3 rd Grade ELA Curriculum Unit Map Weeks Lesson Seeds Table of Contents. 1 Unit Overview Note: attachments are found at the end of the unit

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1 Page 3 rd Grade ELA Curriculum Unit Map Weeks Lesson Seeds Table of Contents Seed 1 Unit Overview Note: attachments are found at the end of the unit #1 RL.3.1 Preview a book before reading to gain information about the plot. #2 RL.3.1 Identify what is happening in a story by paying careful attention to the details. #3 RL.3.1 Identify the details that help me understand the characters and the plot. #4 RL.3.5 Describe how chapters build on each other. #5 RL.3.3 Describe the characters in a book by visualizing their actions and paying close attention to the details. #6 RL.3.3 Use the characters thoughts, words, and actions to grow ideas about a character. #7 RL.3.10 Identify patterns in a story. Use patterns to help me gain a deeper understanding of the book. #8 RL.3.9 Identify the theme of a story. #9 RL.3.9 Compare and contrast the problems and solutions in a book by the same author. COMING SOON! Reading Informational Seeds! 20 Resources

2 Unit Title: Reading, Thinking, Talking, and Writing about Informational and Literary Text Overview: During this unit students will participate in book clubs while reading books from a series. You will teach students how to have deep conversations about stories and characters during a daily interactive read aloud. Students will transfer the conversational strategies learned during interactive read aloud to their book club discussions. In their discussions, students will analyze and grow theories about characters. They will also be expected to use evidence from the text, specific chapters and pages, to support their thinking. Finally, students will read the second book in the series. During this time students will learn how to compare and contrast settings, plots and themes. Focus Standards: RL.3.3: Describe the characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events. RL.3.5: Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections. RL.3.9: Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series). RL.3.10: Supporting Standards: RL.3.1; RF.3.4a,b; L.3.3a, 3.4a, 3.5a, 3.6; W.3.8, 3.10; SL.3.1a,b,c,d, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.6 Reading Workshop is the recommended framework for standards based reading instruction. The workshop framework is a cycle of differentiated support that begins with whole group instruction, narrows to small group and individual instruction based on student need, and concludes with whole group sharing. Assessment and intervention are embedded within the workshop framework. Classrooms that do not use a workshop framework are expected to implement research based reading instruction daily. Research based reading instruction provides daily opportunities for students to experience: interactive read alouds, shared reading, whole group mini lesson, small group instruction, conferring with a teacher, independent reading practice, thinking, talking and writing in response to reading, and closure. Teachers meet with small groups of students on a rotating basis and meet with the lowest achieving students daily. Targeted interventions are provided for students who need more support. Whole group, small group, and individual instruction should be standards based. This unit includes multiple lesson seeds. Lesson seeds include objectives, learning targets, sample activities, anchor charts, thinking stems, and formative assessment suggestions. Lesson seeds should be used to build or grow a learning experience, and are for the whole group mini lesson. A learning experience includes standards, learning targets, materials, formative assessment opportunities, mini lessons (e.g., teach/model/demonstrate, guided practice), daily work time (e.g., guided reading, focus groups, and/or book clubs), and daily group sharing (reflection and evaluation of the learning). Some lesson seeds are designed to take multiple days. For example, the mini lesson might take one or two days, the guided practice would become the mini lesson for the following day, and possibly extend to the next day. In addition, based on formative assessment, if the majority of students do not understand the mini lesson concept, seeds may be repeated with different texts or excerpts. If some of the students do not understand the mini lesson concepts, small group instruction and teacher led conferences are utilized to re teach, reinforce, and support students who need additional help. 2

3 Although it may take more than one day to get through one seed, always remind readers of the focused learning target at the end of the daily mini lesson. Then, send readers off to read on their own with a directive relating to the mini lesson for their independent reading and writing. After work time, readers are gathered again to discuss and share the strategies and thinking they used while reading and writing and how they might have grown as readers. Interactive read alouds, as well as on level shared reading experiences allowing students to see and hear fluent reading of the text, should be included daily in addition to the reading during the mini lessons. Many seeds revisit texts that have previously been read in prior experiences of shared reading and/or read alouds. Word Study should occur daily within the context of reading. The purpose is to promote understanding of how words work and how to use them to effectively communicate ideas. This may occur as the workshop mini lesson, as a focus group, during guided reading, during read aloud, during content area instruction, or as targeted word work instruction. Students will need the opportunity to apply the learning during authentic reading and writing. Writing Standards 1 6 and most Language Standards will be taught during Writing Workshop. However, these standards will reinforce and support the learning within these units. Handwriting Instruction During this six week unit, students in third grade should receive cursive writing instruction on a daily basis as part of their word study and writing times. Appropriate letter and word formations are expected and reinforced as students engage in authentic writing tasks. The JCPS Handwriting Map, which includes a link to resources to support instruction in letter formation, can be found on our website. 3

4 Objective: Students will ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text. Lesson Seed # 1 Learning Target: I can preview a book before reading to gather information about the plot. (RL.3.1) Note: The following lesson seeds (#1-10) are meant to support book clubs using chapter books in a series. Each lesson seed will begin with a read aloud that should occur prior to the mini-lesson. During the read aloud you will model fluent reading, deep thinking about texts, and strategies for how to talk about books. Then during the mini-lesson you will use small snippets from the read aloud to teach students strategies that will help them to be more proficient readers. Students will practice these strategies during the guided practice portion of your literacy block. Finally, students will apply these strategies and skills to the books they are reading in their book club. While meeting in book clubs, students will have the opportunity to discuss their books, using the discourse strategies taught during read aloud, and finally they will be able to share their thinking about the book with peers. For more about book clubs, see the attachment, Getting Started with Book Clubs. Over the next couple weeks you will be reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, by Judy Blume, during read aloud. You will be teaching strategies to help students keep track of, analyze, and understand the characters in stories (RL.3.1, RL.3.3). You will also teach students how to use writing and conversation about their books as tools to deepen their comprehension (W.3.10 and (SL.3.1 a-d). At the same time you will also want to teach strategies for reading books in a series. For example, students will need to hold on to information about the characters not only from chapter to chapter (RL.3.5), but from book to book. Once book clubs are reading the second book in the series, they can then start comparing and contrasting the themes, settings, and plots in these stories (RL.3.9). In order to prepare for book clubs, you will need to collect 4-6 copies of various chapter books that are written as a series. Choose texts that students can manage while still providing opportunities for choice. See the attached list of possible series chapter books. Prior to this lesson, students will need to be placed in their book clubs and know what book they are going to read. Please see Getting Started with Book Clubs for ideas to help students choose books. Interactive Read Aloud: Because this is the first lesson for books clubs you will not begin reading the read aloud text, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, until the following day. Mini-lesson: (RL.3.1, RL.3.3, 3.10; SL.3.1a,b, 3.6; L.3.6; W.3.8, 3.10) The purpose of today s mini-lesson is to model how to preview a text before reading to gather information about the plot. You will want to provide a copy of the front cover, the back cover, the table of contents, and the first page of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Explain to students that today you are going to show them how to properly preview a text before reading it in order to gather information about the plot. Focus your modeling and think aloud on previewing Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Encourage students to write and/or highlight on their copies while you model for them. This will prepare them for their work time activity. When I preview a book, there are four parts I look at to gather information that might tell me about the plot of the book. First, I look at the front cover and the back cover. Then I look at the table of contents if included, and lastly, I look at the very first page of the first chapter. Let s begin with the front cover. When I look at the cover, I see an illustration showing a boy who looks frustrated. Then I see a little boy running in the background carrying a turtle in a bowl. He looks like he is having a good time. I also see that the author is Judy Blume and that she is a best-selling author. I wonder what else she has written. Be sure to jot your thoughts down on a post- it note and attach to the front cover or have a copy of it in front of you so that you can show students exactly how they will be taking notes. When I look at the back cover, I see the blurb. 4

