Close Read-aloud, Session 2: Stone Girl, Bone Girl, Pages 1–4 | EL Education Curriculum

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Close Read-aloud, Session 2: Stone Girl, Bone Girl, Pages 1–4

In this Lesson

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

  • RL.2.1: Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
  • RL.2.2: Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
  • RL.2.5: Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
  • RL.2.7: Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
  • W.2.8: Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
  • SL.2.2: Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
  • L.2.4b: Determine the meaning of the new word formed when a known prefix is added to a known word (e.g., happy/unhappy, tell/retell).
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can answer questions about important events from the book Stone Girl, Bone Girl. (RL.2.1, RL.2.7, W.2.8)
  • I can retell the beginning of Stone Girl, Bone Girl using important details about events and characters. (SL.2.2, RL.2.2, RL.2.5)

Ongoing Assessment

  • During Work Time A and the Closing, use the Reading Literature Checklist (RL.2.1, RL.2.2, RL.2.3, RL.2.5, RL.2.7, SL.2.2) to track students' progress toward these standards (see Assessment Overview and Resources).
  • During Work Time A, use the Speaking and Listening Checklist to track students' progress.

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engaging the Learner: Curiosities Museum (15 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Close Read-aloud, Session 2: Stone Girl, Bone Girl, Pages 1-4 (30 minutes)

B. Speaking and Listening: Retelling the Beginning (10 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Exit Ticket: Selected Response #1 (5 minutes)

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

  • Students begin to create their "Curiosity Museum," a collection of fossils and captions about them. This activity is meant to build engagement in the topic and deepen student exposure to fossils. Consider inviting students to bring in pictures or artifacts related to fossils to store in the museum (see the In Advance section for preparation).
  • This is the second of six lessons in a series of close read-alouds of the text Stone Girl, Bone Girl. In this lesson, students read the first two pages closely to understand the characters and setting. Students participate in several vocabulary exercises to understand the imagery created by the text. (RL.2.1, RL.2.2, RL.2.5, RL.2.7)
  • During the close read, students participate in a Language Dive conversation that guides them through the meaning of a sentence from Stone Girl, Bone Girl. The conversation invites students to unpack complex syntax--or "academic phrases"--as a necessary component of building both literacy and habits of mind. The sentence is compelling because it uses the quantifier few to signal one challenge in the main character's life. Students then apply their understanding of the structure and meaning of this sentence when retelling the first section of the book, in preparation for the Unit 1 Assessment. Invite students to discuss each chunk briefly, but slow down to focus on the highlighted structure had few friends.
  • Students are introduced to retelling in Work Time B, when they practice retelling the first section of the book to build mastery toward RL.2.2, RL.2.5, and SL.2.2. Because the speaking and listening standard is so closely linked to these reading standards, it has been included on the checklist for assessing students in this unit. Students continue to practice retelling in preparation for the Unit 1 Assessment.

How this lesson builds on previous work:

  • Students refer back to the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (begun in Module 1) to prepare for their work participating in the Stone Girl, Bone Girl close read-aloud.
  • After hearing the book read aloud in Lesson 2, students return to the first section of Stone Girl, Bone Girl to engage in a close read-aloud and expand their understanding of the characters and setting.
  • Students continue to practice answering selected response questions by referring to the anchor chart of strategies introduced in Lesson 2.
  • Continue to use Goal 1 and 2 Conversation Cues to promote productive and equitable conversation.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

  • In the Opening, students see a new picture of a fossil. Many students may feel curious and excited and may want to ask questions. Assure them that there will be more time to talk about the fossil later and consider providing other times in the day when students may be able to talk with you.
  • In Work Time B, students may feel unsure about doing a retell. Give them the opportunity to try a retell with support from a partner to feel more comfortable.
  • In the Closing, students independently answer a selected response question. Before the answer is revealed, assure them that incorrect answers are okay because making mistakes is part of learning something new and they will have time to practice over the next several lessons.

Down the road:

  • Students will continue to retell parts of the story as a class and as partners. This serves as a time to collect initial data on SL.2.2. Additionally, the oral retelling is a scaffold for students before they independently write about the beginning, middle, and end of a story for their Unit 1 Assessment.
  • On the Unit 1 Assessment, students will answer selected response questions about a new story. Support them in the process of answering an SRQ so they are able to apply their skills to a new story.

