INFORMATION RESOURCE LESSON PLAN

Lesson Title:

Friendship

Grade: 3

Subject/Unit: Social Studies/Technology Date:

LESSON PREPARATION
Information Literacy Content Standard:
Category III: Social Responsibility
The student who contributes positively to the learning community and
to society is information literate and:
7.
Recognizes the importance to a democratic society.
Information Literacy Content Standard:
Category II: Independent Learning
The student who is an independent learner is information literate and:
4.
Pursues information related to personal interests.
Maryland Content Standard: One - Reading
Comprehension and interpretation of informational
Indicator(s)
A grade three student will be able to follow simple written instructions
and describe the importance of specific steps in a set of directions.
Objective: Students will be able to recognize literature as an expression
of the human experience. They will listen to, read and respond to
literature from a variety of cultures. They will recognize through
literature the commonalities and differences of people by my
encouraging the students to respond in writing by using a single word
graphic organizer describing their friends on the computer.
Materials
14x18 colored sentence strips
Whoever You Are Mem Fox
Big book Friendship
Friendship on CD with recorder
Xeroxed copy of a single word graphic organizer
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Pencils
Large print display about friendship
Computer with word processor
Overhead projector
5x7 cards, black markers
Rubric: n/a
Prerequisite Skills: Knowledge of keyboard, fluency in moving from
one document to another on the internet.
Lesson accommodations: Visually impaired students will read from big
books about friendship. Hearing impaired students will listen to books on
tape about friendship. The entire class will listen to songs about friendship
from a CD.
Technology Integration: The librarian will assist the students in
accessing the Kids Work Together network so that they can connect to
their Pen Pals at http://www.kidnews.com/penpals.html.
INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES
Motivation:
As the students enter the library, they will be asked to have a seat on the
large rug. They will sit in a circle.
The librarian will ask the students, What is a friend?
The librarian will ask the students to Please raise your hands.
Possible answer: a doll, the student can come up and choose a 24 inch
doll.
The librarian will ask the students, Describe your friend.
The librarian will ask the students to Please raise your hands.
Possible answer: It crawls around on the floor and it barks; the student
can come up and choose a 36 inch long dog.
The librarian will ask the students, Who can name an unusual friend?
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The librarian will ask the students to Please raise your hands.
Possible answer: an action figure; the student can come up and choose
a mask of an action figure.
The librarian will display several poster-sized pictures of children in
the third grade who live around the world. The librarian will read
aloud Whoever You Are Mem Fox.
Lesson: The librarian will introduce the importance of learning how to
get along with one another in a library, at home and society as a whole.
The students will learn how to reinforce their skills on how to make
friends and acquire problem-solving techniques in dealing with
differences and disagreements by using a single word graphic organizer.
Teacher Modeling:
Activity: Activity 1
The librarian will ask the students to stand up, and form a single line.
The students walk around the Friendship display table. It will be
placed in front of the 900 section of the library. There will be books
with pictures of children (their age) from around the world; and dolls
dressed in their native costumes. (The doll and book will matched).
The country of origin will be taped onto the book and doll. The students
will be asked to take their seats and the Friendship lesson will begin. I
will ask for groups of eight students to choose a book and a doll and
return to their seats.
Cooperative Learning: STAD (Student Teams-Achievement Divisions)
is used in grades 3. Students with varying academic abilities are
assigned to 4 or 5 member teams in order to study what has been taught
by the librarian and to help each reach his or her highest level of
achievement.
1. The students will sit in five cooperative learning groups of
five student.
2. The librarian will introduce the activity on Friendship.

3. The librarian will discuss the meaning of being a friend and

what good qualities are in a friend.
4. The librarian will read the story entitled, Whoever You
Are by Mem Fox.
5. The librarian and students will discuss what good qualities
are found in a friend.
6. The librarian will ask the students to walk over to their
assigned computer stations cooperatively.
7. The librarian will model by asking for student volunteers to
recite adjectives describing their friends; she/he will list the
adjectives on an oversized sample word graphic organizer
describing friendship. The students will write their
adjectives on their computerized graphic organizer.
8. The librarian and students will revisit and brainstorm
What is a friend the librarian will write their responses
on 14x18 colored sentence strips and hang them up around
the room.
Individual: n/a
Lesson Summary
Objective Review: Librarian will review the objective of the lesson with
students. The students will learn how to become comfortable working
with each other at school, home and society as a whole.
Follow-up/Extension Activities
1.

