Title: Card Sort & Story Map for The Cat in the Hat
Materials:
1. Pencils & Paper
2. The Cat in The Hat by Dr. Seuss
3. 2 Story maps
4. Card Sort Materials
5. Blank Index Cards
6. Small Rattle
Goals:
1. To exercise the student’s phonological awareness skills.
2. To exercise the student’s ability to isolate story elements in a book.
3. To further develop the student’s comprehension skills.
4. To improve the student’s retellings of stories read.
Objectives:
1. After viewing several cards with words printed on them, the student will correctly sort the words into two columns based on the phonogram patterns that they possess, and then the student will choose one of the phonogram pattern columns to examine further.
2. After choosing the phonogram pattern to examine further, the student will listen to the book The Cat in The Hat read aloud by the tutor, and then the student will shake a rattle to indicate when a word following the phonogram pattern chosen is read aloud by the tutor.
3. After listening to The Cat and The Hat read aloud, the student and tutor will complete a story map, outlining the key story elements found in the book read.
Procedures & Schedule:
1. The student will be given an envelope filled with cards. The student will be introduced to the lesson by talking about what a card sort is and how a card sort activity is completed. The student will be asked to think aloud when performing the card sort. The guide words, which will be already placed on the desk, are hall and tray. The word sort cards will include the words tall, mall, all, stall, lay, day, may, and way. As the card sort activity progresses, corrections will be made by getting the student to explain why a word falls under a specific column.
2. The student will choose one of the sorted columns to work with further. This chosen column will be the phonogram pattern of which the student will search for in a book read aloud by the tutor. The student will be informed of why he is choosing one of the two columns.
3. The student will be introduced to the book The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss. He will listen to the book read aloud by the tutor. As the book is read, the student will listen carefully for words that fall into the phonogram pattern that was chosen from the previous word sort activity (the sorted cards will be on the desk still). If a word is heard that falls into the chosen phonogram pattern, then the student is to shake the rattle indicating that a rhyming word was heard. If the word is new (not already printed on one of the cards), the student will write that word on a card and add it to the phonogram pattern column.
4. After the book is completed, the student will briefly restate what the story was about. The student and tutor will go on to look at the story’s elements and complete a story map together. The map will include the story’s setting, characters, problem, plot, and solution.
5. For closure, the student will be asked to respond to the book The Cat in the Hat in some way. His response should include some reason why he liked or disliked the book read.
Assessment:
The student will be assessed through ongoing observations made by the tutor. The tutor should listen carefully to the thought processes the student uses in sorting the word cards. The actual correctness of the card sort should also be assessed. By the end of the lesson, the student should fully comprehend The Cat in the Hat, and this should be exemplified through his retelling of the story and his well supported personal response to the book.
