Seven Fat Cats

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY LESSON PLAN

While working with children an educator must keep in mind that children have a very short attention span. Keeping them entertained during a lesson plan is a great way to ensure effective educational development. Children should feel like they want to learn along with teachers who should want to teach. Not only should teachers want to teach but they should be great at it and having certain strategies when trying to plan and teach a lesson is a great way to start . Learning should be a fun and educational experience for everyone including the teacher. On my journey to becoming an educator myself, I have seen a lot of interesting ways to get children involved, rather then just telling them what chapters to read, giving notes and assigning homework.


"Seven Fat Cats" is a book written by Joy Cowley and this story is a great way to get children to learn how to put sounds together. I love kids and Seven Fat Cats is a fun, unique and exciting way to get children involved in wanted to be educated. I would love to try this lesson someday with my students. Hope you like it!

Summary:

While reading the story "Seven Fat Cats", students will listen and match the sounds (rhyming, beginning, ending, and vowel.)

Main Curriculum Tie: 

1st Grade - Content
Standard 1 Objective 3

Develop and use skills to communicate ideas, information, and feelings.

Materials:

·         Seven Fat Cats by Joy Cowley

·         Seven Fat Cats sound boards—one per child

·         counters

Additional Resources:
Irresistible Sound-Matching Sheets with Lessons that Build Phonemic Awareness by Janiel Wagstaff (Scholastic Professional Books)

Attachments

·         cat_sound_board.pdf
Seven Fat Cats Sound Board

·         cat_word_list.pdf
Sound Board Lesson for Seven Fat Cats

Intended Learning Outcomes:

Intended Learning Outcomes

5. Understand and use basic concepts and skills.

6. Communicate clearly in oral, artistic, written and nonverbal form.

Process Skills

Symbolization, observation, description, prediction

Instructional Procedures:

Invitation to Learn

“Have you ever seen a cat sitting on a wall? This story is about seven fat cats sitting on a wall.”

Instructional Procedures

First, read the story for enjoyment. Before the second reading, ask the children to listen for rhymes and look for a pattern. Discuss what they observed in listening to the story. Have the children read the story with you the second time.

Steps to follow for sound board activity:

1.     Pass out one Seven Fat Cats sound board to each child.

2.     Pass out counters (approximately 25 per child).

3.     Identify the pictures at the top of the columns on the sound board (five, three, cats, wall).

4.     Have the children listen and match the sounds (rhyming, beginning, ending, and vowel). Choose no more than two of these for a day’s lesson.

5.     Set the focus. For example, say “We are going to listen for rhyming words. The word to match is hive. Say hive.” Children repeat “hive.” The teacher asks, “Which word rhymes with hive? Let’s see. Say the words with me. Five - hive, three - hive, cats - hive, wall - hive. Which word rhymes with hive? Place a counter below the picture. Say the rhyming word when you see five fingers.” (This provides think time for the children.) Children answer “five.”

6.     Reinforce the responses of the children and scan their desks to observe how the children are doing individually. Move to beginning sounds, ending sounds, or vowel sounds following the same procedures.

7.     Remember to focus on no more than two types of sounds during a day’s lesson.

Extensions:

Possible Extensions/Adaptations

Sing “Seven Fat Cats” to the tune “Mary Had A Little Lamb”. Have seven children act out the story as the rest of the class reads the story. The next day, read the story again and have seven different children act out the story as the rest of the children read it. 

Assessment Plan:

Could the children retell the story?

Did the children make any text to self or text to text connections after hearing the story?

Could the children remember the rhyming words?

Did the children predict the story pattern?

Were the children able to hear the focus sound in the sound board activity? 

Source:
http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=5640