Grade 1 Reading & Writing Weekly Plan for Sulwe
This paper presents a five-day reading and writing workshop plan for Grade 1 students, organized around the read-aloud picture book Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o. Covering the week of November 30 to December 4, 2020, the plan outlines daily mini-lessons, vocabulary instruction, guided reading activities, written responses, and assessments. Two detailed lesson plans are included: one addressing Common Core Standard RL.1.3 (describing characters, settings, and major events) and one addressing W.1.1 and W.1.2 (writing opinion and informative pieces). The plan accounts for differentiated instruction to support slow learners alongside stronger readers and writers, ensuring all students advance their English literacy skills through structured, progressive daily activities.
- Weekly Workshop Overview and Theme: Five-day plan structure, theme, and daily focus areas
- Mini-Lessons and Vocabulary Instruction: Daily mini-lesson progression and new vocabulary words
- Guided Reading and Written Responses: Alternating reading and writing activities across the week
- Assessment Strategies: Formative and summative tools for each day
- Reading Lesson: Characters, Settings, and Major Events: Detailed RL.1.3 lesson plan with group activities
- Writing Lesson: Summary and Opinion: Detailed W.1.1 and W.1.2 lesson plan for opinion writing
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What makes this paper effective
- The plan follows a clear, day-by-day structure that progressively builds literacy skills, moving from story comprehension on Monday to emotion-based sentence writing on Friday, so each session scaffolds the next.
- Both detailed lesson plans directly cite applicable Common Core State Standards (RL.1.3, W.1.1, W.1.2), grounding the instructional choices in recognized benchmarks.
- Differentiated instruction is addressed explicitly throughout, with concrete strategies for supporting slow learners in every component — from grouping decisions to individualized teacher check-ins.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates backward design: assessments are mapped to learning objectives before instructional procedures are described. Each lesson identifies its formal and informal assessment tools first, then specifies the materials and instructional steps needed to prepare students for those assessments. This approach ensures every classroom activity has a clear, measurable purpose.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a tabular weekly plan covering five days across five workshop components (mini-lesson, vocabulary, guided reading, written response, and assessment). A narrative weekly commentary then elaborates on each component. Two stand-alone lesson plans follow — one for reading (Wednesday, December 2) and one for writing (Tuesday, December 1) — each organized using a standardized template: central focus, Common Core standards, language objectives, assessment, materials, instructional procedures (whole-group and small-group), and differentiations. A bibliography closes the paper.
Weekly Workshop Overview and Theme
The following is a five-day reading and writing workshop plan for Grade 1 students, built around the read-aloud picture book Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o. The plan runs from November 30 to December 4, 2020 (Monday through Friday).
Grade Level: 1 Week: November 30 – December 4, 2020
Theme: Reading and writing exercises based on Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o.
Reading Strategy Focus: Expressions observed from the read-aloud picture book; observing characters and their traits; and words that describe the feelings of characters.
Writing Strategy Focus: Writing opinions, correctly spelled words, usage of new words, correct sentence formation, and expressive ideas.
Reading Workshop Component — Daily Overview
Monday (November 30, 2020)
Mini-lesson: Building on the previous week's lesson, reviewing new words and sentence formations learned.
Vocabulary: Color words — black and white — and the feelings associated with them.
Guided Reading Source: Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o. Focus question: What did you learn from the story? What do you think the story is about?
Written Response: What was the story about? What do you feel about the story?
Assessment: Question-and-answer session for all students to gauge how much each child grasped the newly introduced story.
Tuesday (December 1, 2020)
Mini-lesson: Reflecting on the new book read the previous day.
Vocabulary: Summary, opinion.
Guided Reading Source: Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o. Focus question: Writing an opinion of the book and a summary.
Written Response: Write a summary of the story in your own words.
Assessment: Students will be asked to write their summary and opinion of the story.
Wednesday (December 2, 2020)
Mini-lesson: Refreshing the book's story, summary, and student opinions.
Vocabulary: Character, setting, plot, event, traits.
Guided Reading Source: Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o. Focus question: Describe characters, settings, and major events in the story using key details.
Written Response: List the names of all the characters you remember from the story and write their roles.
Assessment: Students will be asked to describe character traits in sentences, working in groups.
Thursday (December 3, 2020)
Mini-lesson: Revising the characters and their qualities and what their roles were in the story.
Vocabulary: Sequencing.
Guided Reading Source: Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o. Focus question: Sequencing of the story.
Written Response: Write the correct sequence of the story.
Assessment: Students will be asked to work in groups to sequence the incidents of the book.
Friday (December 4, 2020)
Mini-lesson: Asking students what they remember from the previous day's sequencing activities.
Vocabulary: Feelings, expressions, and words linked with happiness and sadness.
Guided Reading Source: Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o. Focus question: Explain words from the story that describe emotions or feelings.
Written Response: Make sentences from three emotions that the main character felt.
Assessment: Students will be asked individually to make sentences using three emotions the main character felt (selecting from as many as they can think of).
The weekly plan is designed to enhance Grade 1 students' interpretation skills and their reading and writing abilities in English. Multiple learner types are accommodated throughout the plan so that students who are slower in reading and writing receive greater focused attention. In the preceding week, students completed workbook pages related to emotions and feelings; additional exercises will follow in the subsequent week. The sections below explain each component of the weekly plan in detail.
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