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Brooke Kania Lesson Plan and Reflection November 18, 2013 Title: The Night Before Thanksgiving Author: Natasha Wing Illustrator: Tammie Lyon Recommended Reading Level: This book is recommended for ages 4-8, and this lesson was constructed for pre-kindergarten level learning. Brief and Clear Story Summary: This story incorporates fun illustrations and descriptive language to describe the events before, during, and briefly after the Thanksgiving holiday. This book depicts the enjoyable preparations for the thanksgiving meal, and the gathering of family members. There are different tasks performed by each character to organize the dinner celebration. The illustrations are descriptive and correlate directly with the descriptive words on each page. The language is presented in a rhyme scheme, with no more than two sentences per page. It uses great imagery to further the child’s imagination (Wing, 2001). This book is one that would be great to read aloud and read expressively to children during the Thanksgiving season. Although there aren’t large conflicts in the story, there were a few small ones. For example, one family member had traveling issues trying to make it to the house, as well as the family was hungry waiting for the turkey to be ready for eating. These conflicts were resolved, where the uncle came right in time for dinner, and the family enjoyed the lovely meal. Overall, there is a happy atmosphere within the pages, and this book is a great way to get children excited about the November holiday. Complete Description of Lesson Plan Brief Summary of Lesson Plan This lesson takes place in the fall towards the end of November, in order to be prevalent to the Thanksgiving holiday and festivities. The teachers at this placement have requested me to utilize a lesson with the five senses, and felt Thanksgiving would be a fun theme to incorporate it with. The children in my placement are exploring their senses on a daily basis, but sometimes have difficulty describing this to others. As a Biology major, I find it fascinating to look into how one’s mind can receive an image, a smell, a taste, a feeling, or a sound and associate it with memories or a particular response. These students are working their brains through senses without even realizing it! To better define these interactions between the body and the outside world, I created a lesson surrounded by using senses in different ways. Because reading is also an incredibly important task for these students, I wanted to additionally include a book within the lesson. The children will sit in a circle, on the carpet where they usually sit during circle time, while I will position myself in the circle and sit on a chair. My main goal of this lesson is to get the children thinking about their senses, and realize how frequently they use them.

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Materials

• “The Night Before Thanksgiving” by Natasha Wing • “The Five Senses” Poster • Senses Containers

o Ribbons o Leaf Stickers o Items inside the containers

I. Read the book aloud with the children around at circle time. A. Before reading the book, I would ask:

• What does your family do the night before thanksgiving? • Are there special types of food you make? What’s your favorite food to eat on

Thanksgiving? What kind of colors do you see? • When we get to certain pages, I’m going to ask you to close your eyes and think about

what you can smell, what you can taste, what you hear, what you picture in your mind, and what you can touch.

B. I would read the book with a lot of expression, and take time to really let the images and words in each page sink in. I will stop to note at certain pages, involving the senses

• What do you smell when I read that page? What did you hear? Did you hear your parents in the kitchen working hard on the Thanksgiving dinner? Do you hear family members getting together and talking to each other for the holiday? Do you smell the Turkey in the oven? Do you taste the turkey? The stuffing?

• Let’s think about how we use our different senses during the holidays. C. When the book ends, I would ask the kids if they are excited for Thanksgiving.

• Do you think the family in the story had a great Thanksgiving?

• What are some of the things the kids did before Thanksgiving dinner?

• In this book, the family really used their senses during the holiday! Did they smell any of the food? Did they taste anything? Did they touch anything? Did they hear anything?

II. Identifying the 5 Senses (Poster) A. I will ask the kids, “Do we know what the five senses are?”

• I will go over the poster with the kids, pointing to each individual sense and talk about what we use each sense for.

