Story #1

Lesson 1

Daily Writing Prompt (link to resource here)

Showcase a brief personal narrative (Preferably funny).

Students guess what the words "personal," "narrative," then "personal narrative" means.

Explain what a personal narrative is. Include aspects of a personal narrative: a true story, told in first person ("I, we"), written by someone involved in the story.

Activity Page 1.2 - Is It A Personal Narrative or No?

Ask students if they remember the first time: riding a bike, riding a train/plane/boat, tasting a new food, etc.

Activity Page 1.3 - First Experiences Recording

Teach Parts of a Paragraph from the manual (Click here for my version of the scaffolded First Memory writing lesson plan that I will use throughout this section!)

Introduce Blanco from the first story.

Read pages 2-5 from the reader.

Ask comprehension questions from the manual.

Daily Grammar (this can be pushed to a shorter block if needed!) (link to resource here)

Lesson 2

Daily Writing Prompt

Read pages 6-9 from the reader, STOP after "...twist ties, matches, and birthday candles" and before "I hopped back..."

Ask comprehension questions from the manual.

Prepare Mini Thesaurus (link to free Mini Thesaurus here) (link to instructional video here)

Teach "Strong Verbs" - allow students to use their Mini Thesaurus during the lesson & following activity

Activity Page 2.3

Teach "Strong Adjectives"

Activity Page 2.4

Students revise their First Memory paragraphs, adding strong verbs and adjectives.

• Students look for verbs listed in the Mini Thesaurus, underline them in BLUE in their First Memory rough draft, and replace them with stronger versions.

Students read their First Memory paragraphs aloud and/or to a partner and receive feedback (based on the included rubric if using my version).

Daily Grammar

Lesson 3

Daily Writing Prompt

Display Projection 3.1 & Open Activity Page 3.1.

• Underline the verbs in BLUE

• Highlight the subjects in RED

• Differences between sentences (a) and (b)?

Explain Personification: describing nonhuman things as if they had human qualities or acted in a human way.

Rewrite 3.1 personification sentences to say what is REALLY happening.

Activity Page 3.2 - Rewriting Personification

Read pages 9-13 from the reader, START at "I hopped back..." and STOP after "...took the pumpkin pie out of the freezer." 

Ask comprehension questions from the manual.

Activity Page 3.3 - Personification from the Text

Give time for students to revise their First Memory paragraph.

Daily Grammar

Lesson 4

*Prep telephone game dialogue starter sentences for groups

Daily Writing Prompt

Display Projection 4.1

• What's the difference between the passages?

• Which passage was clearer? Which passage was more interesting?

Explain: dialogue adds information that simply writing about what happened doesn't.

Display Projection 4.2 & Open Activity Page 4.1

• Dialogue Telephone game in small groups

Read pages 13-16 from the reader, START at "The doorbell rang..." and STOP after "...at least after that everyone had seconds of turkey." 

Ask comprehension questions from the manual.

Follow Writing section from manual

Activity Page 4.5 - Dialogue in Writing

• INSTEAD of writing about any moment, have students practice writing dialogue that occurred in their First Memory paragraph.

Give time for students to revise their First Memory paragraph and add dialogue. TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY TO WORK/SUBMIT!

Daily Grammar

Lesson 5

*prep personal free-write about your own name

Daily Writing Prompt

Theme: Identify themes from Story #1

• Use this free resource (link here) to give students a reference when identifying themes that apply to the story

• Make them prove it! They can write the theme words they think apply to the story and page numbers/quotes that match their thinking.

Read pages 16-19 from the reader, START at "After dessert..."

Ask comprehension questions from the manual.

Follow Writing section from manual

• Use personal free-write about your name to introduce the free write

Give time for students to revise their First Memory paragraph and add dialogue. LAST DAY TO SUBMIT!

Focus Wall: Answer Focus Question & Writing Question

Daily Grammar

Story #2

Lesson 6

Daily Writing Prompt

Introduce new story

Read pages 20-24 from the reader, STOP at "... thicker than a Coke bottle."

Ask comprehension questions from the manual.

Activity Page 6.2

Read pages 24-26 from the reader, START at "By ninth grade..." and STOP at "...Pretty lame compare to 'joy to the world,' if you ask me."

