Lesson Plan Format
Name: Anna Merz
Virginia SOL:
Reading 4.5 i); k)
Subject: Literature
Start time: 1:15
Lesson Title: Child Genius: An Introduction to Matilda by Roald Dahl
Grade: Fourth grade
Date: Monday
Stop time: 2:45
Objectives (What do you want students to know, do, or feel as a result of your instruction?)
1.
TSW recognize main ideas in the context of growing up.
2.
TSW make predictions based on visual and textual information.
3.
TSW identify main characters and setting of the novel.
Prediction: an educated guess about what will happen next in the plot of the story, based on what you
Critical vocabulary:
know about the story so far; children’s section of the library: area of the library dedicated only to children’s
books; Character: individual who plays a part in a novel; Setting: where and when a story takes place
Matilda novel for each child and for teacher; white board for making predictions for the duration of time
Materials/resources:
that we are reading the novel; library and librarian willing for our class to explore the library for 10
minutes; stack of books from the novel “Great Expectations,” “Nicholas Nickleby,” “Oliver Twist,” “Jane
Eyre,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” “The Old Man and the Sea,” “The Sound and the
Fury,” “The Grapes of Wrath,” “Animal Farm”; Parent’s Report card sheet; Literature notebook (for
journaling, group predictions, writings, writing down homework from board)
Pre-assessment: I plan on using this unit at the very beginning of the year. Today’s lesson will be during our class’s first day of school.
Therefore, pre-assessing in a formal way will be very hard. However, before I begin the lesson I will ask students basic questions like
“Have any of you read “Matilda” before?” and “Have any of you seen the movie before?” “Have any of you read other books by
Roald Dahl?” etc.
Intro: I will introduce Matilda by starting a discussion with my class about favorite books. Since this is the first day of school, I will
also use this discussion to learn more about my students. Each student will be asked to tell the class about their favorite book, their
reading habits and what they think about reading in general. (I will write down abbreviated answers in my class roster so I can get an
idea of what students like to read.) After each student has a chance to share, I will bring out the stack of books mentioned in
“Matilda” and explain that I love reading more than anything and that the books I have brought are some of my very favorite books.
I will explain that I want our class to be a place where every student loves reading and gets to read the things that they like the best,
and to kick off the year right, we are going to be reading another of my favorite books called “Matilda” by Roald Dahl. Here is where
I will ask pre-assessment questions like “have you read the book before” etc from above. I will explain that the story is about a child
who, like me, also loves to read more than anything in the world, but that she is a very interesting character who is different than
anyone else they have ever heard of before.
I will then explain that one thing that is an important part of the novel is Matilda’s relationship with her parents, and that I was
interested in knowing what they thought about what children need in order to grow up well? I will ask for input from any student
who would like to contribute, and together we will decide on a list of things children need someone to provide for them to grow up
in a good environment. This list (written on the board, and recorded by me later) will later serve as the “parent report card.”
Body: Next, I will explain that in the book, one of Matilda’s favorite places is the library, so maybe it would be good to visit our own
library. I will ask students to bring their literature notebooks and a pencil and be ready for new instructions when we get to the
library. We will all walk in a line to the library. Once there, I will explain that they already probably know that our school’s library is a
children’s library. In a public library, there would be a section of the library just as big as ours dedicated just to children’s books and
then the rest of the library would be just for books for grown-ups. I will ask students to all walk around the library and up and down
each shelf then come back to where we were standing. As each student returns, I will ask them to write down in their notebook how
many books they think are in the entire library. After 5 or 6 minutes of walking and writing, I will herd the kids back to the room.
Then, I will read chapters 1 and 2 of Matilda out loud to the class.
Closure: For my closure activity, I will talk about how Matilda read all the books in the Children’s section of the library. We will
compare guesses about how many books are in our library, and then think about how many books Matilda must have read to read
an entire children’s section. We will also talk about her parents and whether the students think they are getting off to a good start as
good parents. Then, I will establish an activity that we will use for the rest of the time we are reading “Matilda.” At the end of the
two chapters, I will explain to students that we are going to try to help each other keep track of parts of the novel by making a book
board. At this time I will get out the large whiteboard (separate from the board that I will use for everyday teaching). The board will
be divided into two parts. The top part will be used for listing/describing characters and listing/describing settings. The bottom will
be for predictions. I will ask students to tell me a few of the characters that we have learned about in the novel so far and places we
have learned about so far. We will list them. Then we will talk about predictions. I will define the term and then students will have a
chance to make predictions for the chapter that we will be reading for homework. The predictions will be recorded on the board so
that we can check to see if they came true or not the next day. Predictions that did not occur will be erased, and a running list will be
kept of correct predictions. I will assign the homework, then students will leave for the end of the day.
Homework: Students are to read chapter 3 for homework, and homework slips will be passed out to each student. My four
advanced students will be asked to record thoughts about their reading in their notebooks as they read; my three ESL students will
be provided with both the English version and the Spanish version of the book and they will be allowed to refer to the translation
when they need to; my two ADHD students will be asked to read half the chapter, draw a picture of Mr. Wormwood’s hat, then do
the rest of the chapter in order to refocus their attention; my two special needs students will have tailored assignments for them;
my five below norm students will be given a personal thesaurus that they can take home to refer to synonyms for challenging words
in the book; every other student will simply be asked to read chapter 3.
Assessment: This lesson only includes examples of informal assessment. I will be listening to students’ answers about examples for
characters, setting, and predictions to determine whether they understand those words. I will listen to their discussion about
important necessities about childhood to determine whether they are able to identify main ideas.
Are you differentiating lesson content, process, or product by readiness, interest, or learning profile? Explain below.
The homework assigned for this lesson is differentiated by process as well as learning profile. The lesson allows students to
contribute in any way that they like, or would not like to orally, which differentiates by readiness.