5 The blurb is usually located on the back cover and it provides a brief synopsis of the book. Read the blurb aloud. Think aloud the information gathered from the blurb. Be sure to track your thinking as you model. Encourage students to track their thinking. Guided Practice: (may occur during the next mini-lesson) Provide time for students to record their thinking about what they notice and what information they have learned about the plot. Have students work with a partner to share their thinking. Once all four parts of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing have been previewed, then instruct students that they will do the same thing during work time with their book club books. Work Time: Students will work with their book club members and preview their books. You will need to provide them copies of the front cover, back cover, and first pages of their books. This will allow them to write and/or highlight directly on the pages. As students work, circulate throughout the room. Ask questions about what you see and hear them doing. Are students previewing all four parts? Which part did they start with and why? Ask a few students to be prepared to share their thinking. Once students finish their preview, have them read independently in books of their choice. This is also a time to pull small guided reading groups or focus groups. Share: Bring students back together. The purpose of this time is to lead a discussion about the process of previewing books. Start by revisiting the learning target. What important information were students able to gather from their previews? Where did they start? Have students give a show of hands if they started with the blurb. Allow students to talk about their process and why. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart: What can we learn about the book from the front cover? The back cover? The table of contents? What do we know about the characters in the story? The setting? The problem? What questions do you have after previewing your book? Formative Assessment Opportunities: In their reader s notebooks, ask students to write in response to: After previewing, what do you know about the story? What questions do you have? Lesson Seed # 2 Learning Target: I can identify what is happening in a story by paying careful attention to the details. (RL.3.1) Interactive Read Aloud: Before beginning the read aloud, pair students with a partner from their book club. This partnership should stay the same for the entire read aloud book. During the read aloud you will be introducing strategies for discourse that students will practice with their partner and then continue to use these strategies with their book clubs. After reading aloud the 1 st chapter, explain to students that the most important part of their book club is the conversations they will have with their peers about their books. On an anchor chart labeled Conversation Prompts record the following prompts: I agree because I thought that too because I disagree because and I thought something different because Then share with students a part from the text where they can practice using one of the prompts. For example, I might say, When I was reading the part where Peter was telling us that his biggest problem was his two year old brother Fudge because he is always in his way, I was thinking that Peter should not feel this way about his brother because he is only two. I am also wondering if Fudge is really as annoying as Peter makes 5

6 him out to be. Then have students turn and talk about what they think using the conversation prompts listed on the anchor chart. While students are sharing, you will want to listen in to their conversations, encouraging students to always take it back to the text. What in the text makes you think that? Bring students back together and point out specific behaviors you saw that are important to having an effective conversation. I noticed that when and were talking they. This is important because. Mini-lesson: (RL.3.1, RL.3.3, 3.10; SL.3.1a,b, 3.6; L.3.6; W.3.8, 3.10) Explain to students that authors often include lots of important details in the first chapter of a book such as introducing characters, setting, and sometimes even the main problem of the story. Readers today we are going to begin reading the first chapter of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. We are going to practice reading slowly, paying attention to clues that tell us who the characters are and where they are. Readers have to pay close attention because authors often don t come right out and tell the reader everything; instead they leave clues (details) that help the reader know who and what the story is about. Sometimes it feels like the author has dropped you into the middle of the story. You will have to use the clues or the details to figure out where the story takes place and what is going on. Draw a two-column chart labeled: WHAT WE KNOW/WHAT WE WONDER. Read aloud the first few sentences. Then think aloud about what you know so far recording your thinking on the chart. What We Know * Character won Dribble at a birthday party. * Peter is telling the story. * Dribble is a turtle. * Peter lives in an apartment building. * Peter s mom is not happy about the turtle and expects Peter to take care of it. Guided Practice: (may occur during the next mini-lesson) Provide partners a copy of 1 or 2 paragraphs from the first chapter of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and a KNOW/WONDER chart to take notes. Have partners work together to read the short excerpt while paying close attention to the details and recording what they know and wonder on their graphic organizer. Bring students back together to discuss their thinking. As students share their thinking, especially if it is an inference, ask them to share what in the text made them think that. Work Time: Ask students to make a KNOW/WONDER chart in their reading notebook. While reading in their book club books, have students stop at the end of each page in the first chapter to record what they know and what they wonder. While students are reading and recording their thinking, you will want to conference with students, asking them: What do you know so far? Where does this story take place? What is doing? What does that tell you about? Small groups are also pulled at this time. Share: After students have had the opportunity to read the first chapter and record their thinking, bring the class back together to prepare them for their first meeting in their book clubs. Remind students of the conversation prompts that they were introduced to during the interactive read aloud. You may also want to point out what effective speaking and listening looks and sounds like (see anchor chart below). Then send students off to meet in their book cubs to discuss their KNOW/WONDER charts. While books clubs are meeting you will want to listen to the conversations and make notes about next steps for instruction. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart: What new information have you learned about the setting? The plot? Who are the characters that are introduced in the first chapter? What do you know about them? Who is telling the story? How do you know? 6 Chapter 1 What We Wonder * I wonder if Fudge will try and play with Dribble.

