SIOP Lesson
SIOP Lesson Plan:
First Grade- Text Types & Purposes
Melissa J. Ohl
Assessment of English Learners
Kris Lambert
November 16, 2013
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SIOP Lesson
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SIOP Lesson Plan Template 2
Standards: Common Core Standards for First Grade
Text Types & Purposes2. Write informative/explanatory text in which students name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some
sense of closure.
Theme: This lesson is part of a nonfiction text unit on animals. Students will create a written response after reading a
short informational text about caring for a puppy.
Lesson Topic: Writing Informational/Explanatory Text- Topic, facts, & closure
Objectives:
Language: Students will write sentences to list facts. Students will be able to identify topic, facts, and closure in an essay.
Content: After reading nonfiction text about caring for puppies, you will collect facts using a graphic organizer and then
write sentences presenting this topic, listing the facts, and providing closure to your short essay on how to care for a puppy.
Simplified content objective:“Today you will write sentences in order to explain how to care for a puppy.”
Learning Strategies: Audio Supported Text, Demonstrations, Multimedia, Visuals, Hands-on SMARTboard Activities,
Rereading, & Adapted Versions of Text, Sentence Starters & Writing Prompts
Key Vocabulary: (Vocabulary reinforced through pictures, examples, and teacher demonstration with ESL techniques)
Essay, topic, facts, closure
Materials: SMARTboard, laptops, MyOn audio supported text application on ipads, teacher’s lesson PowerPoint, graphic
organizers, ELMO projector to display student work samples, self-editing checklist, assessment rubric, mini whiteboards for
informal group assessments, sticky notes to complete the on-the-spot evaluations, classroom printer, content posters
Motivation: The teacher will bring in a picture of an Italian greyhound puppy that she wants for a pet. The teacher will
show the picture to the students with the ELMO projector, and stimulate a student discussion and motivate students to
share what type of pet they have or want to own. Students will share their previous experiences in pet care. Most of these
first grade students have family pets, usually a dog. In this prereading activity the teacher will build on their prior
knowledge of pet care and connect their experiences to the nonfiction text they will read during the first part of this lesson.
Presentation:
1.
Prereading-The teacher will introduce today’s topic, puppy care, with a picture of a puppy she wants. The teacher
will lead a brief class discussion to build and activate background schema and to motivate students.
2. The teacher will introduce language and content objectives, based on the CCS, with a PowerPoint presentation.
3. Reading- The students will silently use the MyOn application on their ipad to read the nonfiction text on puppy
care. Students have the option to listen to the text read aloud by the MyOn application if needed. The text is also
adapted by MyOn to be on their reading level (adapted versions of text ELL strategy).
4. Postreading- The teacher displays the story pages on the SMARTboard. Students come up to the board to highlight
key facts. During this process, students complete graphic organizers at their desks, choosing which facts they wish
to put in their essay. As students reread the text on the SMARTboard, the teacher introduces the key vocabulary.
The words and definitions of essay, topic, facts, and closure are posted on the classroom wall on the writing board.
5. For explicit instruction of ELL, the teacher presents a visual representation to emphasize the structure of an essay:
Topic, facts, closure.
6. Students circle the topic on their graphic organizer, highlight their favorite facts, and write a closure sentence.
7. The teacher presents three examples of essays for this project. One is advanced, one proficient, and one basic.
8. Cooperative Learning: Students rate each essay in small groups. Students practice identifying the characteristics of
a good essay on puppy care.
9. The teacher leads a group discussion, evaluated by mini whiteboard responses, emphasizing staying on topic, listing
facts in sentences, and providing closure to create an advanced essay. The students describe why the advanced
essay was best, and explain how to make the basic and proficient essay better.
10. The teacher hands out the essay assessment rubric and explains how she will assess student essays.
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11. Students use their graphic organizer and write their informative/explanatory essay on lined paper. ELL and SPED
students are provided with essay prompts or sentence starters for differentiation if needed.
12. As the students draft their essay, the teacher assesses students with on-the-spot observations of their writing
process, redirecting as needed.
13. Students use a checklist with underlined key words and pictures to ensure they have the topic, facts, and closure
for their essay draft.
14. Students use the laptops to type up their essay and insert Clip Art to illustrate their facts.
15. Students print their essay and post it on the writing bulletin board, the teacher will assess these essays with rubric.
16. The teacher revisits the language and content objectives.
17. Students are called on to summarize their learning and to define their key vocabulary for this lesson. The teacher’s
PowerPoint is presented to provide closure and to review content learned in this lesson.
