Daily Lesson Plan — Unit 8

A Space Walk

Subject: English | Class: 4 | Series: Leeds (SNC 2020)

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Lesson Duration

3 periods (40 minutes each)

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Period 1: Reading and Comprehension

Objectives:

• Use pre-reading strategies to activate prior knowledge about space
• Read and understand the informational text about spacewalks
• Locate specific factual information to answer questions
• Read silently for comprehension

Materials:

• Textbook (pages 44–49)
• Whiteboard and markers
• Pictures of astronauts, space station, planets

Warm-Up (5 minutes):

• Ask: "Do you know anything about space?"
• Show the picture of the solar system from the textbook (Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune).
• Ask: "Would you like to go into space? What do you think it would be like?"

Pre-Reading (5 minutes):

• Write "A Space Walk" on the board.
• Ask: "What do you think a space walk is? Is it really walking in space?"
• Introduce key terms: astronaut, spacecraft, spacewalk.

While-Reading (20 minutes):

• Read the text section by section:

• What is a Spacewalk?

  • Any time an astronaut gets out of a vehicle while in space, it is called a spacewalk (also called EVA — Extravehicular Activity).
  • First spacewalk: Alexei Leonov from Russia, March 18, 1965, lasted 10 minutes.
  • Today, spacewalks happen outside the International Space Station and last 5–8 hours.

• Why Do Astronauts Go on Spacewalks?

  • Do science experiments to learn how space affects things.
  • Test new equipment.
  • Repair satellites or spacecraft in space instead of bringing them back to Earth.

• How Do Astronauts Go on Spacewalks?

  • Wear spacesuits with oxygen, water, and everything they need.
  • Put on spacesuits several hours before a spacewalk.
  • Leave through a special door called an airlock.

• How Do Astronauts Stay Safe?

  • Use safety tethers (like ropes) — one end hooked to the astronaut, the other to the vehicle.
  • Tethers prevent floating away into space.
  • Tools are also tethered to spacesuits.

• How Do Astronauts Train?

  • Practise in a swimming pool (floating in water is like floating in space). Train 7 hours in the pool for every 1 hour in space.
  • Use virtual reality — helmet with video screen, special gloves for movement.

Post-Reading (10 minutes):

• Ask: "Do you like to go into space?"
• Discuss: What surprised students most about spacewalks?
• Quick comprehension check — oral Q&A.

Differentiation:

• Struggling learners: Provide a KWL chart (Know, Want to Know, Learned). Use pictures to support comprehension.
• Advanced learners: Research and share one more fact about space that is not in the text.

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Period 2: Vocabulary, Compound Words, and Phonics

Objectives:

• Learn vocabulary by finding meanings from context in the passage
• Recognise and break compound words into their component parts
• Pronounce short vowel sounds: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/
• Subtract letters from words to form new words

Materials:

• Textbook (pages 46–48)
• Compound word cards
• Short vowel sound chart

Vocabulary from Context (10 minutes):

• Match words with their correct meanings:
  • equipment — tools
  • floating — moving freely
  • repair — to fix something
  • several — many
  • allow — let
• Discuss how to find meanings from context — read the sentence carefully, look at surrounding words.

Compound Words (15 minutes):

• Explain: Compound words are formed when two or more words are joined together to make a new word with a new meaning (e.g., footpath, roadside, sunflower).
• Break compound words into parts:
  • butterfly = butter + fly
  • newspaper = news + paper
  • underground = under + ground
  • keyboard = key + board
  • mousetrap = mouse + trap
  • software = soft + ware
  • numberplate = number + plate
• Combine words from two circles to make compound words:
  • Circle A: make, air, sea, body, work, sun, star, ice
  • Circle B: up, cream, fish, port, shore, guard, glasses, sheet
  • Possible compounds: makeup, airport, seashore, bodyguard, worksheet, sunglasses, starfish, ice cream
• Complete compound words: head + ? (headband, headache), for + ? (forever, forecast), break + ? (breakfast, breakdown)

Short Vowel Sounds (10 minutes):

• Practise pronouncing short vowels:
  • /a/: hat, mat, fan, pan
  • /e/: bet, hen, fell, peg
  • /i/: hit, fit, dim, fin
  • /o/: dot, hop, rot, son
  • /u/: nut, hut, cut, cup
• Students read each column aloud, focusing on the short vowel sound.

Word Subtraction Activity (5 minutes):

• Subtract one letter to make a new word matching the clue:
  • darin → drain [water drop] — actually: darin → drain? Or rain [water drop]
  • plain → plan [arrange beforehand]
  • turn → urn [a long vessel]
  • again → gain [a profit]
  • chain → chin [a part of the face]
  • paint → pain [ache]
  • work → wok [Chinese vessel]
  • raise → rise [to ascend]
  • world → word [a group of letters]
  • worse → wore [was dressed in]

Differentiation:

• Struggling learners: Provide picture clues for compound words. Give a word bank for the subtraction activity.
• Advanced learners: Create five of their own compound words and draw pictures to illustrate them.

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Period 3: Self-Introduction, Reading Aloud, and Creative Writing

Objectives:

• Introduce oneself in a group setting using conventions of oral interaction
• Read aloud a passage for accurate reproduction of sounds
• Write a descriptive paragraph about an imaginary trip to a planet
• Recognise the importance of storytelling

Materials:

• Textbook (pages 48–49)
• Writing notebooks
• Mind map template for "My Memorable Trip"

Self-Introduction (10 minutes):

• Read Hanna's self-introduction from the textbook:
  • "My name is Hanna. I am a German. I am 9 years old. I am in the 4th grade. My favourite subject is science. I do experiments in science. I want to be a vet. I have a pet. It is a small dog. Its name is Conny. Conny is cute. I go walk the dog everyday. I have no brothers and sisters. I am an only child."
• Students prepare their own self-introduction including: name, age, grade, favourite subject, hobbies, family, what they want to be when they grow up.
• Students take turns introducing themselves to the class.

Read Aloud — Passage on Storytelling (10 minutes):

• Read the passage aloud: "Stories connect us with family history. They show us our way home. They make us laugh alongside..."
• Students identify compound words in the passage.
• Discuss: Why is storytelling important? (Connects us to family history, teaches values, exposes us to other worlds, teaches lessons like Aesop's fables)

Creative Writing (15 minutes):

• Activity 1: Fill in a mind map describing a memorable trip (Where? When? Who with? What happened? What did you learn?).
• Activity 2: "Imagine you are an astronaut and you have landed on a strange planet. Write five sentences to describe the planet."
  • What does it look like? What colour is the sky? Are there any creatures? What is the temperature? How do you feel?

Wrap-Up (5 minutes):

• Quick review of compound words — teacher says two words, students combine them.
• Recap: What is a spacewalk? (EVA — when an astronaut leaves the spacecraft in space)

Differentiation:

• Struggling learners: Provide a self-introduction template with blanks. Give sentence starters for the creative writing.
• Advanced learners: Write a full paragraph (8–10 sentences) about their imaginary planet, including made-up names for creatures and places.