7 Formative Assessment Opportunities: Collect students KNOW/WONDER charts they filled out for their book club book. Read through students thinking and decide on next steps for teaching. For example, if you notice that most students are not using the details to make inferences, recording only information that is directly stated in the text, then you will want to model again using the read aloud book. The following is a list of skills we want readers to use while reading If you notice that students are not using these skills after looking at their KNOW/WONDER charts, then these are skills you will want to teach: - Identifying who is telling the story - Inferring where and when the story takes place - Figuring out who is saying what to whom (dialogue) - Begin drafting an initial impression of the main characters Lesson Seed # 3 Learning Target: I can identify details in the story that help me to understand the characters and plot. (RL.3.1) Interactive Read Aloud: Read aloud chapter 2, pausing periodically to model and record your thinking on the KNOW/ WONDER chart. This is very important because this is what you want students doing while reading their book club books. You may even want to provide students with their own KNOW/WONDER charts so they can record their own thinking during the read aloud. After reading a few pages, stop and say, Now turn and talk with your partner about your thinking. What do we know about Peter? What problem(s) does he have? Be sure to use the conversation prompts from the anchor chart. Listen as students are sharing their thinking. What We Know When you bring the group together, be sure to point out what you noticed about their conversations. I could tell that was listening to because as they were talking was looking at him and also nodding to let her partner know that she understood what he was saying. I also noticed that after shared his thinking his partner used one of the conversation prompts to tell him he thought something different and why. After reading page 14, ask students to turn and talk about how the Yarbys treat Peter and Fudge. What do you notice about how the Yarbys treat Fudge? Peter? Why do you think they treat them differently? How do you think this makes Peter feel? After discussing, continue reading chapter 2 and adding your thinking to the KNOW/WONDER chart. Finally, ask students if any of the questions on the I wonder side have been answered. Do we know why Peter dislikes his brother? Mini-lesson: (RL.3.1, RL.3.3; SL.3.1a,b, 3.6; L.3.6; W.3.8, 3.10) Explain to students that their KNOW/WONDER chart is a place to help them keep track of their thinking and to read more attentively by paying close attention to the details. However, we need to make sure we are recording the details that are important and that will help 7 Chapter 1 * Character won Dribble at a birthday party. * Peter is telling the story. * Dribble is a turtle. * Peter lives in an apartment building. * Peter s mom is not happy about the turtle and expects Peter to take care of it. * Fudge is Peter s biggest problem. * The Yarbys (President of Juicy-O) are coming to stay with Peter s family. * Fudge has to sleep in Peter s room and Peter is not happy about it. * Fudge ate two flowers- Peter s mom is worried he will be sick. * Mrs. Yarby thinks Fudge is adorable. She does not pay much attention to Peter. Chapter 2 What We Wonder * I wonder if Fudge will try and play with Dribble. * Why does Peter dislike his brother so much? * I wonder if Peter feels left out because Fudge is getting all of the attention.

8 us to understand the story. Readers, today I want to show you how to sift through details by thinking about which details are important to hold on to and are worth making notes about. For example, we know that Peter is the main character in the story and that is brother Fudge is his biggest problem. To help me better understand why Fudge is his biggest problem, I am going to want to pay close attention to the details that help me understand this relationship. Project page 9 from chapter 2. Read aloud page 9, pausing after the first paragraph to think about any details that help me to understand the relationship between Fudge and Peter. For example, after reading the first paragraph you might say: This part was about how Peter s mom wants to use Fudge s bedroom for their guests and how this room used to be a guest room for his Grandma. I am going to write down that Grandma doesn t sleep over very often under the KNOW section of the chart. I think this is important because it might be another reason why Peter thinks that Fudge is a problem because now his grandmother doesn t get to stay as often. Continue reading pausing to think aloud about which details are important to note. Guided Practice: (may occur during the next mini-lesson) Provide students with copies of pages 10 and 11. Have students work with partners to sift through the details while recording what they think will be important to remember under the KNOW column. Which details help us to understand Peter? Which details help us to understand why Peter thinks that Fudge is a problem? Bring students back together and have them share their thinking. Be sure to have students justify their thinking by explaining how that detail helps them to understand the story. Work Time: Normally during work time, you will want students to begin reading immediately and practicing the strategies being taught during the mini-lesson. However, just for today students will need to meet in their book clubs to decide how much they are going to read. You will want to encourage students to start slower in the beginning, and then pick up the pace once they have a good handle on what s going on in the story. Have book clubs decide on how much they will read before they meet again with their book clubs. This picture shows one way you can keep track of book clubs and their reading. Next, students will record how they will keep track of their thinking under Assignment. For this lesson all book clubs will be using the strategy of recording their thinking on their KNOW/WONDER charts. Finally, have students begin reading and recording their thinking on their charts. Students will need time to read in their books, practicing sorting out important details, and recording their thinking on their charts. Select 3-4 students to conference with during this time. You will also want to pull small groups which can either be made up of students from the same book club or different book clubs, depending on the need. For example, you may notice that there are 3-4 students in different book clubs who are all having difficulty with reading the dialogue fluently, therefore limiting their understanding of the story. You could pull these students in a small group, model how to read dialogue fluently by paying close attention the punctuation, and then allow them to practice in their book club books. Share: With 10 minutes left in work time, you will want students to meet in their book clubs. Before they meet have students prepare for the conversation by choosing one detail that they think is really important to understanding the story. Students will share this detail and why they think it is important. Remind students of the Conversation Prompts chart and ask them to use it as a guide. What we don t want is for students to share their thinking in a round-robin fashion by going from one thought to the next. After one person shares we want students to discuss this idea. Listen as groups discuss. You may notice a conversational 8

9 skill you will need to address during the next read aloud. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart: Which details help us to understand the characters? Problem? What new information do we have about? Formative Assessment Opportunities: During guided practice observe students as they sort through the details in the text. Are they recording details that will help them understand the story? Make notes about students who are having difficulty with this. You could pull these students together for a small focus group. During work time, conference with students while reading their books and make notes about their reading. What are their strengths? What do they need help with? While conferring with students use the thinking stems above to check for understanding. Objective: Students will refer to parts of stories when writing or speaking about text and describe how each successive part builds on the next. Lesson Seed # 4 Learning Target: I can describe how chapters build on each other. (RL.3.5) Note: Standard 5 falls under the heading Craft and Structure. The standards under this heading (standards 4-6) are referring to how a text is put together. What words does the author use to let us know that the character is happy? Why does the author say it that way? How does chapter 2 build on chapter 1? In the following mini-lesson students will shift their thinking from What is this story about? to How is this story put together? You will be teaching your students to notice how one chapter builds on to the next by paying attention to new details that help the reader understand the story. Mini-lesson: (RL.3.5, RL.3.1, 3.3, 3.10; SL.3.1a,b,c, 3.6; W.3.8) Show students a stack of building blocks and explain that authors will often use the chapters in a book to build a story the same way we might use these blocks to build a tower. Each one supports the next. Post the anchor chart of the KNOW/WONDER chart that was created during the previous lessons. What We Know * Character won Dribble at a birthday party. * Peter is telling the story. * Dribble is a turtle. * Peter lives in an apartment building. * Peter s mom is not happy about the turtle and expects Peter to take care of it. Ask students to look at their notes from chapter 1 and identify what they know based on the details that were given by the author. Model the first example. After reading the first chapter I know several of * Fudge is Peter s biggest problem. the characters in the story including Peter, Chapter 2 his mom, and his brother, Fudge. I also * The Yarbys (President of Juicy-O) are know the setting of the story, which is in coming to stay with Peter s family. an old apartment building, probably in a * Fudge has to sleep in Peter s room large city, because it says 25 West and and Peter is not happy about it. 68 th * Fudge ate two flowers- Peter s Street. Then ask students to turn and mom is worried he will be sick. talk to a partner about what else they * Mrs. Yarby thinks Fudge is adorable. know from the first chapter. After students She does not pay much attention have had a few minutes to share out to Peter. their thinking, explain to students that the reason we know what we know is because of the details the 9 Chapter 1 What We Wonder * I wonder if Fudge will try and play with Dribble. * Why does Peter dislike his brother so much? * I wonder if Peter feels left out because Fudge is getting all of the attention.