Practice/Application:
Many activities are incorporated into this lesson in order to provide scaffolding for ELL Highlighting facts
 Circling the topic
 Use of graphic organizers
 Evaluating samples of student work, identifying topic, facts, and closure in student essays
 Writing informational essay with prompts or sentence starters for differentiated instruction
 Utilizing a checklist to ensure they have correctly included their topic, facts, and closure
 Typing the essay, inserting Clip Art illustrations
Review/Assessment:
The teacher will use a PowerPoint to review the key words and concepts of this lesson. Response boards were used to
assess student comprehension during the lesson. The students will be assessed using a rubric to measure their mastery of
the language and content objectives displayed in their written responses. Students self-assessed as they used their check
list to edit their essay and as they were guided by the rubric that would be used to evaluate their essays. Students were also
evaluated in informal group responses and with on-the-spot evaluations.
Extension:
This lesson could be extended by taking students on a short field trip to a pet store, where the pet store employee would
talk about pet care for various animals. Each student would then be asked to choose an animal and write an informational
essay including the topic, facts, and closure on how to care for one of the pet store animals. The curriculum and language
goals can be extended through additional nonfiction children’s literature.
Sample of Student Work:
How to Care for a Puppy
Written by Yahir
You must feed a puppy when he is hungry. You must give a puppy water when he is
thirsty. Take your puppy outside when he needs to go. You must give your puppy lots of love.
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Reflection
I assessed my lesson with the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol. Using the
rubric included in our SIOP text book, I scored a 4 in all areas, including lesson preparation,
building background, comprehensible input, strategies, practice/application, lesson delivery,
and review/assessment. Students in this first grade class were able to successfully master this
lesson’s content and language objectives. My evaluation of this lesson was that it was a great
success. Not only were students actively engaged in meaningful learning, but they also
produced outstanding informational essays. The adapted texts and writing prompts helped my
low SPED students and ELL produce quality written responses to their nonfiction text.
Although I primarily assessed student essays using a rubric, I additionally assessed
students with spot checking and through group response throughout the lesson. After on-thespot observations, I was able to enter my notes into student assessment files. This helped me
determine if all students were comprehending the objectives, and this check showed me who
needed extra scaffolding to master today’s objectives. For assessment through group
responses, students used dry erase mini boards and I quickly evaluated their responses to check
for understanding. A highlight of my lesson was the many forms of technology I utilized.
However, a drawback was that not all laptops would print to the classroom printer. I should
have checked to ensure laptops could print correctly. Some students became upset when their
work would not print. If I taught this lesson again, I would also change it to be over two days of
classes, instead of completing this in one session.
I used many SIOP strategies, such as audio supported text, demonstrations, multimedia,
visuals, hands-on activities, rereading, adapted versions of text, sentence starters and writing
prompts. This lesson worked well, and I was especially gratified that my principal came in and
observed my lesson during the writing stage of the lesson. Student essays were assessed with
the rubric that students were given at the beginning of the lesson. The rubric also aligned with
the student checklist the teacher provided during the drafting part of this lesson. Additional
assessments that could have been used during this lesson are “Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down”
informal assessments, SMARTresponse assessments using handheld devices, and vocabulary
multiple choice assessments to ensure students have mastered their key vocabulary. This first
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grade SIOP lesson on informational text worked effectively because it was the result of practice
teaching the same lesson to different classes, and making changes to implementation as I saw
the need for improvement.
References
Echevarria, Jana, Vogt, MaryEllen, Short, Deborah J. (2013). Making Content Comprehensible
for English Learners: The SIOP Model. The Fourth Edition. Pearson: New York.
Silberman, Mel (1996). Active Learning: 101 Strategies to Teach Any Subject. Allyn & Bacon:
Needham Heights, MA.
Ed. A. Bergmann, K. C. Hall, &S. M. Ross (2004). Language Files: Materials for an Introduction to
Language and Linguistics. The Ohio State University Press: Columbus, Ohio.
Suzanne F. Perogoy & Owen F. Boyle (2008). Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL. The Fifth
Edition. Pearson: New York.
Stephanie Harvey & Anne Goudvis (2007). Strategies that Work: Teaching Comprehension for
Understanding & Engagement. Stenhouse Publishers: Portland, Maine.
L. Galda, B. E. Cullinan, & L. R. Sipe (2010). Literature and the Child. Seventh Edition. Wadsorth
Cenage Learning: Belmont, CA.