Fifth Grade October Unit 2:Following Characters into Meaning

Mentor Texts:

Unit Objective: To interpret by making connections across books and to life by focusing on characters and universal themes within text Students generate theories about characters while predicting and envisioning Students will grow their theories into big ideas about characters by synthesizing to be more precise and complex. Students will read multiple texts and think interpretively to compare themes a that cross text while building complexity of thought Part 1: Buildings Theories about Characters
Literal/Craft Character Study Today I want to teach you that readers read closely by noticing how characters act and respond to the events in the story p.37/50 Making and confirming predictions Modeling close reading to understand character RL5.1, 5.2 Strategy/Skill Drawing Conclusions Today I want to teach you that as readers we not only pay attention to what a character does but how a character does these things. P.37-38/50 Consider why a character acts a certain way (cause/effect) Actions can be windows to the person Let me use what just happened as a window to help me understand this person (motives) Pay attention to how a character thinks and talks to understand them more intimately RL 5.2 Literal/Craft Character Study Today I want to teach you that characters are complicated and we notice times characters act out of character p.38-50 Characters have many sides and act differently in different situations Do these new sections of text confirm or challenge my ideas about the character? Reflect on how a character acts out of character. Why the author might have made the decision to have the character to do this (student answer has to be grounded, accountable and precise.) RL 5.3, 5.2, 5.6 Literal/Craft Character Study

Strategy/Skill
Looking for Relationships

Today I want to teach you that we pay attention to the objects that a character keeps near and dear as one way to grow ideas about what kind of person that character is. P.38/50 Objects are windows into the mind and heart of characters Possessions that a character keeps close almost always reveal something important about the person RL 5.1, 5.2

Today I want to teach you That as readers we not only notice the main character but we pay attention to the other characters as well. We think about how the events affect other events and how characters affect other characters. p.38/50-51 Story structure Compare/contrast Cause/Effect Notice how characters treat and interact with each other

RL5.2-5.3

Fifth Grade October Unit 2:Following Characters into Meaning

Part 1: Buildings Theories about Characters. continued

Literal/Craft Character Trait Today I want to teach you that readers sharpen our ideas about characters by using precise language to describe them and their actions p.3839/51 p.38: If the story says that Robert started the essay five times. (Model example) Readers use specific descriptive words vs., generic terms Grasping nuances of synonyms/ plotting words on a gradient Literary word chart (p.38) RL 5.1, 5.2

Procedural Note-taking Today I want to teach you that as we read we hold onto ideas about characters by taking notes using post-its Ie. Traits, motivations, problems/struggles, lessons and changes Pg. 39 Evaluate post-its by starring postit that show especially deep thinking Think about what post-it that made it valuable for your understanding Using exemplar post-it as mentors RL 5.1, 5.2, 5.5

Procedural Partnerships Today I want to teach you that we can use our notes to talk to our partners. P.39-40 Articulate what about a post-it that made it valuable Extend conversation by asking questions to develop theories. See prompts for partner discussion of pages 39-40 RL 5.1, 5.2, 5.5, SL5.1a-f, SL 5.4

Fifth Grade October Unit 2:Following Characters into Meaning

Part 2 Theme (from Inference toward Interpretation)

Strategy/Skill Synthesizing Today I want to teach you that readers stop to organize their ideas into related thoughts by stacking their post its. Pg. 41/51 Synthesizing ideas/threads of thought Sort by patterns (ex. Pg 41) Similarities/ differences RL5.1, 5.2, 5.5

Strategy/Skill Synthesizing/Evaluating Today I want to remind you that once readers have grown a theory we reread and read on with that theory in mind expecting that it will change. Pgs. 41-42/51 Read forward to gather evidence to support their theories. Make theory charts Use post its to help predict and evaluate. Motivations and struggles of the characters RL 5.2, 5.5

Strategy/Skill Asking and Answering Questions Today I want to teach you that there are central questions that we think about as readers that help us to gather information and interpret the text. Pgs. 42/51 What does the character want? What are some of the obstacles that have been getting in the way? How does the character respond to those obstacles? What resources does the character draw upon to meet the challenges and reach the goals? Story structure, problem/resolution RL 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.5

Strategy/Skill
Looking for Important ideas

Readers use simple ideas to grow and elaborate on their thinking using prompts. P.43/51 Prompts pg. 43 RL 5.1, 5.2

Literal/Craft Theme/Lessons Today I want to teach you that things often reoccur in our books and this helps us determine the lessons and themes of the story pg.44/51 Use previous theory post-its to determine: What lessons does the character learn about ____ People Problems Ideas (Readers record this thinking on chart/notebook etc.) Readers generate bigger thoughts using these ideas (interpret) Name the problems the characters face and then ask what lesson did the character learn Partner Work/share Students reflect and their thinking by evaluating their work RL 5.1, 5.2, 5.5

Fifth Grade October Unit 2:Following Characters into Meaning

Part 3: Reading across Books and Characters: Seeing Similarities and Differences and growing bigger theories

Strategy/Skill Compare/Contrast Today I want to teach you that we think about our character we have grown to know and we Compare and Contrast thinking about what is the same and what is different. p.45-46/52 How are they like each other? What situation is the same? Is there something common in their way of solving their lives issues? RL 5.2, 5.3

Strategy/Skill Compare/Contrast Today I want to teach you that one way to compare is to look at whether the challenges or situations in their lives bear any similarity to each other. We may think they are very different then reveal surprising similarities p.45-46/ 52 Different characters can face similar issues but deal with them in different ways RL 5.2, 5.3

Strategy/Skill Compare/Contrast Today I want to teach you that we can compare by looking across books at characters playing parallel roles in these books pg.46/52 Two moms Two best friends Two villains Two pets Notice parallel threads RL 5.3, 5.11

Procedural Ask/Answer Questions Partners push each other to think beyond surface by asking questions See prompts on page 47-48/ 52 What does your character really want? What is your characters biggest struggle? Why do you think that? Can you say more? Is there something in the text that makes you think that? I think our/these characters might be similar because.. I think our/these characters might be different because.. Have you found something similar with the character in your story? SL5.1 A-F, SL 5.4

Strategy/Skill Compare and contrast/make connections Today I want to teach you that we compare and contrast the characters with ourselves. We think of ways in which we are similar to these characters. We identify with characters to learn lifelong lessons pg.48/53. RL 5.2, 5.3, 5.11

Ideas for Celebration: Celebration Ideas Reflection: Who am I as a reader? What kind of thinking work do I tend to do? With partner-What can I learn about myself by comparing and contrasting my thinking to that of my partner Self Portrait Showing self-reflections Blank Book Mark think about the books they read and ways they see themselves in these characters and jot ideas on book-mark (pg.48)

Fifth Grade October Unit 2:Following Characters into Meaning