Writing Lesson Plan

Indiana Wesleyan University
Elementary Education Lesson Plan

CAEP 2018 K-6 Elementary Teacher Preparation Standards
By Jillian Findlay
UNIT BIG IDEA: Stories Have Power
LESSON RATIONALE: A simple technique to teaching organization in story telling is to use

an old plot placing it into a new location. For this lesson, students will choose a well-known fairy
tale and locate it among the stars using their knowledge of space and planets. Students will
rewrite a fairy tale as taking place on spaceships or an alien planet, aligning to the organization
of a traditional fairy tale. Through this writing lesson, students will conceptualize their scientific
knowledge of space and planets as well as practice the skill of narrative writing.
READINESS
I. Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
A. Goal(s): Students will be able to re-create a fairy tale in its traditional structure/
organization using a scientific/ outer space theme.
B. Objective(s):
1. Through participating in a new writing strategy, students will be able to
construct their own spin-off of a fairy tale that captures the essence of an
outer space theme.
2. By providing various examples of children’s literature, students will be
able to mimic the organizational strategies of traditional fairy tales.
C. Standard(s):
1. 5.W.3.3 Write narrative compositions in a variety of forms that use
narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing to develop
experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.
2. 5.ESS.1 Analyze the scale of our solar system and its components: our
solar system includes the sun, moon, seven other planets and their moons,
and many other objects like asteroids and comets.
II. Management Plan:
A. Materials:
● “Interstellar Cinderella” by Deborah Underwood
● Fairy Tale Story poster/ anchor chart
● Fairy Tale Story Planner graphic organizer
● Multiple examples children’s literature of fairy tales (at least one per
student).
B. Time: approx. 45 minutes
1. Anticipatory set: 5 minutes
2. Mini lesson: 15 minutes
3. Independent writing time: 20 minutes
4. Closure: 2 minutes
C. Space:
1. Anticipatory set & mini lesson: Students will meet at the front of the
classroom.
2. Independent writing time: Students are free to sit at their desks or in a
quiet place around the classroom.
3. Conferences: Students will meet at the kidney table for individual
conferences.
4. Closure/ sharing: Students will return to their seats as to easily hear and
see students who are sharing their writing.
D. Behavior:
1. Listening: Students are expected to be engaged in all activities, listening
with their ears and eyes, keeping their hands to themselves, and sitting
nicely.
2. Using Materials: Students will be expected use materials such as the
children's literature and crayons correctly and responsibly.
3. Volume Level: Students are expected to engage in conversation without
interrupting others as to keep the volume down during whole group
discussions/ activities. During independent work, students may talk at an
appropriate volume with their table buddies.
4. Based on behavior, students will be given the opportunity to clip up on
the behavior chart, earning “owl bucks.” For misbehavior, students will be
told discretely to move their clip down on the clip chart.
E. Technology: Technology will not be needed during this lesson.
III. Anticipatory Set: Invite the students to sit on the floor at the front of the classroom.
● Class, to begin I am going to read to you 3 poems. Each poem is a representation of a
different fairy tale, and I want to see if you can guess what fairy tale the poem is
referring to. Listen closely, and keep your thoughts to yourself until the poem is read all
the way through. Give me a thumbs up when you think you know the answer and I will
call on you to see if you are correct. Here is the first one…
● After each poem is read, allow students to discuss the fairy tale, giving little summaries
for each one.
● Poems:
1. The Little Mermaid 2. Snow White 3. Cinderella
Under the sea Mirror mirror Birds, squirrels, and bees
Seaweed of green The world made clearer The sheets need to be cleaned
Hair of bright red Skin white as snow A night as the ball
A giant clam for a bed Nowhere for her to go A glass slipper must fall
A wish for dry land Pursued by a jealous queen True love will find a way
A wish for a hand Hides with seven dwarves in An evil stepmother and
To hold and to love woods unseen stepsisters will pay
To see a white gown and little A poisoned apple, an eternity A dream come true
white doves in dreamful bliss Bippity boppity boo
Until awaken by a charming
kiss
IV. Purpose: Today we are going to continue with the genre of fairy tales and their specific
method of organization. It is important to learn about fairy tales because they can take us
to another world and still teach us a moral or life lesson that we use as a basis for
understanding the problems, events, joy, pain, loss and comfort in our lives.
PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

