ALIKE AND DIFFERENT
Teacher of lesson: Megan Matthys
Lesson Topic/Subject: Language Årts
Grade Level: Kindergarten
Estimated Time: 30 minutes

(This lesson will take place the day after a visit from a blind woman , Karla, from the community and her seeing eye dog.)

OBJECTIVES:

• Students will recall and discuss as a group what they remembered learning from KarlaÕs visit the day before.
• Students will learn why it is important to write thank you notes.
• Students will be introduced to the basic format of a thank you note.
• Students will write the note together as a class by dictating their ideas to the teacher.
• Students will read the thank you note aloud all together a couple of times when it is completed.
• Students will demonstrate their understanding of phonetics and grammar by answering related questions about the thank you note.

MATERIALS:

• writing easel
• chart paper
• different colored markers

PROCEDURES:

Introduction /Anticipatory Set

1. Call students over to carpet area and get everyone's attention.
2. Explain to the students that they have a very important job to do. They need to thank Karla for coming to their classroom and teaching them so much about how blind people feel and how she gets around. Ask the students if any of them know why it is important to send thank you notes. You might want to point out thank you notes sent for birthday presents, Christmas gifts, etc. These might be examples that the students can relate to.
3. Next, explain to the students that before they begin to write the note, you would first like everyone to discuss what new things they learned, what they found to be really interesting, and what they liked best about Karla's visit.
4. Write down student responses on the chart paper as they say them in a list form.
5. Once you have exhausted all student responses, review the list of ideas with the students quickly.

Sequence of Instruction

1. After allowing students to share all of their thoughts, explain that they are now going to use their list of ideas to help them write a thank you note. Ask the students if anyone knows how to begin a thank you note. (Dear...)
2. Tell the students to raise their hand if they can help you think of a good first sentence which explains why we are writing a note to Karla. ei: "Thank you Karla for coming to our classroom." Write down the sentence as the student tells it to you.
3. Next, ask the students to think of some sentences they can write which will tell Karla what they really liked about her visit. Have them refer to the list they made earlier. Again, write it on the chart paper as the students say it to you.
4. When you feel as though you have enough sentences, ask the students to help you come up with one more sentence that will sum everything up. ex: "We liked your visit, come back anytime." Write the sentence on the chart paper.
5. Discuss with the students the different ways you can close a letter and ask them to choose which one they would like to use.
6. Once the letter is completed read it to the students first. Then ask everyone to read it along with you. Try it one more time to give the students even more practice.

Closure

1. Tell students they did an excellent job (if it is true) working together to write the thank you note. Explain that you will have the note typed in Braille on a card you have bought to send to Karla. Tell the students that you would now like to have some fun with the writing they have created.
2. Ask the students questions about the writing such as: What does every sentence end with? How many "E's" are in the first line? Did we use the same word more than once? etc.
3. Have students come forward and underline certain letters and circle others. Have a student circle all the periods they see in the letter. Have a student underline all of the uppercase letters. Ask the group if they know why those letters are capitals. Continue involving the students with the letter until you think they have had enough.
4. When it is time to quit, explain to the students that you are going to save the thank you letter they have created and they will practice reading what they wrote again on another day.

EVIDENCE OF STUDENTS ACHIEVING OBJECTIVES:

1. Students will demonstrate what they remembered from Karla's visit by sharing with the group what they found interesting and what they liked the best.
2. Students will gain an understanding of why it is important to write thank you notes by discussing manners and being polite and kind.
3. Students will gain an understanding of the proper form of a thank you note by offering ideas of how to start the note and how to end it.
4. Students will participate in writing the letter by dictating appropriate sentences to include in the note.
5. Students will demonstrate word recognition as they read aloud by saying a new word each time I move my finger and by reading along with me.
6. Students will demonstrate their knowledge of letter recognition by circling the correct letters. They will show some knowledge of grammar by circling all of the periods and underlining the commas, and then discussing the reasons behind why they are there.

ADAPTATIONS/RETEACHING IDEAS:

1. If students are have been sitting for too long after writing the note, have them do the phonetic and grammar activities at another time.
2. To reinforce the form of a letter, bring in letters written to you or have the students bring in letters of their own to share.

EXTENSIONS:

1. Read the thank you note again at another time, ex: before calendar to get everyone's attention.
2. Recopy the letter and cut it into sentence strips and challenge some students to put the strips in the correct order.

REFLECTION:

1. Was this lesson too difficult?
2. Was I able to explain format of thank you note appropriately?
3. Was the pacing of the lesson appropriate?
4. How did the students respond to the lesson?
5. What would I change in the future?