Determining Story Elements and Central Message: “The Bear and the Bee” | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA G2:M4:U1:L1

Determining Story Elements and Central Message: “The Bear and the Bee”

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.
  • SL.2.2: Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
  • L.2.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 2 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.:
  • 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 recount "The Bear and the Bee" using the story elements. (RL.2.1, SL.2.2)
  • I can determine the central message of "The Bear and the Bee" based on how the characters respond to the problem/challenge. (RL.2.2)

Ongoing Assessment

  • During Work Time A, circulate as students work on the Poster Sort to determine their comprehension of story elements in "The Bear and the Bee." (RI.2.1, RI.2.5, RI.2.7, W.2.7)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engaging the Learner: "The Bear and the Bee" (10 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Sort: Story Elements and Central Message in "The Bear and the Bee" (25 minutes)

B. Language Dive: Central Message of "The Bear and the Bee" (20 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Introducing the Unit 1 Guiding Question (5 minutes)

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

  • In this first lesson of Module 4, students continue their study of pollinators from Module 3 through discovering them in a new genre: folktales and fables. This study of narrative fiction develops their ability to recount stories--which builds upon their ability to retell skills from Grade 1--and lays the foundation for summarizing in subsequent grades. Emphasize the importance of including only key details, meaning the most important elements and events of a story, when recounting. In Work Time B, students analyze the central message of a fable as it relates to the key details and characters in the story. This scaffolds their work in Grades 4 and 5 when they identify the themes and determine how poets reflect on topics. (R.L.2.1, RL.2.2, RL.2.3)
  • At the end of the lesson, students are introduced to the Unit 1 Guiding Question: "What does it mean to make the world a better place?" This question provides a unit-long lens through which to interpret character responses and central messages of fables and folktales. The Guiding Question also serves as a fulcrum for Unit 2, during which students research ways to help pollinators in danger.
  • In Work Time B, students participate in a Language Dive that guides them through the meaning of a sentence from "The Bear and the Bee." The focus of this Language Dive is on using prefixes to determine the meaning of a new word (L.2.4b). Students then apply their understanding of the meaning and structure of this sentence to determine the central message of different texts throughout the unit and during the Unit 1 Assessment.
  • To engage students' home cultures with academic content, consider inviting students to ask family members about any folktales or fables about pollinators they know. Provide opportunities throughout the unit for students to share about folktales or fables from their home cultures.

How this lesson builds on previous work:

  • Recall that in Module 3, students built deep knowledge about plants and pollinators through the Next Generation Science Standards. In this module, students apply this knowledge in order to make a meaningful contribution to their community. In Unit 1 in particular, students explore how, in works of fiction, pollinators are portrayed as making the world a better place.
  • In Modules 1 and 2, students explored the concepts of key details and central message; their understanding of story elements continues to evolve in this module.
  • Continue to use Conversation Cues to promote productive and equitable conversation.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

  • In Work Time A, some students may need additional support with rereading "The Bear and the Bee." Consider working closely with a group of students who may need additional support and sorting key details as a shared task. Alternatively, consider grouping students with varying levels of language proficiency. The students with greater language proficiency can serve as models in their partnership, initiating discussion and providing implicit sentence frames.

Down the road:

  • Lesson 2 begins the first cycle of reading, fluency practice, and role-play in this unit, when students will work to understand the key details and central message in the folktale The Little Hummingbird.

In Advance

  • Strategically group students into groups of four, so there is a balance of proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking and listening across students in each group.
  • Review the Questions We Can Ask during a Language Dive anchor chart as needed (begun in Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 8).
  • Preview the Language Dive Guide and consider how to invite conversation among students to address the language goals suggested under each sentence strip chunk (see supporting materials). Select from the language goals provided to best meet your students' needs.
  • Prepare Story Elements and Central Message Sorting Strips: "The Bear and the Bee" by cutting one set for each group of four.
  • Post: Learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

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

  • Continue to use the technology tools recommended throughout Modules 1-3 to create anchor charts to share with families; to record students as they participate in discussions and protocols to review with students later and to share with families; and for students to listen to and annotate text, record ideas on note-catchers, and word-process writing.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided by in part by CA ELD Standards 2.I.A.1 and 2.I.B.6

