Alison Novak Grade 4/5 Response to Text

Teacher Alison Novak Class 4/5 Date June 2009 Writing genre Response to Text

One Green Apple by Eve Bunting

CENTRAL IDEAS

Content:

• Small stories give us big ideas about the world.

Reading:

• As we read stories, we formulate big ideas about the text.
• We find evidence in the text to back up our big ideas.

Writing:

• To write effectively in response to text, we choose evidence from the text thoughtfully and explain its relationship to the focus of the writing.
• An effective response to text is made up of an introduction, evidence paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Focusing Question

What is one of the big ideas in One Green Apple by Eve Bunting?

Focus (answer to focusing question)

One big idea in One Green Apple is “It takes time getting used to a new place.”
(see below for full essay)

Building Content Knowledge, Understanding of Writer’s Craft

• Teacher read aloud of One Green Apple two times
• Creating class two-layered time line with key events from the book (surface level)/what those events make us think (deeper level)
• Identifying conflict/resolution in the book
• Creating a list of possible big ideas from the book
• Choosing one of the big ideas and testing it with big idea checklist
• Partner work to identify the evidence in the text that supports the big idea
• Note taking on two-column big idea/evidence chart

Structures

• Teacher written model response to text for another familiar Eve Bunting text (Jin Woo)
• Response to Text Dissection Sheet
• Teacher-created model introduction, model evidence paragraph, model conclusion written on chart paper and color-coded with parts
• Response to Text Construction Sheet

Writing / Revising

• Study teacher-written introduction and label parts (hook, context, thesis), then orally rehearse possible introductions
• Students write introductions in class on Response to Text Construction sheet
• Study teacher-written evidence paragraph (quote set-up, quote, “this shows…”). Write first evidence paragraph for One Green Apple as a class.
• Students work on remaining evidence paragraphs independently on Response to Text Construction sheet.
• Study teacher-written conclusion (restatement of thesis, commentary), then orally rehearse possible conclusions.
•Students write conclusions in class on Response to Text Construction sheet.

Lesson Sequence

• Time lining key events in the story (on chart paper)
• Identifying conflict and resolution in the story (on chart paper)
• Second layer of the time line – Readers think about the key events of the book and push themselves to think further about those events with the prompt “This makes me think…” (on chart paper)
• Readers push themselves to make connections between different books by the same author.
• Readers come up with big ideas as they read and support those ideas with evidence from the text.
• Readers use a big idea checklist to test possible big ideas (1. can be supported with evidence, 2. Can be applied to the world beyond the book 3. Is a bumper sticker statement (clear and concise))
• Readers find evidence from the text to back up their big ideas and record that evidence on a two-column chart. (on chart-paper)
• Introduce teacher response to text model on a different Eve Bunting text (Jin Woo) and dissect into parts
• Students write response to text in chunks using teacher model as reference (intro, evidence, conclusion) sharing and discussing as we go

Assessment:

Conferring with students during independent writing time. How are students incorporating the work we’ve done as a whole class into the different sections of their Reponse? Are students utilizing the public notes (all the work we’ve done on chart paper) as they write their own response)? Do individuals or small groups of students need further guidance or more explicit instruction? Do some students need a personal copy of the public notes?
Looking at the students’ completed Response to Text and asking “what are the strongest parts and what are the weakest parts?” will help inform the content of the mini-lessons for the next Response to Text students will do.

Next Steps: Gradual Release of Responsibility

Students write a response to text on an Eve Bunting text of their choice using all the steps we’ve done as a class. Students will go through the same process (timelining with two layers, identifying conflict/resolution, formulating and testing big idea, completing big idea/evidence chart) during independent reading time. Students will use the notes they compile in their Reading Response notebook during independent reading, as well as the One Green Apple sample they’ve created, to write their own unique Eve Bunting Response to Text.

Sample essay for One Green Apple:

Have you ever had the experience of being new to a school, a town, or even a country? If you have, then you probably know that being new can feel strange and difficult. One Green Apple by Eve Bunting tells the story of a Muslim girl named Farrah who has just come to America. She goes on a trip to an apple orchard with her new class and struggles to speak English and to feel like she belongs. One of the big ideas in One Green Apple is “It takes time getting used to a new place.”

In the beginning of the book, Farrah is sitting with her classmates on a wagon that is taking them into the apple orchard. She looks around at her classmates who she can’t understand and thinks, “I would prefer to go home.” She says that her father has said that America will be good for them in time but she wonders “How much time?” This shows that Farrah is feeling upset about being in a new place and would rather be in her old country, where she feels more comfortable and can understand people.

When Farrah is picking apples with her classmates in the orchard, her teacher comes up to her and tells her to pick just one apple. Farrah nods and thinks, “I want to say, ‘I understand. It’s not that I am stupid. It is just that I am lost in this new place.”’ Farrah is frustrated because she feels like she is being talked down to just because she doesn’t speak English.

Later in the story, the class is leaving the orchard and Farrah sits next to two of her classmates, Anna and Jim. They are friendly to her, and then Jim burps and they all laugh together. Farrah thinks that the laughs and the burps sound just the same in America as they do in her country. This makes Farrah feel happier.

At the end of the story, Farrah finally says the word apple aloud. Her new friend Anna claps and they both smile. Farrah thinks, “It is my first outside-myself word. There will be more.” This shows that Farrah is getting more confident in herself. Even though things are difficult for her, she is making progress. She now knows that she will be able to do more and more things as time pass.