Geneva College

Beaver Falls, PA

Writing Lesson Plan

Name: Kelsey McFarland Date: 4/6 – 4/9/21

Subject: Writing Grade Level: 1st Grade

I. Topic
Animals: Research about an animal and write enough information to teach a peer.

II. PA or Common Core Standards

CC.1.4.1.A Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information.
CC.1.4.1.B Identify and write about one specific topic.
CC.1.4.1.C Develop the topic with two or more facts.
CC.1.4.1.D Group Information and provide some sense of closure.
CC.1.4.1.K Use a variety of words and phrases.

III. Learning Objectives: Objectives must be written using observable verbs

TSWBAT choose an animal to research and write about.
TSWBAT gather information and facts about their animal using a graphic organizer.
TSWBAT write a paragraph with at least four sentences about their chosen animal.
TSWBAT write at least two facts about their animal.
TSWBAT write a topic and a concluding sentence.

IV. Materials
 Introductory animal PowerPoint
 Smart Board
 Anticipation guide about giraffes
 Reading about giraffes
 Giraffe video
 QR codes of animal videos
 iPads
 Headphones
 Readings for each animal (Arctic fox, polar bear, spider monkey, sea otters, cheetah, and moose)
 Anchor app
 Manilla folders for each student
 Prewriting graphic organizer
 Writing paper
 Self-evaluation checklist
 Chromavid app
 Yellow wall or green tablecloth
 Writing rubric
V. Lesson Development
A. Introduction
Day 1: Pull up the introductory animal PowerPoint. Explain to students that you will show them ten
different animals that they can choose from. They will choose one animal to research more about
through reading and watching a video. Introduce each animal in the slideshow and ask students where
they might live. After each slide, remind students if they liked that animal, they can choose it to learn
more about. On the last slide, call each student’s name and ask them which animal they want to know
more about. Drag the pushpin to their chosen animal. Tell students they will begin learning about their
animals the following week.

B. Lesson development (activities, procedures)

Day 2: Introduce your chosen animal to the students (giraffes). Tell students before they begin to learn
about giraffes, the class will complete an anticipation guide. Read through the five questions and ask
students to circle ‘T’ if they believe the statement is true or ‘F’ if it is false. After completing the guide,
read the text about giraffes to the students. Pass out the reading for each student to follow along and
highlight with you. Highlight the facts that correlate with the anticipation guide. Talk out loud your
thinking process as you are highlighting. Tell students that you are going to choose three facts to write
about. After reading, watch the video about giraffes using the link on the reading document. Tell
students to get out a crayon to check their anticipation guides. Read back through the statements and
ask students whether the answers are true or false based off the reading and video. Discuss how they
have learned something new from researching more about the animal. Pull up the graphic organizer for
prewriting. Pass out the graphic organizer to the students. Model the prewrite using giraffes as the
example and have students write on their organizers with you. Ask students for three facts they learned
about giraffes. Write these on the organizer in the correct boxes. Explain that they will go through this
process the next day with the animals they chose earlier in the week. Give each student a manilla folder
and staple all the papers into the folder. Write ‘Animal Writing Project’ on the board and have students
write this on their folder. Tell them to put it in their chair pocket and explain that they will be using this
folder throughout the week.

Day 3: Tell students to get iPads and headphones on their desks. Give students the QR code for the
videos on their animals. Tell students to scan the code and watch the video about their animal. As
students are watching the video, pass out the reading on their animals. After they have finished their
video, students will read their text and use their highlighter to mark the facts that they want to write
about. For the struggling readers, have them listen to a recording of the reading using the Anchor app.
Remind them of how you highlighted the facts you liked in the reading about giraffes. Tell students they
need 2 facts. Tell students if there was something they learned in the video they can write that as a fact.
Walk around and ask students to tell you their 2 facts to be sure they have enough. Give the students
the graphic organizer to write their facts on. Tell students to write their name and their animal on the
paper. Tell them they will write a different fact in each box. Staple these additional papers into their
‘Animal Writing Project’ folders.

Day 4: Tell students that together we will write a paragraph from the organizer about giraffes. Begin by
writing the topic sentence: I have learned many things about giraffes. Then ask students how to write
the facts as sentences. Model correct capitalization and punctuation. Read back the sentences after you
write them. Tell students at the end of the paragraph we need a concluding/ending sentence. Write the
sentence: I think giraffes are amazing animals. Read through the entire paragraph to the students. Tell
 students they will be writing their paragraphs to bring all of their research together just like you did with
giraffes. Give each student the writing paper. Tell them to write their names at the top. Tell students to
write a title for their paper. Remind them they need a topic sentence and an ending sentence. Show
students that they will be using the facts on their organizers to write their paper. Tell students there is
extra writing paper at the front of the room if they need extra space. Once students have completed
their writing, tell them they will check and edit their own writing. Display the checklist using the Smart
Board and read each statement. Give students the writing checklist so they can self-evaluate their
paragraphs. Staple these papers into their ‘Animal Writing Project’ folders.

Day 5: Students will choose a background for their recording. They can choose between a picture of
their animal or their animal’s habitat. Students will stand in front of the yellow wall in the classroom.
Record the students using the Chromavid app on the teacher’s iPad. Students will hold their writing and
read in front of the camera.

C. Evidence of differentiated instruction (content, process, product, or learning environment)

Content: I used information from the National Geographic Kids website to find facts about each of the
animals. I created short, informational readings for each animal that is easier for the students to read. I
used the information from the website. I created a podcast of myself reading the texts for the students
who are struggling readers. They can listen to the text through the podcast while following along with
the paper.

