Yertle the Turtle Lesson Plan

4. Content Standards
NOTE:
• If a language arts lesson, select standards for items 2 and 3
• If a math lesson, select standards for items 1 and 3
• If a lesson in art, music, social science, science, P.E. or health, select standards for items 1, 2
and 3
• If a lesson in languages other than English (Spanish, French, etc.), select the language’s
content standard in item 1

(1) State-adopted content standard(s) that you will teach in this lesson:

Rationale:

(2) Language Arts Common Core Standards

RL.1.3: Describe characters, setting, and major events in a story, suing key details.

Rationale:

Because it is Dr. Seuss and Read Across America week, I wanted to design a
lesson incorporating a Dr. Seuss story. Yertle the Turtle has a very distinct
character with the king of the turtles that I thought would be fun for the kids to
practice their writing on a prompt focused on a story element. Yertle the Turtle
also has a lot of words containing r-controlled vowels that tie into a previous
phonics lesson.

(3) What ELD standard(s) are necessary for EL students to know in order meet the content
standards:

Part 1. C. Productive. Expanding. 11. Supporting Opinions: Offer opintions and provide good reasons
and some textual evidence or relevant background knowledge (e.g., paraphrased examples from text
or knowledge of content)

Rationale:

Because Yertle the Turtle has such a distinct character with Yertle as king, I integrated the writing
portion to be an opinion piece that they can write based off of evidence in the story. Student opinions
and ideas should be heard and I believe this story and activity can serve as an outlet for them.

5. Learning Objectives
Identify the specific measurable student learning and language objective(s) that students are expected
to achieve that connects with the content standard(s) of the lesson.

Learning Objectives:

Students will describe whether or not Yertle the Turtle was a good king and
explain their reasoning using evidence from the text.

Rationale:

This learning objective ties in both the ELA standard and the ELD standard. I wanted the
students to decide and create an opinion on Yertle the Turtle based off their comprehension
of the story. This objective will help gauge whether or not the students understood the story
and can characterize Yertle the Turtle based off his actions.

Language Objectives:

Students will list at least 1 scene from the story that shows why Yertle the
Turtle was a good or bad king in at least 3 sentences.

Rationale:

By enumerating their requirements to one reference back to the story event and writing at
least 3 sentences, I wish the students to strengthen their writing and reading comprehension
skills. I wanted to tie their reading and writing together.

6. Assessments
Identify the type of assessment (diagnostic, formative, OR summative) and describe how you will
assess student progress toward meeting the learning objective(s) identified for this lesson.

• Think-Pair-Share
• Class List of Ideas for a Good King
• Comprehension Questions during reading
• Writing Portion

Rationale:

Because it is Dr. Seuss/ Read Across America week, the assessment portion is pretty low-key.
I want the students to have fun and practice their writing and reading comprehension skills,
but in activities that they can engage in and be creative with. The Think-Pair-Share will help
the students hear and learn from one another. When the class comes back together as a
whole after their Think-Pair-Share, the students will volunteer what they shared with the rest
of the class. By writing down their ideas and thoughts that they discussed during that Think-
Pair-Share on the board, I can physically see their ideas and hear their reasoning behind it.
Obviously, asking comprehension questions during the reading will help keep the students
actively listening, seeing if they’re paying attention, as well as re-emphasize certain points in
the story that will help them with the writing portion. The writing portion of the activity
essentially will assess their writing skills, especially spelling, in addition to their reading
comprehension as they have to refer back to an event that happened in the story that
support their opinion.

Feedback Strategies:
• Immediate Corrective Feedback during their Think-Pair-Share, whole-class sharing, and
writing portion
• Public Praise for good behavior or correct/ creative answers

7. Vocabulary
Describe the key vocabulary terms and the necessary background knowledge students need to be
taught to access learning.

Tier I (Basic Vocabulary):

Read
Write
Sentences

Tier II (Academic Language):

Describe
Opinion
Explain
Reasoning
Evidence
Paraphrase
Cite

Tier III (Content-Specific Language):

Prompt
Key Details
Character
Plot

Rationale:

Tier 1 are basic words that most students use in every day language. They will see these words in any
setting, not just academic ones. Words like read, write, and sentences are not just ELA specific or
school specific. They are words that appear in every day life. Tier 2 are academic language terms that
students need to be taught as they usually use them more frequently across an academic setting.
These words can have multiple meanings and typically are more complex. They occur more frequently
in academic texts and need to be explicitly taught as they are not used in a daily ordinary occurrence.
For this lesson, my Tier 2 words could be used in any lesson, not just ELA. My Tier 3 words are
content-specific ones that correspond to my ELA lesson of reading and story elements. These words
are specific words that occur most frequently in this subject area.

