Brittany Granquist

“Street Action:” Examining and Manipulating Text Structure

Grade Level/Subject: 4th Grade/Reading
Prerequisite Knowledge:

• Students must be able to read at a DRA level 28.

• Students must be able to describe different text structures including paragraph, bullet
points, step-by-step directions, etc.

• Students must have experience working collaboratively and manipulating information.

Approximate Time: 20-30 minutes
Student Objectives/Student Outcomes:

• Students will be able to work collaboratively toward the common goal of creating an
aesthetically pleasing and informative poster that describes to classmates how to play a
game included in the book “Street Action.”

• Students will be able to infer the process for playing “S.P.U.D.” from having read a
narrative describing the game.
Content Standards:
2. Read and understand literature representative of various societies, eras and ideas.
B. Read and interpret a variety of literary works.
1a. Respond to literary materials by connecting them to their own experience and
communicate those responses to others.
2a. Respond to literary material by making inferences, drawing conclusions and
comparing it to their own experience, prior knowledge and other texts.
1. Read with understanding and fluency.
C. Comprehend a broad range of reading materials.
1e. Identify how authors and illustrators express their ideas in text and graphics.
2b. Make and support inferences and form interpretations about main themes and
topics.
Materials/Resources/Technology:

• 3 copies of “Street Action”

• 1 large poster board paper
• Markers/crayons/colored pencils
• 3 blank booklets
 Brittany Granquist

Implementation:
Time
3-4 minutes Opening of lesson:
1. To open the lesson, the group will be asked to open up their “Long I
Booklets” in which they are keeping various words under four different
categories of spelling that create the long “I” sound including: “y, ie, igh,
[and] i-consonant-e.”
2. I will read off the following words and ask students to write the word on
the right page as it correlates to the correct spelling.

• Right

• My

• Flight

• Time
3. Once students are finished we will discuss as a group the correct spelling of
each of the words.
4. The teacher will then remind students that the book “Street Action,” is a
nonfiction book about various street games and that the day before in reading
group, the group held a discussion about the different ways information is
represented in the book (bullet points, paragraph, narrative, vocabulary words,
etc.).
5. The teacher will ask students to open to the section that explains how to
play the game “S.P.U.D.” and ask them how information in presented in this
section. The group will discuss the answer.
6. The teacher will then ask the group to re-read the section on “S.P.U.D.”
15 minutes Procedures:
1. In order to start the procedural aspect of the lesson, the teacher will
tell students that they are going to create a poster that will outline the steps
for playing the game “S.P.U.D.” The teacher will ask: “From the information
give, can you develop a set of instructions about…?”
2. The students will be given the following purpose: “You will
reorganize the narrative into way that will be easy for your classmates to
understand so that they can play “S.P.U.D.” during out door recess.
3. The teacher will ask students how to play the game so that they can
 Brittany Granquist

begin to sort out their thought orally. The teacher will then right down three
roles that students will decide upon assuming including: pencil writer, tracer,
and drawer. In addition, the teacher will tell students that they share the
responsibility of creating steps and sentences to put down on the sheet of
poster paper.
4. The teacher will then allow students to work on their poster, and
frequently revisit the group to monitor progress and ask questions about their
steps. Questions might include:

• What happens after step 1?

• Can you tell me why you included this?

• What are some of the problems that can occur in the game?
How might they be solved?

• Can you design a poster to make this game approachable to

your classmates?

• How many ways can you phrase step ___?

• How effective do you think this poster will be?

5 minutes Summary/Closing:
1. Upon completion of their poster, students will present it to the class as an
option for outdoor recess. They will choose an appropriate place for the
poster and defend their thinking.

Student Assessment:
1. I will asses completion of the poster: it’s value as a set of instructions
(Are the instructions easy to follow? Are there any missing components?
Can someone with no knowledge of the game gain an understanding of
the game?) and its aesthetic value (Is it aesthetically pleasing? Is it easy
to read?
Brittany Granquist