assure method for teaching 1st graders the months of the year

1. ASSURE Method Assignment
Using the ASSURE method, I am going to design a lesson for the first scenario where I will have
to teach the months of the year to a 1st grade class, special ed, 10 boys, 7 girls, 70% white, 20% African-
American and 10% Hispanic. 7 students in the class have mild to severe ADHD.
A – Analyze the Learners.
-General Characteristics of the Learners
The students for whom this lesson is intended are first graders. The students are ages six and seven.
They are in special ed and several of them have mild to severe ADHD. There are seven girls and ten boys
in this class, and a variety of races and ethnicities among them; 70% white, 20% African-American, and
10% Hispanic.
-Learning Styles
Since these students are young, they need to constantly be entertained. In addition to being young and
restless already, several of the students have mild to severe ADHD, so it is crucial that I keep them
interested and continuously interact with them and make their learning experience fun. I also need to
keep in mind that all students learn different so I need to incorporate visual, auditory, and hands on
types of learning.
- Specific Entry Competencies
Before teaching the students, I need to find out what they know and what they do not know about the
months of the year because I don’t want to assume that they know more or less. To find out what the
students have previously learned I will test them by sitting down with each child and interviewing them
and asking if they can recall and/or recite any of the months of the year.
S – State the Objective
-Audience: the audience will be the students whom I am teaching.
-Behavior: I want the students to be able to recite and the months of the year in chronological order.
-Conditions: The students will recite the months of the year in chronological order by learning songs and
dances, and by creating their own calendars.
-Degree: After learning the months of the year, the students will recite and write them in chronological
order with 80% accuracy.
My objective: My students will recite the months of the year in chronological order after learning songs
and dances, listening to and watching videos, and by creating their own calendars by the end of the
week with 80% accuracy.

2. S – Select Methods, Media, and Materials
The method that I have chosen to use is teaching the months of the year to the students by using songs,
dance, videos, and having them create their own calendars. Since my students are special ed and some
of them have severe ADHD, I want to be sure to keep my students interested, moving around, and
having fun.
I want to sing them the months of the year song and show them the dance and then have them do it
with me every day for the week so they learn it.
Audio and movement (voice, video, dance, and music) will be how I teach the students. The materials I
would need from the school would be a computer and a smart board so that way the students and I
could look up the videos when we need to, and be able to watch them. When we sing and dance, the
students and I will just use our own voices and bodies when singing and dancing to learn the months.
The motions to the dance are the same motions to the Macarena and I will teach them the motions by
showing them myself. They will learn the song also from me singing it to them first and then them
singing it with me as well as doing the motions to the dance. The videos we will watch will also help us
to learn the months of the year.
Handouts will be used when the students make their own calendars. The school will need a computer
with Microsoft word, paper, a printer, crayons, and a stapler. I will make the handouts myself and hand
them out to the students. They will get to color them their selves. Once all the months are finished, we
will put them in chronological order and make a calendar that they can flip through by stapling the
pages.
U – Utilize Media and Material
-Preview the materials
o I will preview Microsoft word to make sure that it can make the charts I need. I will print the
handouts out and preview them to make sure everything is spelled correctly and placed
correctly before handing them to the children.
o I will ask my colleagues if they think teaching the moves to the Macarena will be appropriate to
incorporate into my lesson because I don’t want it to seem inappropriate in anyway.
o I will preview any and all videos before showing them to the class to make sure that they are on
topic, appropriate, and helpful in learning the months of the year.
o I will also make sure that the videos are able to be viewed on the smart board and that the
smart board is working.
-Prepare the material
o I will make the handouts myself, on a computer, print them out, and hand them out to the
students.
o The handout will have the layout of a calendar month; a title space with rows of boxes,
underneath the title space, for the days in the month. Each handout will be different according
to the month. For example, when the students are making the month of January to add to their

