Lance Armstrong - Lesson Plans

Lesson Plans for LANCE ARMSTRONG level T

Text Type:
Nonfiction / Informational Text

Reading Level:
T

Word Count:
1,647

Pages:
24

Text Summary
This biography of Lance Armstrong tells the story of his determination to be a world-class athlete and cyclist. It talks about his childhood and training, and how Lance Armstrong overcame serious obstacles, especially cancer, to win the Tour de France cycling race seven years in a row. His strongest message to the world is, "Don't give up."

Lesson Objectives
Reading Strategies
Children should use a variety of strategies to determine word meaning and comprehend the text. The targeted strategy for this lesson is: Noting important information with bookmarks.
As children read, they will learn to bookmark the pages for important information. A bookmark is simply a note that is written about something important in the text, and placed in the page where the information can be found for future reference.

Word and Print Skills
Punctuation
Using commas, hyphens, and parentheses

Word Work
Commas
Multiple syllable words

Comprehension
You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as children work to understand the text. The targeted comprehension strategy for this lession is: Helping children to understand Question Guides. A Question Guide is a list of questions that each student is given before he/she begins reading the text. It is a good a comprehension tool because it helps children to focus as they read.

Visual Learning
Helping children to develop a better understanding of the relationship between picture details and text will help them solve challenging words or passages. In the story Lance Armstrong there are a number of photographs used to support the text and increase childrenís interest.

Targeted Vocabulary Words
Content Words
athleticism, amateur, Tour du Pont, Tour de France, Europe, chemotherapy, buoy, cancer, strategy, compete, cyclist

Before Reading

Introducing the Book
Direct children’s attention to the cover, the title page and the table of contents. Note the special Introduction box on page 5, and the section headings throughout the story. Explain how the section headings separate important parts of the story and how all the information in the section relates to the heading. Point out the photo captions. Beginning on page 18, point out the bulleted facts about the Tour de France followed by Tour de France Terms and other Tour de France facts on pages 22–24. Pose questions to children that will help to set a purpose for reading. Ask: Do the section headings help you to frame your thinking? Pause at difficult vocabulary and define—for example, cancer, chemotherapy. Provide correct pronunciations for Tour de France and Tour du Pont. Explain the Think Aloud strategy (asks children to verbalize their thoughts, questions, and connections as they read text line by line). Model how to use this strategy for remembering and connecting details in the story—for example on page 14: I guess that winning isn’t everything. We need to be grateful for many things in our lives, especially our health.

Building Background
Begin by talking with children about sports. Ask: How many of you participate in sports? Which sports do you play? For children who do not participate in sports, ask if they have a favorite team they watch on television or see at an outdoor or indoor stadium. Record their answers. Ask: Have you competed in sports, or watched your favorite team compete or play against other teams? When you or your favorite team wins, can you describe how it feels? What happens if you lose—how does it feel? If you lost, would you try harder the next time you played, or would you give up? How would it feel if you or someone on your favorite team became sick or hurt and could no longer participate in their favorite sport? Would you give up? Or do you think you would be determined to get better so you could play again?
Discuss what children would do and why. Explain that they are going to read a book about a man who competed as a cyclist, a person who rides a racing bicycle. He won many races and he also lost some. One day he became very ill with cancer, and he could no longer ride his bicycle or compete in races. Ask children what they would do if they were in the same situation. Say: Lance Armstrong was so committed to cycling and so determined to overcome his illness that he is now a world champion. He didn’t give up when he lost or when he became ill. His message is, "Don’t give up!"

Reading Strategies
Explain to children that they are going to make Question Guides to use as they read the story. Question Guides will create a reason for reading, encourage an investment in the book, stimulate discussions about the book, and serve as a review sheet for an assessment quiz. The Question Guides can span the entire reading process. First do the activity with the whole class to ensure understanding. Then help children to make their own Question Guides using five steps:

Skim the sections by reading the bold-faced headings and the captions for photographs.
Fold notebook paper in half, lengthwise.
Write the heading Questions on the left-hand side. On the right-hand side, write the heading Notes.
Formulate questions that previewing raises—questions that focus on the new information presented in the pages.
Leave space between questions so you can fill in after reading. This will allow room for notes collected during class discussions.

An example of Question Guides might begin as follows:

Questions
What is cancer?

Notes
A disease that spread to many parts
of Lance Armstrong’s body, including
his lungs and brain.

During Reading

Student Reading
After completing the introduction, give each child a copy of the book. Allow them to read at their own pace. When they come to difficult words or passages, have them ask themselves questions to monitor their understanding. Ask children to work with their Question Guides as they read, filling in new information they have learned and adding questions for discussion.

After Reading

Comprehending the Text
Invite children to work in small groups or as partners. Help them to begin a book discussion, discussing information from their Question Guides. During the last ten minutes of the class, ask them to summarize the highlights of their group’s discussion and share them with the class.

In addition to using the Question Guides, ask children questions to determine how strongly they connected to Lance Armstrong in the story:

Is there a passage in the story you found meaningful? Read it and explain why.
Have you had any experiences similar to Lance’s?
How did the story make you feel?
How did this story affect you?