Important points in the lesson itself

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs with the opportunity to participate in a Language Dive conversation that analyzes the central message of the story "The Bear and The Bee." Students can apply the structure and content of the sentence as they discuss central messages in fables and folktales throughout the unit.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to comprehend the concept of a central message. When discussing and defining the central message, consider rephrasing to support comprehension (examples: the lesson the story; what we learned at the end) and provide students opportunities to explain it in their own words. Assess students' understanding of the central message during the Language Dive, which unpacks a key sentence from "The Bear and the Bee." If some students continue to have trouble, remind them that they will be discussing the central message throughout the unit.

Levels of support

For lighter support

  • During Work Time A, assign group roles to ensure equitable participation (e.g., reader, facilitator, timekeeper).

For heavier support

  • During Work Time A, consider working closely with a group of students and sorting story elements as a shared task.

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): In this lesson, students listen to a read-aloud of "The Bear and the Bee." Some students may need support in incorporating the most valuable information from the text into existing knowledge. Recall that providing explicit cues or prompts supports students in attending to the features that matter most as they follow along. Before reading the text, activate background knowledge by previewing the questions you will ask.
  • Multiple Means of Action and Expression (MMAE): Recall that some students may need support in setting appropriate goals for their effort and the level of difficulty expected. Continue to offer scaffolds for students learning to set appropriate personal goals for each activity.
  • Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Continue supporting students in linking the information presented in the text back to the learning target. Invite students to make this connection by explicitly highlighting the utility and relevance of the text to the learning target. Continue to include opportunities to refocus students' attention on the learning target throughout the lesson, and invite students to share how each learning activity is supporting their instructional goal.

Vocabulary

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

new:

  • fable, folktale, recount (L)

review:

  • fiction, key details, main character, setting, problem/challenge, response, central message (L)

Materials

  • "The Bear and the Bee" (new; teacher-created; one per group and one to display)
  • "The Bear and the Bee" (for teacher reference)
  • The Little Hummingbird (one to display)
  • The Lizard and the Sun (one to display)
  • Story Elements and Central Message Class Notes: "The Bear and the Bee" (new; co-created with students during Work Time A; see supporting materials)
  • Story Elements and Central Message Class Notes: "The Bear and the Bee" (example, for teacher reference)
  • Story Elements and Central Message Sorting Strips: "The Bear and the Bee" (one set per group and one set to display)
  • Story Elements and Central Message Group Notes: "The Bear and the Bee" (one per group)
  • Story Elements and Central Message Group Notes: "The Bear and the Bee" (example, for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive Guide: "The Bear and the Bee" (for teacher reference)
    • Questions We Can Ask during a Language Dive anchor chart (begun in Module 3)
    • Chunk Chart: "The Bear and the Bee" (for teacher reference)
    • Sentence Strip Chunks: "The Bear and the Bee" (one to display)
  • Unit 1 Guiding Question anchor chart (new; teacher-created; see supporting materials)
  • Unit 1 Guiding Question anchor chart (example, for teacher reference)

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.

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Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Engaging the Learner: "The Bear and the Bee" (10 minutes)

  • Gather students whole group.
  • With excitement, share with students that they are beginning a new module today. Yet, unlike other times they've started a module--when they started a brand-new topic (e.g., schools and then paleontologists)--this time they will keep exploring the same topic in new ways, continuing with the same main topic: pollinators! For the next few weeks, they will continue their study of pollinators in some different ways.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What have you learned about pollinators?" (Responses will vary, but may include: They are small animals that move pollen around to different flowers.)

"How do pollinators help us?" (They help us get the fruits, flowers, and vegetables we enjoy.)

  • Tell students that unlike in the last module, when they read a lot of informational text about pollinators, in this unit they will read fiction about pollinators.
  • Review the definition for fiction (a book with characters, a setting, and a story with a beginning, middle, and end).
  • Display "The Bear and the Bee." Refer to "The Bear and the Bee" (for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Invite students to listen carefully as you read this story aloud to answer this question:
    • "How does the little pollinator make a big difference?"
  • While still displaying the text, read aloud the story.
  • Turn and Talk:

"What happened in the story?" (The bear let the bee live, and the bee saved the bear by scaring away the hunter.)