10 author has given to us. However, we don t know everything. The author doesn t want to tell us everything in the first chapter because if she did there would be no reason to keep reading. Choose one piece of information that students pointed out they learned from chapter one. For example, we find out Peter s main problem, his younger brother Fudge. The author has given some information about why Fudge is a problem, but does not go into great detail about it. Show students their notes from chapter 2. Point out an example of how the author provides more details about why Fudge is a problem for Peter. Now, let s look at our notes from chapter two. We find out that Fudge has to sleep in Peter s room. This is a problem for Peter because his brother talks and slurps in sleep which keeps Peter awake. Guided Practice: (may occur during the next mini-lesson) Allow students to work with partners to find additional evidence that supports why Fudge is Peter s biggest problem. While partners are working, circulate the room to listen to students conversations. Finally, bring the class together and invite a few partnerships to share their thinking. Refer back to the learning target and point out to students how chapter 2 builds on chapter 1 by giving the reader more details about why Fudge is his biggest problem. Work Time: During work time invite students to think about how the chapters in their books build on each other. How does chapter 2 build on chapter 1? What new information do you learn about the characters? While reading, students can either take notes on their KNOW/WONDER charts or on post-it notes. Small groups are also pulled at this time. Share: With 10 minutes left in work time, you will want students to meet in their book clubs. To prepare for today s conversations ask students to jot down their thinking about how the chapter they read today builds on the previous chapter. How does the 2 nd chapter build on the first? What do you now know about (character) that you didn t know before? After students have had a few minutes to jot down their thinking, have them meet with their book club members to discuss and share their thinking. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart: How does each chapter supply meaning to the story? How does the first chapter help us to understand the second chapter? How does the second chapter build on the first chapter? In which chapter does the author introduce what the main character wants? Use examples from the story in your explanation. Lesson Seed # 5 Learning Target: I can describe the characters in a book by visualizing their actions and paying close attention to the details. (RL.3.3) Interactive Read Aloud (must occur prior to the mini lesson): Tell students that as you continue to read aloud from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing they will continue to practice the types of conversations they will have during their book club meetings. Explain that all book club members have the responsibility to come to book club discussion prepared. Each member must read the assigned pages, keep track of their thinking, and prepare for conversations. Today, during read aloud you and your students will continue to keep track of your thinking and students will talk to their partner about their thinking. Explain to students that they are going add a new column to their KNOW/WONDER charts labeled WHAT WE THINK. This column will allow students to add their thinking or reactions to the text. Read aloud chapter 3, stopping to jot your thinking on the KNOW/WONDER/WHAT WE THINK chart. Be sure to think out loud, explain your thinking, and explain your process. You want students to be able to do the same work as they read and prepare for book clubs. For example, after reading on page 24, No! I told her. I m not going to stand on my head anymore. I went to my room and slammed the door. Wow! I can feel how frustrated Peter is feeling 10

11 right now. I think he is feeling like no one will listen to him. He keeps trying to tell his mom he doesn t want to but she just keeps asking him. Maybe he feels frustrated because his mom is not listening to him. What We Know What We Wonder What We Think (Maybe ) * Peter s father lost the Juicy-O account. * Peter learns to stand on his head. * Fudge won t eat and his mom wants Peter to stand on his head to try and get Peter to eat. Chapter 3 * I wonder why Peter s mom is not listening to Peter? How is this making Peter feel? 11 * Maybe Peter is frustrated because his mom doesn t listen to him. Fudge continues to get most of the attention from his parents. Continue reading, stopping again to think aloud, record your thinking and explain. For example, after reading page 24 where it says This was turning out to be fun after all I m going to jot a quick note on my chart to hold my thinking. I am noticing that Peter is happy that Fudge is finally getting in trouble. This may be something I want to talk to my partner about. As you read, continue to add your thinking as well as students thinking to the class chart. You will also want to stop periodically for students to record their own thinking on their charts. After students have jotted their thinking, you will want them to talk about their thinking with their partner. Remind partnerships to use the conversation prompts. Listen as students have conversations. Notice if they are talking about the same topic for a while or if they are jumping around between ideas. If you notice a partnership that talks a long time on one topic, ask them to recreate their conversation for the group. Students learn from great models! Mini-lesson: (RL.3.3, RL.3.1, 3.5, 3.10; SL.3.1a,b,c, 3.6; W.3.8, 3.10) The purpose of today s mini-lesson is to help students bring their stories to life by taking important scenes and acting them out. This strategy will not only engage your students in the reading, but it will also help them to understand the characters at a deeper level. Explain to students that sometimes readers have to become the characters to truly understand them and their actions. Today we are going to reread a section from Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing. While I read this section, I want you to imagine yourself in the room with Peter and his mom. Listen to the story as if you were Peter. Read aloud beginning at the top of page 21, stopping after Peter goes to his room, slamming his door. Readers, as I reread this page I want you to become Peter. How would Peter s face look? What about his body? Prompt students to think about how Peter is feeling during the scene. What do his actions tell us about he is feeling? Guided Practice: Give partners a copy of page 21. Explain that they are going reread this section and partner 1 is going to be mom and partner 2 is going to be Peter. Have partners read this page silently thinking about how they will act out their role. Then have partners read as if they were characters. Once each partner has acted out the role of Peter, ask them to talk a few minutes about what they are learning about Peter. How is Peter feeling? Why is he feeling this way? After reading, point out what you noticed. I could really hear the frustration in Peter s voice. When I listened to it sounded as if Peter was annoyed at his mom. Work Time: While students are reading today have them try reading their books taking on the role of the main character. For example, if the character shrugs their shoulders then they will want to shrug their shoulder. Encourage them to make their stories come to life. While students are reading, confer with students asking them questions as if they were the main character. How are you feeling? What are you thinking? What made you do/say that? This strategy also helps students to understand the point of view of this character (RL.3.6). Stop students half way through work time and tell them that before they meet with their book clubs today they will want to mark a passage that has a lot of action and emotion. They will have an opportunity to do some more acting with the passages that they marked. Have students continue to read and record their thinking.

