A “Tail” to Tell

Author: Kristie Korth

Grade: 2-4

 

Integrated Disciplines: Language Arts

 

NE Standards: 4.1.3 By the end of the fourth grade, students will identify the basic facts and essential ideas in what they have read or viewed.  4.1.6 By the end of fourth grade, students will identify and apply knowledge of the structure, elements, and meaning of fiction and provide evidence from the test to support their answers.  4.1.8 By the end of the fourth grade, students will identify similar ideas across a variety of narratives and stories.  4.2.1 By the end of the fourth grade, students will identify, describe, and apply knowledge of the structure of the English language and Standard English conventions for sentence structure, usage, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.  4.2.2 By the end of the fourth grade, students will write compositions with a clear focus, logically related ideas, and adequate supporting detail.  4.2.3 By the end of the fourth grade, students will demonstrate improvement in organization, content, word choice (vocabulary), voice, sentence fluency and Standard English conventions after revising and editing their compositions.  4.2.5 By the end of the fourth grade, students will use self-generated questions, note-taking, summarizing, and outlining to enhance learning.  4.3.2 By the end of the fourth grade, students will make oral presentations that demonstrate appropriate consideration of audience, purpose, and information to be conveyed.

 

Objectives: Students will complete the story maps by identifying the main ideas and supporting details of the stories, as well as the plot, character, and setting in the stories.  Students will identify the similarities and differences between the stories.  Students will develop a plan for writing, using a variety of strategies to generate and organize ideas.  They will write well-organized compositions with a beginning, middle, and end.  Students will revise their writing to improve clarity.  Students will use correct capitalization, punctuation, spelling, paragraph indentation, nouns, verbs, and personal pronouns while editing their papers.  Students will record important ideas from their readings onto their story maps, and use that while writing their stories.  Students will give oral presentations using eye contact, proper pace, volume, and clear enunciation.

 

Materials: *Any classic version of The Three Little Pigs, such as the one by James Marshall.  *Fractured versions, such as The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by Jon Scieska and The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, retold by Eugene Trivias.  *Versions from different cultures, such as The Three Little Javelines, by Susan Lowell and The Three Little Hawaiian Pigs and the Magic Shark, by Donivee Martin Laird.  *Blank story map for each student.  *Colored markers or crayons.  *A software writing program (optional).

 

PROCEDURES

Anticipatory Set: Start talking to the students about the story of The Three Little Pigs.  Discuss any other version they have heard.  Discuss other stories that have different versions, such as Peter Pan – many kids have seen the movie, Hook, which is a different version.

 

Vocabulary: There will probably be words that the students do not understand in the versions from different cultures.  Read through these books prior to reading them in class and write down words they might have trouble with.  Explain any other words that they do not know.

 

Activities:

  1. Have the students read different versions of The Three Little Pigs.
  2. Distribute copies of blank story maps.  Work with students if necessary to complete the story maps (including theme, setting, characterization, action/conflicts, and resolution).
  3. Have students use their story maps to write a draft of their stories.  Students may enjoy using software writing programs, such as Creative Writer (Microsoft), The Writing Center (The Learning Company), and The Amazing Writing Machine (Broderbund).
  4. Have the students read their drafts aloud to you or to a writing partner.  Encourage them to ask questions such as, “Is my writing clear?” or “Is there anything I should add?”  Then have students make any necessary revisions and print a final copy of their stories. 
  5. Encourage students to proofread their final copies.  Students who used software writing programs should run a spell-check before printing and then read the final copy once.
  6. Encourage the students to draw illustrations and make a cover for their stories.  The software writing programs mentioned above include clip art that can help with the illustrations.
  7. Have the students read their stories to the rest of the class in a special “Three Little Pigs Hour.”  If a Kindergarten class is available, your students may enjoy reading their stories to the class.

 

Provision for special needs: For students that have trouble drawing conclusions, help them to see the similarities and differences between the different stories.  Help them in their writing process.  Another idea is for students who are having trouble to work in groups or with those individual students who are excelling in the area.

 

Closure: The students will “publish” their stories, and then present them to the class or to another class.  A “parents’ day” could also be arranged, where the students can show off their stories to the parents.

 

Assessment: Students completed the story maps by identifying the main ideas and supporting details of the stories, as well as the plot, character, and setting in the stories.  Students identified the similarities and differences between the stories.  Students developed a plan for writing, using a variety of strategies to generate and organize ideas.  They wrote well-organized compositions with a beginning, middle, and end.  Students revised their writing to improve clarity.  Students used correct capitalization, punctuation, spelling, paragraph indentation, nouns, verbs, and personal pronouns while editing their papers.  Students recorded important ideas from their readings onto their story maps, and used that while writing their stories.  Students gave oral presentations using eye contact, proper pace, volume, and clear enunciation.  The teacher graded the students on the overall process.  She took the reading they did, the story maps, the rough drafts, the final drafts, and the presentation into consideration.  The point is for them to get used to the writing process, not the end product being “perfect.” 

 

References: http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/gen_act/pigs/oink2.html

 

Reflection: