Unit 2/Week 1 at a Glance - Benchmark Education...

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Teacher’s Guide Grade 1 • Unit 2

Unit 2/Week 1 at a Glance

Day Mini-Lessons

ONE • Introduce the Comprehension Strategy: Analyze Character

• Think Aloud and Use the Metacognitive Strategy: Visualize

• Analyze Characters in a Picture

• Connect Thinking, Speaking, and Writing

• Reflect and Discuss

TWO • Review the Metacognitive Strategy: Visualize

• Use the Comprehension Strategy: Analyze Character

• Connect Thinking, Speaking, and Writing


THREE • Extend the Comprehension Strategy: Analyze Character

• Observe and Prompt for Strategy Understanding


FOUR • Read and Summarize

• Answer Text-Dependent Comprehension Questions: Analyze Character (Level 3: Prove It!)


FIVE • Metacognitive Self-Assessment

• Constructed Written Response

• Ongoing Comprehension Strategy Assessment

Week

® B e n c h m a r k e d u c a t i o n c o m p a n y

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Cat Troubles

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Traits: Brad is handy and creative.

Clues: Brad fixes broken things, including bikes, clocks, radios, and computers. He can’t wait for his watch to get old so he can fix it.

Feelings: happy

Clues: Pictures show Brad is happy with his watch. He is looking forward to fixing it wh en it gets old.

As Good As New!

Relationships: close with Grandma

Clues:Grandma gives him a present.

Brad liked to fix broken things. He fixed broken bikes and old clocks.

He fixed broken radios and computers, too.

Brad’s grandma gave him a watch for his birthday.

“Thanks,” said Brad. “I can’t wait until this watch gets old.”

“Why do you want it to get old?” asked his grandma.

“So it will break,” said Brad. “Then I can make it like new again!”

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A Very Rare Cow

Sylvia’s Traits:

Clues:

The Purple Cow’s Traits:

Clues:

Relationships:

Clues:

Mr. Phillips took his class to visit a rare animals farm.

“Look there,” said Ian. “A flying pig!”

“Look over here!” shouted Mary. “A woodchuck chucking wood.”

“Oh no,” said Sylvia. “A crying cow.”

The whole class turned to look at the very sad purple cow.

“What’s wrong?” Sylvia asked. “How can we help?”

“I can’t give milk,” cried the purple cow. “I try and try, but all I have is purple grape juice.”

“We love purple grape juice,” said the students.

The purple cow stopped crying and walked proudly to the barn.

Ned and Ted Ant said, “We got more plants. We will eat all winter long.”

Ron and Jon Ant said, “We played bug tug. We had fun!”

“All you do is play, play, play,” said Ned and Ted. “What will you eat this winter?”

Winter came. Ron and Jon had no plants to eat. They went to Ned and Ted, and said,

“We are sad. We have no more plants.”

“You may eat some of our plants,” said Ned. “But you must help next time.”

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The Ants and Their Plants

Visualize/Analyze Character

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Benchmark Literacy • Grade 1 • Unit 2/Week 1 ©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC2

Day One

Comprehension Anchor Poster 1

Read-Aloud (10 minutes)

Select a favorite fiction read-aloud from your classroom or school library with which to model the metacognitive strategy “Visualize.” Use the sample read-aloud lessons and suggested titles in the Benchmark Literacy Overview.

Mini-Lessons (20 minutes)

Introduce the Comprehension Strategy: Analyze Character

Say: Diego turned beet red when the teacher called his name. He began to sweat. When he looked down, he saw his hands were shaking.

Ask: How does Diego feel? How do you know?

Turn and talk. Ask students to turn to a partner and share what happens when they get nervous. What do they look like? How do they feel? Encourage students to provide at least two examples. Ask a few students to share with the whole group.

Explain: The description your partner shared lets you figure out, or infer, that he or she was nervous. When you look closely at how a person acts, looks, and what he or she says, you use clues to make inferences about a person’s character. Writers do this, too. Good readers know how to infer what a character is like from the writer’s details and what they know about people. We’re going to practice analyzing characters this week.

Think Aloud and Use the Metacognitive Strategy: Visualize

Display Poster 1.

