Day 1:
• Introduce Two Bad Ants and vocabulary from text:
Consequence: The result of something happening earlier
Scout: A person sent out to see something
Crystal: (show a crystal, compare to a sugar crystal?)
Chamber: An enclosed space
Unaware: Not knowing
Greedy: Selfish, wanting a lot more than you need
• Read book aloud to class
• Post up focus statement: “The two ants were greedy and had consequences for the choice they made.”
• Show pictures from text as evidence (got roasted in a toaster, drowned in a cup of coffee, zapped by an electrical outlet, etc.)
• Have students list their responses under the posted focus statement.
Day 2:
• Re-read The Two Bad Ants.
• Review definition of “greedy” and “consequence”.
• Review focus statement and evidence listed underneath.
• Review “five finger essay” that was introduced last year.
• Read typed introduction and wrap up aloud. Read again together.
• Have students cut strips and paste on corresponding fingers (three middle strips are still blank.)
Day 3:
• Re-read The Two Bad Ants.
• Tell students they will fill in three middle fingers with evidence from their public notes.
• Model how to write a full sentence from public notes.
• Students get out their five finger essays and choose 3 examples of evidence from the public notes and fill in the three middle fingers.
• Students read their finished essay to two other students.
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Hi Michele!
ReplyDeleteI have been eagerly looking for your unit, as I completely love the ideas you spoke of and this book (immediately had to get it!). I would like to use this as a vehicle for introducing/reminding my kiddos about the idea of supporting ideas with facts from a text, if I may, particularly for cause and effect essays. I was thinking of then building to a longer piece of writing, also around supporting opinion with facts from a written piece. Would you be able to post your context, writing and reading foci? I would really like to see the backbone around which you planned this sequence.
I hope you will let us know how the unit goes. I will picture your little ones loving the ants!
Michele - I'm with kristin. I would also like to use this lesson with my 3rd and 4th graders. I don't think they've had the 5 finger essay, but I will check with our primary teachers. I love the idea of using this book to focus on how choices have consequences, and we always need practice with using evidence to support statements. Having the kids paste the intro and conclusion on the fingers is a good way for them to interact with the statements and really understand where they came from and where they belong, and why.
ReplyDeleteOI am wondering if once second graders have completed all the fingers, do they then use that to write an essay - or is that the finished product? Again, I will check with my primary teachers to see what they've done in the past.
Fun unit - I hope it goes well.
From Kirsten Evans
ReplyDeleteam excited to see your outline for Two Bad Ants. As a second grade
teacher using the Bridges in Mathematics program we teach an ant unit
that incorporates science and math. With this book I can incorporate
reading and writing, too. (I do some writing as students have to keep
notes about ants.) The vocabulary is rich and you can do so much with
it. You included a good way to begin paragraph writing that can be put
into a larger response to text with one paragraph about consequences and
one about greedy. With the way you developed it you can use the
paragraphs as the body and from there you can develop an introduction
and conclusion. Is it “bad” to work backwards like this?