Multi Text Unit
By: Rachel Graham
LaShay Mace
Katie Belvin
Appalachian State University
RE 4030
Dr. Beth Frye
Fall 2010
If you aren't the lead dog, the view never changes."
-Author Unknown
“Cats are smarter than dogs. You can’t get eight cats to pull a sled through snow”
-Jeff Valdez
Stone Fox
Written and Illustrated by John Reynolds Gardiner
The Bravest Dog Ever The True Story of Balto
Written by Natalie Standiford and Illustrated by Donald Cook
Dear______,
You are invited!
Come join me in helping get my Grandfathers farm back!
All you need is some snow boots, a fur coat, and gloves!
It’s really cold out here in Wyoming!
Potato farming is really tough work and I need you to bring your game face and your positive attitude.
Date: Today
Time: NOW!
RSVP: By coming up to the front and get your ticket for the adventure!
Are you ready for THE ADVENTURE OF YOUR LIFE?
LET’S GO!!!
Love,
Little Willy
Outline for Unit
3rd Grade Language Arts
(Block of 1 hour)
Before Reading Activities
Day 1
- Unit Launch: Dog Sled Racing
- Students will listen to music, view books, and pictures related to dog sled racing.
- Students will complete a worksheet about what they noticed about these areas.
- KWL on Dog Sled Racing (Individual and Whole Class)
- Pre-Reading Prediction (Stone Fox)
Days 2 and 3
- Internet Workshop
During Reading Activities
Days 4 and 5: Students will read silently or engage in reciprocal teaching and work on their corresponding comprehension activities denoted by:
Section 1: pp. 3-21 Stone Fox[We will read pages 3-12 together through a Shared Reading. We will stop after reading page 11 and the second chapter. Students will continue reading silently and will read pages 12-21. Be sure to stop before Chapter 1 ends.]
- Double Entry Diary (DED), Character Sketcher, and Vocabulary (Word Wizard Notebook)
The True Story of Balto by Natalie Standiford:
- Where is Nome? Pp.5 [Alaska] (Shared Reading-1)
- How do people travel in Nome? Pp. 6 [Dog Sled](Reciprocal Teaching-2)
- What did a lead dog look like? Pp. 8-9(Independent Reading-3)[Smartest and Strongest]
Day 6: Discussion of Section 1 (Including vocabulary activities); students begin working on Section 2.
Days 7 and 8
Section II: pp. 22-45Stone Fox
- Discussion Director, Vocabulary (Word Wizard Notebook), and Piratical Articles/Jolly Roger
The Bravest Dog Ever True Story of Balto by Natalie Standiford:
- Who is Balto? Pp. 5(Independent Reading)
- Do dogs that pull sleds work? Pp. 6-7(Independent Reading)
- What was wrong with the children? Pp. 10-11(Independent Reading)
- Ok, so what about all of the snow? What did it cause to happen?Pp. 14-15(Reciprocal Teaching-1)
- Why didn’t Gunnar sleep? Pp. 23-25(Reciprocal Teaching-2)
- Why was the doctor so surprised? (Independent Reading) Pp. 42-44
Day 9: Discussion of Section 2 (Including vocabulary activities); students begin working on Section 3.
Day 10: Section 4 (Including vocabulary); students begin to finish L in KWL booklet
Post-Reading Activities
- I Poem from Little Willie’s Perspective
- Composing a Stone Fox Sound Track
What I Noticed About These Areas
AREA 1
AREA 2
AREA 3
K-W-L Chart
Directions: You will be completing a K-W-L on Palomino dogs. First, think about what you know and what you want to know. Write that information in the “K” and “W” section of the chart. To help you come up with information for the “K” section and questions you would like answered for the “W” section, use the following words: WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, AND HOW. Finally, after you have read the book and explored other resources, think about what you have learned. Write that information in the “L” section of the chart.
After completing your research and gaining an understanding of your topic, go back to the “K” column and see if any of the ideas you thought you knew were inaccurate. Check any of them that are inaccurate, according to your research. On the back, rewrite any of your statements that were inaccurate so that they are correct. Then go to the “L” column and begin grouping or categorizing what you have learned.
After completing your research and gaining an understanding of your topic, go back to the “K” column and see if any of the ideas you thought you knew were inaccurate. Check any of them that are inaccurate, according to your research. On the back, rewrite any of your statements that were inaccurate so that they are correct. Then go to the “L” column and begin grouping or categorizing what you have learned.
Before opening your text to begin reading take a few minutes to study the front and back covers of the book and answer the following questions.
