Reading Wonders: Unit 4, Week 3

1st Grade
Giselle Taraboletti
I.

II.

III.

IV.

Integration of Learning Outcomes

a. Students will ask questions about what they are going to read and search for
answers in the text.
b. Students will read and learn about how animals survive in the wild.
c. Students will learn different ways to create the long o sound.
Standards
a. RI.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text
b. RF.1.2c Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes)
in spoken single syllable words
Anticipatory Set
a. Display the Reading Wonders SMARTBoard presentation.
b. Ask the students what our weekly concept is (In the Wild). Ask the students what
this weeks essential question is. (How do animals survive in nature?)
c. Have a discussion about the different ways animals find food, shelter, and safety
in the wild.
d. Show the Weekly Opener video.
Procedures
a. Display the oral vocabulary words on the SMARTBoard (provide, survive,
communicate, superior, wilderness, seek, and search). Ask the students what each
word says and if they can think of what it means. Provide the students with the
correct definition and use the interactive features of the SMARTBoard
presentation to explain the words.
b. Remind the children that, last week, we asked ourselves questions while we read.
c. Tell the students that they will be listening to the interactive read-aloud Animals
in Winter. Ask for predictions as to what the story will be about.
d. Hold up the first interactive read-aloud card. Ask the students what they see in the
picture. (birds/geese) Ask the students if they can think of any questions they
might have about the geese based on the title of the story. (How do the geese
survive in winter?)
e. Play the audio for the first read-aloud card. Stop at the end and ask the students if
their question was answered and what the answer was. Repeat this process for
each card.
f. Have the children stand and use two lines to retrieve their Reading Wonders
books, with one student handing out the books in each line.
g. Before reading, have the students flip through Go Wild and ask themselves
questions. Have a few students share their questions.
h. Tell the students to raise their hand if the question they had was answered in the
text. Have the students follow along as they listen to Go Wild. At the end of
each page, have one student share their question and the answer that was provided
in the story. Continue through the rest of the story.
i. Use the two lines method to have the students return the books.
j. Introduce the long o sound using the sound card. Show students the different
ways that long o can be made.

V.
VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.
X.

XI.

k. Use the remaining time before morning centers to do phonics activities on the
SMARTBoard.
l. Leave ten minutes at the end of Guided Reading and have the students return to
their seats and take out their whiteboard, marker, and eraser.
m. Have the students split their whiteboard into 4 sections. Dictate their spelling
words to them, having them put the words into sections labeled o, oa, ow,
and oe. Dictate the words again to have the students erase them.
Differentiation
a. Differentiation comes during morning centers, working with Mrs. DeNardo to
complete activities with leveled readers.
Closure
a. When dismissing the students for morning center, call each group to stand up, and
ask them one thing they learned during Guided Reading today. Once they have
answered, they can quietly go to their first center.
Formative/Summative Assessment of Students
a. Gauge student understanding of ask and answer and the understanding of how
animals survive in the wild through observation of class discussion, marked on a
checklist.
b. Gauge student understanding of the long o sound by walking around the room
while students are writing their spelling words and checking off whether or not
the students spell the words correctly and write them in the correct section.
Materials/Equipment
a. Long O Sound Card
b. Interactive Read-Aloud Cards
c. Reading Wonders Books (20)
d. Whiteboards, markers, and erasers (20)
Technology
a. SMARTBoard
b. Reading Wonders Unit 4 Week 3 presentaion
Reflection on Planning
a. Having taught lessons from this book in the past, I already know that it is likely
that this lesson plan will not follow the exact framework I have laid out. We may
not even have time to complete phonics activities on the SMARTBoard and will
have to skip to practicing the spelling words. If this happens, I would much rather
have the students practice spelling than doing phonics games because last week, I
did not devote enough time to the spelling words, thinking that the students would
get enough practice with the words at home, so I could focus more on the other
activities. However, when it came time for the test, the lower level students
grades suffered drastically. I do not want this to happen again, so I am making it a
goal of mine that I practice the spelling words with the class more.
Reflection on Instruction
a. I have been teaching Guided Reading using the Reading Wonders materials for a
few weeks now, so I feel as though I am becoming more comfortable with the
activities. One thing I am still struggling to balance is fitting everything in on Day
One of the week because there is just so much content that the book expects you
to cover. It gets easier as the week continues because the lessons become shorter

and shorter leading up to the test. I have been thinking about how to approach this
in the future, and I have decided to cut down on the content covered during whole
group and more fully utilize centers to teach the other parts of the lessons. If not
for the science unit I am teaching partly during morning centers, I would already
be implementing this.
An aspect of my lesson that I am proud of is the strategy I have been using to send
the students to get their books and return to the carpet. It gives the students a chance
to get up and move and take a short break. They are still working on completing this
activity quietly, but it is also something that they have not been doing for very long,
so they are not used to it yet. Repetition of the activity and repeating the instructions
should be a great help.
One thing I was not a fan of was the implementation of a checklist in my lesson. It
could just be that I am not used to using them, but I didnt feel as though I gained any
benefit from using the checklist, and it took me out of the lesson and made it harder to
listen to the students. This is something I will obviously have to work on and figure out in
my own classroom.