The students will complete selected pages from Introduction to

Journal Writing on the theme of Friendship. (My Friend, A
Storybook Friendship). After completing the selected pages, the
students will begin making a Friendship booklet on the computer.
2. Word wall words this ongoing activity will provide the students
with the basic required 50 words that the students should know by
sight by the end of grade 2.
The students will be given 5x7 index cards and black markers.

The librarian will model by writing one word on each card. The
students will write the same one word on each card. The librarian
will hang up the 5x7 index cards on the wall in the library.
Sample list of words:
Library, author, book, illustrator, The Caldecott Award, fiction,
nonfiction, Dewey Decimal System, card catalog, magazines,
reference books, encyclopedia, dictionary, biography,
autobiography, poetry, fairy tales, fables,
3. Each week as a group, we will cover 5 words by grouping them
into subject, rhyming groups or from a weekly reading book.
4. I will ask the students to repeat the words aloud in groups and by
calling on individuals.
5. I will ask the students to write in their journals using the weekly
words.
At the conclusion of the lesson, I will ask for volunteers to form
sentences in front of the class using the wall cards.
Suggested adaptations: Visual cues with reading of text; large print
display, computer with word processor, overhead projector.
Assessment: The librarian will ask the students:
Think of their best friends in their head; do not call out.
Why is that person their best friend?
Explain that friends can be family members, pets, peers, adults, etc.
The librarian will ask the students to raise their hand and when called
upon tell what they like about their best friend, without naming the
person.
We will make a list of things we like about our friends.
The librarian will explain friends are special people and as educators,
we need to let them know that.

Resources:
Animal and nature stories
Barnyard Song, by Rhonda Gowler Greene. Atheneum. PreKGrade 1. What happens when all the barnyard animals get the
flu?
Bashi, Elephant Baby, by Theresa Radcliffe. Viking. K-Grade 3. A
captivating story of survival in Africa.
Birdsong, by Audrey Wood. Harcourt Brace. K-Grade 3. Learn
about 18 North American birds, their calls, and their natural
habitats.
Bubba and Trixie, by Lisa Campbell Ernst. Simon & Schuster.
PreK-Grade 3. Trixie the ladybug helps Bubba the caterpillar
conquer his fears and become a butterfly.
The Hat, by Jan Brett. G.P. Putnam's Sons. K-Grade 2. When
Lisa's woolen stocking falls on Hedgie's head, he gets the last
laugh. Lisa follows him in the side panels of the book, an
intriguing storytelling technique.
Is There Room on the Feather Bed?, by Libba Moore Gray.
Orchard. PreK-Grade 1. Everyone will want to join in this
rollicking cumulative tale.
A Log's Life, by Wendy Pfeffer. Simon & Schuster. K-Grade 3.
Trace the life cycle of a tree through this compelling non-fiction
book.
Meeting Trees, by Scott Russell Sanders. National Geographic.
K-Grade 3. The author reflects on the warm times he spent with
his father as a child learning about trees and nature.
Seal Surfer, by Michael Foreman. Harcourt Brace. K-Grade 3. A
crippled boy shares the companionship of his grandfather and
of seals and dreams of sharing the seal pups with his
descendants.

Shrinking Mouse, by Pat Hutchins. Greenwillow Books. PreK-K.

Fox, Rabbit, Squirrel, and Mouse are puzzled as Owl walks away
in this delightful lesson on perspective.
Tale of a Tadpole, by Barbara Ann Porte. Orchard. K-Grade 3.
Francine witnesses the transformations in her tadpole Fred.
Time to Sleep, by Denise Fleming. Henry Holt. PreK-Grade 1. A
vivid autumnal collage introduces each animal as the animal
prepares for hibernation.
Verdi, by Janell Cannon. Harcourt Brace. K-Up. By the author of
Stellaluna, this story tells of a yellow python who doesn't want
to turn green and grow old and boring.
Fairy tales and folktales
Bouki Dances the Kokioko, A Comical Tale from Haiti, by Diane
Wolkenstein. Gulliver/Harcourt Brace. K-Grade 3. A lively readaloud (dance-along) trickster tale with foolish Bouki and clever
Malice.
Brother Rabbit, A Cambodian Tale, by Mingfong Ho and Saphan
Ros. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard. K-Grade 3. Though small, Brother
Rabbit outwits crocodiles and elephants.
The Crimson Elf, Italian Tales of Wisdom, by Michael J. Caduto.
Fulcrum. Grades 4-7. An original collection of folktales selected
for children's values.
Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, retold with an introduction by
Neil Philip. Viking. All ages. Includes 20 classic fairy tales such
as "The Frog Prince," " Rapunzel," and "Snow White."
Lesson Evaluation of Teacher: n/a