Lesson Plan Format*

School of Education
The College of New Jersey

Planning lessons has two purposes: first, the process of planning encourages deep thinking about the
elements of a lesson; second, the plan guides you while delivering instruction. Experienced teachers may
plan more informally, but novices need to create thorough plans that support them in delivering
effective lessons. There is no one correct way to plan a lesson, but during your field experience your
plans should contain the following elements:

● Grade Level & Title of the Lesson

o Grade 1: Building Instruments
● Standard (select the one that is most relevant)
o 1-PS4-1. Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can
make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
● Primary Lesson Objective (should match the standard)
o SWBAT demonstrate knowledge of sound and string instruments (plucking strings allows for
different sounds). Students will demonstrate understanding of pitch (certain strings make
different tones).
● Secondary Lesson Objective (if relevant)
● What will you listen for, look for, and/or collect to assess if students met the objective?
o Look for an understanding of pitch and how it can vary based on the materials. Look for
problem solving in creating instruments.
● How do you know students are ready for this lesson? How is this lesson connected to what the
students are already learning, to their prior knowledge and/or their interests?
o Students are ready for this lesson because they have been learning about engineering and
technology all week. The lesson previous to this was a lesson about technology and how it
can help humans.
● What new 1-3 vocabulary words will you teach or review?

o pitch, sound waves, vibrations, tools,

Lesson Structure Script out what you will say and do.
If you create a slideshow, attach/hyperlink it.
Beginning Videos:
● Hook the students https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdO-BUwR7e4
● Contextualize the lesson follow the slides
● Explain what you are going to teach
them and why Video shows the construction of a banjo. It also shows the
sounds that the banjo makes.

Open discussion: What we just watched was a video of a


Middle
● Teach the skill or strategy
● Give children hands-on work
● Review relevant responsibilities
● Think about early finishers
Closure
● Summarize the teaching point
● Encourage students to reflect on
their own learning
● Gather information on what they
have learned and/or are confused
Review your lesson plan. Think about these things and add to your lesson plan as necessary:
● What multi-sensory and/or multi-media strategies will you use to help students understand
the material and engage with it?
banjo. We see that the banjo has 5 strings. Did the strings all
sound the same?
Open class discussion
Model on the carpet how to build the instrument. First, put
random strings in random places and play the students a
tune. The pitch will be a bit random and out of place.
As the students: Does my instrument go from lowest to highest
pitch? They would reply, no, it doesn’t. If students don't
understand, play the tune again and ask the question again.
String instruments typically go from lowest to highest pitch.
What would a low pitch sound like? What would a high pitch
sound like? And how about in the middle?
How can I fix my instrument?
*Change the location of the rubber bands*
Let’s see if we can fix this. I’m going to play again, and I need
you guys to tell me which string has the lowest pitch.
- play and work with the students.
Okay! Now we know that this string has the LOWEST PITCH. I
will move it to the end of my instrument. Continue this until you
reach the highest pitch.
So, we have arranged our instrument from LOWEST PITCH to
HIGHEST PITCH. Just like professional string instruments.
So, who would like to build their own instrument? Who thinks
they can play a song?
So today we are going to be building our own instruments with
tupperware and rubber bands like I did. Remember, we want
our strings to go from LOWEST PITCH to HIGHEST PITCH.
Students will be given the materials. Once they are given
tupperware and rubberbands, students can go back to their
seats and begin working. Teacher will set a timer in the form
of an instrumental video for 10:00 minutes. At the end,
students will return to the carpet, form a circle, and share
their instruments if they want to.
 o We will have an intro video that students will listen to and watch. Students will watch
and interact with the teacher in fixing the string instrument. Students will be able to
create their own instruments.
● Describe accommodations and adaptations for specific students with special needs.
o Some students have extra space on the carpet in case they need to get their energy out.
There is also an exercise ball to the side that students are allowed to use. Those who
struggle academically have seats at the front of the carpet.
● How will you group students?
o Students will be gathered at the carpet for the lesson. After the lesson, students will
work at their tables with their classmates to make their instruments.
● What materials do you need?
o 18 circular tupperware containers
o Rubber bands
o Google slides
● What are the potential tricky spots? How will you pro-actively address them?
o The potential tricky spot in this lesson is the lack of understanding of prior knowledge. It
might take a bit of scaffolding for the students to fully understand. If need be, we can
introduce a question such as: “What string instruments do you know of?” and opening a
discussion surrounding that.
● How will you manage transitions?
o Students will be called to the carpet after math and find their assigned seats. When
transitioning to the activity, students will go back to their seats once they are given
materials. After the timer is done, students will return to the carpet to share their
instruments.
● How are you addressing cultural and linguistic diversity?
o Students will be able to discuss with each other. ESL students will be able to speak
Spanish with their classmates if need be.
● In what other ways will you need to differentiate for the range of students in your class?

o This is the biggest struggle in the classroom. There are 5 ESL students in the class, 2 of
which barely speak English. As for dealing with these struggles, the ESL students who
struggle are sat with ESL students who are fairly good at speaking English. When the
students are confused by a word or have trouble understanding something, they are
able to communicate with each other, or ask questions.

Reflection:

The lesson was really fun for the students! When they were chatting on the carpet during the closing of
our lesson, they were chatting about the lesson so that was important. I think that in the future, it would
be best to have more materials. What I mean by this is that it would be best if the students were able to
swap out their rubber bands with bigger rubber bands, or their tupperware with smaller
cups/tupperware. A lot of students were not able to get the rubber bands onto the tupperware, they
kept flying off or slipping off. Having a variety of different materials would be beneficial in getting
students to problem solve on their own.