Allison Oliver

Cooperating Teacher: Mrs. C.

C. Elementary School
October 7, 2015
LESSON PLAN OUTLINE
JMU Elementary Education Program
1. TITLE/TYPEOFLESSON
Fancy Nancy and the Fall Foliage Read Aloud
2. CONTEXT OF LESSON

The students have been learning about fall. They have some background knowledge
about the season before the reading, which makes it an appropriate topic. Read alouds are
hugely important to the students literacy development. The book can and will introduce
new vocabulary to the students that they can use in their other subjects as they continue
to learn about fall. Additionally, as it is currently fall, their new vocabulary can be used
outside of school as well. The students will also be able to describe the plot of the story.
3. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
o
o
o

The students review what they know about the season of fall.
The students will learn and understand the word foliage
The students will be able to explain what happened during the beginning, middle
and end of the book.

4. ASSESSING LEARNING
o
o
o

The students will practice correctly pronouncing foliage

The students will give a thumbs up when they hear the word foliage and its
definition during the story.
The students will explain what they believe foliage means in their own words
after the book has been read.

5. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS

if required)
1.

1.1 E) The student will express ideas orally in complete sentences.

2.

1.2 A) The student will increase listening and speaking vocabularies.

6. MATERIALS NEEDED

Fancy Nancy and the Fall Foliage by Jane OConnor

Allison Oliver
Cooperating Teacher: Mrs. C.
C. Elementary School
October 7, 2015
7. PROCEDURE

Read through the book in order to be prepared to read it aloud

Ask the students if anyone has read a Fancy Nancy book before

Present the title (Fancy Nancy and the Fall Foliage), the author (Jane OConnor)
and illustrator (Robin Preiss Glasser)

Ask the students if anyone knows the meaning of foliage

Ask the students to all say foliage

Ask the students to give a thumbs up when they hear the definition of foliage
explained in the story

Read the story

Review the definition of foliage

Review the plot of the story

Ask the students what their favorite part of the story was

8. DIFFERENTIATION
Read alouds work for generally all students especially as none of the students in the class
are ESL students. The read aloud book was picked out by Mrs. C. ahead of time as it is
about fall, a topic the students have been covering in class. Different conversations
during and after the reading can be used to differentiate the same story for different
students.
9. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO
ABOUT IT?
o
o

Fire drills or other emergency drills could be scheduled during the read aloud.
The reading should be picked up after the drill is over.
The students could be unresponsive to the reading. They could be antsy or
talkative. Have them discuss what they know about fall and make guess about
what foliage might mean based on what they already know about the season.

Understand The students will

Know The students will

Do The students will

Allison Oliver
Cooperating Teacher: Mrs. C.
C. Elementary School
October 7, 2015
understand more about the qualities of
fall including falling leaves, leaves
changing color, and raking leaves.

know the definition of

foliage and continue to
learn about fall.

listen to hear the

definition of new words,
mainly foliage

Lesson Implementation Reflection

As 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.
I did two separate read alouds during power up. The first group was much more receptive
to listening to the book, giving a thumbs up when they heard the word foliage, and
discussing the book and what they know about fall after the reading. The second group
was much more antsy and had a hard time paying attention. We made it through the first
few pages before they lost any interest they may have had in the book. Instead, we
discussed their favorite activities during the fall including jumping into leaf piles, picking
out pumpkins, hayrides, dressing up for Halloween and trick or treating.

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 students all learned the word foliage by the end of the lesson. At the end of the
activity, each student explained in his or her own words the definition of foliage.

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.
Some students retained the definition of foliage faster than others. Having the students
who need more review of the word point out the pictures of the foliage through out the
book could help reinforce the new vocabulary. The students who understood the new
word right of the bat could have learned new synonyms for other words about fall, for
example autumn.

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 have the students practice writing the word
foliage to become more comfortable with it. I would them have them write a sentence
using their new vocabulary.

Allison Oliver
Cooperating Teacher: Mrs. C.
C. Elementary School
October 7, 2015
V.

As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced
about young children as learners?
This lesson reinforced that each child is going to have different interests. Some children
are more interested in read alouds than others. Many children are tired and uninterested in
anything related to school at the end of the day. Additionally, as none of the students in
power up are students in my practicum classroom, they do not seem to view me as a
teacher, which could contribute to some of the students not paying attention.

VI.

As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced
about teaching?
This lesson reinforced that teaching can sometimes be frustrating. We cannot force
students to be interested and engaged in what is going on. However, for the most part,
this lesson was a success and it was rewarding and exciting to see that the students
learned a new vocabulary word.

VII.

As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced
about yourself?
This lesson reinforced that I will have to be quick on my feet when in the classroom and I
believe that I will be able to do so.