12 Share: With 10 minutes left in work time, you will want students to meet in their book clubs. Before they meet make sure students have selected one scene to share with their book club. While students are in their book clubs have each person share the scene that they really felt had a lot of action and emotion. Once everyone has shared, ask them to choose one scene that they feel is important to the story and take turns acting out. If there are only two characters in the scene then students can take turns. Remind students that the purpose is to help them understand the characters better. Once the group has role played this scene, then have them discuss what they have learned about the characters. How do you think the character was feeling? Why? How did the other characters react to this character? Why? Continue to remind students to use the conversation prompts on the anchor chart. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart: Describe the image in your mind. What are you seeing? Hearing? Strategies Readers Use to Grow Ideas About Characters We keep track of the main characters in the book including important How do you think is feeling? Why? details about each character. How is the character acting? We visualize the text creating movies in our mind. What words does the author uses that We pay close attention to the character s actions; we become that character. help you to create this image? Now, what do you know about this character? Formative Assessment Opportunities: Have students mark one part in their reading response notebooks or choose a post-it note that represents their best work with visualizing. Collect this thinking to analyze for next steps. Does the reader include specific details about the character s actions? Feelings? Their tone of voice? Does the reader include specific information about the setting or other important characters that may be part of the scene? Performance task: Provide students with a copy of page 23 from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Before reading, remind students to create an image in their minds as they read. Then after reading, have students describe Peter using evidence from what they just read. Collect students descriptions of Peter to look for evidence of understanding the character and evidence to support their thinking. Lesson Seed # 6 Learning Target: I can use the characters thoughts, words, and actions to grow ideas about a character (RL.3.3) Note: During this interactive read aloud you are going to be teaching students how to elaborate on one idea. You have probably noticed when students are talking in their book clubs they tend to jump from one idea to the next. It may even sound like Round Robin sharing. However, if we want students to dive deeper into their thinking about a text, then we have to teach them how to elaborate on the ideas shared during book clubs. You may also want to divide this read aloud into two days. On the first day students are jotting down their thinking and talking about the read aloud. On the second day, students will choose 1 idea to elaborate on. Interactive Read Aloud (must occur prior to the mini lesson): As you get deeper into the read aloud you may want to move away from the KNOW/WONDER chart and begin showing students how to capture their thinking on post-it notes. Before reading aloud, remind students of the strategies that they have been working on to get to know and understand the characters in the book (see anchor chart in Seed #5). Today during the read aloud, keep these strategies alive by stopping periodically to describe your images, or inviting students to turn and talk about theirs. Explain to students that you are going to continue reading, stopping periodically to jot down your thinking about the characters. Students need to jot their thinking as well using post-it notes. To help students manage these materials provide each student with a clipboard and 3 blank post-it notes to record their thinking. Begin reading chapter 4, stopping at the 12

13 bottom of page 27 to share your thinking and model how to record this thinking on a post-it note. What new information do we have about the characters? Provide students 1-2 minutes to jot down their thinking too. Continue reading, stopping to jot down your thinking (including the images in your mind) and providing students time to jot down their thinking. Be strategic about where to stop and share your thinking. (You may want to start this on the next day.) Tell students that today they are going to learn a new strategy that will help them to have deeper conversations during book clubs. Students will work with their partner to read through their post-it notes, choosing just 1 that they will want to spend some time talking about. Readers today we are going to practice having a conversation around just 1 idea (or post-it note) rather than going from one idea to the next. This strategy will help us to dive even deeper into the book and help us to understand the characters. To try this you and your partner are going to choose just 1 post-it note to talk about. Choose a jotting that you think will spark a great conversation. It might be something you think someone will disagree with or it could be something that you think will help others understand the story. Model this process by going through each of your post-notes thinking out loud about which ones would start a great conversation. Next, add the following conversation prompts to the anchor chart: *Can you say more about that? *I would like to add to what said. *I m thinking from another point of view that Then choose 1 student to help you model how to have a conversation sticking with just 1 idea. Finally, have partners practice using the conversation prompts that were added to the chart. Once students have had 4-5 minutes to talk about this idea then bring students back together to share what they noticed. Mini-lesson: (RL.3.3, 3.10, RL.3.1, RL.3.5; SL.3.1a,b, 3.6; W.3.8) Explain to students that today you are going to look closely at a character and get to know them through their thoughts, words and actions. Explain that our goal is to begin to develop theories about characters, and one way to do that is to pay close attention to their actions and begin to think about their actions as choices. Let s return to chapter 4 and reread the part where Fudge tries to fly and falls from the jungle gym. As I read we are going to be making a movie in our minds as we always do, but at the same time paying close attention to Peter s actions. Begin reading the top of page 36 until the middle of page where Sheila first cries that it wasn t her fault. I can see Peter running, as fast as he can to the jungle gym. I can see the worried look on his face, as he tries to wipe the blood from Fudge s face. I can also hear the anger in his voice when he tells Sheila to shut up. I know that if I pay close attention to how Peter is acting, it can tell me more about what kind of person he is. His actions, running to his brother and wiping his face, show that he is really worried about him. It also shows that he is caring. Even though his brother drives him crazy he really does love him and doesn t want him to get hurt. I can also think about his actions as a choice. He chooses to run over and help his brother. He also chooses to blame Sheila rather than blaming Fudge for getting hurt. I am going to record this thinking in my reader s notebook so that I can begin to keep track of my ideas about Peter. 13

