Read Aloud Lesson Plan The lesson plan consists of four lessons. The story is read aloud each day. In addition, each day has a specific focus: Day 1: print awareness, preview, prediction Day 2: sight words, dialogic reading, or conversing about words and pictures to increase understanding and vocabulary Day 3: phonemic awareness Day 4: comprehension check, story components, extension activity The lessons are appropriate for any time in the kindergarten year. They include comprehension checks and an extension activity.
Day 1 Identify parts of a book: front cover, back cover, title page Make predictions based on cover, title page, and illustrations Confirm predictions after listening to the story Summarize the story Wood Pieces Blue Mat Get Set for School Sing Along CD (optional) Time: 20 minutes Previewing and Predicting 1. Begin singing Mat Man from Get Set for School Sing Along CD. Gather children in a circle, seated on the floor, as you sing. Build Mat Man on the floor in the center of the circle. When Mat Man is complete, tell children that today we will be reading a story about Mat Man. 2. Show front and back covers of. Point out the title and read it to children, explaining that the title is the name of the book. Point out the author and illustrator s names. Explain that the author is the person who wrote the book and the illustrator is the person who drew the pictures. Have children describe what they see in the cover picture. Open to the title page. Have children tell what they see on the title page and how it is similar to the front cover. See if they can find the title and author s and illustrator s names. 3. Show each page of the book slowly. Ask children, What is happening in the pictures? What do you think the book is about? After some children have shared their predictions, say, Let s read the book to see if our predictions are correct. 4. Read the book to the children. Point to the shapes and other items when they are described in the text. Create additional interest by using a special voice for Mat Man. Confirming Predictions Ask, What was the book about? Were your predictions correct? How do you know?
Day 2 Get Set for School Sing Along CD (optional) Sight word cards (made from 4 x 6 index cards) we, do, he Sheet of dark-colored construction paper Read sight words we, do, he Time 25 minutes Learn new vocabulary Ask and answer questions about story content Reading for Concepts 1. Begin singing Mat Man from Get Set for School Sing Along CD to call children to the reading area. Tell children that today we will read again. 2. Today we ll read again. First, let s go over some words that are in the book. Display the sight word cards you made as you read and spell the words. This word is we, w-e, we. This is do, d-o, do. This is he, h-e, he. Repeat with children. We ll read these words in our books. 3. 4. Read the title and author and illustrator s names, pointing to them on the cover. Read each page spread aloud. Then use the dialogic reading pattern described below to converse with children about each page spread. Adjust your questions to respond to children s specific comments, gently correcting, if necessary. Point to Mat Man s body. What shape is Mat Man s body? Repeat and expand on child s response. Yes, Mat Man s body is a round circle. (Another example might be a triangle with three corners. ) Prompt for further meaning. What color is the circle? Repeat child s response. Yes, Mat Man s body is a round, orange circle. Ask the original question again to confirm understanding of words and concepts. What shape is Mat Man s body? Point to an item on the right-hand page. What can Mat Man do with a circle body? Repeat and expand on child s response. Yes, Mat Man can roll because he is a circle. Ask the original question again to confirm understanding of words and concepts. What can Mat Man do with a circle body? Follow this questioning pattern after reading each page spread. Checking Comprehension Use the construction paper to hide the right-hand page while displaying each left-hand page. Ask children, What would Mat Man do when his body is a circle? After children share responses, reveal right-hand page to show what Mat Man does with his circle body.
Day 3 Get Set for School Sing Along CD (optional) Sight word cards we, do, he Time 20 minutes Read sight words Identify rhyming words Blend onsets and rimes to say words Change initial sounds of words to make new words Working with Words 1. Begin singing Mat Man from Get Set for School Sing Along CD to call children to the reading area. Tell children that today we talk about words from. 2. Before we read our book, let s read our sight words together. Display the sight word cards. Say the words together, we, do, he. Repeat. 3. 4. Play a rhyming game by reading the book, emphasizing the first rhyming word and leaving out the second on each page or set of pages. I m going to read aloud. Listen carefully and see if you can say the rhyming words that I leave out as I read. If we made Mat Man with a rectangle, what would Mat Man do? He d be the real Mat Man and his mat would be. Children say blue to complete the rhyme. Prompt children as needed. Continue through the rest of the book. Repeat the rhyme completion using the last page of the book. The two rhyming words on this page are cow and now. They both end with the same sound /ow/. That s what makes them rhyme. When we say /k/ before /ow/, we make the word cow. Let s blend those sounds together, /k/ /ow/, /kow/. In now, the beginning sound is /n/ with the same ending sound /ow/. Let s blend now together, /n/ /ow/, /now/. Do you know any other words that end with /ow/? Take children s suggestions. Prompt them with initial sounds if needed (/b/, /h/, /p/, /s/, /w/). With the children, blend each new word in the same pattern, onset and rime, /b/ /ow/, /h/ /ow/, /p/ /ow/, /s/ /ow/, /w/ /ow/. Children may suggest words beginning with two- or three-letter blends. Include them if suggested. Repeat the activity, if desired, beginning with other word pairs from 5.. Other rhyming pairs suitable for this activity include floor/door, sky/bye, hand/band, cop/stop, and alive/five.
Day 4 Get Set for School Sing Along CD (optional) Sight word cards we, do, he Time 30 minutes Shape Creations download, one sheet for each child Read sight words Identify story components: characters, setting, key events Ask and answer questions about content Identifying Story Elements 1. Begin singing Mat Man from Get Set for School Sing Along CD to call children to the reading area. Tell children that today we will read again. 2. Before we read our book, let s read our sight words together. Display the sight word cards. Say the words together, we, do, he. Repeat. 3. Read aloud. Leave out shape names as you read. For example, If we made Mat Man with a, what would Mat Man do? Point to the shape to prompt children to complete the sentence. 4. After reading, say, People, and sometimes animals, in a story are called characters. Who is the most important character in this story? Who does most of the action? You re right. It s Mat Man. We call him the main character in the story. Some stories have more than one important character. A story s place and time is called the setting. has many settings. Let s name them. Flip through the book, pausing at each page spread for children to name the setting. Some settings have no obvious time. Accept their approximations for time and place. Tell children that some other stories will have just one setting. Mat Man does many things in this book. Each thing that happens is called an event. What are the events in? Prompt children to name the events in the book as you show the pages. Checking Comprehension Monitor comprehension by listening to children s descriptions of story events and their questions about the story. What is your favorite event in the story? Is there anything else you want to know about an event in the story? We may be able to find answers in our book now, or we may write down the questions and look for the answers in other places later. Extension Activity Download Shape Creations sheet, duplicate, and distribute to children. What could this shape become? Give children some starter ideas such as, The circle could be a clock. Show them how to draw hands and numbers on the circle to make a clock. They may also add the rest of Mat Man to drawings if they wish, e.g., Mat Man could have a clock body.