FOURTH GRADE LITERARY ESSAY WRITING UNIT



|Short Text Unit |

|4th Grade |

|February 2013 |

|Desired Results for the Unit |

|GOALS (What are our relevant goals for this unit?) |

|-Student become able to navigate different kinds of text in complexity and genre (fiction, plays, poems, historical, instructional, visual, technical |

|-Students walk away with deeper understanding of the short text by reading closely by using a variety of strategies appropriate for each genre |

|- Students gather evidence to support a position, main idea, character traits, comparing characters, comparing ideas, comparing points of view |

|-Students understand how successfully find word meaning in context |

|-Students understand that information is presented in a particular structure. That Paragraphs, sentences and entire pieces has a purposeful structure so that as reader we understand the text. |

|Students synthesize the big idea, theme of pieces of literature |

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|OUTCOMES OF UNDERSTANDING (To achieve our goals, what understandings will be needed?) |ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: (What essential questions will focus our goals, stimulate conversation, and guide |

|Characteristics of different genres for both fiction and non-fiction |our actions?) |

|Structures unique to a genre |Working in partners students will read closely and discuss their findings |

|Identify context clues to figure out new vocabulary |What are the character traits based on the character’s actions and words? |

|Identify that fictional texts have a theme that teaches a life lesson |What are the main events of the story based on setting, actions, interactions, and transition words? |

|Identify the difference between figurative language |What is the turning point, how did the character actions lead to the theme or life lesson? |

| |What is the structure of this text (historical). Why or how something happens (Cause) What happened |

| |(Effect) Technical, such as recipes, What would happen if the steps or instructions were out of order? |

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|Assessment Evidence |

|CULMINATING PROJECTS AND PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF LEARNING: |INFORMAL ASSESSMENTS: (What are the key observable indicators of short and long term progress? What data |

|Students will be able to support with evidence, character’s traits |should be collected?) |

|Students will be able to identify the main events in fiction |Writer’s Notebook |

|Students will find the theme in fiction, and explain it with evidence |Graphic organizers for each skill |

|Students compare two characters, two ideas, two types of text, two points of view and support those with |Short response notebook |

|evidence from text |Adaptations from fiction to play |

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|Resources |

|UNIT RESOURCES: (What materials and resources are needed to support this unit?) |STUDENT RESOURCES: |

|Rich well crafted text from previous text preparations (realistic fiction, fables, myths, non-fiction | |

|articles, historical, feature articles, pictures, advertisements, plays, announcements, adds, pictures, |Reading response |

|diagrams, maps | |

|Articles from Time for Kids | |

|Scholastic Read About | |

|Spectrum Reading | |

|Reading for the Gifted Student | |

|Individual Teacher Collection | |

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|Date | Day 1 |Day 2 |Day 3 |Day 4 |Day 5 |

| |Readers preview a text to get a|Readers need to be on the look-out for |Readers examine how the character|A character’s actions, thought |Characters behaviors and choices |

|Focus: |sense about what the subject is|character development and problem/solution|acts and reacts during the |and words tell us what the |ultimately teach us life lessons. |

| |about and what genre |like structures. |story. Readers also examine how |characters traits are. We can | |

|Character Analysis |(structure) it is to get their |readers visualize the characters living |other characters react to the |use this information to predict | |

| |mind ready to read. |through the story events and |protagonist (major and minor |future actions. This is called |Characters behaviors and choices teach|

|***Also use with biographies |Read the title |retelling/summarizing how they have |characters). Readers identify the|understanding their motivation. |us a life lesson. The lesson may also |

| |Ask yourself: What is the |handled the challenge or problem they were|main events and the turning point| |be called the theme. |

| |literal meaning and what is an |faced with |or climax. |Students: | |

| |inferential or fantasy-like |readers visualize or go back into text to | |Follow the character actions, |In the short text, the character |

| |meaning |consider which story events caused the |The turning point is the event |thoughts, and words |learns the lesson_______. I know this |

| |Get ready for the genre: Think |characters to change and can retell in |where the character will change |Ask -What kind of person is |because__________. Yesterday we saw |

| |about the features of the genre|sequence |his/her attitude. |this?> |that the character learned the |

| |Use an example of a traditional|readers then draw conclusions about the | |Determines what the adjective or|lesson…. Turn and talk about the life |

| |story such as folktale, |character - (traits and actions) |You can tell that this is the |trait that best describes this |lessoned learned today in the text we |

| |fairytale, tall tale, myth, |readers make statements, judgments and |turning point because |character. |just read. |

| |poem, play, other fictional |opinions |We see the character’s emotion |Compare the characters actions | |

| |structures |and do some big thinking about the topic |change (give example) |to other characters actions. |I need to think about the entire story|

| |: |or message -make “life statements” or |We see a change in the | |It is better... than ... |

