Primary Mentor Text Lesson Plan Ordinary Mary s Extraordinary Deed Niagara Catholic District School Board Program Department May 2009
Primary Mentor Text Lesson Plan Ordinary Mary s Extraordinary Deed Lifelong Learning: compassion, random acts of kindness, kindness breeds kindness Literacy Strategies: Predicting, connections, summarizing and reflecting Overall Expectations: Reading 2. recognize a variety of text forms, text features, and stylistic elements and demonstrate understanding of how they help communicate meaning; 1.4 demonstrate understanding of a text by retelling the story or restating information from the text, including the main idea (e.g., retell a story or restate facts, including the main idea and important events, in accurate time order; role-play or dramatize a story or informational text using puppets or props) 1.5 use stated and implied information and ideas in texts, initially with support and direction, to make simple inferences and reasonable predictions about them Teacher prompt: "The text tells us that the girl broke her brother's toy airplane. Think about what you know about the boy so far. Predict what might happen. 1.6 extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge and experience, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (e.g., identify personally significant events in stories, such as losing a tooth or getting a pet; relate information in a text to previous experiences, other familiar texts, movies, or trips) Teacher prompts: "What does this text remind you of in your life?" "Now that we have researched [topic X], what have we learned?" "Does this book remind you of a story that you have been told?" Oral Communication 1. listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes 1.2 demonstrate an understanding of appropriate listening behaviour by using active listening strategies in a few different situations (e.g., listen without interrupting and wait their turn to speak; show that they are paying attention and are interested by looking at the speaker, nodding, or asking relevant questions) 1.4 demonstrate an understanding of the information and ideas in oral texts by retelling the story or restating the information, including the main idea (e.g., use time-order words, such as first, then, next, finally, to retell a story they have heard; restate information from a movie about community workers, including a topic statement and several supporting details)
1.6 extend understanding of oral texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge and experience; to other familiar texts, including print and visual texts; and to the world around them (e.g., make personal connections between their own ideas about a topic and the ideas in an oral text; identify other texts that have similar elements or content) 2.2 demonstrate an understanding of appropriate speaking behaviour in a few different situations, including paired sharing and small- and large-group discussions (e.g., give other group members an opportunity to speak; respond positively to the contributions of others; stay on topic and speak to the point) Writing 2.1 write short texts using a few simple forms (e.g., a recount of personally significant experiences; a simple report on topics of interest to the writer and identified in nonfiction reading; "How to" books identifying the steps in a procedure such as "How to Make Applesauce", including pictures, symbols, and words; a story modelled on characters and events from stories read; their own variation on a familiar poem, chant, or song; a poster for the classroom) 2.4 write simple but complete sentences that make sense 3.1 spell some high-frequency words correctly (e.g., words from their oral vocabulary, the class word wall, and shared-, guided-, and independent-reading texts) 3.2 spell unfamiliar words using a variety of strategies that involve understanding sound-symbol relationships, word structures, and word meanings (e.g., segment words to identify and record individual sound-symbol correspondences, including short vowels and simple long-vowel patterns; listen for rhyming patterns; look for common letter sequences and onset and rime in frequently used words; make analogies between words that look similar; illustrate words to link meaning to spelling) 3.4 use punctuation to help communicate their intended meaning, with a focus on the use of: a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence; a period, question mark, or exclamation mark at the end Religion Catholic Essential Questions: Grade 1- What does a Good Shepherd do? What are you doing during Advent with your circle of friends? How do you show that you care? God is like What is your image of God? Grade 2- What makes a good friend? How do you share peace? How can we share food with others?
Grade 3- Do you know the story of St. Vincent de Paul? How is he still with us? Who sends us forth? What does God want us to do? What can we do? How do you celebrate Easter? How do you care for one another? Assessment: Observation, anecdotal notes, work samples Materials: Ordinary Mary, Extraordinary Deeds by Emily Pearson GO Chart Post-Its Chart paper Markers Writer s/reader s Response Journal Modifications/Accommodations: Identified students may need to be prompted by an EA or teacher during the discussions. To encourage listening, some students may need to be placed closer to the teacher on the carpet. Overview of the text: This is the story of an ordinary girl named Mary, who does something kind for her neighbour. Her neighbour then does something kind for 5 other people and then they each do something kind for 5 people and so on and so on until billions of people around the world have been touched by Mary s ordinary deed. The book shows the power that even children have to change the world. Day 1- Double Period Before reading- PREDICT Reads the title and shows the pictures to the students. Asks students to make predictions about the story. Records the predictions on post-it notes and places them on the GO Chart. Records student names on their prediction for later assessment. Asks students what words they think might be in the story and records them on post-its. Sticks the post-its under the vocabulary section of the GO Chart. During reading- CONNECT Reads the story out loud and with expression. Thinks aloud, while reading, pausing to do this at pre-determined spots.
Mentions connections that he/she may have to the book or to parts of the book. The connection does not necessarily have to be to the whole book. E.g. This part of the book reminds me of my neighbour who brings treats to my house during the holidays. Then I bring some of the treats to my Nono. After Reading- DISCUSS, CONCLUDE Records students thoughts under understandings. This is the section where the students discuss what they noticed and make conclusions about the text. Activates students thinking, by suggesting the students discuss: *What might Mary have felt like after she gave the blueberries to her neighbour? * How have all the people in the story helped people? * Can a homeless person help someone? * Can a child, like themselves, create change in the world? Day 2 Ordinary Mary, Extraordinary Deed Retelling: SUMMARIZE, REFLECT Students gather on the carpet. With the partially completed GO chart visible to all the students, the teacher encourages the students to retell or summarize the story. Students are given time to think, pair, share what happened in the story with their neighbour. After the retelling, the students are given time to think, pair, share with a neighbour about their reflections or I wonder s. The teacher then records their responses on postits and places them under interpretations. Connections: DISCUSS, CONNECT Teacher talks to students about what the big idea of the story is? What does Emily Pearson want to get across or relate to her readers? Give students time to discuss again with each other what they think the big idea is. The big idea is that we can change the world and the feelings of people by small acts of kindness and charity. Even someone ordinary can change the world. Students write about a time when they did an ordinary deed in Writer s Response Journal Share your connection to the story. Ask the students for connections. Make sure that the connections are deep, that they relate to the big idea. Students can either write their connections or the teacher can choose a couple and put them on chart paper.