Dakota State University

College of Education  

WHOLE GROUP LESSON PLAN

Name: Hailee Fischer

Grade Level: 4th grade

School: Camelot Intermediate

Date: 02/21/2023

Time: 9:45am

Reflection from prior lesson

In our previous unit, we identified different text structures that an author may use to organize their text.

In this unit, students were on many different levels of understanding, and a majority of them met the objective.

More so, the students previously had a unit on the main idea and summarizing information in a text. Our

students are still mildly deficient in stating the main idea and summarizing it. I can use their prior experiences

from our last two units to bridge the gap between knowing and learning. The students in this block are in one

homeroom. I put them in this class this way because I want to ensure I get all of my students in for the

introduction of our new unit.

Lesson Goal(s) / Standards 

● 4.RI.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write, speak, or demonstrate

knowledge about the subject. (unit goal- essential standard)

● I can show knowledge of two texts on the same topic through writing, speaking, or demonstration.

○ 4.RI.2 Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details;

summarize the text. (secondary standard- 4th grade essential standard)

○ I can summarize the main idea of a text with key details from the text.
Lesson Objective(s)

● Students will engage in a whole-class instruction and discussion to show knowledge of two texts on the

same topic by summarizing with evidence from the text accurately.

Materials Needed 

● Promethean Board Presentation

● Globe- from social studies room

● Compare and Contrast formative assessment

○ Rubric

Contextual Factors/ Learner Characteristics

● 9 Boys, 10 Girls - 19 learners total

● ELL- 2 students

● 1 student- harder time hearing out of left ear

● Accommodations:

○ 1 ELL- iPad with Google Translate or text to speech

○ 1 ELL- monitor, but does well now

○ Hearing- ensure student is comfortable and can hear (they usually pick a spot they know is best

for them)

● Level of students: Wide Range of levels, with some students who may need remediation with directions

(individual reminders or read aloud to them), and some students who may need to be enriched and

encouraged more to go further with their thinking.

● Reading isn’t a hobby a lot of our students do on their own. This lesson will introduce and hook our

students before reading two paired texts to encourage excitement with reading.

Connection(s) to Research & Theory

● Retrieval of previous experiences: “Retrieval is an active reconstruction process, not a playback of a

memory of an event, fact, concept, or process. Every time a memory is accessed for retrieval, that

process modifies the memory itself; essentially re-encoding the memory. The good news: Retrieval
 makes the memory itself more recallable in the future” (Huddleston, 2022. How Students Learn.

Berkeley Center for Teaching and Learning).

● In this lesson, I will use retrieval of previous experiences by continuing to build on our current

experiences with text structures and previous experiences with identifying the main idea of a text. I will

have reoccuring conversations to guide our new lesson and to what we are doing to introduce our new

unit.

● Background knowledge: “It makes good sense that to comprehend a story or text, readers will need a

threshold of knowledge about the topic. Sometimes we call it domain-specific knowledge or topical

knowledge. Without such knowledge, it becomes difficult to construct a meaningful mental model of

what the text is about” (Neuman, Kaefer, and Pinkham. Building Background Knowledge. Reading

Rockets.)

● In this lesson, I will use background knowledge by introducing the students to the people, places, events,

and things that will be in our story. In the science of reading, this is an important process for students

because building background knowledge helps deepen the students’ comprehension and learning while

we are reading a story that is set in a different country.

A.  The Lesson (60 minutes)

● Introduction (5 minutes)  

○ Slide 1: Make sure students are getting their attendance in. Give them 3 minutes with a timer and

check who didn’t and mark attendance for those you didn’t.

○ Eyes up! (Eyes up!) Let the air out of your tires! (SHHHH)

○ Good morning, fourth graders. We have finished our last unit of learning on text structures. Today,

we are starting a new unit, and I am excited to let you know Miss Fischer will be in charge of it all.

Let’s have some fun and work hard during this unit! Since this is our first day of a new unit, I need

your attention and participation today. This will help us as we work on improving our skills together.

● Lesson

Part 1: Introducing reading and getting them excited

○ Slide 2: Now that we are ready to get started and locked in together, I want to let you all know what

the goal of our unit is. When we know our goal beforehand, it helps you all know what you’re

working towards, and I want you to all feel and see your growth as we go through this unit together.

i. Unit goal: I can show knowledge of two texts on the same topic through writing, speaking, or

demonstration.

ii. 4th Grade goal: I can summarize the main idea of a text with key details from the text.

