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Lesson Name: Inferring Theme and Word Meaning in Literary Text

Grading Period: CRM1/Unit1 /Arc 3

Grade Level: Grade 3 Reading

Estimated timeframe: (below)

This lesson is appropriate for both Monolingual and Dual Language teachers.

Monolingual Pacing: Day 1 – Engage and SE Focus Lesson #1 (Teacher Model): Context Clues, partners do

Activity 1: Inferring Context Clues

Day 2 – Formative Assessment: “Find Someone Who,” SE Focus Lesson #2: Inferring Theme

Activity#2: Teacher explains extension choices

Day 3 – Complete Activity #2: Theme Extensions, Closure: “Vote with Feet” Summative

Assessment

Dual Language Pacing: Day 1 – Engage and Beginning of Reading SE Focus Lesson #1: Context Clues

Day 2 – Finish SE Focus Lesson#1 (Teacher Model) and Partners do Activity 1: Inferring

Context Clues, Students write in Writing to Learn journals

Day 3 – Formative Assessment: “Find Somebody Who.” SE Focus Lesson #2: Inferring Theme,

Teacher models finding details to support theme.

Day 4 –Activity 2: Teacher explains extension choices. Students begin Activity#2

Day 5 – Students complete Activity 2 and write in Writing to Learn journals. Teacher leads

closure “Vote with Feet”, Summative Assessment

|Lesson Components |

|Lesson Objectives: Students will infer word meaning and themes of realistic fiction stories by carefully considering the evidence in the text, |

|background knowledge and context clues. |

|Language Objectives: Students will practice listening and speaking skills to ask and answer questions. They will read and write to discover and|

|express their understanding of theme and word meaning. |

|Prior Learning: Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about theme and genre in different contexts and provide evidence from |

|the text to support their understanding. |

|Standards(Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills: |

|3.4 Reading/Vocabulary Development. Students understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and writing. |

|3.4B use context to determine the relevant meaning of unfamiliar words or distinguish among multiple meaning words and homographs |

|3.5 Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Theme and Genre. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about the theme and genre in |

|different cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. |

|3.5A paraphrase the themes and supporting details of fables, legends, myths, or stories RC2 |

|3.F19 Figure 19 Reading Comprehension/Skills. Students use a flexible range of metacognitive reading skills in both assigned and independent |

|reading to understand an author’s message. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex |

|texts as they become self-directed, critical readers. |

|3. F19D make inferences about text and use textual evidence to support understanding. |

|College and Career Readiness: |

|Locate explicit textual information, draw complex inferences, and analyze and evaluate the information within and across texts of varying |

|lengths. |

|Essential Questions: |

|How does understanding the structures and features of a text help you to comprehend better when reading? |

|What do good readers do to identify the message the author is trying to share? |

|How does discussing our inferences with one another help to better understand the text? |

|Why does listening to how others are thinking help us see other meanings in a story? |

|Vocabulary |Essential: |

| |Genre, theme, literary, fable, plot, characters, setting, problem, solution, moral, inquiry |

|Lesson Preparation |Message on chart paper with non sense words, Journals and Dictionaries |

| |Graphic organizers: Inferring context clues, inferring theme |

| |2 color pencils per partner pair |

| |Recommended English Texts |Recommended Spanish Texts |

| |From Treasures textbook: |Texas Tesoros textbook |

| |“First Day Jitters”, pg. 10-27 |“¡Qué nervios!, p. 54-71 |

| |“Amazing Grace,” pages 38-57 |“Mi propio Cuartito”, p. 128-149 |

| |“My Very Own Room,” pg. 116-137 |“Querido Juno”, p. 333-355 |

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| |Treasures Leveled Readers: |Tesoros lecturas de niveles: |

| |“The New Hometown” |“El pueblo nuevo” |

| |“HeatWave” |“Ola de calor” |

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| |Chicken Soup For the Kid’s Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark | |

| |Victor Hansen | |

|Anchors of Support |Prepare anchor charts, with students to display in the classroom and in student journals: |

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| |Realistic Fiction anchor (above) |

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| |Inferring Themes in Literary Text |

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| |Details from the Literary Text (Characters’ actions and main events that make up the plot.) |

