1
Capstone Project
Jennifer Lutz
3 Day Unit for Kindergarten
The Mitten, by Jan Brett
January 2013
Pages
2-4…………UBD Stages
5-10……….Lesson Plans
11………….Recourses
12-13…… Reflection
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+-Stage 1 – Identify Desired Results
Established Goals: Oklahoma
Common Core Standards
RL.K.1. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a
text.
RL.K.2. With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.
RL.K.3. With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events
in a story.
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common
core state standards. Retrieved from National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief
State School Officers website: http://corecommonstandards.com
What understandings are desired?
Students will understand that. . . U
1. Over-arching U: …sequencing is an important part of retelling of a story.
2. Topical U: …that stories are told in a certain sequence and should be able to
retell the story in their own words.
What essential questions will be considered?
Q
1. Over-arching Q:
What happened in the story? Start from the beginning and go to the end.
What was first, next, last?
2. Topical Q:
In what order did the animals enter the mitten?
What happened in the story before the animals entered the mitten and
after?
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What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?
Students will know. . . K
Key vocabulary: mitten, mole, rabbit, hedgehog, owl, badger, fox, bear, mouse
The order in which the animals entered the mitten.
What happened first in the story, in the middle, at the end.
Students will be able to. . . S
- Define and use key vocabulary words.
- Be able to retell the story using some details, giving at least a beginning,
middle, and ending to the story.
- Use colored animals and paper mitten to help retell the story.
- Be able to put storyboard in order with cues from teacher and peers.
- Pick their own animal and tell why it would want to be in the mitten.
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Stage 2 – Determine Acceptable Evidence
What evidence will show that students understand?
PT
The student will be able to retell the story in sequence.
The student will assume the role of the different characters of the story.
Students will complete many activities in full class and small group settings.
After receiving instruction will be able to put story boards in order with cues from
the teacher.
The student will be able to retell the story using details learned through class
discussion.
See attached rubric.
Other Evidence (quizzes, tests, prompts, observations, dialogues, work samples):
OE
Observations during discussions.
Ordering of story boards.
Centers.
Student Self-Assessment and Reflection:
SA
Questions to ask students at the end of the unit:
What did you learn?
What was hard? What made you really think?
What was your favorite part?
Is there something you would like to do again someday?
How could I help you better as a teacher?
What could I do differently as the teacher?
Is there something you would want to do differently?
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Lesson Plans
Student Teacher: Jennifer Lutz Grade Level: K
Date: Jan 9, 2013
State Standard: Oklahoma Common Core Standards Subject: Literacy
RL.K.1. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about
key details in a text.
RL.K.2. With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including
key details.
RL.K.3. With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common core state standards.
Retrieved from National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers website:
http://corecommonstandards.com
Name of Lesson: “The Mitten” by Jan Brett Period / Time: 10:30-11:30am
I. Goal: Students should know the importance of sequencing and retelling of a story.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
II. Objectives: Students will be introduced to the story “The Mitten” With cues and questions, students will be able to retell the story in sequence using their own words.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
III: Faith / Values Integration: Sharing
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IV. Integrated Technology: None at this time.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
V. Materials: “The Mitten” by Jan Brett Put the Animals is the Mitten Project- printouts for class.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VI: Procedure: A. Set / Hook: Do you remember this book? (Hold up “The Gingerbread Baby”) Do you remember who the author of the story is? Or where on the book can we find out who the author is? (Introduce Jan Brett)
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
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B. Transition: “Today we are going to read one of Jan Brett’s books called “The Mitten.”
C. Main Lesson: Introduce some vocabulary- Mitten Shared reading- read story, “The Mitten” by Jan Brett
Ask questions:
Who made the mittens?
What happened to the mittens?
What animal entered the mitten first? Second? Etc.
What happened to the mitten as the animals entered?
Why do you think the animals wanted in the mitten?
What happened to the mitten after the bear sneezed?
What do you think happened after Nicki found his mitten?
Okay I need all eyes and ears on me! Give directions on coloring the mitten and animals. Students move back to seats and begin coloring. D. Transition: Students move back to tables. Clean up
E. Conclusion:
What did you learn today?
