unit 6/week 2 at a glance

TM

LiteracyB e n c h m a r k

Teacher’s Guide Grade 4 • Unit 6 2Week

® 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

Make Connections/Identify Cause and Effect

Unit 6/Week 2 at a Glance

Day Mini-Lessons

ONE • Activate Prior Knowledge about Genres

• Focus on the Genre: Pourquoi Tales

• Focus on Genre Features: Pourquoi Tales

TWO • Model Metacognitive Strategies: Make Connections

• Introduce Identify Cause and Effect

• Focus on Genre Features: Pourquoi Tales

THREE • Make Connections to Identify Cause and Effect

FOUR • Build Comprehension: Analyze Character

• Build Tier Two Vocabulary: Superlatives

FIVE • Synthesize and Assess Genre Understanding

• Make Connections Across Texts

Benchmark Literacy • Grade 4 • Unit 6/Week 2 ©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC2

Day One

Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Review the concept of genre and previously studied genres.

• Create a Pourquoi Tales anchor chart to demonstrate prior knowledge.

• Build academic oral language and vocabulary as they engage in partner and whole-group discussion.

Related Resources

• Genre Workshop Whiteboard CD-ROM

• Pourquoi Tales Poster 1 (BLM 1)

Pourquoi Tales 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 “Make Connections.” Use the sample read-aloud lessons and suggested titles in the Benchmark Literacy Overview.

Mini-Lessons (20 minutes)

Activate Prior Knowledge About Genres

Write the word genre on chart paper. Say: We have talked about the meaning of the word genre.

Ask: Who can tell me another word for genre? (kind, type)

Say: We have read many genres of literature. What are some genres we have read? (biography, personal narrative, historical fiction, realistic fiction, trickster tales) The literature in a certain genre has common features.

Ask: What is common to all biographies? (All biographies tell facts about a particular person and his or her life.) What are some things we would look for in the biography genre? (dates, names, important events)

Say: Knowing about genres of literature helps us understand what we read. We can make predictions about the text, and we know what to look for.

Day One

©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC Benchmark Literacy • Grade 4 • Unit 6/Week 2 3

Make Content Comprehensible for ELLs

Beginning and Intermediate Explain that pourquoi means “why.” Show examples of pourquoi tales from your classroom or school library. Read the title of each tale and point out its connection to nature. Use simple language to point out and name the setting and animal characters. Say: Pourquoi tales happen in nature. This tale happens in . The characters in pourquoi tales are animals. The animals in this tale are .

Intermediate and AdvancedChoose a pourquoi tale from your classroom or school library that has a clear problem and solution. Say: A pourquoi tale tells about a problem and a solution. Guide students in looking at the pictures. Ask: What problem do you think this tale might be about? Why do you think so?

All Levels Explain that the word pourquoi is a French word that means “why.” If you have students whose first language is Spanish, share the French/Spanish cognate pourquoi/por qué.

Model the academic sentence frames provided in this guide to help ELLs contribute their ideas to the discussion of pourquoi tales.

Focus on the Genre: Pourquoi Tales

Display Genre Workshop Poster 1 and distribute BLM 1.

Say: This week we will focus on the genre of pourquoi tales. You will read pourquoi tales in your small reading groups, and you can select other titles from this genre to read independently, too. Let’s talk about this genre and create our own Pourquoi Tales anchor chart to record what we already know about the genre. Later in the week, we can come back to our chart and reflect on how our understanding of the genre has changed and expanded.

Think/Pair/Write/Share. Have students work with a partner to answer the four questions on BLM 1. Give students five to seven minutes to work with their partners. Then bring the pairs together to share their answers.

Support the academic language development of ELLs and struggling readers by providing the following sentence frames to use as they discuss the genre:

A pourquoi tale is .The purpose of a pourquoi tale is to .When you read a pourquoi tale, pay attention to .Pourquoi tales were invented by .

Invite pairs to share their ideas about one question at a time. Work together to consolidate students’ ideas and record them on Poster 1. (See the sample poster annotations provided on page 4.)

Day One


Support Special Needs Learners Throughout the week, use these strategies to help students who have learning disabilities access the content and focus on genre studies and comprehension strategies.

Support students by projecting the posters onto a whiteboard. Allow students to come to the whiteboard and circle, underline, or highlight features of the genre. Invite them to label what they see on the posters.