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| |What I Know or Visualize from MY reading or experience related to the details from the Literary Text. |

| |Themes Inferred |

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|Differentiation |Special Education: For students with reading difficulty, fine motor (esp. writing) challenges, visual challenges, ADD or |

|Strategies |other difficulty focusing when overloaded with text… provide a double spaced copy of the text with an extra wide margin on|

| |the right. This will allow them the space to take notes (and less text on the page is less distracting or intimidating). |

| |You may print copies of the modified fable below. Refer to the student’s IEP for other routinely offered accommodations. |

| |English Language Learners: Prepare student copies of the text with tier 2 words bolded or underlined. Do not introduce or|

| |discuss difficult words prior to reading the text, as word work is part of the process of Shared Inquiry. |

| |Any Struggling Students: Allow students to draw pictures of general ideas that provide evidence of a particular theme in |

| |the story. Act out the story during the 1st and 2nd readings. |

| |Extension for Learning: Choose a realistic fiction story and create a folktale with a similar theme. Be sure to address a|

| |particular audience (might be peers or younger students). |

|21st Century Skills |Critical Thinking and Problem Solving |

|[pic] |Make Judgments and Decisions |

| |Effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims and beliefs. |

| |Analyze and evaluate major alternative points of view. |

| |Synthesize and make connections between information and arguments. |

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| |Intel Visual Ranking Tool App |

| |Students will rank characteristics of successful problem solvers using communication and collaboration skills. |

| |This activity can be done using the app or simply by placing characteristics on sentence strips and asking groups of |

| |students to rank them according to their importance. |

| |Students will rank the following characteristics based on the question: When solving a problem it is most important to |

| |have… |

| |Attentiveness |

| |Speed |

| |Wisdom |

| |Kindness |

| |Perseverance |

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| |The goal is to get students thinking about their decisions and reasoning with evidence and examples. It is critical that |

| |students are communicating their rankings within their groups and sharing with the whole class to compare multiple |

| |perspectives. For the engage activity, the focus is not “getting the right answer” but on the process of ranking and |

| |comparing. |

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| |Teacher Tutorial |

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| |al.pdf |

| |After reading and analyzing the story in the lesson, revisit the ranking activity to gauge understanding and encourage |

| |evaluative thinking. |

| |Re-rank characteristics based on evidence from text. After final discussion, a journal or blog could be a viable summative|

| |assessment. |

|English Language Proficiency Standards: Mandated by Texas Administrative Code (19 TAC §74.4), click on the link for English Language Proficiency|

|Standards (ELPS) to support English Language Learners. |

|Lesson Cycle |

| |Engage students with a letter that includes nonsense words and context clues about a mystery trip (for example, |

|Engage |a trip to Chucky Cheese.) Read through and discuss how we can use the clues around the words and our background|

| |knowledge to figure out the nonsense words. Make connections to how readers use these kinds of strategies when |

| |they encounter unfamiliar words, multiple meaning words or homographs. |

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|Lesson Stages |SE Focus Lesson #1: (Teacher-led/ Whole Group) |

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| |Vocabulary Exploration: |

| |Today we will be reading one type of literary text- a realistic fiction story, “My Very Own Room” pages 116-137 |

| |from the Treasures textbook. |

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| |Tell students that first, we are going to read the story to find out the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary words |

| |by using context clues. |

| |Read the story with your students and stop at the highlighted words to draw attention to context clues that |

| |could help them infer the meaning. |

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| |MODEL |

| |Teacher models how to use context clues to find out the meaning of unfamiliar words. Write down context clues |

| |that may help define the word(s). |

| |Write an inference of the meaning of the word. |

| |List one synonym and one antonym for the word. |

| |Determine whether the word contains a base word, prefix, or suffix and list the meanings of those parts. |

| |Describe what you picture in your mind when you hear the word. |

| |Draw a picture that illustrates the word’s meaning. |

| |Write a sentence of your own using the word. |

| |Using dictionaries as a reference (hard copy or electronic), translate the definition into your own words. |

| |Include the part of speech. |

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| |Words |

| |Context Clues |

| |(Synonyms, Antonyms, prefixes, suffixes, examples) |

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| |Visualization (Drawing) |

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| |Meaning |

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| |separate |

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| |determination |

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| |storage |

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| |exact |

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| |ACTIVITY 1( Partner Work): |

| |Note: Partner work requires students to use a different color pencil within their writing to show proof of their|

| |contribution. |

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| |The students will use context clues to find out the meaning of unfamiliar words. |

| |Students will explore their set of words using appropriate strategies such as finding synonyms and antonyms, and|

| |drawing pictures to illustrate meaning. |

| |The students will continue to fill the context clues graphic organizer to infer the meaning of the word(s). |

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| |Formative Assessment: |

| |Find Someone Who… Review |

| |Hand out copies of the Find Someone Who… To save time, run the chart off with 6 focus questions. |

| |Give students 10 minutes to circulate through the room and ask their classmates for the answers to the questions|

| |on the sheet. Explain to them that each answer should come from a different student and remind them that as |

| |they’re conducting their inquiries, they need to talk in quiet voices and to give the speaker their complete |

| |attention. Tell them to return to their desk when their charts are complete. |

| |Circulate among students, taking note of student’s responses and assessing understanding. |

| |After students return to their desks, ask them to synthesize what they have learned by having them write a brief|

| |reflection on their journals. |

| |Find someone who….. |

| |Unfamiliar Word |

| |Can give you a synonym for your word. |

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| |Can tell you an antonym for your word. |