14 After thinking aloud, restate the strategies you just used such as visualizing, paying close attention to the character s actions, and thinking about these actions as choices. Guided Practice: Provide students with a short excerpt from the read aloud to practice growing ideas about characters. For example, copy pages 39 and the top of 40. This is the part where Peter s mom blames him for the accident. First have students read, visualizing Peter s actions and paying close attention to the details. Then, ask students to jot down their thinking about Peter. How did Peter react to his mom when she blamed him for the accident? What does this tell you about him? Think about his actions as choices. What other choices could he have made? Allow students a few minutes record their own ideas about Peter. Then have students meet with their partner or with a small group to share their thinking. While sharing, remind students to use Conversation Prompts from the anchor chart. While students are sharing, listen to their conversations to see if they are able to grow new ideas or add to existing ideas about Peter. Also listen to see if students are using the conversation prompts effectively and elaborating on each other ideas. Bring students back together and give them a minute or two to add to their earlier jottings. Invite a few students to share their ideas about Peter. Ask students to share if their thinking changed after their conversations. Finally, model for students how to add this new thinking their notebooks. Because you won t have the opportunity to listen to every conversation, you may want to collect students thinking to analyze for next steps. Work Time: Before students begin reading their book club books, ask them to think about their main character and to jot down some notes about what they already know about this character. Then, while reading, students will jot down their thinking about this character. Remind them to pay careful attention to the character s actions and to think about those actions as choices. They will want to place their post-it notes next to the places in the text that helped to grow their ideas about this character. While students are reading independently, pull small groups of students that share the same needs. (Even though students may be reading different books, they may need the same strategies and therefore you could pull them in the same group). You may also want to confer with students while they are reading independently. Share: With 10 minutes left in work time you will want students to meet in their book clubs. Before they meet, have students select one of their post-it notes to share. Tell them to pick a post-it note that they think will spark a great conversation. Remind students to elaborate on each other s ideas while sharing (see attached bookmark for additional conversation prompts). While students are sharing in their book clubs listen to their conversations. Make notes about effective book club conversations and be sure to point these out during share time. You will also want to make notes about ideas for mini-lessons based on their conversations. For example, you may see students interrupting each other or not staying on topic. These could be topics that you could address during the next interactive read aloud. Bring the class back together as a whole group. Restate the learning target and ask a couple of students to share their ideas about their characters. You can also briefly ask students to respond to how the conversations went during their brief book club discussion. Did your thinking about characters grow because of ideas shared in your book clubs? Did your thinking change? Finally, point out examples of effective conversations that you heard while listening to their book clubs. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart: How is this character acting? What does this tell you? What do the choices this character makes reveal? What other choices could they have made? Why might this character have acted this way? Strategies Readers Use to Grow Ideas About Characters We keep track of the main characters in the book including important details about each character. We visualize the text creating movies in our mind. We pay close attention to the character s actions; we become that character. We pay attention to the actions of our characters and see those actions as choices. 14

15 Formative Assessment Opportunities: During work time, conference with students while they read their book club book and take notes on the theories they are developing and growing about characters. Performance Task: What theory can you begin to develop about the main character in your book? Use evidence from the text to support this theory. Objective: Students will read and comprehend stories at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity. Lesson Seed # 7 Learning Targets: I can identify patterns in a story. I can use the patterns to help me gain a deeper understanding of the book (RL.3.10). Interactive Read Aloud (must occur prior to the mini lesson): Provide each student with a clipboard and 6 blank post-it notes. Explain to students that during the read aloud if they have an idea they want to hold on to or talk more about then they can jot it down on their post-it note. During the read aloud, model your thinking by jotting down ideas that you think are important and encourage students to jot down their thinking as well. At the end of the read aloud ask students to look over their post-it notes and choose one idea that they want to talk more about with a partner. While partners are sharing their thinking listen to students conversations. Are students elaborating on ideas or are they bouncing from one idea to the next? Are their conversations deepening their understanding of the text? Note: Before teaching the following mini-lesson, students will need to have had several days of recording their ideas on post-it notes and then talking about their ideas in book clubs. As you look over students post-it notes, you will probably notice students recording ideas that don t really lead to deeper thinking or they may be simply retelling what is stated in the text. Continue modeling during read aloud time and during minilessons how readers record ideas that are important and are worth talking about. The following is a list of possible thinking prompts for students who are having difficulty recording deep thinking about their texts: What do the character s actions tell you about the character? Why or how is one character causing problems for another? What is this character s point of view? Is the character changing? If so, how? What are you wondering? Which part(s) is(are) confusing and why? The purpose of the following mini-lesson is to teach students how to grow bigger ideas about a text by looking for patterns. These bigger ideas will then help students understand the author s message or lesson of the story. Mini-lesson: (RL.3.10, RL.3.1, 3.5; SL.3.1a,b, 3.6; W.3.8) Begin the lesson by stating your teaching point which is to show students how readers notice patterns. This is where we want students asking themselves, What is this book really about? Choose 4-5 post-it notes from the read aloud and record them on a large chart. Today we are going to think about how some of our ideas from our post-it notes fit together looking for possible patterns in our book. Doing this will help us to grow bigger ideas about the book. When we see two or more ideas that seem to fit together we will draw an arrow 15

16 to show that they are connected. Read aloud the first two post-it notes and then pause to share your thinking: I think these two ideas are connected because the first idea is about how Peter feels about Fudge and in the second idea is an example of Peter feeling frustrated because he has to do something for Fudge he doesn t want to do. Both of these ideas show me how frustrated Peter is with Fudge. But I am also thinking that he is frustrated at his mom too because she is always asking him to help with Fudge but at the same time is not listening to what he wants. Point out to students that you are beginning to notice a pattern. Peter seems feeling frustrated because Fudges gets all of the attention and nobody seems to listen to him. His mom is always asking him to help with Fudge and doesn t listen when he tells her that he does not want to. Guided Practice: (may occur during the next mini-lesson) Provide students with a copy of some post-it notes from the read aloud. You will want to purposely pick some post-it notes that fit together and some that do not. Have students work with a partner to reread the ideas, drawing arrows to the ideas that fit together. Then have them discuss what they think the pattern is and what that pattern helps them to understand about the book. While students are working, move around the room helping partners to make connections between ideas and then thinking about how those ideas fit together. Which post-it notes seem to fit together? What does this tell you about? Bring students back together and have a few students share a pattern they noticed and what they think this pattern tells the reader. (The following would take place on the next day.) Also point out to students that sometimes you may have an idea written down on a post-it note and realize that there may be a pattern even though you don t have any other post-it notes to go with it. For example, most of your students probably would not connect the post-it note that states Peter takes really good care of Dribble with the other ideas listed on the chart. However, you might ask students to think about if there are other times in the book where the author describes Peter taking care of Dribble. Either have students skim through their books or their KNOW/WONDER charts to see if they can find other details that support this idea. Bring students back together to share their thinking. Students may point out that there are several places in the book where it talks about how Peter takes care of Dribble. He also is very protective of him as well. This will be important took care of his turtle helps the reader understands how angry he must have been when Fudge ate him. Work Time: You will probably notice that some students will be ready to start practicing this work on their own whereas other students will need more support. For students who are ready to try this independently instruct those students to choose 5-6 ideas (post-it notes) and place them on a large sheet of construction paper. Then have them draw arrows to connect the ideas that seem to go together. Finally, have students jot down a sentence or two about how these ideas or this pattern leads them to a bigger idea. For students who are not quite ready for this work independently, pull them in a small focus group to help guide them through this process. Share: With 10 minutes left in work time you will want students to meet in their book clubs. Have them discuss the patterns they are beginning to notice and the evidence that supports this pattern. You may want to ask 1 student from each book club to record the patterns that they discussed. At the end of share, collect student s notes to help you decide on next steps for teaching. 16

