Week 3, Day 1---Day 2
Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst
Develop or Activate Background Knowledge:
Model a Comprehension Strategy and Ask Questions During Reading
Engage Students in Discussion
Update Text Structure Anchor Chart
Teach Meaning Vocabulary
Teach Sentence Composing
Assign or Model Written Response
Review and Share Written Responses

Week 30, Day 1---Day 2
Cinderella
Develop or Activate Background Knowledge:
Model a Comprehension Strategy and Ask Questions During Reading
Engage Students in Discussion
Update Text Structure Anchor Chart
Teach Meaning Vocabulary
Teach Sentence Composing
Assign or Model Written Response
Review and Share Written Responses
*Planning Notes
Marcia Brown’s Cinderella most resembles the Disney version of Cinderella that many students know.
This is a translation from the French version by Charles Perrault and some of the words don’t translate perfectly so quick scaffolds may be necessary. You want to have a map available to point out where France is located.
This book won the 1962 Caldecott Medal.

Week 17, Day 3
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs---fiction---Judi Barrett, illustrated by Ron Barrett
Develop or Activate Background Knowledge
Model a Comprehension Strategy and Ask Questions During Reading
Engage Students in Discussion
Update Text Structure Anchor Chart
Teach Meaning Vocabulary
Teach Sentence Composing
Assign or Model Written Response
Review and Share Written Responses
*Planning Notes
The fact that a movie was made of this book presents opportunities for examining YouTube clips after the book has been read aloud. The children can compare their own mental images of characters and actions with the way the director imagined them.

Week 22, Day 3---Day 4
This book is called Dad, Jackie, and Me. The author is Myron Uhlberg and the illustrator is Colin Bootman. It is about the first black man to play baseball in the major leagues. His name was Jackie Robinson.
Develop or Activate Background Knowledge:
Model a Comprehension Strategy and Ask Questions During Reading
Engage Students in Discussion
Update Text Structure Anchor Chart
Teach Meaning Vocabulary
Teach Sentence Composing
Assign or Model Written Response
Review and Share Written Responses
*Planning Notes
The author’s note at the end of the book is important. He describes the connection between Jackie Robinson and Uhlberg’s deaf father. Read it for background yourself, and consider reading portions aloud.

Week 29, Day 1---Day 5
D is for Dancing Dragon: A China Alphabet
"This book is called D is for Dancing Dragon: A China Alphabet. It was written by Carol Crane and illustrated by Zong-Zhou Wang.
You might think that an alphabet book is for kindergartners, but this is no ordinary alphabet book. That’s because it also teaches us about China. On the first page, you can see a map of China, which is a country on the other side of the world."
Introduce Book and Preview Technical Vocabulary
Teach Text Structure
Model a Comprehension Strategy and Ask Questions During Reading
Engage Students in Discussion
Update Text Structure Anchor Chart
Teach Sentence Composing
Assign or Model Written Response
visual: comparison chart
Review and Share Written Responses
*Planning Notes
This is an unconventional alphabet book because of the extensive background information about the word that is given for each letter. We have chosen to use the first 5 days for instruction. If you have extra time, you could read additional segments.

Week 25, Day 1---Day 5
Poppy--fiction
"Today we will start a chapter book called Poppy. It is written by a man named Avi. ...this author only uses one name. Avi’s twin sister gave him that name when he was just a year old, and he has used it ever since. The illustrations are by Brian Floca."
Develop or Activate Background Knowledge:
Model a Comprehension Strategy and Ask Questions During Reading
Engage Students in Discussion
Update Text Structure Anchor Chart
Teach Meaning Vocabulary
Teach Sentence Composing
Assign or Model Written Response
Review and Share Written Responses
Planning Notes
The chapters are nearly equal in length and about right for one per day. Note that an additional chapter, called Poppy and Ereth, appears at the end of the book. This is really a teaser for the sequel and it is not part of this set of plans.
Avi talks about the Poppy books in a YouTube video (3:07): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fufgUdq2xR0
The video provides excellent background for teachers, but it refers to some of the later books in the series and some parts may be over the heads of second graders.
However, if you plan on making other books in the series available to your proficient students to read on their own, you might want to play it. Hearing Avi’s voice and seeing that he’s a real person could be of interest to your students.

Week 23, Day 1---Day 2
The Story of Ruby Bridges--fiction--Robert Coles, illustrated by George Ford
"Ruby Bridges was an African American child who went to elementary school in the 1950s. One day she had to start going to a different school, a school for white children, where almost no one liked her."
Develop or Activate Background Knowledge:
Model a Comprehension Strategy and Ask Questions During Reading
Engage Students in Discussion
Update Text Structure Anchor Chart
Teach Meaning Vocabulary
Teach Sentence Composing
Assign or Model Written Response
Review and Share Written Responses
*Planning Notes
It is a good idea to have a U.S. map on display for quick reference to some of the places mentioned.

Week 33, Day 4---Day 5
The Wall
This book is called The Wall, and it was written by Eve Bunting. It was illustrated by Ronald Himler. The wall is in Washington, DC, and it has the names of all the people killed during the Viet Nam War. There are 58,000 names on the wall. That war ended long ago but people still think about those they knew who died.
Develop or Activate Background Knowledge:
Model a Comprehension Strategy and Ask Questions During Reading
Engage Students in Discussion
Update Text Structure Anchor Chart
Teach Meaning Vocabulary
Teach Sentence Composing
Assign or Model Written Response
Review and Share Written Responses
*Planning Notes
The text in this book is not very challenging but it is useful in evoking some higher-order thinking. Locating in advance a few photos through a google image search would complement the watercolors in the book.
You may wish to quickly indicate Vietnam on a wall map, but it is probably not in the spirit of the book to turn this read-aloud into a geography lesson. Bunting does not even mention which war it is, except in the endnote.