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| |Prefix |

| |Root |

| |Suffix |

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| |Can visualize and draw the word. |

| |Can give you an example (complete sentence) of your word. |

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| |Can make an inference of your word based on the clues and what they know. |

| |Write the meaning of the word. |

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| |SE Focus Lesson #2: (Teacher-led/ Whole Group) |

| |Explain that authors rarely directly tell us the theme, lesson or message. We usually have to infer the themes.|

| |When readers infer, they need to think about what they already know and the details or clues they find within |

| |the story to infer themes. |

| |Explain to students that good readers visualize, they use descriptive and sensory language to help them picture |

| |the events, characters, or setting in a text. Visualizing helps readers to identify the theme and meanings of |

| |unfamiliar vocabulary words. |

| |The theme is the BIG IDEA or message about life that the author wants to tell readers in a story. To infer and |

| |paraphrase the theme of a selection, readers must paraphrase the details (such as characters ‘actions and the |

| |main events that make up the plot) and think about what they already know related to those details. |

| |Reread the realistic fiction story, “My Very Own Room,” pages 116-137. |

| |Tell students that now we are going to read this story to find out important details that will help us infer |

| |the theme. |

| |Read the story with the students and stop at predetermined places to draw attention to clues that could help |

| |students infer the theme. |

| |With the help of the students, the teacher will start filling the following graphic organizer: |

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| |Inferring Themes in Literary Text |

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| |Details from the Literary Text (Characters’ actions and main events that make up the plot.) |

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| |What I Know or Visualize from my reading or experience related to the details from the Literary Text |

| |Themes Inferred |

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| |ACTIVITY 2 (Partner Work/ Formative Assessment): |

| |Note : Partner work requires students to use a different color pencil within their writing to show proof of |

| |their contribution. |

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| |This week our class is going to read different types of literary texts. Who can recall the characteristics of a |

| |literary text? (Character, setting, problem, important events, solution) |

| |Based on the realistic fiction text we read this week, what are some of the features of realistic fiction that |

| |distinguish this genre from other types of literary texts? Together with the class, build the Realistic Fiction|

| |anchor chart shown above Realistic Fiction anchor . |

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| |Today, we are going to practice inferring the different themes in some different realistic fiction texts. |

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| |Students will choose another realistic fiction text: |

| |What did the author want you to learn from this story? Why do you feel this is an important lesson for people |

| |to learn? Or why not? |

| |Choose another realistic fiction story from the classroom library. Consider plot, characters and setting to |

| |infer the theme (Hint: use the “Inferring Chart” that was used in our previous lesson.) What message about |

| |people, life, or the world does the author want the reader to understand? Be sure to provide evidence from the |

| |text to support your idea. |

| |Write an entry in your reader’s response journal about the story we discussed. Don’t simply write a summary. |

| |Respond in such a way that shows how we merge our thinking with the information from the text. Responses need to|

| |be about your thinking as well as the author’s thinking. |

| |Create a comic strip of this story, or another story, including the moral or lesson learned at the end. |

| |Create a folktale of this story, or another story with the theme, moral, or lesson at the end. |

| |Work with a partner or group to dramatize this story, or another story (make a play or a movie) and include the |

| |theme, moral, or lesson learned at the end. |

|Closure Activity |Creative Learning Strategy: |

| |Vote with your Feet |

| |Create three sections in the room: I agree, I’m not sure, I disagree (or other possibilities). Read out the |

| |following 2 statements and ask students to stand in the section that expresses their opinion: |

| |Inferring theme is hard. |

| |I know strategies for inferring word meaning. |

| |Once students choose their groups, the teacher will prompt students with evaluative questions such as: |

| |Why do you think inferring theme is hard or easy? |

| |Can you explain 2 strategies for inferring an unfamiliar word? |

|Check for Understanding |Formative: |

|(Evaluation) |Find Someone Who… Review |

|[pic] |Journal Writing |

| |Summative: |

| |Ask students to divide a paper into 6 equal parts. |

| |The students will label each part: word, antonym and synonym, prefix, suffix, give an example, and write the |

| |meaning of the word. |

| |Provide students with a short passage and 3 unfamiliar words and they will need to infer the meaning. |

| |Provide students with a short realistic fiction story. (Stories from Chicken Soup For the Kid’s Soul work well|

| |for quick assessments.) Ask students to state in their own words the theme or lesson learned in the story. |

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