“THE LORAX” by Dr. Seuss- Second Grade Lesson Plan

Grade Level : Second and Third Grade Lesson Plan

Benchmark Description :

LA.2.1.7.5 – Identify the text structure an author uses (e.g., comparison/contrast, cause/effect, and sequence of events) and explain how it impacts meaning in text.

LA.2.1.7.3 – Summarize information in text, including but not limited to main idea, supporting details, and connections between texts.

LA.2.1.7.8 – Use strategies to repair comprehension of grade-appropriate text when self-monitoring indicates confusion, including but not limited to rereading, checking context, summarizing, questioning, and clarifying by checking other sources.

Body of Knowledge: Environment, Science and Language Arts

Objectives:

After this lesson:

Students will learn the human impact on the environment.

Students will learn the cause and effect of cutting trees (cause) on wild life and air pollution.

Students will learn the importance of preserving the environment.

Students will describe their understanding of “The Lorax” story in their journals.

Students will make connections between “The Lorax” story and their own life/environment.

Students will write a summary of “The Lorax” story.

Students will write three paragraphs on way that they will help the Lorax and his friends.

Students will acquire knowledge of the lesson related vocabulary, such as, environment, interconnectedness, pollution, and ecosystem.

Materials:

“The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss

Pencils

Color Pencils

Journals

Internet

Procedures:

Teacher will start a lesson by activating students knowledge on importance of trees. Teacher will initiated discussion by asking questions, such as, “Why do you think that trees are important? Why do you think that it is important for us to keep our water clean (lakes, rivers, ponds, oceans)? What do you think happens to animals once their trees are cut down? What is pollution? What happens to humans and animals when our air is polluted? Can you think of the ways that one action, such as, cutting trees, causes a chain reaction and impacts an entire ecosystem of life? How is the ecosystem interconnected?

Teacher is going to read a story. Teacher stops and discusses a Thneed. Did people need a Thneed? How did Once-ler’s greed impact the animals, the air, the Lorax? At the end of the story, what did the word “UNLESS” mean? What can we do to protect the environment?

Students and Teacher will discuss the ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Students and Teacher will visit http://www.seussville.com/loraxproject/ and read out loud the steps on what we can do to help the Lorax and his friends.

Assessment:

Students will write and illustrate the summary of “The Lorax” in their journals.

Students will write three paragraphs on the steps they will take to help the Lorax and his friends.

Extension Activities:

Visit http://www.seussville.com/loraxproject/

The Rainbow Fish – Lesson Plan- Second Grade

Grade Level : Second Grade

Subject : Language Arts

Duration: 40 minutes

Benchmark Description : Florida Sunshine State Standards

LA.A.2.1.1: The student uses the reading process effectively – determines the main idea or essential message from text and identifies supporting information.

LA.2.1.7.3 – summarize information in text, including but not limited to main idea, supporting details, and connections between texts.

LA.2.1.7.4 – identify cause-and-effect relationships in text.

LA.2.1.7.5 – identify the text structure an author uses (e.g., comparison/contrast, cause/effect, and sequence of events) and explain how it impacts meaning in text.

LA.2.1.7.8 – use strategies to repair comprehension of grade-appropriate text when self-monitoring indicates confusion, including but not limited to rereading, checking context clues, predicting, summarizing, questioning, and clarifying by checking other sources.

LA.2.2.1.2 – identify and describe the elements of story structure, including setting, plot, character, problem, and resolution in a variety of fiction.

Objectives:

After this lesson:

Students will be able to identify the main idea in the story.

Students will be able to summarize the text and make text connections to their own lives.

Students will be able to identify cause and effect relationship in the text.

Students will use reading comprehension strategies to monitor their own understanding of the text.

Students will use higher order cognitive skills to create their own story on topics of friendship, sharing, and/or happiness in their journals.

Materials:

The Rainbow Fish, by Marcus Pfister

Poster size Rainbow fish

journals

pencils

markers

paper scales

Procedures:

1. Teacher will start the lesson by discussing the role of sharing in friendship. Teacher will ask students how sharing makes them feel. How do they go about sharing things that they really like? Does it hurt their feelings when someone does not want to share with them? How do they feel when a friend shares with them?
2. Teacher will proceed to introduce the story and then read the story. During the story, teacher will pause on a couple of spots and check on students’ comprehension and thought and prediction on the story. (It is important not to make too many comprehension pauses/stops in order to prevent loss of interest in the story.
3. At the end, ask students to summarize the story. What was the story about? Students will identify the cause and effects relationship in the story. How did the Rainbow Fish behavior change the way other fish treat her? Discuss the importance of sharing and what really made the Rainbow Fish happy? Was it the shimmering scales or friends?
4. Take a step further and encourage students to think about their own friendships and instances when someone’s selfishness made them feel bad or vice versa. Then give out a pice of paper in the shape of a scale to each student. Tell them to think of one word that comes to mind when they think of sharing and friendship. Have them write the word on the scale. Let them decorate their individual scales, and once they are done, glue the scales on the big poster fish.