Week 16, Day 1
Tornado--fiction-- by Betsy Byars, illustrated by Doron Ben-Ami
In this book, the word tornado has two meanings. It is a powerful storm, of course, but it is also the name of a special dog.
Develop or Activate Background Knowledge:
Model a Comprehension Strategy and Ask Questions During Reading
Engage Students in Discussion
Update Text Structure Anchor Chart
Teach Meaning Vocabulary
Teach Sentence Composing
Assign or Model Written Response
Review and Share Written Responses
*Planning Notes
There are many opportunities in this book to make science tie-ins with weather and storms. Many activities are possible for your science time, such as making a tornado in a bottle.
Video clips of tornados are also helpful, through YouTube or educational sites, like www.noaa.gov.

The Story Map interactive is designed to assist students in prewriting and postreading activities by focusing on the key elements of character, setting, conflict, and resolution.

Useful for a wide variety of reading and writing activities, this outlining tool allows students to organize up to five levels of information.

The Webbing Tool provides a free-form graphic organizer for activities that ask students to pursue hypertextual thinking and writing.

There are many factors that enhance or undermine comprehension. Comprehension occurs as a consequence of the interaction between the reader, the text that is being read, the specific task the reader is trying to accomplish, and the context or circumstances under which the reading is done. This brief is designed to assist teachers in understanding these factors and in making instructional decisions as they relate to comprehending text.

In this lesson, students consider the unit research question and develop specific categories for research. Then, in small groups, students read texts about how kids have made a difference and take notes using those categories (RI.4.1, W.4.7, W.4.8).
W.4.8 requires students to gather information from print and digital sources. As such, this lesson is designed for students to use internet sources as texts. If the technology necessary for students to complete the reading is unavailable, give them printed copies of possible texts from which to choose. Note that "Protecting Our Planet" is not a website and is provided (see supporting materials).
Students who finish quickly or require an extension can use a search engine to find their own sources.
In this lesson, students focus on working to become effective learners by focusing on a characteristic of their choice as they work in expert groups to begin their research.

In this lesson, students reread "Rainforests and Why They Are Important" to determine the main idea and describe the structure. Working in pairs, students use a graphic organizer to record their thinking about the structure of the text and plan a summary of it. Students then work as a class to write a shared summary of the text (RI.5.1, RI.5.2, RI.5.4, RI.5.5, W.5.8).
In Work Time B, students participate in a modified Rank-Talk-Write protocol to determine the main idea of "Rainforests and Why They Are Important" (RI.5.2, SL.5.1b).
This lesson is designed for students to use an internet source as a text. If the technology necessary for students to complete the reading is unavailable, give students a printed copy of the text.
Students practice their fluency in this lesson by following along and reading silently as the teacher reads "Rainforests and Why They Are Important" in Work Time A.
The research reading students complete for homework helps to build both their vocabulary and knowledge pertaining to the rainforest. By participating in this volume of reading over a span of time, students will develop a wide base of knowledge about the world and the words that help describe and make sense of it.
In this lesson, the habit of character focus is working to become an effective learner. The characteristic students are reminded of specifically is collaboration, as they work in pairs.
Continue to use Goals 1 and 2 Conversation Cues to promote productive and equitable conversation.

Many striving readers struggle with sight words. Reading expert Linda Farrell suggests this teaching sequence: first, be sure your child knows all the letter names, then all the letter sounds — and then you can introduce a few short high-frequency words such as was. Choose words that don't have regular phonetic spelling. Words that do have phonetic spelling, such as in, did, and on can be folded into phonics lessons.

Reading expert Linda Farrell sees this often with striving readers, and she shares a simple tip: encourage your child to silently "think" the sounds as he reads the word. Linda also emphasizes how important it is for kids to keep their eyes on the words as they read. This video correlates with video about Calista the first grader, as it explains routine that is used with the student in the video.

Students will have a whale of a good time in this lesson in which they use fiction and nonfiction texts to write a letter to an online scientist.

In this lesson, students read informational pieces about whether or not schools should teach cursive writing. They will evaluate the arguments presented and then choose a side of the issue. Finally, they will write their own arguments expressing their points of view.

Culminating Activity: Reading and Writing Identity (5 days)
Day 1. Memoirs: Some of you may be thinking that this is the same as a personal narrative, but memoirs are more about looking back and reflecting as we did at the beginning of class. Narratives tell a story, but memoirs show how the event impacted the author’s life.
Characteristics of memoirs:
-Use 1st person point of view
-Use true accounts of actual events
-Describe any conflicts faced by the author
-Include the author’s feelings about the situation or event
Students will work on planning their memoir.
Day 2. Students will work on their memoirs, then share with partners.
Day 3. Finish draft
-Revise and edit your paper
-Peer revise and edit (if finished early)
-Revise some sentences to make them showing sentences
Narrative Checklist Sample
Third Grade Editing Checklist
Day 4. If you have access to technology, students could create a digital book, PowerPoint, or a different digital display.
Students will peer edit and then work on their memoir project.
Day 5. Students will move freely around the room to read each other’s memoirs. If your class needs more structure, set a time to indicate a rotating schedule.