Provide opportunities for active involvement. For example, allow students to take on the roles of various animal characters and act out the tales. To reinforce the concept of setting, have students make simple scenery, such as a drawing on the board, to serve as a backdrop.

Provide repeated opportunities for students to analyze the features of pourquoi tales. Find features of pourquoi tales in text examples from read-alouds, as well as during small-group and independent reading. Chart the features on graphic organizers and post them in your classroom as examples.

Let students choose pourquoi tales about animals that interest them. Use the recommended read-aloud titles provided in the Teacher’s Guide, as well as other examples from your school library.

Focus on Genre Features: Pourquoi Tales

Point to the “Features of a Pourquoi Tale” web on the right side of the poster.

Say: As we’ve discussed, every genre has certain consistent features. Considering our discussions so far, and your own experiences with this genre, what do you think are the consistent features of all, or most, pourquoi tales? Let’s work together to identify them.

Allow students enough time to generate their own ideas, and record the features they identify on the web. Reread the features together. (See the sample annotations provided below.) Only if necessary, prompt students with the following questions and statements:

•Wouldittakealongorshorttimetoreadmostpourquoitales?Explain.•Whatkindsofcharacterswouldyoufindinmostpourquoitales?•Wheredomostpourquoitalestakeplace?•Whatdothecharactersinapourquoitaleaccomplish?

Connect and transfer. Say: Pourquoi tales explain things in nature. This week as you read pourquoi tales, think about the features of this genre. Understanding these genre features will help you appreciate and understand the tales.

Pourquoi Tales Poster 1, sample annotations

Day One


Comprehension Quick-CheckNote which students do or don’t actively participate in the discussion of genre. Ask some questions at the end of the lesson to confirm students’ understanding, for example:

• What does the word pourquoi mean? • Tell me about this genre in your own

words.

Home/School Connection Explain that many pourquoi tales explain why or how animals got certain characteristics. Share famous titles such as WhyMosquitoesBuzzinPeople’sEarsand How Chipmunk Got His Stripes. Ask students to think about animals they know and to write at least three pourquoi story titles that start with how or why.

Small-Group Reading Instruction (60 minutes)

Based on students’ instructional reading levels, select titles that provide opportunities for students to focus on pourquoi tales or to practice identifying cause and effect. See the list provided on the Small-Group Reading Instructional Planner.

Use the instruction provided in the Teacher’s Guide for each title to introduce the text.

Individual Student Conferences (10 minutes)

Confer with individual students to discuss their understanding of the genre. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.

Word Study Workshop (20 minutes)

Use the Day 1 instruction provided in Grade 4 Word Study Skill Bag 17.


Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Make connections related to pourquoi tales.

• Identify causes and effects using a graphic organizer.

• Use academic sentence frames to discuss strategies and features of a pourquoi tale.

Related Resources



Day Two


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


Model Metacognitive Strategies: Make Connections

Display Genre Workshop Poster 2 with the genre annotations concealed. Also distribute copies of BLM 2.

Read aloud the poster passage with students.

Explain: Good readers make connections with what they are reading. They can connect ideas and events from literature to their own lives, to the world, or to other pieces of literature. Making connections helps readers understand what they are reading. Here is an example of how to make connections.

Think aloud: In “How the Kangaroo Got Its Pouch,” the mother kangaroo wants to keep her baby safe. She wants him to stay close to her so he won’t be in danger. I can connect this to something I know about. When I am shopping, I see mothers with their babies in strollers or in baby carriers. Mothers use these items to keep their children close by and safe. Making this connection with the story helps me understand how a kangaroo pouch keeps a kangaroo baby safe.

Remind students that they can also make connections between pieces of literature. Ask them to make connections between the fiction read-aloud from Day 1 and “How the Kangaroo Got Its Pouch.” Encourage ELLs to use the sentence frame: Thepourquoitaleandthefictionread-aloudare alike because they both .




Beginning Point to and say the names of the animals in the story (kangaroo, Joey, wombat). Ask students to repeat the words after you. Use gestures and role-play to show character actions and emotions as you read the tale aloud. Reread and have students echo your actions.

IntermediatePoint to and say the names of the animals in the story (kangaroo, Joey, wombat). Ask students to repeat the words after you. Then have them use the words in simple sentences, such as “The kangaroo hopped.” and “Joey shouted.”

AdvancedDivide the group into triads. Have each student take on the role of the wombat, kangaroo, or Joey and act out the tale.

