Reading Mini Lesson: Whose Voice Is Missing?

Grade Level Suggestions: All Elementary
*Upper Elementary allows for more depth

STANDARDS:RL.LCS.11

Mini Lesson Steps

1. Ask your students to share or write briefly about a time that they felt like their side of the story was overshadowed by someone else (this may be a sibling or a friend or anyone!). Ask students to think about this situation: Why was their story overshadowed? How did this make them feel? What do they wish someone else had done in the moment?

2. This mini lesson can be done with any book. Fairy tales provide a direct tie to the theatre play and are easy to access. Another option is to use historical texts or real world news articles to connect to Social Studies content. 

3. Read the book aloud. As you are reading, stop to think aloud, answering some of these questions: 

   • Who's voice is the loudest in the story? 

   • Is someone's voice missing? 

   • Are we as the reader led to think one thing based on the text/events or are we making our own conclusions because we've heard from both sides?. 

4. Share with students that we can use hints from the text to help us answer these questions: 

• Who is telling the story? 

• What point of view is the story written from? 

• Which character has the most dialogue? 

• Are strong words used to describe a character?

5. Provide students with models of your own thinking while you read and opportunities to share their own thinking. 

6. During independent reading time, have your students analyze their own reading.

7. During sharing time, ask students why it is important to analyze our reading in this way. After listening to several responses, build on your students' thinking by sharing that reading with a critical lens allows us to form our own opinions instead of simply accepting someone else's- when we do this, we prevent misconceptions and false labels about others. Conclude the lesson by asking students to share about how this could apply to our every day lives and friendships. 

Two Voice Poems

Grade Level Suggestion: 3rd-5th

STANDARDS: RL.MC.8, RL.LCS.9, RL.LCS.10

Read the poem below "In the Hood" from the book Mirror Mirror  by Marilyn Singer. This is a two voice poem: you, as the reader, "hear" from two different characters, talking about the same topic/event but from different perspectives. In this example, you hear from the wolf and Little Red Riding Hood. Use this text as a mentor text. With your class, creating an anchor chart of all the things that you notice: how does the author use multiple meaning words, how does the author use repetition, how are the two poems like "mirrors", etc. Then write your own, picking whatever story you want! 

Two voice poems are also great for practicing fluency with a partner! One partner acts like one character and the other partner the other character. Try reading the poems in different ways: one fully and then the other fully or alternating lines using different voices to differentiate between the 2 poems. 

Making Puppets: Theatrical Retell

Grade Level Suggestion: K4-2nd

STANDARDS: RL.MC.6

Create your own theatrical version of The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by making puppets to retell the story. Be creative with how you make your puppets! 

Some ideas are: 

• Can you create puppets only using recyclable materials?

• Can you create puppets using at least 5 geometric shapes and then name the shapes?

• Can you create 3D puppets out of paper?

• Can you create puppets with specific measurements? (For an extra challenge, students can convert different lengths to the same unit!)

• Can you create puppets using only materials you find outside?

Remember for your retell performance, you need to include a beginning, middle, end, and clear details!

Writing Prompt: New Perspectives

Grade Level Suggestion: All Elementary
*Upper Elementary allows for more depth

STANDARDS:RL.LCS.11, W.MCC.3

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs is a new perspective on the fairy tale The 3 Little Pigs. Pick a new story and consider a different perspective. Write a story telling the story through the lens of this new perspective. Be aware of how you write this new perspective and be sure you give enough background knowledge to write from this new perspective without promoting assumptions and stereotypes. 

If you have any questions or need assistance, contact Alyssa at alyssabcameron@gmail.com