Jessica D'Auria
Grade: Third
Subject/Topic/Activity: Reader’s Workshop: Character Change
CCSS: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events
Objective: Students will be able to identify and explain how the character of the zookeepers change from the beginning to the end of the story Be Nice to Spiders.
Materials: Be Nice to Spiders by M.B. Graham, post-it notes from read aloud, pencils, reading notebooks.
Procedure:
Introduction:
- The teacher will tell students to get their post it notes from the read aloud of Be Nice to Spiders and a pencil and then ask them to sit quietly.
- The teacher will call students over to the carpet based on the demonstration of each group to show they are ready to learn.
- The teacher will then discuss how the students have been looking at character change, whether it is throughout one book or during a series of books.
- The teacher will then ask students in what ways do readers know how the character has changed throughout the book?
- The teacher will then use Be Nice to Spiders As an example of this. The students have previously been read the story but the teacher will ask students to explain the plot and guide them through it
Body:
- The teacher will ask significant events that happened during the beginning, middle and end of the story.
- The teacher will then will put the questions students were thinking about on during the read-aloud on the board.
- The teacher will then ask students to discuss some of the questions on the board with a partner next to them.
- While students are discussing answers with a partner the teacher will go around and ask students to explain what they are discussing to the teacher.
- The teacher will then discuss the questions as a whole class.
- The teacher will first ask what character they find changed during the story. (The zookeeper).
- The teacher will then ask the students what they think the character learned by the end of the story that he did not know at the start of the story. (The zookeeper learns that even though at first he thinks spider webs are bad, at the end of the story he realizes that the webs and spiders are good because they help keep animal cages clean and animals healthy).
- The teacher will then ask why the character changes? (The zookeeper changes because he sees the difference between the clean cages with spider webs and then sees the dirty cages with flies that bother the animals after the spider webs are gone).
- The teacher will ask the students why the character changed? (The zookeeper changed because he saw how unhappy the animals and how much dirtier the cages looked with flies all over versus the spider webs).
- The teacher will ask what the turning point in the story is. (The turning point is when the zookeeper notices the difference between the cages when the mayor visited and after the mayor visited [pre-spider webs vs. post-spider webs]).
- The teacher will finally ask what lesson did the character learn? (The zookeeper learned that spiders are actually helpful creatures and that they help our environment and he should not be so quick to judge others).
Closure:
- The teacher will ask students to think about what we can learn from this story and these discussion questions.
- The teacher will ask students to return to their desks and take out their reading notebooks.
- The teacher will ask students to put their posit-its in their reading notebook and jot down what they were thinking about what we can learn from the stories and the questions.
- When students are done they will be asked to put away their notebooks.
- Once notebooks are away they will transition into their transition to recess/lunch.
Assessment: The teacher will assess the identification and explanation of the change of the zookeeper informally by going around the classroom and asking students individually their thoughts. The teacher will informally check the understanding of the students’ as a whole through the classroom discussion. While students are at recess, the teacher can look through reader’s notebooks to assess their understanding of “what we can learn from this story.”
Management and Transitions: The students will be asked to move quietly from their desks to the reading carpet when they demonstrate they are focused and ready to move onto the next activity. The teacher can do this by calling the groups that show they are the most ready first and the groups that take a longer time to get ready last. Later they will be asked to go back to their seats and jot down thoughts in their reader’s notebook. This transition can be completed by asking girls and boys to sit down at different times or odd and even book bin numbers to sit down at different times. Students will be asked to get ready for lunch first by the lunch bin carriers and then by tables who show they are ready to go out to recess.
Differentiation: There is differentiation in this lesson during discussion. Students are able to discuss in smaller groups and in these groups with the teacher before sharing as a whole class. This allows students who are slower to comprehend a chance to explain and gather their thoughts rather than not being ready and listening to the answers. It also allows the lower comprehension students to discuss the amount of questions they can on their own which also allows more advanced students to discuss more questions if they can. The group discussion on the carpet allows all different levels of readers the chance to hear and understand all the answers to the discussion questions. The informal assessment using their reader’s notebooks allows more advanced students to articulate their answers more fluently through their writing and less advanced writers to convey their ideas the best they can.
