Thematic Unit Lesson Plan
Unit Title: Animals: 12 Chinese Zodiac
动物: 十二生肖
Jia-Fang Eubanks
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Guided Reading Lesson Plan
Balloons Flew Away 气球飞了
Jia-Fang Eubanks
After this lesson, students will be able to read the text “Balloons Flew Away气球飞了” fluently and be able to identify color and summarize the sequence of events in the story. (1. Comprehending and fluently reading a variety of literary texts are the beginning traits of readers.) Students will use pictures and phonological cues—Pinyin and Chinese character Radical to assist them with accurately reading the words. (4. Understanding word structure, word relationships, and word families needs to be demonstrated to begin to read.)
Objectives
Evidence Outcome: a. ii. The students in the group can retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson. (CCSS:RL. 1.2)
Evidence Outcome: d. i. The students in the group can recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., ending punctuation, exclamation marks). (CCSS: RF.1.1a) d.ii. Students can create new words by combing base words with affixes to connect known words to new words. (CCSS: RF.1.1b)
Assessments
Assessment of Evidence Outcome: After getting started in the story, the students will be able to read the text with 98% accuracy. The students also will demonstrate ability to use key ideas and details to cite textual evidence to support the text by completing a color puzzle that includes Pinyin, Chinese characters, and color matching to support reading comprehension.
Assessment of Evidence Outcome: Students will be able recognize the Pinyin Final Sound—e and distinguish the 5 different tones with final e. The students will be able to match the different tones of final e to the correct characters by completing a Final Sound—e worksheet.
Student Grouping
Resources/Materials
b. The topic of this book is color which can compare with this text “Rainbow” poem to provide opportunities for text-to-text connections.
5. The factors making
a. Meanings of these words would be introduced and strengthened by:
b. Bringing in examples of color paper, crayons, pictures of rainbow
c. Having students color the rainbow
d. Having a word wall as a reference for the vocabulary
e. Doing a mini-lesson on contractions.
6. Vocabulary that needs to be introduced includes: balloon (气球), red (红色), green (绿色), yellow (黄色), blue (蓝色), orange (橙色), white (白色), flew away (飞了) . In addition, students will do word work with other color vocabulary: purple (紫色), black (黑色), brown (棕色), pink (粉红色), gray (灰色)
Teaching Approach/Method/Procedures
Pre-reading:
Reading:
Responding to the Story:
Postreading Activity to Enhance Comprehension
Students will color the rainbow worksheet with the words for red (红), green (绿), yellow (黄), blue (蓝), orange (橙), and purple (紫色). Students will also complete the Balloon Flew Away worksheet for comprehension.
Prereading and/or Postreading Activity to Enhance Vocabulary Learning
Students will practice writing the color character worksheet. Students will also complete a puzzle with the words for red (红色), green (绿色), yellow (黄色), blue (蓝色), orange (橙色), brown (棕色), white (白色), and black (黑色)
Phonemic Awareness or Phonics/Word Identification Skill Lesson
Lesson Component
Set Purpose
There are 6 single pinyin final sound a, o, e, i, u, ü. Today we are going to learn Pinyin Final Sound--e and the 5 tones.
The reason we are learning this is to recognize and apply Pinyin Final Sound—e to the character we have learned. We also are learning the difference of tones with Final e.
objective
At the end of this lesson, you will be able recognize the Pinyin Final Sound—e and chime the Pinyin Final Sound—e poem. You also will be able to match the e sound to the characters and the different tones with Pinyin Final Sound—e.
Connect to and Review previous learning
Remember when we learned about the Balloon Flew Away story--
气球飞了！
一个红色的气球。
了,个, 色,的all have the same Final sound--e
Teach new concept/skill (I do)
Listen to the Final e sound as I read the “e” 鹅(goose) poem.
鹅鹅鹅，五只大白鹅。
饿饿饿，白鹅肚子饿。
Can you hear the Final e sound with different tones?
Yes, 鹅is the 2nd tone which means a goose. 饿is the 4th tone which means hungry.
Guide Practice (We do)
Now, let’s say these together.
ē é ě è e
ē is the 1st tone, é is the 2nd tone, ě is the 3rd tone, è is the 4th tone, e is the neutral tone.
Now use ē é ě è e as key tones to help you identify which word has the 1st tone, 2nd tone, 3rd tone, 4th tone, or neutral tone.
色,的,鹅,喝,渴
Yes, 喝is the 1st tone, 鹅is the 2nd tone, 渴is the 3rd tone, 色is the 4th tone, 的is the neutral tone.
Return to purpose
Who can describe what we learned today about the Pinyin Final Sound—e and the tones?
The 1st tone of e has a diacritical mark (-) on top of e. The 2nd tone of e has a diacritical mark (‘) on the top of e. The 3rd tone of e has a diacritical mark ( ̆) on the top of e. The 4th tone of e has a diacritical mark (‛) on the top of e. The neutral tone doesn’t have any marks on the top of e. In order to distinguish the different tones with Final e will helps us to read better.
Provide opportunity for independent practice
I want to give you a chance now to show what you can do independently. When you’re working independently today, I would like you to form pairs, get copies of the Final Sound—e worksheet, and one students reads the word, the other students identifies the Final Sound--e with different tones and write them in the correct tone categories.
Assess student application/learning
You will show me what you have learned by saying and sharing out your 5 different categories for Final Sound--e with different tones.
Reflection
This guided reading lesson plan follows the Performance-Based Standards for Colorado Teachers by creating a lesson plan that meets the needs of a specific group of learners. Phonics (Hanyu Pinyin), word study, vocabulary and comprehension skills are all built into this lesson plan. The questions and statements made by the teacher in the lesson guide the students to try reading the book independently as well as learn new vocabulary and comprehend new information. The text chosen is the correct reading level for the students. The activities included reinforce the concepts and knowledge presented in the lesson (color words, summarize the sequence of events in the story, and information using text features such as pictures and title). Also the activities allow students to work in pairs that give students opportunities to take ownership of their education.
In practice this book would make a good guided reading lesson for first semester 1st graders. I believe that emerging/early readers would enjoy this text and the chance to practice their reading strategies. I could see this book also being used as a whole group shared lesson. If this were done, it would be beneficial project it on an overhead or smart board. The activation of schema at the beginning of class by reviewing different colors and applying the ideas to their personal lives engages the students. Students are also practicing reading strategies such as pointing to the repeated syllable in the vocabulary. (hongsè, hunagsè, lansè,…etc.) In further lessons, students will apply the idea to color of fruits, and eventually draw and write sentences about what is their favorite fruits and color, and why. The students should be able to connect the content to real life situations.
Objectives
Evidence Outcome: a. ii. The students in the group can retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson. (CCSS:RL. 1.2)
Evidence Outcome: d. i. The students in the group can recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., ending punctuation, exclamation marks). (CCSS: RF.1.1a) d.ii. Students can create new words by combing base words with affixes to connect known words to new words. (CCSS: RF.1.1b)
Assessments
Assessment of Evidence Outcome: After getting started in the story, the students will be able to read the text with 98% accuracy. The students also will demonstrate ability to use key ideas and details to cite textual evidence to support the text by completing a color puzzle that includes Pinyin, Chinese characters, and color matching to support reading comprehension.
Assessment of Evidence Outcome: Students will be able recognize the Pinyin Final Sound—e and distinguish the 5 different tones with final e. The students will be able to match the different tones of final e to the correct characters by completing a Final Sound—e worksheet.
Student Grouping
- Number of students in the group: 6
- These students are at the beginning of 1st grade and reading at about end of Kindergarten level.
Resources/Materials
- The book used is Balloons Flew Away气球飞了. It is edited by Theresa Ma Bingru Chao赵马冰如, Li-hsiang Yu 虞丽翔, Chi-Kuo Shen沈启国. This book is published by Beijing Language and Culture University Press.
- This book is 1st grade level according to Better Chinese Ltd.
- This will provide good practice to a group of readers at the early first grade level. It is of interest because of the air balloon and colors. There is good support in the text with illustrations. Students should enjoy connecting to text. There will be opportunities to compare this text to “Rainbow” poem that has been read aloud in class.
