Formal Observation 1

Contextual Factors
District School
XHCS GCSD Aynor Elementary School
Grade Level
CD Kindergarten X First Grade Second Grade Third Grade
Cooperating Teacher University Supervisor
Nicole Graham Dr. Allen
Observation Date and Time (if applicable) Observer (if applicable)
September 30, 2020 at 8:35 Nicole Graham
Learning Goal(s)
List the applicable SC State Curriculum information the lesson will address. Bold sections as needed.
 Science: Standard, Conceptual Understanding and Performance Indicator(s)
 Math: Mathematical Process Standard(s), Key Concept, Standard
 ELA: Standard and Indicator(s)
 Social Studies: Key Concept, Standard, Enduring Understanding and Indicator(s)
 Early Learning Standards: Domain, Subdomain, Goal, Developmental Indicator(s)

RL.2.2 Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds, including consonant blends in spoken
words.
RL.2.3 Isolate and pronounce initial, medial, and final sounds in spoken single-syllable words.

Learning Objective
As a result of this lesson, what will students be able to do?
Students will isolate beginning, middle, and end sounds and produce single-syllable words by blending
sounds.

Explain how this learning objective: builds on prior student knowledge; is relevant to students’ lives;
integrates other disciplines; and reflects the big ideas or structure of the main discipline.
This learning objective builds on students’ prior knowledge of letter sounds. Students have been practicing
the short vowel sounds as well as consonant sounds. Being able to isolate sounds and blend letters to form
words is a foundational principle of reading. Since students are learning to read, the objective of the
lesson is relevant because it provides students with tools to help them become a successful reader.

Planning for Assessment

Addressing Students’ Misconceptions
Anticipate students’ misconceptions, identify the accurate conception and provide a student-center instructional
strategy that will assist students in adjusting their thinking.
Misconception Accurate Conception Student-centered Instructional
Strategy
Students may confuse the “b” and The letter B makes the We can remember “b” as first the
“d” sounds. sound /b/ and looks like “b.” bat, then the ball, and we can
The letter D makes the remember “d” as first the
Students may not differentiate sound /d/ and looks like “d.” doorknob, then the door.
between beginning sound and
ending sound. The beginning sound is at the Ask student, does this word begin
front of the word. The ending with _? What sound does _ make?
sound is last. Say the word. Do you hear that
sound first or last?

Measuring and Defining Criteria for Students’ Learning

Explain how you will assess students’ learning throughout the lesson.
 I will assess student learning throughout the lesson by observing student responses during the class
activities. We will practice as a whole group dropping final sounds, changing beginning sounds, playing
last letter standing, and singing letter songs. During these activities, I will be able to evaluate the
progression of student learning.

Explain how you will assess students’ learning after instruction.

Student learning will be assessed after instruction through a word hunt. There will be eight word cards
posted around the room with words that either begin with the letter “d,” or end with the letter “d.” As
students find the words in the room, they will differentiate the words that begin and end with “d” in a
chart.

3-Mastery- Got it!
All eight words are recorded in
the appropriate section of the
chart.
2- Making Progress- Almost
there!
4-7 of the words are correctly
recorded in the chart. When
questioned, the student realizes
that they made a mistake.
1-Basic- Still working on it!
Less than half of the words are
correctly recorded in the chart.
Confident in the words that they
incorrectly recorded, even when
asked.

As students are completing this task, I will record notes about any prompting that I had to do.

Explain how the assessment results will be used to inform future instruction.
If 80% or more of the students master the learning objective, another lesson will be provided that involves
the blending of sounds and producing of words with more than one syllable. To address any learning
gaps, I will group students who are making progress and work on strategies that help us know when the
sound is at the beginning of a word vs at the end. Additionally, I will group students who got less than half
of the words correct and teach the lesson again using a familiar letter to differentiate beginning and end
sounds.

Planning for Differentiation (Refer to your “Group Composition Demographic Data”)

Students’ Interests and Cultural Heritage
Describe how you will incorporate students’ interests and cultural heritage.
I will incorporate students’ interests in this lesson through word choice and singing songs. The words that
I have chosen are dog, ball, butterfly, etc. which are all directly related to the interests of students. The
song that I have chosen to support instruction are culturally relevant because they are remixes of familiar
songs that students enjoy listening to.