All Levels Display a photo of a mother kangaroo. Point to the pouch and say: pouch. Explain that a pouch is like a pocket or a bag.

If you have students whose first language is Spanish, share these English/Spanish cognates: kangaroo/el canguro; creator/el creador.

Day Two

Introduce Identify Cause and Effect

Explain: Everypourquoitalehascausesandeffects.Acharacterperformsanaction. The action is a cause. The result of that cause is the effect. As you read a pourquoi tale, connect the causes and effects of the characters’ actions to events that have happened in your life or that you have read about in other stories. Making connections will help you understand the causes and effects in a pourquoi tale.

Reread “How the Kangaroo Got Its Pouch.” Ask students to identify causes and effects. Provide the following academic sentence frames to support ELLs and struggling students:

One action, or cause, is that .The effect is that .

On a graphic organizer like the one shown below, record the causes and effects that students identify.

Sample Identify Cause and Effect Annotations (Note: Your class graphic organizer may differ.)

Cause Effect

Joey hops away from his mother.

Hunters chase Joey.

The kangaroo helps the wombat get a drink of water.

The wombat/creator gives the kangaroo a pouch to keep Joey safe.


Comprehension Quick-CheckNote which students are or are not able to discuss causes and effects in the poster passage. Use the following strategies to provide additional explicit instruction.

Reread Poster 2. Say: The characters’ actions are the causes in pourquoi tales. What do the characters do in this tale? Allow responses. Work with students to identify and underline character actions in the tale.

Ask: What happens as a result of each action?Thesearetheeffects.Let’sfindthe effects that go with the actions we identified.

Oral Language ExtensionInvite pairs of students to share the list of pourquoi titles they brainstormed as homework the night before. Have students choose one title from each partner’s list and describe what the causes and effects might be in that title. Students should jot down their ideas on notebook paper and be prepared to share them during independent conference time.

Home/School ConnectionHave students turn in their homework from the night before. If time allows, invite them to share their charts.

Have students take home BLM 2, reread the text, and label the features of pourquoi tales in the passage.

Day Two

Focus on Genre Features: Pourquoi Tales

Ask students to name some features of a pourquoi tale that you discussed yesterday.

Say: Now let’s reexamine “How the Kangaroo Got Its Pouch” and look for features of a pourquoi tale. What do you notice?

Work with students to identify the following genre features embedded in this passage:

•a title about something in nature: kangaroos• a setting, Australia, that is key to the story• animal characters: kangaroos and a wombat• a character with a flaw: Joey, who doesn’t listen to his mother• a problem, caused by Joey hopping away, and a solution, which

explains why kangaroos have a pouch

Reveal the poster annotations so that students can confirm or revise their ideas. Reread them as a group.

Connect and transfer. Say: As you read more pourquoi tales this week, look for these features. The features of pourquoi tales will help you understand the causes and effects of characters’ actions. As you read, connect this tale to the one you read yesterday.


Continue small-group reading instruction from the previous day. Use the instruction provided in the Teacher’s Guide for each text.


Confer with individual students to discuss their understanding of genre and comprehension strategies. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.




Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Review features of the pourquoi tales genre.

• Make connections between pourquoi tales.

• Use their understanding of genre to identify causes and effects.

• Build oral language and vocabulary through whole-group and partner discussion.

Related Resources



• Identify Cause and Effect (BLM 4)

Day Three


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


Make Connections to Identify Cause and Effect

Display Genre Workshop Poster 3 and distribute BLM 3.

Read aloud the pourquoi tale with students. Say: We are going to talk about causes and effects in this tale together. We will make connections to help us understand the causes and effects. Let me show you how I do this. In the story, a moose comes to the river and drinks. This is a cause. The effect is that all the animals get worried. This kind of cause and effect happens in my life all the time. Someone does something that causes other people to worry. I can use my own personal connections to help me understand how the animals feel and why the moose has such an effect on their lives.

Say: Now you can make some additional connections. Allow responses. If students are unable to make connections, prompt them to think about the following:

•Whatothereffectsdoesthemoose’sactioncause?Whatdoesthismake you think of in another story or in your own life?

•Whatdoestheflydo?Why?Whatcharacterdoessheremindyouofin“How the Kangaroo Got Its Pouch”?

Say: Making connections helped us focus on the causes and effects of the tale. Let’s write these causes and effects on a graphic organizer.

Work with students to identify causes and effects from the passage. Record the causes and effects on a graphic organizer like the one shown on page 10.

