Spring 2015

Sem II- READ 436

LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

Name: Brooke Showalter

Teacher, Grade, School: Nicole Hostetter, 4th Grade, Bessie Weller Elementary
Date and Time Implemented: Feb. 25th at 10 a.m.
Date Submitted: Feb. 17th

A. TITLE/TYPE OF LESSON Scavenging for synonyms, antonyms, and homophones

B. CONTEXT OF LESSONI have conducted one pre- assessment by observing my practicum students the last several weeks. I have
noticed that these students learn the best through hands-on activities and anything that can be conducted on the
computer. These students show interest in technology and so I have tried to conduct my lesson around this idea.
I will also conduct another pre-assessment before I begin my lesson where I will place smiley faces around the
room. One will smile, one will frown, and one will be in the middle. I will ask students several questions about
how they feel on the topics of synonyms, antonyms, and homophones. Students will respond by walking to the
smiley face that they feel best represents their feelings. By doing this, I am hoping to see what needs more
emphasis in my lesson.
Students will be tested on synonyms, antonyms, and homophones on their SOL so my cooperating
teacher has asked me to conduct and introductory lesson for these. She stated that these are hard for students to
get sometimes and that they need much practice. She will be doing review lessons later on in the semester. This
is why I can teach this topic and it is appropriate at this time. These three topics are usually taught at the end of
the year but since they are hard for students to grasp, my cooperating teacher wants me to teach these now and
then they will be slightly ahead for their curriculum sequence.
From reading about child development, I know that most if not all of my students are located in the
preoperational stage of Piagets Stages of Development. This means that these students can create some small
amounts of reasoning behind their ideas, their thinking is easily reversed, and they learn from using their senses
the best.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVESUnderstand what are the broad

generalizations the students should
begin to develop? (These are
typically difficult to assess in one
lesson.)
The students will know how to
expand vocabulary when reading.

Know- what are the facts, rules,

specific data the students will gain
through this lesson? (These knows
must be assessed in your lesson.)

Do- what are the specific thinking

behaviors students will be able to do
through this lesson? (These will also
be assessed in your lesson)

Students will contrast the differences

between synonyms and antonyms.

Students will create a poster

demonstrating their knowledge on
synonyms, antonyms, or
homophones.

Students will evaluate and define

homophones.
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D. ASSESSING LEARNING

Smiley Faces Pre and Post Assessment explained in the procedure part of the lesson plan template.

Students will be creating posters that represent what they learned during research about their specific
topic.

Exit Ticket: Asking 4 questions

o

What have you enjoyed about Ms. Showalters Lesson?

Can you explain what homophones are?

What are the differences between synonyms and antonyms?

Give an example (2 words at least) for each a synonym, antonym, and a homophone?

E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS if required) Reading:

4.4 The student will expand vocabulary when reading.
b.) Use knowledge of roots, affixes, synonyms, antonyms, and homophones.
***Before the students can expand vocabulary by reading, students must know what each of these mean
and be able to find examples. My lesson will address this aspect.
F. MATERIALS NEEDED Poster paper (3)- Mrs. Hostetter

Markers- Students/ Mrs. Hostetter

Homophone matching card game- Ms. Showalter

Laptops- Students

Exit Ticket (one per student if printed)- Ms. Showalter

G. PROCEDURE Preparation of the learning environment (if required)

o There is no prep required for this lesson other than to have materials of laptops, posters, and
markers ready at the students work space to use.

Pre Assessment:

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I will post three smiley faces around the room. One representing a smile, one representing an
in-between smile, and one representing a frown. For the before part of my lesson, I will start
my lesson by asking my students several questions. The students will then move to the smiley
face that they feel expresses their feelings about the topic. I will reassure them that this does
not reflect on their grade or how I or Mrs. Hostetter feel about them. The questions that I will
ask are as follows:

How comfortable do you feel about the topic of homophones?

How comfortable do you feel about the topic of synonyms?

What about antonyms?

Lesson:
o

To begin my word study lesson I will divide the students into three groups by asking the
students to get into groups of three. Then I will have each of them pick a candy bar either
Snickers, Milkyway, or Twix. Once they have chosen within their groups, I will have students
separate by candy bars creating three new groups. These will be the groups that they are
working in. I will have the students sit at a table with their groups where I will explain the
directions. I will assign each group with a topic of synonym, antonym, or homophone. Your
group is to create a poster using your resources about your topic. Your poster must include a
definition, three examples, and a picture representing one of your examples. What resources
are available for you to use? Students will reply stating they can use a dictionary or laptop. I
will then ask, Can anyone tell me, what the three things are that your poster must include?
Students will reply with a definition, three examples, and a picture representing one of the
examples. I will then pass out the poster paper and markers. Students will be given 15-20
minutes to create their poster. Once they are finished, I will ask each group to share their
poster with the rest of the class. During sharing time, I may ask some reiterating questions
such as, Together as a class, what is the definition of a homophone, synonym, or antonym?