V. Adaption to Individual Differences and Diverse Learners
A. Remediation: Students will be read aloud to and the writing strategy being
practiced will be all orally discussed for those who struggle with reading and
written communication. These students will still be able to engage in a
meaningful text and practice the same writing strategy as the other students, just
at their ability level and less independently. These students are the 3-4 who will
conference with the teacher during the writing time.
B. Enrichment: Have students create/ write more than one pre-write for different
traditional fairy tales so the following writing day, they may choose their best or
favorite one.
VI. Lesson Presentation (Input/ Output)

Mini Lesson: (Introduce Trait: Organization)
● Who is familiar with the fairy tale known as “Cinderella”? What are some details you
remember from the story? Allow students to discuss.
● Today, I am going to read a version of Cinderella you may have not heard before. As I
read, listen closely to how this story is similar and different from the traditional
Cinderella story you’re familiar with.
● Read “Interstellar Cinderella” by Deborah Underwood aloud to students.
● After reading, have a conversation about the story: What was your favorite detail about
this story? How is this Cinderella different from the traditional Cinderella? Do you think
the book ended with a “happily ever after”? How does Cinderella save herself?
● Now that we had a wonderful discussion about the book, I want to show you a strategy of
how you can rewrite a traditional fairy tale, using the same organization pattern!
● Fairy tales, like all narrative stories, have a beginning, middle, and end. However, there
is one aspect that may be a little different, and that is, there is a problem, a little bit of
magic in the middle, and then end with a solution! So, let’s look back at our story.
● Let’s discuss, what was the problem that Cinderella was facing? Who or what was
getting in her way of getting what she wanted? Write students’ responses on anchor chart.
Yes! The problem of this story was that Cinderella wanted to travel to the space parade
but she was left stranded by her evil step mothers and sisters. Also, Cinderella did not
have her special tool box! Then, what happened shortly after Cinderella discovered she
was stranded? What was magical about what happened next? Write students’ responses
on anchor chart. Exactly! Cinderella’s fairy God-robot came and gave Cinderella brand
new tools and a spacesuit so she could fix her spaceship and travel to the space parade!
Now, how did the story end? What was the resolution? Write students’ responses on
anchor chart. Yes! Cinderella was able to fix the prince’s spaceship, and then because
Cinderella left behind one of her tools, the prince was able to find Cinderella and save
her from her wicked family. Plus, Cinderella’s dream came true? What was Cinderella’s
dream? Exactly, to become a space engineer!
● So, looking at our anchor chart and the typical organization of a fairy tale, I want you to
keep in mind and implement this writing strategy for your writing today! Sticking with the
theme of space, because we have been focusing on planets and outer space in science,
you will be selecting one of these traditional fairy tales and rewriting the story using the
outer space theme and organization style just like Deborah Underwood did in her book,
“Interstellar Cinderella.”
● By pulling sticks, students will choose one of the fairy tale books of their choice, receive
a graphic organizer and begin their pre-writing.
Writing: (Independent Practice)

● Students will be given 5 minutes to read over their book and talk to an elbow partner
about what/ how they might plan their stories. After this discussion time, students will be
given 15 minutes for their pre-writing in which they will be expected to do so quietly and
independently. During this time I will be conferencing with 3-4 students as a small group.
We will explore their books together and discuss how they might approach their
narrative.
Sharing: (Whole Group)
● At the end of the writing time, I will ask if anyone would like to share their narrative
ideas. I will allow 3-4 students to share.
VII. Check for Understanding

● During the mini lesson, I will ask questions depending on the content or student
actions.
● I will listen to students’ responses, both verbal and nonverbal to determine if the
student(s) are understanding the writing strategy/ trait.
● I will observe students during their pre-writes.
VIII. Review Learning Outcomes/ Closure: Select students will share their pre-writes with
the class.
PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

● Formative:
○ Asking questions during the mini-lesson and conferences; observing students pre-
writing; closing share time.
● Summative:
○ Collecting students’ pre-writes and/or final products once students have worked
through all of the writing processes.
REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS

1. How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not?
2. What were my strengths and weaknesses?
3. How should I alter this lesson?
4. How would I pace it differently?
5. Were all my students actively participating? If not, why not?
6. What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels?
7. Were the students able to successfully use the organizational style of a fairy tale to write
one of their own?
8. Was each student able to apply and interweave their knowledge about outer space
creatively into their stories?
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Indiana Wesleyan University

Elementary Education Lesson Plan

UNIT BIG IDEA: Stories Have Power

LESSON RATIONALE: A simple technique to teaching organization in story telling is to use

PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

VI. Lesson Presentation (Input/ Output)

Writing: (Independent Practice)

VII. Check for Understanding

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS

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