Heidi DeLucia's excellent lesson plan on reading and understanding elements of fiction using the mentor text The Mitten by Jan Brett includes clear content and language objectives differentiated for various proficiency levels, tiered vocabulary, and numerous strategies to effectively shelter instruction, such as The 7-Step Vocabulary Process, Think-Pair-Share, Think Alouds, Sentence Frames, Artistic Representations, and Exit Tickets.
Sheila Hudson's lesson plan also utilizes The Mitten by Jan Brett, in addition to another of Brett's books, The Hat. For this lesson, students demonstrate an understanding of setting, plot events, and characters, and also compare and contrast the two works. Ms. Hudson's language objectives are thoughtfully differentiated for students at language proficiency levels of 1 - 5, and she utilizes the 7-step Vocabulary Process, Think-Pair-Share, Sentence Frames, Turn & Talk, and numerous graphic organizers and formative assessments to help her ELLs meet their content objectives.
In this Kindergarten lesson that blends the reading of fiction with a Science unit, Linda Fiorillo uses Brett's The Mitten as a mentor text as students delve into the animal kingdom and use descriptive text and details to explain the physical features of animals from the story. Ms. Fiorillo uses differentiated language objectives to meet the needs of the fifteen ELLs in her classroom. In addition to effectively tiered vocabulary, she builds off the background knowledge of her students and their relative cultures and home countries, and includes strategies such as 7-Step Vocabulary, "I Wonder...", Teaching Text Features, Think-Pair-Share, Double Entry Journals, Sentence Frames/Cloze Sentences, Jigsaw, Total Physical Response, R.A.F.T, and the Language Experience Approach. This lesson plan is chock full of great strategies to scaffold instruction for ELLs!
Diane Fortier has also created a Science lesson in which her students name and identify the physical features and characteristics of animals. In addition to differentiated language objectives and tiered vocabulary lists, Ms. Fortier includes a great list of assessments she uses to monitor content and language development throughout the lesson. Check out how she uses the strategies of 7-Step Vocabulary teaching, Think Alouds, "I Wonder...", teaching Text Features, a Word Wheel, Double-Entry Journals, Sentence Frames, Partner Reading, Artistic Representation, and Jigsaw to successfully support the ten ELLs in her classroom.