Lesson Name: Author’s Purpose

Grade: 1st Grade

Grading Period/Unit: CRM 1/Unit 1/Arc 7

Estimated timeframe: 2-4 days

This lesson is appropriate for both Monolingual teachers and Dual Language teachers.

Recommended

Monolingual Pacing: Day 1 – Engage and SE Focus Lesson 1 and complete Activity 1 and 2.

Day 2 – SE Focus Lesson 2 and complete Activity 1 and 2.

Recommended

Dual Language Pacing: Day 1 – Engage and SE Focus Lesson 1 and complete Activity 1 and 2.

Day 2 – SE Focus Lesson 2 and complete Activity 1 and 2.

All components of the lesson may not be completed in one day. Activities 1 and 2 for each day may need to be spread out to over a span of 3-4 days.

Lesson Components
Lesson Objectives: Students will identify the author’s purpose for writing the text.
Language Objectives: Students will use grade level academic vocabulary to discuss the author’s purpose of the text.
Prior Learning:Students have practiced retelling what they have read or heard, using sequencing words and phrases. Students have identified the main characters and problem and solution of a story.
Standards(Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills):
1.13 Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Culture and History. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about the author’s purpose in cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:
1.13(A) identify the topic and explain the author’s purpose in writing the text.
College and Career Readiness:
II. A. Locate explicit textual information, draw complex inferences, and analyze and evaluate the information within and across texts of varying lengths.
Essential Questions:
  • Why is it important to know the author’s purpose?
  • Why do you think the author wrote the book ______?
  • What does the author want you to learn?
  • What does the author want you to do? Or to believe?

Vocabulary / Essential: author’s purpose, text, persuade, inform, entertain
Lesson Preparation /
  • Teacher should pre-read books to determine appropriate stopping points and story questions.
  • Suggested books for teaching author’s purpose: The True Story of the Three Little Pigsby JonScieszka, Pigs: Amazing Pictures and Facts About Pigs by Breanne Satori, The Three Little Pigsby James Marshall
  • Premade anchor chart (T-Chart) with “Inform” and “Entertain” written at the top. Copies of book covers that are familiar to the students for whole-group sort.
  • Old scholastic order forms
  • Several sets ofThe True Story of the Three Little Pigs response cards
  • A variety of fiction/nonfiction books on the student’s independent reading level that could be used to teach author’s purpose
  • Graphic organizers for the students (attached below)

Anchors of Support
NOTE: The power and value of anchors of support is magnified when the students take an active role in creating them. These tools should be considered a vital component of the lesson. / Build anchor charts with the students that support author’s purpose. A commonly used anchor is the “PIE” anchor chart. Variations can be seen below.



Differentiation Strategies / Special Education: Have students use anchor charts and/or cards with pictures to categorize books according to author’s purpose. Students could also benefit from partner workas well as continued use with the text. Refer to the student’s IEP for other routinely offered accommodations.
English Language Learners: Pre-teach any vocabulary in the story that may be difficult for ELLs. The use of book examples and sorting will benefit ELLs’ grasp of the content vocabulary words to persuade, inform and entertain. Have students work in pairs to complete the graphic organizers. Students could also retell the text using illustrations. The use of bilingual pairs or buddies could benefit these students, as well as continued use of the text.
Extension for Learning: Students create their own texts with a specific purpose. For example, students can read a non-fiction book about Pandas and write a short text that is informational (facts about pandas), one short text that is about a funny panda (entertain), and one short text that is about saving bamboo (persuasive).
21st Century Skills / COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION: Communicate Clearly- Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts. Make sure there is time every day for students to problem solve with partners or in small groups. And remember… students learn to read by authentic reading.
English Language Proficiency Standards: Mandated by Texas Administrative Code (19 TAC §74.4), click on the link for English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) to support English Language Learners.
Lesson Cycle
Engage / If you have any pig stuffed animals or a pig snout, you could also use this to engage and motivate the students. This week, we will be reading different stories about pigs, and we will be looking at why authors wrote these different books.
Share the YouTube Video: Pets 101-Pigs and discuss the producer’s purpose for making the video.
Lesson Stages
/ SE Focus Lesson 1: (Teacher-led/ Whole Group)
Create an anchor chart with the students about the three reasons authors write books: to persuade, to inform or to entertain. Briefly explain each category and give examples of books that you have read in class to support student understanding.
Today we will focus on just two of those reasons: entertain and inform. Books that entertain are books that hold our attention for enjoyment or fun. Books that inform are books that are trying to teach us something or give us information about something.
Read Aloud: The Three Little Pigs by James Marshall (or a shorter version of this story).
Do a book walk of: Pigs: Amazing Pictures and Facts About Pigs by Breanne Sartori
Using a T-chart with “Entertain” and “Inform” written at the top and help students sort the books where they would go. Do this activity whole group while doing a teacher “think aloud.” The students will do an extension of this in ACTIVITY 1 and 2.