- The factors making this text suitable for the group and for the lesson:
b. The topic of this book is color which can compare with this text “Rainbow” poem to provide opportunities for text-to-text connections.
5. The factors making
a. Meanings of these words would be introduced and strengthened by:
b. Bringing in examples of color paper, crayons, pictures of rainbow
c. Having students color the rainbow
d. Having a word wall as a reference for the vocabulary
e. Doing a mini-lesson on contractions.
6. Vocabulary that needs to be introduced includes: balloon (气球), red (红色), green (绿色), yellow (黄色), blue (蓝色), orange (橙色), white (白色), flew away (飞了) . In addition, students will do word work with other color vocabulary: purple (紫色), black (黑色), brown (棕色), pink (粉红色), gray (灰色)
Teaching Approach/Method/Procedures
Pre-reading:
- Before handing out copies of the book, the teacher builds background knowledge by asking students questions. “Do you like balloons?” “Can you tell me what you know about balloons?” “There are different colors of balloons. What color of balloon do you like best?” “Draw quick sketches of balloons with different colors.” “Students match the balloons to the vocabulary flash cards”—red (红色), green (绿色), yellow (黄色), blue (蓝色), orange (橙色), purple (紫色), brown (棕色), white (白色), black (黑色), pink (粉红色), gray (灰色).
- The teacher introduces the text and asks students to “picture walk” with her through the book. The teacher begins with the front cover art and asks students “What is on the front cover?”, “How many balloons are there?” and “How many different colors do you see?”. “What do you think this story is about?” Teacher asks the students to read the title with her and see if that gives the students additional clues about the story. Ask students walk through the pictures with the teacher. On page 2-7, ask students to state what they see in each pictures, after page 7, teacher asks the students if they see repeated objects on every page. Are these objects the same color? The last 2 pages of the text are covered with sticky notes so students must guess what will happened at the end and verify it with their reading.
- The teacher will then go back to the front cover of the book and show the title. The teacher will also point out the authors, illustrators and the publisher on the back of the front cover page.
- The picture walk was done in Step 2 but students will be reminded to identify other characters and objects on each page besides the balloons.
- The vocabulary words are listed on flash cards in the order that they are presented in the book. Before reading the book, students will use their finger or pencils to locate the word on the page when the teacher holds up the word card.
- The teacher will ask the students “What do you think will happen to the balloon?” at the end.
- Remind students that they are going to learn the color of balloons.
Reading:
- The teacher will remind the students to: point to the words while they read; to notice if there are words that they have seen or learnt before; to notice if there are repeated words. The teacher will remind the students of some reading strategies to use when coming upon a word they cannot read: for example to look at the pictures, re-read the sentence or refer to the word wall.
- The teacher will remind the students that this is an interesting book because it connects to the “Rainbow” poem we have learned before. The students are such good readers that it will be fun to read the book and share later the information that they have learned.
- The first two pages will be read together. Then the teacher will remind the students to “whisper read”. The teacher will be listening to the students “whisper read” and will be taking notes on how they are reading to assist them in becoming better readers. If the student miss read the word, teacher may ask students “Does it look like it could be the word you said” or “Does that new word look right and sound right?”, “Have you used the word wall as a reference?” For Fluency coaching, teaching may ask “Read the text again, but try read it like you are talking.” Or “Listen to my voice as I read the next sentence. Am I reading at a fluent pace? Now you try it.”
Responding to the Story:
- The teacher will ask the students what they liked about the story. The teacher asks the students to make a connection to this story and another “Rainbow” poem the class has read.
- The teacher will ask the students to relate color to their own experience. The teacher asks “What is your favorite fruit and what is color of the fruit?” For example, strawberries are red, bananas are yellow, grapes are purple and green, oranges are orange,…
- The teacher will ask what objects can fly away besides balloons. What are the colors of the other “fly away” objects? Why the objects can be flown away? The teacher will ask students to write down the date and the title of the book in the reading log. The teacher will ask students to find the vocabulary words in the book and write the words and what pages that word is mentioned in the book in the reading log.
Postreading Activity to Enhance Comprehension
Students will color the rainbow worksheet with the words for red (红), green (绿), yellow (黄), blue (蓝), orange (橙), and purple (紫色). Students will also complete the Balloon Flew Away worksheet for comprehension.
