Nevada Reading Week Activities 2017

Nevada Reading Week Activities 2017

The theme for Nevada Reading Week 2017 is Camp READ. In this lesson, students will learn what camping entails through reading stories about familiar characters that have gone camping, such as Little Critter, Curious George, and Fred and Ted. After reading, students will ask and discuss questions about the stories, then compare and contrast the experiences that the characters have on each of their camping trips. Students will create a list of important items to take with them camping based on the items mentioned in the books. They will demonstrate their understanding by writing an informative piece about what they would take camping and why.

Lesson Objectives:

Students will be able to ask and answer questions about fictional literature about camping.
Using a graphic organizer, students will be able to compare and contrast the adventures of familiar characters on a camping trip, such as Little Critter and Curious George.
Students will be able to create a list of camping items based on information from the fictional stories.
Students will be able to draw/dictate/write an informative piece about important items to take on a camping trip using appropriate organization, grammar and conventions.

Materials

Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer
Fred and Ted Go Camping by Peter Eastman
Curious George Goes Camping by Margret & H.A. Rey
Chart paper/markers
Venn diagram
Writing paper

Day One

Prior Knowledge: Teacher will begin the lesson by asking if any students have ever been on a camping trip. If yes, teacher will have students share experiences with the class. If no, as a class, discuss ideas about what they think camping is like. Tell students that we are going to be reading about some of our favorite characters and their camping experiences. Ask the guiding question, "Why is it important to ask and answer questions about what we read?" Discuss responses. Tell students that they will be asked questions as the stories are read to help them understand the stories, and that they need to ask questions if they don't understand something or want to know more about what is happening in the story.

Introduce the bookJust Me and My Dadby Mercer Mayer (480L). Tell students that they are to listen for what happens during Little Critter's camping trip. Remind them to pay close attention to the pictures since they help tell the story. Read the story, stopping to ask questions throughout the story, such as:

p. 3-4 Why didn't they stay at the first campsite?
p. 5-6 What happened when Little Critter tried to pitch the tent?
p. 7-8 What did Little Critter do to help with the fire? Why didn't he light the fire?
p. 9-10 What happened to the canoe? What is a canoe? How did Dad feel after this happened? How did Little Critter feel? How do you know?
p. 11-12 What did Little Critter and his dad do next? What equipment did they need to do that?
p. 13-14 What is Little Critter doing with the fish? What do you think will happen next?
p. 15-16 What happened to Little Critter's fish?
p. 17-18 How did Little Critter feel about the eggs? What did they do after they ate? Do you think the dad was really scared? Why or why not?
p. 19-20 Do you think the dad needed a hug, or did Little Critter? Why?
p. 21-22 What made Little Critter feel better? How did Dad read in the dark?
p. 23 What important camping items do you see in this picture?

After the story, have students retell the important events that happened on the camping trip. Record them on chart paper. Refer back to the book as needed. Allow students to ask any lingering questions that they have about the story.

Go back through the book one more time, this time looking for items that Little Critter and his dad took on the camping trip. Pair students with a partner and give them a sheet of paper to write on. As you reread the story, stopping on each page, have students make a list of the items in the story. They can draw a picture or use phonetic spelling to write the word. Once the story is over, have partners share their ideas aloud. Make a list of items on a piece of chart paper (to be used later in the lesson).

Day Two

Introduce the bookFred and Ted Go Campingby Peter Eastman (150L). Tell students that they are going to listen to what happens to Fred and Ted on their camping trip. Remind them to pay close attention to the pictures since they help tell the story. Read the book aloud, stopping throughout to ask guiding questions throughout, such as:

p. 1-2 What items are Fred and Ted taking on their camping trip?
p. 3-4 Where are Fred and Ted going? Why do you think Ted took few things?
p. 7-8 What item did both dogs bring? How are they different?
p. 11-12 Why did Fred wake up late?
p. 13-14 Where are Fred and Ted going? What items are they taking?
p. 17-18 What are Fred and Ted doing? How are they doing it differently?
p. 19-20 What do you think will happen next? Why?
p. 21-22 What did Fred catch? What do you think will happen next? Why?
p. 23-24 What happened to Fred and Ted? What happened to the fish?
p. 25-26 What is Fred and Ted's problem now that they have no fish?
p. 27-28 What did the little bird tell them?
p. 29-30 What did Ted find?
p. 31-32 What did Fred find?
p. 35-36 What did Fred and Ted do with what they found?

Go back through the book one more time, this time looking for items that Fred and Ted took on the camping trip. Pair students with a partner and give them a sheet of paper to write on. As you reread the story, stopping on each page, have students make a list of the items in the story. They can draw a picture or use phonetic spelling to write the word. Once the story is over, have partners share their ideas aloud. Make a list of items on a piece of chart paper (to be used later in the lesson).

Day Three

Introduce the bookCurious George Goes Campingby Margret & H.A. Rey (310L). Tell students that they are going to listen to what happens to Curious George on his camping trip. Remind them to pay close attention to the pictures since they help tell the story. Read the book aloud, stopping throughout to ask guiding questions throughout, such as:

p. 4-5 What did George see at the campsite?
p. 6-7 What did the man with the yellow hat ask George to do? Why did he send him to do something else?
p. 8 What did George see the girl do with her water? What do you think George will do?
p. 9 What happened when George put out the fire?
p. 11 What is George's problem? How did it happen?
p. 14-15 What happened to George? What do you think he is going to do?
p. 16 Did washing in the creek help?
p. 18 Why were the animals running? What did George see? What do you think George will do?
p. 20 What did George do?
p. 21 What happened when George put out the fire?
p. 22 How did the man with the yellow hat get rid of the awful smell on George?
p. 23-24 What happened at the end of the story?

Go back through the book one more time, this time looking for items that Curious George and the man with the yellow hat took on the camping trip. Pair students with a partner and give them a sheet of paper to write on. As you reread the story, stopping on each page, have students make a list of the items in the story. They can draw a picture or use phonetic spelling to write the word. Once the story is over, have partners share their ideas aloud. Make a list of items on a piece of chart paper (to be used later in the lesson).

Day Four

Review what happened in each of the stories by reading the events recorded on the chart papers from the previous days. Display a graphic organizer for comparing and contrasting the characters' experiences in the stories (see C013 at a 3-circle Venn diagram). Have students recall experiences that happened in all three books and place them in the middle of the graphic organizer (such as pitching tents). Then have them look at similarities between two stories at a time, recording their responses in the appropriate place on the diagram. Finally, have them provide experiences that only occurred in one specific story and record in the appropriate place on the diagram. Ask, "How does comparing characters' experiences in different stories help us better understand the stories?" Discuss responses.

Day Five

1. Review the list of camping items that was created previously in the lesson. Discuss their importance for camping. Have students turn to a shoulder partner and tell them which items they would take on a camping trip and why. Circulate and listen to students' responses.

2. Ask, "Why is it important to be able to write about what we've learned?" Discuss responses. Tell students that they are going to write about what they've learned about camping. Using the rubric as a guide, explain the expectations for their writing.

3. Students will write an informative piece based on the following prompt:

What items are important to bring on a camping trip? Why are they important? Write/Dictate 3-4 sentences about items to take on a camping trip and why they are important for camping. Draw a camping picture that includes the items you wrote about.

Closure

Students will share their writing in an “Author’s Chair” format. Students will sit in a circle around a construction paper campfire in the middle. The student in the author’s chair will sit in a fold-out camping chair.

Summative Assessment

Students will write an informative piece based on the following prompt:

Formative Assessment

Feedback to Students

Oral feedback will be provided throughout the lesson. When engaged in reading text, the teacher will provide feedback based on the responses of the students to guiding questions. When completing the Venn diagram and brainstorming a list of camping items, the teacher will refer students back to the text for specific examples if students struggle with remembering the stories. When writing, the teacher will circulate and provide feedback through guiding questions, such as:

What are we writing about?
What information do you need to include about ______?
What strategies can you use to spell that word?
Does that sentence make sense? How can you tell if it is a complete sentence?
Does your picture match your words?
What details can you add to help your reader better understand your topic?

Accommodations

Pair students during the partner activities so that there is a strong writer to support a struggling writer.
Provide students with a word bank prior to the writing activity.
Provide a writing frame for struggling writers.
Allow students to dictate their response after drawing their picture.
Have characters' experiences from the stories already written on sentence strips and have students place them in the appropriate place on the Venn diagram.

Extensions

Provide a camping experience for the students by asking parents to send in camping items and creating a camping scene for students to explore and role play.
Have students participate in a shared writing activity to write a narrative about a camping trip, each student or pairs of students contributing a sentence to continue the story.
Have students write an opinion piece in which they tell about what they like or do not like about camping.
Read other camping books that include familiar characters.