ACTIVITY 1 (with partners)
Have students work with partners to cut
out book covers from the scholastic order
from. Students will work in pairs to sort
them into two sections:
inform and entertain.
ACTIVITY 2 (In groups or whole-class)
Students will share their work with another group or can present their work to the class. Students should state the title of the book, what the book appears to be about and which category they put it under.
SE Focus Lesson 2: (Teacher-led/ Whole Group)
Review the two categories the students practiced yesterday: inform and entertain. Explain to students that today we will learn about what authors do to persuade. To persuade is to convince the reader of a point of view or to convince them that something is true.
Read aloud: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
Stop at your preselected stopping points to monitor student comprehension and to “think aloud” about what the wolf is trying to get us to believe.
ACTIVITY 1 (with partners/table groups)
Have students work in partners or groups to answer the questions on the response cards. One student will select a response card and will ask their partner to answer. This skill also helps students with asking questions and responding to questions. If students are struggling with reading, they can have a partner student help them read the question or can answer the questions using sentence stems. Walk around and monitor student understanding and comprehension.
Brain Break: If students need a brain break, you may choose to do: Chair Aerobics. Chair Aerobics Activity: Have students pull their chairs out from their desk. Students should sit up straight, keeping their ankles together to do leg lifts by extending their legs to a 180-degree angle for 20 repetitions. Then have students stand behind the chair and while holding the back for balance, extend their right leg out to the side to a 45-degree angle for 20 repetitions. Then repeat with the left leg.
ACTIVITY 2 (with partners):
Have students work with partners to identify the author’s purpose ofThe True Story of the Three Little Pigs using the template found below. This activity can be done whole-group if there is limited time.
For the next several days, you may have students read books on their independent reading level and work with partners to identify the author’s purpose using this template at a center or workstation.
You could also have an ongoing anchor chart where you can add picture titles or book covers to each section of author’s purpose throughout the year as the books are read in the classroom.
Closure Activity / Have students share what they know using a DBI strategy. A DBI strategy that could be used as a closure activity could be an adapted version of Vote with Your Feet. The teacher or a student will read the title of a book, hold up the cover and make a statement about the book. For example: This book about penguins is informational. The students will vote with their feet if they agree, disagree, or are not sure. Books that are persuasive would certainly require a sentence about the book if it is not obvious from the title or if it is not a familiar book.
Check for Understanding (Evaluation)
/ Formative: Monitor students during Turn and Talk and Activity 1s to assess understanding of author’s purpose. Make sure students are using the vocabulary words and are using examples from the book to justify their answers. Assist students as needed. Teacher directed Q&A during group or independent work also provides a source of formative assessment.
Summative: Students watch Mickey Mouse Presents Walt Disney’s Silly Symphony: “Three Little Pigs.” After viewing the animated musical version of The Three Little Pigs, students
complete one of author’s purpose graphic organizers independently.

Austin ISD Updated July 2015