Introductory lesson plan.

1. TPALesson Plan #1
1. Teacher Candidate Ashley Ambers Date Taught
Cooperating Teacher Rhiannon Straka School/District Medical Lake ECEAP
2. Subject Literacy Field Supervisor Chris Booth
3. Lesson Title/Focus Introduction to Worms 5. Length of Lesson 20-25 minutes
4. Grade Level Preschool (Ages 4-5)
6. Academic & Content
Standards (Common
Core/National)
Washington Early Learning and Development Guidelines. Ages 4 to
5 years. Communicating (literacy) – Reading: Tell you what is going to
happen next in a story. Make up an ending. (page 77).
Washington Early Learning and Development Guidelines. Ages 4 to
5 years. Learning about my world - Knowledge (cognition): Ask adults
questions to get information (as appropriate in the family’s culture).
(page 78).
Washington Early Learning and Development Guidelines. Ages 4 to
5 years. Learning about my world - Knowledge (cognition): Build on and
adapt to what the child learned before. (page 78).
7. Learning Objective(s) The student will construct at least one prediction regarding the story
during circle time.
The student will demonstrate inquiry by asking at least one question
about the story/the topic during circle time.
The student will associate at least one connection between the story and
either prior knowledge or a prior event during circle time.
8. Academic Language
demands (vocabulary,
function, syntax, discourse)
Vocabulary: garden, earthworm, grandma, soil, slimy, wiggly, slithery,
squirmy, tunnel, breathing, bristles, grinding, cast, muscles, wriggling,
underground, rotting, stomach, flowerbed, recycle, dangerous, spades,
vibrations.
Function: construct, demonstrate, associate
Syntax: create a KWL chart about worms.
Discourse: in this lesson the language will be used orally by both the
teachers and the students. The assessment will be based upon oral
demands, and the vocabulary will then later be used when building to
our worm topic in later lessons.
9. Assessment
Assessment for this activity will be authentic and formative based. Children will be assessed on
whether or not they can make predictions, ask questions, and build upon and make connections to
prior learning. To assess student learning a teacher or adult support sit at circle with a checklist
(attached sheet) to and mark off each child’s participation in the discussion, as a measure of whether
or not the child met the objectives as a type of formative assessment. To check learning throughout
the story, some of the questions will be designed to act as checkpoints of learning throughout the
story. There will be a column on the assessment sheet titled “Questions Asked”, which will show
participation by the use of a tally mark each time a particular child asks a question during the lesson.
There is also a column titled “Making Predictions” which will similarly be marked with a tally only if the
child makes a prediction for what will happen or happen next.
Another column on the chart is titled “Making Connections” which will be marked only with a tally mark
if the child relates something in the story or lesson to something they know, have seen, or have
already done. The KWL chart itself will also help act as a means of formative assessment. The
information on the K portion of the chart will help me gauge where as a class we are with the topic, the

2. W portion of the chart will be used to help guide assessment, and the L portion will act as another
means of student voice or evidence of learning. We will also be able to look back onto the Worms
KWL chart at the end of our worms unit as evidence of overall learning, and to see how the children
themselves have grown as students.
**Assessment attached**
10. Lesson Connections
Research: “Preschool children, ages 3 to 5, develop early reading and language skills when teachers
use interactive and dialogic reading strategies. In interactive reading, children talk with the teacher
about the pictures and story; dialogic reading uses a more systematic method to scaffold adult-child
language interaction around storybook reading.
Teachers can help children develop language skills by engaging them before, during, and/or after
reading the text through explicit interactive techniques such as asking them to point to the story title,
predict what might happen next, and retell story events. Dialogic reading can be used to assess and
support oral language and vocabulary development through multiple readings, during which the
teacher helps the child become the storyteller by gradually using higher level questions to move the
child beyond naming objects in pictures to thinking more about what is happening in the pictures, and
how this relates to his own experiences.”
U.S. Department of Education (2011). What Works Clearing House. Retrieved from
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/preschool-language-and-literacy-practices
Lesson Connections:
We are building upon learning about things that grow. In order to participate in the lesson students will
have to have expressive oral language and some sort of background knowledge of worms and the
outdoors.
Personal/Community Building: Students are given a lot of freedom to be as creative as they want with
their responses to questions asked during the story as well as given freedom to decide what they
would like to know about worms. The cognitive demand of the activity will be for each child to listen to
what their peers say, to prevent overlap and be more efficient with the lesson. It will also involve a
level of patience for each child as they wait their turn to be called on to talk, as well as respect while
they are listening to the words of their peers. We will also work on our safety skills by keeping both
ourselves and our peers safe by following directions and adhering to expectations. These are all
essentials skills they will need to be functioning members of society when they are older.
11. Instructional Strategies/Learning Tasks to Support Learning
Learning Tasks and Strategies
Sequenced Instruction
Teacher’s Role
Introduction (10
minutes): Have
children seated on
their carpet squares at
circle. Pre-teach
expectations of circle
time. Pre-teach hand
raising and being
called on if children
would like a turn
speaking, Review our
current lesson theme
and discuss things
Students’ Role
Students are expected to behave safely and appropriately at circle. Our
circle time expectations are: eyes are watching, ears are listening, voices are
quiet, bodies are calm, which children should be following and showing with
their bodies, since it is expected of the children during the entire lesson.
Students are expected to raise their hands, wait to be called on, and then
speak if they wish to contribute an answer or prediction.
“We’ve already talked about things that grow, flowers, rainbows, seeds, etc.”