Point out that an action can have more than one cause, or it can have more than one effect. Have students identify examples on the chart.



Day Three


Beginning and IntermediateDisplay pictures to be sure students are familiar with animals in the tale. Point to and name each animal. Then have students name the animals.

AdvancedHave students speculate about other ways the animals could have solved the problem.

Comprehension Quick-CheckNote whether students can identify causes and effects. If necessary, reread Poster 3 and remind students that in this tale, a moose comes to the river. He causes problems for the animals, so they decide to do something. Ask: What do the animals do? (Allow responses.) Say: The things the animals do are effects.

Write this example of a cause-and-effect relationship on chart paper. Ask students to identify other cause-and-effect relationships in the tale.

Home/School ConnectionAsk students to take home the Identify Cause and Effect graphic organizer (BLM 4) and record examples of cause-and-effect relationships they experience at home, for example:

Cause: My alarm goes off. Effect: I wake up.

Connect and transfer. Say: As you continue to read pourquoi tales, look for causes and effects and make connections between this story and what you know from life and from other pourquoi tales you have read.




Confer with individual students to discuss their understanding of genre and comprehension strategies. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.



Cause Effect

There was plenty of water in the river.

The animals drank as much water as they needed.

No animal was ever thirsty.

The moose drank up all the water.

The beaver could not build dams.

The fish had no place to live.

The fly bit the moose on the nose, leg, and neck.

The moose was annoyed and left the river.

Sample Identify Cause and Effect Annotations


Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Analyze character.

• Extend Tier Two Vocabulary by focusing on superlatives.

• Build oral language and vocabulary through whole-group and partner discussion.

Related Resources



Day Four


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


Build Comprehension: Analyze Character

Say: Pourquoi tales have some interesting characters, and you can learn a lot about them by paying attention to their thoughts, words, and actions. Let’s think about the characters in the tales we have read this week. For example, we learned that the moose in “Why the Fly Bites the Moose” was gigantic and didn’t like being bitten by the fly. Let’s think some more about the characters in “Why the Fly Bites the Moose.”

Reread Poster 3 with students.

Say: We can make a character chart to help us analyze the fly’s character. Let’slookbackintothetextandfindcluesandevidencethatwillhelpusunderstand what kind of character the fly is. What kind of information do you think we should look for? Allow responses.

Engage students in a discussion to ensure they understand that they must pay attention to the fly’s feelings, words, thoughts, and actions. They should pay attention to how the author describes the fly.




Beginning and IntermediateHelp students understand the concept of character and how character traits are communicated through words and actions. Draw a web with the word character in the middle. Draw the following spokes one at a time, as you use words, gestures, and role-playing to convey what they mean:

Feelings: Demonstrate different feelings with your body language. Say: I am a character. I am .

Words: Demonstrate how you can sound angry, happy, or sad with your tone. Say: I feel .

Actions: Model different moods through actions such as skipping, moping, or dancing. Say: My character feels .

Reread your web with students and invite them to demonstrate and talk about character traits.

AdvancedAsk partners to analyze the beaver and the fish. Point out that there are few clues in the tale. Suggest that it may be helpful to make connections to their own lives and to other stories to understand these characters.

Comprehension Quick-CheckTake note of students who may need more support to analyze characters. Provide additional modeling during small-group reading. Then have them practice during independent workstation time by analyzing characters from another pourquoi tale excerpt.

Day Four

On chart paper, draw a chart like the one shown below.

Think/Pair/Write/Share. Tell students they will complete this chart. Say: Workwithapartnertofigureoutwhatkindsofcharactersthemooseandtheflyare.MakeachartliketheoneIjustdrew,andfillinyourideas.Onepartner will work on the row for the moose. The other will work on the row for the fly. Then we will share the charts as a group. Making connections with stories you have read in the past or with experiences from your own life will helpyoufillinthechart.

As partners share text clues and inferences, add them to the chart.

Connect and transfer. Say: Remember, when you read a pourquoi tale, you should analyze the characters of the animals you are reading about. Think about what causes the characters’ actions and what the results of those actions are. Then you use this information along with what you know about people and animals to decide what kind of character he or she is.

Clue Analysis

Moose

The moose drank all the water without thinking about the other animals.

The moose was selfish.

Fly

The fly worried about her friends.

The fly bit the moose to get him to leave the river.

The fly was caring.

