· Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using selective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
· Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
· Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding. Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
· Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
· Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
· Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
· Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
· Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
Understandings:
· Adding descriptive words and adjectives improve writing by providing the reader with clear images.
· All good readers make connections to the world, other texts, and themselves in order to have a thorough understanding of the plot, characters, and setting.
· Summarizing is a tool that good readers use to remember key points of a reading. / Essential Questions:
· What are adjectives?
· What is the importance of using adjectives and elaborative detail when writing?
· Why and how do readers make connections as they read?
· What is the importance of summarizing?
· What are key points, and how do they help you to summarize a piece of literature?
Students will know:
· How Mazer uses adjectives and elaborative detail in the novel, Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear.
· The importance of making connections.
· The key points in Mazer’s novel, Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear. / Students will be able to.
· Find adjectives within Mazer’s novel.
· Add elaborative detail to their personal writing.
· Make text-text, text-self, and text-world connections while reading, Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear.
· Pinpoint the key ideas in Mazer’s novel.
· Write a summary of a portion of Mazer’s novel.
Performance Assessment
· We have spent a lot of this unit discussing the importance of family and friends through our discussion of the book, Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear. After completing this unit, your assignment is to write a blog, poem, role-play, or any other project approved by me, which describes your feelings on why the relationship between Sprig and Dakota changes at the end of the book. Why do they become closer? Then write a short paragraph explaining the importance of family and friends in your own life.
Learning Activities
· Personal Essay: Students write about their family using adjectives and elaborative detail.
· Glog poster- students will create a glog, which describes their personal connections.
· Summary- Students will write out or act out a summary of the last section of the novel, Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear.
1.Introductory information:
Your name / Shannon WilliamsDate of Lesson / 12/7/11 / Name of school / Huckleberry Hill Elementary School
Grade level / fourth / Subject area(s) / Language Arts – family and friend relationships
Topic of lesson / Adding adjectives and elaborative details to writing
CT/district standards / Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using selective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
a. Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
b. Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.
c. Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events.
d. Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely.
e. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding. Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
Instructional Group / Whole class and small groups.
References / http://grammar.about.com/od/d/g/description2ter.htm
1. Materials
Copies of sample description excerptSentence strips
Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear (pg. 1-51).
Student journals
2. Objectives
3. Students will define what adjectives are.4. Students will utilize adjectives correctly in personal writing pieces.
5. Students will understand and describe the purpose of using adjectives and extended description in their writing and reading.
6. Students will work effectively in a small group setting, listen to the opinion of others, voice their opinion, and both give and receive feedback.
7. Procedure
Initiation / 1. Hand out the sample description excerpt. Read it to the class, “"Three years ago at a flea market, I bought a small, white-beaded handbag, which I have never since carried in public but which I would never dream of giving away. The purse is small, about the size of a paperback bestseller, and thus it is totally unsuited for lugging around such paraphernalia as a wallet, comb, compact, checkbook, keys, and all the other necessities of modern life. Hundreds of tiny pearl-colored beads dot the outside of the handbag, and on the front, woven into the design, is a starburst pattern formed by larger, flat beads. Creamy white satin lines the inside of the bag and forms a small pocket on one side. Inside the pocket someone, perhaps the original owner, has scrawled the initials "J.W." in red lipstick.”2. After reading that, can everyone picture what this handbag looks like? (wait for response) Why do you think it is so easy for you as the reader to have such a clear understanding of what the handbag looks like? (call on some students) – That’s right. The author uses describing words that help the reader to make a clear picture or image in their mind of what the handbag looks like.
3. These describing words are called adjectives. These adjectives or describing words are important to use as a writer because they will help you to present your reader with clear images and understanding of your subject.
Lesson Development / 4. Work with the person sitting next to you, and find as many adjectives or describing words as you can in the excerpt. Circle or highlight them please.
5. Share with the class some of the adjectives found in the excerpt (ex: tiny, woven, pearl-covered, etc.).
6. I would like all of you to think of some examples of adjectives and I will write our brainstorm on the board. (Wait for some responses and write them down, ex: colors, emotions, textures, etc.).
7. If you noticed we mentioned many of the five senses during our brainstorm of adjectives or describing words. When writing it is a good idea to think about your five senses to help you to elaborate or add in more details through the use of adjectives.
8. All of you should have read the first fifty-one pages of, Ten Ways to Make my Sister Disappear. I do not know if you have noticed, but Mazer uses adjectives and many details throughout her book that help you as the reader gain a full understanding.
9. I want everyone to take out their books and reread pages thirty-nine to forty-two.
10. Once you have finished reading, get together in groups of two to three people, and I would like you to describe one member of Sprig’s family to the other group members based off of the adjectives or describing words that Mazer has used in the book.
11. Once each person has shared, I would like the other group members to give you some feedback. Tell them if you agree with their description, if you pictured something different, if you would add anything to the description they gave etc.