3. we’ve already learned
about.
Read aloud the title,
and show the cover to
the children, and ask
for predictions of what
we are learning about
next.
Once children have
decided we are
learning about worms
next, create a KWL
chart on a piece of
paper. Asking children
what they know about
worms (K), and what
they want to know (L),
and write responses
on the chart.
Following charting,
pre-teach critical
vocabulary and
concepts to prepare
students to listen to the
text.
Activity (10 minutes):
Go over title again,
and introduce author,
and illustrator. Ask
children for predictions
on what the story will
be about.
Read (Dialogic)–
Yucky Worms (aloud)
while modeling with
fluent and expressive
reading, and asking
engaging questions as
you go along. (The
questions should be
written on sticky notes
and placed on pages
prior to beginning the
lesson).
Following up to
reading we will have
our discussion on what
we learned.
“Are we learning about dirt?”
“We’re learning about worms!”
Each student is expected to contribute to the KWL chart, some children may
need to be prompted by a teacher or adult support to give input.
“I know that worms live underground”
“I know that birds eat worms”
“Worms wiggle”
“I want to know what worms eat”
“I want to know which end is its head”
Students are expected to follow circle time expectations and hand raising
expectations.
Students will give predictions for what may happen in the story.
“I think it will be about someone eating worms”
“I think someone will touch a worm”
Student responses are expected for dialogic reading questions, responses
may vary based on questions and children’s experiences.
“I learned that worms make tunnels”
“I learned that worms can be tricked”
“I learned that worms eat little rocks”

4. Closure (5 minutes):
Make ties to things
learned and things we
wanted to learn that
we wrote down on the
chart.
If there were things
that we wanted to
learn that were not
answered in the story,
conclude by saying,
“Maybe in our next
lesson about worms
we will learn about…”
Students will also be making connections between things we wanted to know
and things that we learned. Children may share more of their personal
stories with worms, and then will be dismissed to their next activity.
Student Voice to Gather
Following the students I’ll ask them to show me using thumbs up, thumb to the side, or thumbs down,
how they felt about the lesson. Thumbs up will mean they liked it and had fun playing with the
materials and making their worms, thumbs to the side means they felt okay about it, and thumbs down
means they didn’t like it or didn’t have fun doing it.
12. Differentiated Instruction
Plan
Environmental Support: Carpet squares, selectively placing students at circle, selectively placing adult
supports.
Special Equipment: Chair at circle.
Adult Support: Monitoring the children for appropriate circle time behaviors, as well as coming around
to assist children with any other potential needs.
Peer Support: Seating children based on children they work well with and separating them from those
they do not.
Invisible Support: Carpet squares during the reading at circle time, pre-teaching and enforcing hand
raising for turns with speaking.
13. Resources and Materials
Plan
Resource: Franklin, N. (2015, May 23). Investigating WORMS in Preschool. Retrieved April 22, 2016,
from http://www.modernpreschool.com/2015/04/investigating-worms-in-preschool.html
Materials: Yucky Worms by Vivian French, marker, piece of poster paper.
14. Management and Safety Issues
Plan
The major management and safety issues during this task will be keeping students on task and
following circle time behavior expectations. To plan for this we will go over the expectations of the
lesson prior to starting. The expectations are the students stay on task and are keeping their hands to
themselves and actively listening and participating in the story. In our attempts to keep children on
task, we are engaging students in the story by picking a story that is age appropriate, and that
educates about the topic we are covering, while asking comprehension questions or predictions during
the story to minimize the chance of any off-task time. We will also try to selectively place children at
circle so that they are not around children that they might potentially be disruptive with, and enforcing
expectations throughout the duration of the story. The children will be monitored closely by either the

5. teacher or another adult support while they are seated at circle, and they will also be expected to raise
their hands and wait to be called on in order to make contributions to the discussion.
15. Parent & Community Connections
Plan
Parent send-home task:
Include in the newsletter that our new topic is worms and encourage them to look for worm casts in
their garden, yards, or park with their children, or on the sidewalk after it rains. Suggest that in
different environments they ask their children, “Would a worm live here? Why or why not?”
Community extension:
Ask children to think of the best places in town to find worms, or where in town the most worms might
be. Have them recall a time or place where they have seen a worm before.
Ask the community to donate spades for children to investigate worms on their own time.

6. Name Questions Asked Making Predictions Making Connections