UNLV

Department of Teaching and Learning

UNLV Student: Allison Simons PSMT Name:

Lesson Plan Title: Thelma the Unicorn Lesson Plan Topic: Illustrations

Date: Estimated Time: 45 minutes

Grade Level: 2nd School Site

1. State Standards:
a. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7: Use information gained from the illustrations and
words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters,
setting, or plot.
2. Teaching Model(s):
a. Read Aloud
b. Student Centered: Sharing answers
c. Teacher Directed: Discussion Questions
3. Objective(s) : Students will be able to describe how a specific illustration conveyed the
characters feelings and created a mood in the text.
4. Materials and Resources:
a. Thelma the Unicorn by Aaron Blabey
b. “Illustrations” worksheet
5. Instructional Procedures:
a. Motivation/Engagement:
i. TW begin lesson by saying, “One of my favorite authors and illustrators is
Aaron Blabey. Aaron Blabey wrote a lot of great books, such as Pig the
Pug, Piranhas Don’t Eat Bananas and many others. The reasons I like
Blabey so much is not just because his stories are funny and have good
lessons, but he creates illustrations that support his writing.Illustrations
are not simply a picture on a page. The author uses illustrations to give
the audience extra details that might not be written in the text, create a
mood and to show what is happening in the story.”
ii. TW describe mood as, “The feeling you get when you read a story. You
can have multiple moods when reading a story.” (Teacher can write it on
the board as well).
b. Development Activities or Learning Experience:
i. TW gather the class on the carpet.
ii. TW begin with a “Picture Walk” asking:
1. Who is the author?
2. Who is the illustrator?
3. Judging from the cover, who do you think this story is about?
What made you think that?
4. What do you think this story is about? Why do you think that?
 iii. TW read Thelma the Unicorn aloud to the class.
iv. TW pass out the worksheet to the students and explain to them, “I am
going to open to a specific page in the story and show you the illustration.
I will cover the text at first. Looking at the illustrations, I want you to think
what is happening in the story? How does this illustration make me feel?
Then I will show you the text and I want you to write whether the
illustrations support what the author is saying in the text. Lastly, write any
extra details you may notice that the author left out. You will notice that on
your worksheet under “Illustration 1”, the sentence prompts are written
out. However for “Illustration 2 and 3 they are not. That is because I want
you to use the first prompt to write complete sentences for the
Illustrations 2 and 3.
v. TW show the selected illustrations. Give students about 5-7 minutes for
each illustration. Once the text is shown, teacher will circulate the
classroom to check for participation and understanding.
1. Page 4 - “But Thelma said, “I’m not.”
2. Pg. 9&10- “I’m special now!”
3. Pg. 21- “I thought that I’d feel great”
c. Closure:
i. TW cold call or take volunteers to share their answers.
1. Teacher will be sure to point out synonyms that students used to
describe the “mood”.
2. Expand upon students answers when applicable.
ii. TW ask for a volunteer to define the term, “mood”.
iii. TW ask for volunteers to answer, “Has anyone ever read something that
made them feel something strongly? What did you read? How did it make
you feel?
1. If no one volunteers TW provide an example, “When I read Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, I felt so bad that the Dursleys
were so mean to Harry Potter. When I read Pig the Star, the
illustrations of Pig in different costumes made me laugh. It made
me in a humorous mood until Pig got hurt, then I felt bad for him,
but happy that Trevor got to share the spotlight.”
iv. TW say, “To finish this lesson, I want you to turn to a person sitting next
to you and share with them what it illustration that you thought was the
most powerful and how it made you feel.”
1. Teacher should circulate and listen to student’s answers.
d. Extension:
i. Have students summarize what “Mood” is on the back of their worksheet
and write an example of a mood they felt when reading and what they
were reading.
ii. Have students write on the back of their paper who their favorite illustrator
is and explain why.
 iii. Go around the class and ask students to share a story that they have
read that had powerful illustrations that created a mood.
6. Accommodations, Modifications and Differentiations for Diverse Learners:
a. Students with reading difficulties will be able to listen to the teacher read and will
be using listening comprehension skills.
b. Students with hearing difficulties can be given a copy of the book to follow along
with.
c. Text will be made available to students who need it.
d. Teacher will be circulating the classroom at multiple times in the lesson to
provide support to any students who are struggling.
7. Assessment and Evaluation of Learning:
a. Formative: Worksheet will be used as formative assessment.
b. Summative: None.
8. Homework Assignment: N/A
9. Reflection: N/A
a. Strengths
b. Concerns
c. Insights