School Name Lesson Plan Template
Developed by: Andrea Preston
Grade level: Grade One
Universal Design for Learning
Representation
The information and content
will be presented in many
different ways.
Students will gather on the
carpet at the beginning of the
lesson. The students and the
teacher will work together to
fill out a chart. The chart will be
focused on two things: what is
a character and what are
character traits? The teacher
will then post this chart on the
wall during writer’s workshop
so that they can refer to it any
time they need to. This will
accommodate the visual
auditory, and verbal linguistic
learners.
The teacher will read a book to
students called Cinderella. This
book has many different
characters in it, which students
can learn about. Students will
then be able to use what they
have learned about character
traits and apply it to the
characters in the book. This will
accommodate visual learners
and auditory learners.
The teacher will get students to
participate in a fairy tale
exerbreak. Students will take
turns reading the exercises
aloud. All of them must
complete the exercise on the
slip. This will accommodate
kinaesthetic learners.
The teacher will use a model as
a visual representation for
students in order to show them
what an open-minded portrait
is. Students will be able to refer
to this model at any time. This
will accommodate visual and
Outcomes
GCO 4: Students will be expected to select, read and
view with understanding a range of literature,
information, media, and visual texts.
SCO 7: Students will create meaning by identifying
character traits from contextual clues
SWBAT (in student friendly terms):
Students will be able to create a visual representation
of their character.
Students will be able to identify what the character
looks like, how the character feels, what the
character does and how others feel and think about
the character.
Assessment (formative/summative, self/peer)
What prior data is informing your instruction?
Required Materials, Tools and
Technology
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Students have been working on fairy tales since they
have come back from March break. They have
completed a KWL chart with the teacher on fairy
tales.
This lesson will allow them to lend a particular focus
to the characters of the story and their character
traits.
What assessment strategies will measure the learning
from the outcomes?
GCO 4: Students will be expected to select, read and
view with understanding a range of literature,
information, media, and visual texts.
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Special Concerns
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SCO 7: Students will create meaning by identifying
character traits from contextual clues
Assessment for learning:
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Students will be able to identify what one particular
character looks like, how the character feels, what
the character does and how others feel and think
about the character.
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Diagnostic: I will know what students know about
character traits through the pair share activity.
Students will be given an opportunity to discuss the
character that they have chosen to write about with
their elbow partners. The teacher will be circulating
Random selection
Popsicle sticks
Chart Paper: What is a
Character?
Markers
Cinderella written by
RH Disney.
Fairy tale exerbreak
cards
Open-minded portrait
model
20 copies of openminded portrait
template
FM System
Laptop
YouTube: Disney’s
Classics Playlist
https://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=sa_mhT_
HeFw&list=PLppAIKAv61_8nAyr3TmuTQl
hLFUIvcW_
Pencil Crayons
Pencils
Microphone
The lesson will begin at
8:30 and end at 9:50
Students will be
expected to sit in their
designated seats on the
carpet.
Elias, Varshil and
Matthew will be moved
to the breakout room
for writer’s workshop.
Random selection will
be used to ensure that
all students are alert
and on task.
auditory learners.
Students will then complete
their own open-minded
portrait. First, students get to
create a visual representation
of the character they have
chosen. They must then turn
the page over and create a
written description of the
character. This will
accommodate visual and verbal
linguistic learners.
The closure of a lesson includes
a sharing circle. Students will
get to show the class the openminded portraits that they
have created. This will
accommodate auditory, verbal
linguistic and auditory learners.
Students will take part in both
small group and whole group
activities. There are various
pair-share activities throughout
the lesson. This will
accommodate interpersonal
learners.
Fairy tale music will be played
in the background as students
are working on their openminded portraits. This will
accommodate musical
students.
Action and Expression
Students get to express their
comprehension in various
ways. First, students will get to
pair-share with their elbow
partners and discuss what they
know about character traits.
Then, the class will work
together as a whole group to
identify various elements that
can be discussed about a
character. The teacher will
record their findings on chart
paper.
Students will then get to pair
share with their elbow partners
once more to discuss the
character that they have
chosen to focus on.
at this time in order to listen to the students as they
discuss their characters with their partners. Through
observation, the teacher will be able to see what they
know about their characters. The teacher will also be
able to see if they know what different elements can
be discussed in regards to a character.
Assessment of learning:
Summative: I will know what students have learned
about character traits through the writing portion of
the open-minded portrait. Students will complete an
open-minded portrait on a particular character of
their choice from the fairy tale, Cinderella. Some
students will be asked to share their open-minded
portrait with the class. Due to time constraints and
short attention spans, not all students will be able to
share. However, all students will be expected to hand
in their final products. The teacher will be looking to
see if the students were able to discuss the various
elements that were identified in the APK activity. The
teacher will be looking to see what the character
looks like, what the character feels like, what the
character does and how others think and feel about
the character.