17 Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart: What patterns are you beginning to notice? What does this pattern tell you? What is this book really about? Kentucky Core Academic Standards Curriculum Unit Formative Assessment Opportunities: During guided practice, observe students as they are looking for patterns and connections between the ideas written on the post-it notes. Make note of students who are able to indentify patterns easily and students who cannot. Plan for small focus groups according to need. Collect the patterns recorded during book clubs. This will also help you plan for small and whole group instruction. Objective: Students will compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author. Lesson Seed # 8 Learning Target: I can identify the theme of a story. (RL.3.9) Note: In the following lesson seed the term theme is introduced rather than central message or lesson as stated in standards RL.3.2. This is to help prepare students for RL.3.9 which asks students to compare and contrast the themes in stories. Mini-lesson: (RL.3.2, RL.3.1, 3.5; SL.3.1a,b, 3.6; W.3.8) Tell students that the theme of a story is the message or lesson that the author is trying to convey. What can we learn about life from this story? Explain to students that readers use a variety of strategies to help them determine the theme. One strategy is to think about the struggles that the characters face and how they overcome these struggles. Then we ask ourselves, What lesson did the character learn? Let s try this strategy with a familiar story, The Three Little Pigs. The characters are struggling with the big bad wolf because he is trying to eat them. The first pig deals with this by running to the pig who built his house out of sticks. Then both of these pigs run to the pig who builds his house out of brick. So what do I think the characters learned? I think all of the pigs learned to not be lazy and to work hard. So, one possible theme could be that hard work pays off. Continue with the mini-lesson by modeling how to find the theme for Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Think aloud about the struggles that Peter faced with Fudge and his parents and how he handled these struggles. Then ask yourself: What did Peter Learn? I think that Peter learned to forgive people. I think this because when Peter s mom blames him for Fudge getting hurt on the playground, she realizes that it wasn t his fault and apologizes. I think that Peter forgives her for blaming him. Also, in the end when he realized that his parents didn t forget about him by buying him the puppy, he was forgiving them for not always listening to him. Other possible themes might include responsibility or family. Guided Practice: (may occur during the next mini-lesson) Have partners work together to see if they can determine a different theme for Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Tell students to begin by asking what they think Peter learned? Then have them use the following conversation prompts to help them keep the conversation going: This connects to earlier in the story when Or maybe it s Another thing it could be 17

18 Once students have had time to discuss then have them turn and talk about what they think the theme of the story is and why. You may want to provide students with a list of common themes found in books if they are having difficulty thinking of themes. Bring students back together and have them share out their thinking. Work Time: Send students off with the challenge of determining a possible theme for their book. Tell them to think about the struggles the main character has faced throughout the book and how they handle these struggles. Then they can ask themselves, What do I think this character has learned? What can I learn from this character? After they have determined a theme, have students find evidence to support this theme. For groups that are still reading, once they determine a theme have them continue reading looking for evidence to support it. If they are finished with their books they will want to look back in text and their notes for evidence to support the theme. During this time you will also want to pull small groups. Share: Have students start thinking about the themes of their books. Provide each group with a large sheet of chart paper titled Possible Themes. Tell students to divide the chart paper into two columns labeled Theme and Evidence. Each book club will choose one recorder to take notes. Remind students that they will want to push each other thinking by asking questions, citing evidence, and staying on one topic. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart: What do you think the character learned? Why? What do you think the message of the story is? Why? What can you learn from the characters in the story? Formative Assessment Opportunities: Listen to students during guided practice. Who is able to determine possible themes of the text? Which students can support the theme with evidence from the text? Use this information to form small focus groups. Collect charts that were completed during work time. Use these charts to help you plan for next steps. For groups who are having difficulty determining the theme, use texts that they are familiar with and where a theme can be easily identified. Pull these students in a small group to show them how readers find themes in stories. Performance Task: Provide students with a short story to read. Highlights has lots of great short stories for students. (The following link has a few stories that you can print Have students read the story and then answer the following prompt: Identify the theme of the story and explain how you know. Lesson Seed # 9 Learning Target: I can compare and contrast the problems and solutions in books by the same author. (RL.3.9) Note: Before teaching the following mini-lesson, students will need to be reading the next book in the series. They will need to be far enough in their books to be able to identify what the main character is struggling with or the problem. You will also have begun reading SuperFudge by Judy Blume. In order for students to do the work of RL.3.9 they will need to hold on to their ideas about the characters, problems, settings, and themes and carry these ideas to the second book. In the following lesson, students will mainly focus on comparing and contrasting the plots by looking at the struggles the character faced in the first book and then comparing it to the next. Once students have indentified the problems the character faces, then they will compare how the character overcomes these struggles (solution). Students will also need to be able to compare and contrast the themes in both books. If students notice similar themes this would be a great opportunity to look at author s craft and compare how the author goes about developing the themes in each book. 18

19 Mini-lesson: (RL.3.2, RL.3.1, 3.5, 3.10; SL.3.1a,b, 3.6; W.3.8) Tell students that today they will be comparing and contrasting the problems in their books. Explain to students that one of the neat things about reading books in a series is that they can begin thinking about how these books are similar and different. For example, one of the ways we can do this is to think about the struggles or challenges the main character faced in the first book and compare it to the struggles they face in the second book. Draw a Box and T-Chart on piece of chart paper. Then think aloud about the struggles Peter faces in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and compare these to the struggles he faces in Superfudge. Record your thinking on the chart. Guided Practice: (may occur during the next mini-lesson) Project the following two questions: What did Peter struggle with in the first book that is different than in the second book? What is he struggling with in both books? Have students work with their partner to discuss these two questions. While students are working, listen to their conversations. This will allow you to formatively assess students thinking. Finally bring students back together to share their thinking and record students responses on the Box and T-Chart. Save this chart to use again once you are farther into the second book. Work Time: During work time, invite students to begin comparing and contrasting their books. Have students create a Box and T-Chart in their reading response notebooks to record their thinking. Have students use the following thinking stems to help guide them: What did the main character struggle with in the first book? What is the main character struggling with in this book? How is this alike and different? Share: With 10 minutes left in work time, you will want students to meet in their book clubs. Tell students to take a few minutes to prepare for today s discussion by making sure they have written down some notes about how the books are similar and different. Have students discuss how their books are similar and different. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart: What does the main character struggle with in the first book? Is this similar or different then what they struggle with in the second book? Do the character s problems carry over from on book to next? How does the character overcome their struggles in the first book? In this similar to the second book? Why or why not? How are the settings alike and different? How are the themes alike and different? Formative Assessment Opportunities: During work time, conference with students using the thinking stems to assess their understanding of how their books are similar and different. Listen to students during share time. If you notice certain groups are struggling with comparing and contrasting their books, pull them in a small focus group on the following day. 19

