The document provides guidance for students on reading and writing workshops. It discusses identifying themes when reading stories and resolving conflicts when writing stories. It encourages students to use vivid details like adjectives and verbs when revising stories. It also suggests paying attention to story elements like characters, setting, and conflicts to construct understanding at the beginning of stories.

1. Miss Catherine’s Class
January 26-29

2. ReadingWorkshop
• Before we begin…
…make sure that you have your red notebooks
on your desks.

3. Great Readers…
• …recognize that stories address particular themes.
• As readers of fiction, we pay attention to what is happening in
each story and to how the story fits into larger themes in
literature.
• A theme is a dominant idea that the author wants to share.
• There are many themes in literature, and many texts address
the same themes.
• Part of our thinking as readers is to uncover themes and
determine what this particular text is saying about that theme.

4. Great
Readers…
• When identifying a
theme, we often express
this idea in a single word,
such as friendship,
family, equality or
discrimination
• Let’s take a look at some
common themes in
literature…

5. Great Readers…
• Today, we are going to read a
beautiful realistic fiction
story called The Can Man by
Laura E.Williams
• Yet while this story is
fictional, it does address
issues and themes common
not only in literature but also
in the real world.

6. Great Readers…
• As we read, let’s identify
possible themes and
consider what this story
has to say about those
themes.
• Begin a new page in
your reading notebooks
for this story…

7. Great Readers…
• Read through “…been down on his luck.”
• How doesTim seem to feel about what has happened to the
Can Man? Does it seem to influence his feelings about him?
– Turn &Talk to your partner and make sure to write down a note in
your notebooks about your thinking.
• Now consider possible themes that are already emerging
and write them down too.
• Continue reading until Jamal agrees to giveTime the cans
he usually saves for the Can Man.

8. Great Readers…
• What do you think aboutTim’s decision to collect
cans?
– Write down your thoughts.
• It seems as thoughTim doesn’t seem to understand
how he might be taking cans and money from
someone who needs them more than he does.
• Continue reading until afterTim andThe Can Man
meet on the rainy walk…

9. Great Readers…
• What are you thinking at this point?
– Write down your thoughts.
• Read through the next page…
• What do you think about the Can Man’s
reaction toTim collecting cans?
– Turn &Talk to your partners…

10. Great
Readers…
• Write about your
thinking regarding
the end of the story…
• Take a few minutes to
read over your notes and
add to your initial list of
possible themes in this
story.
• Now think and write
about the theme of this
story.

11. Great
Readers…
• Now let’s move into a
conversation to discuss
possible themes of this story
and how The Can Man
addresses theose themes.
• Remember, there is not one
right idea but many right
ideas.
• The challenge is to be able
to use evidence from the
text to defend an idea.

12. Great
Readers…
• Let’s really push ourselves to
refer back to the text and
support our thinking with
evidence from the text. Who
would like to start off our
conversation?
• The idea of theme, and the
author’s message about the
theme, is one we will
continue to explore as
readers in this unit and this
year.

13. 5-Minute Break

14. WritingWorkshop
• Before we begin…
…please make sure that you have your white
binders on your desks!

15. GreatWriters…
• …close their stories by resolving the characters’
conflicts in the end of the story.
• Imagine any of the following examples were
part of the conflicts you chose for your fiction
stories…

16. GreatWriters…
Death of a
Loved
One…
Divorce…
Argument with a
sibling…

17. GreatWriters…
• Let’s begin by imagining an example…
• We discussed a character the other day named Shorty who was a
trumpet player while he lived with the SilentTribe.
• Can anyone suggest how his belief system might help him resolve
his conflict of living in his problematic circumstances?
• Do you think that while he loves playing the trumpet, his belief of
“making noise” may change into “making music” so that his silent
neighbors won’t view him as a noise maker anymore…
• Turn &Talk to your partner to discuss whether this is a good plan.

18. GreatWriters…• Now let’s remember what conflict you decided your character was
having…then imagine how through his/her own personal religion or
belief system, they solved their conflict…how they may have found
spiritual health.
• Turn & Talk to your partners about how you might be able to
resolve your conflicts peacefully but with a great concluding
statement to allow the readers to feel as though all of the questions
they had while reading your story, were answered.
• Let’s imagine that may be a great way to end our stories…a great
way to conclude the conflict our stories have been discussing so far!

19. GreatWriters…
• A great way to end a fiction story is with the resolution of the
conflict your readers have been reading about.
• Your readers have begun to care for the characters who have been
experiencing these conflicts and so they want to see that the
characters resolve their issues in a way that may also teach them a
lesson.
• For this reason, make sure that your concluding sentence restates
the moral lesson of your fiction story…something for your readers
to take away with them.

20. 5-Minute Break

21. WritingWorkshop
• Before we begin…
…please make sure that you have your white
binders on your desks!

22. GreatWriters…
• …revise their stories by returning to their
story maps to make sure they’ve included all
the details.

23. GreatWriters…
• Can we all turn back to
the pre-editing section
of our white binders to
where we have our
Story Maps?

