This document outlines Miss Catherine's class objectives and activities for the week of February 9-13, 2015. The class will have a daily meeting, use iPads to record explanations for their collage projects, and participate in reading and writing workshops focused on understanding plot structure, identifying themes in fiction stories, and examining themes more deeply. Key activities include using a plot diagram to analyze the structure of "The Can Man", discussing themes like abandonment, family and identity in "Journey", and identifying the conflict and themes in "The Raft".

1. Miss Catherine’s
Class
February 9-13, 2015

2. Today’s Objectives
• Daily Meeting…play a game…bring your
homework!
• I-Pads…Audiobook section of the Collage.
• Reading Workshop…

3. I-Pads
• Open Audiobook app of the i-pad and use it to record
your explanation for your collage.
• Publish it to my Audioboom account.
Pic Collage Audioboom

4. Reading Workshop
Please confirm that you have your Red
Notebooks on your desks.

5. Readers of fiction…
• …need to understand plot structure in order to comprehend the
text.
• Last week we learned about the different types of conflict in
fiction stories.
• Today, we are going to learn about how a story’s plot is built
around conflict and use a plot diagram to understand the
structure of a story.
• Fiction texts typically have a conflict and a resolution as part of
the plot.
• Stories also tend to have smaller problems that build the tension
of the story and lead to the bigger problem or conflict.

6. Readers
of fiction…
• Let’s look at how
the plot can be
represented
visually.
• Who can read for
me each point on
this diagram?
• We will return to
The Can Man,
examine the plot,
and fill in the
diagram to
represent the
structure.

7. Readers
of fiction…
• As we start at
the beginning,
what
information are
we given early
on about the
characters?
• How are the
characters
introduced?
• When do we
notice the
program?

8. Readers
of fiction…
• While there is
usually one
major problem
in fiction stories,
there are often
several other
smaller
problems that
build tension.
• Let’s think
about some of
the smaller
problems.

9. Readers
of fiction…
• We’ve used this
plot diagram to
help us tease
out the plot and
find the arc of
the story—
rising action,
climax, and
falling action.
• Now it is your
turn to give it a
try with
“Seeking a
Hidden Hive.”

10. Readers
of fiction…
• Revisit the story,
“Seeking a Hidden
Hive” to complete
the plot diagram.
• Then we’ll come
back together to
share.
• When you have this
structure in mind, it
helps you have a
better overall
understanding of
the flow of the
story.

11. Readers
of fiction…
• As readers of
fiction we need
to have an
understanding of
the arc of
fiction—
background
information with
a problem, rising
action, a climax,
falling action and
a resolution.
• We will encounter
this structure
again and again in
our lives as
readers.

12. west lay
instruments meet
paragraph raised
whether clothes
teacher held

13. weather root
third months
represent soft
flowers shall
describe drive!

14. 5-Minute Break

15. Reading Workshop
Please confirm that you have your Red
Notebooks on your desks.

16. Readers…
• …uncover the theme of the story to build deeper
understanding of the story and the world.
• Earlier in this unit, we discussed a possible theme for
The Can Man.
• Today, we are going to return to the conversation
about theme and grow our thinking about some of our
other mentor texts and their themes.
• We we discussed, a theme is a larger idea about the
world that a piece of literature addresses.
We name themes with single words, such as friendship,
loneliness and identity.

17. Readers…
• We know that
many texts
share similar
themes.
• Therefore,
once we
name a
theme of a
story, we
then ask
ourselves:
What does
this particular
story saw
about this
theme?

18. Readers…
• Let’s return to
Journey.
• When we
consider the
themes
addressed in a
story, we ask
ourselves some
questions.
• Let’s use these
questions to
guide us in
examining the
themes we
notice in
Journey.

19. Readers…
• The 1st question I
ask is: What is
the conflict?
• The central
conflict seems to
be that Journey
is struggling with
the fact that his
mother left him
(and his sister,
too).
• The conflict
really is one
within himself, or
person vs. self.

20. Readers…
• I then ask the
2nd question:
What themes
do the
conflicts
reveal?
• I can see a few
possible
themes in this
text:
adandonment,
family and
indentity.

21. Readers…
• I think this
because the
conflict stems
from Journey’s
abandonment
and how this
abandonment
impacts his
identify and his
family.
• The next
question is:
What does the
text say about
these themes?

22. Readers…
• The character’s
name, Journey
and the title of the
text symbolize the
journey that he
goes through in
the story to find
out what it means
to be in a family,
discover individual
identity within
that family, and
deal with being
abandoned by his
mother.

23. Readers…
• I think the text
really says that
part of our
identity, or who
we are, comes
from the
experiences we go
through with our
families.
• Now you and your
partner are going
to have an
opportunity to do
the same work
with uncovering
theme.

24. Readers…
• Let’s examine the
themes in The
Raft.
• With your
partners, discuss
The Raft and fill in
the next row on
our chart for this
text.
• Discuss and jot
down the conflict
of the text, the
themes the
conflict reveals,
and what the text
says about those
themes.

25. Readers…
• Identifying the
theme is only one
layer to thinking
about theme.
• When we push
ourselves to
uncover themes
and then dig
deeper to uncover
what those
themes mean
within the context
of the text and the
world, we
enhance our
understanding of
the theme and the
text itself.

27. 5-Minute Break

28. Writing Workshop
Before we begin, please make sure that you
have your white binders on your desks.