- What do you think is the significance of the book’s title?
______
- By looking at the picture what do you believe the book may be about?
______
- Read the book’s description on the back cover. What are some challenges you believe Willy will face during the book?
______
Dog SledWeb Quest
This Internet workshop will introduce you to dogs, dog sleds and where people use them. You are invited to explore information on the Internet. Take notes in your Dog Sled Journal. Come prepared to share your information at our workshop session.Please answer the following questions:
- Go to the bookmarks set for the following Web sites:
Explore the information on Dog Sled Racing. In your words, what is a Palomino? What was it like be a Palomino dog? Give at least 2 specific examples.
- Go to the bookmarks set for the following Web sites:
Who were the Palominos?What specific kind of dog were they?How did they get their name? Where they influenced by the Iditarod? What states do they live in?
- Go back to Question 2. Did you notice any things that are different about Palominos and Dog Sled racing in reference to the first races? Explain. Go back to your DRC and see if you can find information about the authors of each Web site. Please write that information under the heading “resources.” How did you know where to go to answer the questions about the authors of the sites? What helped you locate that specific information?
- Go to the bookmarks set for the following Web sites and read about women and dog races:
Who were the first women? How did they get the idea? Where are the women from? Why did they start racing? Do you think that this was something that the women enjoyed? Were they prepared for the weather? Explain the weather conditions they had to endure. Be ready to justify your response through a class debate.
Data Retrieval Chart (DRC) Dog Sled Racing
Resources / Who were the Palominos? / How were women apart of dog sleds? / How did the Iditarod influence them? / What states are they in?Iditarod
Idiarid.com
Think quest
Library.thinkqu
Est.org/11313/
PBS KIDS
wnet/nature/epi
sodes/sled-dogs-
an-alaskan-epic/
introduction/314
6
DOUBLE ENTRY DIARY: Section I
You will write a Double Entry Diary, otherwise known as a DED. You will be reading, writing in your diary, rereading, and discussing throughout these entire books of historical fiction and nonfiction.
As you are assigned your reading, you will write a total of FOUR entries from Section 1 of Pirate Diary. You will find important words, quotations, or passages from the book. Then you will explain why those words, quotations, and passages are important—in other words, when you read them, what do those words mean to you?
You will write each entry so that it looks something like this table:
From the book (words, quotes, passages). Please include the page and paragraph. / What it means to meQuote: “Your Grandfather went to bed without playing his harmonica?” (p. 7) / Inference/Question: We know that from Grandfather’s previous actions that he’s not him self. He always is ready to play his harmonica, especially before bed.
Below are options that you may choose to write about and how you might organize your thoughts:
Significant passage copied from the text; include page and paragraph #. / Connections or reactions to recorded statement- Quote
- Quote
- Quote/Picture
- Quote
- Prediction
- Question you have or something you don’t understand
- Fact
- Effect (What happened?)
- Author’s Craft (Simile, metaphor, personification)
We will read pages 2-12 together during a Shared Reading. We will stop after reading Chapter One of the book. You will continue reading pages 12-21. Be sure to stop before the page titled Chapter Three. As you are reading, think about the following:
Little Willie and his Grandfather
Doc Smith and her reaction toward Grandfathers behavior
Author’s craft-simile (comparison using like or as) and personification (giving human or person traits to objects or things)
Wyoming, and what life is like there
Snow and weather
Farms, specifically potato farms
Life as a child (in comparison to your life)
Make a prediction after reading Chapter 3. What will happen next?
Use the above ideas when writing your DEDs.
Below are 5 examples of DEDs from the first section of Stone Fox. Remember, you only have to write down 4 entries.
1. Quote: “One day Grandfather wouldn’t get out of bed. He just lay there and stared at the ceiling and looked sad.” (p. 3) / Reaction: I wonder what is wrong with Grandfather. If I were Little Willie I would be sad too.2. Quote: “Searchlight put her big front paws up on Grandfather’s chest. She licked his beard, which was full of tears.” (p.7) / Connection: This makes me think that Searchlight is a very caring dog, and he too can tell that something is wrong. Also I wonder why Grandfather is crying.
3. Quote: “Grandfather grew potatoes and that’s exactly what little Willie was going to do.” (p. 12) / Inference: I think that little Willie wants everything to go on as usual. I think he wants to please his Grandfather by making sure the farm gets back to normal. I wonder what Grandfather wants?
4. Quote: “Grandfather put his hand down on the bed with his palm facing upward.” (p. 15) / Reaction: I think it is really interesting that Grandfather still found ways to communicate with little Willie.
5. Quote: “The potato plant grows about two feet high, but there are no potatoes on it. The potatoes are all underground.” (p. 19) / Reaction: I really like that the author explains how the potatoes grow so that we can visualize little Willies struggles in our heads.
Character Sketcher 1
Section I
Your job as Character Sketcher is to think carefully about Little Willie as you read. You will be given a passage with a page and paragraph where you can find information about your character. Reread the passage carefully. As you are reading, think about descriptive words (traits) that capture how your character acts or looks. You need to be aware that the character traits you will choose will be implied character traits. In other words, they are not directly stated in the passage. You will want to use descriptive words for your character traits. You do NOT want to use words like good, bad, nice, and mean. Be sure to use your “Descriptive Character Traits” page for help. In addition, you will create an artistic impression of your character. When you begin artistically representing your character, try to use any physical descriptions from the text to help you. Your “artistic impression” of the character will probably be on a separate piece of paper.
You are invited to learn more about Little Willie. Please take notes on how Little Willie acts and looks.
To begin, reread the following passages and determine “descriptive words” that capture Little Willie’s personality and explain why the words describehim.
Reread page 10: paragraphs one, two and three. Which character trait words describe Little Willie? ______
What words in the passage were your context clues? ______
Reread page 13, paragraphs two and three.
Little Willie acts
______because______
______.
Reread page15. Which words describe Little Willie?
____________
He acts ______because______
______.
Which words describe Grandfather?
______
Grandfather acts ______because______
______.
On another paper, use the passages that describe Little Willie’s actions and appearance to help you complete an artistic impression of him. Enjoy!
Wonderful Words
Section I
In every section of our reading, you will be learning and using many new words. Your job is to become a WONDERFUL WORDS and to create an entry in your WonderfulWords Notebook for each new word.
Each entry will include the following:
- the word and the page and paragraph where it is located
- a child-friendly definition for the word (remember to use your context clues)
- any associations/connections you may have with that word
- an illustration or sketch of the word
After you discuss the word, you may be asked to write a sentence using 4 or more of the following: who, what, where, when, why or how.
Section 1 Words from Stone Fox
Metaphor p. 4 par. 1Harmonica p. 7 par. 1
Palomino p. 7 par. 3
Examination p. 9 par. 3
Rodeo p. 10par. 3
Harvest p. 12 par. 3
Irrigation p. 12 last par.
Vocabulary Activities Section I Stone Fox
Help me out!
Directions: Read the following sentences and answer them accordingly.
1) Describe something that would beexamined.
2) Describe the setting of a rodeo.
3) What would you needirrigation for? Explain.
4) Give an example of ametaphor.
5) Have you ever played aharmonica? Describe the sound it makes.
6) Would you like to own aPalomino?Why or why not?
Do you know of a place where aPalomino would live?
8) Describe theharvest season. How does it come?
Is the season an easy season?
Discussion Director Section II(pp. 21-37)
Directions: Your job is to involve the students in your group by thinking and talking about the section of the book you have just read. You are going to ask questions that really help the students in your group think about the reading. Your questions should require students to discuss their interpretations of the text and connect background experience and knowledge with the text. You want all students involved in the discussion and talking about issues that come up during the reading.
Your job as the Discussion Director is to come up with five (5) thinking questions. You really want to make your group THINK about the reading. You are trying to make sure everyone in your group understands or comprehends the reading. It is very important that you ask your group critical thinking questions and NOT easy, right- there, in-the-book questions. You want the members of you group to stop, think, look back at the text, and synthesize and interpret what they have read. Remember you may wish to begin your questions with the following words/phrases:
Who?, What?, Where?, When?, Why?, How?, If______then______?
You need to write down the following:
1. the questions
2. your answers to your questions
3. the page numbers where the students can reference the text to justify their responses to your questions
You may want to focus on the following events when thinking about and developing your questions:
- Little Willie handling things for the Winter
- Little Willie taking care of Grandfather
- Potato farming
- Little Willie’s trips with Searchlight
- Grandfather’s taxes- needing 500 dollars
- Little Willie’s strength
Examples of a few good thinking questions might be:
1. Should Little Willie sell the farm and get the money to support him and Grandfather?
2. What do you predict will happen after mentioning the National Dog Sled races that will be occurring?
3. How would you react if you were a young boy having to handle all of these situations? Would you know what to do?
Word Wizard
Section II
In every section of our reading, you will be learning and using many new words. Your job is to become a WORD WIZARD and to create an entry in your Word Wizard Notebook for each new word.