Your name: Andrea Stein

Elementary Inclusive Preservice Program Lesson Plan

Lesson title: Empathy and Previewing Books: Read Aloud of Hazels Amazing Mother
Grade/age level: 1st
Date (intended teaching date): 9/18/2014

Learning Objective(s)

Students will practice empathy by recognizing the feelings of the texts main character, and
What do you want students begin to reflect on how they can recognize said feelings
to know, understand, or be
able to do as a result of this Students will refamiliarize themselves with how good readers preview a book before
lesson?
reading.

Evidence for
assessment

Empathy: I will listen to students answers during read aloud and conversations during
brainstorming. I will also examine their pictures and sentences during the drawing activity,
while hopefully conferring with some of them to further gauge their understanding of
Hazels emotions and how they got there. During the read aloud, I am interested in their
accuracy in identifying Hazels emotions, as well as the sophistication with which they do
so e.g. relieved would be a more sophisticated answer than happy, though both
accurate. During the drawing activity, I am interested in similar questions, but also hope to
gain a sense of their metacognition by discussing how they knew she was feeling what she
was feeling.

Where will you look

(product, performance,
documentation you create,
etc.) for signs of student
learning?
What will you look for?
What are your criteria?
(examples of statements or
actions that would show the
particular kinds of
Previewing: Students ability to preview books will largely be assessed elsewhere (in
understandings, learnings,
readers workshop) this lesson is simply meant to provide a brief additional model of the
&/or skills you are after?)
practice in action.

Rationale

I am focusing on empathy because I believe it is an incredibly important area of

development in the early grades and that literature especially this book can be a great
access point to its development.

Why are you teaching this

lesson? What connections
does it have to standards?
Does it connect to students Reading workshop earlier this day will feature a mini-lesson on previewing books, so this
interests, strengths, and
lesson is also intended to reinforce reading workshop, by providing an additional model of
needs? How does it fit within
how good readers preview a book.
the curriculum?
Finally, throughout the week, students will be bringing in their own favorite books to be
shared with the class in a special bin, so this read aloud is my contribution to this
community-building practice (as Hazels Amazing Mother was one of my childhood
favorites.)

Prerequisite Knowledge This lesson depends on knowledge of English (to understand the story and directions)
What prior knowledge are
which will be a problem for one of my students, who does not yet know much English.
you counting on? Will this be
a problem for any of your
To accommodate her as much as possible, I will seek to make more eye contact with her
students and if so, what will

you do?

during the read aloud, emote as much as possible, and be sure she sees the books
pictures. When asking questions during the read aloud, I will repeat the questions in
Spanish. During the drawing activity, I will also translate directions for her as needed.

Learning Experience

Assessment

In each section below, specify the sequence of instructional activities.

Consider how you will manage materials, bodies, and time. Use small
boxes to indicate time.

What will you look/listen to/for? How are you

figuring out what students are learning?

Transition Time
How will you invite students
into the learning experience? Students will return to the classroom from
lunch and put their lunch boxes away. A/B
group will leave for music, while the other
group comes to sit on the rug.

During the transition and hook, my main

concern is simply that students have begun
to engage, which I will evaluate based on
their body language and behavior (i.e. do
they seem to be paying attention? Are they
reacting to what I am saying?).

Starting It

I will introduce Ms. Ledwell.

Hook (on the rug)
I will make a connection to students sharing
their favorite books throughout the week, and
introduce Hazels Amazing Mother as one of
my favorite books from when I was their age.
I will explain why it is one of my favorites:

Sharing it with my mother

Because its a story that deals with a lot
of emotions (feelings), and the author
does a great job of helping us
understand and sometimes even feel
how the main character feels

I will explain that while I read, I want them to

think about how Hazel might be feeling in the
story.
10
mins

Doing It
Outline your sequence of
instructional moves including
participation structures,
materials, intellectual
resources, and time allotted.
Is there a product or
performance you will be
expecting students to
create?

Previewing the Book (on the rug)

During the previewing of the book, I will ask

them to pat their head to show that they are
I will make a connection to earlier in the day connecting to previous materials.
during reading workshop, when Ms. Littles
showed them how to preview books before During the read aloud itself, my questions are
they read them. I will ask them to pat their
designed to gauge students ability to
heads if they remember this.
understand how Hazel is feeling (see above).
This will allow me to assess some students
I will model how good readers preview books: (though only those I call on).