Process: Sentence frames will be taped onto the wall underneath the memory word wall. There will be a
topic sentence frame and a concluding sentence frame.
o “I have learned many things about ____.”
o “I think ____ are interesting animals because _____.”
o “An interesting fact I learned about _____ is _____.”
o “I think _____ are amazing animals.”

Product: Students are required to write a minimum of 2 facts. The students who are stronger writers will
be asked for 3 or 4 facts to write about on their organizer and in their paper.

D. Closure (summary)
Day 5: Ask students to raise their hands if they learned something new about their animal. Call on a few
students (one for each animal researched) to say one fact they learned about their animal after
researching. Ask for their favorite fact or something they wish to learn more about their animal. Collect
their ‘Animal Writing Project’ folders with all documents inside to be graded using the writing rubric.

VI. Assessment/evaluation
The prewriting graphic organizers will be collected to check if students were able to gather information about
their chosen animal. Students should have at least two facts. Collect student’s writing and checklists. The writing
will be assessed using the rubric. Students should have a minimum of four sentences, at least two facts, a topic
and a concluding sentence.

VII. Self-evaluation
Day 1: Students were actively engaged throughout the entire introduction. I clicked through all of the lides and
introduced the 10 different animals. I asked students to guess where the animals lived. At the very end, I
explained that they were going to pick an animal and I would drag the pushpin on the screen to the animal they
selected. Each student eagerly chose an animal. I then explained that the next day I would introduce my chosen
animal to model their research.

After the lesson, I went home and typed up readings for each of the chosen animals. I created QR codes for
short videos for each animal. I also created the graphic organizers, writing paper, self-evaluation checklists, and
writing rubric.

Day 2: The anticipation guide was a great start to the lesson. The students were activating their prior knowledge
and were already engaged. I prompted students on what true and false meant. I explained that true meant
something was correct and false meant that it is wrong. I then said that the T stood for true, and the F stood for
false. I showed students the video about giraffes. Then I asked them what things they learned from the video.
Some students talked about their tongues being long or that they run differently. I asked students to put their
pencils away and take out their highlighters. This way they could not change their answers on the anticipation
guide. Then we read the passage on giraffes together. I read some sentences and called on a few students to
read. I pointed out facts that I thought were interesting in the reading and asked students to highlight those
sentences. Then I asked them to take out a crayon. We walked back through each statement on the anticipation
guide, and I asked students whether the facts were true or false based off the reading. Then I passed out the
graphic organizer. I displayed the graphic organizer on the screen and wrote by screensharing with the iPad. I
asked the students to give me two different facts they learned about giraffes. They told me that they each have
different spots and they only need water every few days. Then we wrote these two facts on the line to help us
remember. I then gave each student a manilla folder to staple all of their papers in. I wrote the words “Animal
Writing Project” on the board and asked students to write it on their folders. I explained that tomorrow they
would be researching the animal they chose the previous day using a similar process to my giraffe research. A
student walked into class late and during the middle of the lesson. I should have immediately given them papers
and caught them up quickly while the other students were working. This is something I need work on. There
were also too many things on the student’s desks. This can cause distractions, so I need to learn how to
condense the number of items.

Day 3: I began today’s lesson by reviewing the giraffe example we worked on the day before. I taped the QR
codes around the room and labeled them with the animal names. I reminded students which animal they chose
and told them to find that QR code. I modeled scanning the code for them using their camera and showed that it
would take them to a video about their animal. After students watched the videos, I asked them to open the app
on their iPads called Anchor. I did not realize they would have to log into the app, but I immediately wrote my
username and password on the board and asked students to sign in using that. I walked around and helped
students sign in. Then I showed them on the screen where to go to find the animal podcasts. They each found
their animal and listened to the reading while following along with their own paper. The students who are
stronger readers were asked to read without the app. Then I reminded students that we highlighted some facts
in our giraffe reading. I asked them to highlight two facts in their readings. I walked around and asked individual
students to highlight more facts because they are capable of writing more. Students were given an adapted
graphic organizer for their animals. I changed the organizer from three to two boxes for facts and gave them
writing lines. This helped students write neater. The students wrote their highlighted facts onto their organizers.
Then we added these papers into our Animal Writing Project folders. There were a lot of steps throughout this
lesson that need to be condensed or separated. The students needed more time or research and write. If I had
been at the school for an entire week this may have been easier to do.
 Day 4: I began today’s lesson by reviewing giraffes and the facts they chose. Then I modeled writing a paragraph
by writing a topic sentence and fact sentences. I introduced the sentence wall with sentence frames that I wrote
on strips of paper. I explained which one was the topic sentence frame, fact sentence frame, and ending
sentence frame. Then I explained that they were going to write a paragraph about their animals using those
sentence frames. I gave students the first writing page and told them to write a title. The students worked
independently for the most part. I walked around and helped the struggling students with knowing which
sentence frames to use. I told students to take a picture of the sentence frame with their iPad and set it up on
their desks to see it better. The students worked hard and used their best writing. Some students had to restart
their writing because it was sloppy, or they did not have spaces. I reminded students to show me their best
writing. The students were excited to write about their animals.

Day 5: I called one student at a time to record their writing. I had them practice reading through their writing
before recording. I chose a picture of their animal as the background. The students stood in front of the green
screen and read their writing. Most of the students read clearly and fluently. Some students did not write neatly
or use complete sentences which made reading their work difficult. We displayed their videos on the Smart
Board and let them listen and watch. The students loved this. We did not have time to do the final discussion,
but I am incredibly proud of their hard work and participation.

Resources:
 http://firstgradewow.blogspot.com/2015/01/hows-my-writing.html
 https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/

Cooperating Teacher Approval ________________________________________