Lesson 1

Student Teacher: Nicole Steich

School: Johnson Park Elementary
Date: 3/21/16
Period/Time: 1:15-1:40
Grade: 4th & 5th Resource Room
Subject/Topic/Activity: Word Study (Word Sorts)
1. Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis
skills in decoding words.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.3.D Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.3.A Distinguish long and short vowels when reading
regularly spelled one-syllable words.
2. Objectives: SWBAT
Group 1
Identify ambiguous vowel spelling patterns aw and au
Read, sort, and write words with aw and au
Group 2
Identify spelling patterns of words with the -ed ending
Sort and spell words with the -ed ending
3. Materials:
Big book of Rhymes, The Lobster Boat, pg. 59
cut out words
4. Procedures:
GROUP 1
Introduction:
The lesson will begin with the teacher reading the words from the word sort out loud to the
students as the students repeat the words back to the teacher.
After we have read all of the words the teacher will lay the words out on the table in front of
the students.
So is there anything you notice about all of these words?
Since these sounds are very visual in the words the students should be able to recognize the
difference between the spelling patterns (some are spelled with aw while others are spelled
with au). This will be the word sort for this lesson.
Body:
Once we have decided what the sort is supposed to be (aw and au) each student in the group
will be given a pile of words from this sort. They will have to decide which group the words
go in.
This is to help the students to really understand what they should be looking for in their word
sorts for when they are working on their homework that night.
Closing:
In this particular group we will be closing with a poem The Lobster Boat

 The teacher will read the poem aloud to the students. Then the teacher will ask students to
see if they can find any words that fit into the word sort, based on the spelling patterns we
went over with their word sort words.
GROUP 2
Introduction:
The lesson will begin with the teacher reading the words from the word sort out loud to the
students as the students repeat the words back to the teacher.
After we have read all of the words the teacher will lay the words out on the table in front of
the students.
So is there anything you notice about all of these words?
This sort is a little bit trickier than what group 1 was doing. In this case students will need to
recognize that some words need to have their consonants doubled before they at the ending
-ed, while other words just need to add an ed. Once students have recognized this we will
begin the word sort.
Body:
Once we have decided what the sort is supposed to be (double + -ed and + -ed) each student
in the group will be given a pile of words from this sort. They will have to decide which
group the words go in.
This is to help the students to really understand what they should be looking for in their word
sorts for when they are working on their homework that night.
Closing:

5. Assessment:
The assessment for this lesson will be the students homework. Each night they have word study
homework. They must do the word sort, as we did in class, write down the words under the
correct column, and then they must pick an activity to do that will help them to remember the
spelling patterns. They have a choice of 6 different activities but they must choose one. This
homework will give me some information about who grasped the concept of the vowel spelling
pattern and who did not. I will also do an assessment during the word sort as a group to see who
is grasping the concept and who may need some more work with these particular sorts.
6. Management Issues, Transitions, and Differentiation:
For this particular group of students, they are grouped based on where they are in their spelling
inventory stages. This has been done by their teacher already and that is why there are two
different sorts. Each group of students has the same word sorts based on where they are in the
progression of their spelling. I do not see any management issues arising in this particular lesson.
The small group instruction should be something that is fairly east to maintain. The only issue I
foresee is the transition from one word study group to the next.

Post-Observation Reflection
Teacher: Nicole Steich

Date of Observation: 3/21/16

Grade Level/Subject Observed: 4th/Word Study
In general, how successful was the lesson?
I think that overall the lesson went really well. I think that the simple fact that students were able
to pick out the spelling patterns that I was going over with them showed that they had a pretty
good idea of how to do their word sorts. I think that I have a pretty good rapport with the
students in this class so I think that this also helped with the lesson as well. My pacing and
timing was good throughout the lesson and I think that the students understood the concept.
Did the students learn what you intended for them to learn? How do you know?
When I looked at the students word sorts that the students did for homework the next day, most
of them did really well on their sorts. Some of them missed the oddball words so we went over
those again the next day.
If applicable, what do samples of student work reveal about their levels of engagement and
understanding?
During the words sort students were engaged and participating in the lesson. I think that they
enjoy doing word sorts because they can work together and they can be kinesthetically engaged
the entire time. This is also a very short lesson so it is easy to keep their attention.
Comment on you classroom procedures, student conduct, and your use of physical space.
To what extent did these contribute to student learning?
Because these word study lessons are not really too long or extensive, students don't really have
to get up and move around too much. I used the large tables in the classroom for small group
instruction. This allowed for all students to see what was going on and they are able to continue
to be engaged throughout the lesson.
Did you depart from your plan? If so, how and why?
At one point I did have to depart from my plan. One of the students said that he wanted me to
give him the oddball word for the sort so he could write it down. He insisted that by the time he
got home to do his word sort for homework he wouldn't remember which word was the oddball
word. I hesitated to give him the word to write it down, however after some back and forth with
him I decided to give it to him. I thought that this would be better and it would help him to be
more successful so that is why I made that decision.
Comment on different aspects of your instructional delivery (i.e. activities, grouping of
students, materials). To what extent were they effective?
These word sort groups were already predetermined by my cooperating teacher. One group is
higher than the other so that is why they are split up. To determine these groups she does word
study tests using Words Their Way. I think it is effective because students should be able to work
on the level that they are able to be successful.
If you had an opportunity to teach this lesson again to the same group of students, what
would you do differently?

If I had the opportunity to do this lesson again I think don't necessarily would have really
changed anything. I think that while I was teaching the lesson the students understood what I was
trying to teach them. They also got a good understanding of what they were supposed to be doing
for homework that night. I think that something I may have done as a follow up would be to go
over the sorts again with students who struggled or didn't do as well on their homework.