Drexel University

Teacher: Kaatje Harrison

I.

Grade: 1

The Last Train Whole Group Literacy

Content and Standards: Standards for this lesson are aligned with the content, the text and
materials.
a. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.7

b.

c.

d.
e.

f.

Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key

ideas.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.2
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate
understanding of their central message or lesson.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest
feelings or appeal to the senses.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.4.a
Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.5
With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond
to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to
strengthen writing as needed.
Alabama Social Studies Standard: 1.6. Compare ways individuals
and groups in the local community and state lived in the past to
how they live today.

II.

Prerequisites: None

III.

Instructional Objective:
a. Students will actively respond, participate and make meaning during an interactive
reading of The Last Train by Gordon Titcomb.
b. Students will create a train ticket during shared writing with the train line, Depart and
Arrival destinations, times, class, Date on them.

IV.

Instructional Procedures: BDA

a. Initiate All students, called by table, will come to the floor area.
i. We will review vocabulary words and high-frequency words.

1. We will do an example / non-example game with the vocabulary words

where the students read the vocabulary word off of the smartboard, and I
read two sentences (Kucan, 2012). If sentence one describes or is related
to the vocabulary word, students will put up their index finger. If
sentence two describes or is related to the vocabulary word, students will
put up 2 fingers. Students will wait until I read both sentences to
respond.
a. Century
i. 100 years ago, this town was founded.
ii. Last week, we got a new car.
b. Past
i. People drive cars and ride buses.
ii. People went places by horse and buggy.
c. Present
i. We go places by horse and buggy.
ii. We are working on our reading right now.
d. Entertainment
i. We worked and worked. I was so tired that I went home
and went straight to sleep.
ii. We played games and giggled. I had so much fun!
e. Future
i. We might have cars that fly.
ii. We will go places by horse and buggy.

ii. We will review phonics skill and spell our spelling words using a choice of
movement spelling : dancer, baseball, basketball, football and adding air guitar.
(This is the regular routine of whole group literacy).
1. Nice
2. Ledge
3. Note
4. Nose
5. Rope
6. Hope
7. Cube
8. Cute
9. Ago
10. People
iii. We will refresh the topic Then and Now, and discuss how people travel to
different places.
iv. We will listen and look at a train going by with a train whistle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZgzRfa-xPQ
v. We will see why they say chug-a-chug-a-chug-achug-a Choo Choo! By acting
out where we are sitting how a train moves along and bounces around as we saw
in the video.
b. During

i. We will discuss the cover of the story The Last Train, and the beautiful artwork,
and that this is a poem that is designed to make us imagine and feel these
memories.
ii. Think-alouds on the fact that the train station doesnt look like it is used
anymore.
1. Why conductors used watches like that and the importance of time to
trains and how that helped get standard times across the US.
2. Anthracite is Coal, the fuel for steam engines.
iii. We will take a look at my book box diesel and steam engine model, watch,
ticket punch, sample tickets, penny and flattened penny.
1. We will explore the sample tickets in detail to see some aesthetic features
like shiny parts, pictures, as well as essential information like train line /
company, Departure City, Arrival City, Times, etc.
c. After We will create a train ticket during shared writing with the train line, Depart and
Arrival destinations, times, class, Date on them.
i. Students will come up to turn in their tickets, and role play Tickets please
taking turns punching a friends ticket and their own.
V.

Materials and Equipment:

a. The Last Train Big Book.
b. Book Box containing: sample tickets, actual tickets, ticket punch, watch, penny, flattened
penny, diesel model train, model steam train.
c. 21 pre-cut tickets
d. Elmo projector
e. Pencils

f.
VI.

Ticket punch

Assessment/Evaluation:
i. Students will have all parts of the ticket - the train line, Depart and Arrival
destinations, times, class, Date on them with proper capitalization and colon
separator.

VII.

Differentiation: This should include examples for students with disabilities and English
Language Learners (ELLs): Individualized Activities:
a. Think alouds for past and present activities along with concrete examples of book box
and train whistle will aid in understanding to give context for Language Learners and all
students.

Interactive Group writing will assist in constructing parts of a ticket, as well

as aiding in understanding of why those parts are there in this concrete example.
b. There are 2 students who have difficulty copying from the board, I will give them
individual copies to write from.
c. The Interactive think-alouds will aid in understanding what is coming next and making
and checking predictions (Rea & Mercuri, 2006, p. 75).
VIII.

Technology: Describe which technology will be incorporated and describe how

technology will assist learning.
a. Elmo projector
b. Smartboard with speakers for train whistle.

