Close Reading: Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  General Lesson Plan

• Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?

  
  

  Main objective: Describe the central message in the text. What does the author want us to learn from this written piece?

  Students will be able to:

  • ask and answer questions about key details from the text.
  • describe how the characters respond to major events/challenges.
  • recount specific events and details to determine the central message of the story.
  • write an informative paragraph with supporting details to convey the central messages of the story using grade-appropriate organization, grammar, and conventions.
  • use context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words or phrases in Fly Away Home.
  • participate in classroom discussions where they stay on topic, ask questions about information presented in the text, and use the text to support their explanations.

• Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?

  
  

  Students should be able to:

  • answer questions about the text using who, what, when, where, why, and how.
  • explain what a central message is and how to determine one in a story.
  • identify the characters, setting, and major events in a story.
  • use context clues to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word/phrase.
  • write an informative paragraph using grade-appropriate organization, grammar, and conventions.

• Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?

  
  
  • Why is it important to ask questions about the text when we read?
  • Why is it important to notice the actions and words of a character? How can that help us as a reader?
  • How does describing how the characters respond in the story help us better understand the story?
  • How do we determine the central message or lesson in a story?
  • How do the characters' responses to events contribute to the central message of the story?
  • How can we use context clues to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word or phrase in the text? 

• Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?

  
  

  Day 1 - First/Second Readings (student, then teacher)

  1. Students will read the entire main selection text independently so they can grapple with the text on their own. If you have students who struggle with reading the text independently, you may choose to partner them up with a more proficient reader, and they can listen to their partners while they read. I highly recommend that the struggling reader reads a smaller portion of the passage with their partner so they can be involved in the first reading process. (Depending on the amount of support needed by students, the teacher may choose to reverse the order of steps 1 and 2.)

  2. Next, read Fly Away Home aloud with students following along. Provide students with a copy of the Fly Away Home Thought Sheet and instruct them to record their questions on the Thought Sheet. (I suggest that each student have a personal clipboard and pencil.) Let the students know that good readers ask questions about the text as they read. Explain to the students that you would like for them to jot down possible questions that come to mind as they listen to the story.

  3. Once the teacher has finished reading the story, students need to be paired up so that they can share their questions from their Thought Sheet. Pairs will help each other determine an answer to their questions after discussing the text. Allow for some groups to share their questions. This is a perfect opportunity for discussion.

  4. Ask, "Why is it important to ask questions about the text when we read?" Discuss.

• Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?

  
  

  Day 2 - Third Reading

  1. Ask:

  • Why is it important to notice the actions and words of a character? How can that help us as a reader?
  • How does describing how the characters respond in the story help us better understand the story?
  • How can we use context clues to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word or phrase in the text?

  2. Re-read the text. Write the text-based questions on sticky notes and place them on the pages listed on the text-based question sheet. This will help guide you as you revisit the text. Pair your students up before the reading so they can turn and talk with their partner after you have posed the text-based question. Discuss students' responses.

  3. After the reading, give each student the Fly Away Home Digging Deeper Trifold. Allow students to use the text to respond to the text-based questions. This is a perfect opportunity for you to monitor students' understanding of the text. If you notice your students struggling to respond to the trifold questions, you may go back and reread the text for clarification. Do not move on until you feel that most of the class has understood the overall message from the story. Provide oral or written feedback to their responses to the questions.

  4. Make it a point to discuss the amount of times that you revisited the text. A true understanding requires multiple readings. Encourage your readers and role model this behavior by returning to the text to answer questions.

  5. Ask:

  • How can we determine the central message or lesson in a story?
  • How do the characters' responses to events contribute to the central message of the story?

• Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce the concepts and skills developed in the lesson?

  
  

  Day 3

  1. Pass out the Fly Away Home Evidence Writing Sheet. Remind your readers of their objective to describe the central message in the text:

  • What did the author want us to learn from this written piece?
  • How did the work that we did together make us better understand the central message?

  Instruct students to use the text to gather evidence to respond to the provided question. Circulate as students work independently. Note: You can use the final piece as a way to determine if students are able to understand the symbolic meaning of the bird. Narrative authors tend to use symbolism a great deal in their writing, and if students are exposed to this literary device as early readers, they will be more open to appreciating its importance in future literary pieces.

  2. Students will write an informative paragraph using the information gathered in the Fly Away Home Evidence Writing Sheet. Writing Prompt for students:

  The author shows similarities between the boy and the little brown bird in this story. What is the message that the author wants us to understand? Write an informative paragraph to explain the message the author wants us to understand from the story. Use examples from the story to support your answer.

  3. Display the Informative Writing Rubric and go over the writing expectations with students before they begin writing. Use the rubric to assess their final written piece.

• Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the lesson?

  
  

  1. Have students share what they learned from close reading the story.

  2. Post the following question on the board:

  Describe the central message in the text. What did the author want us to learn from this written piece?

  Read the question out loud and ask the students to answer the question. Return to the text if the students have not been successful in determining the central message.

  3. Revisit the guiding questions.

• Summative Assessment

  
  

  Students will write an informative paragraph using the information gathered in the Fly Away Home Evidence Writing Sheet. Writing prompt for students:

  The author shows similarities between the boy and the little brown bird in this story. What is the message that the author wants us to understand? Write an informative paragraph to explain the message the author wants us to understand from the story. Use examples from the story to support your answer.

  Assess the final writing with the Informative Writing Rubric.

• Formative Assessment

  
  

  During the lesson: Students will be assessed on their ability to answer questions about the story elements, vocabulary, characters' traits, and the central message of the story. They will answer text-dependent questions both orally and in writing.

• Feedback to Students

  
  

  The teacher will provide verbal feedback throughout the lesson, especially during the discussion of the text-based questions.

  During the trifold text-based question activity, the teacher will circulate around the paired groups and monitor their understanding of the text. This is a great opportunity to make some adjustments or clarify any misunderstandings about the story.