Grade: Third
Subject/Topic/Activity: Reader’s Workshop: Character Change
CCSS: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events
Objective: Students will be able to identify and explain how the character of the zookeepers change from the beginning to the end of the story Be Nice to Spiders.
Materials: Be Nice to Spiders by M.B. Graham, post-it notes from read aloud, pencils, reading notebooks.
Procedure:
Introduction:
- The teacher will tell students to get their post it notes from the read aloud of Be Nice to Spiders and a pencil and then ask them to sit quietly.
- The teacher will call students over to the carpet based on the demonstration of each group to show they are ready to learn.
- The teacher will then discuss how the students have been looking at character change, whether it is throughout one book or during a series of books.
- The teacher will then ask students in what ways do readers know how the character has changed throughout the book?
- The teacher will then use Be Nice to Spiders As an example of this. The students have previously been read the story but the teacher will ask students to explain the plot and guide them through it
Body:
- The teacher will ask significant events that happened during the beginning, middle and end of the story.
- The teacher will then will put the questions students were thinking about on during the read-aloud on the board.
- The teacher will then ask students to discuss some of the questions on the board with a partner next to them.
- While students are discussing answers with a partner the teacher will go around and ask students to explain what they are discussing to the teacher.
- The teacher will then discuss the questions as a whole class.
- The teacher will first ask what character they find changed during the story. (The zookeeper).
- The teacher will then ask the students what they think the character learned by the end of the story that he did not know at the start of the story. (The zookeeper learns that even though at first he thinks spider webs are bad, at the end of the story he realizes that the webs and spiders are good because they help keep animal cages clean and animals healthy).
- The teacher will then ask why the character changes? (The zookeeper changes because he sees the difference between the clean cages with spider webs and then sees the dirty cages with flies that bother the animals after the spider webs are gone).
- The teacher will ask the students why the character changed? (The zookeeper changed because he saw how unhappy the animals and how much dirtier the cages looked with flies all over versus the spider webs).
- The teacher will ask what the turning point in the story is. (The turning point is when the zookeeper notices the difference between the cages when the mayor visited and after the mayor visited [pre-spider webs vs. post-spider webs]).
- The teacher will finally ask what lesson did the character learn? (The zookeeper learned that spiders are actually helpful creatures and that they help our environment and he should not be so quick to judge others).
Closure:
- The teacher will ask students to think about what we can learn from this story and these discussion questions.
- The teacher will ask students to return to their desks and take out their reading notebooks.
- The teacher will ask students to put their posit-its in their reading notebook and jot down what they were thinking about what we can learn from the stories and the questions.
- When students are done they will be asked to put away their notebooks.
- Once notebooks are away they will transition into their transition to recess/lunch.
Assessment: The teacher will assess the identification and explanation of the change of the zookeeper informally by going around the classroom and asking students individually their thoughts. The teacher will informally check the understanding of the students’ as a whole through the classroom discussion. While students are at recess, the teacher can look through reader’s notebooks to assess their understanding of “what we can learn from this story.”
Management and Transitions: The students will be asked to move quietly from their desks to the reading carpet when they demonstrate they are focused and ready to move onto the next activity. The teacher can do this by calling the groups that show they are the most ready first and the groups that take a longer time to get ready last. Later they will be asked to go back to their seats and jot down thoughts in their reader’s notebook. This transition can be completed by asking girls and boys to sit down at different times or odd and even book bin numbers to sit down at different times. Students will be asked to get ready for lunch first by the lunch bin carriers and then by tables who show they are ready to go out to recess.
Differentiation: There is differentiation in this lesson during discussion. Students are able to discuss in smaller groups and in these groups with the teacher before sharing as a whole class. This allows students who are slower to comprehend a chance to explain and gather their thoughts rather than not being ready and listening to the answers. It also allows the lower comprehension students to discuss the amount of questions they can on their own which also allows more advanced students to discuss more questions if they can. The group discussion on the carpet allows all different levels of readers the chance to hear and understand all the answers to the discussion questions. The informal assessment using their reader’s notebooks allows more advanced students to articulate their answers more fluently through their writing and less advanced writers to convey their ideas the best they can.