Third Grade January: Unit 3 Series Book Clubs Unit Objective: Students will be able to read with volume

and push themselves to have deeper comprehension around characters. Students will be reading about more complicated characters and using series books to develop higher level thinking. Students will do more interpretive thinking about complex characters by understanding the structure of a series. Students will compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters.

Mentor Texts:

Part 1: Launching the Unit-Teaching Clubs to Revisit and Lift the Level of Inferring about Characters

Literal/Craft Series Structure Today I want to teach you that in a series, its important to not only envision the main characters, but to envision the secondary characters as well, because those characters will reappear throughout. p.53/54, 64 We bring all we know about studying a new character to a series. We notice that the secondary characters and setting do matter in series books. RL 3.3, 3.9

Special Note: Prior to this unit model through Read Alouds how to create a story arc. Book Club Preparation: Think about and begin reading a class series prior to this unit to be used for modeling. You may want to think about grouping your students into beginning books clubs prior to the unit. For example you can join two partner groups together to make a book club of four members. Think about and gather the series books you have in your classroom to begin pairing book clubs to appropriately leveled series books. Literal/Craft Procedure Literal/Craft Strategy/Skill Envisioning/Club Work Setting Reading Goals Character Traits Inferring Today I want to teach you Today I want to teach you that Today I want to teach you that Today I want to teach you that series readers keep track clubs need to set reading goals once readers are deeper into a that readers not only develop of, and envision, the setting of so that all the members are book, we might start to notice an idea about the main the book. p.54, 64 reading at the same pace and patterns in a characters character, but also about the are reading to discuss the actions or feelings. p.64/65 relationships between At each meeting, clubs will: same amount. p.54,64 characters. p.54,65 Readers stop to ask Teacher will monitor themselves, What kind of Readers think about Create sketches that the goals set to person is this character? what they notice reflect our most ensure theyre when two Introduce character traits recent thinking. realistic and characters interact. using a T-Chart that satisfactory. We ask, What is Track where compares Actions and this teaching me important events Club members will Feelings vs. Traits. about their take place. evaluate their goals Model how a pattern of relationship? How throughout, asking: Add new details behavior illustrates a would I describe Did that feel like about the setting. certain character trait. Ex: it? the right amount? RL 3.2, 3.9, SL 3.1 a character who keeps Could we read more Anchor chart of secrets and always next time? Did we all inference prompts demonstrates honesty can finish what we said to describe be depicted as trustworthy. we would? character Post-It pages to gather relationships (p. Club members will information about the 54). make new goals characters actions, based on their Use prompts for feelings, and traits to evaluation. Post-Its and club discuss with club SL 3.1b conversation. members. RL 3.3, 3.5 RL 3.3

Third Grade January: Unit 3 Series Book Clubs

Part 1: Continued

Procedure How To Be An Effective Club Member Today I want to teach you that club members listen with our eyes, our ears and our bodies. p.52 Demonstrate with a student (Fishbowl) how it looks to sit and listen in a club. Create anchor chart of club rules. Example: make eye contact with speaker, respond respectfully, think about what the speaker is saying (no daydreaming). Every member brings ideas and Post-Its to each conversation. (Active participation by all members.) SL 3.1, 3.3,3.4, 3.6

Procedure Accountable Talk Today I want to teach you that club members have important conversations about their books. p.52 Readers follow one conversation, growing their thinking, before moving on to a new idea. (Review partner conversations.) Refer to Accountable Talk anchor chart from unit 2: (Prompts-p.52) What in the text makes you say that? I thought something different because Wait. Im confused. Are you saying? SL 3.1, 3.3,3.4, 3.6

Literal/Craft Story Structure Today I want to teach you that readers notice what problems the character is facing and how he/she is dealing with that problem. The way a character reacts when they face trouble, can give us important information about the character. p.55, 65 Club members chart story arc, highlighting chapters and scenes (using specific text language). Club members ask questions, such as: What is the main problem the character faces? Who stands in his way? (see p. 55) Review anchor charts from character unit to further students thinking. RL 3.1, 3.3, 3.5, SL 3.1, 3.3

