Creating a Literate Environment

Creating a Literate Environment
Liz Schreiber
Walden University
EDUC 6706:The Beginning Reader PK-3 Dr. Orth

Getting to Know Literacy
Learners
The better you know your students, the better you can
connect them with texts that will impact them in
profound ways. –”Getting to Know Your Students” video
(Laureate Education Inc., 2010a)
Cognitive testing: IRLA: Independent Reading Level Assessment
Framework (Hileman & Zorzi Cline, 2012)
Non-cognitive testing: Reading interest Survey (Hildebrandt,
2001)
Share asssessment results from three students
“It is not about what we are teaching but who we are
teaching that is most important” –Dr. Janice
Almasi(Laureate Education Inc., 2010a)

Selecting Texts
It is important to choose a balance of linguistic, semiotic,
narrative, and informational texts that are part of the
literacy matrix discussed in the video “Analyzing and
Selecting Texts” (Laureate Education Inc., 2010b).

Selecting Texts
 Guided Reading: Students self-selected texts at their level from a unit on
bugs and insects
-Emergent reader: Bugs and More Bugs by Trace Taylor and Gina Zorzi (Taylor & Zorzi,
2006)
-Beginning reader: Where Do Bugs Live? By Jerald Halpern (Halpern, 1999)
-Transitional Reader: Butterfly by Louise Spilsbury (Spilsbury, 2005)
 Whole group reading activities
-Online book Bug Out! The World’s Creepiest, Crawliest Critters by Ginjer L. Clarke, an
informational, semiotic text from “We Give Books” (Combining the joy, 2013) website.
-The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (Carle,1986),
narrative story

Literacy Lesson: Interactive
Perspective p.1
 Teaching students to learn through an interactive
perspective is an important job of all teachers. We
need our students to learn specific literacy skills, and
also learn how to be strategic and metacognitive so that
they can control their own learning.
 In the video “Strategic Processing”, Dr. Janice Almasi
says that strategic processing must be interwoven
through all five pillars of literacy instruction (Laureate
Education Inc., 2010c), which is something, we, as
teachers, need to always keep in mind.

Perspective p.2
LESSON PLAN

Perspective p.3
LESSON PLAN
 Teacher: Ms. Elizabeth Schreiber
 Date: August 1, 2013
 Age/Grade Range; Developmental Level(s): Summer
reading class of 26 pre-kindergarten through entering
second grade students. Special focus on: YR: 4 years
old, pre-kindergarten, emergent reader ZZ: 6 years
old, entering first grade, beginning reader HT: 6 years
old, entering first grade, transitional reader
 Anticipated Lesson Duration: 30 minutes

Perspective p.4
Lesson Foundations
 Pre-assessment (including cognitive and noncognitive measures): Prior to
this lesson, I assessed all the students using my Independent Reading Level
Assessment Framework (Hileman & Zorzi Cline, 2012) as a cognitive
assessment to determine what reading level each child is in. I used the
“Reading Interest Survey” (Hildebrandt, 2001) as a non-cognitive assessment
with these students.
 Curricular Focus, Theme, or Subject Area: Bugs and Insects
 Stae/District Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.4 With prompting and support,
ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text (Common Core
Standards Initiative, 2012).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions
about key details in a text(Common Core Standards Initiative, 2012).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3c Read common high-frequency words by sight (Common
Core Standards Initiative, 2012).

Perspective p.5
 Learning Objectives: The students will be able to identify facts they already know about a
topic. The students will be able to identify words they do not know in a text and learn what
they mean. The students will be able to identify facts they learned about a topic after
reading a text. The students will be able to build sight words from a text they read using
letter cards.
 Adaptations for ELLs, Students with Special Needs, and/or Struggling Readers: I used word
cards accompanied with pictures of key words from the text to help my ELL student’s
vocabulary development. Also I had my ELL student and my two other emergent readers
dictate their answers to me and I recorded them rather than having the students write them
themselves.
 Perspective(s) addressed in this lesson (Interactive, Critical, and/or Response): Interactive
Perspective
 Texts: Butterfly by Louise Spilsbury (2005), Where Do Bugs Live? By Jared Halpern (1999),
Bugs and More Bugs by Trace Taylor and Gina Zorzi (2006)
 Other Materials/Technology/Equipment/Resources: Chart paper, blank paper and pencils for
students, class set of “thinking hats”, vocabulary picture cards, letter cards
 Grouping structures (one-on-one, small group, whole class): Whole class and small group

Perspective p.6
Lesson Sequence
Introduction/Anticipatory Set:
I will begin the lesson by telling the students that we are going to be wearing
three different “thinking hats” today while we talk about butterflies. I will explain
how there are different ways you can think about a text. I will first pass out the
“What I Know” paper hats to the students and have them put them on. I will also
give them each a piece of blank paper and instruct them to write down three facts
they already know about butterflies as a way to activate their schema. While the rest
of the class works on this, I will go around to my ELL student and my two other
emergent readers and ask them dictate their answers to me and I will write them on
the paper for them.
Next, the students will each share their facts with me and I will record them on a
piece of chart paper in the “What I Know” column. Any answers that overlap I will
put a tally mark by so that each student’s facts are represented.
Then, I will give them each a “What I Wonder” hat and ask them to think about if
there is anything they wonder about butterflies or would like to learn about them.
After I have given them time to think, I will ask them to raise their hand if they
would like to share something they wonder about butterflies and I will record their
responses on the chart in the “What I Wonder” column.

