Mentor Text Selection:
Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin, Pictures by Harry Bliss
Writing Skill: Students will practice journal writing. They will study this mentor text to write three additional diary entries for Fly and begin their own journals. Students will learn that they can use mentor texts to develop their own writing pieces.
Connection to Six Traits: The text will provide an example that displays all six traits of journal writing that students will be able to apply to their own writing.
Mentor Text Summary:
Diary of a Fly is a book about the life of a fly. It is written in the fly’s point of view. The entire book is written in journal format. Although it is a diary, it contains factual information about flies. For example, Fly writes that she learned that flies beat their wings 200 times per second.
Purpose for Mentor Text Selection: This book is fun, creative, humorous, and appealing to children. This book was written in journal format and will serve as a perfect example for students. It is an inspiration for students to find out more information about flies and to write their own journals.
Lesson Plan:
***Please note it is important that students are exposed to the book first for enjoyment before being asked to study the text. The teacher must find an opportunity prior to the lesson to read the book to students so that they can enjoy it. Then it can be used as a reread for students to examine how the author wrote the journal entries.- The lesson will begin with a discussion of journal writing. The students will share what their ideas of diaries and journals are and any experiences they have had with journals. This will let the teacher know which students have some background knowledge of journal writing and which students have not heard of a journal.
- Next, the teacher will explain the idea of using an author’s work to help collect ideas for writing. Also, the teacher will explain to students that they will be examining Diary of a Fly to see what a journal looks like. The teacher will explain that students will then be researching facts about flies and writing three more journal entries for Fly. In addition, students will write their first entry in their own journals for the class. Explaining this will help students know why they are studying this mentor text.
- The teacher will read the story to the students. (As noted above this should be a reread of the story). At the end of the story, the students will brainstorm features of journal writing that they noticed in the text. For example, students will see that there is a date written for each entry. The teacher will record their ideas on chart paper.
- The assignment will be explained to students. Students will create three more diary entries for Fly. At least one fact about flies should be mentioned in each entry. Students will also provide an illustration for each entry. Then students will write their first entry in their own journals about whatever they want to write about themselves.
- To research facts about flies, the students will be provided with various nonfiction texts to look through. In addition, the teacher will give the students some website links to research flies on the internet. (Some possible websites are listed below)
- Students will write their journal entries for Fly and will write their first journal entry in their own journal. After completing the writing process for their journal writings, the diary entries for Fly will be compiled into a class Diary of a Fly book. The students will then share with the class the entries that they wrote for Fly.
Possible Lesson Extensions:
-Students can read Diary of a Worm or Diary of a Spider and write entries to add to their diaries.
-Students can research an insect or animal and create their own diary for the creature they researched.
Second Grade Ohio Academic Content Standards and Benchmarks for Writing:
Writing Processes Standard
Benchmarks:
A. Generate ideas for written compositions.
C. Use organizers to clarify ideas for writing assignments.
Indicators:
1. Generate writing ideas through discussion with others.
4. Use organizational strategies (e.g., brainstorming, lists, webs and Venn diagrams) to plan writing.
Writing Applications Standard
Benchmark:
A. Compose writings that convey a clear message and include well-chosen details.
Indicator:
4. Produce informal writings (e.g., messages, journals, notes and poems) for various purposes.
Research Standard
Benchmark:
A. Gather information from a variety of resources.
B. Retell important details and findings.
Indicator:
3. Acquire information, with teacher assistance, from multiple sources (e.g., books, magazines, videotapes, web sites).
6. Report important findings to others.
Links to Additional Information:
No comments:
Post a Comment