Activity Page 6.3

• If short on time, skip the Jigsaw & have the group present their findings to the class as a whole

Activity Page 6.4

Activity Page 6.5 - notes on other students' jigsaws

Follow Writing section from manual

• Activity Page 6.6

• SAVE 6.7 FOR NEXT CLASS!

Daily Grammar

Lesson 7 - Heavy Writing Day

Daily Writing Prompt

Review story

Activity Page 7.1

Read pages 26-end from the reader, START at "So that is how I ended up with two names..."

Follow Writing section from manual

• Activity Page 7.2

• Activity Page 6.7

• Students revise their My Name paragraphs. I like to use my own graphic organizer with a built-in rubric to remind students of writing expectations (click here for the free resource I use!)

• LAST DAY TO WORK, TURN IN NEXT CLASS AFTER READING ALOUD

Daily Grammar

Story #3

Lesson 8 

Daily Writing Prompt

Introduce new story

Read pages 28-29 from the reader

Read pages 32-33 from the reader, STOP at "I wasn't very good when it came to running sports."

Ask comprehension questions from the manual.

Read pages 33-35 from the reader

Project 8.1 & Open Activity Page 8.1

• Finding evidence that supports Rosa Parks' view on segregation

Follow Writing section from manual

• Students read aloud My Name paragraphs

• Activity Page 8.2 - Writing with Evidence to Convince

Daily Grammar

Lesson 9 

Daily Writing Prompt

Project 9.1: Tone & Activity Page 9.1

Read pages 36-39 from the reader

Read pages 32-33 from the reader, STOP at "I wasn't very good when it came to running sports."

Ask comprehension questions from the manual.

Activity Page 9.4

Continue Activity Page 8.2 - Writing with Evidence to Convince & TURN IN

Daily Grammar

Lesson 10

Daily Writing Prompt

Activity Page 10.1: Story Order (Click here for my easy prep version & scaffolded writing organizer)

Project 10.1: Answers

Follow Writing section in manual.

Activity Page 10.2: Brainstorm Surprise Narrative

Follow Language section in manual (p. 179-181)

Activity Page 10.3: Similes & Metaphors

Daily Grammar

Lesson 11

Daily Writing Prompt

Read pages 40-45 from the reader

Ask comprehension questions from the manual.

Activity Page 11.1

• Explain that details are IMPORTANT details that make the story move along

Activity Page 11.2

Activity Page 11.5: Surprise Narrative Writing (click here for my scaffolded version)

Daily Grammar

Story #4

Lesson 12

Daily Writing Prompt

Introduce new story (Sensory Field Trip is time-consuming, but fun! I'd plan to do this if you can!)

• Activity Page 12.1: Writing Sensory Details

Go through Parts of a Paragraph:

• How would we make a paragraph about the worst meal you've ever eaten?

• What do we need to include? (Hint: sensory details, sequencing, etc.)

Quick Write a paragraph about the worst meal you've ever eaten

Read pages 51-53 from the reader

Ask comprehension questions from the manual.

Activity Page 12.3

Read page 54 (or re-read 51-54) from the reader

Continue Activity Page 11.5: Surprise Narrative Writing (click here for my scaffolded version)

• There may not be a lot of time today, but there will be plenty of time tomorrow

Daily Grammar

Lesson 13

Daily Writing Prompt

Read pages 51-55 from the reader, STOP at "...and we'll never know."

Activity Page 13.1

• When we say "author's point of view," we really mean the author's opinion

Read pages 55-59 from the reader, START at "And through this nightmare that had just begun," STOP at "...what else can happen today?"

Ask comprehension questions from the manual.

Activity Page 13.2

Continue Activity Page 11.5: Surprise Narrative Writing (click here for my scaffolded version) TURN IN TODAY, READ ALOUD TOMORROW

Daily Grammar

Lesson 14

*prep Emotion Guessing Game strips/sticky notes before class (p. 251 manual)

Daily Writing Prompt

Activity Page 14.1

• Write actions that would show you what this person was feeling

Emotion Guessing Game & Activity Page 14.2

Read pages 59-63 from the reader, START at "And I said, ‘Drew, the battery’s dead in this thing’."

Ask comprehension questions from the manual.

Activity Page 13.2

Read Aloud Activity Page 11.5: Surprise Narrative Writing (click here for my scaffolded version)

Daily Grammar