In Advance

  • Preview the Close Read-aloud Guide: Stone Girl, Bone Girl to familiarize yourself with what will be required of students. Note that the Close Read-aloud Guide is divided into sessions. Complete only Session 2 in this lesson, as students will complete the remaining sessions in Lessons 4-7.
  • Create story picture #1 by making an 81/2-by-11-inch copy of the picture on page 1 of Stone Girl, Bone Girl. Frances Lincoln, publisher of Stone Girl, Bone Girl, has granted permission to make facsimiles of pages or use brief quotes, in context, for classroom use. No adaptation or changes in the text or illustration may be made without the approval of Frances Lincoln. The following credit must be used: From Stone Girl, Bone Girl by Laurence Anholt, illustrated by Sheila Moxley. Copyright (c) 1999 Laurence Anholt and Sheila Moxley.
  • Prepare the sentence strip chunks for use during the close read (see supporting materials).
  • Create a "Language Chunk Wall"--an area in the classroom where students can display and categorize the academic phrases discussed in the Language Dive. During the Language Dive, students are invited to place the Language Dive sentence strip chunks on the Language Chunk Wall into corresponding categories, such as "Nouns and noun phrases" or "Linking language." Students can then refer to this wall after the Language Dive and during subsequent lessons. For this lesson, the categories "Nouns and noun phrases," "Language to talk about quantity," and "Language to make references" are suggested; create alternative or additional categories according to student needs.
  • Prepare space for the "Curiosity Museum" by dedicating a board or wall space to fit eight printed pictures of fossils. Each fossil will also include an index card or sentence strip with a caption. Consider adding other fossil-related pictures and facts to the museum throughout the day. If students are invited to contribute photos and artifacts as well, think about placing a table under or by the wall to place small objects.
  • Post: Learning targets, "Learning Target" poem, and applicable anchor charts (see materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

Consider using an interactive white board or document camera to display lesson materials.

  • Opening: Create the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart in an online format--for example, a Google Doc--for display and for families to access at home to reinforce these skills.
  • Work Time B: Record several pairs of students as they retell the narrative using story picture #1 to listen to later as models for the group. Most devices (cellphones, tablets, laptop computers) come equipped with free video and audio recording apps or software.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 2.I.B.5, 2.B.I.6, 2.I.B.7, 2.B.I.8, and 2.I.C.10

Important points in the lesson itself

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs with continual opportunities for oral language development.
  • ELLs may find retelling challenging, specifically retelling a text that is new to them. Because this is the first time retelling is introduced, consider starting with a story students are familiar with and modeling a "just right" retell of this story. (See "Levels of support" below for more detail.) Have students practice with a partner to repeat this retell, getting a feel for what is "just right," before moving on to retell Stone Girl, Bone Girl.

Levels of support

For lighter support:

  • Encourage students to expand their sentences as they describe the photograph in the Curiosities Museum and as they retell Stone Girl, Bone Girl. Challenge them to use multiple adjectives, as well as various transitional and linking words to do this (examples: first, then, next).

For heavier support:

  • Use physical movement to teach retelling with a familiar story before inviting students to retell the beginning of Stone Girl, Bone Girl. Consider creating three laminated dots to represent the beginning, middle, and end of a story. Place them on the floor next to one another and model stepping to the left as you say the sequence words first, next, and last. Model this physical movement while retelling a story familiar to students, counting each detail on your fingers and stepping to the left after three or four details are added. 

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): In Work Time B, students recall important details from the text for retelling with a partner. Provide support for information-processing strategies by offering a copy of the text as they recall details and develop their retelling of the story. This scaffold supports students as they transform information into usable knowledge for the task.
  • Multiple Means of Action & Expression (MMAE): In Opening A, students review the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart as they prepare for a close read-aloud of Stone Girl, Bone Girl. Provide support for planning and working memory for students as they execute the steps from the chart. (Example: Provide sequential steps for this process that guide students in meeting the goal of identifying key details.)
  • Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): In Work Time A, students listen to a close read-aloud of pages 1-4 in Stone Girl, Bone Girl. Support their engagement with the text by encouraging students to make connections in defining unfamiliar vocabulary as it is encountered. Ask them to offer a word that shares the same meaning to help scaffold new vocabulary introduced in the text.

Vocabulary

Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L): Text-Specific Vocabulary (T): Vocabulary Used in Writing (W)

New:

  • ordinary, extraordinary, adored (T)
  • retell (L)

Materials

  • Fossil photo #1 (one to display)
  • Curiosities Museum (new; teacher-created; see Teaching Notes)
  • Fossil photo #1 caption (new; co-created with students during the Opening)
  • Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
  • "Learning Target" poem (from Module 1; one to display)
  • Close Read-aloud Guide: Stone Girl, Bone Girl (Session 2; for teacher reference)
    • Stone Girl, Bone Girl (one to display; for teacher read-aloud)
    • Reading Literature Checklist (RL.2.1, RL.2.2, RL.2.3, RL.2.5, RL.2.7) (for teacher reference, see Assessment Overview and Resources)
    • Sentence strip chunks I: Stone Girl Bone Girl (one to display, see supporting materials)
  • Story picture #1 (one to display)
  • Speaking and Listening Checklist (for teacher reference; see Assessment Overview and Resources)
  • Strategies to Answer Selected Response Questions anchor chart (begun in Lesson 2)
  • Exit Ticket: Selected Response #1 (one per student)

