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Sample Lesson Plans
Using Literature to Teach Elementary School Math and Science
University of Illinois at Chicago College of EducationED312; Professor Maria Varelas
Lesson by Vicki Antonelli
- Kindergarten class
- Eye-catching; pages are big with bright colors; pictures of bugs and insects. All the insects did not like Miss Spider because of the way she looked. But by the end of the book they realize that they were wrong to judge her before getting to know her.
- The book uses the numbers one through twelve throughout the book; it could be a good lesson in counting for younger children.
- I am going to plan a lesson to use this book to review counting numbers from one to twelve. First I would sit all the kids down and I would read the book out loud to the class, showing them the pictures as I read. Before I started reading I would tell them to pay attention to the numbers used in the book, and to see if they could figure out a pattern or order to these numbers. I would not stop and ask any questions at this point while reading, but if someone asked a question I would stop to answer it. After we read through the book I would break them up into groups of four, and give each group a chance to look at the book. I would ask them to try to work together to see if they could write down the numbers in the pattern that the book used them. I would give them a hint to use the pictures, because the pictures are related in some way to the numbers. After about ten minutes I would bring everyone back to form one big group, and we would all discuss what we found. I might have each group count out the insects on each page for the rest of the class, so everyone can see the relation betwen the pictures and the worded numbers. I think children enjoy working in groups and using pictures to practice counting; it makes it fun.
After we are done I would start a project. I would tell the class that we are going to make up our own story using numbers like it was done in the book. They would be allowed to use any numbers, but they would have to follow some type of pattern. Maybe they would want to start with five and count up to fifteen, or go every other number. We would go around the room and let each child give a sentence that would form part of the book. I would be writing these sentences up on the board so everyone could follow along with the story. Each child would have to make sure they were following the number sequence when it was their turn . After the story was completed each child would draw one illustrated page for the book coordinated to the sentence they gave. They would be instructed to draw something relating to the number in their part of the story, so our book could related the worded numbers and the pictures together like David Kirk did in his book. This is a good exercise because if they are working with the number eight, they would have to draw eight items somewhere in their picture. It makes a good connection for the children. I do not know if I would fit this all into a one day lesson or if I would need to split it up into two. I may split it up into two so the children would not get bored working on the same activity for a long period of time.
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Last updated: 9/7/96
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