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Utah Core State Standards (UCSS)

Elementary English Language Arts (Grs. 2-6)

Comprehending and Composing Template

Salt Lake City School District

Grade 4 Theme 5

What is the theme?
What is the essential question I would like students to engage at the end of the theme?
Universal Theme: Communities Grade Level Theme: A New Homes
Essential Question:
Essential Question Writing Task (Week 5):
BEFORE READING
What is the essential sub-question for each lesson, as it relates to the theme?
Background knowledge: build or activate students’ related knowledge to the theme or topic.
Week 1 Lesson 21
Title of Main Reading Selection:
“Because of Winn-Dixie”
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Essential Sub-Question: / Week 2 Lesson 22
Title of Main Reading Selection:
“My Diary from Here to There”
Genre: Diary
Essential Sub-Question: / Week 3 Lesson 23
Title of Main Reading Selection:
“The Cricket in Time Square”
Genre: Fantasy
Essential Sub-Question: / Week 4 Lesson 24
Title of Main Reading Selection:
“Mangrove Wilderness”
Genre: Expository
Essential Sub-Question:
DURING READING
What reading instruction is needed? (skills, strategies, higher level questions)
Focus Comprehension Skill: Character, Setting, and Plot
Focus Comprehension Strategy: Use Story Structure / Focus Comprehension Skill: Sequence: Story Events
Focus Comprehension Strategy: Monitor Comprehension: Ask Questions
What is the intended comprehension objective of student learning?
Comprehension Objective: To recognize the distinguishing features of realistic fiction / Comprehension Objective: To use story structure to identify key events and make predictions.
To use strategies to monitor reading comprehension. / Comprehension Objective: To use questions while reading to check understanding.
To use strategies to monitor reading comprehension. / Comprehension Objective: To ask questions while reading to check understanding.
To use strategies to monitor reading comprehension.
AFTER READING
Short Response (Weekly Writing Tasks)
Create the writing task by turning the sub-question into a prompt. Discuss the sub-question and answer it orally before students write.
Writing Task: / Writing Task: / Writing Task: / Writing Task:
THEME 5 / POSSIBLE THEME ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS / POSSIBLE THEME ESSENTIAL WRITING TASKS
1.  What makes us a community?
2.  How do people of different backgrounds and cultures make themselves at home in a community?
3.  How do we learn from living in a new place? How can we make connections in a new place to help us throve and grow? / 1. Describe how people live and work together in a community.
POSSIBLE MAIN SELECTION SUB-QUESTIONS / POSSIBLE MAIN SELECTION SUB-QUESTION WRITING TASKS
Lesson 21 / 1.What qualities of the characters make them a good friend? Do they all look and act the same? / 1. Think about a character in Winn-Dixie. Describe his/her qualities that make him/her a good friend.
Lesson 22 / 1. How do ????’s friends and family help her live confidently in a new community? / 1. Explain how Amada???? Changes in the story. Use details from “My Diary from Here to There” to support your answer.
2. Describe how do ????’s friends and family helped her live confidently in a new community?
Lesson 23 / 1.How can connections with friends help us to learn and grow?
2. How did the characters???’s honesty help build a a community? / 1. When friend or a community come together to solve a problem, why is being honest important to the best solution Use examples from the story to support your answer.
Lesson 24 / 1.How does the community thrive in the Mangrove Wilderness/?
2. Why are the Mangrove trees important to the community around them? / 1. Explain why the mangrove trees are important to the plants and animals in the community.