Don't Ever Cross that Road! An Armadillo Story

In the classroom/library:

Introduction
Grade Level: 2nd/ 3rd
Subject: Reading, Writing
Overview: In this lesson, students will be read a book related to the Southwest. Students will then integrate knowledge from a previous lesson to formulate a response to the Southwest book.
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to expand the students' literary choices. This lesson will also allow students to become more familiar with the Southwest.

Outcomes
Students will:
1. Become more familiar with aspects of the Southwest.
2. Formulate a response, and show how they are able to connect prior knowledge to new facts.
3. Make a poem to connect this book to their insect study.
4. Make a "don't" statement as a group that correlates armadillos to insects.
5. Make a "don't" statement individually about bugs.

Standards
Reading Concept 6: Comprehension Strategies Employ strategies to comprehend text.
PO 1. Predict events and actions, based upon prior knowledge and text features.
PO2. Compare a prediction about an action or event to what actually occurred within a text.
PO 3. Ask relevant questions in order to comprehend text.
PO 4. Answer clarifying questions in order to comprehend text.
PO 5. Extract information from graphic organizers (e.g., webs, Venn diagrams, flow charts) to comprehend text.
PO 6. Connect information and events in text to experience and to related text and sources.

Writing Strand 1: Writing Process
Concept 1: Prewriting Prewriting includes using strategies to generate, plan, and organize ideas for specific purposes.
PO 1. Generate ideas through a variety of activities (e.g., brainstorming, graphic organizers, drawing, writer's notebook, group discussion, printed material).
PO 2. Determine the purpose (e.g., to entertain, to inform, to communicate, to persuade) of a writing piece.
PO 3. Determine the intended audience of a writing piece.
Concept 2: Drafting Drafting incorporates prewriting activities to create a first draft containing necessary elements for a specific purpose.
PO 1. Use a prewriting plan to develop a draft with main idea(s) and supporting details.
PO 2. Organize writing into a logical sequence that is clear to the audience.
Concept 3: Revising Revising includes evaluating and refining the rough draft for clarity and effectiveness. (Ask: Does this draft say what you want it to say?)
PO 1. Evaluate the draft for use of ideas and content, organization, voice, word choice, and sentence fluency. (See Strand 2)
PO 2. Add details to the draft to more effectively accomplish the purpose.
Concept 4: Editing Editing includes proofreading and correcting the draft for conventions.
PO 1. Identify punctuation, spelling, and grammar and usage errors in the draft. (See Strand 2)
Concept 5: Publishing Publishing includes formatting and presenting a final product for the intended audience.
PO 2. Share the writing with the intended audience.

Resources
Don't Ever Cross That Road by Conrad J. Storad

Materials
Crayons, pencil, glue stick, activity sheet, and paper.

Process
Introductory Set
In order to become more culturally aware of the area that we live in, we can read books that are related to the area. Books about the Southwest are a great way for us to learn about the area we live in. Ask if the students have ever read a book that helps them understand their community and who/what lives there. Connect the lesson that they learned on insects with the lesson that we are about to do.

Objective/ Purpose
Students will:
1. Become more familiar with aspects of the Southwest.
2. Formulate a response, and show how they are able to connect prior knowledge to new facts.
3. Make a poem to connect this book to insect study.
4. Make a don't statement as a group, that correlates armadillos to insects.
5. Make a don't statement individually, about bugs.

Input
Read: Don't Ever Cross that Road by Conrad Storad. Ask students questions during the reading to draw out responses. Focus on PO 1, PO 3, and PO 4, as stated in the standards on the lesson plan. What did the students learn in this book? How are they going to be able to connect this book with the lesson they previously learned? Students can brainstorm ideas from previous knowledge, then brainstorm new ideas that they just learned. The students can then make connections between the two.

Modeling
Show an example if what can be done. Show the students sample on the topic of butterflies, which includes a poem with a "don't" statement and an illustration.. Share the step by step process. Ask students to brainstorm, then start on the activity. Each student's prewriting and activity can be different.

Check for Understanding
Ask the students if they understand the task and the steps to follow in order to accomplish it. Such questions may be: What will you do first? What will you do next? How will you generate a "don't" statement?

Guided Practice
Circulate among the students. Check the brainstorms for understanding of concepts and directions. Also support the students with their drafting and revising.

Independent Practice- or Homework
Students will continue to do the activity on their own.

Closure
Review the new information that the students learned in the book. Review how the students were able to use their prior knowledge for this activity. Why should we connect prior knowledge to literature? How we can accomplish this? Ask the students to share their work. Talk about putting it up on the Web site.

Assessment
The responses that the students will produce will allow them to transfer previous knowledge into a new context. Their product will show how well they were able to connect prior knowledge to a new idea.

Extensions/ Modifications
To extend this lesson, this process can be repeated with a different piece of literature. The students could once again connect prior knowledge and form a connection between two different concepts that they have learned.

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