Once our poster presentations are finished I will explain to students our next activity dealing
with homophones. I will be giving each student a card with a word on it. Students will
silently find their word partner or partners where your words should sound the same.
Questions? I will pass out the cards and when I say go students will do as they are told.
When I say stop, I will have students share their words and I will then ask students to explain
to me what type of word pairs we have all represented. Students should reply with the word
homophones. I will choose a student to reiterate what the definition of a homophone is. This
will be repeated one more time. I will be taking notes on what students were able to find their
partners and what students struggled.

For my third activity, students will log onto their laptops and play Super Word Toss dealing
with synonyms and antonyms. I will explain step by step how to get onto the game and what
the procedure of the game is. Students will be given a word and told weather they are finding a
synonym or an antonym. They will be asked to throw a ball at the correct word rolling from
right to left on the screen. The more words they get right, the more points they earn. Students
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can play at the basic level or the more advanced level depending how they feel. I will be
giving students about 10 to 15 minutes to play this game.

Post Assessment:
o

Students will then repeat their pre-assessment with the smiley faces to try and show if they
have gained any knowledge about synonyms, antonyms, and homophones. Clean-up (if
required)

Clean up:
o

Students will hang posters around the room and clean up any markers and materials left behind.
Computers should be ready to use for the next lesson.

H. DIFFERENTIATIONI plan to meet all students needs by walking around to each group and talking with them about their
topic. I will help guide students who are struggling to the resources around them that they could use. I will help
students who are struggling with the homophone card activity by expanding more on what a homophone is and
showing them classroom examples of who are correct. I have planned a variety of learning styles such as
writing, computer games, and moving around to help fit each students needs. This way students arent sitting at
their desks listening to a lecture for the 45 minutes my lesson will take. Instead each child will be involved in
either making the poster, presenting the poster, playing the homophone game, and/or playing the synonyms and
antonym game on the computer.
Students who finish early will take a plain white sheet of computer paper and make a poster on one of
the other two topics that they did not originally research. This will help expand their knowledge of vocabulary.
I. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Fire Drill- redirect students as we come back into the classroom. I may have to continue my lesson at a
later date and time.

Students could refuse to work- encourage students through moving around and hands-on activities. If
this option gets to bad I will involve the cooperating teacher.

Students could talk during the homophone game and lose the purpose- move to the next activity and
explain to students that if they cannot follow directions then Ms. Showalter will use lecture and notes
next lesson.

LESSON IMPLEMENTATION REFLECTIONAs soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts below to
guide your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.
I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain
why you made them.
My actual lesson did not differ much from my lesson plans at all. There were a few minor details that
changed. First and foremost, I changed the grouping strategy for when students work together on their posters.
In my lesson I mentioned that I would ask students to get in groups of three. Then in each group the students
would choose who would be the Milkyway, the Snickers, and the Twix bar. Afterwards students would form 3
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new groups according to the names of the candy bars. I felt as if students would not be honest about their candy
bar name/group and would go wherever they wanted. This may work for some classes but for my specific
practicum classroom I just thought that this would be too chaotic. The problem with having them pick their own
groups is that they want so many in a group that it is too big or too small and group sizes arent even. Some
students become angered at others because of who students choose to work with. The other problem with my
candy bar separation is that this would take more time out of my lesson and my group sizes would be 5 to a
poster. This just seemed like too many students working on the same poster. Instead, I chose to have students
work with others at their table. This was quick and cut down the group size to 2 or 3 students working on a
poster. Since I had only planned on having three groups/three posters, and I now have 6 groups/6 posters. I
gave pairs of groups the same topic. Two presented on synonyms, two on antonyms, and two on homophones.
There was only one other minor change to my lesson that I made. Since I had students complete the exit
ticket, I knew this would be enough for me to tell who understood the lesson and who did not. With this said I
did not ask students to complete the smiley face assessment at the end of my lesson. I figured that the exit ticket
would allow enough assessment for myself and the students. This gave the students 5 extra minutes to work on
their online games since they were so interested!
II. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student learning?
Did they learn? Who learned? What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are
valid?
The assessment I chose to create was an exit pass that students would complete through the google docs
that my cooperating teacher helped me make. This is a wonderful resource because students can be on their
computer (which they enjoy), the teacher does not have to deal with so many worksheets and/or papers and the
teacher is able to print ONE spreadsheet will all the childrens answers on it.
Students seemed to be confused in the beginning about my topics of homophones, synonyms, and
antonyms. Many students mentioned that they have heard these names before but didnt really know what they
were. Other students would confuse the names with the wrong definition. In the end after looking at my exit
ticket, it seemed that students were able to sort out the correct word with the correct definition and also give
great examples of each.
It seems that every student except one who refuse to cooperate on the exit ticket gained knowledge
through my lesson. The most common mistake was that students typed in their exit ticket that antonyms mean
different, about 5 students did this. It seems from their examples they understand but they should have specified
the meanings are opposite. Toe and Hot have different meanings but they are not antonyms because they are not
opposites of one another. Two students gave examples of antonyms for both antonyms and synonyms.
Otherwise, all other students that gave examples of pairs of each synonyms, antonyms, and homophones were
spot on. It seems that these students have all learned what homophones are and can give examples (some very
creative I might add). I have attached the spreadsheet to show all of this on the back of my lesson plan.
III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or
more thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.
If I was to teach this lesson again, I could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a more
thorough way by pulling books that have multiple examples of each synonym, antonym, and/or homophones.
For my early finishers who need to be challenged, I can give them a book and for a self-assessment and have
them do a word hunt within the book and have them write down all the examples they can find. This has them
completing a task that is closer to what the sol asks. I could also maybe do this as an assessment for each child
individually to see what they have learned. Sometimes it is easy to look at others computers to gain answers but
if the students at each table all have different books, students can look at other students work.
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Another way to incorporate developmentally appropriate practice more thoroughly would be to

