Lesson Seed Week 2 Day 5

Unit Title: Our Environment

Grade Level: 1
Essential Question: What role do I play in the environment?
Focus Question: How do we harm the environment?
Text/Resources
·  The Wump World by Bill Peet text or video
·  The Lorax by Dr. Seuss text or video
Text Complexity Considerations:
Quantitative Measure (Readability measures and other scores of text complexity):
Lexile: 510L for The Lorax ; 930L for The Wump World
Qualitative Measure (Levels of meaning, structure, language, conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands): Both texts contain a great deal of descriptive language and utilizes sophisticated sentence structure. Both texts provide opportunities for teachers to involve students in close reading activities.
Reader and Task Considerations (Reader variables (such as motivation, knowledge, and experiences) and task variables (such as purpose and the complexity generated by the task assigned and the questions posed):
Standard(s)
RL.1.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
RL.1.9 Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.
SL.1.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
W.1.3 Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.
Student Outcomes
·  The students will describe the characters in the stories using details from the text.
·  The students will compare and contrast the characters and events in two selections
·  The students will write narrative pieces about how the actions of characters in the selections harmed the environment.
Sample Activities:
·  Students will evaluate the character traits of the main characters and create a word web and illustration to describe the characters.
·  Students can use a Venn Diagram or other graphic organizer to compare/contrast the main characters and/or settings in the two selections. To extend the activity, students can participate in a discussion to debate which environment was harmed the most.
·  Students will write a narrative from the point of view of the Wumps or Lorax about how they harmed their environment. With guidance as needed, students indicate sequence using temporal words.
·  Students will write in their journals how they would feel if this happened to their environment and what they could do to prevent it.