Students need to be able to: - Comprehend and evaluate complex texts across a range of types and disciplines. - Communicate effectively for varied purposes and audiences. - Listen actively to engage in a range of conversations, to analyze and synthesize idea and positions, and to evaluate accuracy in order to learn, reflect, and respond.

Vocabulary specific to sample story, Chester’s Way by Kevin
Henkes:

diagonally

croquet

miniature

personal

remarks

headfirst

disguise

sunscreen

nifty

fierce-looking

Vocabulary specific to this lesson:

retelling

main ideas

details

character(s)

setting

order (sequence)

beginning, middle, end

summary

prop(s)

illustrations

picture cues

predictable text

prior knowledge or schema

fluency

volume

Students will:

• retell main events and key details in a sequential or connective manner through oral
  language, graphic and/or written representations
• use new vocabulary in oral language.
• identify and describe important story components (character, setting, plot, etc.)
• construct meaning and interpret text.
• improve their understanding through both large and small group collaborative conversations.
• demonstrate engagement in the learning activity appropriately by facing the speaker, making eye contact and responding appropriately
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1-2 instructional period, each 30-45 minutes in length, integrating reading and writing

Select three books by the same author

Sample lessons based on the following books by Kevin Henkes:

Chester’s Way, Julius the Baby of the World and Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse

chart paper

markers

anchor chart created prior to the lesson (if desired)

See related materials for listening labels for anchor chart

Good Listening song prepared prior to lesson (if desired)

Beginning, Middle, End graphic organizer (see related resources)

W: Begin by focusing on the concept of being a good listener.  Ask the group, “What does a good listener look like?” Remind students that to improve their skills in any situation, they need practice. Today, we will practice our listening skills during our reading lesson.  During today’s lesson, be sure to listen carefully so you can help us retell the main events of this story.  (show Chester’s Way or another text you have previously read) Remember, good readers retell to show that they understand what they read and I know that all of you want to be good readers!

 H: Engage students in the lesson with the interactive anchor chart, song
and correct/incorrect modeling of good listening behaviors.   

 E:  The text used for this lesson will be read prior to the lesson for enjoyment so all
students can anchor their learning.  All students will help in the creation of a group anchor chart and will engage in the thumbs up/thumbs down scenario review of good listening behaviors.  All students will be encouraged to participate in the picture walk.  All
students will complete a graphic organizer to demonstrate the ability to retell the main ideas from the beginning, middle and end of the story.  Differentiation options are included in the lesson.

 R:  Support students as they work to represent in pictorial and/or written format a main idea for the beginning, middle and end of the text in their graphic organizer.  

 E: Pair partner groups or groups of three (for differentiation) to share their work and explain their thinking. 

 T:  Have students choose the information from the text they want to connect.   Encourage students to express themselves in a manner of their choice. (verbal, pictorial,
and/or written format) If students have difficulty, ask the child to focus on only one of the three areas (beginning, middle, or end) for the main idea/graphic organizer. 

O:   The learning activities in this lesson provide for large-group instruction and
discussion, partner interaction, and individual application of the concepts.

Focus questions:  

1 - How do strategic readers create meaning from literary text?

2 – What is this text really about?

3 – What do good listeners do?

4 – How do active listeners make meaning?

 

Prior the lesson:

Read the text you want to use for instructional purposes in this lesson prior to
this lesson.  We want students to have exposure to the text as a whole prior to breaking it up into smaller pieces for comprehension purposes.  If using Chester’s Way, introduce a few of the vocabulary terms from the list above that apply to the needs of your students prior to the reading. Be sure not to spend too much time on vocabulary development prior to the initial reading.  (You can easily embed this type of instruction within the reading to help students use context and/or picture clues. You may choose to come back to this text after the first reading to dig deeper into the ‘interesting vocabulary.’)

 

Choose from the following options:

1 - Create an anchor chart for ‘good listening’ behavior (child sitting with hand raised)
See link for more information in related materials section of the lesson.

2 – Download the Give Me Five materials from the link provided in related materials.

3 – Download the powerpoint slide of the lyrics for the Good Listening Song from the related materials section of this lesson.

Begin by focusing on the concept of being a good listener.  Ask the group, “What does a
good listener look like?” Guide the conversation to focus on the components that you choose to include in the anchor chart or options listed above. (to create prior to the lesson)

Select children from the group to demonstrate each component of good listening.  Begin by having the child demonstrate the action correctly.  Then, ask him/her to demonstrate an incorrect model.  (what someone might do who is not being a good listener)  Immediately following the incorrect model, have the same child demonstrate the correct model once again.   

