LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE
Grade Level: 6
Subject(s): “Holes” by Louis Sachar
Title of Lesson/Task
Strand: Introduction to Louis
Sachar’s novel “Holes.”
Specific Learning Outcomes (SCO) (from curriculum documents)
6. Students will be expected to respond personally to a range of texts.
Connections
(1) How can I connect students’ lives to this topic? Many students have been to a summer camp before or at least have
an understanding of what a summer camp is like based on movies and word of mouth. Stanley shares the same views
that most children have in regards to summer camps. Connecting Stanley’s idea of summer camp with the ideas of
the class will help connect students to Stanley’s character and the novel itself.
(2) Cross-curricular Links: Social Studies, Geography
(3) What current event(s) (Local, National, International) or other real-life connections might spark further interest in the
topic? Hope Blooms is a youth organization that has built and maintained a community garden in the Halifax area.
One of the most impressive aspects of this organization is that, with the help of community members, it is almost
entirely run by children. Children need to realize that working outside and labouring over the land can be a positive
experience. It is important for children to recognize the different between Hope Blooms and Camp Green Lake.
Materials and Media:
What materials and media might be used to introduce and expand student understanding? What additional resources might
support your development of the lesson(s)such as websites, books, posters, …?
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Smart board
Word Wall
Comparison Chart “What does Stanley know vs. What does the reader know”
Sticky notes
Chart Paper
Markers/Coloured Pencils
Rulers
Pens/Pencils
Erasers
Scissors
Class set of the novel “Holes” by Louis Sachar
Marking rubric/score sheet
Differentiated Instruction, Modifications and Accommodations
What accommodations and modifications (for students with exceptionalities) will you make to support
students with special needs or English Language Learners, etc. (see suggestions below). Name two
exceptionalities. You will need to demonstrate that you are knowledgeable of your students’ needs. In
cases where you are preparing a series of lessons refer to the same exceptionalities.
Increase time, space, amount
Decrease time, space, amount
Change seating, groupings
Other: ____________________
Scribe
Oral explanation
Peer tutor/Partner
Use manipulatives
Include visuals, models, cueing, organizers
Applying or Extending the activity
Specifically, name the exceptionality and how will you differentiate the (cite one example for each
exceptionality named above):
1. A student with a hearing impairment
2. An ESL student
Learning environment?
1. All activities for the day will be displayed on the front board with step-by-step instructions. The
student with a hearing impairment will be seated near the board in order to ensure maximum visibility.
2. The ESL student will be seated next to a peer helper to assist them throughout the lesson. They will
also be seated near the board to have access to the visual cues on the board as well.
Content?
1. The student with a hearing impairment will be using the same content as the rest of the class; the only
difference will be the way in which the content is presented.
2. An easier version of the novel “Holes” will be provided to the student. The teacher will also include a
handout containing information about summer camps and desserts that are relevant to the class.
Process?
1. The student with a hearing impairment will have visual instructions written on the board to better
understand class activities. Furthermore, a handout detailing all verbal topics will be provided to the
student as well. Finally, a hand gesture will be used as an attention getter for the class.
2. The ESL student will have access to all the same resources as the student with a hearing impairment.
Clear, concise, and simple explanations of tasks will also be verbally provided to the student. A peer
tutor will also be seating next the ESL student in case they have questions and need help.
Product?
1. The student with a hearing impairment will have visual instructions written on the board to better
understand class activities. Furthermore, a handout detailing all verbal topics will be provided to the
student as well.
2. The ESL student will have access to all the same resources as the student with a hearing impairment.
Clear, concise, and simple explanations of tasks will also be verbally provided to the student.
Assessment? Here you need to think about what alternative ways will you offer these students to demonstrate their
knowledge? E.g., use a tape recorder to report, draw a picture, act in a play, write with spell check, etc.
1. Classmates will use visual cues (thumbs up) to praise the student with a hearing impairment at the end
of her presentation. If the student does not feel comfortable speaking in front of the class, they may sign
and ask an interpreter to translate for them. If an interpreter is not present, the students can paraphrase the
descriptions found in chapter 1 on a piece of paper and can ask another student to present the paper for
them. Finally, the student with a hearing impairment can simply opt out of presenting the assignment
altogether and pass in a written explanation of the descriptions they used for their drawing instead.