Draw students’ attention to the picture of the man looking angrily at the cats. (Whiteboard users can use the highlighter tool.)

Explain: When I look at this picture, the first thing I need to do is figure out what it is trying to show me. One way I can do that is by visualizing. When I visualize, I picture something in my head. I think about what I know about the drawing, and I use that information to make an image in my mind. Let me show you how I do it.

Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Analyze characters though their actions, words, thoughts, and feelings.

• Visualize to deepen understanding of characters.

• Use academic sentence frames to discuss strategies.

Related Resources

• Whiteboard CD-ROM

• Home/School Connections (BLM 1)

About the Strategy

• A character is a person, animal, or thing in a work of literature.

• Examining a character’s actions, feelings, thoughts, and words—and what others say and think about him or her—allows readers to make inferences about the character.

• Understanding characters in a story helps readers better understand the story.

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Cat Troubles

©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC Benchmark Literacy • Grade 1 • Unit 2/Week 1 3

Day One

Make Content Comprehensible for ELLsUse the following strategies to help ELLs understand the poster content and acquire academic language.

Beginning Read the title of the poster. Discuss what trouble the cats made by looking at the picture. For example, say:

The cats made trouble. They made a mess in the house.

Point to and name objects in the picture: man, cats, mess.

All LevelsPair ELLs with fluent English speakers during partner discussions and activities.

Model the use of academic sentence frames to support ELLs’ academic vocabulary and language development. (See suggested sentence frames provided.)

Comprehension Quick-CheckObserve whether students are able to analyze the man in the poster. If they have difficulty, use the following additional explicit instruction.

Draw the analyze character web on chart paper.

In the middle, write man.

Say: The man is the main character. To understand, or analyze, a character, we think about what he says, thinks, does, and feels.

In the one of the surrounding circles, write angry.

Say: I can tell that the man is angry at the cats by the way he is looking at them.

Say: Now you find another character trait for the man.

Think aloud: The man in this picture looks angry. He is angry at the cats because they appear to have made a big mess in the house. In my mind, I see, or visualize, how the cats may have made that mess. By visualizing the trouble they caused, I can better understand the man’s anger at them.

Write what you visualized on chart paper. Ask students to generate other visualizations about this picture, and add these to the chart paper.

Post these visualizations on the wall as a Visualize anchor chart, or invite students to write them in their reading journals or notebooks to use in the future.

Analyze Characters in a Picture

Ask students to use the picture to analyze characters.

Point out that characters can be people or animals.

Remind students to pay attention to how the characters look, act, think, and feel.

Provide the following academic sentence frames to support ELLs and struggling students:

The man feels . I can tell he feels this way because .The cats feel . I can tell the cats feels this way because .

Connect Thinking, Speaking, and Writing

Write down students’ analyses of the man and the cats and reread it as a group. Give students the opportunity to expand on their shared writing.

Reflect and Discuss

Ask and discuss the following questions:•Whyisitimportanttoanalyzecharacters?•Howdoesthishelpyouasareader?•Howdidvisualizinghelpyouunderstandthepicture?•Whatcluesinthepicturehelpedyouvisualize?

Connect and transfer. Say: When you read in a small group or on your own, remember to analyze characters by paying attention to how they act, look, feel, and think; what they say; and what others say about them.

Day One


Support Special Needs LearnersSupport visual learners and students with attention issues by projecting the whiteboard version of the posters. Allow students to come to the whiteboard and circle, underline, or highlight characters’ actions, feelings, thoughts, and words in the text. Invite them to label what they see.

Access the graphic organizer provided on the whiteboard. Record character traits with students.

Provide opportunities for active involvement. For example, assign students the roles of the characters and let them retell the content of each poster.

Home/School ConnectionsOn Day 1, distribute copies of Home/School Connections (BLM 1). Each day during the week, assign one of the six home/school connection activities for students to complete. Ask them to bring their completed assignments to class the following day. Make time at the beginning of each day for students to share their ideas.

Small-Group Reading Instruction (60 minutes)

Based on students’ instructional reading levels, select titles that provide opportunities for students to practice analyzing characters. See the list provided on the Unit at a Glance chart.

