Student Name: Jessie May

Grade Level: 3rd

Topic: Guided Reading Group
Rationale: (Why are you teaching these objectives? Why did you select the instructional
strategies that you did?)
This lesson will take place in a small, guided reading group of 5 students who are currently
reading on grade level. The group is differentiated so that students will be able to receive more
individualized and targeted instruction. The students have read three chapters of the book Camp
Ghost Away. This lesson will review information from chapters that they have already read and
help to incorporate and practice inferencing skills that we are working on in whole group
reading. The book contains many different characters, and my hope is that this activity will also
help the students to better understand some of the major characters, which will improve their
comprehension of the book.
Enduring Understandings: (What big idea(s) will students understand as a result of this
lesson?)

We read to understand what is happening in a story.

Fiction authors give us clues about the characters in their stories to help us understand
what they are like.

Essential Questions: (What question(s) will students grapple with as they learn through this
lesson?)

What inferences can I make about the characters in this story?

Primary Content Objectives:

Students will know: (facts/information)

The author describes characters, which helps us to determine what they are like.
The characters in Camp Ghost Away have different character traits that we can compare
and contrast.

Students will be able to do: (skills and behaviors)

Answer comprehension questions about chapter 3 of Camp Ghost Away

Identify words and actions of characters in Camp Ghost Away
Draw inferences about the characters in Camp Ghost Away

Related state or national standards: (Examples include State Standards of Learning, Common
Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards or National Curriculum Standards for
Social Studies)
Virginia Reading SOL 3.5 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of
fictional text and poetry.
d) Compare and contrast settings, characters, and events.
g) Draw conclusions about text.
Assessment: (How (and when) will students be assessed? What evidence will you collect to
determine whether students have met the lesson objectives? Will the assessment(s) be a preassessment (diagnostic), formative (ongoing feedback) or summative?)

As a way to review and assess prior knowledge, I will ask the group a few
comprehension questions about the chapters we have read so far in the book. I will ask
questions such as:
o Who are the main characters in this book? (The Pee-Wee Scouts)
o What were they trying to raise money to do? (Go to camp) How did they raise
money? (Sold donuts) Were they successful? (Yes)
o What did they hear outside of their tent on the first night of camp? (A scary
Ooooooo sound)
o What do you think the sound is? (Prediction) What do you think the Pee Wee
Scouts will do? (Prediction)
As a group we will fill out a Making Inferences chart about some of the characters in the
book. The students will be asked to identify things that characters in the book do, and
then make inferences as to what the characters personality is like (For example, kind,
hard working, bossy, etc.) This will allow me to assess how well the student is able to
make inferences about characters.
If there is time remaining I will ask the students to begin reading the next chapter of the
book (Chapter 4) on their own. As they read I will ask individual students to read to me
as a way to assess their fluency while reading.

Materials and Resources: (List here all materials that you will need in order to successfully
teach this lesson. Include technology and website links, texts, graphic organizers, student
handouts, physical manipulatives, etc.)

Pee Wee Scouts Camp Ghost Away by Judy Delton (1 copy per student)
Making Inferences Character Sheet (1 per student- see below)
Small Whiteboard and Marker

Lesson Procedures:
1. Introduction and goal orientation (Minutes 1-5)
The last time this group met the students read Chapter 3 of Camp Ghost Away. I will begin by
asking them questions to review their prior knowledge of the book and help them make
predictions about what might happen next. I will ask them questions such as: Who are the main
characters in this book? (The Pee-Wee Scouts)
o What were they trying to raise money to do? (Go to camp) How did they raise
money? (Sold donuts) Were they successful? (Yes)
o What did they hear outside of their tent on the first night of camp? (A scary
Ooooooo sound)
o What do you think the sound is? (Prediction) What do you think the Pee Wee
Scouts will do? (Prediction)
2. Connecting to prior knowledge and experiences: (Questions or activities that help
students make links) (Minutes 5-6)
I will then say, In whole group we have been practicing using clues to make inferences. Today
we are going to use information from our Pee Wee Scouts book to help us make inferences about
some of the characters. Who are some of the characters in the Pee Wee Scouts book? (Molly,
Rachel, Sonny)
3. Tasks and activities: (What challenging tasks and activities will students engage in as
they construct knowledge, learn new skills or behaviors and develop understandings?)
(Minutes 6-29).
I will then go through the Making Inferences graphic organizer with the students. For each
character we will look at the pages listed for the character, write down examples of things we
know about that character from the text, and then make inferences about what that character is
like. For example, on page 9, the character Rachel says, Mrs. Peters my mom says that we
should sell something that is more healthy. Donuts have sugar. Sugar isnt good for your teeth.
We would first write, Rachel doesnt want to sell donuts. This and a few other clues from the text
can help us to infer that Rachel is can be a know-it-all and is bossy. We will do this for the other
two characters. I will write down the information on a small white board to help relieve some of
the cognitive load of writing and spelling and help students to focus on the skill at hand.
When we finish filling out the chart I will ask students to remind me of predictions they made for
the next chapter. I will then preview a few of the more difficult words from the chapter (Saucers,

p. 34; dangerous, p. 36; crept, p. 37; lantern, p.39). I will then ask students to begin reading the
chapter to themselves, and I will ask individual students to read to me in order to assess their
fluency.
4. Closure: (How will you wrap up the lesson and reinforce key ideas? Closure may include
some form of assessment or exit slip) (Minutes 29-30)
I will ask the students to stop reading, and ask them if they learned any new information in their
reading which can help them make inferences about the characters.
Accommodations for individual differences: (How will the lesson be differentiated to support
diverse learners? Describe additional supports that can be used for re-teaching if needed, and a
challenging extension for students for demonstrate mastery quickly or show evidence of a lot of
prior knowledge.)

This lesson will take place in a small, guided reading group that consists of 5 students
who are on a similar reading level. This helps me to differentiate the instruction to their
needs.
We will go through the inferencing chart as a group to help scaffold the skill. This skill
will have been just been introduced as part of whole group language arts instruction so I
do not expect them to be able to do it on their own just yet. However, I will gradually
release some of the responsibility over to the students as we go through the chart.
I will write down the information the students are putting on their chart on a small
whiteboard to help relieve the cognitive load of spelling and writing. This will help
students to focus on the skill without getting stuck on other skills that they struggle with.
I have given the students page numbers as starting points to look for character traits in the
novel. This will help students to find relevant information more easily.

Behavioral and organizational strategies: (What behaviors will you model or discuss with
students? What do you want to remember about organizing the lesson and materials? Use this
section for reminders to yourself about behavioral and organizational strategies. For example, do
you want to explicitly model how to work with partners in this lesson? Or demonstrate how to
use mathematical tools?)

I will remind students to raise their hands if they have something to share. I will give this
reminder at the beginning of my lesson and consistently prompt with verbal and nonverbal cues throughout my lesson if students continue to blurt out answers.
I will hand out materials (books, pencils, worksheets) as they are needed in order to avoid
distra

Character

What We Know About Them

Inference

Rachel
(pgs. 9, 12, 24)

Molly
(Pgs. 7, 11, 15, 24)

Sonny
(pgs. 12, 18, 28)