Gwynedd Mercy University

School of Education
#MakeMercyReal

Lesson Plan 3
Amanda Dunn

PA Core or Academic Standard(s): 1.1 PK.C Demonstrate understanding of spoken

words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

Big Idea(s) Emerging reading involves the use of pictures, symbols, and text to gain
information and derive meaning

Essential Questions How do I acquire and practice pre-reading skills?

Objective/Performance Expectation: What will students know and be able to do as a

result of this lesson?
The student will demonstrate rhyming recognition by identifying words that rhyme and
words that don’t, through the placement of letter and picture cut-outs on a pocket chart.

I. PLANNING AND PREPARATION:

1. Briefly describe the students in your class, including those with special
needs. Explain how you will meet the needs of ALL learners
(Differentiated Instruction).

My student is very intuitive and inquisitive. She is unable to read as many

words as some of her peers, but she is quick to add them to her memory once
someone assists her in decoding them. She notices intricate details in
illustrations and in the letter sizes and the discrepancies between them. In
order to adhere to her learning needs, I will allow her to be explorative in her
thinking giving her information. I will ask thick questions that will provoke an
understanding within her about literary concepts. I will readdress concepts she
doesn’t fully grasp, because I have noticed she understands things more
thoroughly the next time around. I will always try to write out examples to
explain things to her because I have also picked up on the fact that she
responds well to visual cues in terms of her learning.

2. List the specific standard and expectations as outlined in the PA

Core/Academic Standards (SAS).
CC.1: English Language Arts Standard Area
CC.1.1: Foundational Skills: Students gain a working knowledge 
of concepts of print, alphabetic principle, and other basic 
conventions.
CC.1.1.PREK: GRADE Pre-Kindergarten Standard

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 CC.1.1.PREK.C: Demonstrate understanding of 
spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
• Recognize rhyming words and when two or more words
begin with the same sound (alliteration). • Count syllables 
in spoken words. • Segment single-syllable spoken words. • 
Isolate and pronounce initial  sounds.

3. Explain the psychological principles/theories you used in constructing this

lesson.

I want to utilize Vygotsky’s theories about Zone of Proximal Development.

Since rhyming in particular is a concept that may already be mastered, it’s
important to take note of what the student understands independently and
what they can comprehend with a little assistance. This can then be used to
determine the level of difficulty you present them with in the lesson. I also
want to include the concept of connectivism, which was proposed by George
Siemens. I want them to build upon what they already know about rhyming
and take that a step farther. If the auditory sense allows them to detect when
words rhyme, I want the students to then apply that to differentiate between
words that don’t rhyme as well. I want them to understand that distinction.

III. INSTRUCTION:

List Materials Needed

 Animal Strike at the Zoo, by Karma Wilson
 Chart of rhyming words (mine was from Dr. Suess)
 Four sets of pictures, three in each that rhyme
 Pocket chart with cut-outs

4. Motivation Activities/Strategies:
How will you generate interest or focus your lesson for the students?

I will tell the student to close her eyes and listen to a list of fun words.
Once she listens to them, I will ask her what she noticed. The goal is that
she was able to pick up on the common sounds within them. If she does, I
will explain to her that this means they rhyme. If she is unable to detect
the common sounds, I will read another section of the list, and this time
call attention to what she can hear in every word.

5. Prior Knowledge Activities/Strategies:

How will you activate prior knowledge, build background, or review
previous lessons?

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 Once we have established what a rhyme is, either from my listening
exercise or from her prior knowledge of the concept, I will have the
student play a quick game of which one does not belong. There will be
four sets of pictures. Three of the pictures in each set will sound alike, and
one will not. We will say what the pictures are out loud together and then
she will tell me which one doesn’t belong. This will allow me to evaluate
her understanding and to determine how much I need to reiterate the
rhyming patters in the book we will then read.

6. Sequence of Lesson: What learning activities/strategies will you use to

engage the students in the learning? What will students do to use and
apply new concepts or skills (independent practice if relevant)? How will
you monitor and guide their performance? Include relevant vocabulary.