Use the before-, during-, and after-reading instruction provided in the Teacher’s Guide for each text.

Individual Student Conferences (10 minutes)

Confer with individual students on their text selections and applications of strategies. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conferences.

Phonics Workshop (20 minutes)

Use the Day 1 instruction provided in BuildUp Phonics Skill Bag 4.

Name Date

Benchmark Literacy • Grade 1 • Unit 2/Week 1 ©2010 Benchmark Education Company, LLC

Home/School Connections: Analyze Character

1. Make Text-to-World Strategy ConnectionsSelect a member of your family. Write his or her name on a sheet of paper. With help from that family member, list clues about that person’s character trait. Repeat with a second family member. How are the family members alike? How are they different? Bring your lists to school to share with your class.

2. Make Text-to-Text Strategy ConnectionsFind one or more examples from stories or newspaper articles of clues about a character’s traits. Remember, the examples may include a character’s words, behaviors, thoughts, or feelings. Or you may list what others say or think about the character. Highlight or circle details in the article that support the main idea. Bring your example(s) to school to share with the class.

3. Make a Strategy Connection to Social StudiesHow do you analyze characters in social studies? Give a specific example of how understanding people in your community, for example, helps you gain a better understanding of your world. Or how does understanding famous people, such as Abe Lincoln, give you a better understanding of history?

4. Make a Strategy Connection to the ArtsThink about an artist (e.g., painter, musician, actor) you are learning about in school. How does recognizing the artist’s character traits give you a deeper understanding of a painting, song, etc.?

5. Make a Character ChartThink of your favorite character. It may be someone from a book, movie, TV show, etc. On a Character chart, list clues about the character—what he or she says, looks like, feels, thinks, and what others think or say about him or her. You can ask a family member to help you. Sign your name and your family member’s name to your chart. Bring your chart to class to share.

6. Think and Write About the StrategyThink about how learning about analyzing characters has helped you become a more strategic reader. Write about how and when you use this strategy to help you understand what you are reading.

BLM 1

Home/School Connections (BLM 1)


Day Two

Comprehension Anchor Poster 2 (BLM 2)

Lesson Objectives

Students will:




Related Resources



• Comprehension Anchor Poster 2 (BLM 2)


Select a favorite fiction read-aloud from your classroom or school library with which to model the metacognitive strategy “Visualize.” Use the sample read-aloud lessons and suggested titles in the Benchmark Literacy Overview.


Review the Metacognitive Strategy: Visualize

Display Poster 2 with annotations hidden and/or distribute BLM 2 and read aloud the title.

Read aloud the text with students.

Explain: Yesterday when I looked at the poster, “Cat Troubles,” I pictured what happened in my head. Visualizing helps me better understand the characters. To visualize, I think about what I know from picture and/or text clues, and use them to make a picture in my mind. I’ll show you how I do this.

Reread paragraphs 1 and 2. Think aloud: I read about how Brad likes to fix things, from bikes and old clocks to broken radios and computers. In my mind, I see a boy surrounded by piles of broken things, with a bunch of tools fixing them. He looks like he is having fun.

Reread paragraphs 3 and 4. Think aloud: The clues in the picture and text help me infer that Brad is happy. In my head, I see Brad opening the present from his grandma. He has a big smile on his face. His grandma looks happy, too. From this image in my mind, I can tell that Brad and his grandma are close.

Reread paragraphs 4, 5, and 6. Ask students to visualize a future, older-looking Brad fixing the watch he just got for his birthday. Encourage students to think aloud. Then ask students to describe their process of visualizing. Reinforce the idea that good readers visualize using pictures and text clues to deepen their understanding of characters in a story. Support ELLs and struggling readers with the following sentence frames:

I can see the main character in my mind. What I see is .The clues that helped me visualize include .

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Traits: Brad is handy and creative.

Clues: Brad fixes broken things, including bikes, clocks, radios, and computers. He can’t wait for his watch to get old so he can fix it.

Feelings: happy

Clues: Pictures show Brad is happy with his watch. He is looking forward to fixing it wh en it gets old.

As Good As New!

Relationships: close with Grandma

Clues:Grandma gives him a present.