○ We are going to read two informational texts. They will be different genres, but what does it mean if

a text is an informational text? (It must contain real and factual information)

○ Yes, the information must be real and factual. Are you ready to find out what we will be reading

first? Drum roll pleaseeeeeeee (have students drum roll and do it with them, and change to Slide #)

○ We will be reading Nights of the Pufflings! (slide 3) I am very excited that we will be reading this

nonfiction story together, and Mrs. Nelson said it’s one of her favorites too. Based on this title, does

anyone have a prediction about what we will be reading? Take a few seconds to brainstorm to

yourself, then I’ll have you share with a partner that is next to you for thirty seconds. (have students

talk to each other and then choose three groups to share what their predictions are)

○ (Slide 4) Sounds like some good predictions, we’ll have to wait and see what happens. There are

different genres informational texts can be, and we will be reading a Nonfiction text first. Can

someone remind me what a nonfiction text is? (nonfiction tells about people, things, events, or

places that are real.)

○ Exactly, we will read a true story with real people, things, events, and places.

○ We will read this story later this week, because before we read it I want us to gain background

information on the people, things, events and places in the story. Why might a good read want to

gain background information on a topic before they start reading it? (the more you know about a

topic, the easier it is to read it and comprehend, or understand it)

○ (slide 5) The more we know, the more likely we are to enjoy it and understand what we are reading.

Therefore, let's dive in and learn a little bit about the place this story happens. Based on these
 pictures, does anyone have any guess which country this story happens in? (let a couple students

answer and guess)

○ This story takes place in the country of Iceland. Have you ever heard of Iceland? (let a couple

students share)

○ So Iceland is located in the North Atlantic Ocean. (slide 6- and use globe to share)

○ Compared to us and where South Dakota is located, it doesn’t seem like that much of a difference.

The lines of latitude aren’t even that far off, and looking at the globe it doesn’t seem so different.

However, Iceland is a little bit different than here. Right about now the average temperature is

around 45 degrees fahrenheit, but because of the location you can see the northern lights in the

country. (slide 7) Plus, they have the midnight sun, which is where areas north of the Arctic Circle

can see the sun during midnight in the summer months.

○ Let’s look at this place in Iceland where our story takes place: (slide 8)

Iceland's Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar)

○ (slide 9) So, the town of Heimaey is located in the Westman islands. The population is about 4,000

people, (slide 10) and it is the only inhabitable island. Does anyone know what inhabitable means?

(livable)

○ Yes, it means that people can live there. These islands are interesting because they have active

volcanoes within them. In 1973, a volcano erupted on the island, sending lava throughout the town.

Luckily, they all escaped and were safely evacuated. Since then, you can still visit the area of this

volcano and feel the heat from the eruption despite it being exactly 50 years since it erupted.

○ Now the people on Heimaey are known for being sweet and welcoming people. The town is known

for its fishing. Why do you think this would be a great place for fishing? (region and water area) Yes,

the region that Heimaey is in would be ideal for fishing because of natural resources. There are two

main processing ports on the island, so fishing is a big part of the island’s economy and income.

○ (slide 12) Our main character’s name is Halla. Everyone say it with me: Halla. Thank you! Halla was

ten years old when this story took place, so she is around the same age as all of you. Halla is from
 Iceland, so that means she speaks Icelandic. We are going to learn how to say some Icelandic words

together today! When we are reading the story there are pronunciations behind the words in

parentheses. Here’s an example of what that may look like.

○ Slide 13

i. Puffin- Lundi (LOON dah)

ii. Heimaey- (HAY mah ay

iii. Fish- Fisk (FIHSK)

iv. Puffling- Lundi pysja (LOON dah PEESH yar)

v. Goodbye- Bless (BLESS)

vi. One- Einn (EYN)

vii. Two- tveir (TVAIR)

viii. Three- prir (THEER)

○ So this is just a glimpse into the language that Halla speaks. Everyone say her name with me one

more time, Halla. (Halla) Good, thank you fourth graders! When we are reading about different

cultures and countries it’s important to try our best to learn about them. So when we read our story

and talk about Iceland, we are going to try our best to pronounce the words correctly and respect

their culture. Capeesh? Caposh!

