Lesson

#1

A Silly Snowy Day

Date

11/05/14

Subject/Gra
de Level

ELA/Grade 1

Time
Duratio
n

25 minutes

Unit

Sparkle words

Teacher

Freya Longland

OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES

General
Learning
Outcomes:
Specific
Learning
Outcomes:

1 - Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to explore thoughts,
ideas, feelings and experiences.
2 - Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to comprehend and
respond personally and critically to oral, print and other media texts.
1.1Discover and Explore
Express ideas and develop understanding.
Share personal experiences prompted by oral, print and other media texts.
1.2Clarify and Extend
Combine ideas
Connect related ideas and information.
2.1 Use Strategies and Cues
Use comprehension strategies
Begin to use language prediction skills when stories are read aloud.
Use textual cues
Begin to identify some individual words in texts that have been read aloud.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1. Recognize the similarities and differences between two animals.
2. Relate the sparkle word hibernation to real-world examples.
3. Model the word hibernation through movement.
4. Recognize the sparkle word ridiculous throughout the story.

ASSESSMENTS
Observations:

Key Questions:

Products/Performan
ces:

Are students participating either touching noses, raising hand, or

thumbs-up-thumbs-down after hearing questions?
Observe students during activity do they understand the meaning of
hibernation?
Are students saying the word ridiculous along with me as I read the
story?
Observe whether students touch their heads or noses when responding to
my final question.
Do you think a tortoise would be outside playing during winter,
or snugged up and sleeping indoors?
What does the word hibernate means?
What does the word ridiculous mean?
Response to questions.
Pretending to be a tortoise and hibernating during activity.

LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED

Alberta Programs of Study ELA.

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

A Silly Snowy Day by Michael Coleman

PROCEDURE
Prior to lesson

Consider:

Attention Grabber
Assessment of Prior

Have book ready to read!

Introduction
Introduce book by stating the title, A Silly Snowy Day.
Ask students Touch your nose if you have read this book

Time
3 min

Knowledge
Expectations for
Learning and Behaviour
Advance
Organizer/Agenda
Transition to Body

Consider:

Variety of Learning
Styles
Questioning throughout
Differentiation for
students
Focused formative
assessment

before.
Explain that it is about a tortoise A tortoise is similar to
a turtle
o Briefly describe some similarities and differences.

Body
Sparkle word: Hibernate
o After introducing the word tortoise, ask students:
Who thinks that a tortoise would be out and
about in the freezing wintery weather and
snow? thumbs up or down.
o Explain that tortoises do not live outside during
the winter they sleep for the winter months.
Say: A fancy word for sleeping for the winter is
hibernate.
o Describe what hibernation is and examples of
some animals that hibernate.
o Ask: How many claps does Hibernate get?
clap out syllables.
o If it is cold outside, and we have no food in our
house, do we just go to sleep for the whole
winter?
Why not?, Would we get hungry?
So do we hibernate?
Activity: Students will pretend to be a tortoise:
o Pretending to be a tortoise around the classroom.
Students can spread out and walk around slowly like
a tortoise on the ground. They are finding green
plants and veggies to eat. The days are getting
colder, and the tortoises are feeling the cold. As
snow falls on the ground, they cannot find much food
to eat. They find a dry, warm, cozy place to go into
hibernation, hiding in their shell, and going to sleep
for the winter.
Sparkle word: Ridiculous
o After reading the first page, ask students what
they think the word Ridiculous means? - Hands
up.
o Describe: silly, funny, laughable, cute
o Use examples: Packing a giant sandwich for
school lunch that used 40 slices of bread; If I
dressed in my stripy, multicolored, polka-dot
pajamas for school.
o Ask: How many claps does Ridiculous get?
clap out syllables.
The word ridiculous will be repeated throughout the story.
Closure

Time

2 min

3 min

2 min

4 min

Time

Consider:

Consolidation of
Learning
Feedback from
Students
Feedback to Students
Transition to Next
Lesson

Sponge
Activity/Activities

After reading the story, ask students: Are tortoises

supposed to hibernate or should they go outside and play
during the cold winters? Touch your nose if you think
hibernate, touch your head if you think play outside.

1 min

Have picture cards of animals some that hibernate, and some who do
not. Ask students whether they think the animal would hibernate or not.

Reflections from the

lesson

Watch video about the word ridiculous!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r-m6E8c2

I had the opportunity to do this lesson once with the Kindergartens

and once with the Grade ones it was wonderful to compare the lessons
and discover how they could be tweaked for each grade level. I felt
encouraged that my TA was pleased with my book choice, as I chose this
story for the sparkle words that it contained. I introduced the word
ridiculous to the children, and the words hibernate and tortoise to a
lesser extent.
My first reading of this book was for the kindergarteners. My TA
complimented my use of different strategies such as touch your nose and
raise your hand, and mentioned that the students responded really well to
this. I felt like I had the kindergarteners attention for the most part, with
only one or two disruptions. My TA commented that they were all engaged. I
might consider having a seating plan if disruptions continue, although this
does not seem to be a problem at this point. I felt like my comparison of a
tortoise and turtle was valuable, although will likely not be remembered.
When I tried to reinforce the difference once again at the end of my lesson,
the kindergarteners did not really seem to remember which belonged in the
water and the land. Next time, I do not think I will spend quite as much time
reinforcing this, as it is not overly important to the story.
I felt that the kindergartners really enjoyed the actions to my story.
The snoring allowed them to move and be a part of the story. I did increase
the interaction during my second reading for the Grade ones, and they
seemed to love this! Although students were answering my questions, I
would have liked to add in more prediction for the Kindergarteners. I did get
the Grade ones to predict what they thought would happen at a couple
points, and I enjoyed the interaction that this created. For the Grade one
reading, I tried to slow down the story, as I did feel like I was rushing during
the morning reading. This was effective, and I felt that I used more emotion
in my voice and was able to emphasize certain words.
During the Kindergarten reading, I did not get time to include my
activity. I had visions of the students walking like a tortoise in the
classroom, and curling up to hibernate, although we ran out of time. I
knew for the Grade one class to save time for this, however, and it provided
that movement and interaction that I think was missing from the first
reading. My TA suggested that I leave more time for them to walk like a
tortoise however, as they were all (purposely!) moving so slowly. Increasing
this time would also give some students that extra thinking time that they
need. Although I would have loved more time to get to my activity in more
depth, I felt that proper closure to my lesson, during which I reinforced the
sparkle words, was very important. If I had got to my activity with the
kindergarten class, I doubt my closure would have been effective in
reinforcing the sparkle words.
Overall, I felt that this lesson went quite well. I was most surprised at
my ability to keep the class engaged and interested in my story and I had
so much fun doing this! It was great to try this lesson out twice, as I could
implement what I saw as improvements to my lesson, based on my own

judgment and the feedback given by my TA. I challenge myself to take my

time more with lessons like this one, making sure not to worry too much
about the timing. I would have liked to go-with-the-flow a little more!