2. The ESL student will be asked to present their drawing to the class to the best of their ability. If the
student does not feel comfortable speaking English in front of the class, they may speak in a language
they are more familiar with and ask an interpreter to translate for them. If an interpreter is not present, the
students can paraphrase the descriptions found in chapter 1 on a piece of paper and can ask another
student to present the paper for them. Finally, the ESL student can simply opt out of presenting the
assignment altogether and pass in a written explanation of the descriptions they used for their drawing
instead.
Critical Thinking – keep in mind Bloom’s Taxonomy – higher order thinking and questions – Do
not complete this as a separate section in your final plan. These should be kept in mind throughout
the lesson(s).
What critical thinking activities will you use to explore the topic?
e.g. Decode a puzzle -Design to specifications -Perform to specifications -Judge the better or best
-Rework the work - Critique the work - Questioning, tasks….. - Refer to a Curriculum
Document for suggestions
Creating: Students will be creating an individual and unique visual representation of Camp
Green Lake to show the class.
Evaluating: Students will be actively listening and reviewing the presentations of their
classmates.
Analyzing: Students will be linking their prior knowledge of summer camp to the camp
described in chapter 1, furthermore, students will be creating a chart comparing what the readers
know about Camp Green Lake with Stanley’s knowledge of Camp Green Lake.
Applying: Students will be presenting and sharing their final drawing/map with the class.
Understanding: Students will be paraphrasing the descriptive text of Chapter 1 when describing
key elements of their drawing/map to the class.
Remembering: Students will be locating descriptive features of Camp Green Lake in Chapter 1
to use for their drawing/map assignment.
Assessment
Possible Assessment
Strategies:
o Discussion
o Interview/Conference
o KWL
o Pre Test
o Observation
o Work Sample
o Checklist
o Learning Log/Journal
o Self-Assessment
o Peer Assessment
o Personal Reflection
o Project
o Achievement Chart
o Quiz
o Oral Report
o Presentation/Performance
o Audio/Video/Technological
o Rubrics
6. Students will be expected to respond personally to a range of texts.
Assessment for Learning
(Diagnostic) How will you know what the students already know and
can do related to this topic?
(Formative) What evidence will you obtain to help you in your
instruction?
Students will complete bell work at the beginning of class that asks
students to describe important features of a summer camp. This
activity will get the class thinking about camp and will also serve as
an assessment of prior knowledge.
Assessment as Learning:
(Formative) What opportunities will you provide for peer and/or selfassessment, setting/revisiting learning goals?
Students will create a visual representation of Camp Green Lake. The
teacher will be actively monitoring students’ work to ensure all
students are on task and understand the assignment.
Assessment of Learning:
(Summative) How will you know how well they understand key
idea(s) and what knowledge and skills have been gained? This could
be assessed through a culminating task.
The drawing assignment will be presented to the class and will be
assessed by the students and teacher. A marking rubric/scoring sheet
will be handed out to each student to facilitate assessment.
The Instructional Process
This is a step-by-step procedure
for the lesson. Make sure you
include transitions throughout.
APK (Minds On):
(Getting Ready)
no more than 5 minutes
What are the students doing?
What are you
doing?
Students will complete bell work at the
beginning of class that states: In your table
groups, describe important features of a
summer camp. This activity will get the class
thinking about camp and will also serve as an
assessment of prior knowledge. (MIs:
Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, VerbalLinguistic) BL: Oral Language
The teacher will
be actively
monitoring
These should be the awareness and
students’ during
engagement activities around the topic.
the bell work.
They can be whole class or small group
After the group
activities.
discussion, the

Looks like: brainstorming, mind
mapping, setting a mini-task,
teacher will ask
discussion, reviewing previous
for the entire
material, before reading strategy,
After a few minutes, the teacher will ask for
class’ attention
other…
the entire class’ attention and will ask each
and will ask each
group to share some of their answers with the group to share
class. Throughout the class discussion, the
some of their
teacher will be actively writing student
answers with the
responses on the board. (MIs: Intrapersonal, class. The
Interpersonal, Verbal-Linguistic) BL: Oral teacher will
actively write
Language
student
responses on the
board.
1) Book walk/Predictions
1) The teacher
Action (This should be the longest section of
the lesson) and should be detailed!
As a pre-reading strategy, the teacher will
will be actively
These are all of the activities (e.g., creating,
conduct
a
book
walk
before
beginning
engaging
reflecting, and revising) that the student
Chapter 1. The teacher will examine the
students in a
would engage in to build the understanding
illustrations and title “Holes” with the class.
book walk. The
and skills to meet the expectations and
learning outcomes.