12. I will be walking around the room and joining in on your discussions.
Closure / 8. Turn off the lights to get the students’ attention.
9. When discussing each member of Sprig’s family with your group, did you and your group members have similar ideas of what each member of the family was like? (wait for response)
10. Why do you think that all of you had a similar understanding of each family member and their personality? –That’s right. The adjectives and elaboration of descriptive details that Mazer used. She describes each person the way she imagined them, and the clear description helps each reader to see the characters the way she imagined.
11. Assessment
12. The pages we just discussed from, Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear, was a sample of a personal essay that Sprig wrote for school.13. I would like each one of you to write a personal essay describing your family. You must use at least five adjectives to describe each member of your family. Like all good writers you should include these adjectives so that your reader gets an accurate idea of what each member of your family is like. You can use them to describe their looks and their personality. Remember to refer to our brainstorm adjective examples that I have hung up on the wall to help you.
14. Modifications/Differentiation
Student 1 / Jordan / Lower level readerJordan has been having difficulty keeping up with the assigned class readings because he is slightly behind the fourth grade reading level. During the group assignment, I will make sure that he works with one or two of the very strong readers. He will be able to gain a more thorough understanding of the assigned reading by discussing with the stronger readers. I will also be sure to speak with him individually before he begins his personal essay to make sure that he is following the reading. If he is not, I will work with him individually to review the main points of the first fifty pages.
Student 2 / Lauren / Difficulty beginning writing assignments
This personal essay is an informal writing assignment, so I have not required all students to use a graphic organizer. However, Lauren has difficulty beginning writing assignments and freezes. I will speak with Lauren before she begins the writing assignment and give her examples of two graphic organizers such as a web and formal outline. I will allow her to choose which one she feels most comfortable working with. This will allow her to get all of her ideas out, and prepare her to begin writing the essay.
1. Introductory information:
Your name / Shannon WilliamsDate of Lesson / 12/7/11 / Name of school / Huckleberry Hill Elementary School
Grade level / fourth / Subject area(s) / Language Arts – Family and friend Relationships
Topic of lesson / Making text-to-self, world, text connections
CT/district standards / Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.
b. Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
Instructional Group / Whole class, small group, and individual
References / http://www.glogster.com/
http://www.catawba.k12.nc.us/c_i_resources/Summer%20Staff%20Development.htm
2. Materials
Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear, by Norma Mazer (pg. 52-100)Text-to-self connections poster
Sticky notes
Connections chart
Computer-glogster.com
3. Objectives
15. Students will utilize the text to make text-to-self, world, and text connections correctly.16. Students will understand and describe why it is important to make connections while reading.
4. Procedure
Initiation / a. Have any of you ever felt a connection to a character in a book that we have read in class or that you have read during your own free time? (wait for student responses) Did that connection help you to understand or enjoy the book more? (wait for responses)- That’s right. Connecting a book back to your own life can help you to understand the book better because you can feel emotions similar to the character; it makes the story seem more realistic, and makes the book more enjoyable.b. Can anyone now tell me in their own words what a connection is? Yes! A connection is a way of making a comparison of the book to your own life, but can you make connections to other things?
c. Not only can you make text-to-self connections, but you can also make connections or comparisons of a book to other books, poems, etc. or the world, groups of people, friends, society.
Lesson Development / d. All good readers make connections to the world, themselves, and other texts while they read to help them gain a better understanding of the material.
e. You all should have read the next section of Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear. I am going to read aloud to you page 55 from the book. After reading the page, I say “I felt very nervous and anxious just like Sprig when I was waiting for the principal to tell me if I had been chosen to participate in the talent show.”
f. Did everyone see how I connected my own emotions with Sprig’s emotions? This allowed me to feel Sprig’s anxious and nervousness as I was reading.
g. I would like you to think of a time when you felt nervous or anxious and then pair up with a friend and share your text-to-self connection to a friend.
h. Can any groups share some of their connections with the class?
i. The same process can be done with text-to-text connections. Can anyone think of any ideas of textual connections? (wait for responses and record some of the responses on the board).
j. There are certain sentences starters than can help you think of ways to form all types of text connections.
k. Show the class the making connections posters (attached to end of lesson plan). These posters will be hung up around the room and help trigger some ideas of how to make these connections as you read.
l. I would like each of you to go back through the pages we read of Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear, and place a post it note in at least five places where you can make a text-to-self, text-to-text or text-to-world connection. Since, we have been discussing the importance of family and friendships, I would like at least three of your connections to do with your own family, a family or friend relationship from another text, or about family and friendships in general.
m. Once you have made at least five connections, get into groups of three or four students.
n. I would like you to discuss your connections. Take feedback from your group members, to add more details to your connections.
Closure / 5. Can anyone tell me the importance of making connections to when you read? (wait for response)
6. I am going to write all of your ideas of why making connections is important on this sheet. (ex: better understanding, feeling in touch with the characters, etc).
7. Our brainstorm will be hung up on the wall.
5. Assessment