Materials from Previous Lessons

New Materials

Assessment

Each unit in the K-2 Language Arts Curriculum has one standards-based assessment built in. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize their understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Engaging the Learner: Curiosities Museum (15 minutes)

  • Invite students to the whole group area.
  • Share with students that they will begin to collect curiosities as a class, just like Mary Anning!
  • Display fossil photo #1.
  • Share that this is a curiosity you have found and would like to display in the Curiosities Museum. Explain that the Curiosities Museum will hold pictures of interesting fossils and will remain on display throughout the unit.
  • Invite students to look closely at the photograph without talking for 30 seconds.
  • Invite students to Think-Pair-Share with an elbow partner:

"What do you notice about this photograph?" (It looks like a face/skull.)

  • Invite a few students to share out. Encourage them to use the vocabulary to describe the color, shape, and size of what they see.
  • Share the name and description of the fossil. Say: "This is the jaw and skull of a pocket mouse that lived 23 million years ago. It is very similar to the type of pocket mouse living today. Paleontologists can tell that the mouse's ears used to be very big."
  • Display the fossil photo #1 caption. Invite students to help complete the caption for fossil photo # 1 using a sentence frame:
    • "This is a _____. Paleontologists learned _____."
  • After filling in the frame, invite a volunteer to help post fossil photo # 1 and the caption on the board or wall space titled "Our Curiosities Museum."
  • Share that, as the class collects more curiosities, the museum will grow larger!
  • Tell students they will continue to learn about the discovery of fossils as they closely read Stone Girl, Bone Girl.
  • Display the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart.
  • Remind students that they can practice many things together to become great close readers.
  • Invite a few volunteers to read out some bullets from the chart that they can practice together as a class.
  • Invite students to Think-Pair-Share, leaving adequate think time before asking students to share with an elbow partner:

"What will you practice to become a better close reader?"

  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the first one aloud:
    • "I can answer questions about important events from the book Stone Girl, Bone Girl."
  • Say:

"Our learning target tells us that one thing we will practice today is answering questions. We will use key details to help answer those questions."

  • Invite students to take out their imaginary bow and take aim at the target as you recite the "Learning Target" poem.
  • Invite students to Think-Pair-Share with an elbow partner:

"Where will you look or listen for key details?" (in the photographs, in the text, in the dialogue)

  • Encourage students to take a quick stretch break before transitioning to the close read-aloud.
  • To support students' expressive skills during the Think-Pair-Share, provide scaffolds for describing the photograph. Example: Offer sentence frames (orally or visually on index cards) to support vocabulary use:
    • "I notice the color is _____."
    • "I notice the shape is _____."
    • "I notice the size is _____." (MMAE)
  • For ELLs: Invite students to use adjectives from the Adjectives Construction board as they describe the photograph, focusing on adjective/noun order. Encourage students to expand their sentences by adding more than one adjective. Provide sentence frames in the middle of the board to support this. Example:
    • "The (noun) is (adjective) and (adjective)."
    • "I notice a (adjective), (adjective) (noun)."

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A.  Close Read-aloud, Session 2: Stone Girl, Bone Girl, Pages 1-4 (30 minutes)

  • Guide students through the close read-aloud for Stone Girl, Bone Girl using the Close Read-aloud Guide: Stone Girl, Bone Girl (Session 2; for teacher reference). Consider using the Reading Literature Checklist during the close read-aloud (see Assessment Overview and Resources).
  • To support students' comprehension of "slipping" and "tumbling" during the close read-aloud, invite them to show these actions with their hands or bodies. (MMR, MMAE)
  • To prepare students for the close read-aloud, provide options for physical action and sensory input by differentiating seating (e.g., sitting on a gym ball, a move-and-sit cushion, or a chair with a resistive elastic band wrapped around the legs). (MMAE)
  • For ELLs: Buy or ask for large paint chips from a local hardware or paint store, or print them online. Write the words extraordinary, special, and unusual, each one on a different shade of the paint chip. Place them on the wall and discuss the shades of meaning in relation to what happened to Mary Anning in the beginning of the story. Include them on the Adjectives Construction board as well, along with melting.