The teacher will flip through the text and stop teacher will be
Looks like: investigation, small groups of students
at any illustrations found in the book. Finally, asking guided
working together, students making summaries and
the teacher will turn to the back of the book
questions
generalizations, use of manipulatives, use of
technologies, teacher circulating e.g.to keep students
and will discuss the illustrations with the class pertaining to the
moving forward, (This may include probing for
as well. The teacher will follow up with
book
misconceptions, providing hints, asking students to
generalize or hypothesize e.g. asking What if?
guiding questions, asking students to predict
illustrations, as
questions. Prompts should be open-ended and
what
the
book
might
be
about
based
on
the
well as asking
promote deeper thinking and discussion.
illustrations found throughout the book. Ask
students to make
Please look at what Multiple Intelligences
you plan to address. Name the Intelligence students the reasoning behind their answers
predictions about
and then make sure it is identified and
and activate prior knowledge by asking
the book.
clearly utilized in the activity. For literacy
students what they know about the subject of
lesson plans BALANCED LITERACY
components need to be identified throughout the story. Ask students how they might
connect these ideas with the bell work. Finish
the lesson.
the book walk by asking students to predict 2
Have you remembered to
or 3 events that might take place in the book.
include…
Guided Practice: Sample guiding questions, activities
(MIs: Verbal-Linguistic, Visual-Spatial,
and prompts..
Intrapersonal, Interpersonal) BL: Oral
Independent Practice – How do you plan to make sure
the students “know” the topic?
language, Guided Reading
2) Word Wall
The teacher will create a word wall with the
2) The teacher
will explain the
class incorporating vocabulary from the text
that may not be familiar to the students. The
teacher will keep adding words to the word
wall throughout the entire unit. The first
words to be placed on the word wall will
incorporate all bolded words from this lesson
plan regarding chapter 1 and 2. (MIs:
Interpersonal, kinesthetic, Visual-Spatial,
Verbal-Linguistic) BL: Word Work, Oral
Language, Guided Reading
word wall to the
class and will
write any words
that students are
not familiar with
on the word wall.
3) Now the teacher can finally begin reading
chapter 1 aloud to the class.
3) The teacher
will read chapter
1 aloud to the
class. Stopping
periodically to
check for
understanding
and to make
predictions.
PART ONE
YOU ARE ENTERING CAMP GREEN LAKE
1
There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. There once was
a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas. That
was over a hundred years ago. Now it is just a dry, flat
wasteland.
There used to be a town of Green Lake as well. The
town shriveled and dried up along with the lake, and
the people who lived there.
During the summer the daytime temperature hovers
around ninety-five degrees in the shade— if you can
find any shade. There's not much shade in a big dry
lake.
The only trees are two old oaks on the eastern edge of
the "lake." A hammock is stretched between the two
trees, and a log cabin stands behind that.
The campers are forbidden to lie in the hammock. It
belongs to the Warden. The Warden owns the shade.
Out on the lake, rattlesnakes and scorpions find shade
under rocks and in the holes dug by the campers.
Here's a good rule to remember about rattlesnakes and
scorpions: If you don't bother them, they won't bother
you.
Usually.
Being bitten by a scorpion or even a rattlesnake is not
the worst thing that can happen to you. You won't die.
Usually.
Sometimes a camper will try to be bitten by a scorpion,
or even a small rattlesnake. Then he will get to spend a
day or two recovering in his tent, instead of having to
dig a hole out on the lake
But you don't want to be bitten by a yellow-spotted
lizard. That's the worst thing that can happen to you.
You will die a slow and painful death.
Always.
If you get bitten by a yellow-spotted lizard, you might
as well go into the shade of the oak trees and lie in the
hammock.
There is nothing anyone can do to you anymore.
Stop periodically to ask students’ questions about the
camp and to make predictions for the following
chapters. (MIs: Intrapersonal, Verbal-
Linguistic) BL: Read aloud, Oral
Language, Guided Reading
4) The beginning of the novel Holes provides
details and descriptions of what Camp Green
Lake looks like. As a class assignment,
students will be asked to draw a picture or
map representing Camp Green Lake. Students
will work individually to accomplish this task
and will use descriptions found in the text as a
guide for their picture or map. Students will
also be provided with all the paper and
drawing utensils needed to finish the
assignment in class. This activity should take
no longer than 20 minutes. (MIs:
Intrapersonal, Verbal-Linguistic, VisualSpatial, Naturalistic) BL: Independent
Reading
5) Students will be asked to present their
completed picture or map to the class.