B. We will go over how many senses there are, and count them out loud together C. I will tell the students that we are now going to explore our senses with different boxes/bags. III. Senses Bags Activity This activity is meant for the children to physically explore the five

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different senses. There will be various bags and boxes with scents, noises, edible objects, objects to feel, and objects to view. The bags specifically meant for smell, touch, and hearing will be enclosed so the students cannot immediately utilize their sense of sight to determine what is inside. The students can focus on the physiological aspect of each sense, by isolating each one. A. Sight (The children could potentially look into each bag or box to view what is inside, but the Pumpkin and Sunflowers were specifically utilized for the children to explore the sense of sight.)

I. Pumpkin – students can look inside the bag and see the pumpkin II. Sunflowers – students can look inside the bag and see the sunflowers

B. Smell I. Cinnamon Sticks – students can stick their nose into the box and smell the cinnamon C. Hearing I. Bells – students can shake the bag and hear the bells II. Pinecones – students can shake the box and hear the pinecones D. Touch I. Pinecones – students can feel a rough, harsh object such as pinecones

II. Feathers – students can feel a soft object such as feathers, and be able to differentiate between different feeling objects

E. Taste I. Pretzels – students can take a pretzel stick to explore their sense of taste

IV. Poster Recap After physically investigating the five senses via the senses bags, I will conclude the lesson with the poster to remind the students what the lesson was about to ensure they learned the material. I will ask questions such as, “Okay do we all now know the five senses?” After the lesson, I’ll thank the students for being great listeners! Learning Outcomes 15.1 Constructing and Gathering Knowledge 15.1.1 Curiosity and Initiative 15.1.2 Risk Taking 15.1.3 Stages of Play 15.2 Organizing and Understanding Information 15.2.1 Engagement, Attention, and Persistence 15.2.2 Task Analysis 15.2.4 Reasoning and Problem Solving 15.3 Applying Knowledge 15.3.1 Creativity, Flexibility, and Invention 9.1b Production and Performance: Dramatic and Performance Play 9.1b.1 Dramatic Expression 2.1 Numbers, Number Systems and Number Relationships 2.1.1 Count and Compare Numbers 2.1.2 Represent Numbers in Equivalent Forms

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2.3 Measurement and Estimation 2.3.2 Units and Tools of Measurement 2.4 Mathematical Reasoning and Connections 2.4.1 Reasoning 2.5 Mathematical Problem Solving and Communication 2.5.1 Problem Solving 2.5.2 Communication 2.7 Probability and Predictions 2.7.1 Calculate Properties 2.8 Algebra and Functions 2.8.1 Algebraic Properties 2.8.3 Patterns 2.9 Geometry 2.9.1 Definitions, Properties, and Relations 3.1a Biological Sciences: Living and Non-Living Organisms 3.1a.5 Form and Function 3.1a.8 Unifying Themes 3.1a.9 Science as Inquiry 3.1b Biological Sciences: Genetics 3.1b.5 Unifying Themes 3.1c Biological Sciences: Evolution 3.1c.4 Science as Inquiry 3.2a Physical Sciences: Chemistry 3.2a.1 Properties of Matter 3.2b Physical Sciences: Physics 3.2b.1 Force and Motion of Particles and Rigid Bodies 3.2b.7 Science as Inquiry 6.3 Scarcity and Choice 6.3.3 Allocation of Resources 7.3 Human Characteristics of Places and Regions 7.3.1 Human Characteristics 10.1-3 Health and Safe Practices 10.1-3.2 Body Awareness 10.5 Concepts, Principles, and Strategies of Movement: Fine Motor Development 10.5.1 Strength, Coordination, and Muscle Control 10.5.2 Eye/Hand Coordination 1.1 Learning to Read Independently 1.1.2 Word Recognition Skills 1.1.3 Vocabulary Development 1.1.4 Comprehension and Interpretation 1.1.5 Fluency 1.2 Reading, Analyzing and Interpreting Text 1.2.1 Text Analysis and Evaluation 1.2.2 Text Organization 1.2.3 Fact and Opinion 1.2.5 Inferences