"How did the little pollinator make a big difference?" (The bee saved the bear.)

Conversation Cue: "Do you agree or disagree with what your classmate said? Why? I'll give you time to think." (Responses will vary.)

  • Tell students that the story they read is called a fable.
  • Define fable (a short tale that teaches a lesson).
  • Tell students there is another kind of story that is similar, called a folktale.
  • Define folktale (a story that has been told again and again for generations among the people that live close to one another).
  • Tell students that many authors, throughout the ages, have recognized how pollinators can help make the world a better place, so there are many different stories about helpful pollinators. In this unit, students will read just a few examples of these fables and folktales about helpful pollinators.
  • Display The Little Hummingbird and The Lizard and the Sun to preview some of the folktales and fables students will read.
  • For students who may need additional support with auditory processing: Provide options for perception by displaying the focus question visually on chart paper or the board. (MMR)

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Sort: Story Elements and Central Message in "The Bear and the Bee" (25 minutes)

  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the first one aloud:
    • "I can recount 'The Bear and the Bee' using the story elements."
  • Review the definition of the prefix re- (again).
  • Define recount (to retell with only the most important details).
  • Tell students that to practice recounting the story, they will do a sorting activity.
  • Display the Story Elements and Central Message Class Notes: "The Bear and the Bee."
  • Tell students that they need to look for key details in order to recount, or tell the important details, in "The Bear and the Bee."
  • Review the definition of key details (the important parts in a text that help us figure out what the author wants us to know).
  • Tell students that the key details in fiction can be found in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Remind students that these are called story elements.
  • Turn and Talk:

"What do you remember about story elements?" (Responses will vary, but may include: There is a problem and a solution. Characters and settings are story elements.)

  • Review the definitions for story elements:
    • main character (the person or animal a story is about)
    • setting (where the story takes place)
    • problem/challenge (something difficult to understand or deal with)
    • response (a feeling or action that immediately follows something else and is caused by it; reaction)
  • Tell students that in groups, they will use this graphic organizer to sort key details and events from "The Bear and the Bee" and place each into the correct story element categories of the class notes.
  • Model and think aloud placing one of the Story Elements and Central Message Sorting Strips: "The Bear and the Bee" on the class notes. Ask:

"Hmm. This one says 'The Bear.' Where on the Story Elements and Central Message Class Notes: 'The Bear and the Bee' should I place it?" (under characters)

  • Refer to Story Elements and Central Message Class Notes: "The Bear and the Bee" (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Tell students they will now have a chance to sort the story elements and central message with a small group.
  • Remind students that they have not discussed the central message yet, but to try to guess what it is as they sort.
  • Tell students that each group will receive their own copy of the story so they can reread it as they complete the activity.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What should you do if you do not remember what happened in the story?" (reread the story)

  • Move students into pre-determined groups of four.
  • Distribute the Story Elements and Central Message Sorting Strips: "The Bear and the Bee," copies of Story Elements and Central Message Group Notes: "The Bear and the Bee," and copies of "The Bear and the Bee" to each group.
  • Circulate to support students as they complete the sort. For sample responses, refer to Story Elements and Central Message Student Notes: "The Bear and the Bee" (example, for teacher reference)
  • After 8-10 minutes, invite students to hang their charts in different areas of the room.
  • Provide 3-5 minutes for students to view one another's work.
  • Gather students whole group.
  • Give students specific, positive feedback on sorting the story elements and central message of "The Bear and the Bee."
  • Refocus students on the Story Elements and Central Message Class Notes: "The Bear and the Bee."
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"Who were the characters, and what was the setting of this story?" (The bear and the little bee; the forest)

  • As students share out, capture correct responses the class notes. Refer to Story Elements and Central Message Class Notes: "The Bear and the Bee" (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Repeat this process for Middle and End quadrants, leaving the Central Message space blank for now.
  • Remind students that when they tell the most important details of a story, they are recounting it.
  • Give students a minute to think about how they would recount "The Bear and the Bee" to a partner, using the class notes.
  • Turn and Talk:

"Take turns recounting the 'The Bear and the Bee.'" (Little Bee woke up Big Bear in the forest. Big Bear was mad but let him go. Little Bee said he would help Big Bear because Big Bear let him go. Big Bear didn't believe Little Bee could help. Then one day, Little Bee scared away a hunter and saved Big Bear.)

