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Lesson Plans - Why Bluejay Hops

Why Bluejay Hops

Level I Book 6 provides practice in the dimensions of reading

Readability Level: 6.2 Grade Level (number of compound words may cause increase in readability levels)

Title/Synopsis of the Indian Reading Series Story: Why Bluejay Hops Story Summary: This story explains the result of bluejay's vanity. Raven has a bow and arrow and shoots at Skatefish. But Skatefish turns sideways and the arrow goes on by. Bluejay tries to do what Skatefish did, but he can't, so the arrow shoots him in the hip. And that's why Bluejay hops.

Authors: Jeanne Evernden and Willma Petty

Illustrator: Bruce Miller

Grade Level: Elementary

Estimated Instructional Time: (2) 60 minute reading periods

Materials/Resources Needed: Copies of the story, chart with vocabulary terms, audiotapes, phonic charts, handout/chart on think-aloud strategy, question generation chart, retelling chart

Overview of the Lesson: Students engage in learning activities that provide opportunities for them to practice the identified dimensions of reading: vocabulary, fluency, decoding, and comprehension.

Student Objectives:

Students will use story vocabulary in a variety of activities so that they can recognize and understand the terms in other stories and be able to use the vocabulary in daily speech and writing
Students will practice echo reading to develop fluency
Students will identify and use affixes to understand word meaning and structure
Students will learn and use the think-aloud strategy to monitor their understanding of the text
Students will foster understanding of the text through question generation
Students will demonstrate comprehension by writing a summary of the story
Students will show comprehension by retelling the story

Teacher Background:

Authors:The authors were members of the coast area planning committee. Jeanne Evernden was born and raised on the Skokomish Reservation near the Hood Canal in Washington. She graduated from Irene S. Reed High School in Shelton and attended Haskell Indian School. Ms. Evernden has been involved with the Skokomish Language Project to develop an unabridged Skokomish dictionary. Wilma Petty was also born and raised on the Skokomish Reservation and graduated from the Chemawa Indian School. She has worked as a home-school coordinator for Head Start and as a teacher's aide at Hood Canal School. She has also been involved with the Skokomish Language Project.

Illustrator: Bruce Miller, a Skokomish Indian, has held art exhibitions in Europe, South America, and throughout the United States. He was nominated for the Indian Arts Commission Board for the Washington State Arts Commission, won the Washington Bicentennial Playwright Award for his play, Changer, and completed a screenplay, The Lord of the House of the Maimed. Mr. Miller has been the director of the Skokomish Tribal Learning Center, served as coordinator for the Skokomish Title IV Program and was a Human Relations Specialist and Counselor for Seattle Public Schools. He has attended the Institute of American Indian Arts, California College of Arts and Crafts, and the University of California at Berkeley.

Tribal Information: For information about the Skokomish Tribe, visit http://www.skokomish.org/frame.htm

Level I Teacher's Manual identifies a number of different activities that can be used before, during, and after reading the story. Pages 47-61 in the Teacher's Manual describe several warm-up or pre-reading activities that can lead students to engage in the reading lesson.

Instructional Plan - Learning Activities

Session #1A

Teacher Read Aloud and Student Dramatization

Have a chart with the important vocabulary on display while the story is read.
Read Why Bluejay Hops aloud to students, periodically examining illustrations, asking for connections, and predictions.
Work with students to create a dramatization of the story with students taking turns as different characters. What would you say if you played one of these characters in a play?
On a chart, list some ideas that students generate in the discussion so that when they do the dramatization there are cues available if the students need them.
Have student groups take turns acting out the story.
Have students write in their journals what they liked, and did not like, what they learned, and some questions they want to discuss next time.

Session #1B

Word Study - Option 1 - Vocabulary

Preview the story for important, useful words. Select activities to provide for multiple exposures to challenging vocabulary. Suggested terms: boasted, prepared, challenge, marksmanship, forth, vanity.

Engage students in activities that will lead to a thorough understanding of the terms in the story. Suggestions on pages 105-108 Level I Teacher's Manual). Example: Have students choose one of the vocabulary terms that is interesting to them and create a word card.

