Saint Mary’s College of California

P.O. Box 4350, Moraga, CA 94575-4350

tel. 925.631.4700 fax 925.376.8379
www.stmarys-ca.edu/soe

LESSON PLAN #__3__

Learning Segment Focus or “Big Idea”:

The focus of this lesson is to frontload Zoophonics vocabulary for at-risk students. They will get a preview of next week’s
“polite partner” letter combination, which is “er.” They will develop background knowledge to facilitate their ability to
learn, practice, and master words with the “er” sound and spelling.

Grade: 1 Content Area: spelling

Time Allotted: Classroom organization:

20 mins Small group
Resources and materials:
Small whiteboard
Zoophonics worksheet, one copy per student
Picture cards
Index cards
Crayons

Content Standard(s):
Phonics and Word Recognition 3 – Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas 5 – Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to
clarify ideas.
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use 5c – Identify real-life connections between words and their use.

Specific Academic Learning Objectives:

• In this lesson, students will learn the “er” concept - spelling combination, pronunciation, and the following
week’s vocabulary words which focus on “er.”
• Students will be able to use Zoophonics signals to spell out “er” and next week’s vocabulary words with that
letter combination. They will also be able to define target vocabulary words (her, herd, river, shiver, silver, sister,
sliver) and demonstrate their understanding by verbally explaining and/or drawing those words.

Prerequisites:
• Students must be familiar with the Zoophonics program in order to use the hand signals to spell out the words.
This program has been implemented all year and students practice the Zoophonics alphabet weekly.
• This connects to students interests because they love using the Zoophonics hand signals to practice spelling and
pronouncing words. They also love working in small groups, so this will appeal to them. Moreover, these students
enjoy the opportunity to incorporate illustrations into the lessons.

Key ELD Standard(s):

Collaborative 1 – Exchanging information and ideas with others through oral collaborative conversations on a range of
social and academic topics
Listening 5 – Listening actively to spoken English in a range of social and academic contexts.

Academic language demands:

• This lesson focuses on building students’ vocabulary, so the instructor is assuming students have limited
knowledge of the target vocabulary words. Students should have some vocabulary that could be used to describe
the target words. Possible related words include: girl, water, cold, color, gold, brother, family, splinter.
• Students will be sharing ideas, describing pictures, and connecting ideas.
• Productive language demands include speaking, writing, and drawing.
• Receptive language demands include listening, reading, and looking at pictures.

Accommodations (to ensure all students have access to the curriculum):

• Academic language will be made accessible through the use of visuals, pictures, and related clusters of
vocabulary used to describe the target vocabulary words.
 • For English learners, SDAIE strategies will be implemented. This includes working in a small group setting to
lower the affective filter, speaking at an appropriate pace, enunciating, using visuals, and speaking clearly.
• The use of Zoophonics hand signals will help students learn the spelling pattern and language in an active,
kinesthetic modality.

Assessment:
• I will collect their worksheets/illustrations at the end of the lesson.
• I will use informal assessments throughout the lesson as evidence of student learning. This includes listening to
student responses, watching them use Zoophonics hand signals, and asking them questions to find out their level
of understanding.

Instructional Sequence:
Time Set or introduction:
How will you begin the lesson? How will you engage and motivate learners, connect to prior experience,
2 activate prior knowledge and/or share learning outcomes?
mins - Bring students to the back table. Tell them that we’re going to get a sneak peek at next week’s
Zoophonics words so we can get some extra time to discuss and practice them.

Developing Content/Body of Lesson: What instructional strategies and learning tasks will you use in the main
15 part of the lesson?
mins - Introduce the polite partners “er.”
- Show the hand signals, practice the –er sound.
- Let students share words that they know that have the –er sound. Write them on the board.
- Tell students that you’re going to show them pictures of the vocabulary words. Display them one at a
time and let students discuss what they think the word may be, and why. Remind students that the word
will have –er in it.
- After students look at the pictures and try to guess the word, reveal the vocabulary word on the index
card. Lay the index cards on the table so they match up with the pictures.
- Call on students to draw a box around the “er” in each word on the index cards.
- Tell students that they will now be choosing 3 of the words to draw. Introduce the worksheet and
explain where they will write the word and where they will draw it.
- Give them time to draw.
- Encourage discussions about the meaning of each word and personal connections with these words.

Checks for Understanding / On-going informal assessment:

How will you know what students are understanding? (questioning and observing throughout the lesson)
- I will observe students throughout the lesson to monitor understanding. This includes watching them
signal the words, listening to them pronounce the words, and listening to their responses while
discussing the definitions.
- I will also use their drawings as insight into their level of understanding.

Closure:
3 How will learners summarize or reflect on what they learned (for example, share work, share a strategy, share a
mins process, discuss what they learned, raise a new question)?
- If time allows, let students signal one of the words and let students guess which word they chose. If they
guess the word, they must also explain what it means.
- Collect students’ drawings and revisit them on Monday when the words are revealed to the whole class.