The fly was a clever problem-solver.


Oral Language ExtensionDuring independent workstation time, ask pairs of students to discuss the cause-and-effect relationships they identified as homework on Day 3. They can use the sentence frames: The cause is . The effect is .

Home/School ConnectionHave students take home BLM 3 and read it with a family member to practice fluent reading. Tell students to have their family members sign the page to indicate they participated in the reading.

Day Four

Build Tier Two Vocabulary: Superlatives

On chart paper, write the sentence The moose was the biggest animal at the river.

Say: Biggest is a superlative. It is an adjective that compares more than two things.Itcomparesthesizesofthebeaver,fish,fly,andmoose.

Turn and talk. Ask students to work with a neighbor on a sentence using biggest to compare three or more things in the classroom.

Have students share their sentences, and record them on chart paper. Students should understand that a superlative describes the most extreme of a certain feature. Then write the following on chart paper: small, fresh, little. Ask students for the superlative form of each and an example of each word in a sentence about the setting and characters of “Why the Fly Bites the Moose.”

Encourage students to identify other superlative forms of words and add these to the chart.

Connect and transfer. Invite students to use superlatives in sentences of their own.




Confer with individual students to discuss their developing understanding of genre and word-solving strategies. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.




Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Identify causes and effects in pourquoi tales.

• Review features of the pourquoi tales genre.

• Make text-to-text connections.

• Build academic oral language and vocabulary through small-group and whole-group discussions.

Related Resources





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.


Synthesize and Assess Genre Understanding

Synthesize genre understanding. Ask students to work in teams to evaluate the pourquoi tale models on Posters 2 and 3 using their knowledge of the genre. Distribute a copy of each model (BLMs 2 and 3) to groups. Give each group five to seven minutes in which to underline parts of the text and annotate them with callouts. The callouts should show where the author has included specific genre features. Based on their analysis, groups should be prepared to evaluate whether each pourquoi tale uses the genre features effectively, and why they think so.

Tell students that each group member should contribute an idea. Each group should select one member as the recorder and another as the spokesperson.

Have each group’s spokesperson share his or her group’s ideas. Discuss students’ literary analysis and evaluations. Encourage teams with conflicting evaluations to participate in a lively, but respectful, debate about the merits of each genre model. Remind students that they must support their positions with examples and references to the texts.

Record key concepts from each group on chart paper.

Self-assessment. Display the class Pourquoi Tales anchor chart from Day 1. Ask each group to add any new information they now have about the genre.

Ask: How has your understanding of the pourquoi tales genre developed? What do you know now that you didn’t know before? Encourage individual students to share their personal insights.

Connect and transfer. Ask: How can you use your new understanding of this genre the next time you read a pourquoi tale? How do you think you can use your genre knowledge as a writer?




BeginningDisplay Posters 2 and 3 side by side. Provide a model to guide students through the first question before having them work in groups. Say: Both tales are about animals with problems.

Beginning and Intermediate Provide sentence frames to help ELLs contribute to their groups’ discussions, for example:

One feature of pourquoi tales is .

Both of these pourquoi tales have .

They are different because one has , but the other has .

Advanced Have pairs use information on their chart to write an advertisement for one of the stories. Tell them to explain why it is a good example of a pourquoi tale.

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

Encourage ELLs to revisit the tales they are comparing and to find and read specific information in the text to help them communicate their ideas.

Day Five

Make Connections Across Texts

Display Pourquoi Tales Poster 4, and distribute a copy of BLM 5 to each group.

Say: As students, you will sometimes be asked to compare and contrast two text passages. Let’s practice by comparing and contrasting these two genre models. We can use this chart to help us organize our ideas.

Ask each group to use their annotated poster BLMs to fill in the graphic organizer on BLM 5.

Give students about five minutes to record their ideas; then bring the groups together. Ask students for their ideas, and fill in Poster 4.

Challenge students to express their own opinions on these subjects:•Whatwasacleverideainoneofthepourquoitales?Whatmadeit

clever?•Whichpourquoitalewasmorefuntoread?Why?

Connect and transfer. Say: When you compare and contrast two pourquoi tales, think about how each one reflects the features of the genre. How did the writer give you a clear understanding of the problem and its cause? How did the writer help you understand the steps characters used to solve the problem? How did the story explain something in nature?




Ask students to reflect on what they have learned about the pourquoi tales genre. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.



unit 6/week 2 at a glance

Documents