Word Cards:

On an index card (4 X 6 or 5 X 7) students write the vocabulary term in the center.
In the upper left corner, they can write a synonym/antonym/part of speech
In the top right corner, a definition in their own words
In the bottom right corner, a sentence that conveys the meaning
In the bottom left corner, a picture depicting the word meaning
Post the word cards on a word wall or place in a word box

Word Study - Option 2 - Phonics

(Activities may be used at any point in the lesson depending upon student need.) Select activities to reinforce systematic instruction students have received in specific phonic skills using a comprehensive reading program. The following suggestions are provided as possible examples that could be used to provide additional practice for students.

Sight & High Frequency Word Review: Read the story and select words students will use in the story. Organize practice activities that will maximize students' opportunities to practice the words.

Compound Words: (e.g. Bluejay, Skatefish, someone, everyone, sideways, forgot)

Digraphs: sh,, th, ch, wh, thr, gh (e.g. shot, whiz, laugh, forth, three, chances)

Blends: bl, sk, pl, spr, st (e.g. skatefish, spread, stepped, bluejay, planned)

Syllable Types: open, closed, vowel-consonant-e, vowel-r, vowel pair, and final stable syllable. Several words in the story can provide practice:

Open: he, ra/ven
Closed: and, hip, shot, him
Consonant-e: made, gave
Vowel-r: world, forth
Vowel Pair: three, about

Suffixes: s, ed( /t/, /d/, /ed/), ing

Suffix - Meaning

s - more than once (e.g.chances)
ed - past-tense words (e.g. turned. missed)
ing - verb form/present participle (e.g. shooting, meeting)

Prefix - Meaning

Pre - before (prepared)

Session #2 A

Comprehension: (Activities may be used at any point in the lesson depending upon student need.)

Select activities which provide both explicit and indirect comprehension strategies instruction which support student's ability to use a multiple strategies when they are reading.

Think aloud strategy: (Teach students to think out loud when they are having trouble understanding what they are reading) Example questions

Does this make Sense?
Is this a narrative or expository text?
This isn't making sense. What can I do to fix it?
Do I know what all the words mean?
Can I picture in my mind what is happening?
Think and connect what I read to what I already know

Identify and discuss the story structure:

Understanding story structure helps the reader ask and answer appropriate questions

Narrative Text: Tell Stories

Stories follow a familiar story structure: setting, character, problem, plot resolution.

Expository Text: Explain facts; provide information that helps with content comprehension

Questioning Strategies: Answering and generating questions strengthens comprehension

Questioning Strategies: Answering and generating questions strengthens comprehension Recall Questions ask the reader to remember a specific item of text. e.g., Who are the three characters in the story?

Interpretive Questions ask the reader to find more complex information that is located in several places in the text. e.g., How did Skatefish and Bluejay tease the Raven?

Evaluative Questions ask the reader to answer a question by thinking about what they have read and providing an answer based on their own experiences and/or opinion. e. g., Why do you think Raven thought he was the best shot in the world?

Summarizing: Provides opportunities for the reader to tell or write about the main or most important ideas of the story.

Story Retelling: Refer to pages 49-60, 75 in the Teacher's Manual for teaching suggestions.

Session #2 B

Fluency: (Activities may be used at any point in the lesson depending upon student need.)

Select a variety of strategies to provide students with several opportunities to build and strengthen their reading fluency

Teacher reads the story as students follow along. Teacher calls attention to dialogue and changes in her prosody.
Teacher and students read the story together.
Teacher tapes the story. Students follow along with the story as they listen to the story.
Teacher reads a phrase or sentence in the story as students follow along. Students echo the teacher's reading.
Students read orally with a partner, taking turns reading phrases, sentences, paragraphs, etc. Refer to page 104 in the Teacher's Manual for teaching suggestions.

Extensions:

Writing Down-Comprehension
Refer to page 86 in the Teacher's Manual.
Writing Down: New roles and Story Endings
Refer to page 89 in the Teacher's Manual
Writing Down-Add On
Refer to page 87 in the Teacher's Manual.
Imagine Yourself
Refer to page 88 in the Teacher's Manual
Making Songs
Refer to page 91 in the Teacher's Manual

Student Assessment/Reflection: Retelling, word cards, journal entry, summary, follow up stories.

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