“The little engine that could”

Lesson Plan: Fostering Independent Learning Through Opinion Writing

Student’s Name

Professor’s Name

Institution

Course

Date
 Lesson Plan: Fostering Independent Learning Through Opinion Writing

Lesson focus: Independent learning- Chapter 5 Growing independent learners.

Grade level: First

Oklahoma state standard: 1.W.1- This lesson will focus on standards 4 and 5

W4. During editing, students will correctly spell grade-appropriate, highly decodable words

(examples: cup, like, cart) and common, irregularly spelled sight words (Example: the).

W.5. Students will use resources to find correct spellings of words (examples: word wall,

vocabulary notebook).

Mentor Text Mini-Lesson

They are selecting the mentor text, “The Little Engine That Could,” for this writing lesson has

been an effort to ensure that instructional objectives complement independent writing and

learning skills. In this chapter, a firm foundation is laid that supports the relevance of autonomy

in a learning process. This enables students to experience literacy and, at the same time, they can

express themselves about the lesson, which helps in critical thinking. The text becomes a living

tool where students learn to read and write independently and, in time, become self-sufficient.

Objective

This lesson aims to promote writing skills in spelling grade-appropriate decodable words and

commonly misspelled sight words, as well as use resources to find the correct spelling of words.

It emphasizes basic skills such as spelling and editing, which are crucial in communicating ideas.

Moreover, the emphasis on the commonly misspelled words forces learners to conduct crucial

examinations that would lead to a thorough consideration of the suggested claim grounded on
research (Diller, 2023). By practicing these essential skills, students improve their writing ability

and develop a cognitive toolkit that helps them speak, reason logically, and understand their and

others' views.

Materials

 Mentor text: “The little engine that could”

 Whiteboard and markers

 Book: Growing Independent Learners

 Opinion writing worksheets

 Writing utensils

 Class checklist

Introduction

Try a short warm-up activity concerning the subject followed by the lexicon. This could be a

short movie, a funny photograph, or just a quick warm up that will attract the students’ attention

and draw their interest for the upcoming lesson.

1. Before Reading

 Begin the lesson by having students gather on the rug, creating a comfortable and

collaborative learning environment.

 Introduce key vocabulary words: rail, train, start. Write these words on the whiteboard

for visual reference.

2. Preview Text
• Provide the cover of " The Little Engine That Could" and discuss what could be in it.

• Initiate a Turn and Talk exercise whereby students discuss their preconceived notions of the

chapter’s active engagement and peer interaction.

3. Picture Predictions

• Request students to look at the photos inside the book. Please give them a task to predict

something that might occur in the book based on the pictures. It creates a sense of anticipation

and links to the content.

4. Word Hunt

 Lead students in a simple word hunt. Make the learners identify and mark out words

related to the chapter's topic, for instance, "Train" or "Rail." Early reading skills

development.

5. Guess the Chapter Title

 Cover the book's chapter title and tell your students a mystery. After their guesses, reveal

the title and discuss why it makes sense. This is important in encouraging critical

thinking and curiosity.

6. Story Connections

 ·Make a connection between the chapter and the student's experiences. Asking questions

like, "Have you ever tried to learn new words yourself?" helps build a connection with

them and prepares them for the chapter's ideas.

7. Book-Share Moments
  Ask students to talk about their experiences when finding and spelling words

independently. This can be a quick "share and telling" moment where each student talks

of a time when they learned something independently.

8. Create a Chapter Title

 Ask students to devise and spell their unique title for “The Little Engine That Could.”

These help them imagine and predict things in a lively manner.

9. Story Sound Effects

 Discuss a few lines about the sounds that could be heard in this chapter. Ask students to

try and spell sound effects for actions or events they could think of happening. A

multisensory approach adds fun.

During Reading:

 Take an interactive read-aloud of “The Little Engine That Could,” stopping to discuss

aspects of encouraging autonomous learning. Engage students to listen, question, and

participate according to research by (Panjaitan et al., 2021).