After this modeling, engage all students in a quick review by sharing the following
scenarios.  All students respond with a thumbs up for a correct model or thumbs down for an incorrect model:

1 – Tommy raises his hand when he wants to answer a question.

2 – Sam jumps up when the teacher is reading a story.

3 – Aubrey braids the hair of the child sitting in front of her during
read aloud time.

4 – John keeps his hands and feet to himself on the carpet.

5 – Susan blows in the face of the child sitting next to her.

6 – Sara listens quietly with her eyes on the reader when a story is
being read.

Remind students that to improve their skills in any situation, they need
practice.  Today, we will practice our listening skills during our reading lesson.  During today’s lesson, be sure to listen carefully so you can help us retell the main events of this story.  (show Chester’s Way or another text you have previously read) Remember, good readers retell to show that they understand what they read and I know that all of you
want to be good readers!

Today, we are going to do a picture walk together.  When we do a picture walk, we look carefully at the illustrations to describe the characters, setting and events.  The illustrations can help us retell the story. Remember, good listeners keep their eyes on the reader and the book.  If you have an ELMO or document camera, you can project the
book in a larger format. 

Page slowly through the text and elicit responses from students about the events and
details of the text through examination of the illustrations.  Prompt students as needed to be sure that the main ideas are stated.  Upon completion of the picture walk, streamline the retelling into three sections; beginning, middle and end.

Great job, kiddos!  We were able to retell many of the events of the story from the illustrations.  However, let’s see if we can pick out the three most important parts of the book by focusing on three sections – the beginning, middle and the end.  What do you think was the most important part in the beginning of this book?  Accept any reasonable responses.  Write a sentence that captures the main idea of the beginning of the story on a
chart.  For example, in Chester’s Way, the beginning statement might be that Chester and Wilson are best friends (kindergarten) or Chester and Wilson are best friends and do everything together. (first grade)

Continue the same format for middle and end statements to summarize the story.  Sample responses for Chester’s Way include:

• Middle:  Lilly moves into the neighborhood.  Chester and Wilson do not like her.
• End:  Lilly saves the Chester and Wilson from the bullies.  They all become good friends. 

Let’s double check our work by returning to the text to look for
evidence to support our beginning, middle and ending statements.  Who can tell me a detail from the beginning of the story that proves our beginning idea. (reread the statement written on the chart for the ‘beginning.’) Students my choose to cite any of the following details from Chester’s Way:  Chester and Wilson dressed alike for Halloween; Chester and Wilson shared the same umbrella; They went sledding, raked leaves and rode bikes together.

Follow the same procedure to support the ‘middle’ and ‘ending’ statements.  (this use of text evidence is critical in the Common Core Standards)

Show the graphic organizer foldable and explain how students will use it to
demonstrate their understanding of the story.  (see related materials) Your job is to draw a
detail from each section of the story to show me that you understand what happened in the beginning, middle and end.  You can choose any detail or text evidence that you remember from each part of the story.  Just be sure that it fits in the correct part
because we know stories have a beginning, middle and end order. It is important
to keep things in that order to show our understanding. 

After providing ample work time, pair students in partners to share their beginning,
middle and ending work.  Remind students of good listening behavior.  (eyes on the
speaker, taking turns talking, etc.)

If you find that students are having difficulty with recall of all three areas of the text, you can differentiate the lesson and assign some students to draw a picture to show the beginning of the story, some to draw a picture to show the middle of the story and others to draw a picture to show the ending of the story.  Then, join three students in a group based on the area they drew (one beginning, one middle, one end) and have them retell
the story together across their three papers.

In closure, return to the focus questions to remind students of the goals of the
lesson.  Remember students, good listeners listen carefully during a story so they can retell the main ideas of a text.  When we retell, we show that we understand what we read.  Good listeners keep their eyes on the reader and the book.  (return to the key parts of your Good Listener anchor chart and/or sing the Good Listener song once again)

The beginning, middle and end foldable will serve as the formative assessment of the students’ understanding. 

BMEBeginningMiddleEndStoryRetellGraphicOrganizer.pdf
ClassroomManagementGiveMeFiveMiniPosters.pdf

Listening Labels for Anchor chart.pdfDiagram of a Listener.pdf
Diagram of a Listener.pdf

Retelling Fluency Main Ideas Details Volume Character(s) Setting Order (Sequence) Summary Beginning Middle End Prop(s) Picture Cues Predictable text Prior Knowledge

John F. Berry, Kindergarten teacher, Penn Manor School District Susan M. Groff, First grade teacher, Boyertown Area School District Sara E. Obarow, Reading Specialist, Boyertown Area School District

January 16, 2013