KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

PROFESSIONAL SEMESTER PROGRAM
LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Teacher Candidate: _______Alyssa Hilmer_________ Date: _________11/6/2019___________

Cooperating Teacher: ______Mrs. Behr_____ Coop. Initials: ________________

Group Size: _____20 _____ Allotted Time: _______15 minutes mini lesson and a half hour of workshop time.________
Grade Level: __Kindergarten____
Subject or Topic: ____Life Cycle_________
Section: ____932______

Life Cycle of an Oak Tree

STANDARD(s):
• 3.1.K.A3 Observe, compare, and describe stages of life cycles for plants and/or animals.

I. Performance Objectives

• The students will describe each stage of the life cycle of an oak tree through
picture drawing.
• The students will stretch out and identify the beginning letter sound of the
steps through writing the letter at the top of each section.
• The students writing will match the picture through writing the beginning
letter sound at the top of the corresponding section.

II. Assessment/Evaluation:

1. Formative
- Teacher created rubric. Criteria: Student sounds out words
including beginning letter sounds, Student’s picture matches
writing, and Student has four pictures.

III. Instructional Materials

Teacher Materials
• Little Acorn by Scholastic Inc.
• Illustration page
• Word Cards for …
1 - Acorn
2 - Roots
3 - Seedling (Baby Tree)
4 - Oak Tree

Student Materials
 • Crayons
• Illustration Page

IV. Subject Matter/ Content

A. Prerequisite Skills
a. N/A

B. Key Vocabulary
- Acorn: A brown, oval, nut that grows from Oak Trees.
- Seedling: A baby tree that a seed grows into.
- Oak Tree: A tree that produces acorns.
- Roots: The things that sprout from a seed.
- Sprouting: When roots start to form out of a seed.

C. Big Idea
a. Oak Trees are produced through a life cycle.
D. Content
• Teacher engages student’s in discussion about Oak Trees.
• Teacher reads Little Acorn by Scholastic Inc.
• Teacher recaps life cycle explained in the book.
• Teacher explains Illustrations page.
• Students return to their seats and work on illustrations in workshop time.
• Teacher roves during workshop time.

V. Implementation -

A. Introduction –
• Teacher gathers the students on the carpet.
• The teacher holds up an acorn. “Does anyone know what this object is? If you
have an idea put your hand on your head. Wow it seems like a lot of friend’s think
they might know what this object is. When I say go, turn and talk to a partner and
share to your partner what you think this object may be. Go!”
• Teacher roves as the students turn and talk to gage how well students know what
the object is or not.
• Teacher brings the students back together by using the counting down from five
method.
• The teacher calls on student volunteers to share what their group discussed and
responds using responsive teaching.
• “Friends, we are going to read A Little Acorn. What do you think the story might
be about based on the cover?”
• The teacher calls on student volunteers and responds using reciprocal teaching.
• “We have something really really important we need to investigate! We need to
figure out how an oak tree (trees) grown…. I don’t know how they grown and I
 would really like to figure it out, could you help me? Does anyone know how
trees grow? ”
• Teacher responds to teacher volunteers and does responsive teaching.
• Teacher states to students the expectations of students during the story “As I read
the book, I expect all friends to be listening and investigating what the stages of a
tree may be. Do you think you can do that? It may be hard. Do you think you
could help me out?”
• Teacher reads a Little Acorn. Stopping at points to engage in further
understanding and discussion.
• Teacher asks questions to recap the book. “What happened to our acorn friend in
our story? How did he grow into a tree?”
• “Yes! You all are right. The acorn was living on a tree. When he grew big enough
he jumped off of the branches and landed on the ground. (1) A squirrel hid him in
the ground. Once he was in the soil, he began to grown roots. (2) His roots grew
and grew until he sprouted into a seedling (a little tree- 3). The seedling grew and
grew until he was a big oak tree(4). ”
• Teach explains the illustration page and expectations.
• Teacher says “of you go’ to workshop time”.

B. Development –

• Students go back to their seats for writing workshop time.

• Students will fold their paper into four sections.
• Students start with the first picture of the acorn.
• Students work through the four stages of the growth of an oak tree.
1 - Acorn
2 - Roots
3 - Seedling (Baby Tree)
4 - Oak Tree
• Students will label each section using inventive spelling (looking for at least first
letter).

C. Closure –

• Teacher will engage students in discussion on what the stages of the life cycle are
and what happens in each stage for the oak tree.

