Brief descriptions of 10-15 days of learning activities (in and out of class) for the entire unit (a paragraph

for each day, not fully-developed lesson plans).

Digging Deeper: Developing Comprehension using Thank You, Mr.Falker

Day 1: Activity 1: Before reading the book and before showing them the cover, ask students if they have

ever experienced a roadblock when learning a new task. Have a discussion about it and talk about

personal experiences to model the comprehension strategy. Ask what they can predict will happen based

on the cover of the book. In a chart paper, record students responses so they can look back to. During

reading, ask students if they have anything in common with Trisha, or not. Also, if the story reminds them

of anything that has happened to them. After reading, ask the students how the story made them feel and

if their predictions came true. Remember to write their responses on the chart paper.

Day 2: Activity 2: Gather students at the front of the room and have “Character Change Continuum”

chart available. Read Thank You, Mr. Falker aloud again to the class and make stops to ask students

where and why they think Trisha is on the character change continuum chart. When you are finished

reading, read the chart over with your students. Ask them to think of a few words to describe Trisha in the

B,M,E of the story. Tell students the purpose of this activity was to practice character development and

good readers do this to help them understand the text better.

Day 3: Activity 3: Refer students to the chart made in Activity 1. Display a blank life lesson chart on the

board. Tell students that often stories have several themes/ main ideas and that readers make connections

while they read. Help students identify the themes in Thank You, Mr. Falker which are “believe in

yourself” and “important people shape how we feel about ourselves” by using strategies such as a picture

walk through the book and at each illustration ask students to summarize what is happening on the page,

and ask students to identify the themes of the book. Write the theme “important people shape how we feel

about ourselves” on the chart and now ask students to make connections to the text by asking “Who are

important people in your life?”, “How do important people make you feel? How do they do that?”, “What
do they say?”. Record their own responses on the life lesson chart. Read and review the chart together this

helps students review the information and encourages them to reflect as they read.

Let’s Read It Again: Comprehension Strategies for English- Language Learners

Day 1: Activity 1: Gather students together and ask them to think about kids their same age and what

they do in other parts of the world on a regular day. Ask students to talk among themselves and share

their thoughts. Write student answers on a whiteboard. When finished writing all of the answers on the

board, go over them with the class. You want to reinforce the idea that although children in other parts of

the world speak a different language, they do many of the same things that we do.

Introduce students to Con mi hermano/With my brother by Eileen Roe. Explain to the class that the book

is written both in English and Spanish and that they will hear the story twice, one in each language. While

reading the book, instruct students to pay attention to the everyday experiences of the boy because each

student will have to retell it later. Make sure to show student’s the pictures on the book while you read

and that you read first in English and then in Spanish. After reading the book, ask the student’s of what

they think is the most important thing in the story. Make sure to write the answers on the board and ask

the class to vote on the one they think it’s the main idea. At the end, congratulate students on a job well

done in identifying the main idea of the story and explain that in the future session they will have to retell

the story as they remember it.

Day 2: Activity 2: Have multiple copies of the book so students are able to read out loud with you. Post

all pictures of Con Mi Hermano/With my Brother on the board in no particular order. Re-read the book

together as a class, pointing at each word that you read so the class does the same thing. It would be easier

to display your book on a overhead so the class can follow along. When you finish the story project the

Concept Web Worksheet on the overhead projector and write in the middle circle: The little boy in the

story likes to do many special things with his brother. Give students the opportunity to discuss with a

partner what they think the little boy likes to do with his brother. Meanwhile, pass around the Concept

Web Worksheet and choose a student to pick a picture from the board that describes the topic in the
middle of the web. Then ask them to describe the picture in one word, whether they are right or wrong,

write the word in one of the bubbles in english and spanish. The class would do the same on there own

web. Continue this until you have used all the pictures and remind them that they will be using these

words for tomorrow’s lesson.

Day 3: Activity 3: Hand back each student’s Concept Web Worksheet. Give each students a list of

English/Spanish vocabulary words from Con mi hermano/With my brother, as well as a blank flip book.

When all of the materials have been given to the student’s, explain that they will write all of the words

that they have learned from reading the book in both languages in their flip book dictionaries. Show the

student’s an example of how their flip book dictionaries should look like. Explain to them that they will

need to write the English word with the Spanish word next to it. Student’s should also include pictures to

help them remember what each word means. When the student’s are done writing their words in their flip

books, ask them to look at the list. Review each word with the class by reading aloud the vocabulary

words both in English and Spanish. Write each word from the list on the board and ask the student’s if

they know what each word means. If you see any student struggling with the meaning of the word, show

them the page in the book where the word appears so the picture can help them. Allow students to work

by themselves or with a partner while you walk around the classroom to help where needed.

