Tea Party
Tea Party Lesson Plan
Teacher Preparation:
From the text about to be read, choose and copy meaningful words, phrases, and or sentences onto large index cards or heavyweight paper. (The amount of info chosen should represent half of your class number since you will provide duplicates so each student can have his/her own.)
Procedure:
1. Distribute the cards face down and tell them you will call time when you are sure they have
mingled and discussed with enough students.
2. Give the students one minute to turn their card over and read it silently to themselves. (see
variation offered on page two under Additional Information)
3. Inter outer circle facing each other – divide the class into two groups, each group forms an inner circle and an outer circle, facing each other. When you give the signal they begin
-share your card by reading it orally to the person across from you
-when you have finished reading your card, listen carefully as your partner shares his/hers the
same way
-quickly discuss how these cards are related at the signal one circle will move one person to the right/ left will continue until the circle has rotated around one time
4. Signal the end of the activity and have the students move into small discussion groups of no more than five to do the following:(with chart paper)
“We think….”
-discuss what you heard and what connections were made with your card
-brainstorm possible predictions about the reading they are about to do
-explain what specific words/phrases/sentences helped create the predictions
-add any personal experience or prior knowledge a student might have shared
-write a “We think” group paragraph which includes their prediction about the reading/topic to be covered and how they arrived at their conclusions (metacognition regarding their inferencing process).
OR
-each group can report out and do the above explanation orally with/or without the use of bulleted info on a chart paper
As Kylene Beers points out on page 98 of her text, students are doing all of the
above plus sequencing events, considering causes of actions, and the effects of
those actions as well as taking an active role in meaning making well before even
reading the selection.