| |Problem and solution structure |themes |character’s actions, feelings, |***Thinking Deeply About |Friendship.... |

| |Sometimes told in magical ways|People shouldn’t… |words. (give specific |Characters Packet from Rosanne –|Helping... |

| |Solution usually contains a |All girls are… |example..model) |use this to model. | |

| |message | |There is an event that happens | | |

| | | |that causes these things to | | |

| |Readers ask themselves What do| |change. | | |

| |I know about this subject, have| |Also pay attention to the | | |

| |I read a story like this? | |setting. | | |

| | | |There may be changes in character| | |

| |What kind of predictions can I | |interactions(major/minor | | |

| |make based on my knowledge of | |characters)/relationships | | |

| |the genre and my prior | | | | |

| |knowledge about the subject? | | | | |

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|Focus: |Readers analyze visuals to |Readers use visuals to help them infer |Readers use visuals (text |Readers use visuals to help them|Readers ask questions as they analyze |

|Visual Literacy |infer what the text will be |what the main idea will be about. |features, pictures, captions, |comprehend and make meaning of |visual images to help them prepare for|

| |about and to activate prior | |photographs, bold, title, etc.) |the text. |what they will read next. |

|***Integrate into other weeks. |knowledge. |Students: |to help them determine meaning of| | |

| | | |unfamiliar words (context clues).|Students will: |Students: |

| |Students: |Look at all visual images and text in a | | | |

| |Read the title and analyze the |short text |Students: |Compare the text to the visuals |Allow their curiosity to be piqued and|

| |visuals. |Connect the visuals in order to make an |Scan the text for unfamiliar |to sharpen our mental pictures |ask questions about the visual to help|

| |Ask themselves- What do I think|inference based on the visuals. |words and write them down and/or|of what is in the text. The |prepare them to what they |

| |this text will be about? | |highlight words |picture helps to clear the |Coming up with questions and looking |

| |Activate prior knowledge and | |Scan to see if unfamiliar words |fuzziness of our reading. |for answers as they read. |

| |ask themselves – What do I | |have a visual in order to |Read the text an d continue to | |

| |already know about this | |determine meaning |check for visuals or refer to | |

| |subject? How do the title and | |Will be mindful of unfamiliar |the visuals as the text refers | |

| |the picture help me to | |words during reading in order to |to them in order to make | |

| |understand? | |find context clues to determine |connections to the text. | |

| | | |meaning. |Think about what the | |

| | | |Create a graphic organizer to |picture/visual tells us that | |

| | | |plug in unfamiliar words |adds to the meaning of the text.| |

| | | | |What information is present in | |

| | | | |the visual that is not in the | |

| | | | |text? | |

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|Focus: |Main Ideas and Details from |Readers think about the theme or message |Readers identify the main events |Readers are able to pinpoint |Readers stop and jot (annotate) what |

|Theme/Main Idea |Informational Texts |of a text the same as they would think |by noticing the big actions of |changes that are happening |the character learns to help them |

| | |about the theme of a movie. |the main character, the setting, |inside characters (internal |figure out what the theme of a text |

|Looking at Fiction Text for |Good readers look for main | |interactions with new characters |thinking, emotional changes, |is. |

|Theme |ideas and details in a text. |We do this by: |and transition words. |events happening) that we can | |

| |The main idea is the most |Thinking about the life lesson the | |use as EVIDENCE for the THEME. | |

|Looking at Non-Fiction Text for|important idea in a text. Key |character learns. |Stories have themes symbols, and | |We do this by: |

|Main Idea. |details support the main idea. |Think about the actions, reactions, and |ideas. |We do this by: | |

| |Readers lok at specific |feelings of the character. | | |Making notes in the margin or on a |

| |sections to determine what each|Looking for the big change with a |As you read, can you identify the|Noticing characters internal |post-it, |

| |section/paragraph is about. |character/turning point. |main event |thinking/dialogue a character |Stopping at major events to annotate |

| | | |We can retell the main events by |with themselves. |Underlining specifc words/phrases that|

| |Students: | |: |Noticing words in the text that |show how the character has changed. |

| |Look at headings and | | |describe their thinking and |Asking yourself how did the character |

| |subheadings | |-annotating /highlighting the |actions. |change, what did the character learn |

| |Summarize information into | |important events as they read in | |Noticing what the character did not |

| |their own words | |the margins | |know before (what they didn’t know |

| |Determine what is the most |Genres: |- by paraphrasing (who, where, | |about themselves or another character)|

