5th Grade Lesson Plans
Writing Workshop Unit of Study: Historical Fiction
Writing Workshop: Historical Fiction CC Objectives and I can Statements for the Entire Unit
5.W.2 I can convey information clearly through writing;
I can introduce, conclude and organize an informative paper including useful text structures;
I can use facts, quotations and vocabulary to explain a topic.
5.W.4 I can produce clear writing that is appropriate to the purpose audience
I can research and investigate a topic to gain knowledge and understanding
I can gather and paraphrase important information from print and digital sources and cite them properly
I can use evidence from various texts to support analysis and reflection
5.SL.2 I can summarize information presented in any format
I can consider the reader when convey the meaning of a sentence
I can use strategies such as, context clues, roots and affixes & reference materials to define unknown words
5.L.6 I can use words to signal contrast, addition and other logical relationships
Recommended Instructional Texts
1. Two or three different historical fiction picture books to use as your students define the genre of historical fiction and mentor the decisions of historical fiction writers. For example:
· Ken Mochizuki. Baseball Saved Us
· Eve Bunting. Cheyenne Again
· Jane Yolen. Encounter
· Carole Boston Weatherford. Freedom on the Menu: The Greenboro Sit-ins
2. A historical fiction chapter book to read aloud as your students are writing historical fiction.
3. Historical fiction picture books of all types in bins for students to read and mentor. Ideally, students could read more than one historical fiction book by the same author. Many authors write historical fiction exclusively.
4. Leveled chapter books for independent reading or literature circles.
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Historical Fiction Writing Unit Overview
Lesson 1 / Lesson 2 / Lesson 3 / Lesson 4 / Lesson 5IMMERSION / IMMERSION / GENERATING STRATEGY / GENERATING STRATEGY / GENERATING STRATEGY
TEACHING POINT / Historical fiction writers create characters to show a view of history. Historical fiction writers use facts, language and details from the time period. In picture books, some of these details are include in the illustrations.
What decisions do historical fiction writers use to create stories that show the impact of history? / Often historical fiction stories are intended to teach a lesson, show political values, the consequences of conflicts and human errors, and stories of survival and determination.
What times in history can I use to show a true thing about people? / Selecting a narrator is very important because a story can change based on who tells it. Historical fiction writers want to depict history accurately, so they pick a narrator who the reader will trust and who will tell the story in an honest and truthful way.
Why is it important to have the story told by a child? / Time, place and characters who reveal their thoughts & feelings show an accurate account of history.
What problems do I face in my every day life that people in other times in history also faced? How could I tell their story to say something about my life today? / A historical fiction writer characters speak the truth in both external dialogue with people and internal dialogue with themselves.
How will my main character make sense of the events that occur around him/her?
Lesson 6 / Lesson 7 / Lesson 8 / Lesson 9 / Lesson 10
MENTORING / MENTORING / DRAFTING / DRAFTING / DRAFTING
TEACHING POINT / Historical fiction stories have shifts in time and place. The plots foreshadow the true events to come and provide historical facts with flashbacks.
How does this information impact the characters? / Leads in historical fiction stories introduce the setting and the time period by choosing historical facts or images. Most importantly, they help the reader trust the narrator.
How can I start my story so the reader will believe it’s true and trust my narrator? / Writers need time to plan the story and how they will insert the facts to make the story accurate. Planning with a storyboard and story mountain helps writers envision a plot and the impact of the historical event on the characters.
Do I create a problem and solve it by the end of the story? Which characters cause and solve the problem(s)? / Writers research the historical event sometimes turn this research into an Author’s Note at the end of the story. They use this information to make their story accurate.
What facts and details are essential? What unusual facts might make the story interesting? Do I want to write an Author’s Note at the end of my story? / Writers need time to get the whole story on the page. Writing a draft start-to-finish is important. Follow your plot plan, but be open to changes.
What facts can I insert to make my story show history accurately?
Lesson 11 / Lesson 12 / Lesson 13 / Lesson 14 / Lesson 15
REVISING / REVISING / REVISING / EDITING / CELEBRATING
TEACHING POINT / Characters faced with a struggle change as they understand the problem(s). To make this change clear, writers reread, cut, add, or reorganize their stories.
Do you have scenes that show how and why the character’s struggle and change? / Endings in historical fiction stories connect to the social issue in the story. Historical fiction writers study the plots of other writers to see how the endings resolve the conflict, comment on this event, or suggest a change.
Look at the social problem and the conflict to find the ending. / Fiction writers especially need extra time to revise and edit as they finish a project and prepare for publishing. Using a critical eye as you reread can raise the quality of your writing in a variety of ways. / Writers know their predictable editing problems. They use a checklist to edit their writing. They reread many times looking for one item on the checklist at a time.
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BEFORE Lesson 1: Read the mentor text in Lesson 1 as a read aloud.
· Notice the point of view and how the narrator tells the story as it is happening.
· Notice how the narrator makes sense of the events that we know because they are part of history, but at the time they were happening, the character may not have understood the actions or others until later in the story.
· Let students discuss how they would have felt if they were the narrator.