Brad liked to fix broken things. He fixed broken bikes and old clocks.

He fixed broken radios and computers, too.

Brad’s grandma gave him a watch for his birthday.

“Thanks,” said Brad. “I can’t wait until this watch gets old.”

“Why do you want it to get old?” asked his grandma.

“So it will break,” said Brad. “Then I can make it like new again!”


Day Two

Use the Comprehension Strategy: Analyze Character

Reread the poster text with students, annotations still hidden.

Say: Now think about what Brad does, thinks, and says to understand him, and the story better. What does Brad like to do?

If necessary, point out that the author describes Brad’s actions and uses Brad’s words to help readers understand him better.

Say: Let’s look more closely at the text and find clues that help us understand Brad. What does Brad like to do? What does he say in this story?

List clues about Brad. Then reveal the Clues annotations. Ask: Did we find all the clues about what Brad likes to do? Let’s compare lists.

Build academic oral language. Say: To analyze a character, we pay attention to what a character thinks, says, feels, and does. We use this information to make inferences about the character. We also need to be aware of what other characters say about the character. Let’s use the clues we found to help us analyze Brad. What was one clue you found? (Brad fixed broken radios and computers.) What does this tell us about Brad? (He is handy.)

Connect Thinking, Speaking, and Writing

Prompt students to identify other clues about Brad’s thoughts, words, feelings, and actions, and what these clues tell us about Brad.

Record students’ findings on chart paper. Then reveal the annotations.

Say: Let’s compare our details list to the list on the poster. Allow time for discussion.

Reflect and Discuss

Ask and discuss the following questions:• What does it mean to visualize, and how does this help you as a reader?• How do clues help you analyze character?

Connect and transfer. Ask: How will you use what we have practiced today when you read on your own?

Traits:

Brad is handy and creative.

Clues:

Brad fixes broken things, including bikes, clocks, radios, and computers. He can’t wait for his watch to get old so he can fix it.

Feelings:

happy

Clues:

Pictures show Brad is happy with his watch. He is looking forward to fixing it when it gets old.

Relationships:

close to Grandma

Clues:

Grandma gives him a present.

Comprehension Anchor Poster 2 Sample Annotations

Home/School ConnectionsAt the end of the day, ask students to complete another home/school connection activity from BLM 1 and bring their assignment to class the following day.


BeginningRead aloud the poster title and passage. Point to each object as you say its name. (watch, radio, computer)

Beginning and IntermediateAsk students to look around the room and find objects that Brad might enjoy fixing, such as a clock, computer, printer, etc.


Day Two

If you have students whose first language is Spanish, share these English/Spanish cognates: radio/la radio; computer/la computadora.


Model the use of academic sentence frames to support ELLs’ academic vocabulary and language development. (See suggested sentence frames provided.)

Comprehension Quick-CheckTake note of which students can or cannot contribute to the discussion of the Analyze Character poster. Use the following activity to provide additional explicit instruction for these students.

Use an additional real-world example to help students grasp the idea of analyzing a character. For example, have students describe a good friend by saying what he or she does, says, thinks, and feels. Record the traits on a graphic organizer. Then write them as a paragraph. Ask students to underline what the person does, circle what he or she says, and put a square around what the character thinks or feels.

Oral Language ExtensionDuring independent workstation time, pair students to construct oral character analyses related to any character they have studied in class. Partner A states a character. Partner B provides at least two traits to describe the character. If necessary, Partner A assists. Then partners switch roles. Tell students to be ready to report on their character analyses during individual conference time.


Based on students’ instructional reading levels, select titles that provide opportunities for students to practice analyzing characters. See the list provided on the Unit at a Glance chart.







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A Very Rare Cow

Sylvia’s Traits:

Clues:

The Purple Cow’s Traits:

Clues:

Relationships:

Clues:

Mr. Phillips took his class to visit a rare animals farm.

“Look there,” said Ian. “A flying pig!”

“Look over here!” shouted Mary. “A woodchuck chucking wood.”

“Oh no,” said Sylvia. “A crying cow.”

The whole class turned to look at the very sad purple cow.

“What’s wrong?” Sylvia asked. “How can we help?”