Do you have any questions?
Tomorrow will read the story again and do a fun activity to go along with it!
VII. Assessment: Observations
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VIII. Assignment: Color animals from story- do not cut! Animals and mitten will be collected at the end of the day.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IX. Self-Evaluation:
X. Coop’s Comments:
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Student Teacher: Jennifer Lutz Grade Level: K
Date: Jan 10, 2013
State Standard: Oklahoma Common Core Standards Subject: Literacy
RL.K.1. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about
key details in a text.
RL.K.2. With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including
key details.
RL.K.3. With prompting and support, identify characters, settings,
and major events in a story.
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common core state standards.
Retrieved from National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers website:
http://corecommonstandards.com
Name of Lesson: “The Mitten” by Jan Brett Period / Time:
I. Goal: Students should know the importance of sequencing and retelling of a story.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
II. Objectives: Students will be able to put story boards in order with cues from the teacher and peers.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
III: Faith / Values Integration: Listening to others, teamwork.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IV. Integrated Technology: None
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
V. Materials: “The Mitten” Story boards
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VI: Procedure:
A. Set / Hook: “Who can remembers the book we read yesterday”
“Can anyone tell me what it is about?”
B. Transition: “We are going to read the story again but this time you have to listen closely so we can do our activity after.”
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
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C. Main Lesson: Reread the story “The Mitten”
Review vocabulary (Have mitten and animals ready as examples)
“Who were our characters in the story?” “What kinds of animals were there?” “Who do we predict found the mitten next?” Activity: Retelling with story boards.
Explain directions.
Pass out story boards to students.
Teacher will facilitate the discussion and ordering of the story boards. Ask questions to help students along.
“Who thinks they have the first part of our story?”
“What was the next animal?” Finish coloring mittens and animals if needed. D. Transition:
E. Conclusion: “Great job everyone! You are all getting very
good at retelling a story! We will have more practice tomorrow.”
VII. Assessment: Observations
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VIII. Assignment: None
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IX. Self-Evaluation:
X. Coop’s Comments:
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Student Teacher: Jennifer Lutz Grade Level: K
Date: Jan 11, 2013
State Standard: Oklahoma Common Core Standards Subject: Literacy
RL.K.1. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about
key details in a text.
RL.K.2. With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including
key details.
RL.K.3. With prompting and support, identify characters, settings,
and major events in a story.
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common core state standards.
Retrieved from National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers website:
http://corecommonstandards.com
Name of Lesson: “The Mitten” by Jan Brett Period / Time: 10:30-11:30am
I. Goal: Students should know the importance of sequencing and retelling of a story.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
II. Objectives: Students will be able to retell the story “The Mitten” in their own words. Students will complete all centers.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
III: Faith / Values Integration: Sharing, taking turns, listening to others.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IV. Integrated Technology: None
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
V. Materials: “The Mitten” Other Jan Brett books Books about mittens and/or snow/winter Writing worksheet- ‘A ____ Crawled into the mitten because____’ Sequencing blocks Mittens and animals cut and ready for student use.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
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VI: Procedure:
A. Set / mini Hook: “Look around the room, what do you see?” (Centers)
B. Transition: “In order to have fun at our centers we will have to listen closely to directions.”
C. Main Lesson: Direct Instruction.
Give directions about what each center entails all the way to when students will clean up.
Centers:
SSR-Other Jan Brett books and books dealing with snow and/or mittens. Library auto books
Writing- Students will complete ‘A ___ Crawled into the mitten because____’ worksheet with classroom teachers assistance.
Manipulatives- sequencing blocks
Retelling- with the student teacher, students will retell the story in their words using their mitten and colored animals.
D. Transition: Clean up at all centers.
E. Conclusion: Praise good behavior. Ask about favorite centers.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VII. Assessment: Observation at centers and ability to retell the story.
