Topic:

    Reading

Grade Level:

    Fourth

Instructional Objectives:

• The student will construct a list of words that describe people.
• The student will understand why and when to use a thesaurus.
• The student will design a book cover about him/herself using two descriptive words.  The book cover will be illustrated and include the title and author of the book.
• The student will complete an anticipation guide in which he/she will agree/disagree with the statements provided.
• The student will participate in a discussion of the two pre-reading activities and make preditions on what the novel is about.

• pre-reading
• anticipating/predicting
• describing oneself (using adjectives)
• using visual cues to make predictions

• a copy of the anticipation guide for each student
• a copy of the pre-reading activity worksheet for each student
• Sarah, Plain andTall for each student

    Students should be seated in a circle with the teacher in the back of the room.  (They should bring a completed anticipation guide, pre-reading activity, and a copy of the novel.)  Ask the students if it is okay to marry someone you have never met before.  Play the role of an advocate of arranged marrages and have them defend the other side.  (The majority of the students will say that you should not marry someone you have never met before.)  Repeat using the remaining questions on the anticipation guide, taking the less agreed side each time.  Explain to the students that after reading the novel, they will go back and analyze their responses to these questions.  Does anyone think their responses will change?

Procedure:

    Students in the Sarah, Plain and Tall reading group will complete the anticipation guide and pre-reading activity while the Addie Across the Prairie reading group participates in a literature circle with the teacher.
    Facilitate the engagement activity above.
    Discuss the kinds of words we use to describe people and then go around the circle and have each student give two describing words from his/her list.  Have willing students share their book covers with the class with an explanation as to why he/she chose those adjectives.  Explain that there are many words that we could use to mean the same thing, but some create a more vivid picture in our minds.  Explain that students can use a thesauraus to find more vivid words with the same meaning.  Have the students look up the words that they used to describe themself and find another word with the same meaning.

Key Discussion Questions:

What kinds of words do we use to describe people?
What words create a visual picture in our heads?

Anticipation Guide Questions (agree or disagree)
1. A stepmother can take the place of a real mother.
2. Women should depend on their husbands.
3. The man of the family should be the bread winner.
4. It's okay to marry someone you've never met before.
5. If one parent dies, it's a good idea fo the oldest child to assume that parent's role.
6. If you had to move to a new place, you would miss where you now live.
7. It's okay for a father to advertise for a wife and mother for his children.

Closure:

    By looking at the cover of the novel, have the students describe Sarah.  What other words could mean the same thing as plain and tall?  What does plain mean?  Students should make predictions as to what the novel is going to be about by looking at the cover.  Who do you think the people are in the story?  Where are they?  Are they family?  Then allow students to read the description on the back of the book and modify their predictions according to what they read.  Have one student record the group's predictions so that they may be referred to while reading.

Assessment:

• The student should complete the anticipation guide with his/her reactions to the statements given.  (There are no wrong answers.)  The student should back his/her answer up with a reasonable explanation during the discussion.
• The student should construct a list of adjectives, or describing words, that are often used to describe people.  He/she should share one or two of these words during the discussions.
• The student should illustrate a book cover about him/herself that includes two adjectives.
• The student should find his/her adjectives in the thesauraus and attempt to substitue them with ones that are more vivid.  He/she should explain when and why he would use a thesauraus when writing.
• The student should make realistic predictions of the novel from what is known from the cover.
• The student should be attentive and participate in the literature circle discussion.

    Write a personal narrative using the book cover you designed for this lesson.  You will be expected to incorportate the two descriptive words used on the cover within your writing, and to support the words with examples.

    Make a poster of the book cover you designed to hang around the room.