The LIZARD - Sentence-Building Exercise 1 - Teaching Plan

Sep 15, 2026

Uploaded by Violet

Lesson plan for “The LIZARD” Sentence-Building Exercise 1 aimed at supporting children’s sentence construction and reading comprehension. It specifies materials (lizard photograph, circle-in-circle charts, branch organizers, lined paper, markers) and provides step-by-step teacher prompts before and during instruction. Activities guide learners to identify a lizard, generate information about what it can do, what it has, and what it likes, then record answers into structured graphic organizers and final sentence forms.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time2 min

AccessFree to download

Materials

Before the Lesson

Teaching the Lesson

Circle discussion and prompts

Graphic organizer completion

Lined paper sentence writing

The LIZARD Sentence-Building Exercise 1 3 Materials: photograph of lizard, students’ circle-in-circle charts and branch organizers, lined paper, tape, three pieces of chart paper, dry-erase marker, watercolor marker Before the Lesson: 1. At [http://fhautism.com/arc.html](http://fhautism.com/arc.html), find the circle-in-circle chart, branch organizer, and lined paper. Print one of each for each student, plus a few extras. 2. On the chart paper, draw a blank circle-in-circle chart, branch organizer, and lined paper. 3. On the board, hang a blank circle-in-circle chart on the left and a branch organizer on the right. Make them large enough to write all the words you will need. 4. Write the date on the board. Teaching the Lesson 1. Gather the children in a circle. Hold up the photograph of the lizard. Ask: “What animal is this?” If no one can identify the animal, ask an aide to answer, or answer the question yourself. 2. When a student says,“lizard,” write “lizard” in the smaller, inner circle of the circlein-circle chart. 3. Ask: “Who can tell me something about the lizard?” If no one answers, ask: “What can the lizard do?” If no one answers, prompt the students. Ask: “Can the lizard ridea bike?” If no one answers, ask an aide to answer, or answer the question yourself. Possible answers include climb, run, lie in the sun. Ask the question several times, and allow different children to answer. Write the answers in the large circle. Autism & Reading Comprehension 297 © 2011 by Joseph Porter, M.Ed. Future Horizons, Inc. 4. Ask: “What does the lizard have? If no one answers, prompt the students. Ask:“Does the lizard have four eyes?” If no one answers, ask an aide to answer, or answer the question yourself. Possible answers include four legs, a long tail, a tongue. Ask the question several times, and allow different children to answer. Write the answers in the large circle. 5. Ask: “What does the lizard like? If no one answers, prompt the students with a guessing game. Say: “The lizard likes to eat an animal with six legs. It sometimes has wings. It has three body parts. Sometimes we call them insects.” Do this for the other two answers. If no one answers, ask an aide to answer, or answer the question yourself. Possible answers include leaves, bugs, worms. Ask the question several times, and allow different children to answer. Write the answers in the large circle. 6. Praise students and pass out reinforcers. 7. The children return to their desks. Pass out pencils and blank graphic organizers. On each desk, tape the circle-in-circle chart on the left and the branch organizer on the right. 8. Say: “Write your name on your paper.” Make sure everyone writes his or her name. Then say: “Write the date. It is on the board.” Make sure everyone writes the date. 9. Say: “Copy the words from the circle-in-circle chart on the board onto your circle-incircle chart.” 10. Say: “Now we will do the branch organizer.” On the branch organizer on the board, write “Lizard” on the top line and “Can,” “Has,” and “Likes” on the three spaces under the top line. Say: “Copy the words onto your charts.” 11. Ask: “What can the lizard do?” Point to the words on the circle-in-circle chart. Encourage students to look at their own chart. If no one answers, ask an aide to answer, or answer the question yourself. Ask the question several times, and allow different children to answer. If someone uses a nonsensical word, e.g.,“bugs,” say the whole sentence. Say:“The lizard can bugs? Does that make sense? Let’s look back in the circle and find something the lizard can do.” 12. Write students’ answers on the branch organizer on the board. For each answer, say: “Write (the answer) under the word ‘Can’ on your branch organizer.” 298 Autism & Reading Comprehension © 2011 by Joseph Porter, M.Ed. Future Horizons, Inc. 13. For each word that students write, say the whole sentence, e.g.,“The lizard can run.” As you say e

FAQs

What materials are needed for The LIZARD Sentence-Building Exercise 1?

The lesson uses a lizard photograph, circle-in-circle charts and branch organizers (printed and drawn), lined paper, tape, three chart paper pieces, a dry-erase marker, and a watercolor marker.

How does the lesson help students form sentences about the lizard?

Students first identify the animal, then respond to prompts about what the lizard can do, has, and likes. Teacher-guided answers are written into circle-in-circle and branch organizer structures, then students copy words and produce sentences.

What do students do at their desks during the lesson?

Students write their name and the date, copy words from the circle-in-circle chart onto their chart, complete the branch organizer by copying Can/Has/Likes words, and later work with lined paper next to the branch organizer.

Sep 15, 2026

Uploaded by Violet