Picture Book Lesson

Picture Book Lesson

Standard:

 SS1H2 The student will read or listen to American folktales and explain how they characterize our national heritage. The study will include John Henry, Johnny Appleseed, Davy Crockett, Paul Bunyan, and Annie Oakley.

Day One:

For this lesson I chose the book Johnny Appleseed.  This is one of the characters in the first grade social studies standards for American folktales.  I did this lesson with whole group instruction.  Before reading the book I introduced the vocabulary words below:

·         Orchard

·         Squishy

·         Burlap

·         Seedling

·         Joined

I introduced each word and wrote on a chart.  Then I asked students if they knew the meaning.  If not I explained and we discussed.  After our discussions we created definitions for each word.   I also had students to dictate sentences using each word so they could see it used in context.    I decide this was an important step for my ESOL to students to help them gain a better understanding of this vocabulary.

To help activate their prior knowledge I asked if anyone had seen or been to an orchard before.   The cover of the book showed Johnny in an orchard so this helped to spur the conversation.  Once we discussed I read story to students.  Throughout the book I questioned students about different aspects in the book to help keep them engaged and involved in the story.  At one point we even did math when discussing how many brothers and sisters Johnny had.  When we finished I referred back to the vocabulary to see if the students could tell me how it was used in the story.

Day Two:

We reread the story about Johnny Appleseed.  After story I explained the difference in a fact a just their opinion and gave examples of each.   Then using an apple tree for our fact chart students were given apples to write one fact they learned about Johnny.   As everyone finished we added each apple to our fact tree.  Each fact was discussed.

This lesson was used as an enrichment lesson for my students during our intervention block.  There are 16 students.  Three of them are ESOL.  I chose this book because it is the first week of fall.

Reflection:

I think students enjoyed the story.  Previewing the vocabulary I think helped them to understand story better.  I also think having them use in sentences enhanced their understanding of them.  If I did this again I would bring in examples of burlap so they could feel and see this material.  I also would like to have a seedling and apples for them to see and taste.  I think these examples would help to make the story more real to them.  Overall I think it went well.