fact and opinion, graphic organizers, letter writing, fiction vs. nonfiction and author�s purpose

Students will create a graphic organizer (web design) to create ideas for writing a letter to Mr. Bones, a character from the Reading Street ELA series. Students will identify a fact within the story. Using the graphic organizer, students will write a letter to Mr. Bones asking him a question (based on the fact found from the story) about his job as a Paleontologist. The Librarian will act out Mr. Bones job role, by bringing resources to share with students and respond to students� letters. Students will spend some time in the library viewing fiction and nonfiction books.

moderate

5 days

6 sessions

Required Resources and Materials:

·         Mr. Bones by Jane Kurtis (Grade 1, Unit 4 Reading Street Series)

·         Fossil Girl by Catherine Brighton

·         The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins by Barbara Kerley

·         Paper and pencils for letter writing

·         Mr. Bones costume and resources (bucket of sand, bones and fossils)

·         Already created Graphic Organizer

INSTRUCTION AND ACTIVITIES:   SESSION 1

Setup/Preparation/Introduction: Students will be exposed to the vocabulary from Mr. Bones and will have an awareness of what paleontologists do.  They will also have a background use of graphic organizers.

 

Direct Instruction: 

Letter Writing

 

Day 1:

The children will be given a blank graphic organizer, web lay-out, with Mr. Bones in the middle.  The children, in a whole group, will discuss key information (facts) about Mr. Bones, and the teacher will list them on the smart board.  The children will then fill in their graphic organizer with 5 of the facts listed they thought were interesting.  Numbers one through five will be listed on their organizers to prevent students from being visually overstimulated and some students will only finish three facts on their graphic organizer. Not all children need to list the same ones, but more so their favorite facts.  Once the graphic organizer is complete, the children will discuss, with the students at their table, the facts they thought most interesting.  The children will then share their graphic organizers with children at their tables.  The teacher will collect.

 

Modeling and Guided Practice:

 

Day 2:

The children will briefly review their graphic organizers, asking for three children to share theirs with the entire class.  (then collect.)  Then they will be engaged in discussion about writing a letter (why do people write letters, what does a letter say, etc.)  I will explain that we are going to write letters to Mr. Bones to further our understanding about his profession.  I will display a completed graphic organizer and a blank letter format.  Together, we will create a letter to Mr. Bones, from the class, to be used as an example for the children when writing their own letters.  We will work step-by-step to create a class letter to Mr. Bones-salutation, introductory sentence, fact sentence from the story, a question sentence to further our understanding, and a closing.  Some students will play an active role in sharing the class letter through visual interpretation. We will then read the letter aloud as a class.

 

Independent Practice:

Days 3 and 4:

 

A quick review of the letter written by the class yesterday.  Some students will be provided with their own copy of the class letter, to help maintain focus and recall prior instructions.  Each child will be given a blank letter format paper.  They will also be given their graphic organizers.   Each child will begin their letter to Mr. Bones with an introductory sentence about them or an interest he/she has, etc.  Then, they will use the information from their graphic organizers to write a letter in the same format as the class used the day before.  They will use a fact from the story (from their graphic organizer) in their letter and then create a third sentence asking a question based on something more they want to know from Mr. Bones.  They will then close their letter.  Some students will be provided with more in-depth writing support, to help process their ideas into writing.

 

Sharing and Reflecting:

 

Before “sending” their letter to Mr. Bones, children will be invited to read their letters out loud to the class in a whole group setting.  Each child will respond with a “thumbs up” if all of the necessary parts of the letter are in each child's letter (intro, fact, question.)  Once students have shared their letters, they will put them in envelopes, “address and stamp” them and mail them in a classroom mailbox set up in the classroom. Some students will choose a friend to orally share their letters with the class. To take ownership, the student will stand next to his peer, as the peer shares his written work.

 

Mr. Bones will then respond to each child's letter and visit the classroom.  

 

 

Lonna Pierce Jill Coleman Jesilyn Bergmann Jane Walker-Lloyd