15 minutes)

Give each student a Fact or Make Believe worksheet to complete.

Read the instructions with the class.
EL

Beginning

Work with students in a small group to complete the worksheet.

As a group, go over each option and discuss if/why they think a choice is either real or make believe.

Intermediate

Ask students to share their worksheet with a partner and discuss why they think a choice is either real or
make believe.

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Related books and/or media

Find interactive books for each child’s level.

Differentiation

Support:

Provide assistance to students as they complete the worksheet. Remind them of the meaning of real and
make believe. Give them examples from movies, such as talking animals.

Enrichment:

Let advanced students write a sentence stating if the answer on the worksheet is real or make believe.
For example: "This is real because it exists in the world."

Assessment (5 minutes)

Check each student's worksheet to see if they can differentiate between real and make believe.
Ask your students to explain why something is real or make believe in partnerships.
Remind students to speak clearly and loud enough for their partner to hear their thoughts, feelings, or
ideas.
EL

Beginning

Listen to students as they share their thinking in pairs and with the group. Are students able to identify
real vs. make believe?

Intermediate

Take note of any common areas of confusion for students and address these either with a smaller
targeted group or with the whole class.

Review and closing (5 minutes)

Tell students to form a circle.

Tell students that you will pass a ball around, and when you say "freeze," the person holding the ball will
answer a question.
Ask students questions about the topic. For example: "What does it mean if something is real? Give an
example of something that is make believe."
EL

Beginning

Ask a question to the whole class and have students turn and talk to share their answer with a partner.
Provide sentence stems for students to utilize when sharing their thinking.

Intermediate

Pass out images of real or make believethings and ask students to hold up the real things and share what
they are with the group. Repeat with the make believe images.

Get more lesson plans at https://www.education.com/lesson-plans/

Reading
Fact or Make Believe?
Ask an adult to read the stories aloud to you.

Circle the book if the story is fact. Circle the fairy if the story is make believe.

This soup is really hot. After I taste it, I can blow fire out of my mouth!

Tammy is very strong. She can hit a tennis ball across the court!

I went to the zoo and saw a giraffe fly.

I can eat 10 ice cream cones in 1 minute.

Tim is riding in a hot air balloon. He is high up in the sky!

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