Pizza Perfect!

Reading to Learn, Visualizing

Maci Miller

Rationale: The whole point or goal of teaching a child to read is to gain knowledge or information.  In this lesson the objective is to teach a child to comprehend a text by using the strategy of visualization.  It is important because by using this strategy it allows a person to zone in and picture the main point of the text.  And by doing so a person will understand what the information is disclosing.  In this lesson I will show how to use visualization by modeling the strategy using a text and then scaffolding the strategy for students as they practice visualizing.

Materials:

Pizza Poem

Chart Paper with poem on it.

White paper

Pencil

Crayons

Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (One for each student)

     Best Pizza Poem

I'm making a pizza the size of the sun,

a pizza that's sure to weigh more than a ton,

a pizza too massive to pick up and toss,

a pizza resplendent with oceans of sauce.

I'm topping my pizza with mountains of cheese,

with acres of peppers, pimentos, and peas,

with mushrooms, tomatoes, and sausage galore,

with every last olive they had at the store.

My pizza is sure to be one of a kind,

my pizza will leave other pizzas behind,

my pizza will be a delectable treat

that all who love pizza are welcome to eat.

The oven is hot, I believe it will take

a year and a half for my pizza to bake.

I hardly can wait till my pizza is done,

my wonderful pizza the size of the sun

Procedure:

1. Today we are going to do a vocabulary review lesson! Our three words are going to be: dusk, pecky, and troublesome. A definition for dusk is it's a time of day it gets dark outside, usually around four o'clock. Now, I am going to use it in a sentence, I usually turn my lights on around dusk. Which is dusk, in the morning or in the afternoon? Last finished this sentence: At dusk, I usually…

2. Next, we will talk about visualization. Visualization is when we imagine what we are reading. Good readers visualize because it helps us to get a picture of what we are reading in our head. This also gives us a better understand of what we read. Have you ever read something and saw an image in your head? That is visualization.

3. Now I'm going to model how I visualize, remember good readers visualize because it helps create an image in our heads of what we just read. I'm going to read the first stanza of our poem, The Best Pizza Poem, and after I read I am going to draw what I visualized in my head. So, let's begin to read, okay now I am going to draw a big pizza one that is almost the size of the sun and I'm going to draw a lot of red sauce all over it and I'm going to draw my man trying to pick it up but can't because the pizza weights more than a ton. See how I visualized this in my head.

4. Now I want everyone to practice how to visualize, let's read the last three stanzas of our poem. After each stanza we are going to stop and talk about what you all visualized.  Let's get started!

5. Now, I am going to hand out our books, Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. Book Talk: This book is about a woman named Sarah who comes to live on a farm with a father and his two children Caleb and Anna. Jacob is the father who places an ad in the paper looking for a new wife. Caleb and Anna mother died many years ago and Jacob knows that his children need a mother. Sarah answers the ad and comes to the farm from Maine. She tells the children all about her home by the sea. She misses Maine very much and doesn't know if she likes it on the farm. Do you think Sarah will stay with this family and learn to like living on a farm? Or do you think she will leave the family and go back to Maine? You will have to read the book to find out!

6. Tell your students to read the first chapter, and while they are reading think about all the descriptive words the chapter uses about where Sarah is from and what the beach looked like to her. Once everyone is done reading everyone needs to get out their white piece of paper and draw something from the chapter to share. We will discuss the picture when everyone is finished to see how we all visualized what we read.

Assessment:

To assess students, I will look at the pictures they drew from the reading. I will make sure that they have paid close attention to the details that are in chapter one and given a clear statement during our discussion of what they imagined while reading. This will let me know if they comprehended the text well through visualization. I will also have questions up on the board so, after they are done with their pictures. I will have a comprehension checklist to see how they answered their questions.  

References:

MacLachlan, Patricia. Sarah, Plain and Tall. New York, Harper Trophy, 1985.

www.Auburn.edu/rdggenie

Sammie Patton- Read it, See it! http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/encounters/pattonrl.html

Ashley Jacons- Bed Head, http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/encounters/jacobsrl.html

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