Skill/Strategy Revision Today I want to teach you that as we read, we might notice a new trait or revise our initial thoughts about a character. p.55,65 Use story arcs to predict and revise. RL 3.1, 3.3

Skill/Strategy Evaluating/Classifying Note-taking Today I want to teach you that club members reflect on and organize their notes and ideas to help notice patterns and grow ideas about characters throughout the book. p.55-56 Teacher and club members evaluate whether or not post its capture ideas and not just predictions. Club members discuss how and why they would categorize their post its to identify patterns and grow ideas. Piles of post its Rate post its Analyze post its by using prompts p.56 I think ____is blank, I think ___is ___because in this part he/she_____. SL 3.1,3.3, RL 3.1,3.2, 3.3. 3.5

Third Grade January: Unit 3 Series Book Clubs

Part 2: Reading Second, Third, and Fourth Books within a Series-Revising Theories, Providing Relevant Textual Evidence, and Moving into Interpretation

Literal/Craft Compare/Contrast Today I want to teach you that as readers finish a couple of books in the same series, we begin to look for patterns not just in a single book, but across multiple books. p. 56,65 Activate prior knowledge of the characters they have read in the previous book. General comparison of two books. Ex. Same/different characters seen, same/different settings, etc. We might ask ourselves, Whats new in this book? Whats the same in this new book? Whats the same about this character in both books? Whats changed in this book? and have a conversation or make a list with our club members. SL 3.1, RL 3.9

Literal/Craft Compare/Contrast Today I want to teach you that readers can also compare how the situation or challenges are similar or different in multiple books of a series. p. 56, 65 Model using story arcs to compare situations and challenges across series books. More specific comparisons. For ex. Character reactions. Club members bring post-its and theories from one series book in order compare/contrast with new series book to aid in discussions. SL 3.1,RL 3.9

Strategy/Skill Making Predictions Today I want to teach you that once a reader knows a character well and notices patterns across many books, use that information to make some predictions. p. 56- 57,65 We can make predictions about how a character will react to a problem or solve a problem. We can make predictions about how another book in the series might go based on how previous books went. Stop and jot and discuss thoughts with club members. RL 3.2,3.3, 3.9

Literal/Craft Analyzing/Interpretation Today I want to teach you that club members can notice patterns in character traits and ask ourselves What does this repeated character trait make me think about the character? p. 56-57, 65 Why does the character keep doing that? Why is the character that way? Think about character traits and motivations. Club members identify a repeated character trait throughout multiple books across a series. Club members debate interpretations of that trait. Ex. Amelia Bedelia is always messing things up. Shes careless. My interpretation is that she is not very bright. Others may think that the author purposely made her careless to provide humor in the book. (p. 56-57) SL 3.1, 3.3, RL 3.1, 3.3, 3.9

Literal/Craft Asking & Answering Questions/Interpretation Today I want to teach you that when a character acts in a certain way over and over, that behavior is often there to teach the reader a lesson. Sometimes it helps to first name the problems that a character faces in a book and then to ask ourselves what lessons does the character learn about the problem?(P. 60) p.60, 65 What lessons does the character need to learn about life? What is this book trying to teach me? Look across post its/notes to determine life lessons of characters. (Piles of post it notes) RL 3.1, 3.2, 3.5

Third Grade January: Unit 3 Series Book Clubs

Part 2: Continued

Literal/Craft Analyzing/Interpretation Today I want to teach you that characters are not always one way. As readers we need to push ourselves to see all the different sides of the character. p. 58, 66 On one hand..but on the other hand One side of the character isbut she can also be Modeling how a character can be one way in a certain situation or with certain characters and a different way with others. (P.58) Club member discussions using accountable talk. (Prompts pg. 57) RL 3.3, SL 3.1

Special Note: As you begin part 3 you may want to push your book clubs to begin a new
series. If a club has read across many books in one series, it does make sense to push them into another series to reinforce many of the teaching points from the first two parts of the unit and to compare the two series.

