Part 1:

As we have learned over the last five weeks, using literature in the classroom is a powerful tool for helping to meet your students' developmental needs. For your Final Project, you will build upon the lesson that you created in Week Two of this course and develop it into a week-long unit. Your unit will need to include the following components:

A paragraph introducing your theme or concept for the entire week.

A rationale for your unit that clearly describes the stage of development the students you will be teaching are in.

A paragraph describing the work of a theorist whose beliefs help to support the use of this unit within this stage of development.

Create five different lesson plans that relate to the chosen theme/concept of your unit. One of these lessons should come from the Story Element Lesson Plan you created in Week Two.

It is required that you use the Lesson Plan Template to complete this portion of your assignment.

It is suggested that you utilize the Lesson Plan Handbook as a guide for how to more effectively plan this lesson.

At least one of your lesson plans should use a media source such as an audio book, book on video, or an online story (www.storylineonline.net, www.magickeys.com/books, http://pbskids.org/lions/stories/, http://storyplace.org/storyplace.asp)

Explain how the objectives for your lessons measure concepts discussed in class (phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, character, setting, plot, theme, etc.). Identify and discuss a different genre of literature for each lesson plan (poetry, nursery rhymes, tactile books multicultural books, picture books, non-fiction books, series books, etc.). Feel free to use some of the literature you included in your weekly discussions if they are appropriate to your theme and stage of development. Create a plan for how you will share the literature that you are using with your students' families so they can help to support literacy acquisition. You could create a newsletter, plan a family literacy night, or even choose some ideas from the Parent Literacy Presentation you created in Week Three. At least one scholarly source in addition to your textbook.

You will submit your unit as an eight- to ten-page word document, not including the title and reference page. Make sure you properly format your Final Project according the APA guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Take a moment to view the Summative Guidance presentation, or click here for the written transcript.