8. Materials and Resources

• Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss

• Writing Paper
• Turtle Cut-outs
o https://image.slidesharecdn.com/sea-turtle-puppet-template-
1235068177856167-2/95/sea-turtle-puppet-template-1-
728.jpg?cb=1235046727
• Paper Plates
• Crayons

Rationale:

Yertle the Turtle is needed to orally read aloud to the class. I chose this story because of its thematic
messge of leadership and the proper treatment of others and also the use of words with r-controlled
vowels. I wanted to choose a Dr. Seuss story that the kids could learn and form an opinion. The
writing paper will be used to write out their opinion and their reasoning behind it. It serves as an
exercise for the students to practice their writing skills, their spelling, and improve their vocabulary
and sentence structure. The Turtle cut-outs, paper plates, and crayons are used in the art portion of
the lesson to decorate their turtles. The decoration portion taps into their creative and fun side as I
want them to make their turtles however they want it to look, the sillier the better.

9. Instructional Design
Background and connections:
What is the purpose of this lesson? Is this linked to a unit of study? How and where in the unit is this
occurring? Why is this content important for your students? What connections are there to other
subject areas, the students’ lives, or contemporary society?

This week is Dr. Seuss/ Read Across America week. To tie into the Dr. Seuss theme, I wanted
to read a Dr. Seuss story and plan an activity using the story as the theme of the activity.
Yertle the Turtle seemed like a great choice for its thematic message, but also its use of words
with r-controlled vowels that we had covered last week. This book could reinforce the words
and sound as a sort of review. I also liked that this story had a message about leadership and
the treatment of others. I believe this lesson can apply to more than just a reading lesson,
expanding into everyday life and appropriate behavior, especially for children.

Grouping Strategies:
How will students be working in this lesson? What group arrangements will you use? Why?

The oral reading of Yertle the Turtle will focus on whole-class instruction. I believe reading to the
whole class is a more efficient and effective use of time, especially for this lesson. After the reading,
students will be able to talk in partners for some Think-Pair-Share moments when asked to discuss
what makes a good king and was Yertle a good king. The partner Think-Pair-Share activity will allow
students to voice and explain their thoughts and ideas to other students, hopefully contributing to a
two-way communication and flow of knowledge.

Describe how you plan to use the following strategies, methods and activities in your lesson plan
design.

Body: (50 estimated minutes)

• Direct Instruction
o Begin with the reading of Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss
§ I will read it aloud to the class
§ I will pause to go over vocabulary words and to emphasize any r-
controlled vowel words during the story
§ Ocassionally, throughout the story, I will ask comprehension questions
about the characters and the plot
• i.e. How many turtles did he have stack first?
o Answer: 9
• i.e. What was the name of the turtle at the bottom that spoke
out?
o Answer: Mack the Turtle
• i.e. Why did Mack speak out to the king?
o Answer: He was in pain
• i.e. What was higher than Yertle the Turtle when he stood on his
stacked throne?
o Answer: the Moon
• i.e. What caused Yertle the Turtle to fall off his high throne?
o Answer: Mack the Turtle burped and shook the throne
and Yertle off the stack
• i.e. Why did Yertle command all his turtles to stack themselves?
o Answer: He wanted a higher throne to see more of his
kingdom
• Guided Practice
o Have students discuss with a partner what makes a king good
§ What characteristics do they have?
§ What do they do as kings that make them good?
 o Have students share their explanations of a good king to the whole class as I
write them on the board
o Connect their examples to show what Yertle could’ve done to be a good king
o After, I will explain their independent practice activity, which will consist of
writing their opinion on Yertle the Turtle as king and creating and designing
their own turtle
o I will ask the students to think to themselves and decide if they thought Yertle
was a good king or not.

• Independent Practice
o Yertle the Turtle Activity
§ The writing portion
• Prompt: Was Yertle the Turtle a good king? Explain your
reasoning using textual evidence and relevant background
knowledge.
• Students will write at least three sentences, stating their opinion
about Yertle the Turtle as king, explaining their reasoning by
citing or paraphrasing at least one event from the story, using
background knowledge on good kings, and writing a closing
sentence.
o i.e. I believe Yertle the Turtle was a _______ king. In the
story, he _____________. This shows that he was
________. A good king is ______. He does_______.
Yertle the Turtle did/did not act like a good king.
§ The art portion
• The students will be able to create and design their own
stackable turtles.
• They will use a paper plate and decorate it to be the turtle’s shell
using crayons.
• They will also color a template that contains the head, four
limbs, and tail of the turtle with crayons before cutting out and
gluing it to their shell.
• They can then cut out their Yertle the Turtle writing assignment
and glue it to the inside of their shell.

Closure: (5 estimated minutes)

Students will be able to share their turtles and what they wrote with the class.

Differentiation: (What do you need to consider in order to support your students while
planning this lesson?)

• Oral reading of the story

• Sentence frames
• Artistic product in addition to the written one
• Think-Pair-Share
• Student sharing of their turtles