Character and Setting Using Text Evidence

So, as I began writing my first fiction unit for the new year, and planning for my first observation with a new principal, I really wanted to make sure I highlighted the CCSS and our school goal, differentiation.

For this lesson I focused the standard on RL.1.3 describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

I was finding that most of the students are relying heavily on their schema when answer questions about key details in the text, rather than specific text evidence. To tackle this problem I decided I would provide my students with text statements and they would then sort those words based on whether they were describing the characters or the setting.

I chose to use a listed exemplar from the appendix within CCSS - Over in the Meadow. I spread this lesson over three days.  Below is the visual from Houghton Mifflin Treasure's series. This is the version I used with my students.

Day 1 : We read the first 3 stanzas of the poem and discussed the change of setting through out the poem - how the characters all were in the meadow, but in different areas of the meadow. We sorted our evidence by what we saw (picture clues) and what we heard (text clues) to help us decide where and when the different parts of the poems where taking place. Below is a picture of the anchor chart I used.

Day 2:  We reread the same 3 stanzas, this time I had written words from the text on the post-its and purposely distributed words to students. They walked to enlarged posters of the three stanzas and placed their post-it either on the setting or the character, based on which it was describing.  For example, slow would have been placed on the picture of the turtle (character) or night would be placed in the sky (setting) of the owl stanza. We did this lesson again focusing on how we can infer more about the characters and setting. The green post-its are from the text, the blue ones are inferential descriptive words.

Day 3: This time other stanzas were selected for independent practice. I also D.I'ed these by having some student's using rebus readers and other using ones that had no picture clues. They read their stanza and then sorted words from the text under the titles - character and setting.

You can pick up a copy of the three different student formative sheets at my TPT store for FREE.

Star of the Week

So I've revamped my Star of the Week procedures with some of the wonderful ideas from my new team. Now students will be highlighted each day of their week.

   

Monday - Star of the Week Book - students fill out a cloze sentence book about some of their favorite things. It is then posted in the classroom.

The rest of the class will visit it throughout the week to complete a compare and contrast sheet. They will fill out a template that says how they are similar and different from the star. These papers will then be compiled into a book that the star can then take home. 

Tuesday - Mystery Box - Students will place an item of personal importance inside the mystery box and read aloud 3 clues to the class. Students will attempt to guess what is hidden inside the box. After revealing the item, the star will explain it's importance with the class.

Wednesday: Guessing Jar - the star fills the jar with a group of items and presents it to the class. The rest of the class will complete the guessing jar notebook, where they estimate the number inside. We will then count out the items using groups of ten.

Thursday: Poem - student will bring in a poem of their choice to read to the class to practice their speaking and fluency skills.

Friday: Guest Reader and Favorite Book - Students share a favorite book with the class and have the option to invite in a family member or friend to read the book to the class.

So, overall I am loving this new format, it fits perfectly within the 10 minute gap between lunch and specials and really makes the students feel special. Plus - what a perfect way to develop speaking and listening skills! 

Pick up the templates in my TPT store for FREE!