Kelsey Criswell

Reading Lesson K.5

University of Richmond

Introduction
Lesson Topic: Finger Pointing and Parts of the Book
Length of Lesson: 1 hour
VA Standards of Learning: English SOL K.5: The student will understand how print is organized
and read. a) Hold print materials in the correct position. b) Identify the front cover, back cover,
and title page of a book. c) Follow words from left to right and from top to bottom on a printed
page. d) Match voice with print: syllables, words, and phrases.

Cognitive Objectives:
The student will:
-Match voice to print
-Touch each word as they read it aloud.

Materials/Technology and Advanced Preparation

-Pointer
-Copy of There was a Little Turtle by Vachel Lindsay
-Chart Paper
-Markers
-Five Computers
-Five copies of Bess and Tess by Susan Blackaby
-Read with Me with Miss Criswell: Bess and Tess pulled up on all computers before lesson
-Crayons
-Construction Paper
-Before the lesson, write the poem, There was a Little Turtle by Vachel Lindsay on chart paper
and on a piece of regular paper for the art center.
-Print each word from each line of the poem on index cards for the Sentence Strip Center.

Teaching and Learning Sequence

Introduction/Anticipatory Set
1. Call the students to the rug for a lesson. Tell the students that today we will be practicing our
reading with finger pointing using a very special tool called a pointer. Hold up the pointer for
the class to see and tell them that this is used to point to each word as we go along so that we
do not skip over any words. Remind the students that we read all books, poems, stories,
anything that is written words from left to right and from the top of the page to the bottom of
the page. Point to the left side of the paper and guide the pointer to the right side for children
to see the correct direction that they should read.
2. Show the poem There was a Little Turtle by Vachel Lindsay on the chart paper. Read the
poem for pleasure first, modeling finger pointing by pointing to each word with the pointer as
you read it to the students. Discuss vocabulary as needed.
3. Read the poem again, this time inviting the students to read the poem with you. Point to each
word with the pointer, and have the student’s choral read the poem with you. Repeat this step
two more time so that the students get familiar with the poem.
4. Next, call on volunteers to use the pointer and read the words of the poem. Always invite the
other students to recite the poem with their friends as they point and read aloud.
Lesson Development
5. Tell the students that we are going to continue practice our reading skills like we just did in
 centers. Tell the students that we will have four centers that we will work with today. The
first center will be practicing the poem with the pointer, just like we did together. The second
center will be a center where you work with the teacher in putting the words of the poem in
order like a puzzle. A third center will be reading another book at the computer called Bess
and Tess where you will practice finger pointing more and in the final center you will be
drawing a picture of your favorite part of the poem that we read together.

Center Instructions:

Center 1: Students will sit on the carpet where we read the poem together. Students will take
turns using the pointer and reading with their classmates while pointing to each word as they read
the same poem the class read together during the lesson. Students will continue taking turns
reading the poem as many times as possible until their time at the centers is complete.

Center 2: Put the sentence strips into the pocket chart, and draw the students’ attention to them.
Ask a student to come up to the pocket chart and to point to each word as all the students choral
read the poem. Remove the strips from the pocket chart, and pass them to a few of the students.
Have the volunteers use the scissors to cut the strips into word cards. Lay the sentence strip word
cards on the table. Ask a child to find the first word of the poem and to put it into the pocket
chart. Point to the word on the charted poem as the child searches for the word. If the child has
difficulty finding the word, ask volunteers to help by naming the first letter and then pulling those
cards aside. Repeat for the remainder of the word cards. Have the students use their individual
word cards to practice putting the poem “puzzle” together. After the students have placed the
word cards correctly on a sheet of paper, they should glue them on the paper. Allow students to
use the chart poem as a resource. When they are finished, the students should read the poem
aloud together.

Center 3: The computers should be loaded with the iMovie of Read with me with Miss Criswell:
Bess and Tess. Each student will have a hard copy of the book ready for them in front of the
computer. Students will go through the movie as many times as possible until their time at the
centers is complete.

Center 4: Students will draw and color a picture of their favorite part of the poem. A copy of the
poem will be on the table where they are working so that they can attempt to write a sentence of
what their picture is of using words from the poem. After centers are complete the teacher will
write a sentence as the child dictates.
Closure
6. After the children have gone through each center call the class back on the rug. Call on several
students, asking them to share their favorite center is or what they drew as their favorite part of
the poem. Read the poem one last time together.

Assessment
Formative: Teacher will observe the students during the completion of the class chart. Teacher
will observe students during independent activity and class conversations following centers.

Summative: During the sentence strip center each student will place words in the correct place.
The teacher will also collect the pictures that students created and note their attempts to write
sentences independently.