B. Speaking and Listening: Retelling the Beginning (10 minutes)

  • Draw students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the second one aloud:
    • "I can retell the beginning of Stone Girl, Bone Girl using important details about events and characters."
  • Invite students to stand as they read the target aloud together. After reading, have them take their seats again.
  • Underline the word retell.
  • Explain to students that they will be practicing retelling.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What familiar word do you hear in retell?" (tell)

  • Say:

"The little part in front of the word, re-, is a prefix because it sits in front of another full word (tell). The prefix re- means again."

  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"So what does retell mean?" (to tell again)

  • Tell students that when you retell, you tell the story again using just the important details about the characters and events. Sometimes retelling helps us remember what happened in the text, and sometimes it makes other people want to read the book!
  • Tell students that good retelling takes practice and perseverance because it can be tricky. Some retellings can be too long.
  • Display story picture #1.
    • Model an example of a retelling that is too long. Say: "First there was a little girl. She was such a cute little baby, and she was being held by her nurses. There were three nurses, and they sang her songs like 'Mary Had a Little Lamb,; and they were taking her for a nice, long walk in the town. Some of the nurses were singing high, and some of them were singing low. They probably didn't hear the thunderstorm."
  • Explain that the example you just gave was not a good example of a retelling because you included many details that were not important.
  • Invite students to turn and talk with an elbow partner:

"What details were not important in the long retelling?" (Mary was cute, what song they sang, they took her for a walk, how they were singing)

  • Tell students that retellings can also be too short.
  • Model an example of a retelling that is too short. Say: "Mary Anning was a baby. She had a dad and a mom, and she lived by water."
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"After hearing this second example, would you consider it a good example of a retelling? Why or why not?" (No because it did not include important details about the characters and events.)

  • Tell students that a good retelling tells the most important parts of the story.
  • Invite students to stand in their spot and take turns retelling the beginning of Stone Girl, Bone Girl with a partner. Circulate to support them as they retell. Consider using the Speaking and Listening Checklist to monitor student progress. If necessary, prompt students to think through important details that were missed or unimportant details and to try again.
  • As time permits, use a total participation technique to invite responses from the group:

"What helped you give a good retelling?" (using the pictures, thinking about what is really important, picturing the book in my head)

  • If productive, cue students to expand the conversation by giving an example and to listen carefully and seek to understand:

"Can you give an example?" (Responses will vary.)

"Who can tell us what your classmate said in your own words?" (Responses will vary.)
  • As students retell the beginning of the story, support cognitive strategies by providing scaffolds to support information processing. Example: Offer index cards with prompts for students to organize the important details of the story:
    • "This story is about _____."
    • "This story takes place in _____."
    • "One fact about Mary is _____."
    • "One thing that happened so far is _____." (MMR)
  • For ELLs: Pair students with a partner who has more advanced or native language proficiency. The partner with greater language proficiency can serve as a model in the pair, initiating the retell, and providing implicit sentence frames. Additionally, consider inviting students to use their home language, allowing them to focus on the new skill of retelling without the additional language demand of English.
  • As students retell the most important parts of the story, strategically pair students with a peer model who can support their engagement by modeling retelling the story. (MME)

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Exit Ticket: Selected Response #1 (5 minutes)

  • Display the Strategies to Answer Selected Response Questions anchor chart.
  • Remind students that after they read the question carefully, they can try one of the strategies to help them answer the selected response questions.
  • Encourage students to show perseverance if this seems challenging and to ask for help if they need it.
  • Distribute the Exit Ticket: Selected Response #1.
  • Read the question aloud and give students 1 minute to choose an answer. Coach those who are stuck through strategies on how to answer the question by reading from the anchor chart.
  • After 1 minute, tell students that you will announce the answer. They can give themselves a happy face for correct responses or change their response if it was incorrect.
  • Announce the answer: "C: Mary was hit by lightning."
  • Using a total participation technique, ask:

"What helped you answer this selected response question? What was tough about answering this question?" (Responses will vary.)

  • If productive, cue students to expand the conversation by giving an example and to listen carefully and seek to understand:

"Can you give an example?" (Responses will vary.)

"Who can tell us what your classmate said in your own words?" (Responses will vary.)

  • Give students specific, positive feedback on showing perseverance while learning how to answer a selected response question. (Example: "If a question was challenging, you didn't give up and kept trying.")
  • To foster collaboration and communication as students complete the exit ticket, provide prompts that guide them in knowing when and how to ask classmates or teachers for help. (Example: "Sometimes you might forget what a word says. That's okay! If you are still stuck after trying to sound it out, remember that you can ask a classmate or raise your hand for help.") (MME)
  • For ELLs: Encourage students to rephrase each selected response question--and answer it--before they read the answer choices, as practiced in Lesson 2.

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