Blended Learning Lesson Plan

Lesson Title: Close Reading Strategies

Objectives:
Students will be able to organize their thinking by choosing relevant information from their text
to analyze and comprehend.
Students will be able to identify literary devices and state the context they are found in.

RL.8.1 With guidance and support, read or listen closely to:

a. describe characters and their actions;
b. compare characters’ experiences to those of the reader;
c. describe setting;
d. identify the problem and solution; and
e. identify the cause of an event.
RL.9.1 With guidance and support, identify the literary devices of repetitive
language and the sound devices of rhyme, onomatopoeia, and alliteration; identify
when the author uses each.

Context:
Students will be able to work in groups to read a new chapter book. While reading, they will take
notes on the important events, characters, and literary devices the author used. There will be
many answers and rationales between the group members, so they will be able to communicate
and support their own reasonings. Outside of this group work, the children will learn new literary
techniques that they can use in their own writing, and they will have practiced many ways to
better comprehend their text.

Data:
Students will be grouped based on results from their beginning of the year state tests. This way,
the children in each group will be at similar thinking capacities, and they will be able to help
each other understand the text.
Materials:
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, guided reading worksheets, pencils, colored pencils,
Chromebooks, https://youtu.be/YsXYM7aFyLo, SmartBoard

Procedures:
Introduction (15 minutes):
Here, I will introduce our new text and the author. I will share some other stories by this author
and ask the children if they have read any of her books. I will go over the learning points of this
lesson and explain that we will be readig this book in groups for several class days. Our main
reading goals are comprehension and recognizing literary devices. Then, I will use the
SmartBoard to pull upa Youtube video (https://youtu.be/YsXYM7aFyLo) that covers techniques
such as alliteration, personification, and onomatopeia. I will ask students to give me some
examples of the terms they just read on the screen. Then, we will look at a slide that talks about
good reading strategies such as character, plots, and conflicts.

Teacher Directed (10 minutes):

I will then hand them two worksheets, one for each learning goal, for them to complete as they
read. For the first day, we will only read the first two chapters. I will explain that it is important
to document the details and page numbers of how to support their claims. I will advise that they
stop every 3-5 pages so that they can write fresh information down. All members of their group
(5-6 children) must take turns reading. I will let the class read the first two pages, and then we
will stop and each group will quickly share a device or a detail they just learned. This will help
make sure that the students know what is expected of them when they continue reading on.
Collaborative (20 minutes):
The groups will begin to read and understand the beginning of our story. I will walk around and
ask the group some basic questions of the characters or settings they have met so far, to make
sure that they are comprehending the text. After each group is finishing chapter 1, I will remind
the class that each member is participating and everyone should have shared a finding by now.
Also, as I am walking through the stations, I can ask specific kids what they noticed in the book,
to make sure that they have communicated those findings with everyone else.
Independent Digital (10 minutes):
The stations will be broken up and the students will return to their desks. They will work on a
summary web that I uploaded into Google Classroom. Here, the will state the characters they met
and any conflicts that have came up. They can also state predictions they have or any unfamiliar
words they encounters. There will also be a space for them to provide their favorite literary
device that was used. They will turn this in as a part of their participation grade for the day.

Closure (10 minutes):

I will ask the class if they enjoyed that book and if they are excited to keep reading it.
Every group finished reading, but not everyone finished writing answers on their worksheets. I
will give them 5 more minutes to finish any final thoughts. Since we did not read that much
today it should not take them long. I will tell them to put their worksheets away in their Reading
folders, and I will collect their books. Since they had just been loud and talkative during our
lesson, I will let them take out an independent reading book and silently read. By letting them
read after our lesson is over, they will hopefully practice the strategies we just went over.

Rationale:
(Multimedia 1= Google Classroom):
The children are familiar with completing and submitting assignments on Google Classroom.
During this lesson, I allowed them to complete a doc as a way to earn participation points for the
day. Since we did not complete our book and I did not yet collect their comprehension
worksheets, this quick assignment will help me make sure that everyone was paying attention to
their reading today.
(Multimedia 2= Literary Devices Video):
I think the children will pay better attention to an informative video than if I just read notes off of
the board. Hopefully the songs and images in the video will stick in their mind better than just
seeing me present them these terms. We can also watch this video at the start of each lesson
while we're reading this book, to familiarize the children and help them notice more techniques
as they are reading.