Pink and Say – Patricia Polacco
Character Traits and Themes Grade: 5
Primary Character Trait:
Kindness - Contributing to and gaining from positive relationships
Secondary Character Trait:
Responsibility - Choosing to act in a way that takes care of oneself and contributes to the common good
Basic Need:
Love and Belonging – The need for relationships, social connections, to give and receive affection and to feel part of a group
Objectives
Academic Objectives:
The learner will:
· Develop a further understanding of the Character Traits: Kindness, Responsibility
· Begin to develop an understanding of the 5 Basic Needs: specifically, Love and Belonging
· Make connections through understanding how the characters and events in the picture book demonstrate the importance of kindness and responsibility
· Make connections between events and characters in Pink and Say and their own lives, and articulate those connections through speaking and writing
· Use effective communication and social skills in a class meeting format
Character Objectives:
The learner will:
· Understand the literary concept of author’s purpose
· Understand that, in life as in literature, our choices determine our character and our destiny
· Understand that one person’s choices can profoundly affect many others
· Understand the connection between positive character (specifically, kindness and responsibility) and personal happiness
Grade Level Content Expectations
Reading
R.NT.05.01 Analyze how characters and communities reflect life (in positive and negative ways) in classic, multicultural, and contemporary literature recognized for quality and literary merit.
R.CM.05.01 Connect personal knowledge, experiences, and understanding of the world to themes and perspectives in text through oral and written responses.
Writing
W.PS.05.01 Exhibit personal style and voice to enhance the written message in both narrative (e.g., personification, humor, element of surprise) and informational writing (e.g., emotional appeal, strong opinion, credible support).
Resources
Trade Book: Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco
Other Trade Books:
Bunting, E. (1999).Smoky Night Sandpiper Publications
Hoffman, M. (1991).Amazing Grace Dial Books for Young Readers
Levine, E. (2007).Henry's Freedom Box Scholastic Press
Polacco, P. (1998).Chicken Sunday Putnam Juvenile
Woodson, J. (2001).The Other Side Putnam Juvenile
Estimated Time Parameters
One day More than one day Mini-unit
Introduction
Lesson One
Character Profile Activity
Procedure
· Distribute one copy of the attached sheet titled “Personal Characteristics Chart” to each student.
· Tell students that the forms must remain anonymous, so writing their names on the form is not necessary.
· Model filling in a few characteristics of yourself, and then ask students to fill out the chart with information about how they perceive themselves.
· Collect forms from all students.
· Gather students in a circle and share students’ forms.
· Prompt students to guess which form belongs to whom.
· Once activity is over, discuss how it is impossible to know someone just from looking at them.
Class Meeting
Unfortunately, people tend to base their ideas about others on superficial characteristics or stereotypes. To be superficial means to only be concerned with the outwardly appearance rather than genuine or actual appearance of someone or something. To stereotype means to oversimplify and categorize the image or persona of someone or some thing due to a lack of knowledge and concern, oftentimes, both of these things lead to much conflict amongst people in our world.
Reading Log/Journal Reflection
Have you experienced firsthand superficiality and/or stereotyping in your lifetime? What did it make you feel and/or think? Why do you think so much conflict happens because of people’s superficiality and/or stereotyping?
Instruction
Lesson Two
Book Talk
Procedure
· Show students the book, Pink and Say.
· Share the author, illustrator, copyright date, and publisher information and where to find this information.
· Explain that the story takes place during a trying time in our American history: The Civil War.
Activating Prior Knowledge and Engagement
Students may know very little about America’s Civil War and why it was fought; this information is crucial for full comprehension of this book. Videos are a great way to thoroughly engage students in a short amount of time. Show this brief video in order to expose students to the setting of the story:
http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=10127
Show students the book again and ask them to think of some predictions based on the original book talk and video about America’s Civil War. Predictions should be written down on reading logs, journals, or Post-it Notes for future reference.
Lesson Three
Guided Listening
1. Introduce the Guided Listening form and activity to students.
2. Form and instructions are attached.
3. Read-aloud the book, Pink and Say checking for understanding when necessary.
· It may be important to model the first few entries onto the guide for students.
4. Ask for volunteer students to share their connections, entries, and questions about the text.
5. Discuss students’ connections, entries, and questions about the text as a whole group.
6. Ask students to revisit their original predictions and reflect in their reading logs, journals, or aloud in pairs or small groups.
Make Connections
Reading Log/Journal Writing: What do you think the author’s purpose was for writing this book? Why do you think Pink and Say showed kindness to each other amidst their differences and the struggle that was happening around them? Do you think that Pink and Say stereotyped one another, why or why not? Is it important for people to accept differences and be sensitive to each other’s feelings, why or why not? How do you think acceptance of differences combined with kindness would affect our world? What are some things that YOU could do to be more kind to others?
(Asking students to write/share entries to ALL of these prompts may overwhelm them. Posting the prompts so all students can see them, and then allowing them to choose may empower them to be more actively involved in the lesson, thus promoting a better quality of writing overall.)
Activity Ideas
These resources are mainly for extension or supplemental activities that help to reinforce the content of the text as well as build on the authentic teaching of the character traits and basic needs.
Wall of Kindness
Make a poster or bulletin board with the title of “Wall of Kindness” at the very top. Explain to students that they may enter anyone’s name and moment of kindness towards someone else on the board as they wish. Be sure to discuss and model posting appropriate moments of kindness for all to see.
Friendly Thank You Letter
Students will create a friendly thank you letter from the point-of-view of Say to Pink. Remind students of the components of a friendly letter. Ask students to reference the text for authenticity of language and character.
Websites to nurture wonder and learning
http://www.civilwar.org/education/students/kidswebsites.html
http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html
http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/civwar.html
http://www.42explore2.com/civilwar.htm
http://www.kidinfo.com/american_history/civil_war.html
Evaluation/Assessment
1. Students’ reading log/journal entries, sharing their thoughts and feelings about the text and how it connects to their lives, will confirm their understanding and serve as one type of assessment.
2. The children’s oral responses to the questions posed in the activities as a whole group and with peers are the evaluation of whether they understand ways of kindness and responsibility.
3. The Guided Listening form and accompanying whole group discussion will allow students to authentically connect with the text. Their ability to make connections confirms that they understand the author’s purpose as well as the shared human experience connection with literature.
Developing Character Through American Literature Pink and Say
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Name______Date______
Personal Characteristics Chart
What I look like… / Things I can do and how I feel…Developing Character Through American Literature Pink and Say
5
Name______Date______
Pink and Say – Guided Listening Form
What I can learn about Pink from this book… / What I can learn about Say from this book…Questions I have about this book… / Things I can learn about the Civil War from this book….
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Developing Character Through American Literature Pink and Say