Running Head: LANGUAGE ACTIVITY 1

Language Activity: We Can Describe It!

Amber Kalender

Fresno Pacific University

Running Head: LANGUAGE ACTIVITY 2

CA Preschool Learning Foundation:

Listening and Speaking

1.1 Use language to communicate with others in familiar social situations for a variety of basic

purposes, including describing, requesting, commenting, acknowledging, greeting, and rejecting.

Title of Lesson:

We Can Describe It

Background Information:

We Can Describe It is an on-going circle time or group time activity. The purpose of We Can

Describe it is to take a part of the current curriculum, in this case a food and have the children

use all their senses to verbally state descriptive words about the subject being studied. This

activity can appeal to the child who learns hands on by allowing the child to touch, taste, see, and

hear the object. The auditorily learners can listen to their teachers and classmates verbal

description of the object. The visual learner can reference the large chart the teacher is creating

using all of the descriptive words that they class has come up with when describing the object.

Objective:

Students will use their senses to verbally describe how popcorn tastes, smells, looks, sounds, and

feels.

Materials:

Large post-it poster paper

Marker

Popcorn

Oil

Popcorn machine
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Cups

Popcorn Book by Frank Asch.

Procedure:

Review Students will need to have the understanding of the ways we interact in circle

or group time such as: raising a hand to speak and allowing friends to finish their thought before

speaking. Students will also be familiar with the concept of sense from previous We Can

Describe It activities

Overview Show students the pre-portioned cups of popcorn and explain to the class

that we will being using our senses to describe the snack popcorn.

Presentation During whole group time read the story Popcorn by Frank Asch.

Emphasize on the descriptive words when the bears are eating (MUNCH/CRUNCH). After

reading the story place the We Can Describe It: Popcorn, chart in front of the group of students

at circle time. Read the columns that the children will be describing: Tastes, Smells, Looks,

Sounds, Feels. Then pass out cups of popcorn to students.

Instruct students to eat a piece of popcorn. After the students have finished eating ask the

question: How does popcorn taste? Encourage the responses to be in complete sentences using

the sentence frame: The popcorn tastes______. (buttery, salty, yummy) Record responses on the

chart.

Instruct students to smell the popcorn. Ask the question: How does popcorn Smell?

Encourage the responses to be in complete sentences using the sentence frame: The popcorn

smells______. (buttery, sweet, delicious). Record responses on the chart.

Running Head: LANGUAGE ACTIVITY 4

Instruct students to look at the popcorn. Ask the question: What does the popcorn look

like? Encourage the responses to be in complete sentences using the sentence frame: The

popcorn looks______. (yellow, fluffy, bumpy). Record responses on the chart.

Instruct students to listen to the sounds the popcorn makes in their hands and in their

mouths when they are eating it. Also have the students think about the sound the popcorn made

when it was popping in the microwave in class. Ask the question: What sounds do popcorn

make? Encourage the responses to be in complete sentences using the sentence frame: The

popcorn sounds ______. (loud, squeaky, crunchy). Record responses on the chart.

Instruct students to hold some popcorn in their hands. Ask the question: How does

popcorn feel? Encourage the responses to be in complete sentences using the sentence frame:

The popcorn feels ______. (warm, melty, soft, silky). Record responses on the chart.

Wrap up by asking the students if there are any other ways we can describe popcorn,

discuss and record necessary. After the discussion introduce the story, Popcorn, by Frank Asch.

Read the story to the students while they eat their popcorn from the activity. Close the discussion

by talking about the popcorn featured in the story Popcorn, and the popcorn that the students

interacted with in class. Listen to ideas about other activities the students would like to do.

Differentiated Instruction

This lesson incorporates many learning styles such as visual where the child prefers using

pictures and images which is incorporated with the use of the popcorn chart. The next learning

style addresses it auditory-musical where the child prefers using sound and music, this addressed

by allowing the children to experience the sounds that popcorn makes as well as the book being

read before the lesson. The Verbal learning style is when the child prefers using words, both in

speech and writing which is the core of the lesson, the children will state verbally descriptive
Running Head: LANGUAGE ACTIVITY 5

words which are recorded in writing by the instructor. The physical learning style is when the

child prefers using their body, hands and sense of touch which is required of the children in order

to describe the popcorn in this lesson. The social or interpersonal learning style is when the child

prefers to learn in groups or with other people which is addressed by making this activity a

whole group experience.

Discussion Questions:

1. How does popcorn taste?

2. How does popcorn Smell?

3. What does the popcorn look like?

4. What sounds do popcorn make?

5. How does popcorn feel?

6. Are any other ways we can describe popcorn?

Evidence of Learning:

The instructor will check for understanding by analyzing the chart. Were the students

able to come up with many descriptive words or did they struggle with coming up with a few

ways to describe the popcorn. The amount of words listed in the descriptive columns of the chart

will be a way to assess if the children understood the activity and if they had enough vocabulary

words to properly describe popcorn.

Next Steps:

Completion: Move on to the next story time/We Can Describe It activity in the next

week with
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no added support on descriptive words.

Incompletion: During the next We Can Describe It activity model some descriptive

words before starting the lesson. Write and tell of a few examples throughout the activity.

One example of this is when talking about what the object looks like prompt the students

by asking them what color the object is or what shape it is.

Running Head: LANGUAGE ACTIVITY 7

Asch, F. (1979). Popcorn. New York: Little Simon.

California Department of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved September 04, 2017, from

http://www.cde.ca.gov/