Assessment:

Students will either retell the story in written form in their journals or create a new story on on the topic of sharing and friendship.

Butterfly Life Cycle – Free Lesson Plan – Elementary Science

Butterfly Life Cycle – Metamorphosis

Grade Level – 2nd Grade

Subject Area – Elementary Science

Benchmark Description:

Observe and describe major stages in the life cycle of a butterfly.

Objectives:

Students will understand life cycle of a butterfly.

Students will be able to describe life cycle/stages of a butterfly verbally and in written form.

Students will have knowledge of lesson related vocabulary, metamorphosis, pupa, larva, chrysalis, etc.

Materials:

“A Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle

Activity work sheets- Butterfly Life Cycle

Markers and pencils

Procedures:

1. Activate students’ knowledge on butterflies. Ask about observed caterpillars, chrysalis, butterflies, butterfly habitat, butterfly season, butterfly color, butterfly size, etc.
2. Introduce terms metamorphosis, larva, pupa, and chrysalis.
3. Read “A Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle.
4. Hand out Butterfly Life Cycle worksheets and have students connect, label, and color butterfly life stages.
5. Discuss further questions that students thought of. Students who pose additional questions on the topic get a sticker.

Assessment:

Students will write and illustrate a story about butterfly life cycle (metamorphosis) in their journals.

Extension Activities:

1. Rereading of “A Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle not only teaches butterfly life states but it builds reading fluency.

2. Visit the school library to obtain additional informational books on butterflies for further research.

Butterfly Life Cycle Lesson Plan-ReadingIsFun.me

Butterfly Life Cycle – worksheet I

Butterfly Life Cycle -worksheet II

Pilgrims – The Story of Thanksgiving – Magic Tree House Guide

Pilgrims- by Mary Pope Osborne –  Magic Tree House (Nonfiction) Research Guide

This is one of the best children’s nonfiction books about Thanksgiving. It is ideal for any age group, especially primary students who are discovering their first chapter books, and for elementary school teachers’ lesson plans.

The book describes the lives of Pilgrims and the origin of Thanksgiving in an interesting and engaging way.

Happy Reading!

How to help Kindergartner memorize words?

How to help Kindergartner memorize words?

Kids in kindergarten will have to memorize a lot of new words. These words will be sight words (they are also called red words, or high frequency words, etc). Kids should memorize them so they can recognize them right away in text, since these are the most used words in the language. Anyhow, how do we get our kids to learn them?

Here are some suggestions:

*  Make sentences with new words. Make the sentences personal to kids. Include their names in it or activities that they do. Write it down for your child and show him/her how the new word fits into a sentence.

* Take any easy to read book. It could be Dr. Seuss books, Dora book, Blues Clues, Harold, Biscuit, Fancy Nancy, or any other that they like. Have your child look for his/her new word in it. These books are full of sight words that are learned in Kindergarten and First Grade.

* Write them out on cards. Get a box, and keep the word cards in it, so that you can go back to it and review them often. Kindergarten and First Grade kids learn an enormous amount of words every day.

It takes six or more times of exposure to the word in different concepts before a child has a full knowledge of how to use the word and what it means. English is complex, and even if our children know the word by memory, their understanding of it is still only partial. With exposure, they gain understanding and confidence, as well as, the ability to learn more words and grow larger vocabulary.

Happy Reading!

Learn to Spell- Kindergarten, First Grade, Second Grade

Spelling – Kindergarten, First, and Second Grade

Check the spellingcity.com site. It lets you plug in your own spelling words into a list and play games. It just makes the memorization of the spelling words a bit more meaningful, which will help your child put the words in context and remember them even after the test.

children's books online

On a rainy day when you feel like reading some new books but don’t want to go to the library…  Here are some good sites with children’s books online.

Kids love this site. A lots of books read aloud by actors. http://www.storylineonline.net/

Between the Lions – PBS – stories online

http://pbskids.org/lions/stories/

International Children’s Digital Library from the University of Maryland

This site has books from all over the world. It’s a good way to introduce your child to different cultures.

http://www.icdlbooks.org/

Check www.biguniverse.com books online