Guided Reading

Apples To Oregon Guided Reading Plan

Standard(s):

NJSLSA.R10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently with scaffolding as needed.

L.3.6. Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g., After dinner that night we went looking for them).

Objective: Students will read and discuss narrative text and engage in discussion of key concepts and vocabulary through the development of graphic organizers and journal entries to demonstrate comprehension at a level of (3) proficiency based on a 4 point rubric scale.

Preparation for Reading

• Activate/Build Prior Knowledge

There is a map provided in the book “Apples To Oregon” that details the routes that Delicious and her family will travel through to get to Oregon. Asked students if they are familiar with any of the states that are shown on the map. Ask students if they recognize any certain geographical location on the map. Discuss with the students these different geographical location that is shown on the map. Discuss the importance of perseverance. Discuss the need to demonstrate perseverance during misfortunes. Share examples with students where a situation appeared impossible to solve and have them apply their creativity to exhaust all possible solutions to the problem. Encourage students to share some personal experiences that they may have relating to the need to demonstrate perseverance. Use this opportunity to activate students' prior knowledge so that they will be able to relate to the perseverance and problem-solving skills that Delicious demonstrated in the story “Apples To Oregon”.

• Preview Text and Make Predictions

Conduct a picture walk with the students. Guide students in exploring the pictures that are provided in the book, “Apples To Oregon”, in the order that it is given. Ask the students to look at the illustrations and predict what the solution to the problem will be. Guide students in creating a problem and solution chart. The teacher will ask students in an open discussion, to predict possible solutions when a problem occurs in the story. The teacher will continue to read the story after the discussion to reveal the solutions that Delicious came up with. When the students discover the solutions, they will record the information in the appropriate column.

• Develop Vocabulary Knowledge

Throughout the story of “Apples To Oregon” Delicious and her family will experience different weather changes. While going through the picture walk, explain to the students' certain words such as hail and show them what hail is using the picture. Words such as drought when the family travels through a desert. Also, words such as riverbanks, Platte River, and the Columbia River should be addressed to help students understand that a change in location has been established. Students will also see these locations represented on the map when teachers are building their prior knowledge through the picture walk.

• Set a Purpose for Reading

Remind the students that Delicious and her family will be confronted with many problems but with perseverance the problem and be resolved. Asked them to read and discover why it is important for Delicious and her family to not give up.

Read Silently

Students are to read silently to review the purpose set in the story. Once the students gain an understanding of the purpose, the teacher will instruct the students to complete two activities. The first activity is for students to create a map, detailing the routes that Delicious and her family took to get to their destination. This activity will immerse the students with how long and tumultuous the journey was for Delicious and her family. Students can refer to the map provided in the book for assistance. The second activity that students will complete is creating a problem and solution chart. This activity will help students understand the moral of the story, perseverance. As students create their chart, The teacher should closely monitor their progress and remind students that through perseverance, there will be a solution to every problem. While students are waiting for their classmates to finish the reading and activity, they can add their map and chart to their reading journal.

Respond to Reading to Develop Comprehension

• Revisit Purpose Setting Question

Discuss with the students what they discovered about the purpose outlined in “Apples To Oregon”. Students should recognize that the purpose is for Delicious and her family to not stop traveling to get to their destination, Oregon. Students should understand the significance of demonstrating perseverance. Students will recognize that perseverance is a key character trait when achieving goals. As students learn about each problem that Delicious and her family encounters, ask them questions such as, “what were some of the issues that occurred for Delicious and her family?”. The responses should include, troubles with their rifts sinking, a hailstorm damaging their apples and other fruits, and crossing a desert where drought was present, dehydrating the fruits. Furthermore, the teacher can ask students “how did the family resolve the problems?”. The responses should include, discarding unnecessary weight so the rift won't sink, covering the apples and fruits from the hailstorm by removing artifacts of their clothing, and extracting water from their wet clothing to rehydrate the fruits during the drought.

• Clarify Additional Concepts/Vocabulary

The teacher can further discuss the events happen in the book to extend the students' knowledge of the vocabulary words that they learn. For instance the word hail. The teacher can refer back to the event that happens during the hailstorm. Encourage students to consider the possible dangers that come from removing artifacts of their clothing to protect the apples. When they are providing answers to the question, the teacher should take this opportunity to ask students a more thought-provoking question that will build on their reasoning and decision-making skills. For instance, ask them if sacrificing your safety to protect something, will it be worth it?

• Supporting Comprehension of Structure

Review the problems that Delicious and her family faced in sequential order throughout their journey to Oregon. Encourage students to share their problems and solutions chart with the class. When students are sharing, guide them in using words such as first, next, and finally, to help them understand the structure and order of the story. The teacher can also use this time to explain to students that they can take information from their charts to create a timeline. This will help students understand the sequence of the story. They can also provide them with a story map to complete. The map will help students keep track of the story. For this particular book, a story map may benefit students because of all the different locations that the story takes place in.

• Seeking Additional Sources for Information

“Apples To Oregon” is based on a slightly true narrative about an American pioneer who had traveled The Oregon Trails to avoid poverty and debt. The teacher should encourage students to do further research about this American pioneer. The teacher should encourage students to research the actual map of The Oregon Trail and compare it to the map that is included in the book. The teacher should encourage students to research the different climates that occurred when settlers were traveling The Oregon Trails to compare it with the climates that were mentioned in the book. This is a good way to incorporate history into their literature lessons.

• Additional Purpose Setting Questions

Encourage students to continue to read the story and remind them that Delicious and her family will face problems that they must resolve. After each problem is resolved, take a moment with the students to discuss how the family resolved the problem. Discussions may include asking if the students have other ways to resolve the problem. Additional questions that can be asked are,

1. Why was it important that the family had to move to Oregon and bring along the apples?
2. The main character of the story is named Delicious, the red delicious is a well-recognized type of apple in the U.S, is there any connection that can be made with this information pertaining to the story?

Review/Reread and Explore Strategies

Students will pair up to take turns reading each page of the book. While students are taking turns reading the book to each other, they will stop after each critical event of the story to create their problem and solution chart. When students are finished reading the book, they will share their chart with each other by reading and showing what they have written on their chart. Students will keep the chart in their notebooks where they will have files of all the techniques that they learned throughout the year to refer to.

Applying the literature/Extending Reading Across the Curriculum

When students have completed reading the book, the teacher can ask them the question “why do you think family moves away from their home?”. When students finish sharing their responses, the teacher will explain to them, keeping it relevant to the book, that during the 1800s moving was important to avoid things such as poverty and debt. The teacher will explain to them that the Oregon Trail was used as the main route for families to move West. The teacher can show them the map of the actual Oregon Trail and compare it to the map that was given to them in the book. The teacher can help students understand the relationship between the apples and fruits that Delicious and her family brought along with them by having them make connections to things that people would bring, as items for trades. This will integrate history into their literature lessons and will build their background knowledge for this particular event in history.