Sample Reading Lesson Plan for Second and Third Grade

Based on the book Dinosaurs Before Dark from the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne

Grades: Second Grade, Third Grade

Overview: This lesson can be easily adapted for any of the Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne, and/or the Fact Tracker books that accompany them. This lesson is created for Dinosaurs Before Dark, book #1 of 55.

Materials:

  • Magic Tree House book Dinosaurs Before Dark
  • Plastic toy dinosaurs
  • Pictures and other books about dinosaurs and volcanoes

Lesson-Specific Vocabulary Concepts:

  • Syllabification: prehistoric, triceratops, herbivore, carnivore, magnolia, volcano
  • Silent letters: pteranodon, kneeled, climb
  • Endings: nests, flapped, stampeded, teetered, engraved, whistling
  • R controlled vowels: dark, anatosaurus, herbivore, carnivore, dinosaur

Preparation: Place the materials on a table to engage students’ interest in the lesson.

Instructions for Conducting the Lesson:

Step

What to do

Component Addressed

1

Have students choose a dinosaur they would like to be today and have them share why they chose that specific one.

Oral Language Development

2

Write some of the words they used in their discussion (and/or some from the vocabulary list) on the board. As a group, practice decoding, reading the words orally, and talking about the meaning.

Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary

3

Show the book and have students make predictions about what they think the book will be like. Write these predictions down for all students to see.

Oral Language Development Comprehension

4

Begin reading the book to the students. Have them echo read sections, repeating key sections as a group.

Fluency, Phonics

5

Stop periodically in the book to have students summarize and rephrase what is happening in the story.

Comprehension, Oral Language Development, Vocabulary

6

Ask questions of increasing complexity to differentiate the learning experience for the students.

Comprehension, Oral Language Development

7

Revisit and discuss the students’ predictions. Finally, let them choose and share with a partner or small group another toy dinosaur to show how they feel at the end of the lesson.

 

Comprehension, Oral Language Development

Starter Discussion Questions:

Questions

Blooms Level / DOK Level

Where to Jack and Annie live?

What did Jack and Annie use to climb into the tree house?

Remember / Recall & Reproduction

Why didn’t Jack want to go into the tree house at first?

Understand / Recall & Reproduction

Who is older, Jack or Annie and how do you know?

Apply, Analyze / Skill & Concept, Strategic Thinking

How did Annie help save Jack’s life?

Analyze / Strategic Thinking

What would you have done to help Jack?

What parts of the story are real and what part are fantasy?

Evaluate / Extended Thinking

What might have happened if the tree house hadn’t taken them home?

Create / Extended Thinking