20 Suggested Instructional Texts: Rigby (R), Classroom Library (CL), Text Exemplar (E), Science (S), Social Studies (SS) Literary Informational Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume Superfudge by Judy Blume Additional Professional Resources: Reading Units of Study by Lucy Calkins Toolkit Texts (Grades 2-3) The Comprehension Toolkit Grades 3-6 by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis A Curricular Plan for The Reading Workshop Grade 3 by Lucy Calkins Word Savvy by Max Brand Comprehension Connections: Bridges to Strategic Reading by Tammy McGregor Reality Checks by Tony Stead What Readers Really Do by Dorothy Barnhouse & Vicki Vinton Websites achievethecore.org Websites to Support Informational Reading Resources for Tier II & Tier III Interventions JCPS Response to Interventions website: Interventioncentral.org: Readworks.org (K 6 reading lessons and passages): Literacyleader.com (lessons and resources): 20

21 Getting Started with Book Clubs Selecting a Book for Read Aloud o Select a read aloud that will best support the mini lessons you will be teaching during book clubs. For example, if you want to focus on characters and how their actions affect the events in the story, then you will want to choose a book with strong characters. o You will want to choose a read aloud text that is short enough to model the process of reading the text from beginning to end, but also challenging enough to meet the text complexity for their grade. Choosing Books for Book Clubs o You will want to choose books that support the mini lessons you will be teaching during this unit. You may also want to choose books that represent a certain genre such as mysteries or books written by the same author. o Choose books that represent a variety of levels. For some students this may be their first experience with chapter books so think about choosing books with scaffolds to support their thinking such as pictures and short chapters. You will also want to have books that will challenge some your readers with complex plots and characters. Getting Materials Ready for Book Clubs o Think about how students will keep track of their thinking during books clubs. Some teachers prefer to use notebooks while others prefer two pocket folders with sheets of paper stapled together for students to write on. o Have plenty of post-it notes for students to use. Post-it notes can be used for students to record their thinking while reading and then can later be taped into their notebooks. o Bookmarks with discourse prompts for students. (I agree because, I thought that too because.., What in the text makes you think that?) Planning Procures for Book Clubs o How will you group students for book clubs? Choice is a strong motivator for students. Try to allow them as much choice as possible when selecting their books for book clubs. For example, after previewing each of the selected books for students, have them write down their top 3 choices. Using their top 3 choices, you will form the clubs based on level of text that you think is most appropriate and students that will work well together. If you have students that will struggle with reading, put scaffolds into place that will help the student. For example, they could read with a partner or listen to the book on tape. o How will students keep up with reading assignments? How will you keep up with students reading? Have students each keep track of their reading assignments on a log that they tape into the front of their notebooks. They can record the number of pages to Jefferson County Public Schools Elementary English Language Arts 1

22 read. There should also be a space for them to record how they will be keeping track of their thinking (see Individual Tracking Form below). You may also want to have a chart that has each book club with the book they are reading, the number of pages they have assigned, and the type of writing and/or thinking they will be doing (see Whole Group Tracking Form). Individual Tracking Form Whole Group Tracking Form Anticipating Problems The following are problems that students may encounter during book clubs. You will want to model what to do if this problem occurs during the interactive read aloud or while students are meeting in their book clubs. o What to do if someone does not do his or her reading. How can we help that reader keep up? o What do we do with extra reading time? o What do we do if we can t all agree? How will we settle our differences so that we don t waste time? o How will we make sure everyone has the opportunity to share? o What do we do if one person is always dominating the conversation? Jefferson County Public Schools Elementary English Language Arts 2

23 Series Chapter Book for Book Clubs Note: Titles with (CL) are located in the 3 rd grade classroom libraries and texts with an (E) are exemplars. Also note that the level of the 2 nd book in the series may be different than the first. For, example, some books may become more difficult as you move through the series. Title (1 st book in the series) Author Level Summary Cam Jansen David Adler L When Cam Jansen and her friend Eric believe the police have caught an innocent man, they decide to take the situation into their own hands and discover for themselves who really robbed Parker's Jewelry Store. Judy Moody was in a Mood Megan McDonald L Judy Moody is in a bad mood on her 1 st day of 3 rd grade. Her mood changes when she gets an assignment to create a collage about herself. Stink the Incredible Shrinking Kid Megan McDonald L Stink, Judy Moody s little brother, is short. Everyday Judy measures him and he always is the same size. Until one day he measures up shorter. Is he shrinking? Shrink tries to make himself taller, but finds out what he tries is not working. Miami Jackson Gets it Straight(CL) Patricia & Fredrick McKissack M Only one week 'til school is out, and Miami Jackson, a regular nine-year-old brother on the move, is hot, hot, hot to summer. But first he has to survive those last few days, and that's not as easy as it sounds. Between his sister Leesie, his arch-rival Destinee Tate, and his teacher's going-away party, Miami's hot, hot, hot up to his ears in trouble. Amber Brown is Not a Crayon The Stories that Julian Tells(E) Paula Danziger N Amber Brown and Justin Daniels are best friends. They've known each other for practically forever, sit next to each other in class, help each other with homework, and always stick up for each other. Justin has to move away, and now the best friends are fighting. Will they be able to work it out before it's too late? Ann Cameron N Relates episodes in seven-year-old Julian's life which include getting into trouble with his younger brother Huey, planting a garden, what he did to try to grow taller, losing a tooth, and finding a new friend. My Father s Dragon (E) Ruth Stiles N All Mixed Up Kim Wayans and Kevin Knotts N When Elmer Elevator hears about the unfortunate condition of an overworked and under-appreciated flying baby dragon, he packs his knapsack with supplies and stows away on a ship headed for Wild Island. Will he be able to rescue the dragon? After years of being home schooled, Amy Hodges is excited to start fourth grade at an area school. On Amy's first day, she gets teased not only because she is new, but also because she looks different. Amy is part Asian, Caucasian, and African American. Eventually, Amy meets a group of nice kids and one of them even affectionately gives her the nickname "Amy Hodgepodge" since she as a mix of so many races. But when their teacher announces that the annual talent show is coming up, Amy wonders if her new friends will want to include her, too. Clementine (CL) Marla Frazee O In this first book of the series, Clementine tries to help out her friend Margaret, but ends up in a lot of trouble for it. Things get worse each day of the week, until finally she's worried that Margaret is right: Clementine's parents might consider her "the hard one" in the family. They're up to something mysterious; are they thinking they'd be better off if they only had her little vegetable-named brother, "the easy one"? Jefferson County Public Schools Elementary English Language Arts