Lesson Plan #: AELP-STT0008
Submitted by: Melissa Rosa
Email: Rose175403@aol.com
School/University/Affiliation: St. Joseph College West Hartford, CT
Endorsed by: Dr. Regina Chatel Date: October 26, 1999

Grade Level(s): 2, 3, 4

Subject(s):

• Language Arts/Story telling

Description: In this lesson, students will be able to relate their readings to their personal experiences and re-tell the story from their own perspective.

Goals: Students will be able to develop their story-telling abilities by sequencing events in a story, creating a story map, and writing a story.

Objective(s):

1.  Students will be able to identify the beginning, middle, and end of a story.
2.  Students will be able to create a story map.
3.  Students will be able to write a story based on a story map.

Materials:

Ira Sleeps Over

blank paper for story maps

lined paper for stories

Self Reflection

Procedure: Initiation:

Talk to students about sleeping over friends’ houses in order to activate previous learning experiences.
Discuss what they do before they go to their friend’s house, while they are there, and when they go to bed.
This will establish a connection between the beginning, middle, and end of their sleep over.

Note: I think that discussion about sleeping over and stuffed animals was an enjoyable conversation that created a lot of interest in the book.
Predictions about Ira and Reggie were supported by personal feelings and previous experiences.

Procedure:

1.  Read Ira Sleeps Over to the class.  Discuss the story as it is read.  Have children predict whether or not Ira will bring his stuffed animal to Reggie’s house.  How do students think that Reggie will react?  Have the class discuss why they are making their predictions.
2.  Make a story map out of the story as a group.  List important events of the story in order.  These can be numbered.  Have the class decide which events are part of the beginning of the story, of the middle, and of the end.
3.  Instruct students to alter the story map at either the beginning, middle, or end.  Give students examples of situations in the book they might change.  For example, at the end of the book students may want to explore what would have happened if Reggie did not have a teddy bear, too.
4.  Students will then write a story based on the new story map.

Note: When the book was done, I had them give me a list of the important events in the story as they occurred.  I wrote them on the board and numbered them.  This worked well because it would take too much time to do it individually, and students could fill in things that others forgot.  I asked for numbers for the beginning, middle, and end (ex. Beginning #1-4).  The story map could be altered in one of the three sections in the story.  The “students” only gave me an altered map, so apparently I did not get across what I wanted.  I wanted the story map elaborated with dialogue into a story.

Closure:

Have several students volunteer to share their created maps, read their stories, and explain how they developed their stories from the maps.

Assessment: Evaluate the story maps and stories. Story maps should have identifiable changes made to the beginning, middle, or end. Stories should correspond to the map.