Reading Direct Instruction Lesson Plan
Grade Level/Subject: 2/Reading
Topic: Authors purpose—entertainment
Rationale: Students should already know that certain texts are written for different purposes. Students
should know the difference between fiction and nonfiction. Students should know how to recall key
events from a text to identify its purpose.
ELA CCSS: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.8 Describe how reasons support specific points the author makes in
a text.
Behavioral Objective: After reading the book There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly, students
will be able to complete a worksheet where they must list at least three supporting details from the
story to prove the author’s purpose was to entertain.
Prerequisite Knowledge & Skills:
knowledge: detail and illustrations help describe key ideas. Students should already know what the “P”
and the “I” stand for in the PIE chart. Students should know that authors write books for a reason.
skills: ask and answer questions about key details, identify and retell main topic, make connections
between events, details and characters, understand predictions
Materials/Resources:




The Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly—by: Simms Taback
Aurthor’s purpose worksheet (1 for each student)
Chart paper—pie chart
Chart paper—details chart
Focus/Review:
When you read a book, how do you know why the author chose to write it? Do pictures help us
understand? If the author is trying to make us think or believe what he is thinking, then what do we call
that (Persuade)? Why would an author write an information text (to inform us)?
Objective as stated for students: Today we’re going to continue learning about why authors write
different types of books. We will be learning about the letter “E” on our pie chart to help us understand
author’s purpose. We will be reading the book There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly as a class,
and then you will get the chance to complete a PIE chart on your own using all of the different books
we’ve read this week.
Teacher Input: “An author chooses to write a story for three different reasons. They write them to
persuade, inform and to entertain. We’ve already learned about persuade and inform, so today we will
be discussing why an author writes books to entertain the reader. A good way to help us remember the
word entertain is to think of a movie star or celebrity. A movie star ENTERS the room to ENTERtain us
or make us have fun. When we watch a movie, we are watching it for fun, or to entertain us! There are
different types of genres that can be used to entertain us, such as: mysteries, fiction, fantasy, joke
books, and adventure books. When an author writes a book to entertain us, he just wants us to have
fun and enjoy it.”
-The teacher will then fill in the PIE chart for the letter “E” so that the students can refer to it. The chart
will look like this:
P
Persuade: Author is trying to convince the reader
to believe a certain way
I
Inform: The author is trying to teach the reader
or give information.
E
Entertain: Author holds your attention with
laughter or enjoyment.
-She will then introduce the story called There Once Was a Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. “We’re going to
read this book to help us understand that an author may write a story to entertain us. Has anyone ever
read this book? What do you think will happen?
Guided Practice:
The teacher will use a piece of chart paper to write down details from the story that show that the book
is written to entertain us. It will look like:
There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
Entertaining details:
The teacher will begin reading the book out loud to the students. She will stop after half way through
the book and ask “what details from the story so far lets us know that the book is written to entertain
us?” The teacher will call on students to help her fill in the chart.
There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
Entertaining characteristics of the story:
-It’s funny
-She is swallowing animals
-It probably isn’t true (fantasy)
-She ate a fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, cow, and a horse!
-The teacher will finish reading the book out loud to the students. “There Was an Old Lady Who
Swallowed a fly was written to make us laugh. The author wrote it just to entertain us with a silly story
line. The author wasn’t trying to teach us anything or to persuade us to believe any certain way, he just
wrote it to entertain us!” “What did you think about the book? Did it make you laugh? What details
from above show that this book was written to entertain us? Did the old lady ever die from all of the
silly stuff she ate?”
Independent Practice:
*The teacher will leave the chart on the board for students to refer to while they do their independent
practice.
“Now that we’ve talked about and read a book where the author is entertaining us, you will complete a
worksheet to show me what you remember!” The teacher will pass out a worksheet to each student.
She will then go over the directions to make sure everyone understands. “At the top of the worksheet
write your name. Then in the blank provided, fill in the title of the book we read—There Once Was a
Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. The next blank you will write the word “Entertain” because that is the type
of authors purpose we discussed today. In the space provided, you will write down three details from
the story that proved the author’s purpose was to entertain.”
Once all students are finished, the teacher will collect the worksheet as an assessment.
Closure: “Today we learned about the last letter in our PIE chart. It was the letter “E” which means to
entertain. You had the chance to listen to a story about a lady who ate all sorts of animals. The story
was written just to make us laugh, or to entertain us. Does anyone remember the other two reasons an
author may write a story?” End the lesson by asking for any remaining questions.
Evaluation:
Criteria for Evaluating Students’ Worksheets
-Full Mastery – Student uses at least 3 details from the text to accurately support the authors purpose.
-Partial Mastery – 2 out of the 3 details are accurately listed
-No Mastery (reteaching needed) – No details support the author’s purpose of the story.
Plans for Individual Differences:
-ELL: For ELL Students the teacher will group them together to help each other translate the directions.
The teacher will give them an example of how the worksheet should be completed so that they have a
visual representation.
Reference(s):
not applicable