Lesson 1IMMERSION—Defining Historical fiction
Preparation / · Teaching Point and Active Engagement Text: a historical fiction book you have previously read aloud and enjoyed (Freedom on the Menu is a good choice for Lesson 1, but select a book that is your favorite.)
· Independent Reading Texts: Bins of historical fiction books on student tables to read during writing workshop. Ideally, you would have other books written by the author of your primary mentor text(s). If possible, create an independent reading period for two or three days consecutively so students can read and talk about a range of historical fiction books. Create an anchor chart of the research on historical fiction writer’s decisions.
Teaching
Point / Historical fiction writers create characters to show a view of history. Historical fiction writers use facts, language and details from the time period. In picture books, some of these details are included in the illustrations. They focus the story on one particular character. As they reveal the struggles of this character, they also reveal the struggles and injustices of all people who lived at this time in history. The characters are fictional, but these facts, language and details are the true part of the story. These facts and details make the story sound real. Often historical fiction writers include an Afterword that summarizes key facts about the event.
The writers of historical fiction want history to come alive for a reader, so aware readers can be a fact detective and learn about history as they enjoy a good story.
· Prepare a t-chart: HISTORICAL FACTS and LANGUAGE OF THE TIME
· Select a picture book with an Afterword. Read it first and let the students predict the most important facts that could be used in the story. List them on a piece of chart paper so all students can keep an eye out for these facts as you read aloud.
· Read a bit of the story and stop to notice a fact (either from the student’s list, the Afterword, or something you know to be true about the historic event.
· Also notice the setting. Most stories will reveal the setting early in the first or second page. It doesn’t matter at this point that the students explain how these details affect the deeper meaning. The goal is for them to see the details that are factual and establish a time period and a place.
· Also notice vocabulary (nouns and proper nouns especially) that fit in the time period and events that occurred.
· Chart the things you notice and place them under Historical Facts of Language of the Time.
Active Engagement / · Continue reading and noticing the facts and language.
· As you read, plan stops so that students do not interrupt the flow of the story. Tell them in advance that you will stop at the end of every page or every two pages. They should be listening and keeping track of things that we need to put on the chart. They can watch the fact chart you made to see if their predictions are accurate.
· Have the turn-and-talk. Report out a few notices. You do not have to gather every little detail.
Independent Practice / If you have time for students to read a second book, proceed. Otherwise skip to the question in SHARING, below. Do the Independent Reading Research with at least one book before you move on to Lesson 2.
· Students work in pairs to read and research another historical fiction story in the bins provided.
· Invite students to continue researching until the whole class is finished and ready to report their findings.
Share / Report out the findings as students researched other historical fiction stories.
· Do this with a show of hands. Go through the list of decisions. Asking something like this: Did your stories have historical facts? Language that might have been used at the time? A place (setting) from a specific time in history?
· Go through each category.
· Close the lesson by asking students
What makes the story good/entertaining/worth reading/engaging?
What does this writer do that you would like to do in your historical fiction story?
Homework / Encourage students to begin reading historical fiction at home.
Reading Workshop and Read-Aloud Immersion
During the Unit
Read-Aloud Connection:
Select a historical fiction chapter book to read and study during this unit. Notice, name and create theories about the writer’s decisions and the impact of those decisions on the reader as you progress through the book. Pay close attention to
· the setting, time, and accurate depiction of history
· the character’s external and internal dialogue
· the conflict and the ways the conflict accurately portrays the historical event/period
· the deeper meaning—connection to morals, lessons, or truths about people
· the connections between this time period and the lives of students or people today
Reading Workshop Connection: Independent Reading Research
Extend this lesson to allow you to provided more reading and to do small group (guided reading) work with students who may need support as they read and identify the ways
· Students work in pairs to read and research another historical fiction story in the bins provided. Chart the historical facts and the language from a specific time in history or from a specific event in history.
· Encourage students to read several books over 2-3 days.
· Report out the findings. Use a whole-class graph so students can quickly report-out at the end of a workshop period. This will make the discussion more productive, as you will see the trends at-a-glance. A sample graph (categories) is provided. You may want to add categories as you do research.
· Create a plot mountain as a whole class. Small groups can create one with another book.
· Use a Book Pass to engage students in reading several books in one sitting. To support your less able readers, read in partnerships and allow time for an interactive conversation during and after the reading.
PLOT MOUNTAIN SUGGESTIONS
Teaching students how to read and create plot mountains will enable them to plan, write and revise their stories. Consider these things as you work with plot mountains.
1. No two readers will plot the story in identical ways. The big small moments or events of a plot every reader needs to see, but the small moves like actions, dialogue, thoughts, bits of description or details about the historical period get confusing. Therefore, creating a plot mountain is not a “right” answer task. It is a constructing meaning task. If you ask students to look for the small moments, essential events, leads and closings, it teaches them to separate the little “chunks” of text that are important to the meaning from the essential elements that sequence the story. It will also help them identify the flashbacks and passages or details that foreshadow the sequential actions. These passages of foreshadowing are generally not part of the consciousness of the main character who most often begins the story as a naïve child.