Unit 4

Bend I: Stepping Into the World of a Story

Date

Bend I: Session 1

Reading Can Take You Places “Today I want to teach you that the best way to let reading take you to the world of the story, is to find books you love.”

RL.2.10 

By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Let's Gather Session 1

Dragons in a Bag  Chapters 1 & 2

Date

Let's Gather Session 2: 

Date

Bend I: Session 3

Bringing Characters to Life 

“Today I want to teach you that when you step into the world of your story and picture what’s happening, you don’t just see characters standing in one spot, frozen. Instead, you make your characters move. You add their expressions—what their faces look like—and their exact movements to what you’re picturing.”

RL.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral. RL.2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

Let's Gather Session 3: 

Dragons in a Bag  Chapter 4

Support Vocabulary Building 

● Students will retell the text thus far using the class sticky notes. 

● Students will envision determining the meaning of new words. 

● Students will track time and places, noticing when the setting changes. 

● Students will summarize the big events of the text and think about the characters’ feelings and how complex and complicated they are.

RL.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral. RL.2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. 

RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song. 

RL.2.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action. 

RL.2.6 Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud. 

RL.2.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot. 

RL.2.9 Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures. 

RL.2.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Date

Bend I: Session 4

Making Predictions “Today I want to teach you that when readers are in the world of their story, they’re constantly thinking about what will happen next. Readers predict how the story will go, based on what has already happened and on what they know about how stories usually go.”

Let's Gather Session 4: 

Dragons in a Bag  Chapter 5

Monday May 5, 2025

Bend I: Session 5

Picturing the Place “Today I want to teach you that when you’re stepping into the world of the story, it helps to see the whole story in your mind—and that means thinking about where the characters are and noticing when they move from one place to another.”

RL.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. 

RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral. 

RL.2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. 

RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song. 

RL.2.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action. 

Where is Jax? Where has he been? Where is he going? Where is Ma? Where is Mama?

Let's Gather Session 5: 

Dragons in a Bag  Chapter 6 

Coach Students as They Orchestrate a Wide Range of Thinking Strategies 

● Prior to reading, students will list the work a reader does in a narrative text, and the teacher will create a chart with their responses. 

● During reading, students will decide what thinking work to engage in and jot it down on a sticky note. 

● Students will synthesize what has happened so far and predict what will happen next.

RL.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. 

RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral. 

RL.2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. 

RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song. 

RL.2.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action. 

RL.2.6 Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud. 

RL.2.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot. 

RL.2.9 Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures. 

RL.2.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

A prized possession is a tangible object or item that a person values above other objects. It usually has a strong personal connection to the person, sentimental value, individual interpretation. Can prized possessions lose their special status? What is your most prized possession? 

Tuesday May 6, 2025

Bend I: Session 6

Readers React to Stories “Today I want to teach you that part of stepping into a story is not just seeing the movie in your mind and stepping through, but also, having and noticing your own reactions too.”

RL.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral. RL.2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song. RL.2.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

Let's Gather Session 6: 

Dragons in a Bag  Chapter 7

Support Growing Ideas about Characters’ Actions, Dialogue, and Thinking 

● Students will envision all of the story elements to grow deeper ideas about the characters. 

● Students will dramatize key scenes to think about how characters can be complex. 

● Students will synthesize what has happened so far and predict what will happen next.

RL.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral. RL.2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song. RL.2.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action. RL.2.6 Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud. RL.2.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot. RL.2.9 Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures. RL.2.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Thursday May 8, 2025

Bend I: Session 7

Creating a Reading Scrapbook “Today I want to teach you that you can create a reading scrapbook to keep track of favorite books, characters, and reading plans.”

RL.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral. RL.2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song. RL.2.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action. RL.2.6 Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud. RL.2.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot. RL.2.9 Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures. RL.2.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Let's Gather Session 7: 

Dragons in a Bag  Chapter 8

Support Making Inferences about Characters ● Students will study the specific words and phrases the author uses to think about the character’s feelings and the changes in the text. ● Students will use their sticky notes to talk about what causes the character’s feelings to change. 

RL.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral. RL.2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song. RL.2.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action. RL.2.6 Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud. RL.2.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot. RL.2.9 Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures. RL.2.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.