Grade Band: Preschool Unit Topic: Holiday Celebrations Pre-Kindergarten 4 5 years Language and Literacy Development: Early Reading/Print Concepts Follow words left to right, top to bottom, page to page. Recognize that spoken words are represented by written language. Recognize that words are separated by spaces in print. Actively engage in group reading activities. Language and Literacy Development: Early Reading/ Comprehension Retell familiar stories. Identify characters and events in a story. Describe events or information from a text. Instructional Targets Toddler 3 4 years Which of your state standards are aligned to these instructional targets? Unit Holiday Lesson 7 Language and Literacy Development: Early Reading/Print Concepts Distinguish pictures from letters and words in text. Show growing interest in reading related activities. Show awareness of different functions of print materials, such as menus, lists, newspapers, letters, etc. Participate in reading through page turning, pointing, etc. Language and Literacy Development: Early Reading/ Comprehension Use pictures to describe information in books. Recall specific characters and actions in a story. Easy Read Book: Happy Kwanzaa Classroom Activities/Lesson Plan This lesson presents an Easy Read Book. The book follows a sequence to introduce beginning, middle and end concepts of story reading. It also presents the characters, setting and events of a story. This lesson expands on the traditions associated with Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa is an African-American holiday celebrated from December 26 through January 1. In this story, Jamal and his family celebrate the holiday with events that commonly occur during the seven days of Kwanzaa. Read aloud the story, Happy Kwanzaa. Do a picture walk. Discuss the characters and the setting in the story. Ask questions about what the characters are doing. Encourage students to make predictions about what is happening. The Easy Read Book provides a storyline to follow. Lead students in determining what happens first, next and last. Read the story to model fluency. Read the story with pauses for the students to complete repetitive or predictable lines. Independent or paired reading: Focus on the pictures to support reading words. Use decoding skills to identify new words. Support student reading using the communication board to do so. Follow up reading with a discussion on the traditions of Kwanzaa. Picture/Word cards in Lesson 3 can be used to help support this story. Pre- and post-assessments are NOT available for this unit. Differentiated Tasks Level 3 Level 2 Level 1 Students will participate in shared Students will participate in shared Students will demonstrate a response to show reading through retelling and pretend reading by pointing to pictures to active engagement in read-alouds. reading. convey information. Students will speak words and sentences Students will participate in a shared Students will point to pictures in a story from a story through an active participation story by stating repeated words and phrases. to identify the story s actions and characters. response (e.g., voice output device, eye gaze choice board). Students will use pictures from a story to With support, students will assist in Students will demonstrate a response to describe the story s actions and characters. page turning during shared reading. select a picture of a person, a thing or an action from a story read aloud. Students will follow left-to-right progression during shared reading. Resources and Materials Notes Easy Read Book: Happy Kwanzaa Communication board 2013 n2y ULS, Holiday 2013
Happy Kwanzaa Level E by Kathy Staugler Illustrated by April Black 2013 n2y ULS, Holiday 2013 PRESCHOOL, Holiday Unit, Holiday Celebrations Lesson 7, Easy Read Book, Happy Kwanzaa, Level E
1 Kwanzaa is an African-American celebration. Kwanzaa begins on December 26. Kwanzaa lasts for seven days.
2 Kwanzaa is a celebration of family and community. Kwanzaa is also a celebration of African-American culture. Jamal is excited for Kwanzaa!
3 Jamal puts the candles on the table. There are seven candles in a holder called a kinara. One black candle is in the middle. Three red candles and three green candles are on each side. A new candle is lit each night of Kwanzaa.
4 Jamal helps set the table for Kwanzaa. He puts the handmade Kwanzaa mat on the table. On the mat, he puts a cup, a bowl of fruit and ears of corn. These are reminders of hard work and hope. He also puts baked catfish and sweet potato pie on the table. Jamal can t wait to eat!
5 Jamal s family comes over. They eat and tell stories. Jamal loves to listen to his grandmother tell stories. Her stories tell about African-American s lives. Jamal is proud to be an African-American.
6 After dinner, it is time for Jamal and his cousins to open gifts. Jamal and his cousins each get a book. Jamal can t wait to read his book!
7 Kwanzaa is a special time for families to be together. Kwanzaa is a time to look toward the future. Jamal loves Kwanzaa!
The End 2013 n2y ULS, Holiday 2013 PRESCHOOL, Holiday Unit, Holiday Celebrations Lesson 7, Easy Read Book, Happy Kwanzaa, Level E
yes Happy Kwanzaa no begin help African- American Kwanzaa celebration December 26 seven put eat on day family Jamal candle listen tell new kinara Kwanzaa mat hard work hope remember look proud dinner catfish sweet potato pie grandmother love special story life gift future 2013 n2y ULS, Holiday 2013 Within each category, pictures are listed from left to right in the order in which they appear in the text. PRESCHOOL, Holiday Unit, Holiday Celebrations Lesson 7, Easy Read Book, Happy Kwanzaa