The Gardener

Literacy Unit

Arizona State Standards Strand 1: Reading Process • Concept 4: Vocabulary

Acquire and use new vocabulary in relevant contexts. • Concept 6 Employ strategies to comprehend text

PO 1 Predict events and actions, based upon prior knowledge and text features PO 4: Use graphic organizers in order to clarify the meaning of the text

Strand 3: Writing Applications• Concept 3: Functional Writing

PO 2. Write communications, including:a. thank-you notesb. friendly lettersc. formal lettersd. messagese. invitations

PO 3. Address an envelope for correspondence that includes:a. an appropriate return addressb. an appropriate recipient address

Pre-reading Activity

Instructional objective: The teacher will provide students with a list of key words from the story and four categories. The teacher will model the key word categorization strategy for the class.

Student behavioral objective: Given a list of words from a story, the student will write each word under one of the given categories.

Pre-reading Activity

Key Word Categorization:

P.S. envelope May 27, 1936

seeds niece secretbulbs Your niece holidayaunt roots window boxescake Love to all gardensmile flowers grandmamama papa uncleDear Grandma

Pre-reading Activity

Writing a letter Relatives Plants Celebrations P.S. mama seeds cakeYour niece grandma bulbs smileLove to all papa flowers secretMay 27, 1936 niece window boxes

holidayDear Grandma uncle roots envelope aunt garden

VocabularyInstructional objective: The teacher will predict text

content using prior knowledge and text features (e.g., illustrations, titles, topic sentences, key words) and use context to determine the relevant meaning of a word.

Student behavioral objective: Students will predict key vocabulary words in the story, The Gardener. They will do this by choosing words they predict will appear in the story based on the title and cover. If there is anyone that does not know the meaning of one of their words, they will give a definition or example to help clarify. Students will gather pictures from magazines, clip art, or draw their own, that help identify and illustrate five key vocabulary words or their choice.

Vocabulary• Present book “The Gardener” to the class. • Build background and ask the students to explain what

personal experiences they might have with gardening.• Have kids make predictions on vocabulary words they

may encounter while reading the story. They will record these in their own personal writers’ notebooks.

• Kids will get together in groups of four to compile a list of words and write them on the white board.

• Ask if there are any unknown words that need to be clarified.

• Students will create their own vocabulary cards for five words, in which they will find/draw pictures to represent them

Comprehension 1. Have an “I wonder..” wall

a. What do they wonder about the story? b. Do they wonder about gardening? c. Do they wonder about flowers?

2. Triorama for end of story a. one side will be list of characters

b. one side will be summary c. front will be their own version of a cover for

the book

3. Students to create their own class test

Writing Activity

Instructional objective: For our weekly writing, my fourth grade kiddos will construct a friendly letter to a family member of their choice. The kiddos will learn the format of a friendly letter and how to label an envelope correctly.

Student behavioral objective: The kiddos will actively listen to our weekly story, The Gardener. At the end of the week, each fourth grader will construct their own letter to one of their family members. When they have completed their letter, the kiddos will then prepare their envelopes.

Writing Activity

Materials: *The Gardener by Sarah Stewart*Friendly letter rubric*Final draft writing templates*Envelopes*Pens (final)

Writing Activity

1. Re-read The Gardener2. Create a template using chart paper

with the kiddos3. Model and go over the rubric4. Set them free!5. Conference