| |important information | |when, and why – character, | | |

| | |-folktales |setting, problem, main events, | | |

| |***Spend a second day looking |-fairytales |and solution) | | |

| |at another text. |-myths |- | | |

| |Genre: |-tall tales | | | |

| |-recipe |- narrative poems |Fill out a graphic organizer | | |

| |-interview |-realistic fiction |**Story Mountain | | |

| |-email |-play |Folktales, fairy tales, Myths | | |

| |-blog |-fable | | | |

| |-how to |-historical fiction | | | |

| |-all about | | | | |

| |-biographies | | | | |

| |- feature articles | | | | |

| |-essays | | | | |

|Focus: |Readers identify and describe |Readers identify and describe the features|Readers identify the text |Readers identify and describe |Readers look for how authors structure|

| |the features of a |of a compare/contrast text structure and |structure cause and effect by: |the features of a chronological |their paragraphs. Many times an author|

|Whole Text/Internal Text |problem/solution text structure|identify similarities and differences of | |text structure and describe |may write a paragraph in one of the |

|Structures |by: |events, ideas, concepts, and information |Looking for what happened and |sequence in a text by: |following structures: |

| |Looking for signal words – |in a text or part of a text by: |what made the event happen. | | |

| |problem, solution, challenge, |Look for signal words – both, alike, |Looking for signal words, |Looking for an order of events |Compare/Contrast |

| |fixed, issue, and resolved. |unlike, similar, different, etc. |because, therefore, so, and as a |Looking for signal words such as|Cause/Effect |

| |Circle words that tell the |Looking for different perspectives |result |before, after, during, then, |Chronology |

| |reader how the writer organized|Looking for evidence that shows that there|To find the cause you ask |finally, first, second, next, |Description |

| |their ideas |is a difference/similarities between two |yourself what happened. |later, after, thereafter. |Problem/Solution |

| | |or more. ideas, topics, or subjects. |To find the effect you ask | | |

| | | |yourself why it happened. | |There may be multiple structures |

| |**Readers should | | | |within one short text. Readers look |

| |visualize/determine what type | | | |closely at each paragraph to see how |

| |of graphic organizer could be | | | |it each is organized. |

| |used to organize the | | | | |

| |information that they have | | | |This lesson should be multiple |

| |read. | | | |days/ongoing. You could use one text |

| | | | | |that has multiple internal structures.|

| | | | | |– See Ready NY |

|Focus: |Readers of short text recognize|Readers of short text can identify the |Readers should be aware of the | |TWO DAYS - Comparing Accounts on the |

| |that writers have a specific |difference between persuasive and |author’s point of view because | |Same Topic (Non-Fiction) |

|Author’s Purpose/ |purpose for writing: to |informative text by noticing the language |authors have bias….there’s always| | |

| |persuade, to inform, to |an author uses. Informative text has |two sides to every story. For ex| |Readers recognize and identify |

|Point of View/Perspective |entertain. To find the |facts only. Persuasive text has facts |– a person who tries to persuade | |firsthand and secondhand accounts and |

| |author’s purpose, |mixed with opinions. |you to not smoke has the point of| |how the perspectives differ. (pg. 142 |

| | | |view that……..smoking is bad! | |of teacher’s book READY) |

| |Multiple ways |Have an inquiry activity that has student | | | |

| |Laugh = to entertain |look at short text and identify evidence |Readers figure out what the | |Comparing Points of View (Fiction) |

| |If you learn something new= to |that shows opinion. |author’s point of view is by | | |

| |inform | |identifying the following | |Use t-chart – similarities/differences|

| |Change your opinion or to act =| |evidence: | | |

| |persuade. | |The argument or topic of | |Readers of short text compare and |

| | | |persuasion. | |contrast points of view from which |

| | | |Sometimes the author states | |different stories are told (pg 169 |

| | | |his/her perspective. | |READY). |

| | | |Recognize and describe how an | | |

| | | |author’s background and culture | | |

| | | |effect the author’s perspective | | |

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| | | |What is the author’s point of | | |

| | | |view? | | |

| | | |According to the author… | | |

| | | |How are the points of view on | | |

| | | |this topic different? | | |

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|Focus: |Readers approach unknown words |Readers look for clues in the text to |Readers use another way to use |Readers use still another way |Readers continue to use context clues |

| |in text by: |determine the meaning of an unknown word. |context clues by substituting |to use context clues. Readers |by looking at the descriptions an |

|Vocabulary | | |similar words to make meaning of |look at the definitions or |author uses to determining the meaning|

| |Decoding the word. |Ex. One way is to look at the sentence |an unknown word. |examples of the word in the |of the new word. |

| |Reading the sentence that the |before and after, or near the new word. | |text. Sometimes, the author | |

| |word is in to look for a | | |defines the meaning of the word |For example: |

| |definition. |As you read, can you give evidence of how |If you know one word, then you |in the paragraph. This requires |The world’s largest predatory shark is|