Prereading and/or Postreading Activity to Enhance Vocabulary Learning
Students will practice writing the color character worksheet. Students will also complete a puzzle with the words for red (红色), green (绿色), yellow (黄色), blue (蓝色), orange (橙色), brown (棕色), white (白色), and black (黑色)
Phonemic Awareness or Phonics/Word Identification Skill Lesson
Lesson Component
Set Purpose
There are 6 single pinyin final sound a, o, e, i, u, ü. Today we are going to learn Pinyin Final Sound--e and the 5 tones.
The reason we are learning this is to recognize and apply Pinyin Final Sound—e to the character we have learned. We also are learning the difference of tones with Final e.
objective
At the end of this lesson, you will be able recognize the Pinyin Final Sound—e and chime the Pinyin Final Sound—e poem. You also will be able to match the e sound to the characters and the different tones with Pinyin Final Sound—e.
Connect to and Review previous learning
Remember when we learned about the Balloon Flew Away story--
气球飞了！
一个红色的气球。
了,个, 色,的all have the same Final sound--e
Teach new concept/skill (I do)
Listen to the Final e sound as I read the “e” 鹅(goose) poem.
鹅鹅鹅，五只大白鹅。
饿饿饿，白鹅肚子饿。
Can you hear the Final e sound with different tones?
Yes, 鹅is the 2nd tone which means a goose. 饿is the 4th tone which means hungry.
Guide Practice (We do)
Now, let’s say these together.
ē é ě è e
ē is the 1st tone, é is the 2nd tone, ě is the 3rd tone, è is the 4th tone, e is the neutral tone.
Now use ē é ě è e as key tones to help you identify which word has the 1st tone, 2nd tone, 3rd tone, 4th tone, or neutral tone.
色,的,鹅,喝,渴
Yes, 喝is the 1st tone, 鹅is the 2nd tone, 渴is the 3rd tone, 色is the 4th tone, 的is the neutral tone.
Return to purpose
Who can describe what we learned today about the Pinyin Final Sound—e and the tones?
The 1st tone of e has a diacritical mark (-) on top of e. The 2nd tone of e has a diacritical mark (‘) on the top of e. The 3rd tone of e has a diacritical mark ( ̆) on the top of e. The 4th tone of e has a diacritical mark (‛) on the top of e. The neutral tone doesn’t have any marks on the top of e. In order to distinguish the different tones with Final e will helps us to read better.
Provide opportunity for independent practice
I want to give you a chance now to show what you can do independently. When you’re working independently today, I would like you to form pairs, get copies of the Final Sound—e worksheet, and one students reads the word, the other students identifies the Final Sound--e with different tones and write them in the correct tone categories.
Assess student application/learning
You will show me what you have learned by saying and sharing out your 5 different categories for Final Sound--e with different tones.
Reflection
This guided reading lesson plan follows the Performance-Based Standards for Colorado Teachers by creating a lesson plan that meets the needs of a specific group of learners. Phonics (Hanyu Pinyin), word study, vocabulary and comprehension skills are all built into this lesson plan. The questions and statements made by the teacher in the lesson guide the students to try reading the book independently as well as learn new vocabulary and comprehend new information. The text chosen is the correct reading level for the students. The activities included reinforce the concepts and knowledge presented in the lesson (color words, summarize the sequence of events in the story, and information using text features such as pictures and title). Also the activities allow students to work in pairs that give students opportunities to take ownership of their education.
In practice this book would make a good guided reading lesson for first semester 1st graders. I believe that emerging/early readers would enjoy this text and the chance to practice their reading strategies. I could see this book also being used as a whole group shared lesson. If this were done, it would be beneficial project it on an overhead or smart board. The activation of schema at the beginning of class by reviewing different colors and applying the ideas to their personal lives engages the students. Students are also practicing reading strategies such as pointing to the repeated syllable in the vocabulary. (hongsè, hunagsè, lansè,…etc.) In further lessons, students will apply the idea to color of fruits, and eventually draw and write sentences about what is their favorite fruits and color, and why. The students should be able to connect the content to real life situations.