First, I will look at the cover, including the I will also examine students drawings during
title and illustration It sounds like Hazel the drawing activity, and converse with some

has a pretty great mother, and I bet thats of them prioritizing those I did not call on
her and her mother right there, and she the rug to talk about Hazels emotions and
seems to have some sort of doll. So this how they were able to identify them (see
Evidence for Assessment above).
book will probably be about Hazel and
her great mother.
Then, I will do a quick picture walk
Theres Hazel and her mother Looks
like shes going around town Uh oh, it
sort of looks like she ran into some
bullies theres her doll way up in the
air And then her mother in the air, how
sillyHmm, I wonder what her mother is
doing up in that tree (pause here)

Read Aloud (on the rug)

I will read the book aloud, stopping at the
following points for modeling and practicing
empathy with Hazel:
Page 5 Turn and talk to your partner: How
do you think Hazel is feeling right now?
(Happy, satisfied I will listen in and, after
calling back to attention write some of these
words, as well as words of my own, on the
easel)
Page 9 Tap your head if youve ever been
lost before. Pretty scary, right? And it looks
like Hazel is feeling pretty scared.
Page 11 How do you think Hazel is feeling
right now? (Scared, sad, powerless I will
write some of these words, as well as words
of my own, on the easel)
Page 13 Pat your head if youve ever been
in a situation where you just really, really
wanted your mother or another parent figure.
Ill let you in on a little secret even adults
can feel that way sometimes, when things get
a little overwhelming and Hazel looks pretty
overwhelmed, doesnt she?
Page 19 how do you think Hazel is feeling
right now? (Happy, relieved - I will write these
words, as well as words of my own, on the
easel)
Brainstorm (on the rug)

After I finish reading the read-aloud, I will ask

students to turn and talk to a partner about
their favorite part of the book.
I will then ask them to think silently to
themselves about how they think Hazel
was feeling in that moment.
Drawing Activity (at tables)
Students will be released by row to their
tables, where they will draw a picture of their
favorite part and fill in how Hazel was feeling
using the template provided.
(Note: I didnt change this, because your
comments made me realize that text-to-self
connections arent really central to my
objective in my head instead, theyre a tool
I want to use to keep students continuously
engaged with Hazels emotional life during
the read aloud, in case they have trouble
accessing her feelings more abstractly.
Ultimately, Im more interested in their
moving beyond identifying with her, however,
and instead understanding what her feelings
are, and beginning to explore how they know
[of which identification might be one part]).
I will circulate to reiterate directions, answer
questions, and talk to students about their
pictures (What was your favorite part of the
book? How do you think Hazel felt then? and
as an extension How do you know?).
35 mins

Closing
How will you bring students
to closure with this learning I will get students attention and remind them
experience and connect it to that they will get more practice previewing
future learning?
books as I did with Hazels Amazing Mother
in reading workshop in days to come.

Finishing It

I will call on a few students (as time permits)

to share their work, asking them to explain
what their favorite moment was, how Hazel
felt, and how they knew.
I will ask them, as they go about the rest of
their day, to try to take a moment and think
about how others like their classmates and

teachers are feeling in different situations,

just like they did for Hazel. I will tell them that
such practice will make us even better friends
to each other.
When I release them, students will put away
their markers, put their papers in their
mailboxes (if they havent already), and line
up for playground time.
5 mins

Accessibility

Because maintaining attention can be difficult at this age, I have tried to break up the readWhat accessibility and
aloud with opportunities for the students to engage, spaced throughout the book.
participation challenges have
you taken into account and Because the text is also heavily centered on Hazels strong relationship with her mother,
how have you addressed
students who do not have strong relationships with their mothers may find the text less
them? (material and human accessible. In my questions, I ask about parental figures more generally, not focusing on
resources, sequence of
mothers on particular.
instruction)
Because most of the students in the class are still emergent writers, I have limited the
amount of writing in this lesson to a fill-in-the-blank question.

Materials Needed

Hazels Amazing Mother text

Markers
My Favorite Part drawing page