EDE 340 Demonstration Lesson: “The Bad Kangaroo”

D. Nettles

Spring 2009

Reading

Grade Level: 4th

Content Summary

This lesson uses the book, Fables, by Arnold Lobel (1980). In order to successfully teach the lesson, the teacher needs to be knowledgeable about fables. The teacher needs to be able to tell students that many of the most familiar fables that we know today are thought to have originated from Aesop, a Greek slave who may have lived in the 6th century B.C. Although there is no proof that he actually existed, it is believed that Aesop traveled and told fables as stories that teach life lessons (Merriman, 2006). Characters in fables are always personified animals with human problems, and all fables end with a moral. The teacher should be familiar with several fables so that she or he can cite examples of them if necessary. The book used in the lesson consists of twenty original fables written by Lobel, so the teacher should be familiar with the stories in the book, and with the fact that this was a Caldecott award book in 1980.

The teacher should also be able to explain and use the mental model to teach the concept of story elements; in particular, the element of theme. The stories in this book have strong themes. Since the objective is for students to retell the story and write a moral for it in their own words, the teacher needs to be able to explain that the theme is the author’s purpose for writing the story.

Objective

After using “book bag” items to make predictions about “The Bad Kangaroo,” a fable in Fables (Lobel, 1980), the students will retell the story, write a moral for it in their own words, and tell how it relates to their own lives.

Literature Selection

The story used in this lesson plan, “The Bad Kangaroo,” comes from the book, Fables, by Arnold Lobel (1980, p. 28). This selection is appropriate for these fourth graders because they are learning about fables, folk tales, and fairy tales. Because all fables have a moral, the theme in this story is strong.This lesson reflectsPDE standard 1.1.5.G, which states that students will summarize the major themes of text. Thus, this book is a good choice. With an average of 145 syllables and 14.23 sentences, the grade level is plotted at the beginning of the fifth grade block on the Fry Readability graph. While this readability is higher than the grade level of this group, these fourth graders will have no trouble reading the story with some scaffolding. Shared reading, partner reading, and several strategies to prepare the students to read will help them with unfamiliar vocabulary and concepts. The students will be able to discuss the author’s intent with the moral of this story, and compare its theme to other stories they know.

Identification of Standards and Anchors

Pennsylvania Department of Education Standard 1.1.5.G:

Demonstrate after reading understanding and interpretation of both fiction and nonfiction text.

  • Summarize the major ideas, themes or procedures of the text.
  • Clarify ideas and understandings through rereading and discussion.
  • Extend ideas found in the text.

Pennsylvania Department of Education Anchors:

Reading, Grade 4 -- Interpretation and Analysis of Fictional and Nonfictional Text

R4.A.1.5 Summarize a fictional text as a whole.

R4B.1.1 Identify, interpret, compare, and describe components of fiction and literary nonfiction.

Materials

The Bad Kangaroo Book Box Items:

  • School backpack or book bag (Put all the items in this bag.)
  • Schoolhouse (miniature)
  • House (miniature)
  • Spitballs
  • Sparklers to represent firecrackers
  • Picture of a bathroom, with a sign attached: Lavatory
  • Thumbtacks
  • Chair (miniature)
  • Glue
  • Doorknob
  • Picture of a principal
  • Mr. Kangaroo stuffed animal
  • Mrs. Kangaroo stuffed animal
  • Young Kangaroo stuffed animal
  • Picture of a medicine chest
  • Plastic food items to represent supper
  • Plastic food items to represent dessert

Other items needed:

  • Morals printed on pieces of paper in large font, folded and put in a basket for students to select
  • Multiple copies of “The Bad Kangaroo,” a fable from Fables by Arnold Lobel (1980, p. 28)
  • Signs that label the story elements: Settings, Characters, Plot (Problem and Resolution), Theme (Moral)
  • Single copy of Charlotte’s Web (White, 1952)
  • Blank paper, scissors, and markers for making Little Books and writing morals in them

Introduction

Print the morals shown below on folded, separate pieces of paper. Walk around the room and let each group pick one from a box. Ask students to read these and discuss what they mean.

A man is known by the company he keeps.
He that finds discontentment in one place is not likely to find happiness in another.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Fine clothes may disguise, but silly words will disclose a fool.
Evil wishes, like chickens, come home to roost.
He who does a thing well does not need to boast.
Whatever you do, do with all your might.
Union gives strength.
Precautions are useless after the crisis.

Ask:

“Where have you heard things like this before?”

“What do these words remind you of?”

