North County Elementary School
Lesson Study - Research Lesson Planning Tool
Lesson Study Team:
Grade:
3rd Grade
Topic:
Similes
Ms. Caryn Jefferson, Mrs. Frances Carpenter, Ms. Tiffany Miller,
Mrs. Lillian Boza
Subject:
Language Arts/ Reading
Standard/Benchmark (NGSSS):
L.A. 3.2.1.7. The student will identify and explain an author’s use of descriptive, idiomatic, and
figurative language (e.g. personification, similes, metaphors, symbolism), and examine how it is
used to describe people, feelings, and objects.
Research Lesson Content Goal/Objective:
What content will the students understand as a result of this lesson?
The goal can be written in question or statement format and should address the main objective(s) of the lesson.
Students will be able to identify and create simile as a direct comparison of two, often unlike things.
Increase the rigor of the objective (e.g. The Students will examine how similes are used to
describe people, feelings, and objects.)
Essential Question, Vocabulary, Higher Order Questions:
Essential Questions: How can similes help us compare two unlike things? How do we identify and,
understand, the use of figurative language in the poem/book/text? (You can have more than one
EQ)
Vocabulary: simile, as, like, compare, figurative language
High Order Question: How to analyze a simile? (Higher Order Question?) Refer to Task Cards
e.g. How does the author’s use of figurative language (similes) help readers to understand…? How
does the (simile) illustrate….? (Should have more than one HOQ at least 50% of questioning
moderate level of complexity)
Brief Overview
List the skeleton components of the Research Lesson.
I do:
We do:
Read Quick as a Cricket (Author: Audrey Wood/ Illustration Wood) and identify
similes. (Teacher will conduct read aloud of “Quick as a Cricket.” Teacher will
conduct a think aloud and identify 2 examples of similes.)
Students will identify similes and what they mean in the story Dancing Rainbows
(Houghton Mifflin Reading Teacher Edition: Celebration Traditions /Theme 2
page 223) If only the students are doing this; it is not a “we do” how will the
teacher guide the students?
Adapted from Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change by C. C. Lewis (2002)
Lesson Study
North County Elementary School
Lesson Study - Research Lesson Planning Tool
You do:
Students will create similes of their own.
Page 1 of 3
Continue on next sheet.
Adapted from Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change by C. C. Lewis (2002)
Lesson Study
North County Elementary School
Lesson Study - Research Lesson Planning Tool
Detailed Steps of the Research Lesson*:
*This section is to be completed on a separate sheet (p. 3).
Prerequisite Knowledge:
What skills, concepts, or background knowledge do the students need to have in order to be successful participants in this
lesson?
Students will need to be familiar with sight words such as like or as.
Are these the only prerequisites that students will need to be successful in the lesson?
Materials and Resources:
Quick as a Cricket, Sentence Strips, Houghton Mifflin Reading Teacher Edition: Celebration
Traditions /Theme 2, Paper, Pencils, Poem, Assessment
Teacher who will present our lesson: Ms. Jefferson
Observation Date:
Debriefing Date:
December 7, 2010
December 8, 2010
Time:
9:00-10: 30
Time:
1: 50pm
Page 2 of 3
Adapted from Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change by C. C. Lewis (2002)
Lesson Study
North County Elementary School
Lesson Study - Research Lesson Planning Tool
Lesson Study Team:
Topic:
Jefferson, Carpenter, Miller
Grade: 3
Subject:
Language Arts/ Reading
Similes
Expected Student Reactions or
Responses
I don’t understand what we are
comparing.
Learning Activities
Directions:
Step One: Teacher introduces
objective of the lesson. Students
this is what we will be learning
today…
Can we use like and as in a simile?
Assessment* and Home
Learning
Assessment:
Create Similes
Home Learning:
Simple Similes
Answer: We can use as or like in a
simile.
What is a simile?
Answer: A simile is a comparison
that uses like or as.
Introduce the Essential Question.
Essential Question: How can
simile help us compare two unlike
things?
Step Two: Read the first four
pages of the book Quick as a
Cricket.
Author: Audrey Wood
Teacher’s Response to Student
Reactions / Things to Remember
Example: Hungry as a pig.
Do we know how hungry a pig is?
Are we pigs?
No, but we do know that they eat a
lot.
What two things are being
compared? What point is the
writer trying to make? Children
may wish to take notes and
brainstorm ideas. It is important
for young readers to stop and
think as they read and not ignore
or skip a challenging word or
sentence.
If students finish early they can
create a simile and it will be placed
on a sentence strip in the class.
Step Three: What was compared
in the story? (Think Aloud) (I am
sure there were many things
Adapted from Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change by C. C. Lewis (2002)
Lesson Study
North County Elementary School
Lesson Study - Research Lesson Planning Tool
compared in the story, choose
one or two to identify and
conduct think aloud on those as
the “I DO”
Step Four: Have students identify
similes on page 223.
Answers:
Shells sound like waves hitting
the shore.
Tassels look like rain drops.
Bells sound like falling rain.
Embroider designs look like
clouds.
Step Five: Students will orally give
a simile.
Step Six: Students will underline
what two things are being
compared in each simile in the
poem.
Step Seven: Simile Assessment
Step Eight: If students finish early
they can create a simile and it will
be placed on a sentence strip in
the class.
(the lesson only brings students to
the point of identifying and
creating/developing, refer back to
Adapted from Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change by C. C. Lewis (2002)
Lesson Study
North County Elementary School
Lesson Study - Research Lesson Planning Tool
the benchmark NGSSS.)
Align objective with the NGSSS.
Where will Higher Order
Questioning take place? What
collaborative structure could be
implemented to build the level of
student engagement? Does the
group plan to incorporate
technology?
Detailed Steps of the Research Lesson:
* Lesson Study Cycle
Page 3 of 3
Adapted from Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change by C. C. Lewis (2002)
Lesson Study
North County Elementary School
Lesson Study - Research Lesson Planning Tool
Learning Activities and
Questions
Expected Student Reactions or
Responses
Teacher’s Response to Student
Reactions / Things to Remember
Assessment* and Home
Learning
Assessment :
* Lesson Study Cycle
Adapted from Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change by C. C. Lewis (2002)
Lesson Study