“I can’t give milk,” cried the purple cow. “I try and try, but all I have is purple grape juice.”

“We love purple grape juice,” said the students.

The purple cow stopped crying and walked proudly to the barn.


Lesson Objectives

Students will:




Related Resources




Day Three


Select a favorite nonfiction read-aloud from your classroom or school library with which to model the metacognitive strategy “Visualize.” Use the sample read-aloud lessons and suggested titles in the Benchmark Literacy Overview.


Extend the Comprehension Strategy: Analyze Character

Display Poster 3 and/or distribute BLM 3 and read aloud the title.

Say: Today you’re going to practice reading and analyzing characters in a text. Remember to use what you’ve learned. You can visualize as you read to help you understand.

Based on students’ needs and abilities, ask them to read the passage independently or with a partner. Tell them to locate and write clues about each character in the correct box. Tell students to underline, circle, or flag key information as they read.

Have individual students or pairs share the clues they identified. Record students’ findings on the poster. See the sample annotations.

Observe and Prompt for Strategy Understanding

As students work together, observe those who demonstrate understanding and those who struggle. Use appropriate responsive prompting to provide additional support or to validate students who demonstrate mastery.

Goal Oriented• I am going to read slowly and reread if necessary to locate clues about the

characters’ actions, words, thoughts, and feelings.• I am going to use clues to make inferences about and analyze the characters.• Sylvia says . This tells me she is .• The purple cow is . This tells me he/she is .

Directive and Corrective Feedback• Read the sentence. What clues help you to make inferences and analyze

the characters? • What else can you tell about the characters? What clues in the text helped

you to make inference so you could analzye the characters?

Sylvia’s Traits: caring, helpful

Clues: “Oh no” “What’s wrong?” “How can we help?”

The Purple Cow’s Traits: sad, proud

Clues: “I can’t give milk,” cried the purple cow. “I try and try, but all I have is purple grape juice.”Purple cow stopped crying and walked proudly to the barn.



Day Three

Home/School ConnectionsAt the beginning of the day, make time for students to share their ideas based on the activity they completed the previous night.

At the end of the day, ask students to complete another home/school connection activity from BLM 1 and bring their assignment to class the following day.


BeginningPoint to the poster photograph and provide the language for what you see, for example: barn, pig, cow. Invite ELLs to point to and name objects with you.

Beginning and IntermediateIf you have students whose first language is Spanish, share these English/Spanish cognates: class/la clase; animal/el animal.

Pair ELLs with fluent English speakers during partner discussions and activities.

Comprehension Quick-CheckThe responsive prompts on pages 8–9 are designed to help you meet the needs of individual students. Based on your observations, identify students who may need additional explicit reinforcement of the strategy during small-group instruction or intervention time. Use similar responsive prompts during small-group instruction to scaffold students toward independent use of the strategy.

Self-Monitoring and Reflection• What could you do to help yourself analzye characters?• How might visualizing help you analyze a character?• Did visualizing help you analyze a character?

Validating and Confirming• You really understand the characters.• You really picked up on the clues to help you make inferences about and

analyze characters. Great job!• I like the way you visualized to help you analyze character.

Reflect and Discuss

Ask and discuss the following questions:• What kinds of texts have you read that include characters? • Would a fictional story have characters? Explain.• Does a newspaper article have characters? • How does analyzing the characters deepen your understanding of

an article?

Connect and transfer. Say: Remember that most fiction you read has characters. You can use what you have learned to help you analyze characters. This strategy will help when you read nonfiction, too.


Based on students’ instructional reading levels, select titles that provide opportunities for students to practice analyzing character. See the list provided on the Unit at a Glance chart.








Ned and Ted Ant said, “We got more plants. We will eat all winter long.”

Ron and Jon Ant said, “We played bug tug. We had fun!”

“All you do is play, play, play,” said Ned and Ted. “What will you eat this winter?”

Winter came. Ron and Jon had no plants to eat. They went to Ned and Ted, and said,

“We are sad. We have no more plants.”

“You may eat some of our plants,” said Ned. “But you must help next time.”