Write the students’ responses on the board or chart paper. Then say, “Today we’ll b reading a story that offers you some advice similar to the sayings you just read.”

Procedure

Before Reading

  1. Use the mental modelshown in bold in the box below to show students the concept of theme.

Mental Model for Teaching Students the Theme of a Story
“Sometimes, you can almost hear these kinds of statements when you read a story. Sometimes the characters seem to be learning a lesson, and the author seems to be teaching you a lesson with this story as well. (Point finger to forehead to show thinking aloud.) For example, I’ve read Charlotte’s Web to you. In the chapter of that book called ‘The Meeting,’Charlotte said, ‘You’re terrific as far as I’m concerned.’ When I read this, I thought to myself (point to forehead), ‘Hmm, E. B. White is really making a point here. He’s telling me that Charlotte is doing everything she can think of to save her friend’s life. She even called a meeting of the animals in the barn to help her brainstorm things to write in the web. Wilbur is very important to her.’ So, as I read the rest of Charlotte’s Web, I’ll think about this friendship and expect to read more about it. The author thinks the friendship is an important thing to write about; he even named the book for the thing that saved Wilbur’s life … the web. He could have just written about adventures that animals have on the farm, but instead, he focused on how the spider saved her friend’s life. He wrote a book that has a very obvious theme.” (Hold up the sign that says ‘Theme.’)
  1. Continue explaining, “So today, we’ll look at a story that makes the author’s point --- or the theme --- very clear. (Show the cover of the book, and then the story page. Don’t pass out the books yet.) The author of this book,Arnold Lobel, wrote 20 stories, called fables. Fables are animal stories in which the animals act like humans. (As you talk, show the mini-posters that lists these characteristics of fables.) The stories always teach a lesson; that’s their purpose. The fables in this book are similar to the famous fables that scholars believe were originally told by a man named Aesop and then written down by other people. Aesop was Greek slave who probably lived in 6B.C. He made up most of the fables that are familiar to us today. He told them to people, and those people told them to others. Years and years later, people began to write them down. Aesop’s fables always have morals, which are statements about life. He was attempting to teach people how to behave and how human beings sometimes make the wrong decisions. The quotes that I passed out to you earlier are actually morals from some of Aesop’s fables. Arnold Lobel wrote some fables of his own. His fables are like Aesop’s, in that they have animals in them, and they have morals they tell us about life. He illustrated these fables and they are in the 1980 Caldecott award book.”
  2. Show the book bag, filled with items representing the story, “The Bad Kangaroo.” Say, “I’ve got some items in this book bag that I want you to look at. I’ll pass them out in a minute. The items represent pieces of this story. It’ll be your challenge to figure out how the items ‘fit’ the story. Assuming that you don’t know this fable, let the items tell you the story. As you look at them, see if you can figure out how the story will take place. (Point to the story element signs as you talk.) See if you can figure out who the characters are. That’s who the story is about. And, where are they? That’s the setting. And think about what they’ll be doing. Think about these things: Do they have a problem? What is it? Does it get solved? If it doesn’t, how does the story end? And since this is a fable, there will be a moral. Remember, that moral is the lesson the author is trying to teach you. It’s the overall idea of the story, or the reason why the author wrote it. That’s also called the theme. Again, these are all the elements you’ll look for.” (Show the word cards below.)

Setting Characters Plot (Problem and Resolution) Theme (Moral)
  1. Pull out the book bag items to represent the story “The Bad Kangaroo,” one at a time. Make sure everyone sees each item, and then, place items on table for all to see and think about.
  2. To teach an important vocabulary word, “lavatory,” show the word when pulling out the picture of the bathroom. Explain its meaning, which, in this case, means the small room that houses a toilet and sink. Then show students how to break the word into parts: lav –a-tory. Explain that, at first, looking for a chunk of the word in this one didn’t help its pronunciation, because “lava” (as in molten rock) is not pronounced the same way as the “lav” in “lavatory.”
  3. Once all the items are out, say, “Think about the items that you see on this table. What kind of predictions can you make about this story? Think about where these items might belong in the story. We will be placing these items next to one of these signs, to indicate where they go in the story. Let me show you how I do this.”
  4. Model a prediction with the mental model shown in the box below.

