How do FreeNode lessons work?
FreeNodes are instructor-led schooling lessons with a unique approach, granting you the freedom to independently teach using a personalized lesson plan. This autonomy enables you to tailor your lessons to suit students’ individual needs, learning styles, and interests.
To use a FreeNode, read the provided class outline & follow the formatting provided for each class. Make sure to touch on the Theocratic Connection in each class. Follow the outline closely so it is aligned with our main at-home curriculum.
How Do I Use the FreeNode?
Read this lesson plan before class to familiarize yourself with the ideas and concepts you’ll be teaching the students. You may print this page out if you need to use it as a reference point during live classes.
This lesson is a guide, but feel free to expand on the content or decrease/increase what you teach depending on the learning levels of the students in your class or the amount of time you have to cover the material.
Can I show videos in FN classes?
Yes, feel free to include additional material to supplement the class lesson material. Videos, Physical Objects, Games, Activities, etc. are okay to share in live classes.
Videos should have no advertisements or logos and should be viewed by you before showing them to the students to ensure no offensive or questionable content is included.
The video should make up only 1-3 minutes of the live class and should not take the place of instructor-led instruction. Videos should be supplementary only.
How do bookmarks work?
Bookmarks help you keep track of lessons you’re going to teach in future live classes. The bookmarks you see are for all your bookmarked lessons across all grades.
You can bookmark a lesson by visiting the lesson you want to bookmark and clicking the “bookmark” button in the bookmark section.
You can remove a single bookmark by visiting a lesson you’ve bookmarked and clicking the “bookmark” button again to unbookmark it.
You can clear all of your bookmarks by clicking the “clear all bookmarks” button. Be careful, this will erase all of your bookmarks.
Log in to save bookmarks.
Class Lesson Plan
Student Objectives:
- Take turns reading pages or paragraphs in the book to practice their reading skills.
- Identify who the main characters and settings of the story are.
- Understand the moral lessons presented in the book.
- Be able to summarize the story in their own words.
*NOTE: Instruct students to print out the Character Analysis chart and bring it to class because they will be filling it out during class. Also, tell them to bring the coloring page. (Younger students who can’t do the character chart can just color.)*
Coloring Page:
Video Links:
- Charlotte’s Web Animated Trailer (1973):
- Charlotte’s Web Live Action Trailer (2006):
Activity 1 – Introduction To Charlotte’s Web (7 minutes):
Show students the book cover and ask the following questions:
- “Has anyone heard of this book before?”
- “Has anyone read it?”
Show students the two movie trailers and ask the following questions:
- What about the movies? Has anyone seen one or both of them?
- If yes, what did you think? Did you like it?
- If you read the book, do you think the movies are exactly the same as the book, or do you think they’re different from the book?
Theocratic Connections:
N/A
Activity 2 – Reading Chapter 1: Before Breakfast (11 minutes):
Open the story in the Bookclub bookcase and have students take turns reading. Assign character roles if appropriate.
(Note: In this chapter, it says “A queer look came over John Arable’s face.” Explain that in the past, the word queer was used to mean odd or strange. Students will see this word a lot in the book whenever the author is describing something as being strange, weird or odd.)
Activity 3 – Discussion (9 minutes):
Ask students the following questions:
- “Which characters were we introduced to in this chapter?”
- “Fern is very upset that her father is going to destroy Wilbur because he is a runt. She argues until he agrees to spare the pig. Her father says that Fern is ‘trying to rid the world of injustice.’ What does he mean by this?”
- “What does Fern’s dad mean when he says ‘you’ll see what trouble a pig can be’?”
- “Why do you think Fern’s dad decided to save the pig and give it to Fern?”
- “If you had to tell someone what chapter 1 was about, what would you say?”
- “What do you think will happen in the next chapter?”
Activity 4 – Character Chart: Fern (10 minutes):
Have students fill out the Character Analysis chart with information about the character Fern.
(Optional) Bonus Activity: Fern is learning the state capitals in school. Challenge your students to learn the 50 state capitals. Invite them to name them if they know them.
Assessment:
Assess student understanding of the story’s moral through participation in discussions, completion of reflection questions, and identification of key concepts presented.