Perspective p.7
Building/Applying Knowledge and Skills:
Next, I will tell the students that they are going to have their “What I Know”
and “What I Wonder” hats ready while I read the book Butterfly (Spilsbury,
2005). I will instruct them to simply put on the appropriate hat each time they
hear something we had recorded in the “What I Know” or “What I Wonder”
column of our chart. When I see them put on their hats I will acknowledge it
and draw a star next to that fact or question on the chart.
After I complete the book, we will reflect on which items from our chart we
found in the book and which items we did not find. We will talk about where we
could find answers to the questions we were not able to answer from this text.
Assessment Opportunity: I will informally assess their participation and if they
are putting on the appropriate hats at the appropriate times.

Perspective p.8
Synthesis/Closure
Finally, I will give each student a “What I Know
Now” hat and have him or her wear it as I read Butterfly
(Spilsbury, 2005) a second time. I will tell them that each
time they hear a new fact that we had not recorded they
should raise their hand. I will also tell them to listen for
words that they did not know prior to hearing this book. I
will call on students to tell me the new fact or word and I
will then record it in the “What I Know Now” column of
our chart. Lastly, we will celebrate our new knowledge by
giving ourselves a big round of applause.
Assessment Opportunity: I will informally assess their
listening and comprehension skills.

Perspective p.9
Extension/Enrichment/Transfer of Generalization of Knowledge:
After the whole group lesson, I will meet with my guided reading groups. The
students are grouped with other students who are in the same stage of their
literacy development and are also in their same level of the 100 Book Challenge
(2013) program. I will use the text Bugs and More Bugs by Trace Taylor and Gina
Zorzi (2006) with my emergent readers in the 1Y level, Where Do Bugs Live? By
Jared Halpern (1999) with my beginning readers in the 2G level, and Butterfly by
Louise Spilsbury (2005) with my transitional readers in the 2R level.
With each group, I will do a mini-lesson with the “thinking hats” that is similar
to the whole group lesson I taught. Instead of recording all of their response on
chart paper, it will just be more of a discussion. I will discuss with them in more
depth about how activating their prior knowledge makes them better readers.
Next, we will use the same texts to do a “Making Words” lesson which is a
teacher directed activity where students use letter cards to make words
(Tompkins, 2010). In each guided reading group, we will go on a “word hunt”
through the books to find power words, or sight words at their independent
reading levels and then the students will need to build the words with their letter
cards.

Perspective p.10
Share reflection of lesson
Questions and comments about lesson

Literacy Lesson: Critical &
Response Perspectives p. 1
 It is imperative that teachers provide opportunities for
their students to think critically and responsively about
texts. In the video “Critical Perspective”, Dr. Janice
Almasi says that students need to examine texts from
multiple perspectives, critically evaluate text, and
judge the accuracy of text in order to be critical
thinkers (Laureate Education Inc., 2010d).
 Dr. Almasi also says, in the video “Response
Perspective”, that we need to give our students time
and space to read and reflect on texts that change how
they may feel about a particular topic in order to be
responsive readers (Laureate Education Inc., 2010e).

LESSON PLAN

LESSON PLAN
 Teacher: Ms. Elizabeth Schreiber
 Date: August 6, 2013
 Age/Grade Range; Developmental Level(s): Summer
reading class of 26 pre-kindergarten through entering
second grade students. Special focus on: YR: 4 years
old, pre-kindergarten, emergent reader ZZ: 6 years old,
entering first grade, beginning reader HT: 6 years old,
entering first grade, transitional reader
 Anticipated Lesson Duration: 30 minutes

Lesson Foundations
• Pre-assessment (including cognitive and noncognitive measures): Prior
to this lesson, I assessed all the students using my Independent Reading
Level Assessment Framework (Hileman & Zorzi Cline, 2012) as a
cognitive assessment to determine what reading level each child is in. I
used the “Reading Interest Survey” (Hildebrandt, 2001) as a non-
cognitive assessment with these students.
• Curricular Focus, Theme, or Subject Area: “Back to School” Manners
• State/District Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.3 With prompting and
support, describe the connection between two individuals, events,
ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.8 With prompting and support, identify the reasons
an author gives to support points in a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.10 Actively engage in group reading activities with
purpose and understanding.

