Culturally & Linguistically Responsive Read Aloud

Childhood Lesson Plan

Administrative Details
Title of Lesson: “The Gift of Ramadan Read-Aloud”
Candidate: Haley Boulter Date of Lesson: 04/24/2023
Host Teacher: Megan Ryan Approx. Length (min): 30-40 Minutes
Grade level/Age: First Grade Anticipated # of Children: 19

FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS OF LESSON

Standard(s)
ELA:
1.ELAL.23. [1SL5] Creates and/or
utilizes existing visual displays to
support descriptions to clarify ideas,
thoughts, and feelings.
Learning Target(s) Assessment of Learning Target
Students will create a drawing and Work Sample: Photos and/or copies of the
form a complete sentence that student’s work will be collected to ensure
describes what they would like to understanding of the activity.
eat during a Ramadan meal.

Social Justice:
DI.3-5.8: Students will respectfully
express curiosity about the history
and lived experiences of others and
will exchange ideas and beliefs in
an open-minded way.
Students will develop an
understanding of the differences
between cultures and express their
thoughts and feelings through
discussion, art, and writing.
Asking Questions & Discussion: Following
the read-aloud, the students and I will
engage in a conversation about the lessons
learned in the book, the significance that
food has in Ramadan celebrations, and
follow with the writing and art activity.

CONCEPT PLANNING/SCAFFOLDING

Description of the Lesson Content/Concepts

• This lesson focuses on the exploration of cultural diversity through literacy and writing. Through an interactive
read-aloud of the book, “The Gift of Ramadan”, students will develop a deeper understanding of the cultural
differences among their peers. This book follows the story of a young girl who struggles to find a way to celebrate
Ramadan in a way that best suits her. She tries to fast like her family, but she didn’t succeed. So, she decides to
explore new ways to celebrate Ramadan by embracing her culture through cooking and sharing meals. Thus, the
activity portion of this lesson focuses on a writing and art activity in which the students choose what food(s) they
would like to eat and share with their family during a Ramadan meal (iftar and sahoor). They will determine what
food(s) they would eat during this meal, followed by a brief drawing activity in which they will represent this meal
through a picture. To conclude the activity, students will then create a writing statement to communicate their
choice and/or describe the meal that they drew.

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Background Knowledge Required
• A basic understanding of class rules and expectations
• Communication skills- to communicate thoughts and feelings during the read-aloud.
• Basic art skills including drawing and coloring
• Basic understanding of sentence structure, letter formation, and physical writin g.

Lesson Rationale (Why, where, and how does this CLR lesson fit into the curriculum?)

• This lesson fits into the curriculum in a few ways. First, the topic of this lesson is centered around cultural diversity
and celebration- more specifically, Ramadan. Among the 19 students in the class, 9 of them are considered ENL
students, all of whom identify with diverse cultural backgrounds. Many of the ENL students and their families
celebrate Ramadan, making this lesson applicable to the classroom environment. Not only will these students be
able to share their culture with their peers, but their peers will also get the opportunity to learn about a new culture
and the experiences of their peers. In addition, the activity portion of this activity focuses on severa l key writing
strategies that are a part of the class’s current writing unit. These strategies include descriptive and opinion writing,
spelling, sentence structure and formation, letter recognition and formation, creating visual aids, and labeling. The
writing and art activity paired with the read-aloud includes all of these aspects, thus making it an appropriate fit for
the lesson.

Targeted Vocabulary Words & Student Definitions

• Ramadan: A holiday celebrated by some people who identify with Islamic and Muslim culture.
• Celebration: To participate in something that recognizes a particular event in a positive way.
• Fasting: To not eat or drink anything for a given period.
BONUS TERMS!
• Sahoor: The morning meal shared during the month of Ramadan before the sun rises.
• Iftar: The evening meal shared during the month of Ramadan after the sun sets.

Teacher Materials/Resources Student Materials/Resources

• “The Gift of Ramadan” By Rabiah Lumbard • Pencil
• Example activity template • Art materials
• Pencil • Blank activity Template

LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Introduction/Opening I will start the lesson by inviting the students to join at their “sit spots” on the carpet. I will
/Anticipatory Set explain to the students that I would like their help in reading the book “The Gift of Ramadan” by
How are you hooking Rabiah Lumbard and completing an activity. To introduce the topic of the book, I will ask the
students into the students about their background knowledge and understanding of Ramadan:
lesson?
Before:
- “With a show of hands, who here has either heard of Ramadan or knows of someone who
celebrates it?”
- “Can anyone tell me one thing that they know or remember learning about Ramadan?”
- I will then define what Ramadan is: “Ramadan is a holiday that some people who
identify with Islamic or Muslims culture celebrate. There are many ways to celebrate
Ramadan, as we will come to learn while reading this book together.”

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Before:
- Before I begin reading, I will remind the students about our “whole body listening”
strategies.
- Then, I will read the title and author and proceed by introducing the main character and
the storyline. “This book follows the story of a young girl named Sophia who is very
excited and eager to celebrate Ramadan with her family. Let’s start the book and learn
more about Sophia’s journey.”

