ECH Lesson Plan Format
Becky Chopp
1. Eggs-ellent Summaries
a. Story used: The Emperor’s Egg, by Martin Jenkins; from the Harcourt student
edition literature book.
 Tuesday, 3/9/10
 Reading and Literature
 Second Grade
 24 students
 1 hour 15 minutes
2. Purpose/Rationale
The lesson fits into the whole picture because the students are currently going to be
reading the story, The Emperor’s Egg, written by Martin Jenkins and Illustrated by Jane
Chapman. They will be introduced to the new vocabulary words on Friday and will be
introduced to the story on Monday. The children will be familiar with the vocabulary
words and the story. The purpose of this lesson is for the students to use a variety of
strategies to expand reading, listening, and speaking vocabularies. Another purpose of this
lesson is to expand their comprehension by having the students actively engage in the
reading process and use a variety of comprehension strategies to understand the meaning
of the texts that have been read. The students are going to practice using their
comprehension skills to write summaries, which will incorporate an informational writing.
They are also going to practice vocabulary skills by using at least one new vocabulary word
in their summary that is related to the story. If they choose to use more than one
vocabulary word they are welcome to, but only one vocabulary word is required because
they will only be required to write four sentences.
This lesson will cover Grade Level 2, Strand I. Reading and Literature, Sub-strand B.
Vocabulary Expansion, C. Comprehension, and D. Literature. It also covers Grade Level 2,
Strand II. Sub-Strands, A. Types of Writing, B. Elements of Composition, C. Spelling Grammar
and Usage.
3. Objectives/Outcomes and how they will be assessed
Objectives/Outcomes:
How Assessed?
Students will effectively use comprehension
skills
Students will identify key points that
happened in the beginning, the middle, and
the end of the story
Student will write one sentence about the
beginning of the story, two sentences about
the middle of the story, and one sentence
about the end of the story
Students will write an informational
summary
Student will use vocabulary words
Student will use at least one vocabulary
word in proper context.
4. Skills to be learned:
Listening, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, word recognition, analysis, literature, types
of writing, elements of composition, spelling and grammar skills.
5. Resources/Materials
The resource that was used was the, Teacher Edition of Harcourt Trophies, Literature
book. The materials that need to be prepared prior to this lesson are 24 egg shaped pieces
of writing paper to have the students write their summaries on and 24 large pieces of
construction paper with eggs traced on them. The students will need white crayons and
scissors for the art project. I will also prepare a word document that I can put up on the
smart board for all of the students to see. This document will remind them of what needs
to be included in their summaries (I have attached it at the end of this document).
6. Procedure
 Transition into the lesson—The children will finish reading the story with
the teacher. I will then inform the students to go to the group area by calling
them by their tables. This will only take a few minutes.

Introduction to and motivation for the lesson—Once we are in the group
area I will ask questions about the story. Starting with what was the story
about? Once I give some students chances to tell me what happens in the
story, I will then inform them that they just “summarized” the story. I will
inform them that they gave me a simple summary of the story.