Accommodating, Modifying and Supporting Students’ Instructional and Assessment Needs

Identify the accommodations, modifications and supports used for students in your classroom and explain the
instructional and assessment adaptations that you will make for this lesson.

Learners with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or a 504 Plan

N/A

English Language Learners (ELL)

The English language support is built into the lesson and will also help non-English language learners. For each of
the words that we are practicing, I will provide a visual representation. So, if students are struggling to read the
words, they will be able to reference the picture and understand.
 Gifted and Talented (GT) Learners
N/A

Learners Receiving Tiered Services

N/A

Grouping Students
Describe the instructional grouping arrangements and group composition that will be used in this lesson.
The majority of this lesson will be taught in a whole group composition. Students will work individually to
complete the word hunt and they will also individually participate in the “Last Letter Standing” game.

Explain how your grouping will maximize student understanding and learning efficiency.
The whole group composition when practicing sounds will encourage participation because they can
practice without any pressure. This composition also allows students to hear the ideas and pronunciations
of their peers. Then, students will be individually challenged in the game and word hunt to ensure
understanding of isolating and blending words.

Materials
List all materials and resources you and the students will use. Attach copies and/or embed pictures as needed.
 SMART notebook presentation
 Letter “D” and letter “H” writing page
 Word hunt worksheet
 Word hunt cards-posted around the room
 Pencils
 White board and dry erase marker

Provide information about the technology used in the lesson. Explain how this technology will enhance student
learning and thinking. Include links as applicable.
Technology will be utilized to guide the lesson. A SMART notebook presentation will be used throughout
the lesson to provide words accompanied by visuals, videos, and “I can” statements. Viewing the
presentation will support student learning and the design elements of the slides will engage them in the
content.

Using APA style, cite the references used in the development of your lesson plan and materials. Discuss how you
modified materials obtained for outside sources (not created by you) to meet your students' needs and
interests as learners and the demands of the state standards. 

A. (2014, January 10). "The Letter D Song" Music Video by ABCmouse.com. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2IEwUFCKzg

A. (2014, January 10). "The Letter H Song" by ABCmouse.com. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfxm1I7L07I

M. (2013, November 25). Teach Me How to Read rap song for kids about reading ABCs. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOwcrhUBmJs

T. (2013, February 23). Write the letter D | Alphabet Writing lesson for children | The Singing Walrus.
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPRx77s1S1g
 The sources above are the videos that I used to support my lesson. I use them as a visual, auditory and
kinesthetic support in my lesson. Students will be encouraged to sing and dance along as they are
viewing the video.

Instructional Procedures
Classroom Management
Describe your CT’s management plan.
My CT uses class dojo to manage the classroom. Through this platform, students are able to earn points
as well as loose points for their behavior throughout the school day. With these points, students are able
to earn special privileges in the classroom.

Describe the techniques (intrinsic motivation, social approval, contingent activities, and consequences) you will use to
maintain appropriate student behavior throughout the lesson.
As students are engaged in the lesson, I will remind them of the behavior expectations and reward points
to the individuals who are meeting those expectations. If students are not following procedures, I will give
them a warning, reminding them again of the expectations, then take a point away on class dojo.

Beginning (8:35 – 8:40)

Describe how will you establish clear rules and expectations for learning and behavior?
Before beginning the lesson, I will tell students how they should be sitting on the carpet(6 feet apart, criss-
cross, facing forward, eyes on the teacher), how they should participate in the songs(sing and dance along
because this will help you remember), and how they should contribute to discussion(raise your hand and
listen to others when they are speaking.

Provide an example of the visual you will use that establishes the purpose and previews the organization of the lesson.

I will use the ingredients for a cake as a visual aid to establish the purpose of the lesson and provide them
with a preview. There will be a graphic showing cake mix, eggs, milk, and a blender on the presentation. I
will explain to students that the cake mix, eggs, and milk are the ingredients, or parts of the cake, and there
is a specific order they must go into the blender. Then I will say, “Today, letters are our ingredients. We are
going to put them together, in a specific order, in the blender to make words.”