IX.

Self-Assessment
i. I expected this to be a very fun lesson and it was! I have pre-made tickets with
my children to see the pacing, and we did this in shared writing. The students
who normally have difficulty copying from the board, copied from ticket
examples I gave them, and it worked out really well. This was shared writing,
and the students had input like the name of the train line (the New Orleans Line
like in the book or the Alabama Line), departure time, if we were in 1 st or 2nd

class. I made it so that we were leaving our city, Jasper and going to the capital
of Alabama, Montgomery. I was very pleased with the interaction for the story
read, the video and train sounds leading up to the story, and the pacing of the
shared writing. We were able to get the whole whole group and shared writing
done before lunch, including punching the tickets, tickets please! before going
to lunch line. Students later were able to decorate them with a picture a stamp
they made, a train, or other embellishment meaningful to them (several chose to
make snowflakes that were beautiful against the orange background).
In terms of Danielsons Domain 1: Planning and Preparation, here is how I addressed the
subcomponents:
1a Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy I hit all of the important
concepts within the Whole Group reading and writing content area, yet gave the students
aesthetic and efferent experiences with the reading, observing a train, and the information you
need to ride a train. I tied it in to our geographic location, including our city, state, and the
capital of our state, as well as to the Then and Now theme in terms of differences in travel. I
did this through a variety of intelligences, incorporating visual, auditory, kinesthetic,
interpersonal and logical.
1b Demonstrating Knowledge of Students I found a clip that had both visual and auditory
experience with a steam engine train, as well as tied it in to the students personal experience
with trains give me a thumbs up if you have heard a train far away at night. Give me a
thumbs up if you have ridden a train. I also differentiated the shared writing to meet the
needs of two students who have difficulty copying from the board or Elmo screen. This
allowed them to participate and complete the task without problem or being reminded to get
to work. A variety of students were called on, and redirection of students was done using
positive reinforcement of students who were following directions, name-dropping and
proximity for those who were not.
1c Setting Instructional Outcomes The assessment here is on the shared writing outcome,
the ticket created. There, I have a HOTS Blooms objective tied directly to assessment.
Before this, I have students engaged and interactive within the collaborative read aloud, using
multi-sensory experiences to connect to this wonderful, aesthetically evocative poem about
Trains before.

1d Demonstrating Knowledge of Resources I think I brought a lot of resources to bear

with the video clip of the steam engine, complete with whistle, the book box this was a big
hit. I had students choose what was the next item to discuss from the book box. They loved
it and I loved sharing tangible items with them. Further, exploring the ticket examples and
then making and punching our own was a great culminating activity involving shared writing
and tying in this experience to riding on a train. The students loved making their own ticket
and later decorating it, and they were so excited to take them home to share with their
families.
1e Designing Coherent Instruction I think I the structure of the lesson worked very well,
and the pacing worked out perfectly. My supervisor observed this lesson and gave me kudos
for integrating these activities with physical responses, as well as the interactive shared
writing tied to the book, the video clip of the train and the memory box. There was a lot in
this lesson, but it was not overwhelming, and each piece built the background and conceptual
understanding of trains and what life was like riding them.
1f Designing Student Assessments My checklist is built right into my learning objective
and assessment statement. I evaluated each ticket for having all parts of the ticket - the train
line, Depart and Arrival destinations, times, class, Date on them with proper capitalization
and colon separator. Everyone did an excellent job and was so engaged on this project. The
use of the colon was explained as a shortcut to a complete sentence to get all information on
the ticket. The colon ties what is coming next to first part for example Date: January 21,
1843. I was very happy that everyone used all punctuation and capitalization correctly!

X.

References:

Baltimore and Ohio RR. (2010, July 7). Loud Strasburg Train Steam Whistle. Retrieved
January 20, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZgzRfa-xPQ
Danielson, C. (2013). Danielson Group : The Framework. Retrieved January 16, 2016, from
http://www.danielsongroup.org/framework/

Kucan, L. (2012). What Is Most Important to Know About Vocabulary? The Reading
Teacher, 65(6), 360-366. doi:10.1002/trtr.01054
Rea, D. M., & Mercuri, S. (2006). Research-based strategies for English language learners:
How to reach goals and meet standards, K-8. Portsmouth, NH: Heineman.
Rosenblatt, L. M. (1982). The literary transaction: Evocation and response. Theory Into
Practice, 21(4), 268-277. doi:10.1080/00405848209543018
Titcomb, G., & Minor, W. (2010). The last train. New York: Roaring Brook Press.