Literacy Lesson Plan

Term 3
Grade Level: 4th and 6th Grade
Number of Students 6-8
Time: 45 minutes
WHAT: We would like to teach about setting. Setting is when and where a story takes place.
Students will use their imagination to help them better visualize setting when reading and writing.
This will allow them to better communicate the setting of a story with elaborate detail within their
writing.
HOW:
Hook: Present a good example of setting. Have students close their eyes and attempt to
have them visualize a setting using elaborate detail.
Define setting
o What strategies can we use to create a good written setting for a story?
Present scaffold strategies that students can use in order to enhance their written
descriptions of a storys setting. Show examples of each of the scaffolding strategies to
the students
o Use the 5 senses
The soft fur ran through my fingers.
I breathed in the savory
(Assessment imbedded in this one)
o descriptive words list
Present with a list.
o acronym for setting
S - Scene of a story
E - Environment
T - Time
T - Temperature
I - Inside
N - Nature
G - Geographic Location
Activity: Provide students with pictures that
Settings:
o Beach
o Haunted house
o Winter Cabin
o Concert
o Rainforest
o Basketball court
o Football Field
o Movie theater
o Carnival /Amusement Park
o Bus/ Subway
o Inside the cornerstore
o Arcade
o Busy City Street

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Grocery Store
Cave
Waterfall
Jungle
Country Farm

WHY:
Setting is the time and place where a scene occurs. It can help set the mood, influence the way
characters behave, affect the dialog, foreshadow events, invoke an emotional response, reflect the
society in which the characters live, and sometimes even plays a part in the story. It can also be a
critical element in nonfiction as the setting provides the framework for what is being discussed.
To make the setting come alive, its important to include significant details. That doesnt mean
describing everything the characters see, or giving a complete history of where the scene occurs.
Giving enough information to help readers visualize the setting is important, but too many minor
details will bog down the story rather than move it forward.
Accommodations:
Lesson Plan
Objective: Students will be able to use their imagination to help them better visualize setting
when reading and writing. This will allow them to better communicate the setting of a story with
elaborate detail within their writing.
Hook (10 minutes): We will present a good example of setting in class. Students will close their
eyes and attempt to visualize the setting that is being described to them. They then will try to
verbally describe it using elaborate detail. Questions will be asked about what was imagined, how
it was imagined, and why. This hook will launch us into an exploration to discuss our central
literary question: What strategies can we use to create a good written setting for a story?
Activity (25 minutes)
Setting will be defined to students as when and where a story takes place.
These strategies are aimed at providing students with scaffolded support to better answer
the central literary question.
For the first strategy we will present the fives senses for students. we We will then
present fives example sentences that use the 5 senses, one example of each sense, for the
students to identify the sense that is used in the example.
o Example: As I walked in the room, the aroma of gingerbread and peppermint
filled my nostrils.
o Question: What sense is used in this sentence.

The second strategy will be a list of descriptive word that can be used when writing about
a setting.
Question: Can someone use one of these words to describe something in a setting?
The third strategy will be the acronym SETTING, which can be used to remember the
various aspects of setting.
acronym for setting
o S - Scene of a story
o E - Environment
o T - Time

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T - Temperature
I - Inside
N - Nature
G - Geographic Location

Students will then break out into pairs of two to select a picture which will act as a setting
that they must describe in 5 sentences utilizing the strategies above. Students will be
required to one of the five senses, two words from the descriptive list, and two elements
of the SETTING acronym. While students are discussing their thoughts and writing, we
will circulate around the class to see the types of the thoughts and descriptions that are
being communicated, and to see what is being written down. This will also be done to
provide assistance to students who need additional help. The types of settings that will be
depicted in the pictures are listed below.
Settings:
o Beach
o Haunted house
o Winter Cabin
o Concert
o Rainforest
o Basketball court
o Football Field
o Movie theater
o Carnival /Amusement Park
o Bus/ Subway
o Inside the Corner Store
o Arcade
o Busy City Street
o Grocery Store

Conclusion (15 minutes)

After students are done working in pairs, teachers will highlight a few things they saw
being done well. Students will be asked why is setting important.
Teachers will describe the importance of setting
o set the mood
o create emotive affects
o create a certain feeling or scene
o foreshadowing (explain what foreshadowing is if necessary)

Students will then share aloud their examples.

Students will be asked if they have any residual questions.
Teachers will then asked how this lesson improved their understanding of setting.