Describe how you will explicitly communicate the learning objective and connect to what students have previously
learned and/or know from life experiences?
The learning objective will be explicitly communicated to students through an “I can” statement. This
statement connects their previous learning of letters to their preparation to read.

Describe how you will gain students’ attention (hook)?

Students’ attention will be gained through the cake baking visual. This visual will get students excited to
start “baking” their letters to make words.

Describe your strategy for transitioning into the next part of lesson.
I will tell students that we must first get our ingredients ready, so we will analyze the segmentation of
phonemes. I will tell them that two strategies we are going to use to help us hear all the sounds are
dropping the final sounds and changing the beginning sounds.

Middle (8:40 – 9:12)

Throughout this section be sure to identify and include a time estimate for each part of the instructional sequence.
Coherently sequence the instructional steps based on the content you are teaching and in the most student-centered way
possible. Consider using lesson plan formats learned in methods’ courses.

(10 min)
Say:
As good readers, we ALWAYS look through the word. In these next few slides, we are going to practice
looking at some words, then changing the beginning sound. So, first, we need to identify the beginning
sound.
Ask:
Does the beginning sound come first or last in the word? Who can tell me the beginning sound of this word?
Go through the slides, changing the beginning sound as a whole group.
Say:
Now, we are going to look at some more words, but this time, we will focus on the final sound. We are going
to look at the word at the top of the slide, say it out loud, then drop the final sound. You can use the pictures
to help you think through the sounds.
Ask:
What does the final sound mean? So, if I took away the final sound of card, I would be taking away the “d,”
so what would I be left with?
Go through the slides, working on dropping the final sounds as a whole group.

(12 min)
Say:
In first grade, it is important that we are fluent with letters, their sounds, and how to write them. These are
very important ingredients that will help us read. Without them, it’s like trying to bake our cake without any
cake mix! So, today, we are going to practice two letters. The first letter that we are going to practice comes
after c and before e. Can you guess it? Yes, the letter is D! Let’s listen to this song to hear lots of ways that d
is used.
Play “D” song video
Say:
Now, we are going to practice writing a D.
Model:
Writing a capital D and a lowercase d. Emphasis where to begin and when to pick up the pencil. Also
explain how to correctly use the writing lines.
The cooperating teacher will pass the handwriting papers out to students as they transition to their desks.
Students will have 4 minutes to complete the writing task at their desks, individually.

Go through the same steps for the letter H. Beginning by having students guess the letter.

(5 min)
Say:
Now that we have all the ingredients, we are going to work on blending some letters to make words. Let’s
listen to this fun song called “Teach me How to Read.” It’s going to show us the sounds of the whole
alphabet and tell us how to blend them to make words.
After listening to the video, go through the blending PowerPoint.
Model:
Make the sound of each letter as they appear on the screen, then blend them to make the word.
Complete the blending PowerPoint with the whole group. Allow students to lead the sounds and
correct/question sounds when appropriate.

Transition:
Now that you know the sounds and can identify them in words, we are going to play last letter standing. Go
to your desks, get out your white boards, dry erase markers, and erasers and write down one of these letters.
If the word I call begins with your letter, sit down. Let’s see if you can be the last letter standing!

(5 min)
Play game.

The instructional procedures should indicate where in the instructional sequence you plan to engage in the following
AND how you will do so.
 Use questioning to elicit student thinking and build on students’ responses;
 Check for students’ understanding;
 Transition from one part to another;
 Reference the state standards/Learning objective;
 Model to demonstrate your performance expectations;
 Distribute materials;
 Provide opportunities for student to student interaction;
 Communicate students’ roles and responsibilities for group work;
 Use subject-specific instructional strategies to enhance student content knowledge;
 Formally evaluate students’ learning as it relates to the learning objective.

End (9:12 – 9:20)

Describe how you will provide time for students to reflect on the content taught and relate this information to everyday
experiences and future learning?
Say:
You have all worked so hard today practicing phoneme segmentation and blending. To end our lesson, we
are going to go on a word hunt. Around the room, there are word cards with words that either begin with
the letter d or end with the letter d. When you find a word, determine if it begins or ends with the letter d
and record it in the correct column of your chart.