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The Ants and Their PlantsRead-Aloud (10 minutes)

Select a favorite nonfiction read-aloud from your classroom or school library with which to model the metacognitive strategy “Visualize.” Use the sample read-aloud lessons and suggested titles in the Benchmark Literacy Overview.


Read and Summarize

Display Poster 4 and/or distribute BLM 4.

Based on students’ needs and abilities, ask them to read the passage independently or with a partner. Remind students to visualize to help them understand what they read.

Build academic oral language. When students have finished, ask individuals or pairs to use their own words to tell what the passage was about. Encourage ELLs or struggling readers to use this academic sentence frame:

This passage was about .

Answer Text-Dependent Comprehension Questions: Analyze Character (Level 3: Prove it!)

Say: Sometimes you need to answer questions about a passage you’ve read. And some questions require you to analyze characters. Today we’re going to read and answer questions. Some of the questions will ask you to analyze characters.

Distribute BLM 5 and read question 1 together. (“Which clue tells you Ned and Ted are hardworking?”)

Ask: What strategy do you think we need to use to answer this question? If students can’t tell you, ask: Is it asking us to identify a sequence of events? Is it asking us to compare? What strategy will we need to use? (analyze character) How do you know? (The question is asking about a character trait.)

Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Learn strategies for analyzing questions and finding answers, clues, and evidence.

• Identify and analyze character traits.

• Answer text-dependent main idea and supporting details questions.

• Use academic vocabulary to discuss strategies.

Related Resources




• Comprehension Questions (BLM 5)

Day Four


Day Four


At the end of the day, ask students to complete another home/school connection activity from BLM 1 and bring their assignment to class the following day.

Say: Think about what words or names from the question can help us find the answer. Look at the question very closely. Which words, or names, will help us? (Ned and Ted)

Say: Now we’re ready to reread the paragraph to find the information we need. We need to find clues about Ned and Ted that show they are hardworking. I see the names Ned and Ted in the first paragraph. They say, “We got more plants. We will eat all winter long.” You can make inferences about what characters are like from what they say. I know that if Ned and Ted got enough plants to eat all winter long, then they must have worked hard to get those plants. The exact answer was not in the text, but I paid attention to what the characters said that showed they are hardworking. The answer makes sense. So I’ll choose C.

Ask students to work independently or with a partner to answer additional text-dependent questions on BLM 5.

Review students’ answers and use the poster as needed to model analyzing questions and rereading to figure out the answers.

Ned and Ted Ant Traits:

hardworking responsible

Clues:

“We got more plants. We will eat all winter long.”

Ron and Jon Ant Traits:

like to have fun and playirresponsible

Clues:

“We played bug tug. We had fun!” “All you do is play, play, play,” said Ned and Ted.Ron and Jon had no plants to eat in winter.“We are sad. We have no more plants.”

Relationships:

Ned and Ted care about Ron and Jon.

Clues:

“What will you eat in this winter?” said Ned and Ted.“You may eat some of our plants,” said Ned. “But you must help next time.”


Name Date


BLM 5

The Ants and Their Plants: Comprehension Questions

Directions: Use information from the poster to answer questions 1–4.

1. Which clue tells you Ned and Ted are hardworking?

A “We played bug tug.”

B “You may eat some of our plants,” said Ned.

C “We got more plants. We will eat all winter long.”

2. Which trait best describes Ron and Jon?

A fun and playful

B hardworking

C tired

3. Which of Ned’s words tell you that he is caring?

A “All you do is play, play, play.”

B “You may eat some of our plants.”

C “We got more plants.”

4. Why are Ron and Jon Ant sad?

A They have no more plants to eat.

B Ned is mad at them.

C Winter came.

Comprehension Question (BLM 5)

Day Four

Reflect and Discuss the Comprehension Strategy

Ask and discuss the following:•Whatstrategydidweusetoanswerquestionsaboutthetext?•Howdidcluesaboutwhatthecharactersdidandsaidhelpus

understand them better?•Noticehowpayingattentiontowhatcharactersdoandsaycanhelp

you understand and answer questions about characters.

Connect and transfer. Say: Practice analyzing characters. This strategy can help you answer questions in all your subjects. It can also help you when you take tests.


