By Nazima Ally
Fall 2009
This artifact is included in my portfolio because it demonstrates my first experience with creating intervention plans for the student based on a prior evaluation of her needs. In retrospect, these lessons can be improved greatly by targeting one specific instruction and including more practice for each of those instructions, ensuring that the student receives enough practice with one strategy that it can be remembered and applied when needed.

Topic: shun and zhun
Objective: Student will be able to identify the correct pronunciation of sion by sorting words into two piles under /shun/ and /zhun/.
Rationale: The results of an IRI that was done with a fifth grade student revealed that she needed intensive phonics instructional intervention because her independent word recognition level was a first grade level. Consequently, this lesson is one of many lessons focusing on phonemic awareness, to help this student with vocabulary development and fluency. Previous instruction in phonemic awareness would have covered vowel combinations and consonant clusters. Teaching phonemic awareness will help this student develop fluency, because “it can aid with the pronunciation of words” (Rubin & Opitz, 2007, pg. 297).
NYS Standard – ELA 1: Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.
Materials: CD with Ron Brown’s song, index cards with /shun/ words, dry erase boards and dry erase markers, suffix work sheet.
Motivation:
 To introduce the focus of the lesson, play the following Ron Brown’s song on a CD and ask student to listen.
S-i-o-n, sion, sion,
Sion, sion.
S-i-o-n makes the sound sion.
When you see it you’ll know it’s
The sound “shun, shun, shun”.
Words like: vision, discussion, and decision
End with an s-i-o-n.
S-i-o-n, sion, sion,
Sion, sion.

Discuss what the student heard. What was the point of the song? What do you think you will learn about today?
Link:


Remind student about previous exercises where we learned about how some letter combinations make different sounds, such as ch in chair and cherry, and ch in character, or ch in charade.

Explain that today we are going to add the sion pattern to our list. This letter combination makes different sounds at different times, just like the ch pattern. So we will have to observe when these different sounds occur.
Procedure:

Show student known words on flashcards (fuse, decide, man). Ask student to say words.

Discuss what student knows about these words, such as vowel sounds, syllables, and meaning.

Turn over cards and show student the words with sion added to them.

Ask student what patterns are visible. Can she see the smaller words in the bigger words?
What happened to the word when a new ending was added? (it became a bigger word; some end letters were dropped)

Ask student to say the new words. Ask student if all the sion sounds the same at the end of the words. Guide student to recognize that sometimes the sion has a soft /shun/ sound and sometimes it has a heavier /zhun/ sound.

Write a few more words with both /shun/ and /zhun/ on the dry erase board.

Ask student to say the words.

Ask student if she sees any pattern for the lighter or heavier sound.

Point out the patterns that are visible from the words you discuss. (Whenever there is an s or an n before sion, it sounds like /shun/, as in mansion, session, etc. When there is a vowel or an r before the sion, then it sounds like /zhun/, as in confusion, vision, adhesion, aversion, decision, precision, etc.)

Erase the words and write another few words with sion at the end, and ask student to say them. (Observe whether student is identifying the correct sound pattern of /shun/ or
/zhun/).
Independent Practice:


Give student the pile of cards with word ending in sion and two cards on which the phonemes /shun/ and /zhun/ are written.

Instruct student to make two piles of words according to the sion sound listed on the two cards.
Closure:
Ask student what she learned sion.
Assessment:
I will assess student’s understanding of the different phonemes for sion during guided practice, independent activity, and closure statement.
aggression, admission, session, contusion, passion, omission, explosion, mission, fusion, confession, conclusion, erosion, diffusion, division, delusion, decision, lesion, mansion, pension, tension

Writing Lesson Plan
Topic: My Punctuation Symbol
Objective : Student will demonstrate understanding of punctuation symbols in her writing.
Student will use new vocabulary to write a letter to punctuation symbols.
Rationale:
I focused this lesson on vocabulary development because my student’s writing showed poor vocabulary use for her grade level. I decided to use a book with the word patterns on which I am working with her in reading – the /shun/ phoneme. According to Rubin & Opitz (2007), “the best ways for children to apply what they know about phonics and to learn more about it is for them to write” (pg. 303). The continuity of focus on a particular phonics element in both reading and writing will reinforce development in the desired area.
NYS ELA Standard 2 : Language for Literary Response and Expression – Students will read and listen to oral, written, and electronically produced texts and performances from American and world literature; relate texts and performances to their own lives; and develop an understanding of the diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions the texts and performances represent. As speakers and writers, students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for self-expression and artistic creation.
Materials
: Robin Pulver’s (2003) book
Punctuation Takes a Vacation , chart paper, and worksheet.
Key Vocabulary : quotation, exclamation, punctuation, vacation, attention, question
Motivation :
Show student book. Ask her to identify title and observe cover picture. Ask her what she notices about the word punctuation (look for student’s recognition of the /shun/ sound). Ask her punctuation means to her. Has she ever been on a vacation? What does that mean to her? Ask her to make a prediction, stress the /shun/ sound to make student aware of yet another word with tion and its meaning.
Link:
Tell student that we will read this book to learn about the different kinds of punctuation symbols and what they do.

Procedure:

Write key vocabulary on the board and discuss familiar structural elements, sounds, and meaning.

Read story aloud and pause after the punctuation symbols decided to go on vacation.

Discuss what the children’s writing will look like without punctuation symbols.

Discuss the significance of each punctuation symbol.

At the end of the story, recap the various punctuation signs and their jobs in writing, using a
T chart

Ask student to imagine what her writing will look like if she could not use punctuation symbols.

Demonstrate by asking student to say a couple of sentences and write them without punctuation, on chart paper.

Ask student which punctuation symbols are missing. Place these punctuation symbols and ask her how the sentences are different.

Tell student that now she would write a letter to the Punctuation family and she must use at least four of the new vocabulary in her writing.

Review the format for writing a letter, such as the heading, salutation, body, closing, and signature.

Writing Prompt:
Write a letter to the Punctuation family. Use at least four of the new vocabulary in your writing.

How much do you miss them?

Why do you miss them?

Which symbols are the most important to you?

Why are these symbols most important to you?
Closure : Student reads what she wrote.
Assessment: Check student’s writing for use of new vocabulary, and their accurate spelling.
Did student answer the prompt?

Teacher will model the following story on chart paper:
I am Question Punctuation.

I ask my students questions all the time.

I ask a question to help me make the right decision.

I ask a question to help me pay attention.

I ask a question when I feel frustration, because I do not understand.
I like asking question s. Asking questions help me understand my students better. 
Are you paying attention ?

Did you do your homework?

What do you mean?

How could you do this differently?
Independent Practice:

Give student a worksheet with the following writing prompt:
What punctuation mark are you most like? Write three reasons why you are like this punctuation sign. Describe three things that you might say or do as this punctuation mark.