Submitted by Beth
This lesson uses the book Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard and James Marshall.
Instructional Objective: To increase the children's appreciation for literature, foster vocabulary growth, practice prediction skills, practice speaking to groups, develop creative writing skills, and facilitate group interaction through discussion.
Target Vocabulary: misbehaving, unpleasant, ruler, missed, detective, wicked, discouraged, ceiling, whispered, giggled.
Anticipatory Set: Ask the children to get into pairs and discuss a time when they lost something. Then, display the cover of the book and ask for ideas on what might happen in the book.
Statement of Objective: "As I read the book, I want you to think about what's happening and consider how the story might end. Imagine how you would feel if you were a student in Miss Nelson's class."
Direct Instruction: Read the book while clearly showing the pictures to the class. Stop the story in the middle.
Guided Practice: Ask the class to use a piece of paper to write or draw (depending on level) about how they imagine the story will conclude. Another possible guided practice activity for this book is Reader's Theater.
Closure: Group discussion where individual students volunteer to share their conclusions with the rest of the class. Then, the teacher proceeds to finish reading the book so that the students can see how the author finished the book.
