Moira Koskey

April 7, 2020
Concepts of Print Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan: Language Experience - Class Books

Audience: Kindergarten/1st grade students
Adapted from: Crawley, S. J. (2012). Remediating reading difficulties (6th ed.). New York: Mc-
Graw-Hill.

1. Students will break into small groups of 4-5. A teacher or assistant will guide one group
at a time on a walk around the outside of the school, exploring the playground, garden,
and perimeter. 
2. The teacher will pause frequently and encourage each child to verbalize what they hear,
see, smell, and feel, using leading questions and making sure that each child is given the
chance to participate.
3. Upon returning to the classroom, the group will discuss their experience and the teacher
will explain that they are going to write a book about their walk. 
4. The teacher will have each student contribute an observation or thought to their book-
each student should have one or two sentences- and these will be written on a large chart.
The words will be written as the students say them. The teacher will then re-read the
story aloud to the students, making sure to point to each word and emphasizing smooth
left to right movement and return sweep. 
5. Students will then engage as a group in repeated re-readings of the story. 
6. When each group has had a chance to complete the activity, the class will gather all to-
gether. Each smaller group will then present their story to the rest of the class as a whole. 
7. The teacher or assistant will type up copies of each book and give them to the students to
take home, as well as keeping copies in class. Teachers should encourage the families to
read the books at home along with their student.

This activity will expand on several valuable skills for young students in the early stages of
learning to read. The experience of talking about and writing down a personal experience will
build on vocabulary and oral communication skills, as well as critical thinking and observation.
It will also emphasize the fact that printed words carry meaning. Working as a group and reread-
ing helps focus on each individual taking something different away from each experience. The
reading aloud of the books will help to reinforce directionality. Students taking the books home
to their families will give them the chance to demonstrate their emerging reading skills as well as
sharing a part of their daily life. 

This authentic learning activity will meet the needs of early emergent readers just starting school.
It will help establish a sense of connection between what they observe in the world and what is
written on paper, reinforcing the idea that each word has meaning. This could be an easy idea to
adapt to English Language Learners, as a bilingual book could easily be produced, expanding
even more on the concepts. Students just starting school will get the opportunity to get to know
their classmates and develop a sense of teamwork as they work together. In addition, retelling
their own real life story and adapting it to print will give them a chance to develop confidence in
expressing their experience of the world and giving it meaning.