Reading Enrichment Unit 4th grade Literary Genres CCGPS Standards Addressed: ELACC4RL2: Determine a theme of a story, drama,

or poem from details in the text; summarize the text. ELACC4RL5: Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text. ELACC4RL7: Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text. Day 1 Introduction : Ask students to name literary genres. List these. (Offer additional genres.) Ask students what they think of when they think of drama. List their responses. Ask students what they think of when they think of poetry. List their responses. Ask students what they think of when they think of mythology. List their responses. Tell students that over the next few days they will be working with me to learn some new things about drama, poetry, and mythology. Day 2 Drama: Describe different types of drama. Have students open their Reading Street books to page 192. Introduce the play Grace and the Time Machine (Foresman, 2009). Explain that the words in italics are stage directions and are not to be read out loud. Take student volunteers for each of the 8 character parts. Student volunteers read the play aloud while the rest of the class follows along. Briefly discuss the play and whether or not students enjoyed it. Why or why not? Day 3 Poetry: Share with students Borrills digital poetry storybook, Summer (Borrill, 2011) to introduce them to several types of poetry. Read aloud Time to Go Back by Amy Allison (Carter, 2008). Ask students to point out similarities and differences between theme of this poem and the play read yesterday. Introduce and explain choral poetry.

Display on active board Natures Tiny Building Blocks from The Poet and the Professor: Poems for Building Reading Skills, Teacher Resource CD (Bagert & Rasinski, 2010). Assign sections of the poem to be read aloud (chorus = all students; first stanza = boys; second stanza = girls; third stanza = boys; fourth stanza = girls, last line = all students). Ask students if they have a different impression of poetry than they did on Day 1. Why or why not?

Day 4 Mythology: Ask students if they know any mythological characters or creatures. Ask what they know about them. Distribute copies of 15 Greek Myth Mini-Books by Danielle Blood and have student volunteers read a few of these aloud. Show on active board pictures of various gods, goddesses, and creatures from Greek mythology (ppt.) and give a description of each. Have each student draw a strip of paper containing the name of a god, goddess, or creature out of a bag. Explain that the chosen name is your character to research: Determine what kind of personality you think your character might have and how he/she/it might respond to Hera. Offer students a list of websites that might help in their research. Gods and Goddesses: http://www.greek-gods-and-goddesses.com/ http://www.scns.com/earthen/other/seanachaidh/godgreece.html http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Mythology/ Mythological creatures: http://monsters.monstrous.com/ http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/scaffold/gg/creature.html Gods, Goddesses, and Creatures: http://www.mythome.org/bullfinc.htm Tell students that I have created a blog for their class on edmoto.com. Give them the group sign in code (xpry4u) and tell them that I (Hera) will post a statement to which they need to respond, in character, within the next few days. Tell them that any art work added to their response will be greatly appreciated.

Day 5 Wrap-up (several days later): Meet with students a final time to have a class discussion about that they have learned about mythology. Is it what you expected? Did you enjoy it? Why or why not?

Sources:

Bagert, B., & Rasinski, T. (2010). Poems for building reading skills: Grade 4 (the poet and the professor). Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education. Bagert, B., & Rasinski, T. (2010). Poems for building reading skills: Grade 4 (the poet and the professor) . (Cdr ed.). Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education. Blood, D. (2001). 15 greek myth mini-books. Teaching Resources. Borrill, A. (2011, May 24). Digital poetrybook borrill. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/acborrill/digital-poetrybook-borrill-8089780 Carter, J. (2008). The poetry zone: Travel in time winners. Retrieved from http://poetryzone.woodshed.co.uk/tpantscomp.htm Cheever, J. (2012). Different tyypes of drama. Retrieved from http://www.life123.com/parenting/education/drama/types-of-drama.shtml Foresman, S. (2009). Reading street Georgia. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.