 Add a “Word of the Day” that is associated with the theme of the chapter. Prompt

students to keep an ear out for that word during the read-aloud and talk about it after.

This makes the exercise for reading become a vocabulary-building.

After Reading

1. Class Discussion

• Hold a short but substantive discussion on “The Little Engine That Could.” Ask students to

share their thoughts, connections, and insights on any new or misspelled words in the text.
• Use the content to tie the skills and concepts previously learned to continue their learning

process.

2. Opinion Writing Charts

• Moving on to expressing opinions. Discuss the Opinion anchor chart and explain why it is

essential to express "what we think" and "what we feel" with words instead of gesturing

3. Opinion Words

• Talk about the Opinion Words anchor chart. Building a connection between what you think and

writing.

Guided Practice

1. Expressing Opinions

• You can start by asking students what they think about a familiar word, e.g. Easy.

Turn and Talk

• Organize a Turn and Talk session where the students voice their opinions about any new or

misspelled words to their partners

• Allow a few students to share their opinions with the rest of the class and create a supportive

learning community.

2. Picture Opinions

• Display images of different items and instruct students to spell what they are aloud.

3. Role Play Fun

themselves using the new words learned.

4. Drawing Opinions

• Give each child paper to write. Give them a brief "because" on it and allow them to share it

with a friend.

 Give each kid a paper to misspell a common word

5. Opinion Dance

• Make it fun! Movements can be used to indicate affirming or negating. Dancing enables kids to

indicate whether they like or do not like something.

6. Carry out Turn and Talk activity, followed by a short whole-class discussion during

which only a few students share their opinions with the entire class. In addition, this

creates a supportive atmosphere where students can hear alternative thoughts from

different perspectives.

Independent Practice

• Students will move to their desks and write any words they know.

• Tell students how to pronounce the new words they write, giving at least one because.

• Allow them to make drawings after writing about two or three sentences relating to their point

of view.

• Instruct students to refer to anchor charts whenever they seem lost or stuck. Discussion: Allow

a class to participate in a group work session or allow some students to volunteer opinions in
front of the whole class. It encourages public speaking, promoting, and sharing between people

of different backgrounds.

• Constructive Feedback: Support student feedback when peers share in session. This cultivates a

good student peer review culture and enables students to learn from each other.

• Revision Time: Allow students to rethink their first impressions and provide comments or

further thinking. This highlights the cyclical nature of writing.

Evaluation

· • Use a class checklist as an evaluation measure to analyze student writing during the

instructional process. Ensure there is an opinion, use the phrase "because," and at least a single

explanation. The checklist offers some order of evaluation of personal development.

Stated any new Stated any

word from the misspelled words

text from the text

1. Emily Johnson

2. Brandon Martinez

3. Lily Thompson

4. Elijah Rodriguez

5. Mia Davis

6. Gareth Bale
 Work Station Ideas

Would You Rather Cards

 Print and cut differently both correctly and misspelled word cards. Could you

place them in a basket?

Train Rail Come Station

 Students can pick a card that they think contains either a correctly spelled or

misspelled word and show it to the class. This activity adds an element of fun and

variety to the learning process.

Write Your Opinion Worksheet

• Create an opinion-writing stand complete with worksheets that ask the children to select a topic

and give out any word they think is connected to the topic.

• Following this, students allow each other to listen, which has helped improve confidence in

speech.

References

Panjaitan, R., Murniarti, E., & Sihotang, H. (2021). Learning Plan with Blended Learning in

Elementary School. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(2), 558–573.

http://repository.uki.ac.id/7957/
Panjaitan, R., Murniarti, E., & Sihotang, H. (2021). Learning Plan with Blended Learning in

Elementary School. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(2), 558–573.

http://repository.uki.ac.id/7957/

Piper, W. (2020). The little engine that could. Penguin.