Day 4: Activity 4: This lesson will be in your school’s computer room so students are able to do this

activity. Each ELL student will be paired up with an native English speaker from another class. Handout

the Con Mi Hermano/With My Brother book to each pair and explain that they will be alternating their

reading with the older student reading first and the younger student reading second. If you have two ELL

students paired, then each student will alternate in reading an english and spanish page. Before they begin

reading, ask if they know what an Acrostic Poem is. Have an anchor chart with the definition and a

example of an acrostic poem, along with one that you made on your own to demonstrate to the class.

Afterwards, they can they start reading the book to help them come up with a topic to write their own

acrostic poem about a favorite person in there life. Remind them that every line of the poem relates to and

starts with the letter in the name of the person they choose, and that they can use the dictionaries they
made in day 3. When they are done, they can share with their partner and then if time permits, share with

the class.

Day 5: Activity 5: On day 5 of this lesson, students should have access to a computer. You will need to

pair students and provide them with a copy of Con Mi Hermano/With My Brother. When pairing students,

you should pair struggling readers with stronger readers and ELLs with English native speakers. The

students will have to read the story to each other and work with their partner to retell the story in English.

Using the LCD projector, access the interactive Stapleless book and show the students how it works.

Explain to the student’s that they have to put a sentence on each page of the book retelling the events in

the story in English and that once done, they should print out their books. Inform the student’s that they

can refer back to their dictionaries that they created in day 3 of this lesson to help them. Allow student’s

time to reread the book, compose, print, assembe, and illustrate their books. If there is extra time left,

allow students to share their retelling with the class.

Family Ties: Making Connections to Improve Reading Comprehension

Day 1: Activity 1: The teacher will being by activating students prior knowledge of their families. Ask

students questions such as; What are relatives? When and why do relatives gather together? After

gathering the students responses, the teacher can begin reading aloud the book Bigmama’s by Donald

Crews. After reading the book the teacher will ask specific questions focusing on text-to-self connections,

text-to-text connections and text-to-world connections. The teacher will ask questions such as What does

this story remind you of? Can you relate to the characters in the story? How is this text similar/different to

other things you have read? What does this remind you of in the real world? As students answer the

questions, the teacher will introduce the three types of connections by using the Making Connections

posters. To model how to make each type of connection the teacher will use the think-aloud strategy.

Students will make connections to the text and share them aloud but explain which of the three

connections they are making.

Day 2: Activity 2: The teacher will begin by reading aloud the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.

After reading the book, the teacher will review the Making Connections poster which describes the three

types of connections. The teacher will model a personal connection with the book The Snowy Day by

writing it on a sticky note and putting it under what connection it is. Ask students to make a connection to

the book by writing it on a sticky note and placing it under the connection they are describing. As a class,

read aloud the connections and checking that each sticky note is under the correct connection. After this

activity, the teacher will begin reading a new book The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant. After reading

the book aloud, the teacher will introduce a Think-Pair-Share activity. Students will be asked to think of a

connection to the book The Relatives Came and they will pair up with another student to share their

connections. They will come back as a class and share several examples of the connections they made. At

the end, using the Planning Web the teacher will provide a model of the writing students will be asked to

do. Students will begin to plan their writing based on their connections they have made.

Day 3: Activity 3: The teacher will begin by reviewing the sample “Planning Web”. Model how to use

the planning web with your students to organize a story by writing a sample story on chart paper. Have

students complete the planning webs they created during activity 2 and use them to write about their

connection to The Relatives Came. Suggest that the students use the sample story as a model to guide

their writing.

Day 4: Activity 4: The teacher will gather to group as a class to share their connections aloud. Remind

students to first identify the type of connection they made in their story and then read aloud their story to

the class. Share the “Additional Books about Families” you have selected with the students as read-

alouds. Remind students that they should make connections to the stories while reading or listening. Have

your students write down their connections and remind them to identify the type of connection they are

making. Invite a few students to share their connections orally with the class.

Day 5: Activity 5: The teacher will gather all students and review what the purpose of making

connections is and how this process is beneficial for readers. Have the students share some of the

connections they had made to the books the teacher had read on previous days. Ask students if they were
able to make any text-to-text connections between all the books read aloud to them. To conclude the

lesson, guide students to make additional text-to-text connections with Bigmama’s and The Relatives

Came. Students will share with the class these additional text-to-text connections.