Lesson Body—I am going to have the students write summaries of the story,
The Emperor’s Egg. First I will ask them if they know what a summary is. I’ll
let them give me their thoughts if they have any. Then I will read to them
what a summary is, out of the teachers guide. Then I will ask them what
main ideas are and what important details are (since they are very important
to summaries). I am then going to ask them if they have ever read a
summary, and where if they have. I will then explain to them where
summaries can be found and why they are important. Such as if you walk
into a library and decide a book looks good, how do you find out what it is
about. Do you read the entire book? OR , Do you read a summary to find out
what it is about?
I will then tell them that I am going to read them a summary. First, I
will show them the book, The Bravest Dog Ever: The True story of Balto, and
ask them if any of them have read it. I will then show them the summary on
the back of the book…..I have written a different summary that is about four
sentences long and has the main idea and key points that should be in a
summary. I will then ask them to listen very carefully to the summary. I am
choosing to read a summary from a different book to give them a good idea of
what a good summary consists of. After I read the book I will ask them if they
think it will be a good book. Then I will ask them what is the main idea of the
book. What are the key points of the story. This will help them understand
how important it is to include the main idea and key points in their
summaries.
I will then talk to them about what the beginning, middle, and the end
of the story are about and how important it is to include the beginning,
middle, and end parts of the story in the summary. I am going to use a small
white board and divide it into three sections with beginning, middle, and end
written on it. I will then ask students to name “key points” of the beginning,
middle, and end of the story. After we have a list of key points for the
beginning, middle, and end of the story, I will inform students that they are
going to write a summary.
Their summaries will include one sentence for beginning information,
two sentences for middle information, and one sentence for end information.
Then we will go over the vocabulary words and definitions because I am
going to require that they use at least one vocabulary word in their
summaries.
I will then send the students back to their spots to get started on their
rough draft of their summary. I will also inform them to keep their books out
and flipped open to the story so that if they don’t remember how to spell a
big word they can refer to their text. They need to understand that spelling
counts. I am then going to post a quick little reminder on the smart board. It
will say remember: #1: important information (main points, key ideas); #2
Beginning, Middle, and End information (1-beginning sentence, 2-middle
sentences, 1-end sentence); #3: Use at least 1 Vocabulary word. This will be
a great visual for them to refer back to, and the white board will be placed in
a visible area for them to refer back to are “brain stormed” ideas.
I will walk around and monitor the progress and help students who
need help. When the students are done with their rough drafts and I have
corrected them or made sure that they have required material they will copy
their summaries onto the fun egg-shaped paper.

Closure to the lesson—I will inform students that they need to stay on task
so they can finish their summaries because later on during the day we will do
a fun quick art project to go with the summaries. I will inform the students
that if they are not done with their summaries they will be finishing them
when the students who are done with their summaries are working on their
art project. The art project is just having the students cut out a giant egg and
decorating it with a white crayon, and then gluing their egg shaped piece of
paper with their summary on it in the middle of the egg. Their summaries
will then be displayed out in the hallway.
7. Accommodations for Diverse Learners
Some accommodations that I am using are different teaching styles. I will use
visual aids as well as vocally informing them of different concepts. I will repeat
what I am saying often and rephrase so every student can understand the directions.
I will also provide visual aids as well as verbally explaining it to the students. For a
select few individuals I will only require that they write three sentences because of
their struggles in writing.
8. Assessment

Pre-Assessment—I will ask the students what the story is about to assess
what they know about the story. I need to make sure that they understand
the story fairly well or are at least familiar to it, so they can write the
summary at ease.

Evaluation of the objectives/outcomes—There were only a few students
who had trouble and only two students who did not use the one vocabulary
words like they were supposed to. There was also only one student who
wrote three sentences instead of four sentences and that was because I only
required her to write three sentences. However the other students that I
only had required to write three sentence ended up writing four sentences.
There were only a few students who I had to re-explain things to and I did it
on a one-on-one basis and used different wording. Everything worked out
fine after a few students being redirected to our notes on the white board.
9. Self Reflection on Lesson— I was nervous at first but once I started it was really
fun. I was very impressed because some of the students that my practicum teacher
did not think would finished actually finished their summaries. I think most of the
students had the incentive to finish their summaries because if they did not finish
their summaries in the allotted time they would have to finish them when we were
doing our art project; if they did not finish there was the possibility that they would
not get to do the art project. I think that worked out very well giving them
something that really interested them and was fun and relaxing, because it gave
them the incentive to actually finish the summaries. There were only a few students
who had trouble but as soon as I redirected them to the sources we were allowed to
use and the main ideas we jotted down on the board, they seemed to do fine and
understand it. I was very impressed at some of the students summaries especially
some of the title one students who have a lot of difficulties with writing and reading.
I am not sure that I would do anything differently except giving them more time to
complete their summaries, but there really was not the allotted time. (Everything is
really booked and planned out!)
10. References:
Ada, Alma Flor, et al. Harcourt Trophies: Banner Days, Teacher’s Edition. Orlando,
Florida: Harcourt Inc., 2007
(This reminder will go on the Smart Board)
Remember!!
1. Important information
 Main points
 Key ideas
2. Beginning, Middle, and End information
 1 Beginning Sentences
 2 Middle Sentences
 1 Ending Sentence
3. At least 1 Vocabulary word