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1.3 Reading, Analyzing and Interpreting Literature 1.3.3 Literary Elements 1.3.4 Literary Devices 1.6 Speaking and Listening 1.6.1 Discussion 1.6.2 Listening Skills 1.6.3 Discussion 1.6.4 Presentation 25.1 Self Concept (Identity) 25.1.1 Self Awareness 25.1.2 Understanding Emotions 25.4 Pro-Social Relationships with Peers 25.4.2 Respect and Empathy I. Science

• Physiology Behind Using Senses: A main purpose of this activity is for the student to gain understanding about the five different senses and how they work with each body part. For example, we use our sense of smell with our nose. Through the senses bag activity, and going over the poster, students can isolate a part of their body to explore a particular sense. Therefore, when looking into the cinnamon bag, the students were forced to only use their nose to determine what was inside. Through these activities, the students can connect their senses with particular physiological responses or emotions.

II. English/Reading Comprehension • Reading Comprehension: By reading aloud to the children, this will work on

understanding sentence structure and expanding vocabulary. We have two potential ways to get words into the brain, and that is through the ear and through the eye. By reading aloud to the class, the students can both visualize the words on each page as well as hear them. Because listening comprehension builds reading comprehension, by reading the book aloud to the students, this will build their listening vocabulary reservoir (Trelease, 2006). Through this activity, I will be acting as a role model, teaching the students through my own behavior. I will be focused on the reading material, interested in the words on the page, and vibrant in my delivery. The purpose of literature is to provide meaning in our lives, and to educate the heart through life experience and stories of life experiences (Trelease, 2006). By reading this Thanksgiving related story, the children can gain focus on the learning material that is ahead of them, get excited about the upcoming holiday, and build their vocabulary.

III. Math • Although the majority of this lesson is centered on reading comprehension and utilizing

the senses, I have incorporated a little bit of math into the poster session. When going over the poster, I plan to ask the students to count the senses. The number, “Five” will be labeled on the title of the poster, and I will point to each sense as the class counts aloud, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5!” This way, they are not only learning the senses, but gaining knowledge about how many senses we have.

IV. History • This lesson has a historical component where Pilgrims and Indians are mentioned in the

book. I will not spend an exorbitant amount of time on the history of Thanksgiving;

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however, I intend to ask the children why we celebrate this holiday, and briefly state the history behind it.

Justification I. Teacher/Personal Input: I chose to teach the pre-kindergarteners about the five senses for a variety of reasons. Initially upon working with Miss Ann and Miss Laury, I was asked immediately about the lesson plan portion of my participation at Kids of the Kingdom. This showed me how seriously the two took the assignment of mine. I wanted to work with the teachers to find the best time for them, as well as the most important material to cover. Miss Ann told me how she no longer had time to cover a senses unit, and that Thanksgiving time would be a good time to perform the lesson. With her guidance, I thought by combining the holiday with the lesson to create a theme would make the lesson more enjoyable and interesting for the students. Additionally, I felt as if a senses activity could be stimulating for the children and one where I could plan creative activities for the lesson. II. Research INCLUDE RESEARCH FROM ECE Strengths and Weaknesses I. Strengths A. Utilization of the book, “The Night Before Thanksgiving” by Natasha Wing

• This book was interesting for the students to pay attention and related to the overall theme of the lesson. It was

- Interest from students - Familiarity with senses - Participation II. Weaknesses - Keeping what’s in the bag secret - Attention from students - Isolating the senses properly Modifications for the Future - Speak loudly - Smaller groups

• Justify your choice of lesson using current research in the field of early childhood education

• What were the strengths and weaknesses of the lesson? • How would you modify this lesson in the future? • Why would you make these changes? (Provide specific evidence) • How can your thoughts be justified with current research in the field of early childhood

education?

Works Cited

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Wing, N. (2001). The Night Before Thanksgiving. Penguin.