 Learning Objectives: The students will learn about what empathy means. The
students will think about situations from different perspectives. The students will
analyze the reasons why an author writes a text. The students will describe how
they would feel if they were in the same scenario as characters from a story. The
students will write about how they can help someone who feels a certain way.
 Adaptations for ELLs, Students with Special Needs, and/or Struggling Readers:
My ELL student and other emergent readers will dictate sentences to me and I
will write them on their story paper. They will only have to draw a picture to go
with their sentence.
 Perspective(s) addressed in this lesson (Interactive, Critical, and/or
Response): Critical and Response Perspectives
 Texts: Stand in My Shoes: Kids Learning About Empathy By Bob Sornson
 Other Materials/Technology/Equipment/Resources: 4 Shoes boxes and shoes,
story paper, pencils, crayons
 Grouping structures (one-on-one, small group, whole class): Whole class and
small group

Lesson Sequence
Introduction/Anticipatory Set:
I will start off by asking my students to remind me some of the
things we have talked about this week during our theme of “Back
to School” manners. I will tell them that today we are going to be
talking about empathy and ask if anyone knows what that means.
I will tell them that empathy means putting yourself in someone
else’s shoes and thinking about how you would feel if you were in
someone else’s situation. I will ask the students for any examples
of how they have shown empathy before and tell them that we
will be reading a story about it.
Assessment Opportunities: I will informally assess my students’
responses to determine their background knowledge on this topic.

Building/Applying Knowledge and Skills
I will read the students the book Stand in My Shoes:
Kids Learning About Empathy (Sornson, 2013). While I
read, we will stop after each scenario and have grand
conversations (Tompkins, 2010) about how we would feel
if we were in the characters’ in the story’s shoes.
Assessment Opportunities: I will informally assess my
students’ responses to the scenarios in the story to see if
they understand what empathy means.

Synthesis/Closure
When I finish reading the story, we will do a questioning the author
(Tompkins, 2010) activity. I will ask the students the following
questions:
 Why do you think the author wrote this book?
 Was he trying to teach us something?
 Do you think the author has ever shown empathy before?
 Why do you think the author thinks it is important for us to show
empathy?
Assessment Opportunities: I will informally assess my students’
responses to determine if they are understanding the author’s purpose
for writing this story.

Extension/Enrichment/Transfer of Generalization of Knowledge:
After the whole group lesson, I will meet with small groups of five to do a follow up
activity. Each group will be comprised of students at the same reading development stage. I will have
five shoe boxes with different shoes inside and scenarios written on the lid of each shoe box’s lid. I
will ask each student to choose a shoebox and put on the shoes in that box to pretend to be that
person wearing those shoes. I will then read aloud the scenarios to my emergent reader and beginning
reader groups, but the transitional reader group will have to read the scenario aloud to the group. For
example, in one of the boxes is a pair of flip-flops and this is what I wrote on the lid: The girl wearing
these shoes was all ready to go to the beach when it started raining outside. How do you think she
feels? What could you do or say to make her better? Another box had a pair of boys tennis shoes in
them and this is what I wrote on the lid: The boy wearing these shoes wanted to play kick ball outside
at recess, but he did not speak much English. He brought the ball to a group of boys and said, “Play
ball?” The boys laughed at him and told him they did not want to play with him because he talks
funny and has dark skin. How do you think he feels? What could you do or say to make him feel better?
Each lid has a different scenario, but the same two questions are on every lid.
After each students has had a turn to read their scenario and answer the questions, they
will use story paper to write the answers to their questions and draw a picture to go with their
sentences. In my emergent group, I will ask the students to dictate their sentences to me and I will
write them on their story paper. They will just have to draw the picture. In my beginning group, the
students will have to write their sentences, but with guidance and support from me. I will give them a
sentence starter and they will need to complete it. In the transitional group the students will have to
write their sentences independently.
Assessment Opportunity: I will use this student work to formally assess them on their understanding
of being empathetic.

Share reflection of lesson
Questions and comments about lesson

References
Carle, E. (1986). The very hungry caterpillar. New York, NY: Philomel Books.
Combining the joy of reading with the power of helping others. (2013). We Give Books. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from
http://www.wegivebooks.org/
Common Core Standards Initiative. (2012). English Language Arts, Reading, Foundational Skills, Grade K. Retrieved from
June 28, 2013, from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RF/K
Halpern, J. (1999). Where do bugs live? Austin, TX: Steck Vaughn Company.
Hildebrandt, D. (2001). “But there’s nothing good to read” (in the library media center).Media Spectrum: The Journal for Library
Media Specialists in Michigan, 28, 34-37
Hileman, J., & Zorzi Cline, G. (2012). Independent reading level assessment framework. American Reading Company.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010a). Getting to Know Your Students. [Video webcast]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps
%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2817926_1%26url%3D
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010b). Analyzing and Selecting Texts. [Video webcast]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard
%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2817926_1%26url%3D

References p.2
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010c). Strategic processing. [Video webcast]. Retrieved from
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010d). Critical perspective.. [Video webcast]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps
%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2817926_1%26url%3D
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010e). Response perspective. [Video webcast]. Retrieved from
Sornson, B. (2013) Stand in my shoes: kids learning about empathy. Golden, CO: Love and Logic Press.
Spilsbury, L. (2005). Butterfly. Chicago Illinois: Heinemann Library.
Taylor, T & Zorzi G. (2006). Bugs and more bugs. King of Prussia, PA: American Reading Company.
Tompkins, G.E. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: a balanced approach (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

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