incorporate family members. For a homework assignment, students can time two family members to see who
can come up with the most synonyms, antonyms, or homophones. Another alternative would be for a family
member to play the student. I know this may be difficult for some families so maybe the student can challenge
another student, teacher, or mentor as an alternative. For those family members who arent sure what these
topics are, this is a great opportunity for the students to teach their family. By teaching students can gain more
knowledge along with the family member.
IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom
teacher?
If I were the classroom teacher, I would teach next how to find examples of these words synonyms,
antonyms and homophones within reading. This would relate more directly to the SOL. The SOL states that
students should identify synonyms, homophones, and antonyms while reading. Students could be paired up or
work on their own to sort through different reading materials and find examples of each of the three topics. This
would help students see how often they come up or not while also helping them read and build fluency. The
teacher could model this as an example and then students could go from there.
As far as the next topic that I would teach would be much up to my pacing guide. Though if I had a
choice I would choose to teach a lesson on roots, affixes and suffixes. The SOL also states that students should
be able to identify what these are and also find them within reading. Why not teach all of this Reading SOL 4.4
b at the same time? I have seen online computer games dealing with roots, affixes and suffixes also. The
teacher could introduce the topic, teach her lesson on the smart board and have students come up to complete
examples. Students could also do interactive notes so that they have something to refer back to or even do a flip
chart, pop-up type activity and finish the lesson by playing online computer games. I had so many compliments
from students about the games. These games are extremely educational and their fun. Students tend to contain
more information when they are learning and having fun at the same time.
V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about young
children as learners?
I learned that students are more eager to complete assignments when they get to work with other
students in the classroom. Even though students werent allowed to pick their own groups, they were still
willing to complete the poster assignment with the other students at their table rather than having to work by
themselves. I have also been reinforced about how giving students the opportunity to move around the
classroom keeps them engaged and lets them get all of their jitter bugs out. My practicum students love to work
on their laptops. I knew from the beginning that I needed to incorporate working on laptops into my lesson. I
am sure other classes would be the same. I saw that by letting students work together they were able to talk to
one another and if someone didnt understand, another student can help reinforce them. By talking ideas out and
letting students combine ideas I feel like in the end the students will retain more and you as a teacher will have a
more powerful lesson.
I saw that with having students complete the exit ticket online I was able to reach students who I
normally wouldnt I was to only incorporate discussions. For those shy students who dont like to talk during
the lesson, I was able to see their thinking and understanding on the assessment sheet. The printout was easy for
me as an educator to see all students thinking.
VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
teaching?
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Teaching one lesson takes much planning. Time management is a huge key to becoming a successful
teacher who is prepared for his or her lesson. It is imperative that teachers over plan rather than under plan. I
have also learned that planning a lesson for a specific amount of time is challenging, especially planning a lesson
with students whom you arent sure about their work ethic and style. I have observed several days in my
practicum classroom but the students within are all different in their work ethic and style. My timing was
actually dead on for my lesson. I will not always plan perfectly and I know this. For upcoming lessons I will
have more work for students who finish early or if I over plan then some of the lesson may be held until the
following day or word study may be extended for a short time period. I wouldnt want to take away from recess,
lunch, or other subjects though.
Also I have learned that students need clear concise directions. During my lesson, I only verbally said
the directions for the poster activity. I did then write them on the board for students to look at when they needed
reminders but instead they seemed to ask me instead of refer to the bored. I should have had a small half sheet
of paper to hand out to each group describing the directions for students to refer to. I know now that students
need reminded of directions more than once and that I as a teacher need to plan to incorporate more directions
written for students to refer to.
VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
yourself
I have learned that sometimes I need to be more aware of other groups as I am working with one specific
group. I need to make sure that others are on task and not just talking about Minecraft or other subjects not
dealing with word study. It seems that I do a good job of redirecting students because students seem to get back
on task easily but I need to be aware more and maybe redirect more. This is easier to do when students are
working individually but much harder when they are working in groups. Just something for me to keep in mind.
This lesson was not hard to plan according to the resources that I found and used. I learned that not
every lesson has to be worksheets and quizzes and that I control what makes a lesson fun and what doesnt. I
showed myself that lessons do not always have to take hours of planning and that if you come up with a good
lesson that works, use it again! There is nothing wrong with saving lessons and implementing them in your own
classroom or even for the following year in your classroom.

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