Whole Class Grade IV Literacy Lesson Plan
A Grade 4 school adviser, Kate Rollins, has been very keen on observing her class of 40 students in terms of academic achievement and physical development as part of the school curriculum. Kate’s students are children of well-off parents. Some of the students are well-behaved, while some are too naughty who likes bullying classmates. One of her students is Ruby Cruz, a typical quiet student who sometimes prefers to be alone and just watch his classmates play.
The teachers of Grade 4 students find Ruby very good in conduct as she is not a noisy and bully student. However, they observed that she is not doing well in the subject of Music, Arts, and Physical Education. Ruby finds it hard to draw things that she sees even the simplest ones such as house, skies, and trees. She also find it hard to follow instructions in the Physical Education class as she could not throw the volleyball ball over the net, volleyball ball, all the more, to catch and hit the ball. As a result, her team always put her in bench to avoid losing the games and getting low grades.
The Physical Education teacher noticed that Ruby has the desire to learn the sports, but she has physical limitations. She needs to help Ruby. Bergin and Bergin (2012) stated that middle-aged/school children should already have the capability to draw or have more flexible hand reflexes and fully participate in sports. Ruby’s inability to draw and engage in sports activities reflects physical development delay.
Differentiated lesson plan 1: physical development delay
Rhea Rubinos is the Grade 4 class adviser Kenneth Roxas, a school child suffering from cognitive development delay. The adviser knew from that start that the children in her class have different development stages, but there are development patterns common to all.
Kenneth Roxas is one of her few students that can read at a slower pace. He also has trouble summarizing what he reads or conveys the main thought of the subject. Kenneth also has short attention span. He would listen to the teacher at the start of the class but will eventually talk to seatmates. He does not try to finish an assignment whenever he thinks that the assignment is difficult. Sometimes he would even go to school without doing his assignment at all.
When the class adviser asked him, he admitted that he is having difficulty solving math problems and that he could not find other ways to solve it. Further, he said, he would rather play than answer the rest of the questions on reading and comprehension as he thinks that the questions demand long answers which he is incapable to do.
Douglas Davis (2010) said that middle-aged children have more accurate perception of reality, able to reverse thoughts, and develops mastery of academic class. They also have problem solving skills in different ways, sustain more attention in class, and have logic and reason processes (Davis, 2010). Kenneth’s inability to solve math problems in his grade level, finish academic tasks, and become attentive to classes signify cognitive development delay.
Differentiated lesson plan 2: cognitive development delay
A Grade IV student named Chris Smith in a primary school in Sydney has been struggling to write and speak in the correct tenses of English even though it is his first language. Their teacher once asked them to write few sentences about a topic of their choice. Chris’s group chose the travel topic.
Several groups of the class were able to deliver their few sentences exercise written in correct English tenses. Some groups’ sets of thoughts are more interesting than the others. Before the class finished their task, the teacher checked each group about their progress. All were about to finish except for Chris’s group. His group mate, Miguel, thought to include in the group of sentences the homecoming goods he wished to give his family. Miguel complained that when it’s already Chris’s turn to write, he stopped when Miguel enumerated the things he bought.
The teacher’s further questioning revealed that Miguel named several goods and Chris had difficulty jotting all of them down. When Miguel minimized the goods, Chris started to write. The teacher noticed that Chris speaks in phrases and tries hard to put all words together to produce a complete thought. His tenses are incorrect, and the writing reflected the same.
The Encyclopedia of Children’s Health stated that school children age nine should have a very good reading and comprehension skills and able to speak and write in correct grammar, descriptive, compound, and complex sentences. They must also able to follow three instructions and often speak and ask (Encyclopedia of Children’s Health, 2016). Chris’s inability to speak and write in correct tenses and complete thought signifies language development delay.
Differentiated lesson plan 3: language development delay
References
Encyclopedia of Children’s Health. 2016. Language Development Retrieved from http://www.healthofchildren.com/L/Language-Development.html
Bergin, D.A. and Bergin, C. C. 2012. Growth and Motor Development. Swinburne Library. Retrieved from http://onlineres.swin.edu.au.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/1115223.pdf
Davis, D. 2010. Child Development, A Practitioner’s Guide Third Edition. Instituto de Medicina Deportiva de Cuba. Retrieved from http://www.imd.inder.cu/adjuntos/article/378/Child%20Development%20A%20Practitioner's%20Guide.pdf
Coulson, J. 2016. How to play with 7-9 year olds. Kidspot. Retrieved from http://www.kidspot.com.au/discoverycentre/Seven-to-nine-Learning-How-to-play-with-7-9-year-olds+5336+539+article.htm
Coulson, J. 2016. The power of play to boost children's development. Kidspot. Retrieved from http://www.kidspot.com.au/discoverycentre/Joy-of-discovery-Development-The-power-of-play-to-boost-childrens-development+5395+553+article.htm
Teaknology. 2016. Developmental Delays in the Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/special_ed/disabilities/developmental/
Hollowell, K. 2015. Learning Strategies for Developmentally Delayed Children. Livestrong. Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/527122-learning-strategies-for-developmentally-delayed-children/
Wasik, B. and Newman, O. 2014. Handbook of Child Development and Early Education: Research to Practice. Swin E-Library. Retrieved from http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/(S(g2h2o0gzkd4ru3sxo5v341t5))/Reader.aspx?p=454787&o=132&u=nte5H%2fUg630QCYvzgr1X2g%3d%3d&t=1454800507&h=E6C58553A34D23A1D4293877BFE6FF3C289A679E&s=22843462&ut=405&pg=319&r=img&c=-1&pat=n&cms=-1&sd=1
