Henrys Freedom Box

Indiana Wesleyan University Children’s Literature Lesson Plan Template Reading, Writing, and Oral Language CAEP 2018 K-6 Elementary Teacher Preparation Standards Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine and Illustrated by Kadir Nelson Sarah Morris LESSON RATIONALE/INJUSTICE CONFRONTED This book confronts the mistreatment of blacks throughout history and slavery, while also demonstrating that freedom is not free. This book specifically uses a story of how a slave escaped to freedom by mailing himself, to show how with hard work, sacrifice, and bravery our dreams can become reality. (CAEP K-6 1.a) READINESS I. Goals/Objectives/Standard(s) A. Goal(s)— The students will be able to engage in discussion with the teacher and peers about the text and apply the main idea of the text to their own lives. B. Objective(s)— The students will state the challenges of Henry’s journey to freedom and apply the struggles of his dream coming true how they can overcome challenges to reach their dreams. C. Standard(s): K.RL.1 Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. (CAEP K-6 3.c) D. IEP Goals: When asked a question, Matthew will be able to intelligibly respond with 80% accuracy in three trials. Ava will be able to communicate, in three complete sentences, a response to a picture or a topic. II.

Management Plan- All students will be in their seats for the lesson, as they are typically seated there and do better in their respective desk than on the floor. Specific students have BIP that will be followed if any behaviors occur during the lesson. Some students may need to stand up and move around during reading, those students include Matthew and Morgan, and they will be allowed to do this during the lesson. Time: The anticipatory set will take around 5 minutes. The instruction will take about 15 minutes. The check for understanding and assessment will take about 15 minutes. The whole lesson will take around 35 minutes. Materials: Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine, birds cutout for the students, markers, crayons, colored pencils, for students to decorate the birds, string to tie all of the birds together.

III. Anticipatory Set: Gather the students in their seats. Tell the students that you are going to tell them a story about a time you were in middle school. “One time when I was in middle school, yes I was once a middle schooler just like you guys, I did something brave! I was in the sixth grade and I decided to try out for the school play. I had never been in a play before, and I wasn’t very good at singing, or acting, but I decided I wanted to give it a try so I tried out. In order to try out for the play, I had to sing in front of 50 of my classmates, that’s a lot of people! It was really scary, but I knew I wanted to try out for the play so I did it. A week after my tryout, the teacher posted a list of people that made the play. I didn’t get the role I wanted, but I got to be a background singer for the play. I was still excited, and I was glad that I decided to be brave and sing in front of my classmates!” Ask the students, “What do you think it means to be brave?” Give the students time to think about what it might mean to be brave. Allow for a few students to answer and either write, draw, or explain their answer on the board. “Those are all great examples and definitions of what it means to be brave. I want you guys to pay attention as I read Henry’s Freedom Box and think about how Henry might be brave.” IV. Purpose: “Since we have been talking about Martin Luther King Jr. and how he fought for peace, I am going to share a story with you about Henry. Henry does something that is very brave in hopes of one day having peace just as Martin Luther King Jr. wanted. Pay attention to what Henry does and how he feels to understand how you can be brave as well.” PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION Foundational Theory: reader-response criticism is a school of literary theory that focuses on the reader and their experience of a literary work, in contrast to other schools and theories that focus attention primarily on the author of the content and form of the work. IV. Adaptation to Individual Differences and Diverse Learners— - This lesson is taking place in a middle school essential skills classroom. There will be nine students present in the classroom at the time of the lesson. Four of the students read at, or are working towards, a kindergarten reading level. One of the students is only on a functional skill curriculum and does no academics. All students are off the