Third Grade January: Unit 3 Series Book Clubs

Part 3: Comparing and Contrasting Different Characters and Themes from Different Series

Strategy/Skill Growing/Revising Theories Today I want to teach you that when readers get half way through their books (or a series), it is wise to take some time to organize their thoughts. One way to do this is to sort our Post-its and push ourselves to grow a theory. p.62, 66 This is important because.. This makes me realize that The bigger idea here is that Students can add to their posts either including more evidence to support the theories or by growing/revising their theories. Students question, Does my theory hold true, or based on what is happening should I revise my theory? RL 3.1, 3.6,3.9

Strategy/Skill Growing/Revising Theories Today I want to teach you that once readers have grown a theory, a big idea, we reread and read on with that theory in mind, looking for information that will change or grow our thinking. p.66 Continuation of previous lesson Take flimsy ideas and make them more substantial. Students question, Does my theory hold true, or based on what is happening should I revise my theory? RL 3.1, 3.6, 3.9

Literal/Craft Preparing for Conversation Characters Motivations Today I want to teach you that one way to be insightful about our characters is to think, What does this person seem to desire? What motivates this person? Usually, the main character, the protagonist, has desires that lead him or her to go after something, and the character ends up struggling to reach that goal. Usually, something gets in the way, obstacles, and the character has to work hard to reach the goal. p.66, 67 Prepare for partner talk by questioning, What is motivating your character? What does she/he really want? What does she/her desire more than anything? Consider WHY your character wants this thing so bad. Think, What is in your characters way? What struggles does your character face? Students will jot down their thinking to prepare themselves for partner/book club conversations. RL 3.1, 3.3

Strategy/Skill Growing Theories Today I want to teach you that readers try to grow ideas that are interesting, important, original theories about a character and/or book. We can start with a simple, obvious idea about a character or a book and make it a more complex idea. p.67 Creating higher levels of thinking. As you read further in your book and learn more about a characters struggles, often you will see that your character is learning something-about herself/himself, their friends, or about the world. Ask yourself, What is the character learning?To discover a more complex, unique theory. RL 3.1, 3.6, 3.9

Literal/Craft Analyzing Reoccurring Information Today I want to teach you that stuff that keeps reoccurring, comes back in and out of the narrative, is the biggest stuff! Thats true in life and in books. In books, things that the author mentions again and again are the ones that she/he really wants you to notice, the ones that are crucial to understanding the essence of the character and the story. p.62, 67 Model how sometimes little actions as well as objects take on importance to the character and/or the reader. Sometimes in a book and in life, the events that have the biggest impact arent the ones everyone would think of as big events. These events can lead a character to act differently in ways that are consequential. RL 3.2, 3.5

Third Grade January: Unit 3 Series Book Clubs

Part 3: (Continued) Comparing and Contrasting Different Characters and Themes from Different Series

Literal/Craft Analyzing Today I want to teach you that when readers read they want to experience their books in a way that goes beyond just what is happening. One way to intensify the way we read books is by taking in the deepest most intense part of the story. We can do this by looking for and holding onto the motifs or reoccurring elements that hold specific importance in the story. Model for students how to find the most important reoccurring motifs or elements that hold a strong importance throughout the book. RL 3.2, 3.5

Procedural Self-Reflection Setting New Goals Today I want to remind you that we can look back on the jotted notes we make as we read and research our thinking, asking, What sort of thinking do I tend to do as I read? We can use the answers to help us construct a sense of ourselves as readers. Once we know what kind of a reader we are we can give ourselves new goals. Students can brainstorm new reading goals based on their analysis of their own thinking/reading behaviors. Remind students that once we set goals for ourselves, we keep those goals in mind while reading. Remind students to push themselves to meet their new goals and put them into action! RL 3.1, 3.11

Third Grade January: Unit 3 Series Book Clubs