Visual Learning
Call attention to the photographs and captions throughout the story. Ask children if the photos helped them to better understand the text and if they helped to increase their interest in reading the story. Some foreign names may cause difficulty such as the Champs-Elysées in Paris—photo on page 18.

Building Skills

Multiple-Syllable Words
To decode multisyllabic words, children must be able to divide words into recognizable chunks. Some readers develop a sense of syllabication breaks independently through their exposures to print, while others have great difficulty and need instruction. Consequently, children need training in dividing words according to syllables. They must understand how to figure out the vowel sound in one-syllable words, understand that a syllable has only one vowel sound, but that a vowel sound may be spelled using more than one vowel letter. Begin by teaching children known words and then provide ample opportunities for children to apply each strategy in context.

Explain that a syllable is a unit of sound in a word. A syllable contains a vowel and possibly one or more consonants. The word long contains one syllable. The word Monday contains two syllables. Explain that many words have multiple syllables like the name Jonathan or the word chemotherapy from the Lance Armstrong story. Tell children that knowing how to break words into syllables can help them read and spell longer words.

Write several known words on the chalkboard or chart paper, such as unhappy, cheerful, tremendous, huge, Elizabeth, John, Wednesday, etc. Now say the words, stretching them out so children can hear the sounds/syllables in the words. Say the words again, asking children to clap on the syllables. Next, write the following on the chalkboard or chart paper: 1 Syllable Words, 2 Syllable Words, 3 Syllable Words, 4 Syllable Words, etc. Ask volunteers to look at the words on the chalkboard or chart paper that you have pronounced and have them tell you under which number/heading they go. Rewrite the words in their appropriate spot.

Now use words from the Lance Armstrong story that may be unknown to children to see if they can apply the same strategies they used from known words—for example, cycling, surviving, cancer, athleticism, Triathlon, intensified, developmental, rigorous, amateur, competition, determination, limitations, surgeries, aggressive, chemotherapy, miraculously, accomplishment, etc. In addition to introducing children to multiple syllables in known and unknown words, you will also be developing vocabulary and increasing comprehension of the story.

Word Work
Mechanics: Commas, parentheses, hyphens, bullets
Explain to children that they are going to learn about using commas, parentheses, hyphens, and bullets—punctuation marks used in the Lance Armstrong story. Ask: What is a comma? What are parentheses? What is a hyphen? What is a bullet? Discuss these terms, and write a brief description of each on the board.

Have children work with a partner and reread the story. Ask them to look for punctuation marks and note the page number and type on a sticky note. Then ask them to choose two types of punctuation marks and write new sentences using the punctuation marks correctly. Monitor their work to check for understanding.

Expand on the Reading

Writing Connection
Ask children to research challenging vocabulary in the story: chemotherapy, cancer, gritty, Triathlon, obstacle, diagnosis, athleticism, survivor, testament. Ask children to write the definitions for the words in their Word Journal. Then have them work with a partner to develop three paragraphs, one paragraph for each of the three words. Ask volunteers to share their definitions and their paragraphs.

If computers with Internet connections are available in the school, have children research Lance Armstrong and bicycle racing using the Web sites listed on pages 23 and 24. Ask children to choose a particular site, read and take notes on the information, and then summarize what they’ve learned and share it with the class. If computers are unavailable, have children use books and magazines to research bicycle racing, Olympic events that feature cycling, and the Tour de France. Ask them to present their information to the class.

Geography Connection
Place a United States map and a world map in prominent places in the classroom. Using yarn or string, locate the city and state where Lance Armstrong was born (Plano, Texas). Locate where he trained with the U.S. Olympic Development team (Colorado Springs, Colorado). Using information from the photo captions, locate other cities where Lance competed, such as Monterey, California (page 8). Put the dates of each important event and the name of the event on index cards and attach them to the end of the yarn or string. Using the same activity, find cities and countries on the world map where Lance competed—Moscow, Spain, Paris, France. Mark the dates and events on index cards and attach by yarn or string to the map. Encourage children to research the Tour de France—for example, the race route includes cycling through other countries in addition to France, although the race always finishes in Paris. Ask: What other countries are involved in the race?

Reading Independently
Allow children to read the book independently or with a partner. You can also encourage them to read other books of their choice at the appropriate level. As they read, ask them to think about experiences they have had that are similar to Lance’s.

Home Connection
Have children take the book home to share with their family. Provide the family with suggestions for working with their child: helping with challenging vocabulary, discussing the importance of good health and strong determination, etc. If the family has a computer and Internet service, suggest they help their child research one of the Web sites in the story—for example, the Lance Armstrong Foundation or any one of the sites listed on pages 23 and 24. Ask children to be prepared to discuss with the class what they learned when they shared the book with their family.

Assessment

Monitor children’s responses in the Comprehending the Text section to assess how well they understand the text or story.
Monitor reading to see if children are using the effective reading strategies.
Monitor children as they read aloud to check for understanding and to see if they are using bookmarks, Think Alouds, and other reading/comprehension strategies appropriately.
Monitor the book discussions: observe children’s use of Question Guides to participate in the discussions.
Observe and monitor children’s abilities to follow directions and expand their thinking, to do research and then summarize the information they have learned.
Check the Skills and Comprehension Activity Sheets for understanding and completion.

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