24. GreatWriters…
• Imagine you re-read your story…from beginning to
end…and you realize that you forgot to base your conflict
on the belief system of your main character…as you had
planned to do on your story map!
• What can you do?
• It’s simple…just take a fresh sheet of paper and make sure
that the conflict is written in a way to really show your
readers what it is based on!

25. GreatWriters…
• Imagine your original notes about your character or your
setting did not transfer clearly enough to your first draft.
• What can you?
• Take out a fresh sheet of paper and re-write that section of
your story. Make sure that you are as clear as possible.
• Also, when creating your second draft (your revision),
make sure that you do not lose your first draft.
– I base part of your grade on the improvements I see from one
draft to the next…

26. GreatWriters…
• Let’s also consider typing our papers at this point…if this is
something that would interest you, I can email you a
template document where you can just start typing…I will
create the settings for you…font type, size, spacing,
margins, etc.
– make sure that you save it onto your computer at home!
• This will allow you to sit at your computers at home…save
the attached document from my email and just start typing.
Make sure you print it before coming to schoolWednesday
morning!

27. 5-Minute Break

28. WritingWorkshop
• Before we begin…
…please make sure that you have your white
binders on your desks!

29. GreatWriters…
• …revise their writing by including vibrant verbs and
adjectives.
• Great writers need to help their readers visualize their stories
by including vivid details.
• Let’s read a passage from Gary Paulsen’s novel Hatchet, and
identify which details Paulsen used to create these images...

30. GreatWriters…
“BRIAN ROBESON stared
out the window of the small
plane at the endless green
northern wilderness below. It
was a small plane, a Cessna
406—a bush-plane—and the
engine was so loud, so
roaring and consuming and
loud, that it ruined any
chance for conversation.”

31. GreatWriters…
• Who can tell me what we just
read about?
• Do you think the author used
sufficient adjectives and verbs
to really paint a picture for his
readers about the setting for the
first scene of his book?
• When he wrote about this
setting, how many senses do
you think he used when
describing his first setting?

32. GreatWriters…
"Get in the copilot's seat." Which Brian had done. They had taken off
and that was the last of the conversation. There had been the initial
excitement, of course. He had never flown in a single-engine plane
before and to be sitting in the copilot's seat with all the controls right
there in front of him, all the instruments in his face as the plane clawed
for altitude, jerking and sliding on the wind currents as the pilot took
off, had been interesting and exciting. But in five minutes they had
leveled off at six thousand feet and headed northwest and from then on
the pilot had been silent, staring out the front, and the drone of the
engine had been all that was left. The drone and the sea of green trees
that lay before the plane's nose and flowed to the horizon, spread with
lakes, swamps, and wandering streams and rivers.

33. GreatWriters…
• What else do we know about the setting now?
• Was there a bit of a climax included in this scene?
• Did the author use verbs vibrant enough to keep your
attention throughout?
• Now turn to your own draft and see what vibrant and
exciting verbs you might be able to include when
describing your setting as well as the conflict that occurs.
• Make sure that the adjectives really paint a picture for
your readers!

34. 5-Minute Break

35. ReadingWorkshop
• Before we begin…
…make sure that you have your red notebooks
on your desks.

36. Readers…
• …construct understanding at the beginning of the story by
paying attention to story elements.
• Works of fiction pose particular challenges at the beginning of
the story.
• Readers are faced with a lot of information and need to sort
through and understand that information.
• By identifying what we know and what we are questioning, or
wondering about, we are able to construct our understanding
of the story.

37. Readers…
• As readers of fiction, we use the framework of the
elements of a story to build this understanding.
• Today, we are going to read a short story called “Seeking
a Hidden Hive.”
• As we read, we are going to write into our Red Notebooks
our noticings about the characters, setting and conflict in
the beginning of the story.
• Then we will consider what we still wonder or don’t know
yet.

38. Readers…
• Copy this chart into
your notebooks to
help you…
• Read aloud through
the line…”but I don’t
have enough money.”
• So far I know that
Guyo is a young boy
who really wants to
help his father.
• I wonder exactly what
Guyo wants to help his
father do.

39. Readers…
• I also know that Guyo’s
grandfather has
suggested that he help by
getting honey for his
mother.
• Why does he need honey?
• And why doesn’t he have
enough money to get
honey?
• After marking ?’s on
board, continue reading
through …”he whistled
again.”

40. Readers…
• Now I know that Guyo is
a member of the Borano
Tribe.
• I wonder where this
tribe lives.
• What exactly is this
tribe?

41. Readers…
• I have also learned a
cool new word: fuulido.
• I know that this is a shell
with a hole in it used to
call for Honey Catchers.
• I wonder what a honey
catcher is.
• Will it actually work?
• Will it help Guyo and his
grandfather find honey?

42. Readers…
• Now as I finish the story,
I want you guys to
follow this pattern and
continue to write down
things you know as well
as things you wonder
about.
• Then we can share…

43. Readers…
• When we carefully construct
meaning at the beginning of a
story, we can use every element
of the story and ask questions as
we read.
• Wondering early on in the story
allows us to look for answers and
build a deeper understanding of
our stories, which ultimately
leads to more enjoyment.