Students will also provide key descriptions of
Camp Green Lake found in the text. These
descriptions will be used to explain their
drawing to the class. Each student will also be
provided with a scoring rubric and marking
4) The teacher
will provide
students with
instructions
pertaining to the
activity. The
teacher will also
handout
materials needed
to complete this
assignment and
will walk around
and monitor
students’
progress
throughout the
activity. The
teacher will also
be available to
answer questions
about the
assignment if
students needed
more
clarification.
5) The teacher
will provide
instructions
about the
presentation,
rubric and
sheet to facilitate grading the presentations.
(MIs: Interpersonal, Intrapersonal,
Verbal-Linguistic, Visual-Spatial) BL:
Oral Language
6) Shared Reading and Class discussion of
chapter 2.
Once students have finished presenting their
maps to the class, the teacher can move onto
chapter 2. Get students to read chapter 2
individually or in pairs with the help of the
student sitting next to them. Once students
have finished reading the chapter, ask
students to read aloud as a class.
2
The reader is probably asking: Why would anyone go
to Camp Green Lake? Most campers weren't given a
choice. Camp Green Lake is a camp for bad boys. If
you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day
in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy. That
was what some people thought.
scoring sheet.
Furthermore, the
teacher will
listen to all
presentations and
assess them
accordingly.
6) The teacher
will be
monitoring
students during
their independent
reading and will
facilitate the
class read aloud.
The teacher will
also facilitate a
popcorn
discussion after
the class has
finished reading
chapter 2.
Stanley Yelnats was given a choice. The judge said,
"You may go to jail, or you may go to Camp Green
Lake."
Stanley was from a poor family. He had never been to
camp before.
Have a quick popcorn discussion about
Stanley’s idea of camp. Discuss what a
typical camp looks like and what Camp Green
Lake looks like. Ask students about what it
means to be a “bad” boy and a “good” boy. Is
Camp Green Lake a good place? Will it turn
bad boys into good boys? (MIs:
Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, VerbalLinguistic) BL: Oral Language, Shared
Reading, Independent Reading, Read
Aloud
Consolidation/Closure:
Review your outcomes.
Revisit the learning. Debrief etc.
The teacher will review the outcome with the class. Students will
be expected to respond personally to a range of texts by
discussing what they think will happen in the next two chapters of
the book. As an exit ticket, students will post sticky notes to a
chart, created by the teacher, depicting what the readers know and
what Stanley knows in regards to Camp Green Lake.
(Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Kinesthetic, Verbal-Linguistic,
Visual-Spatial, Naturalistic, Logical-Mathematical) BL:
Independent Writing, Oral Language
The teacher will wrap up the lesson by telling students to read
chapters 3 and 4 for homework. (MIs: Verbal-Linguistic) BL:
Oral Language
Reflection of Lesson Plan
Preparation:
What did I learn from planning this lesson?
How might it be enhanced in subsequent
lessons? Other learnings, frustrations,
difficulties?
By planning this lesson, I learned that each student has prior
knowledge regarding camps and desserts. Prior knowledge can be
difficult to assess because it differs from child to child. It is
important to make sure that everyone has the same understanding
of what a camp and dessert looks like in regards to the text and
content discussed in class. These common goals/ideas can be met
by a variety of class discussions and activities that meet the needs
of the students in the class. Subsequent lessons can also review
key terminology and ideas to ensure that students have an
understanding of the background information associated with the
topic and content of the day.
Your name :
Lesson Plan Assessment
/115
Lesson Plan/ Category
Value
Title of Lesson/Task/Strand/Grade/Subject…
0-5
Specific Learning Outcomes – clear, concise, directly connected to the
lesson
Connections
0-5
Materials and Media
0-5
Differentiated Instruction, Modifications and Accommodations in the
Lesson Delivery (How have you planned to address the various student
needs?)
0-10
Critical Thinking – evidence of and in the lesson(s)
0-10
Assessment Plans – clearly connected to the outcomes, well-described
For, As and Of Learning
Minds On (APK) – Getting Ready – getting the class into the lesson
0-15
Action – the instructional process – how you develop the outcomes in
clear and precise methods
Guided Practice – seeing that the students learn the desired content
0-20
Independent Practice – on their own in consolidating the learning
0-5
Consolidation/Closure – pulling the lesson together
0-5
Conventions and Grammar
0-5
Reflection of the Lesson Plan Preparation
0-5
Demonstration of Creativity within the lesson
0-5
Lesson Development – Clarity and depth of development of the
outcomes
0-5
Assessor:
General Comments:
0-5
0-5
0-5
Comments