3. calendar, the title space will have the word “January” in dotted font so that they can trace over
it in crayon. The same will be done for the numbers that will go inside the boxes.
o I will lay the crayons out for the students to use and color their month how they please.
o Once the students have completed all of the months, we will put the papers in order and staple
them so they can flip through it. I will make a sample calendar to show the students what their
finished product will turn out like.
o The video(s) that I plan on showing will have the months of the year and will show what
happens in each month, i.e. the weather, holidays, etc. This will help the students to associate
important events/situations with the months and maybe will help them learn the months
better. My goal is to not focus on what happens in the months, but just to give them more
information and hopefully be over achievers.
o We will watch the videos on the smart board so that way the videos will be on a big enough
screen for everyone to see.
-Prepare the learners
o To prepare the learners, I will need to present the overall plan and objectives for the lesson. I
will tell the students what we will be doing each day and I will inform them that I will teach
them a song and a dance and that I will be showing them video(s) so that they can learn the
months of the year.
o I will then introduce the idea of them making their own personal calendar. I will show them the
sample calendar I made so they will understand what their overall project will be similar to.
-Prepare the environment
o Since this lesson requires physical movement from all of the students, there will need to be an
area with a large open space so that they have room to participate. The students and I will be in
a classroom, so I would just set the room up where the desks are on one side of the room (but
still spaced out enough so they are not on top of each other because they will need to sit at
their desks when making their calendars). On the other side of the room I would put a big carpet
which the students will stand on whenever we were doing the song and dance part of the
lesson.
o The side of the classroom with the desks will be set up in rows of 3 to 4 and spread out so the
students have plenty of room to sit at the desks and do their coloring handout.
o I also want to face the desks so that way all the students will be able to see the smart board
when we watch videos on it.
o I would want to have a fun classroom but nothing too distracting in it since many of my students
have mild to severe ADHD. I want to try to keep their attention on the current lesson other than
a poster I could have hanging in my classroom.
-Provide a learning experience
o When teaching the students the song and dance portion of the lesson, I will have them all stand
on the open area part of the classroom. There will be a big rug, enough room for all of the
students to stand on it. I will have them all face the same way (standing towards me).

4. o When teaching them this for the first time I will have all of the students sit down to make sure
everyone can see everything I am doing. After showing them once, I will have everyone stand up
to do it.
o When we are watching the videos, I will have the students sit in their chairs, but give them the
option to sit in front of the smart board so that they can see better, or if they just want to get up
out of their seats and move around. The only requirement I have for them if they are going to be
up and moving around is that they look at the smart board and try their best to focus.
o When the students are creating their own calendar pages, they will all be seated at a desk that
faces the front of the room. On the smart board up front will be the month written big enough
for everyone to see.
o I will stand to the side of the board and say the month out loud and then spell it out loud for the
children to see it and hear how it is pronounced and spelled. After that, I will be sitting at my
desk or going around to help the students and observe them while they do their work so that
way I am not a distraction to them while they draw and write.
o Since many of the students have mild to severe ADHD, it is my goal to continuously have them
doing something so that way they don’t get bored.
R – Require Learner Participation
o Since I understand that not every student learns the same way, I tried to incorporate things into
my lesson that will reach all types of learning.
o For my auditory students, I have the song and the video. My hopes are that when they hear the
song and sing the song themselves, this will help them learn and remember the months of the
year. And the same for when they hear the videos.
o For hands on students, I have the dance and the calendar activity. By them doing the dance,
hopefully each move will help them to remember the months of the year. Also by having them
make their own calendar, it gives them the chance to write it out and be creative when coloring.
o For my visual students, I have the calendar activity and the video as well. I hope that by writing
the month on the board and having them write it and see it themselves, it will help them to
remember and learn. And I hope that by watching the videos it helps them to learn better.
o I will require that all students participate in the singing and dancing portion of the lesson. I don’t
want any one of them to feel as though they don’t have to participate. I also will require that
every student make a calendar of their own.
o At the end of the week, I want each student to present their calendars to the class to show that
they have learned the months of the year. Their calendars will be one of the ways I test them.
o At the end of the week, to completely test the students to see if they can recite the months of
the year, I will sit down with each one and interview them. They will have to recite them in
chronological order without my help. They can use the song and dance to recite them if they
feel the need to do so, but they may not look at their own calendars to refer to.
E – Evaluate and Revise
o After testing all the students to see if they have learned the months of the year in chronological
order, I will sit down with the students and ask them how they liked the le sson. They will all sit

5. at their desks and I will stand in front of them and ask them questions such as; did they have
fun? Did they learn the months? What did they like and not like about the lesson?
o Depending on how the students respond would determine if I used the lesson again and/or how
I would change it. Maybe next time I would chose a different way to teach the months, another
way other than using a song and dance, or by having them do something other than create their
own calendar.