Students will be able to create a visual
representation of their character.
Summative: I will know what students have learned
about physical appearance through their visual
representation portion of the open-minded portrait. I
will be looking for such features as eyes, nose and a
mouth. I will also be looking for specific attributes
such as hair colour and eye colour. Their writing
portion of the lesson will also include a short
description of the physical appearance of their
character.
Timeline / Elaboration
Before (APK)
Focus Questions:
5m
Differentiation
There are no students in this
classroom with an SEP.
However, there is one student
that has been diagnosed with
ADHD. This student will be
working in the break out room
with the host teacher during
writer’s workshop. This room
will only have three students in
it, which will cause fewer
distractions and be less
overwhelming.
The three students Elias,
Matthew and Varshil, have been
chosen to work in the breakout
room with the host teacher
because they have been
struggling the most with their
writing. Although their writing
has been showing improvement,
fewer distractions and
prompting from the host
teacher will allow them to
perform at their greatest
potential.
The open-minded portrait
activity is designed so that it
accommodates students at
different levels of writing.
Students are given an entire
page that they can write on.
Depending on their writing level,
they can write a large amount or
a small amount. The most
important part is that they are
able to identify various elements
that were discussed about
character traits.
APK
I chose to use lines on the back
of the page instead of a diagram
as students are still in the
process of properly forming
letters and using lines to write.
Students will begin the lesson on the carpet. Children
will sit in their designated spot.
In-Class Support
1.
2.
What is a character?
What is a character trait?
The teacher will begin by asking students, “what is a
character?” The teacher will randomly select various
children to identify the elements that make a
character. The teacher will record the elements on
chart paper.
Elias, Varshil and Matthew will
be working in the breakout
room with the host teacher
during writer’s workshop. These
three students have been
staying after school three times
Students will then take part in
an open-minded portrait
activity. This activity will allow
them to create a visual
representation and a written
description of their character.
This allows students to shine in
various ways. Some of them
will then be chosen to present
their characters to the class in
a sharing circle in the closing
activity.
The teacher will then ask students, “what is a
character trait?” The teacher will ask students to
think about what different kinds of elements they
could discuss when describing a particular character.
The teacher will give students two minutes to discuss
with their elbow partner. In order to avoid any
confusion, the teacher will quickly point out which
elbow partner each student will be working with.
After two minutes, the teacher will randomly select
students to identify various elements that they could
discuss when describing a character. The teacher will
record their answers on the chart paper.
a week for a reading club. In this
club, students work on moving
their reading level to a solid E or
F. They have also been apart of a
directed learning group that
works on various components of
writing such as capitalization,
punctuation and spacing. The
host teacher will facilitate
learning by prompting the
students in order to keep them
focused.
Engagement
During
The students in this class have
LOVED working with fairy tales!
I know that they will enjoy the
magical story of Cinderella.
Students will be given an
opportunity to work in a whole
group setting and a small group
setting. I have found that
students are much more
engaged when they get to
discuss and share their
thoughts with a partner. Group
work has proven to maximize
their understanding.
I have done the fairy tale
exerbreak with students and
they absolutely loved it! I know
that they will enjoy this and
feel that it is a great way to
regain their focus.
I think that the open-minded
portrait will be a hit with the
students! All of the students in
this class love art class. Every
time that we get them to write,
we ask them to first create a
sketch, which depicts what
they are going to write about. I
really think that they will enjoy
creating a visual representation
of their character, especially
since they are given a
silhouette to work with.
Writer’s workshop often
proves to be very enjoyable for
students as well. I really think
that they will like the fact that
they are given choice in regards
to the character that they
60 m
Read Aloud
The teacher will introduce the book, Cinderella, to
the students. She will explain that they will be
reading this story today. She will tell the children to
pay close attention to the characters, as they will all
have to choose one character to focus on in their
activity.
The teacher will first ask the children if any of them
are familiar with the story. The teacher will ask them
to examine the front cover of the book and identify
any characters that they might see.
Throughout the story, the teacher will pause at
various pages and ask the following questions:
Page 1: How many characters did we meet on this
page? What are their names?
Page 3: What kind of words does the author use to
describe Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella?
Page 7: What kind of words does the author use to
describe Cinderella?
Page 17: What new characters are introduced on this
page?
Page 25: What words would you use to describe how
Cinderella looks?
Page 26: What words would you use to describe
Anastasia’s looks?