  • Circulate to monitor students as they recount with their partner.
  • If there is time, invite a few students to share their recounting. 
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with activating prior knowledge: (Using Familiar Examples) To prepare students to identify elements of "The Bear and the Bee," briefly recount a familiar story to identify the main characters, setting, problem/challenge, and response. (MMR)
  • For students who may need additional support with comprehension: Before sorting in small groups, invite students to read each strip with you, and add quick sketches above key words or phrases to support working memory during the sorting activity. (MMR, MMAE)

B. Language Dive: Central Message of "The Bear and the Bee" (20 minutes)

  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the second one aloud:

"I can determine the central message of 'The Bear and the Bee' based on how the characters respond to the problem/challenge."

  • Turn and Talk:

"Based on 'The Bear and Bee' and our sort, what do you think central message means?" (Responses will vary, but may include: the lesson of the story, the most important idea in the story.)

  • Review the definition of central message (the important thing that [the author] is trying to teach us through this book or story).
  • Share that folktales and fables, like most fiction, have a central message.
  • Refer back to Story Elements and Central Message Class Notes: "The Bear and the Bee."
  • Turn and Talk:

"What was the problem/challenge in this story?" (There was a hunter who wanted to kill the bear.)

  • Tell students they will use the character's response to the problem to figure out the central message of the story. Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"How did the characters respond to the problem/challenge?" (The bee scared away the hunter; the bear thanked the bee.)

"Why did the bee respond that way?" (to help out the bear and save his life)

"What is the author trying to teach us?" (that even little animals can do great things to help)

  • With excitement, tell students that they have just figured out the central message by thinking about the characters' response to the problem: Small things can make a big difference.
  • Record the central message on Story Elements and Central Message Class Notes: "The Bear and the Bee." Continue to refer to Story Elements and Central Message Class Notes: "The Bear and the Bee" (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Tell students that sometimes in fables, the author states the central message.
  • Tell them that the author of "The Bear and the Bee" stated the central message, but it is a tricky sentence, so they will look at it together.
  • Tell students they will now participate in a Language Dive.
  • Focus students' attention on the Questions We Can Ask during a Language Dive anchor chart and remind them that they thought of their own questions to ask during a Language Dive.
  • Think-Pair-Share:

"What is one question you can ask during a Language Dive?" (Responses will vary.)

  • Reread the last three lines of "The Bear and the Bee."
  • Focus on the sentence:

"Although they may seem unimportant, small deeds can make the world a better place."

  • Use the Language Dive Guide: "The Bear and the Bee" and Chunk Chart: "The Bear and the Bee" to guide students through a Language Dive of the sentence. Display the Sentence Strip Chunks: "The Bear and the Bee."
  • For ELLs: (Word Families) Ask students about the word central. Examples:
    • "What word does this sound like that you might know? (center)
    • "When something is at the center, it is the most important. If a message is central, what does that say about it? (It is the most important idea.)
  • For students who may need additional support in organizing ideas for verbal expression: When asking students to identify how the characters respond to the problem in the story, display a visual prompt for each character to support recall (example: "The bear ..." and "The bee ..."). (MMR, MMAE)

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Introducing the Unit 1 Guiding Question (5 minutes)

  • Direct students' attention to the Unit 1 Guiding Question anchor chart and ask:

"What does it mean to make the world a better place?" (Responses will vary, but may include: to help people; to take care of the environment; to be nice to others.)

  • Think-Pair-Share:

"How did the characters in 'The Bear and the Bee' make the world a better place?" (The bear let the bee go; the bee saved the bear from getting shot by the hunter.)

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

  • Tell students that throughout the unit, they will continue to ask this question about how the characters in folktales and fables make the world a better place.
  • Tell students that tomorrow, they will read another story about a pollinator--a hummingbird--who tries to make the world a better place.
  • For students who may need additional support with motivation: Invite students to share one way they have helped to make the world a better place outside the classroom. (MME)

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