Running Head: SHARED READING

Lesson Series:

Shared Reading

Shelby Teets

Johns Hopkins University

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Lesson Series: Shared Reading

Purpose for the Lesson finish

Shared readings are important for literacy development because they help students learn

concepts of print, as well as showing students the purpose of reading literature (Gunning, ).

Shared readings can be changed based on the needs of the learners by choosing a

developmentally appropriate text that still challenges learners, and creating objectives specific to

students’ development needs. The skills these students were working on

Assessment Data to Determine Instructional Focus

The CORE Phonics Screener was administered to five students in the classroom. After

analyzing the results of the assessment across the whole group, a trend indicated that students

would benefit from whole group instruction in the following: consonant sounds and variant

vowels and dipthongs. Four out of five students assessed scored beginning in both skills. The

instructional focus for this lesson was to expose students to words in the shared reading that

would strengthen these two skills, and provide understanding of the words in the poem through

performing the poem. Common Core standards covered in the lesson plan include: RF.2.4.A and

RL.2.7. The objectives aligned with both standards are written in “I can” statements. These were,

“I can read fluently. I can understand what I read. I can read with expression. I can use

illustration and text to tell about the plot of a story.” (cite CCSS and I can statement slide)

Rationale for Text Selection

It’s Fall, That’s All! was chosen due to its topic relevancy to the students in the

classroom. The host teacher has been teaching students about the weather and seasons all year,

and they are currently learning about fall, which is suggested content in a text for this grade level

by Fountas & Pinnell (2017). The poem focused on a single topic which included “repeated
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refrains suitable for reading in unison” (Fountas & Pinnell 2017, pg. 124). The language in the

poem described what fall is like using “descriptive language conveying sensory experiences”

when talking about the red, orange, yellow, and brown leaves, as well as winds blowing and

swirling the leaves around (Fountas & Pinnell 2017, pg. 124). The poem included some

nonstandard sentences, such as “When the north winds blow and the leaves swirl around, it’s

Fall, that’s all!” (Orta 1970). Vocabulary in the poem included common oral vocabulary for

children, except for “swirl,” however this was easy for students to learn in context (Fountas &

Pinnell 2017). The poem included many pairs of rhyming words, such as “brown and ground,”

and “weather and sweater” (Orta 1970). Illustrations were not included in the poem, however I

typed the poem into a PowerPoint slide and included four fall-themed photographs such as

different colored leaves on the ground next to trees, which I showed students before reading the

poem to engage them in inferring what the poem would be about. This was a short text that was

read multiple times in one sitting, enlarged so all students could see the text, and the text varied

with italics and color with simple punctuation (Fountas & Pinnell 2017).

The digital tool used was a PowerPoint slide projected onto the Promethean Board.

Students sat on their designated carpet spot and looked up at the poem being projected in front of

them. I used a pointer that had a colored leaf at the end to engage students, and pointed to each

word as I read. Students also joined in to read along, “It’s Fall, that’s all!” each time it appeared

in the poem. The Promethean Board allowed for all students to see the same text at the same

time, by making the text a lot larger than it would be on a standard piece of paper. It also allowed

for students to track and observe the teacher modeling concept of print so students know to read

from left to right and point to each word as it is read. To help students understand certain

vocabulary using context, I added a performance aspect to the lesson. Students watched me
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model the movements as I read the poem and performed the movements during the last time

reading the poem. I gave all students a popsicle stick that had two different leaves on it. One was

either red, yellow, or orange, and on the other side all students had a brown leaf. For example,

when the poem says, “When the leaves turn brown and fall to the ground…” students hold up

their brown leaf and then make the leaf and their whole body go to the ground. When the poem

says, “When the north winds blow and the leaves swirl around…” the students hold up their leaf

and make it swirl around in a circular motion to help them understand what “swirl” means.

References

Orta, M. (1970, January 01). It's fall...that's all (Catherine's voice). Retrieved from

http://englishpio6.blogspot.com/2015/10/its-fallthats-all-catherines-voice.html