Interactive Literacy Plan:
Good Night, Good Knight

Good Knight Quest: An Obstacle Course

Students Participating/Size of Group:

Any size group of children and their families appropriate to your learning space.

Lesson Goal:

Children and their families will engage in an obstacle course that involves integrating various literacy skills with physical movement.

Learning Objectives/Skills:

During the obstacle course the adult learners will be able to:

encourage children to write a letter at each station
encourage children to read words at the station signs and on the quest checklist
engage children in using story words and ideas from the book Good Night, Good Knight
encourage turn-taking while waiting at the quest stations

Environmental Adaptations, Time & Materials Needed:

The following activities can be adapted to different situations. This activity is best suited for a large open space like a multipurpose room, gym, or outdoor play area. The activities will take approximately 40-75 minutes depending on students. There should be enough activity stations available for the obstacle course to cut down on long wait times. The following materials will be needed:

Obstacle course equipment. Select sturdy and safe equipment (try it out first) to create an obstacle course. Choose equipment that allows for a variety of physical movements such as climbing, jumping, galloping, balancing, crawling, and moving over, under and around objects. See suggestions for obstacle course stations
Printed labels for obstacle course stations
Quest checklists—one per child, and extras for adults who might enjoy having their own
Pencils, markers, or pens for writing on the Quest maps
Masking tape
Colored pencils or crayons for coloring family stickers
Good Knight family crest stickers-one per checklist
Book: Good Night, Good Knight
Song Sheet: Good Knight Lullaby
Optional: copies of the featured book for each family to take home
Optional: small tables or clip boards for children to write on-at least two boards per station
Optional: pencil holders for extra writing implements at each station
Optional: materials for children and families to read while they are waiting at the stations: knight-theme books (both fiction and nonfiction), knight-theme poems and songs

Procedure/Description of Activity:

1. Preparation of the environment. Set up the obstacle course as activity stations. Place a label at each station that best matches a phrase from the book: "Climb down the very tall tower" for the steps of a step stool, "jump on the horse" for jumping into a hula hoop, "gallop through the king's forest" for galloping or skipping the length of a jump rope taped to the floor, "climb up the tall wall" for standing on a small stepladder, and "tucked into bed" for crawling into a sleeping bag. Add more stations or duplicates as appropriate for the number of participants.

2. Choose an area in view of the obstacle course for families to gather as they enter. Explain that the children will soon become knights and will follow a quest similar to the Good Knight in the book they are going to hear. Explain that at each station, there will be three activities for the knights to do. These include a label for parents and children to read together, "Let's see what this says?," a quest task (e.g., "jump on the horse") for the children to do, and a special letter for children to write down on their quest checklists. Show families an example of the family crest sticker that they will receive at the end, to show that they have completed the quest. Point out to families that they may do the stations in any order to ease waiting time at stations.

3. Read the story, Good Night, Good Knight. Tell families that they will need to listen to the story very closely because the story gives clues to the different activities they will have to do on their quests. After the story, give each child a quest checklist and a pencil or pen for writing. Point out the activity stations that match the items on the quest checklist. Prompt parents to help their children find and touch the words on the quest checklist and the spaces to write the featured letters. Remind families that they do not need to follow a specific order, but encourage each family to visit each different station at least once in order to fill out the entire quest checklist.

4. Guide families as they engage in the Quest.

Help direct families to less busy stations for better traffic flow
Affirm families' efforts to go through all three steps
Stop some children and ask if you can read their maps to see what they have done. Praise children for their letter writing
When children have trouble writing, demonstrate ways to support their attempts (make dotted letters, write lightly so the children can write on top of those letters, write the beginning of the word and just ask the children to finish a letter or line.)
For families with very young children, suggest that the parents print the letters, saying them aloud
Model use of the story words and ideas as children participate and watch their friends participate: "Look at Susie 'galloping through the forest.'"
Optional: encourage families to use any wait time at an activity station for reading poems or singing songs or decorating their quest checklists

5. Wrap-up: Call families to the gathering area, and pass out Good Knight family crest stickers to complete the quest checklists. Congratulate the children on completing their quests. Praise children for their writing. Provide colored pencils so the children can add decorations to their quest checklist during the discussion time. Engage the families in a discussion using open-ended questions like "Do you think knights were patient people?" "Why do you think so?" "What was your favorite quest task?" "What did you like about it?" "What did you observe when your child was trying to write?" "How did your child respond when you encouraged him/her to write?" Conclude the session with the song, Good Night Lullaby.

Informal Assessment

Objective	Participant's Names	Comments

encourages child to write a letter at each station
encourages child to read words at the station signs and on the Quest Map
engages child in using story words and ideas from the book Good Night, Good Knight
encourages turn-taking while waiting at the quest stations

Reflect on the Activity:

1. What worked well?

2. What didn't work?

3. What might have made the activity more successful?

4. Did you notice any potential for follow-up activities based on what the students said or did?

Transfer Home Ideas:

Send copies of the book home for re-reading. Discuss ways to build an obstacle course and play the Quest game at home.

Literacy Area(s)* Addressed:

Check all that apply

X	The Power and Pleasure of Literacy	The Literate Environment		Language Development
	Phonological Awareness	Phonemic Awareness	X	Types of Text
X	Letters and Words	Vocabulary		Knowledge of Print
	Building Knowledge & Comprehension	Reading Comprehension	X	Motivation
	Fluency	Multiple Literacy

* from National Center for Family Literacy's Building Strong Readers and Learning to Read and Write

Additional Resources

Interactive Literacy Plan:Good Night, Good Knight

Good Knight Quest: An Obstacle Course

Students Participating/Size of Group:

Lesson Goal:

Learning Objectives/Skills:

Environmental Adaptations, Time & Materials Needed:

Procedure/Description of Activity:

Informal Assessment

Reflect on the Activity:

Transfer Home Ideas:

Literacy Area(s)* Addressed:

Additional Resources

Obstacle Course Station Suggestions

Obstacle Course Station Labels

Good Knight Lullaby

Good Knight Quest Checklist

Family Crest Stickers(Use with Avery 5160 Labels)

Interactive Literacy Plan:
Good Night, Good Knight

Family Crest Stickers
(Use with Avery 5160 Labels)