Based on students’ instructional reading levels, select titles that provide opportunities for students to practice identifying stated main ideas and supporting details. See the list provided on the Unit at a Glance chart.


Use the Comprehension Question Card for each title and the Comprehension Teacher Flip Chart to practice answering Level 3 text-dependent comprehension questions.






BeginningSupport the concept of hardworking by identifying all the work students do in a day. Suggest other people that are hardworking, such as police officers, doctors, teachers, etc.

Beginning and IntermediatePoint to the picture of Ned and Ted Ant and say: These ants are working hard. Point to the picture of Ron and Jon Ant and say: These ants are playing.

Comprehension Quick-CheckNote whether students are able to analyze each Level 3 text-dependent comprehension question and return to the text to find the information they need to answer the question correctly. If students have difficulty, use small-group reading time for additional practice answering these kinds of questions.



Day Five


Revisit the week’s read-alouds to make text-to-text connections and provide opportunities for reader response. Use the suggested activities in the Benchmark Literacy Overview or implement ideas of your own.

Assessment (20 minutes)

Metacognitive Self-Assessment

Ask students to reflect on their use of metacognitive and comprehension strategies this week. What did they learn? How will they use the strategies in the future? What do they still need to practice, and how can they do this?

Invite students to share their reflections in one of the following ways: conduct a whole-class discussion, have students turn and talk to a neighbor and then share their ideas with the class, or ask students to record their thoughts in their journals or notebooks.

Constructed Written Response

Distribute copies of Constructed Written Response (BLM 6) and ask students to think about a character from a favorite story. Prompt them to list three traits based on what the character says, does, thinks, or feels in the story or from what others say about the character.

Work with students individually. Using their graphic organizer, ask them to write a paragraph describing the character.

Read aloud the checklist at the bottom of BLM 6 to help students evaluate their work.

Challenge activity. Students who are able to may also write or ask a text-dependent comprehension question for a partner to answer based on the paragraph. The question should focus on character analysis.

Support activity. If students cannot write a paragraph, encourage them to tell you about the character. They can use the following sentence frames:

The character says .The character does . The character thinks .The character feels .Others think the character .

Reinforce the fact that these descriptions are details.

Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Reflect orally on their strategy use.

• Create a character traits chart and write a paragraph based on it.

• Answer multiple-choice and short-answer questions.

Related Resources



• Constructed Written Response (BLM 6)

• Comprehension Strategy Assessments, Grade 1


Name Date

BLM 6

Constructed Written Response: Analyze Character

Analyze Character Writing Checklist

_____ I identified a character from a story.

_____ I included at least three character traits.

_____ I included clues or examples of each character trait.

Character

Constructed Written Response (BLM 6)



Make Assessments Accessible for ELLsUse the following strategies to help ELLs demonstrate their understanding of the strategies.

BeginningUse Constructed Written Response (BLM 6) with ELLs at the beginning proficiency level.

Intermediate and AdvancedSupport ELLs with academic sentence frames during the metacognitive self-assessment. Possible sentence frames to use are:

Visualizing the text helps us so that .

I will analyze characters when I .

Beginning and IntermediateUse the Comprehension Strategy Assessment as a listening comprehension assessment and scaffold students’ understanding of the text. As an alternative, allow students to tell you about the characters in one of the Comprehension Anchor Posters you have used during the week.


Day Five

Ongoing Comprehension Strategy Assessment

Distribute the Analyze Character Comprehension Strategy Assessment passage “Elephant and Tiger” on page 28 of the Grade 1 Comprehension Strategy Assessment book. Ask students to read the passage and use the information to answer the questions.

Use the results of this assessment to determine students who need additional work with the strategy.

Record students’ assessment scores using the Strategy Assessment Record on page 70, so that you can monitor their progress following additional instruction or intervention.

Provide additional modeling and guided practice during small-group reading instruction using the recommended titles in this Teacher’s Guide.


Based on students’ instructional reading levels, select titles that provide opportunities for students to practice analyzing character. See the list provided on the Unit at a Glance chart.






Unit 2/Week 1 at a Glance - Benchmark Education...

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Transcript of Unit 2/Week 1 at a Glance - Benchmark Education...