Page 28: What new character is introduced on this
page?
After the teacher has read the book to students, she
will ask all students to stand in order to participate in
an exerbreak on fairy tales. See Appendix A. The
teacher will walk around the mat and select students
Cross-curricular Connections
Art: Students will be required to
create a visual representation of
the character that they choose.
They will have to use the
character traits that they have
gathered throughout the story
to do this.
Music; Students will be listening
to the Disney’s Classics playlist
as they work on their openminded portraits. The music will
help them to demonstrate
emotion in their visual
representations and written
work.
Physical Education: Students will
take part in a fairy tale
exerbreak which will require
them to do various exercises
and movements.
Reflection
I really enjoyed creating this
lesson plan. Fairy tales have
always been an interest of mine
so I am having a lot of fun with
this unit! I really think that the
children will enjoy the lesson.
Open-minded portrait was a
strategy that I really enjoyed
learning about at Crandall. This
will be my first time
implementing it in the
classroom. I am excited to see
what the children come up with!
choose to write about.
Finally, I am quite certain that
they will enjoy the fairy tale
background music that I will be
playing during writer’s
workshop! We often play
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons when
writing, which they really
enjoy. I feel like the fairy tale
feel will inspire them to write!
that are behaving properly to select one of the strips
and read it aloud to their classmates. The students
will all do the action that is asked of them.
The teacher will clap to get students attention. She
will then ask all students to sit down and use the
following attention getter:
“This is grandma’s glasses, this is grandma’s hat, this
his how she folds her hands and places them in her
lap.”
The teacher will explain that they will be completing
an activity called an open-minded portrait. See
appendix B. This activity will require them to create a
visual representation and a written description of
their character. The teacher will will use Anastasia,
Cinderella’s step sister, in order to model the activity
for students. See appendix C.
The teacher will then randomly select students to
name characters from Cinderella. The teacher will ask
all students to close their eyes and think of the
character that they would like to focus on.
The teacher will then ask students to turn to their
elbow partners that were previously assigned and
discuss the character that they have chosen.
After 2 minutes, the teacher will select two students
to identify the character that they have chosen, and
what they plan on writing about the character.
The teacher will explain that they will have 5 minutes
to complete their portraits and 15 minutes to
complete their writing.
The teacher will ask to the following questions in
order to check for understanding:
1) What do we do on the page that has a head
and a neck?
2) What do we do on the page that has lines?
3) What kinds of things could we write about
our character?
4) How many minutes will you have for the
drawing?
5) How many minutes will you have to write?
6) What should the voice level be at?
7) Show me what it would sound like if you
were saying “Cinderella.”
8) What do you do when you have a question?
9) What should we take out to help us with our
spelling?
The teacher will then select students that are sitting
quietly to come take a page and quietly go back to
their seats and begin.
Matthew, Elias and Varshil will be directed to go into
the breakout room with Mrs. Steeves.
The teacher will put a Disney’s Classics playlist on
YouTube while students are working.
The teacher will circulate the room as the students
work and answer any questions that they might have.
She will pay close attention to the various elements
that students are writing about and select various
students exhibiting improvement or growth to share
their work at the end of the class.
Opportunity for individual/small group instruction
Students will be working individually on open-minded
portraits. The teacher will be circulating.
Elias, Varshil and Matthew will be working with Mrs.
Steeves in the breakout room. These two students
have been staying after school for reading club in
order to establish a solid level E in reading. They have
also been working on punctuation, capitalization, and
spacing in directed learning. Mrs. Steeves will
prompt students and assist them with their writing.
After
10 m
After 20 minutes, the teacher will use the following
attention getter:
“If you can hear me clap once, if you can hear me,
clap twice, if you can hear me put your hands on your
head.”
The teacher will ask students to go over to the carpet
by table group. Once all students are sitting in a circle
on the carpet, the teacher will select various students
that showed growth, improvement or areas of
excellence in describing their character while she was
circulating, to share to the class.
The teacher will randomly select students to revisit
the elements that one could talk about when
describing a character.
Students will then be asked to hand in their openminded portraits. Students will be dismissed for
recess.
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Appendix A:
Hop like you are a frog.
Twirl like you are dancing at the ball.
Wave your imaginary wand.
Bow like you are being crowned.
Pretend like you are flying on a magic carpet.
Sit like you are trying out the three bears chairs.
Huff and puff and bloooow little piggy’s house down.
Sit in a ball on the floor and slowly rise up like you are growing into a beanstalk.
Softly float around like you are a snowflake outside of Elsa’s ice castle.
Move your arms like you are swimming with the Little Mermaid and Sebastian.
Appendix B:
Appendix C: