Unit 3.1Small Group Suggested Planning Guide

Unit 3.1Small Group Suggested Planning Guide

Acceleration Group: Century Farm: One Hundred Years on a Family Farm

In Unit 1, A Delicate Balance: The Relationship between Humans and Nature,students will explore the interactions of humans and animals in both literary and nonfiction texts.Century Farmis anonfiction narrative about a working family farm that has been in operation for over one hundred years. This text willsupport continued discussion and exploration of the essential questions:

What is the relationship between humans and nature? How is the relationship preserved? How does it change?

Century Farm may be used with students in the acceleration group as students demonstrate the need to explore an extended text. The instructional goals and suggested learning tasks have been aligned with the following CCSS:

• RI.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
• RI.3.2: Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
• RI.3.4: Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.
• RI.3.7: Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in atext to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

This Small Group Suggested Planning Guide for the AccelerationGroupassists teachers in planning small-group instruction forCentury Farm.Students in the acceleration pathwaymayread the text in its entirety or in small passages during Lessons 9-12 in theIndependentand Applied Learning time. The text segments noted on this planner are for discussion purposes and learning tasks each time that the small group meets. Students should review the passages in preparation for the lesson’s session.Teachers may modify the pacing and tasks to reflect students’ needs. Sample questions may be used for monitoring comprehensionand facilitating collaborative discussions. Suggested tasks are provided as options for instruction and application. Time may not allow for the completion of all tasks every day. Teachers should be responsive to the needs of the students and should preview each lesson to determine which tasks students should complete, which tasks may require teacher facilitation, and which tasks may be completed independently. A Student Choice Menu is included with this planner so that students may demonstrate understanding of the text through completion of a culminating task of their own choosing. Share the tasks with students at the beginning of their work with this text so that they can consider their options throughout their learning experience.

Suggested Pacing Guide

Lessons / Century FarmReading / Vocabulary RI.3.4 / Suggested Discussion Questions / Instructional Goals and Suggested Tasks
Lesson 9 / History of the farm:
Beginning of book to Great Grandfather’s saw- mill. / granary
stall
acre
sawmill /

• What does the author mean, “the farm is almost as old as dirt?”
• As time passes, the “the old farm is still alive.” How does the author let us know this?
• Why is owning this farm so important to the author?
• How have times changed on the farm since his great grandfather purchased it?
• Owning a farm is a lot of hard work. Why do you think the great grandfather wanted a farm?

/ RI.3.4List farm machinery and tools that the farmer uses as you read this text. Create a glossary of these terms, adding to the glossary as you encounter these tools and machinery.
RI.3.7 Think about what this farmer’s great grandparents had when they started out in 1893. Create a journal entry that shares each possession and why it was important to starting this century farm.
Lesson 10 / Seasonal Jobs on the farm:
Grandpa’s tractor to chopping corn silage / forked
steam thresher
harvest
combine
hopper
sheaves
shocks
forage
silage /

• What jobs must be done during each season of the year? Why?
• Do you think that the jobs have gotten easier over the years? Why?
• Farmers provide food for us. How is Century Farm contributing to this and to the economy?
• The author, Cris Peterson, is writing this book in the voice of her husband. Why do you suppose she chose to write the text in this way?

/ RI.3.4, 7:The author chooses her words to “paint” a picture of the growing corn in our minds. The photograph on the next page shows the growing corn. Does this photograph help you to understand her word choice? Why? How would you illustrate her words, “The corn still reaches for the sun and whispers in the wind?”
Lesson 11 / It takes a whole family to keep the farm working:
Women washing clothes to plans for a new barn / milking parlor
pasture
root cellar /

• We often take for granted the ease of washing clothes and preparing meals and purchasing food at the grocery store. A long time ago, this was not the case. How have modern appliances helped us in the chores that need to be done today?
• What things do the Petersons plant to preserve the heritage of the farm? Why do you think that they choose to do this?

/ RI.3.2,4: What chores do you think would be easy to do on a farm today? What chores do you think would be difficult? Create a journal entry to explain your thinking. Share your entry with a classmate to see if you agreed or disagreed on your selections and explanations.
Lesson 12 / Work isn’t all the farmers do:
Dundee chasing golf balls to the end of the book / generations
reborn /

• What kinds of fun activities do the Petersons do on their farm? How does this compare to what their ancestors did on the farm for enjoyment?
• What does the author mean when she tells us that “with each new planting season, each new generation, this century farm is reborn?”
• Work and life on a farm are cyclical—as the seasons come and go, the jobs continue on in a cycle. What analogy would you create to explain life on a farm?

/ RI.3.2, 7: Create an organizer that shows the cycle of the seasons and the activities that are happen on a farm. (Be sure to include the fun activities as well.) Use information from the text and illustrations as you label and explain each activity.

Additional resources for the Acceleration Small Group may be found on these sites:

• Four Cubs Farm (the century farm that this book is about):
• Cris Peterson – author:
• Howell Farm (wheat binder images):
• Encyclopedia Britannica (combine images):
• Western Minnesota Steam Threshers:
• Century Farm Orchard:

• Miller Century Farm:

Student CHOICE Menu for Culminating Task

Students should choose one (or more) of the following options to demonstrate their understanding of the text and to make connections to the essential questions. Please note that students MAY create their own task with teacher guidance and approval (Option E).

Option A: Think about all of the jobs that thePeterson family does to keep their farm running smoothly. Now think about your family and the jobs that you must do to make things run smoothly at home. Compare your family and the Petersonfamily.
(RI.3.2, RI.3.7) / Option B:Choose two or more farm tools and/ormachines that farmers use today that you think have made the greatest impact on farming. Create an infographic that explains your thinking and shows the impact of these machines/tools on modern farming. Be sure to include facts and information from the text.
(RL.3.4, RI.3.7)
Option C:Create a digital or paper scrapbook to show the relationships between humans and nature on a farm. Be sure to use information from the text and the illustrations as you create your scrapbook.
Challenge Option C: Create a digital or paper scrapbook to show how the farmer and the family preserve these relationships and how they change over time. Use information from the text in your explanations.
(RL.3.7) / Option D:Visit the web site for thisCentury Farm. Create your own organizer tocompare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in the two texts about the farm.

• Century Farm (this book)

Challenge Option D: Explore the web site for another century farm. Create your own organizer to compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in the two texts about the farms. (RI.3.9)
Suggested site:
Century Farm Orchard:
Option E:
Teacher-Approved Student Choice Task

Share the tasks with students at the beginning of their work with this text so that they can consider their options throughout their learning experience.

BCPS Office of English Language Arts PreK – 12 June 2015