This activity provides students with the opportunity to individually show and utilize the skills that they
have learned in the lesson. They will be able to use this knowledge in their future reading and writing
endeavors.

Observation Forms
 Formal Observation 1 Reflection

For my first formal observation of the semester, I chose to teach a phonics lesson. I taught this lesson to

a group of first grade students at Aynor Elementary. Phonics is an important component of learning to read, so I

worked hard to plan and effectively teach to meet the needs of my students during this lesson. For this specific

lesson, the learning objective was, “Students will isolate beginning, middle, and end sounds and produce single-

syllable words by blending sounds.” This learning objective works to meet two ELA standards for first grade:

RL2.2 and RL2.3. My plan for helping students make progress toward this objective was to first work on

phoneme segmentation. We focused on changing the beginning sound and dropping the final sound of some

words. Then, we transitioned to our two focus letters of the day and students practiced making the letter sound

as well as writing the letter. Finally, we worked on putting the letter sounds together by blending. To assess

student progress toward my objective, students completed a word hunt which required them to categorize eight

words based on their similar beginning/ending sound. Comprehensively, the lesson was successful; most of the

students met or made progress toward the learning goal.

Based on the formative assessment results of 13 students, 5 mastered the objective, 6 made progress

toward the objective and 2 still need more support. The rubric that I used to determine mastery stated that

students who were able to correctly record all 8 words in their chart mastered the objective, students who

correctly recorded 4-7 words were making progress toward the objective, and students who correctly recorded

less than half of the words were still working on it. After analyzing the results of the students who made

progress toward the objective, I was able to see a common thread. Either these students have not fully

developed their handwriting skills, and therefore did not have enough time to complete the task, or they

reversed letters, leading them to put words in the wrong column. For example, three of the students put the word

“bed” in the column of words that begin with the letter d because they were seeing the b as a d. According to

my lesson plan, since 80% or more of my students made progress toward the objective, the next lesson will

involve the segmentation, blending, and producing of words with more than one syllable. Additionally, I will

identify the students that need more support in writing and letter reversals and work on those skills in small

groups.
 Due to the current state of schools, many common instructional strategies are not appropriate since they

require students to work closely together. With that begin said, it was definitely challenging to plan for effective

strategies. However, I do feel that the instructional strategies that I used were supportive of student learning.

Dropping the ending sound and changing the beginning sound of words helped with isolating phonemes, the last

vowel standing game helped students listen to sounds in a word, and the word hunt provided students with the

opportunity to practice differentiating between initial and final sounds in a word. The main change that I would

make to my instructional practice is related to time. I think that I may have planned for too much during the

time allotted for the lesson, so in the future, I will work on being more cautious of time and planning instruction

down to the minute. This detail of planning will help me with my pacing as a teacher to ensure we get to

everything on our schedule.

For the most part, first graders at the beginning of the year cannot yet read. So, in planning my lesson to

meet the needs of my students, I had to take this into consideration. All of the words that I included were

accompanied by a visual support so that students were able to understand the word. The visual representation of

words also worked to meet the needs of the English language learner in the class. Additionally, I let the students

who do know how to read sound out the words and communicate them to the class. This strategy worked well

for students in the phase that they are in now, but I plan to gradually release some of that support as they learn

to read this year. One thing that could be improved in this lesson is the amount of time that students were sitting

on the carpet. At the beginning of the lesson, they were very engaged, but their attention seemed to dissipate

toward the end. To make improvements in the future, I will use strategies that require students to move more

and sit on the carpet less. Also, there is one student in the class who has severe ADHD who I could tell was not

paying attention the whole time. In order to support her in the future, I could provide her with a job during the

lesson that requires her to pay attention, keep her at the front of the classroom, and make sure that she always

has something to do that is actively engaging her in the instruction.

Overall, this lesson was effective in helping students make progress towards isolating and blending

sounds in words. I will use the identified areas of improvement to refine my future lessons to better serve my

students.