Second Grade October: Unit 3 Characters Face Bigger ChallengesMentor Texts: and So Do Readers Unit Objective: Students will

be able to walk in the characters shoes, role play, empathize with a character and predict while reading to increase fluency and intonation. Students will notice their characters settings, action, and Special note: Stop and jots can be in reading response journals or post it note form based on your teaching motivations. preference. Students will identify and analyze character traits and feelings. Students will think deeper and talk longer about the characters in their books. Part 1: Strategy/Skill Procedure Strategy/Skill Strategy/Skill Strategy/Skill Getting To Know Prediction Book Shopping Gathering Information Prediction Confirm/Revise Predictions Characters Wants Today I want to teach you that Today I want to teach you Today I want to teach you as Today I want to teach you that Today I want to teach you and Troubles we get to know the characters how readers find just right we read our books we add while reading we make that readers confirm and in the book well by paying books. new information to build an predictions about what will revise predictions about attention to their wants and P.54 understanding of who are happen to a character. characters as we read on. problems. One way we do characters are. P. 54,59 P. 54, 60 Five finger rule this is by looking at the title P. 54, 59 Think about the Determine if our Looking for interests and blurb on the back of the Think about the characters problem and predictions were Readability book before we begin reading. information we read ask: correct, confirm. If Using the blurb and P. 52-54, 59 from the blurb while What would I do not then revise and title. When reading the title or blurb reading the book. next if I were this read on with this Anchor Chart for readers ask themselves: character? new prediction. Add new information shopping. What kind of How would I try to about the setting and Star confirmed post Teacher can use problem will the work it out or get the characters lives. its and revise/edit book shopping lists. character face? what I want? unconfirmed Read on expecting to (making connections) What does the predictions. find the problem in character want? Paying close attentions the story. RL 2.10, 2.11 to the patterns in RL 2.1, 2.3, 2.7 Post it the new RL 2.1, 2.7 character behavior in information order to predict. Does collected. * Post its the character act in a will be saved and certain way over and used throughout the over again? What does unit. that make me think about RL 2.1, 2.3 how he/she will work out their problem? Look over previous stop and jots/Post its to locate patterns in character behaviors. RL 2.1, 2.3, 2.11

Second Grade October: Unit 3 Characters Face Bigger Challenges-and So Do Readers

Part 1: Getting To Know Characters Wants and Troubles

Literal/Craft Note-taking Today I want to teach you how to follow a characters wants and note how the character achieved them by marking their actions and decisions. P. 54-55 Model how to stop and post it important actions and decisions of the character during reading. RL 2.3

Literal/Craft Story Structure/Retelling Today I want to teach you how to keep track of our characters actions to make sure that we follow all that is happening in the story. P. 54-55,60 Model how to line up our previous post it notes in a sequential story arc to highlight the big things they are noticing about their character as well as to retell the bigger actions of the book. Story Arcs can be modeled/used here to introduce a 3rd grade skill. This helps students carry their thoughts throughout a text. After students put their post its in an arc they can reread their post-its and retell across them. RL 2.3, 2.5

Strategy/Skill Clarify/Monitor Today I want to teach you that when we read about a character we are on alert for scenes or details that dont fit with what we are expecting. P. 55,60 Model how stop and reread to clarify when something doesnt make sense in the story. RL 2.1

Procedure Partner Conversations Today I want to teach you how readers can talk with their partners about the books they have been reading. P. 55 Review anchor chart of partnership rules. Have partners retell their story to each other and discuss what they have noticed so far about their characters by using their notes and story arc. Teacher can use this time to conference with partnerships to notice the following: Transference of skills and strategies learned during read alouds and independent reading and the level of student conversations. SL 2.1, 2.4, 2.6 RL 2.3

Second Grade October: Unit 3 Characters Face Bigger Challenges-and So Do Readers

Part 2: Readers Think About Characters Traits and Feelings

Literal/Craft Character Traits Today I want to teach you that readers dont just make guesses about a character we refer to specific examples from the story to prove that a character is a certain way. P. 55, 60 Look for information about what kind of person a character is. Look for places in the text that show off that information and mark it! (Text based evidence) Model/push students to use specific language/words when describing their characters. For Ex. calling a character caring rather than nice. Create a character traits chart. Ex. T-Chart of Actions/Behaviors VS. Traits RL 2.3, 2.7

Literal/Craft Analyze Today I want to teach you that sometimes our characters act out of character. P. 56,60 Notice when characters act out of character. Readers can stop and say, Wait! Thats not like him/her. Student can stop and jot parts of the books where this might occur. RL 2.3, 2.6

