Lesson plan Grade 1 English Language Arts
Nutbourne Corner's Snow Pile: A Grade 1 Narrative Writing Lesson
First graders follow a plowed snow pile at Nutbourne Corner across one week, then write a three-event narrative with order words telling where the water went.
Objectives
- Students will retell three events from a shrinking snow pile in order using First, Next, and Last.
- Students will name two places the water from a melting snow pile goes.
- Students will close a short narrative with a sentence about the empty corner.
Vocabulary
- Storm drain
- A storm drain is the grate at the edge of a street that swallows rainwater and sends it through pipes to the nearest creek or river. That water is usually not treated, so only rain belongs down the drain.
Also: melt, curb, order words
Teacher overview
Nutbourne Corner is an invented street corner where the town plow pushes snow into one tall pile after each winter storm. This lesson gives the class four teacher-drawn pictures of that pile across a single week, so every student retells the same set of events instead of depending on a memory of a real storm. Students then write three sentences that move through the events in order and answer one closing question about where the water ended up. The misconception this lesson addresses is the common first-grade belief that melted snow is simply gone: children who watch a pile shrink usually say the snow went away, and the writing task asks them to name the storm drain and the air instead.
Procedure
Hook (5 min): Ask students to picture a plow pile at a curb or in a parking lot after a snowy day. Take three or four answers to one question: what happens to that pile after a warm week? Record the answers on the board without correcting them, because several will use the words gone, away, or disappeared, and the closing check returns to those words.
Shared observation (10 min): Draw or display four pictures of the snow pile at Nutbourne Corner, labeled Day 1, Day 3, Day 5, and Day 7. Day 1 shows a pile taller than a mailbox. Day 3 shows the same pile a little shorter with a wet ring around its base. Day 5 shows a small gray lump and a thin stream of water running along the curb toward a storm drain grate. Day 7 shows a dry corner with a dark stain on the pavement. Talk through the pictures one at a time and ask students what changed since the picture before it.
Order words together (8 min): Write First, Next, and Last on chart paper. Model one sentence for each word, using Day 1, Day 5, and Day 7, and say each sentence aloud before writing it so students hear the order word at the front. Then ask the class where the water in the pile went and record the two answers the pictures support: down the storm drain, and up into the air as the sun warmed the wet pavement.
Independent writing (12 min): Hand out the student page. Students write one sentence for each of three pictures, beginning with the assigned order word, and then answer the fourth question. Circulate and read the opening word of each sentence aloud with the writer to confirm the order word is doing its job.
Share and exit check (5 min): Three volunteers read their sentences in order so the class hears a full retelling. Then ask the exit question: did the snow disappear, or did it move? Students give a thumbs up for moved and a thumbs down for disappeared. If fewer than three quarters of the class signals moved, leave the four pictures posted and repeat the question at the start of the next writing block.
Student Handout
Nutbourne Corner, Day by Day
Look at the four pictures your teacher posted. Then answer each question.
- Look at Day 1. Write one sentence about the snow pile. Start with the word First.
- Look at Day 5. Write one sentence about the water at the curb. Start with the word Next.
- Look at Day 7. Write one sentence about the corner. Start with the word Last.
- The snow pile is gone from the corner. Name two places the water went.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
- Answer: Accept any sentence that begins with First and describes the tall pile on Day 1, such as "First, the plow made a tall snow pile at the corner." Look for the order word at the front and one detail taken from the picture.
- Answer: Accept any sentence that begins with Next and describes moving water on Day 5, such as "Next, the water ran down the curb to the drain." The sentence should name the water, not only the smaller pile.
- Answer: Accept any sentence that begins with Last and describes the corner on Day 7, such as "Last, the corner was dry again." A closing detail such as the dark stain also counts.
- Answer: Down the storm drain and up into the air. Accept drain, grate, or pipe for the first place, and air or sky for the second. A student who writes sun has named the cause, so ask where the sun sent the water. A student who names only one place has met half the goal and should be asked one follow-up question about the wet pavement.
Differentiation
Support
Give these students a page with the three order words already printed at the start of each line so the writing work is the detail rather than the opening word. Let them dictate a sentence to an adult first, then copy it. Keeping the four pictures on a desk copy rather than only on the board helps students who lose the sequence when they look away.
Extension
Ask students to add a fourth sentence that begins with Then and describes Day 3, the picture the handout skips, so the retelling covers all four days in order. A second option is to write one sentence predicting what the corner will look like after the next storm.
ELL supports
Pre-teach melt, curb, and drain with the four pictures and simple gestures before any writing begins. Provide the sentence frames "First, the pile was _____." and "Last, the corner was _____." Allow students to answer question 4 by pointing to the drain in the picture and to the sky, then labeling those two spots with a single word each.
Extensions
Keep a shallow pan of water on a sunny windowsill and mark the water line with tape each morning for one week. Students write one order-word sentence per day about the falling line, which gives them a second, slower version of the same event to retell.