 We will begin with a listening lesson where I read out loud

words from a chart of word families and ask the student to
tell me the common sound she hears in each word from the
group
 Then I will allow her to look at the words, and see what
letters from those sounds, and where they are in the word
 Once she sees or hears that the rhyme is in the middle or
the end of the word, I will proceed with an activity
 We will then complete an activity referred to as which one
doesn’t rhyme
 We will say the names of their pictures out loud and the
student will circle the one object that doesn’t belong
 We will then read the book Animal Strike at the Zoo
 This book has an every other line rhyme scheme, so for
every two consecutive lines I will repeat the last word in
each sentence and ask the student if they rhyme. They will
not rhyme. Then I will repeat the last word in the two
sentences that follow the rhyming patterns and the goal is
that the student would hear the rhyme in those
 Then I will present the student with a pocket chart. This
will have a picture of a cat, alongside the word cat. I will
provide her with labeled cut outs of pictures and she will
decide if they rhyme with cat or not. She can do this by
naming the pictures out loud and listening for the sound
 Due to her age level, the primary focus will be on the
pictures and their sounds, but for a little added exposure to
where the rhyme is in a word I will also label the pictures
so she can look for the repeated letters within the object
names as well
 Some of the pictures wont rhyme with cat and she will
place them to the side

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  Once the pocket chart is full, I will instruct the student to
say the words out loud that all rhyme with cat, for one last
reiteration of the concept for this particular lesson

7. Level of Learning/Assessment Evidence

How will you know if students grasped the material? What
techniques/strategies will you use to assess learning (Bloom’s
Taxonomy)?
Identify what informal and/or formal assessments you will use to monitor
student learning. Also identify if this will be formative or summative.

The assessment will take place throughout the course of the lesson. It will
begin when I analyze her background knowledge from the listening
activity. It will continue as I observe her reasoning for the game we play
to identify which word doesn’t rhyme with the others. It will also be
within the accuracy of her answers to rhyme related questions I ask while
we read the story. The larger assessment, in which I will gather the most
information, will be through her ability to sort the words that rhyme or do
not rhyme and placing them on the pocket chart. This will be done
independently, and its where I can take notes to evaluate the progress
made and the progress that still needs to be made in future lessons on
phonemic awareness.

8. What will you do to bring closure to the lesson? How will you summarize
this lesson and preview the lesson that will follow?

The closure of my lesson will be a recap of the concept that was taught. I will
ask her to read the words on the pocket chart that rhymed with “cat”. This will
allow her to self-check if she chose the right pictures and it will give her one
more set of words to listen to that rhyme. I will then ask her to tell me one
more time how she knows they rhyme. Her answer will revolve something
around that they sound similar. If I feel she has grasped the concepts, I will
inform her that the next lesson will be about onset in rhymes. However, if she
still needs some guidance I will let her know that the next lesson will be a
continuation of this one.

REFLECTION:

9. Describe what went well with the lesson, what didn’t go so well and what
you would do to improve your teaching effectiveness in the next lesson.

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I ended up having to teach two little girls my lesson. In doing so, my entire
approach became about differentiating my instruction. The little girl I am
primarily with knew what it meant when words rhyme, even before me having
to explain anything to her. At the same time, the other little girl had no sense
of the concept at all. She was unable to even detect the similarity of the
sounds when I presented them with the listening activity. Throughout the read
aloud when I asked her questions about the words, her responses were about
the animals she saw drawn on the pages. What made it difficult was that the
first girl needed more of a challenge, and the second one was unable to keep
up. Therefore, I had to improvise. I spent more time with the second girl on
the listening activity at the beginning and I also had her close her eyes as I
repeated some of the words in the book, so that she could really pay attention
to the similarities within the sounds. Since she was unable to grasp rhyming
overly well, I was aware that the game about which one doesn’t rhyme would,
at this point, be too complex. Therefore, I allowed the first child to work
independently on the pocket chart rhyme sorting, while I went back and
reiterated some of the concepts to the second child. Towards the end of the
lesson they were both able to come to a consensus that all of the words on the
pocket chart did sound like the word “cat”. Which meant they both understood
the basics of rhyming.