Mental Model for Making a Prediction
(Point finger to head) “When I see this bottle of glue, I wonder how it will go in the story. I know the title of the story, “The Bad Kangaroo,” and because of the title I believe there will be some sort of trouble that the young kangaroo will get into. So, I’m thinking that maybe this kangaroo tries to squirt glue on one of his friends at school, which gets him in trouble. I remember that same thing happened to this kid in my third grade class. That helps me make my prediction. So, this would be a problem, part of the plot. I’ll place my bottle of glue here.” (Put it next to the Plot sign.)
  1. Now pass out the items and ask students to place their items next to an appropriate story element sign. Once this is done, ask, “What will this story be about? Talk with the people at your table to develop a story line.” Ask volunteers to share their story ideas. Write these on the board if you want, or just share them verbally.

During Reading

  1. Ask students to find the story in the table of contents, turn to it, and preview it. They need to read the story in pairs, so they can divide it in half, or read sentence by sentence. As they read, ask them to find the answers to these two questions:

What happened to your predictions?
What causes Young Kangaroo to have bad behavior?

Post the questions on the board for all to see. Tell students to look for the answers to these questions as they read with their partners.

After Reading

  1. After everyone has finished reading, discuss their answers to the two questions posted on the board.
  2. Discuss the theme. Say, “The reader of this fable learns a lesson from it. What is that lesson? “
  3. Show the book bag item that was used for theme, which was the poem about raising children. Say, “At the end of the story, Arnold Lobel wrote, ‘A child’s conduct will reflect the ways of his parents.’ That’s his moral, or lesson. If I wanted to write that moral another way, I might write, ‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.’ This is something my mother says to me all the time as she watches me raise my children. I can relate to this story so well because I’ve seen my kids repeat some of the same things I’ve said or done, even if I don’t want them to.”(Tell the story about Charlie as a baby, in the mall. He’d just learned to talk, and yet he said, “I don’t want to go in this @#%%$ store!”)
  4. Continue by asking, “What other statements or quotes can you think of? How does this story remind you of situations in your own life? Talk about this with each other. Share your ideas. Keep your idea in mind, because you will need to write it down later.”

Assessment

To determine how well the students can retell what they read, ask them to make a “Little Book” (Nettles, 2006, p. 531). Ask them to write a sentence for each element. At the end, ask them to write the moral in their own words. And, ask them to write one sentence that explains how this story relates to an incident in their own life. To be satisfactory, students must score 8 out of 10 points. Use the chart below to score each student’s work.

Name: ______

Retelling of
“The Bad Kangaroo” by Arnold Lobel / Possible
Points / Points
Earned
Setting
School, Kangaroo’s home / 2
Characters
Principal, Mr. and Mrs. Kangaroo, Young Kangaroo / 4
Plot
Young Kangaroo gets in trouble at school by doing things such as throwing spitballs or setting off firecrackers in the bathroom. The principal comes to the house to talk to his parents, only to discover that they do the same types of things at home for fun. / 2
Moral
Children behave the way their parents do. / 1
Personal connections
Answers will vary – A clear connection to the story must be made. For example, the student could tell of a time when his parents said, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Or, the student could name a story that has a similar moral or theme. / 1
Total
/10

Adapting Instruction for Individual Needs

Differentiate instruction for students who have difficulty reading by putting students in compatible pairs so that they can use shared reading. Additionally, provide additional structure for struggling students by giving them sentences to fill out, such as this example : The animals in this story are: ______, ______, ______, and ______.

English language learners will benefit from having the story read aloud to them before they attempt to read it with a partner. While reading aloud, stop at key vocabulary terms and show them the same word in their home language. If a Spanish-speaking child is in the group, be sure to point out that the Spanish word for “kangaroo” is “canguro,” a cognate, which means that the two words are similar in appearance and pronunciation. Provide picture word cards with the important terms from the story on them: kangaroo, principal, school, home, spitballs, lavatory, doorknob, thumbtacks, chair, dessert, parents, medicine cabinet. Allow students to use these cards to help them write sentences in the Little Book.

When passing out the items, be sure to give more challenging items (such as the lavatory) to students who need a challenge. Ask students who need a challenge to compare this fable to other fables or stories that have strong themes.

Classroom Management Plan

Have all materials for the Little Book assessment tool ready to use, with a tray at each table. This includes: paper, scissors, and a set of directions for folding the paper (Wong & Wong, 2002).

Do the following things in order to keep students actively engaged in this lesson:

  • Put students in partners that are compatible academically and emotionally.
  • Show book bag items to the whole class so that all can see, and then pass out one item to each pair of students.
  • Arrange the room so that students are sitting with partners at a group table. There will be two pairs of students at each table.

To provide a smooth transition from the Book Bag predictions to the