| |Identify how the word is being |you figure out the meaning of the word? |know the new word. |us to closely read and examine |the great white. It has strong jaws,|

| |used (part of speech) |Word in the sentence | |what the author meant |rows of bone-cutting teeth, and |

| |Read the entire paragraph to |Sentence before |We walk from class to class |Look at the examples. Sometimes|attacks dolphins and whales. |

| |see if you can figure out what |Sentence after |distributing the boxes, making |we can figure out the meaning by| |

| |the author is trying to say or |Sentence |sure that we were giving them to |reading examples of the word. |It could tell you what the new word |

| |to see if the word is defined |Before |the right owners. | |does. In this example, predatory = |

| |for you. |Sentence with new word | |NF Example: |attacks dolphins and whales. |

| |Use what you already know from |Sentence |We substitute the unknown word |Jane Goodall is probably the |What are the descriptions of the word?|

| |your own experiences and what |After |with a word we know, and reread |most famous primatologist in |In this example, predatory = strong |

| |you have read before about the | |the sentence to make sure it |history. She has spent 45 years|jaws, rows of bone-cutting teeth, |

| |subject to help you understand | |makes sense. |studying monkeys in the wild | |

| |the new word. | | | | |

| | | | |Fiction Example: | |

| | | | |Annie’s teacher gave her a | |

| | | | |confidential letter to take home| |

| | | | |to her parents. The teacher | |

| | | | |told her not to reveal the | |

| | | | |contents to anyone but her mom | |

| | | | |and dad. Once Annie got home, | |

| | | | |she took out the letter and | |

| | | | |shared it together in private | |

| | | | |with her parents. | |

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|Focus: |Readers are always thinking |Readers look for punctuation that describe|Readers look for the parts of the|Readers look for the parts of |Idioms/figurative language |

| |about the multiple meanings a |the meaning of the word |word you already know. They pay |the word you already know. They | |

|Vocabulary |word might take on. Readers |(dash, commas, parenthesis) and signal |attention to the prefix attached |pay attention to the suffix | |

| |reread the word and ask |words such as or, is called, this means. |to a word they may know from |attached to a word they may | |

| |themselves questions about the | |another language, root words, |know from another language, root| |

| |word. They may substitute each |Example: |etc. |words, etc. | |

| |of the meanings you know to | | | | |

| |make sure to choose one that |Deforestation, or loss of forests, lead to|Example: |Example: | |

| |makes the most sense. |loss of soil | | | |

| | |Ford’s early cars were all handcrafted. |Readers must PREVIEW a text |-ful | |

| |Example: |This meant that each automobile was |before they get down to business.|-less | |

| |“Whenever he is up to bat, the |slightly different from the next. It also| | | |

| |fans root for him.” |meant that each took a long time to make. |PRE – before |He felt POWERFUL when he spoke | |

| | |It as a lot of work to make a mummy. |VIEW – lOOK |up for himself. | |

| |I’m thinking to myself that I |First, priest washed the dead body. Then | | | |

| |can use “root” in different |they removed the organs—even the brain! | |He was HOMELESS for a long time | |

| |ways…Root can mean the part of | | |before he found a place to live.| |

| |a plant that soaks up water to | | | | |

| |help it grow…it can also mean | | | | |

| |to cheer someone on to make | | | | |

| |them feel confident and proud | | | | |

| |of themselves. | | | | |

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|Genre Specific Lessons |Skill: Identifying structures | Skill: Character Traits in a Play/Theme |Skill: Identify structures of |Skill: Cause/Effect Historical |Recipes/How-tos |

| |of a Play |Comparing/Contrasting 2 settings |poems/look for meaning behind |Fiction | |

| | | |words. | | |

| |Identify that plays are |Identify character traits, | |Students pay attention to key | |

| |fiction. The structure of the |Play’s theme |Identify that poems just like |details in historical events to | |

| |play is important since I |Comparing two setting |plays has not scenes but stanzas.|find the cause and effects | |

| |notice | |The author uses strong images by |What happens tells us the | |

| |Title Scene | |painting picture with words to |effect, why it happens tells us | |

| |Cast of Characters | |support the theme |the cause | |

| |Parenthesis or brackets for | |Figurative language | | |

| |actions | |Metaphors | | |

| |Narrator or summary written in | |Similes | | |

| |italics | |Personification | | |

| |Notice the punctuation, | |Literal vs. figurative | | |

| |feelings | |Rhyming patterns | | |

| |Read plays and present them in | | | | |

| |front of class | | | | |

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| |Based on what the character | | | | |

| |learned, what is the life | | | | |

| |lesson of this story? Can I | | | | |

| |prove why I think this is the | | | | |

| |theme? What is the evidence in | | | | |

| |the story through the events | | | | |

| |and the actions/reactions of | | | | |

| |the character? | | | | |

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