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
VIII. Assignment: Completing centers
Required Adaptations/Modifications:
IX. Self-Evaluation:
X. Coop’s Comments:
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Resources
“The Mitten” by Jane Brett
Put the Animals in the Mitten project (P.1)
- http://www.janbrett.com/put_the_animals_in_the_mitten.htm
Writing Prompt – link (W.4)
- http://whattheteacherwants.blogspot.com/2010/12/mitten.html
Manipulatives – link to pictures
- http://homeschoolcreations.com/files/The_Mitten_Printables_Kindergarten.pdf
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Capstone Reflection
Brief Summary
My capstone took place in Title 1 public school. The class was made up of 20 students, 7 girls and 13 boys.
There were several students who had an IEP including two who have severe behavior problems. Overall, this
was a very young class of kindergarteners with many not turning six till April or later.
I was able to observe and get to know the students for a couple days before teaching. The first two days went
smoothly. Day three showed me that I have a lot of room to grow when it comes to classroom management.
Students started to lose control during our center rotations.
Analytical Reflection
1. Hook- I was a little disappointed that my cooperating teacher took my original hook when she handed
the class over to me on day one. However, I went forward with what I had planned altering in a couple places
before moving on.
2. Tapping into prior knowledge- My lessons were based on the book The Mitten by Jan Brett. I knew
going into this classroom that they had read some of her books already. They knew how Jan Brett illustrated
her books and were quickly able to predict what came next. They were also able to identify animals that I did
not expect them to know because they had covered them in other stories. I used this to my advantage during
another part of my lesson.
3. Setting a purpose- I changed some things about my lesson as I taught because of what I had observed
the teacher doing other times during the week. The teachers were all trying to get report cards ready for the
next week. Some of the questions on the report card were about identifying characters and the setting in a
story. I directed some of the questions I asked in my lesson toward characters and setting. My main focus was
going to be on sequencing and retelling but ended up being more about identifying the characters. I still worked
on retelling the story but the focus shifted to knowing the characters by name rather than the order in which the
animals came into the story.
4. Vocabulary strategy- The vocabulary for my lesson were the animals in the story. I was continuously
asking questions during my lesson and other times of the day about characters and we would try to name all
the animals without looking in the book. Or I would simply point to one of the animals and observe if they could
name it. Part of my lesson involved puppets so they could act out the story using their own animals. The
students loved it!
5. Comprehension strategy- To make sure students comprehended what was being taught, I asked many
questions during my lessons and during their independent work time. We read the story multiple times and did
activities to reinforce the sequence of events in the story.
6. Methodology- I feel I could have worked more in developing a lesson appropriate for this group of
kindergarteners. Many students were further behind grade level than I was expecting. However, I was able to
modify lessons slightly “on the spot” as needed.
7. Organization of lesson plans- I feel my lesson was organized well. I didn’t have any trouble moving
from one stage of my lesson to another. Some parts moved faster than others and things that I thought would
13 be quick, took longer than expected. This is something I expected since I did not know exactly how the
students would react to me or my lesson.
8. Assessment- My assessment didn’t exactly go as planned. I was going to sit with the students and do a
retelling in small groups but the teacher advised I work with the students at the writing center. However, I was
able to observe the students throughout the week and gage rather or not students were understanding the
material being taught.
9. Class management- Classroom management is probably the one area in which I feel I have the most
room to grow. During my whole class lessons, students tended to get a little rambunctious. During center time,
kids would get out of control and we would have to stop the entire class to regroup and briefly go over the rules
again before moving on. One issue I had was what I thought was an acceptable noise level for the activities
they were doing in the centers was way too loud in their teachers book. She later explained to me that a couple
of her students need absolute quiet in order to get their work done. Mrs. Finney reassured me that classroom
management come with experience and being able to set your own rules and expectations from the start of the
year.
10. Pacing- As I mentioned in organization, the pacing was not exactly what I expected but I wasn’t
expecting things to go exactly as planned anyway. For the most part my pacing from one activity to the next
went smoothly.
Holistic Reflection
Overall, this experience has taught me that I am more ready for my own classroom than I thought I was! I still
think kindergarten is a little young for me but I could teach it and I am sure I would learn to love it. I feel ready
for student teaching and can’t wait to be in a classroom everyday! I still have things to learn and places I can
grow but we all know we are never truly done learning during our lifetime. There is always more to do, new
methods to try, and different ways of doing things.