During:
- After page 2, I will ask the students to make a brief text-to-self connection by asking
“With a show of hands, who here also likes glitter and sparkly things?”
- After page 4, I will reread the definition of fasting as stated in the book and explain how
fasting is one of many ways that some people choose to celebrate Ramadan
- After page 5, I will identify a tricky vocabulary word, “Sahoor”. “Sahoor is a term used
to describe the big meal that families share before the sun rises during the month of
Ramadan”.
- After page 6, I will ask the students to make a prediction about what they think will
happen next.
- After page 10, I will ask for volunteers to look closely at the illustrations and identify one
thing that they see in Sophia’s drawings. We will then make an inference together. “So
far, we know that Sophia is trying to fast. She has been keeping busy, her tummy is
grumbling, and now she’s drawing pictures of food. What do you think that might mean
for Sophia?”
- After page 14, I will ask the students to make another prediction about what will happen
on the next page. “Sophia has been trying SO hard to fast like her family. But now, she’s
stuck in a closet FULL of food! And not just any food… Chocolate chip cookies!! What
do you think might happen next?
- After page 16, I will ask the students about the feelings and emotions of the two
characters on this page. We will then discuss a lesson that can be learned from this
incident. “So, if Sophia tried her very hardest, but didn’t succeed her first time, should
she just give up? No! She can try again!”
- After page 24, I will encourage students to make a thematic connection to the lesson we
learned from page 16. “When Sophia’s grandma tried her best to make the pizzas look
perfect, two of them burned in the oven. Should she give up and never try making pizzas
again? No! She can try again another time!”

After:
- After reading through the book, I will engage the students in a conversation about food
and the role that food and sharing meals play in celebrating Ramadan.
- “What were some of the food items we saw throughout the book?” Following the student
responses, I will revisit the pages that showed the foods they mentioned.
- “I want you all to think to yourselves about what kinds of foods you would like to eat if
you were celebrating Ramadan. When you have an idea, put your thumb on your chest.”
- I will then ask for volunteers to raise their hands and share what foods they would like to
eat.
- Once the students have shared, I will then proceed to explain the activity.

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Body - Learning
Segment, Activities, Before:
Timeline - Before starting the activity, I will begin by showing the students an example of the
What will you say? activity template that I have made previously.
What will you do? - When showing the template, I will go through the four tasks of the activity.
What will your 1. Put your name and the date at the top of your paper.
students do? This is the 2. Once you have decided on a food you would like to eat, draw a picture
place to write out all of it on the plate and label your food item.
that will happen 3. Then, write your statement at the bottom of the page starting with the
during your lesson. phrase “I would like to eat…”
4. Finally, you may color in your picture!

- Then, before releasing them to their seats, I will model this writing sentence on the board
to emphasize the sentence structure.

During:
1. Students will retrieve their table caddies and return to their tables. I will hand out the
activity template to each student according to the host teachers’ preference (some
students get the modified template).
2. Students will begin by writing their name and the date on their paper.
3. Then, they will draw and label the food items that they will write about in the
statement in the space provided on the sheet.
4. After drawing, the students will write their statement at the bottom of the page
starting with the phrase “I would like to eat…”.
5. Finally, they will color in their picture and show an adult their finished product.
6. While the students are completing the activity, I will be circulating the classroom
along with the other adults in the room to assist students as needed and to ensure that
everyone is on task.

Conclusion After:
How are you bringing - After the students have completed the activity, I will ask the students permission to take a
closure to/wrapping up picture or copy of their work as an assessment collection. Then, they will either submit
the lesson? their work to their host teacher or put it in their backpacks, depending on the host
teacher’s preference.
- I will conclude by thanking the students f or their participation.

Planned Supports for Emergent Bilingual Students

The class is approximately half ENL students. Therefore, there will be a few planned supports for this lesson:

1. For the read-aloud: I will make frequent stops throughout the read-aloud to ensure comprehension and
understanding of the content. Additionally, I will ask clarifying questions, repeat and elaborate on difficult words
and phrases, and will ensure that all students are seeing the illustrations to serve as a visual aid for comprehension.

2. For the activity: There will be two different activity templates available to the students. One template contains a
sentence starter that reads, “I would like to eat…” in dotted font. Students who are still developing their
understanding of sentence structure and basic writing skills may use this template to trace the sentence starter and
complete the sentence with their own thoughts and ideas. The second template does not have the traceable sentence
starter, but has the exact same content, structure, and intent.
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 3. Additionally, any common words or phrases that would be used in the activity, such as specific food items, can be
written on the board to aid students in correct spelling.

Accommodations

For students with an IEP, 504 plan, or any other specialized learning plan, I would follow the plan accordingly and seek
host teacher guidance regarding the appropriate steps. For learning disabilities or issues in fine motor development, I would
encourage the student to use the traceable activity template and ask for adult or peer assistance when necessary.

FINAL NOTES
Next Steps

Ideally, there would be a follow up discussion within the next few days regarding what they have learned about Ramadan .
In addition, it would be beneficial to the students learning to encourage them to ask questions about Ramadan and other
cultural aspects they encountered during the lesson. This can be done on an individual basis or a s a whole group.
References/Resources Used

“The Gift of Ramadan” by Rabiah Lumbard

ClipArt Imagery (for template design).

Flamingtext.com (for template design).