UCLA Center X TEP ELEMENTARY UNIT/ LESSON PLANNING COMMENTARY Your Name: Crystal Puentes Date: February 5th,

2014 Unit/Lesson Title: Rhyming Grade Level and Content Area: Kindergarten Number of Students: 27 Total Amount of Time: 35 1. Learning Goals/Standards: What concepts, essential questions or key skills will be your focus? What do you want your students to know at the end of this unit/lesson? The learning objective for this lesson is for the students to be able to understand and recognize different words that rhyme. They will be asked to locate different rhyming words on the board, in songs, and on their worksheet. 2. Rationale: Why is this content important for your students to learn and how does it promote social justice? Learning how to rhyme is very important for the students because it not only supports them in developing their reading skills, but it assists them with fluency. Especially for English Language Learners, it provides different ways of discovering connections between words in Spanish and in English. For example, since rhymes in both languages follow the same general rule, the ability for English Language Learner to recognize this pattern is beneficial for their reading development in both languages. In addition, teaching rhymes promotes social justice due to the fact that the students will be given the opportunity to practice using and recognizing rhymes throughout a variety of activities. Whether rhymes are presented in song, movements, or in their personal work; rhymes provide a different outlet for learning how to read and write. 3. Identifying and supporting language needs: What are the language demands of the unit/lesson? How do you plan to support students in meeting their English language development needs including academic language!? "he students will be interacting with one another and will be asked to talk to their partner and e#plain the reason behind why certain words $rhyme% in class& 'n order to assist English language development needs, all of the students will be provided with labels and pictures to assist them in understanding the meaning of the words presented& 'n addition, since the students will be asked to work in pairs, this will give them the opportunity to use language and collaborate in a leisurely manner without pressure& 4. Accessing prior knowledge and building upon students backgrounds, interests and needs: How do your choices of instructional strategies, materials and sequence of learning tasks connect with your students( backgrounds, interests, and needs? "he material is relatable to the students since the pictures of the objects are of things that the students have either seen in their homes/community& )lso, the students will be asked to sound out the letters in reading the different rhyming words, which is something that they are familiar with doing in class& *astly, because there are a good amount of kinesthetic and musical learners, the students will be given the opportunity to use movements and song in identifying the words that rhyme&

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. Acco!!odations: What accommodations or support will you use for all students including English *anguage *earners and students with special educational needs, i&e& +)"E students and students with 'E,(s!? E#plain how these features of your learning and assessment tasks will provide all students access to the curriculum and allow them to demonstrate their learning& During the lesson, the students will be given the opportunity to use visual aids while collaborating with their peers in pair shares and partner work. Also for our beginning readers, the students will be given the chance to work with 1-2 syllabic words, while also being exposed to a diverse array of concepts of print on the board and on their worksheet. ". #$eor%: Which theories support your unit/lesson plan? e#plain the connections! The theory that best supports my unit/lesson is Vygotskys socio-cultural theory. I believe that this theory is relatable to my lesson plan since the emphasis is on participation and experiences inside the classroom. By implementing individual, pair share, and group work; the students are given a variety of ways where they will be asked to collaborate with one another in sharing their background knowledge and experiences. 7. Reflection: (answer the following questions after the teaching of this unit/lesson) What do you feel was successful in your lesson and why? If you could go back and teach this learning segment again to the same group of students, what would you do differently in relation to planning, instruction, and assessment? How could the changes improve the learning of students with different needs and characteristics? My plan to introduce rhymes to the children did not go as planned. In reflecting on what was successful in my lesson, I would say that the song was a great hit and the first 20 minutes of my lesson ran very smoothly. However, because I was short on time, the last 10 minutes of my lesson was rushed and things did not go as planned. If I were to teach this lesson one more time, I would probably limit the activities I had planned and not include the worksheet in my lesson. Also, I was under the impression that my students were familiar with a song that they in reality did not know; so verifying this and not making assumptions, would have helped make things flow a little smoother. Also, the kids were a bit confused about what it meant to rhyme, so making sure that they understood, would have helped the students complete the activities in a timely manner. In terms of making changes to improve the learning of students with different needs and characteristics, I would say that the overall lesson included a variety of learning tools and styles to assist in reaching these students. Overall, time was the biggest issue, but I do believe that this particular lesson has helped me learn more about my students and I am looking forward to the next lesson that I will be doing with them in two weeks.

**COMMENTARY IS REQUIRED FOR ALL UCLA ELEMENTARY FORMAL OBSERVATIONS **

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