Literal/Craft Analyze Today I want to teach you another way to study you characters. Readers dont just think about the characters traits, we track their feelings too. We notice what they are feeling the beginning, middle and end of the book. P. 56, 61 Point out how most characters core traits do not change throughout the book but their feelings may depending on the situation. (See page 61 for example) Model how to make an emotional timeline for the character using post its or readers notebook. RL 2.3,2.5, 2.7

Procedure Partner Conversations Today I want to teach you how partners can compare and contrast the main characters in their books using accountable talk. Review anchor chart of partnership rules. Have partners discuss their characters using their emotional timeline. Monitor students use of character trait language (referring to class chart) Teacher can use this time to conference with partnerships to notice the following: Transference of skills and strategies learned during read alouds and independent reading and the level of student conversations. SL 2.1 RL 2.3

Second Grade October: Unit 3 Characters Face Bigger Challenges-and So Do Readers

Part 3: Readers Can Find Deeper Meanings in Our Books

Strategy/Skill Asking and Answering Questions Today I want to teach you that when partners are reading and talking with each other we dont just talk about our thinking we also listen carefully to each other and add on to or raise questions about what our partners said. P. 56-61 Readers can first ask these questions to themselves to prepare for partner talk: Why would this character do that? Would I have behaved the same way? Partners can challenge each other by questioning. Why would Why did Would you SL 2.1, 2.3, 2.6 RL 2.3

Literal/Craft Growing Big Ideas/Partner Conversations Today I want to teach you how readers grow big ideas in our books. One way that readers do this is to use those feelings that we have been noticing in our books to help us think about the bigger ideas that the story is showing or teaching us. P. 56,61 Model how to find places where characters show strong emotions and then ask, Is something big happening here? This will help students find the important parts in their books. Once important parts are located have partners talk long about those parts in order to grow bigger ideas about the book. SL 2.1, 2.4, RL 2.2, 2.4, 2.5

Literal/Craft Cause & Effect/Preparing for Partner Talk Today I want to teach you that readers prepare for partner talk: As you read your notes you will look over and compare, gather up all your thoughts before you meet with your partner. P.61 Model how characters feelings affect what the character does (actions) by creating a T-Chart of Feelings Vs. Actions to help demonstrate Cause/Effect. Ex. Mudge was feeling sad when he was lost in the woods so he starting whimpering and walking slowly. After modeling and guided practice students will practice this activity independently in their own books in order to prepare for partnership conversations. **Partners can begin talking about what they gathered on the same day as this lesson or you can extend it into the next day. SL 2.1, 2.4, RL 2.3, 2.7

Literal/Craft Synthesizing/Preparing for Partner Talk Today I want to teach you that readers prepare for partner talk: We can think about how two ideas we have on a post it fit together. P.62 Model how earlier events tie into later events following the sequence of the story by classifying post its. After modeling and guided practice students will practice this activity independently in their own books in order to prepare for partnership conversations. SL 2.1, 2.4, RL 2.2, 2.5, 2.7

Literal/Craft Evaluating/Preparing for Partner Talk Today I want to teach you that readers prepare for partner talk: We can think about why or how the information we have gathered is important to the story. P.62 Model how readers can use text-based evidence to support their thinking. After modeling and guided practice students will practice this activity independently in their own books in order to prepare for partnership conversations. SL 2.1, 2.4 RL 2.2, 2.5, 2.7

Second Grade October: Unit 3 Characters Face Bigger Challenges-and So Do Readers

Part 3: Readers Can Find Deeper Meanings in Our Books

Strategy/Skill Opinion/Preparing for Partner Talk Today I want to teach you that readers prepare for partner talk: We can think about our own opinions about what the characters did or how they behaved. P.62 We can tell our partners what we liked about our characters, or that we were shocked by our characters. We say why we feel that way, too. SL2.1, RL 2.1, 2.7

Literal/Craft Synthesizing/Character Change One thing readers expect is that characters might be different at the end of the story then they were at the beginning. Today I want to teach you that when we read we want to catch the changes and think, Hmm, whats different now? What is changing and why? P.57, 62 Model how to mark where the character changes and list why it is important to the story using post its. Look back at the post its from the beginning, middle, and end of the story and compare them. RL 2.1, 2.3, 2.5

Literal/Craft Central Message/Reflection Today I want to teach you that readers not only learn about characters we learn from characters too. As we come to the end of the book we can ask ourselves, Did this character learn something that I can use to help me think about my life? P. 57,62 Model how to use our post its to look across the text and discover life lessons that can be learned from our characters. Have students think about how they can apply these lessons to their own lives. (possibly respond in readers notebook) RL 2.2, 2.11

Celebration Idea: Pick a character youve read about and create a character timeline.

Second Grade October: Unit 3 Characters Face Bigger Challenges-and So Do Readers