Lesson Plan Format

Name: Caroline Peterson

Size: Small Group

Grade Level: 2nd

Date: 4/28/16

Group

Subject/Lesson Topic: Science

Objectives: (TLW:) Short term, specific and observable
Understand what makes up a healthy plate
Understand the different parts of the food pyramid
Standards/GLEs:
Identify and discuss the arrangement of the food pyramid (LS-E-A6)
Contextual Factors: (What contextual factors were considered when planning the lesson)
Inclusive classroom with 23 students. The class contains resource students as well as
students with behavior needs. There are also 6 ESL students in the classroom.
Teacher Materials/Resources: List everything the teacher and students will need for this
activity including materials, supplies and equipment.
Empty plate worksheets (enough for pre and post assessment)
Stiff Styrofoam Poster board with large empty plate/glass attached to it
Laminated food items (food items from each food group)
Velcro (attached to the back of food items and corresponding place on plate)
Pen
Student Materials/Resources:
Pencil
Technology Integration: Include technology in the lesson, if possible.
Promethean smart board
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9ymkJK2QCU The 5 Food Groups Educational
childrens video
Family/Community Connection or Extension:
The children will be encouraged to observe the foods they eat at home/at school lunch
and decipher if they are eating all groups of the food pyramid and having well balanced
meals.
Pre-Assessment: What data did you use to plan for instruction that meets childrens interests,
needs, and abilities? This may be formal or informal.
I understood that my students knew the different food groups, so I decided to expand the
concept and include how the food pyramid should include all sections in each meal we
eat.

Pre-assess the students by giving them a print out of a plate with four sections and a glass
next to the plate.
The students job is to fill in each section of the plate/glass with the food group
components/foods, in order to have a balanced meal.

Lesson Procedure and Activities: (the format will depend on the type of lesson such as ELA or
science)
Introduction: A brief activity that will introduce the lesson by activating students prior
knowledge and/or experience, interests them in the lesson, and sets a purpose for the lesson.
(About 5 minutes)
I will introduce the activity to the students by asking them if they know what a wellbalanced meal looks like and what types of food do they think are healthy.
I will create a web on the smart board that includes the food that they consider healthy
I will then hand the students the pre-assessment empty plate in which they are to use their
prior knowledge on the food pyramid to fill in their plate.
I will then explain to the students why we need well-balanced meals in order to live
healthy lives.
I will show the students a brief video of the importance of healthy plates.
Activities: This is a detailed, step-by-step list of the activities. Include questions you may
ask the students, if applicable. Be very specific so anyone can follow the directions to
conduct the lesson.
I will have the laminated food items laid out on a table, and the Styrofoam board placed
on an easel in front of the table.
The children will each get a chance to chose an item from the table and place it on the
labeled food group plate.
Once the children have each placed an item on the plate, I will then challenge them and
assign a food group to each one of them.
The children will then chose a food item that corresponds with the food group that I
assigned them.
The children will place the food item on the plate.
This routine will continue until all food items are placed in their corresponding place on
the plate.
Closure: Briefly summarizes, reviews, or wraps up the experience. (About 5 minutes.)
Ask the children to explain to me what a well-balanced plate looks like and why it is
important to include all food groups in our daily diet.
I will create a new web on the smart board with the childrens ideas of different healthy
foods they can include in their diet.
We will compare the web from the beginning of the lesson to the web at the end.

Differentiation: How will you organize and manage instruction to meet the needs of each
student? (Special needs, behavior needs, different ability levels, cultural differences)
Special needs: knowing that the students all have different ability levels, I will teach at a
comfortable pace and allow questioning throughout my lesson. If an individual child
needs help I will encourage their learning buddy to help, if they cannot do so then I will
help.
Behavior needs: I will place the students into groups that I know will work well together.
If a child is having trouble behaving within that group, I will move them to another
group.
Different ability levels: I will encourage students to work with their partners. I will also
teach at a pace that meets the needs of all students.
Cultural differences: I will work individually with the ESL students if they are not
grasping the concept of the lesson. This lesson meets the needs for all cultures.
Formative Assessment/Evaluation: How will you determine if the objectives were met? This
may be formal or informal.
I will assess the students by giving them the same paper with the empty plate that I gave
them in the pre-assessment.
I will flip the poster board over so the children cannot see the example we created as a
group.
The children will fill in their plates, and hand them to me as an exit ticket.
I will understand from their pre-assessment and post-assessment plates if they were able
to understand the concept.

Reflection:
Typically in a developmentally appropriate small group, the group consists of three to six
children. When teachers work with students in a small group it allows them to focus one on one
with their students, whether its through learning a new concept, reviewing what was already
learned, or helping the children learn how to use critical thinking and solve problems. According
to Copple et al., (2009), small groups can be very beneficial to students by giving children
opportunities to engage in conversations with peers and solve problems collaboratively (p. 40).
Small group activities are usually very hands on and occur in short amounts of time. When
teachers and students engage in small group activities teachers are able to work more hands on
with their students as well as identify where children are not meeting certain standard needs.
During my small group activity I used strategies such as applying a concept that was
already introduced, allowing the students to work together to understand a concept, and
introducing a new concept based off of a previously learned skill (well balanced plate). I had
already taught my students about the food pyramid, and the next concept that I wanted to teach
them was how to create a healthy meal by incorporating all sections of the food pyramid. I also
asked questions in the beginning of the lesson to activate their prior knowledge. I asked my
students, What do you think a well balanced meal looks like? and What foods do you
consider healthy? I created a web that included the food that they considered healthy before we
began the activity. I pre-assessed my students by handing them an empty plate with five sections
divided; their job was to fill out what they thought a healthy well-balanced meal looked like. The

children then began their activity, which included them creating a healthy plate with the large
plate on the poster board, and the laminated food items.
After the activity was complete I assessed the children again by asking them what their
new thoughts were on healthy meals. I created a web again that consisted of their ideas, we then
compared the two webs we created and discussed the differences. The children once again filled
in another empty plate sheet, which allowed me to compare their pre-assessment plate to their
plate at the end of the lesson. I was able to notice that all of the students succeeded in the
objectives that I had planned for them. This lesson was very developmentally appropriate
because it was hands on, and allowed the students to use their skills and prior knowledge in order
to learn a new skill.
Overall, I think that this small group activity went very well, however there were a few
things that I would change. The lesson ended up taking longer than I expected. If I were to go
back and re-work this small group activity with the children I wouldnt create another web of
healthy foods in the end of the lesson. I would create a web at the beginning, in order to see what
my students thought healthy food consisted of. However, I would use their pre and postassessment plates as their full assessment, rather than both a web and written assessment. Based
off of the post-assessment, the children were able to understand what made a healthy plate, as
well as distinguish that all five food groups are needed in order to create a well-balanced meal.