D. Accommodations / Differentiation –

1. Lower level learners will use the alphabet linking chart.

2. Challenge higher with beginning middle and ending sounds.
3. For all students, I pre folded the paper in four sections and added lines where they
would put the number step the picture was. I made the adaptation for all students
because it was the first time they were using a paper in four sections like this.
 VI. Reflective Response

A. Report of Students’ Performance in Terms of States Objectives

-see rubric chart below-

B. Personal Reflection

1. How was my hook engaging?

2. How did I activate on prior knowledge?
3. What sources did I pull from?
4. Where my standards and assessments aligned? Why/How do I know ?

How was my hook engaging?

My hook was engaging because it included all members of the group.
Every student had the opportunity to share something they knew, thought,
or had an idea about. The students also engaged in turn and talk
which allowed them to speak to other peers to share their ideas as well.
How did I activate on prior knowledge?
I touched on prior knowledge. I showed the students a real acorn
and asked them what they thought it was. I allowed them to turn and talk
and discuss what they thought it was. I then built my lesson upon the
knowledge of the acorn. This lesson was on a topic that many students knew
nothing about. Many of the students could not pick out an acorn at the
beginning of the lesson.
What sources did I pull from?
I used the book (A Little Acorn) as the main resource to my lesson. We
pulled all information that we used in discussion from the book. I also
used the Fountas and Pinnell resources to help me guide and structure my
lesson.
Were my standards/ objectives/ assessments aligned? Why/how do I know?
My standard and assessment were aligned. My assessment checked for all
the criteria the stated within the standard. The standard states: Observe,
compare, and describe stages of life cycles for plants and/or animals. My
objectives are: The students will describe each stage of the life cycle of an
oak tree through picture drawing, The students will stretch out and identify
the beginning letter sound of the steps through writing the letter at the top of
each section, and The students writing will match the picture through writing the
beginning letter sound at the top of the corresponding section. My
assessment checks for: Student sounds out words including beginning letter sounds,
Student’s picture matches writing, and Student has four pictures.

Overall, I thought my lesson went excellently. Some students knew what an acorn was
but that was the extent of their knowledge about oak trees. Many other students had no
knowledge of an acorn or what an acorn was/how it looked. I felt I challenged the students but
also stayed in their proximal zone of development. The students loved this lesson! They were
brining me acorns from recess all week. I felt my lesson went very smoothly. Next time I would
have taken them on a walk to go see a real oak tree so the students could generalize the
knowledge. I would also do this to apply a real-world aspect to the lesson immediately. Next
time I may present this as a whole and continue the lesson as a nature center. I would use the
sensory table in conjunction with the lesson.

VII. Resources:

Needs Developing Meets Exceeds

Improvemen Skills Standard Standard
t

Student
1 2 3 4
sounds out
words
including
beginning
sounds (first
letter).

Student’s
1 2 3 4
picture
matches
writing.

Student has
1 2 3 4
four
pictures.

Total:

Student Name Total Score Areas to Work Other

on comments

An 10 -spelled tree
correctly

J 9 sounding out -correct

words beginning
-wrote letters for each
beginning word
sounds
Av 11 -stretched out
of the words
“acorn”
-drew other
realistic things
around the tree
ex: butterflies,
flowers

Sn 10 -stretched out
“acorn” and
“tree”

Eg 10 -stretched out
“acorn”, “tree”,
and “roots”

Sr 9 sounding out -the drawing of

words the roots were
-wrote not drawn in the
beginning ground; they
sounds were floating

Ia 6 beginning letter -mostly all

sounds & concerns stem
matching from letter
picture to sound
writing knowledge

B 9 sounding out -ready to start

words stretching out
words
-meets all
standards

Ai 11 -spelled all four

words correctly
-added extra
details to
pictures
-exceed all
standards

L 8 begininning -wrote a C for

letter sounds seedling
-stretched out
 “acorn”, “roots”,
and “tree”

E 8 beginning letter -wrote a C for

sounds seedling
-meets all other
standards
-began to
stretch out
“acorn”

Kn 9 -meets all
standards
-stretched out
“acorn”

H 8 beginning letter -wrote a C for

sounds seedling
-meet all other
standards

K 9 -meets all
standards

C 10 -stretched out
all words
-met all
standards and
excelled in
sounds

I 10 -stretching out
“acorn”
-met all other
standards and
exceeded in
sounds

Aa 7 letter sounds -floating

matching pictures
writing with -I for “tree”
picture -backward C for
“seedling”

J 6 letter sounds -worte 2 and 3

matching for seedling
 writing with -wrote W for
picture tree
-correctly
sounded the a
for acorn and
the r for roots

E 8 letter sounds -wrote Hc in the

tree section
-all other
standards were
met

L 8 letter sounds -wrote a C for

seedling
-meet all other
standards
-floating
pictures