East Detroit Public Schools
Lesson Design

Author: Melodee Szymanski
Subject: English Language Arts
Grade:Special Education Classroom--4th Grade
Title: Lizards

Length of Unit: Approximately one week
Materials Needed:
Power Macintosh G3 computer
printer
Epson projector
highlighters
software:
Inspiration
The World of Reptiles
book by Donna Bailey:Unusual Lizards
(reproduced copy for each student)

Standards-Based Outcomes (MDE):

English Language Arts:

I. Meaning and Communication

Content Standard I, 1: All students will read and comprehend general and technical material.

2. Read with developing fluency a variety of texts, such as short stories, novels, poetry, textbooks, menus, periodicals, and reference materials.

3. Employ multiple strategies to construct meaning, including the use of sentence structure, vocabulary skills, context clues, text structure, mapping, predicting, retelling, and generating questions.

5. Respond to oral, visual, written, and electronic texts, and compare their responses to those of their peers.

Content Standard I, 2: All students will demonstrate the ability to write clear and grammatically correct sentences, paragraphs, and compositions.

1. Write fluently for multiple purposes to produce compositions, such as stories, reports, letters, plays, and explanations of processes.

3. Plan and draft texts, and revise and edit in response to suggestions expressed by others about such aspects as ideas, organization, style, and word choice.

Content Standard I, 3: All students will focus on meaning and communication as they listen, speak, view, read, and write in personal, social, occupational, and civic contexts.

5. Employ multiple strategies to construct meaning while reading, listening to, viewing, or creating texts. Examples include summarizing, predicting, generating questions, mapping, examining picture cues, analyzing word structure and sentence structure, discussing with peers, and using context and text structure.

Prior Knowledge:

• The book, Unusual Lizards, is at the students’ reading level.
• Students have used highlighters to find important information.
• Students have been exposed to the Epson projector in the Media Center.
• Students enjoy lessons about different creatures.
• Students have used mapping to organize thoughts.
• Students enjoy using the computer.

Cue Set:

The subject of lizards, the use of highlighters, the Epson projector, and a computer for a language arts lesson all combine to “hook” the students and engage them in the pre-writing experience.

Best Shot Instruction:

• The teacher reads Unusual Lizards with the students, guiding them to find the important characteristics of each lizard. Students use highlighters on their reproduced copies to select those important facts that make each lizard unique.
• Each student has a highlighted copy of Unusual Lizards for reference. The teacher connects the Epson projector to the computer and projects the program Inspiration onto a screen or the board. Collectively, students decide upon a main idea to put into the center of the web.
• As the map branches out from the center, students recall lizards from the text and report their important traits. The teacher adds the information to the map. Students watch the map expand while it organizes all of the lizards and their characteristics.

Reteaching and Enrichment:

• Students receive copies of the cooperatively generated map. The teacher explains how the map organizes ideas and eliminates inappropriate details that don’t agree with the main idea.
• The students use the maps as tools to help write rough drafts about the expository text on lizards.
• After they have written rough drafts, the students work with partners to peer-edit their pieces. They revise, edit, and then produce a final draft
• When the project is completed, students explore information about additional lizards on the computer with the program The World of Reptiles.

Assessment:

• The teacher observes as each student participates by raising his/her hand and suggesting lizard names and characteristics for the map.
• The teacher uses a four-point rubric system to evaluate each written piece. All projects should contain the following components:
  - A map which contains every lizard in the book and notes each detail stated by the author about each specific lizard;
  - A rough draft about lizards which used the map as an organizational tool;
  - A peer-edited paper, checked to make sure all lizards are discussed and all details are noted in complete sentences;
  - A revised final draft written in complete sentences.
• Students share their work with each other and display it in the classroom or hallway.

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