○ (slide 14) Great, I appreciate it. The last exciting thing that relates to our story and the island of

Heimaey, is that this island has the largest population of Puffins in the world! Puffins are also found

on the coast of Maine, (Slide 15) But the question is, what is a puffin? They seem like they could be

a lot like penguins; however, there is a lot more we can learn about these unique birds. To practice

our writing skills and to see where we are at as we begin our unit, you are all going to compare and

contrast a penguin and a puffin to each other. (slide 16)

○ Can someone remind me what compare and contrast means? What kind of graphic organizer is used

for comparing and contrasting? (Venn Diagram) What do we put in the outside circles? What do we

put in the middle circle?

 ○ Slide 17: Contrasting Rules:

● Do NOT use the word “not”

● Make sure we aren’t putting a topic in both comparing AND contrasting.

● Keep your facts that go together aligned horizontally.

● Make sure that your opposite facts are about the same topic.

Comparing Rules- Be specific

○ Great, I am glad we have a little refresher before you jump in on your own. You’re going to read two

articles, one about puffins and one penguins. How many articles are you going to read? (two) Yes,

two articles. You will scan the QR codes with an iPad to read each article. If you need help, let me

know. Then, you are going to fill out your venn diagram on puffins and penguins. You will use the

bullet points to fill it out, so for each part of the circles you only need to put two statements. How

many statements do you need to put for each part of the circles? (two)

○ Finally, after you fill in your two statements for each part of the circles, you are going to write a

summary. A summary should have complete sentences, and in this summary you are comparing and

contrasting puffins and penguins to each other. When we write a summary, we should have a topic

sentence, just like in our flip books or pamphlets. Can someone remind me what a topic sentence is?

(Yes, a topic sentence is the main idea of the paragraph) It lets readers, like Miss Fischer, know what

they are going to be reading about. In this instance, your topic sentence should have something about

penguins, puffins, similarities, and differences. You may use the same words as I suggested, but you

may also use synonyms. On the bottom of your sheet, there is a rubric to help guide your writing.

Our goal is to be at a 3 or proficient because this shows we met our goal.

○ Thank you for all of your listening ears. I really appreciate it. We have a good start on background

knowledge before we read later this week. Now, for the rest of class, we should be working hard and

on our own. What volume level are we at when we are working on our own? (volume 0)
 ○ If you have a question or need assistance, you may raise your hand and I can come help you. When

you are done, make sure you check with me in case we need to make any corrections. This should be

completed before the end of class. Work hard and do your best.

○ Slide 18- Paragraph rubric on board for students to use and second sheet

● Part 2: Individual work time

○ Walk around the class and ensure students are working on what they need to be doing.

○ Give assistance to others and remind them of the next steps when they need it

○ Encourage and reward students with Bobcat Bes that are working hard and following directions

○ Correct and go over paragraphs/rubrics with students

○ Collect finished work to keep track of data over unit

○ iXL or SSR time when they finish

● Closure: (5 minutes)

○ Eyes up (Eyes up)! Let the air out of your tires (SHHHH)!

○ Boys and girls thank you for working hard today. We worked on summarizing two pieces of text

with comparing and contrasting today. This will help us as we read two texts in this unit and use the

information in those texts to summarize them. What does it mean when we summarize? (telling the

most important parts of a text, in your own words, in a much shorter way) We will keep working on

this in our unit together.

○ Line up and mystery student

B. Assessments Used- list all assessments used to determine if students met objectives

● Formative Assessment: Compare and Contrast summarizing

○ Rubric

C. Differentiated Instruction

● Adaptations for students with special needs or not meeting expectations

○ Remediation: Simple instructions before we start, easy to read and follow instructions throughout

pre-assessment. Read aloud (text to speech accommodation).

 ● Language Support (IF you have ELLs (English Language Learners))

○ Student may use their iPad to translate the pre-assessment to their language.

○ Printed off versions for iPad use

D.  Resources

● Iceland's Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar)

● Heimaey | Guide to Icelandhttps://guidetoiceland.is › Plan Your Drive

● https://visitwestmanislands.com/general-information/

● Rubric

● Harcourt Trophies: Lead the Way (Teacher’s Edition)

● https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/atlantic-puffin

● https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/emperor-penguin