Disciplinary Unit: Lesson Plan 4

Newspaper Primary Source and Poetry

Student Name: Leah Elsted
I. General Information:
Grade Level
Discipline
Unit Topic
Time frame

Third Grade
Social Studies: History
Emmigration
45 Minutes

Anchor Text: Grandfathers Journey by Allen Say

Text Set: America, My New Home by Monica Gunning & Ken Condon
Other Materials:
Student Anthology of Grandfathers Journey
Copy of Poem America, my new home
Newspaper Article from Scholastic Education
If I werepoetry activity sheet
Concept map graphic organizer
Teacher in Role Drama props
Lesson Summary 4
This lesson allows the students to comprehend immigration and the
experience of the grandfather in Grandfathers Journey through other text
genres and media, a newspaper article and poetry. Through the use of a
vocabulary, question game and a disciplinary literacy poetry activity,
students will learn the significance of primary and secondary sources and the
perspectives of two different narratives, their different textual features and
figurative language.
Standards/Indicators
Maryland College and career Readiness State Standards:
Reading/Writing
RL1 CCR Anchor Standard: Read closely to determine what the text
says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it;cite specific
textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions
drawn from the text.
RL1: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a
text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers

RL2 CCR Anchor Standard: Determine central ideas or themes of a text

and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details
and ideas.
RL2: Recount stories from diverse countries and culture; determine the
central message, lesson or moral and explain how it is conveyed
through key details in the text.
RL3: Describe characters in a story and explain how their actions
contribute to the sequence of events.
RI3: Describe the relationship between a series of historical events,
scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text,
using language that petains to time, sequence and cause/effect.
SL1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-onone, in groups and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics
and texts, building on other ideas and expressing their own clearly.
W4:Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development,
organization and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience.
Social Studies:
Standard 6A1: Use appropriate strategies and opportunities to increase
understanding of social studies vocabulary
Standard 6D2: Identify primary and secondary sources of information
that relate to the topic/situation/problem being studied.
Standard 6A3: Use strategies to monitor understanding and derive
meaning from text and portions of the text.
Standard 6E1: Organize social studies information from non-print
sources.
III. Specific Lesson Objectives
Construct higher order and evaluative questionos for the characters in
Grandfathers Journey to aid deep comprehension of this anchor text
and the theme of immigration.
Comprehend new vocabulary from the anchor text and text set through
the vocabulary activity game vobackulary.
Further explore the theme of immigration through the text genre and
medium of poetry in America, my new home and strengthen this
knowledge of immigration through the disciplinary literacy strategy if I
were poetry (Altieri, 2011:165).
Compare and contrast primary and secondary sources through
newspaper articles and poems describing characters within the
newsapaper articles during groupwork.

Enhance disciplinary reading skills and the experience of immigration

through composing and writing a poem through the short story and
poetry website storybird.com.

Language objectives:
Through discussion, writing and interpreting poetry and primary source
newspaper articles, students will demonstrate an understanding of
feelings of immigrants in Grandfathers Journey and America, my new
Home.
Students will engage in a range of collaborative interactions virtually
and build on others talk in conversation by responding to the
comments of others through multiple exchanges after reading
Grandfathers Journey and synthezizing poetic interpretations and
figurative language in America, my new home poetry.
Accommodations:
Use appropriate accommodations as designated by students IEPs and
in response to students needs.
Use of kinesthetic and visual summarizing and evaluative
methodologies such as active vobackulary game, which aids and
strengthens comprehension.
Students may synthesize information successfully through the use of
another text genre, poetry and the use of primary sources-newspaper
articles.
Students can benefit and are supported through the use of peer
tutoring and mentoring during group work and storybird.com writing
activity.
Big Ideas and Key Understandings
Figurative and expressive language unerlining the change of lifestlye and
outlook in immigrants leaving home and the importance of using both
primary and secondary sources during social studies.
IV. Procedures:
Introduction
Vobackulary Vocabulary Game: To revise the anchor text Grandfathers
Journey and all new and possibly challenging vocabulary on immigration,
students will participate and stimulate interest in this lesson through the
interactive Vobackulary game. Various students will be brought forward and
a new word will be placed on their back. The class need to individually use

descriptive words to describe the new word, without naming the actual word
to the student, e.g. passage, arrival, ship, homesick.
Composing Questions: In pairs or groups of three, the students need to
compose a list of questions they would like to ask the protagonist
grandfather in Grandfathers Journey, beginning with who, what, when,
where, why, how. The partner can respond through their perspective or a
character from Grandfathers Journey, portraying their knowlegde of the
anchor text. These questions may move from text dependent, to inferential
and evaluate questions at this stage in the disciplinary unit.
Teaching/Activities
1. Exploration with Blog Article (Primary Sources): Each student will
be given a copy of an article taken from a Polish emigrants online website
blog, where he writes about their experience moving to America as a
child. The student will read this independently and then echo read this to
their partner and write new vocabulary on a concept map graphic
organizer, with visual cues to aid comprehension. The term primary
source will be explained here and how it is directly taken from the past
and written by the immigrant at the time of moving to America.
2. Exploration with Poetry (Secondary Sources): Students will then
notice the other side of the graphic organizer concept map containing
feelings, theme, setting boxes and explain that a new piece of writing
concerning immigration is being distributed but it is a little different to the
first primary source article. This poem, entitled America, my new home
will be read independently and be discussed and reflected up on as a
whole class. The class will be given the microphone to give their
opinions on how this text differs to the article. A secondary source will
then be explained, as it is not directly taken from the past, but is another
persons view on the topic of emigration. The students will write the

textual features, the feelings, theme and setting of this poem on their
graphic organizer.
3. If I werePoetry (Altieri, 2011:165): To compare and contrast
these two primary and secondary sources, the students will create a poem
through the disciplinary literacy strategy If I werepoem formula poem
to look at life in the perspective of the interviewed immigrant or the poet.
Explain that the poem does not need to be very long or rhyme, but should
be written as a first draft, read by your partner and then self-corrected
afterwards.
Vocabulary
New Vocabulary
Primary source
Secondary source
Feelings
embarassed
Theme
Setting

Closure
Drama Convention: Teacher in Role
To consolidate the learning during this lesson, the students will participate in a drama
convention activity entitled Teacher in Role, where the class enter a drama contract and
the teacher takes the part of the Grandfather in our anchor text, Grandfathers Journey.
While the teacher takes the part of the grandfather, the students must ask the grandfather
questions, which contain the same reoccuring themes in the article and the poem. After the
students understand and interact with this activity, the student can then take the place as
the grandfather and relate to the character with their classmates.
VI. Evaluation/Assessment:
Assessment of Objectives
Observation checklist of working in pairs and groups collaboratively, rereading the
article and the poem and the figurative language and comparing and contrasting
between the two.
Written response and Teacher designed tasks of the concept map graphic organizer
and poem.
Oral Presentation of discussion groups during dram activity teacher in role.
Reflection and Planning: Determine if the use of a drama convention is compatible with
consolidating knowkedge and if the students grapsed the use of both a poem and an online
article to explore the theme of immigration and primary and secondary sources.