The Polar Express - Chris Van Allsburg
Character Traits and Themes Grades: 1 and 2
Primary Character Trait:
Optimism- Expecting good things today and in the future
Basic Need:
Power - The need for power is to achieve, to be competent, to be skilled, to be recognized for our achievements and skills, to be listened to and to have a sense of self-worth
Objectives
The learner will:
· Develop a further understanding of the Character Trait: Optimism
· Begin to develop an understanding of the 5 Basic Needs: specifically, Power
· Make connections through understanding how the characters and events in the picture book demonstrate the importance of optimism
· Make connections between events and characters in The Polar Express to our own lives, and articulate those connections through speaking and writing
· Use effective communication and social skills in a class meeting format
Grade Level Content Expectations
First Grade
R.WS.01.06 Make progress in automatically recognizing the 220 Dolch basic sight words and 95 common nouns for mastery in third grade.
R.NT.01.05 Respond to individual and multiple texts by finding evidence, discussing, illustrating, and/or writing to reflect, make connections, take a position, and/or show understanding.
R.NT.01.03 Identify problem/solution, sequence of events, and sense of story (beginning, middle, and end).
R.CM.01.01 Make text-to-self and text-to-text connections and comparisons by activating prior knowledge and connecting personal knowledge and experience to ideas in text through oral and written responses.
R.NT.01.02 Identify and describe the basic form and purpose of a variety of narrative genre including realistic fiction, fantasy, and folktales.
Second Grade
R.WS.02.07 Make progress to automatically read by sight the Dolch First 1000 Words for mastery in fifth grade.
R.NT.02.05 Respond to individual and multiple texts by finding evidence, discussing, illustrating, and/or writing to reflect, make connections, take a position, and/or show understanding.
R.CM.02.01 Make text-to-self and text-to-text connections and comparisons by activating prior knowledge, connecting personal knowledge, experience, and understanding of others to ideas in text through oral and written responses.
R.NT.02.02 Identify and describe the basic elements and purpose of a variety of narrative genre including poetry, fantasy, legends, and drama.
Resources
Trade Book: The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Other Trade Books:
Steig, W. (2005).Sylvester and the Magic Pebble(deluxe ed.) Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Piper, W. (2005).The Little Engine That Could Philomel Books
Lehman, B. (2008).Trainstop Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Geisert, A. (2006).Oops Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (This is a wordless picture book)
Content Area Books to nurture wonder:
Lewis, K. (2001).Chugga-Chugga-Choo-Choo Hyperion Books CH. (This book is great for emergent readers.)
O'Brien, P. (2000).Steam, Smoke, and Steel: Back in Time with Trains Charlesbridge Publishing
Simon, S. (2004).Seymour Simon's Book of Trains HarperCollins
Estimated Time Parameters
One day More than one day Mini-unit
Introduction
Class Meeting – Optimism
(See class meetings – The Classroom of Choice)
Introduce the character trait of optimism using the following prompt:
A common phrase that optimistic and confident people use is “anything is possible”. Many people in history have accomplished great things through believing in themselves. Do you believe that anything is possible? Can you think of some times when you or someone else attempted something that seemed impossible?
Define: What does it mean to be optimistic?
Personalize: Tell about a time when you and/or someone else showed optimism.
Challenge: Is it possible to be optimistic all the time? Why or why not?
Instruction
1. Parent Note
In preparation for the read-aloud, send a note home requesting that parents send a set of each student’s pajamas to school with them in the near future.
2. Classroom Set-up
Actively engage students in the story by placing chairs in rows of two-by-two, similar to that of a train.
3. Tickets
Distribute tickets to all students; it may be fun to place a ticket for students to find in their respective areas. (see attached)
4. Read aloud
Invite students to actively listen to the read-aloud through the following introduction:
Today we are going to visit a world where a young boy takes a special journey to a place that we have all dreamed of. During this visit, we are going to see the importance of standing by one’s beliefs and trusting that good things can happen. Let’s travel to a place where a boy, not much older than all of you, is given a most precious gift…
Read aloud the book, The Polar Express. As you read the book, tell the students that they will be listening for all of the ways the boy is optimistic. Key questions you may ask to help students focus are: How do you know that the boy is optimistic? What are some of the ways that the boy shows that he believes good things can happen?
Activity Ideas
Story Sequencing Sentence Strips Activity
This activity goes along with the book instruction. Create sentence strips using the sentences located on the attached document titled, “The Polar Express – Story Sequencing Sentence Strips.” As a whole group or in small collaborative (teacher-guided) groups, ask students to put the sentence strips in order according to the story. Discuss the format of a story, beginning, middle, and end. Depending on the ability level of your classroom community, ask students what the main idea of the story is.
Power – Reading Log/Journal Entry
Discuss with students that the boy expressed his own power by standing firm on his beliefs. Discuss the concept that anyone can show their power through making the choice to stand up for what he or she believes in. Ask students to respond to one or more of the following questions in their reading logs/journals.
· What are some things that you believe in? Why do you feel so strongly about it/them?
· If someone told you that what you believe in isn’t true, what would you do? Would you make the same choice as the boy in the story? Why or why not?
· If you were the one who received and then lost the gift of the magical bell, how would you feel? What would you do?
Winter Scenes from The Polar Express’s Window: Art Connection
· Ask students to close their eyes and imagine that they are looking out of a window on The Polar Express.
· Once a few minutes have passed, ask students to create their views on paper using any medium and materials you are comfortable with. Ask students to fill as much of the space as possible.
· Once students have finished their pieces, place a window pane (template attached) over the drawings to give the appearance of an actual window.
· For added effect, cover the students’ projects with clear plastic wrap to give the illusion of looking through a window.
· Post the students’ views in the classroom; it may be fun to organize the students’ pieces to resemble the windows of a train.
Evaluation/Assessment
1. Informal observations of students’ participation during class meetings can serve as a means for assessing an understanding of the character trait, optimism.
2. The power journal entry can serve as an assessment of whether or not students understand the basic needs.
3. Successful completion of the story sequencing activity can serve as a means for assessing the students’ abilities to organize the main events of a story.
4. The art connection activity can serve as a culminating assessment of a student’s ability to express his or her connection with the text.
The Polar Express – Story Sequencing Sentence Strips
On Christmas Eve, as a young boy looked out his bedroom window, he saw a train standing perfectly still in front of his house.
The boy took the conductor’s outstretched hand and climbed aboard the train.
On the train, children sang carols, ate candies with nougat centers, and drank hot coca.
As they traveled northward through the cold forests, the children saw wolves watching the train as it traveled by.
The train climbed mountains so high, it seemed as if they would scrape the moon.
When the train arrived at the North Pole city, Santa and his elves were waiting for them.
The boy chose the first gift of Christmas. It was a silver bell from a reindeer’s harness.
After their exciting visit with Santa and his elves, the Polar Express took the children home.
The young boy was so disappointed to find out that the bell Santa had given him had fallen through the hole in the pocket of his bathrobe.
On Christmas Day, the boy discovered a package from Santa under his tree.
Inside, the boy found the silver bell Santa had given him with a note attached to it. The note told the young boy to get the hole in his pocket fixed.
Although the boy grew up, the bell still rang for him, as it does for all those who believe.
Developing Character Through American Literature The Polar Express
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Developing Character Through American Literature The Polar Express
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