diploma track and are set to graduate with a certificate after high school. None of the students are working towards benchmark standards for their respective grade levels. - John: John has down syndrome and an intellectual disability. He is verbal, however his speech is not understandable. He does not currently do any literacy instruction in his typical school day, besides working towards using a PECS communication system. - Layla: Layla has down syndrome and an intellectual disability. She is a verbal and is able to be understood by others. She is currently working on reading and identifying sight words for her literacy instruction. She is also working on comprehension and remembering what is read to her in a text. - Ava: Ava has autism and is verbal. Ava’s speech is easily understood and she can carry a conversation. She is currently working on trying to read lower-leveled reading books independently, text comprehension, and writing. She is also working on writing sentences independently. - Matthew: Matthew has autism and is selectively mute. He is able to speak, but often does not. Matthew will answer questions if he is directly asked them by a familiar face. Matthew does not currently do any literacy instruction in his typical school day and is working towards answering questions appropriately. - Morgan: Morgan has autism and is nonverbal. Morgan is not able to speak, and it is unsure how much receptive communication she has. She mainly receives sensory and essential skill instruction. - Colten: Colten has an intellectual disability and reads at a second grade level. He is currently working towards reading second grade level text fluently. - Brody: Brody has an intellectual disability and currently reads at a first grade level. He is working towards reading first grade level text fluently. - John: John has an intellectual disability and is able to read at a first grade level. He is currently working towards comprehension goals on his IEP. - Dylan: Dylan has an intellectual and emotional disability. Dylan currently reads at a second grade level (CAEP K-6 1.b) V. Lesson Presentation (Input/Output) - I will keep the students at their desk, as that is how they do all of their current instruction and routine is important for my students, so I do not want to mess up their routine by having them move to the floor. - I will read aloud the story, making sure to use different voices to make each character distinct, and to show the emotion that each character is feeling throughout the book. For the purpose of keeping my students engaged, I will periodically stop the read-a-loud to help my students make connections with the characters in the book and help them understand how the characters are feeling and what is happening in the story. o Page 2: Ask the students if they know what a slave is. Allow students time to answer. Remind students that long ago, people who were African American were considered slaves, and they had to do very hard and very unfair work for people who were white, called their masters. They were not treated kindly. o Page 8: Ask the students, “How do you think Henry feels knowing that his family may be taken away from him?” o Page 12: Ask the students, “Why do you think Henry seeing birds fly reminded him of freedom? Freedom is what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr fought for, and it means to be able to do what you want, say what you want, and be who you want to be.” Allow time for students to answer. o Page 16: Ask the students, “What is Henry doing?!” Allow time for the students to talk and answer. - Throughout reading, I will respond and interact with the students when they would like to make a point or comment about the story. - I will model appropriate expression and emotion throughout reading. I will encourage students comprehension through asking questions about the text, which is part of some of the students IEP goals. (CAEP K-6 3.d) VI. Check for understanding. I will start a grand conversation with all of my students, assessing the learning objective of understanding what is beautiful in their own lives, and relating that to what is beautiful in the lives of others. I will ask questions such as: • What did you think about this book? • What was your favorite part about the book? • Was their anything you didn’t like about this book? • How do you think Henry was brave in this book? • How did it make you feel when Henry’s family was taken away from him? • How does it make you feel to know that this is a true story? • Why do you think the birds reminded Henry of freedom? • ****Some of the students may need more prompting, whether that be verbal prompts or physical prompts of flipping to certain pages in the book. Allow time to assess what students need when responding to these questions in the grand conversation.

VIII.



Review learning outcomes/closure: “In this book, Henry has to be very brave to receive what he wants, which is freedom. He watches his family be taken away and feels very sad, and he knows he doesn’t want to live like that. So, he decides to be brave and ship himself in a box to receive his ultimate goal of freedom. Henry had to work hard and take risks in order to be brave and reach his dream of freedom. What is a dream that you have that make require that you be brave to achieve it?”

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT - In the whole class, each student will brainstorm different dreams that they have, or ways that they might have to be brave. The students will help each other come up with ideas of ways that they have been brave and achieved a dream, or ways that they can be brave to achieve a dream. I will remind them of the time that I was brave, and remind students that you can be brave in small ways or big ways. - After brainstorming together as a class, each student will receive a bird with their name on it, they will either write, draw, color, or use other manipulatives to express a dream that they have. Many of the students can not write, so they will express their dreams in whatever way works best for them. We will connect all of our birds and talk about how we can work together help each other be brave and reach our dreams. - Each student will work on their communication skills, and their ability to engage in group activities by presenting their dream to the class. All students will engage with each other as they are presenting their ideas. - The string of birds will be hung in the classroom as a reminder for students to be brave and reach for their dreams. REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS (CAEP K-6 3.b) 1. How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not? 2. What were my strengths and weaknesses? 3. How should I alter this lesson? 4. How would I pace it differently? 5. Were all students actively participating? If not, why not? 6. What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels? 7. Was the assessment an accurate way to see if each student met the learning objective? 8. Were there skills in the lesson that should have been explicitly pre-taught to the students to help with their comprehension and application of the lesson goals, objective, and purpose?