A. Reading for Gist: The Great Kapok Tree (10 minutes)

• Display the cover of The Great Kapok Tree so all students can see. Explain that over the next several lessons, students will use this text to begin to build expertise about narrative texts.
• Explain that today they will read this text for the gist and to analyze the language the author uses to describe the characters, setting, and events.
• Read the book aloud for students without stopping.
• Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What is the text about?"(Responses may vary, but could include that it is a story about a man's dream while sleeping under a tree in the rainforest.)

• Post and review the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart.
• Tell students that this text is challenging and may have unfamiliar words. Reassure them that just like when they read other texts this year, they are not expected to understand it fully the first time. Remind them that one key to being a strong reader of difficult text is being willing to struggle.
• Distribute and display Finding the Gist and Unfamiliar Vocabulary: The Great Kapok Tree. Tell students that they can draw or write in the Gist column. These are just notes to help them remember what each excerpt is mostly about.
• Display page 2 of The Great Kapok Tree. Invite students to follow along, reading silently in their heads as you read pages 2-4 aloud.
• Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What is the gist of this part of the text? What is it mostly about?" (It's about a man who starts to chop down a tree in the rainforest.)

• Use both new "Provide reasoning and evidence" (Goal 3 Conversation Cues) to encourage students to provide reasoning and evidence for their ideas as they talk about "The Great Kapok Tree" and other texts and topics:

"Why do you think that?"

"What, in the text, makes you think so?

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

"Why is it useful to provide reasoning and evidence?" (Providing reasoning and evidence helps us go beyond what we think we know and explain and substantiate our thoughts.)

• Tell students that these two new cues will be added to the Discussion Norms anchor chart today. Focus student attention on the Discussion Norms anchor chart and add the "Provide reasoning and evidence" cues. See the Discussion Norms anchor chart (example, for teacher reference). Ensure students understand how to use these cues.
• Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"Are there any words whose meaning you are not sure about? What are they?" (Responses will vary.)

"Choose a word you are unsure about the meaning of. Which strategy would be most effective in determining the meaning of that word?" (Responses will vary.)

• Repeat this process as you read the remainder of the text, including the note from the author explaining why she wrote the book at the end. Add any new words to the academic and domain-specific word walls.
• Focus students on the Working to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart and remind them specifically of "I use my strengths to help others and the environment" and "applying learning and putting it to good use in the school and community."
• Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"How does this text make you feel? Why?" (Responses will vary but may include: happy that the man walked out of the rainforest without cutting down the tree; sad for the wildlife that is lost when rainforest trees are cut down.)

"Think about your work in Unit 1. How might you use your strengths and apply your learning to help others and the environment? What might you do in your home, school, and community?" (Responses will vary but may include recycling and not using products that came from the rainforest.)

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

"How does your family talk about dreams and what they mean? Do you have any examples to share?" (Responses will vary.)

C. Guided Practice: Explaining Quotes from a Literary Text (20 minutes)

• Remind students that writers use figurative language to help the reader understand something new about the topic, but because the meaning is not literal the reader must consider the context of the language and infer the meaning the author is trying to convey.
• Display and distribute the Explaining Quotes: Figurative Language note-catcher and tell students that this note-catcher will help them interpret the meaning of quotes from the texts they have been reading. Select a volunteer to read the headings of each column aloud, clarifying as necessary. Point out that the organizer can be used with quotes that both do and do not have figurative language, and that today they will use it to interpret quotes that include similes, metaphors, and idioms.
• Display and distribute the Explaining Quotes handout and point out that this handout uses the same structure as the note-catcher: the four columns are Context, Quote, "What does this help us understand?" and Source.
• Tell students they will use their note-catcher in the next lesson to write a paragraph about what they have read and will use it again later in the unit to write an essay about what they have read. Tell students that when explaining quotes, they must always give context, or explain what is happening in the text when the quote occurs. Then they will give the quote, or the exact words the author uses recorded in quotation marks, and then they will explain what the quote helps them understand or how it relates to the thesis of their writing. Finally, they must always include the source, or where the quote came from.
• Read aloud the first quote from the list of mystery quotes from Opening A:
• "It is a powerful tree. Those who sleep there must be strong of heart. Anyone without a strong heart might use the knowledge of the forest against our people."

• Remind students that the phrase "strong of heart" is an idiom. Model rereading page 23 from The Great Kapok Tree and using the Explaining Quotes handout to interpret this quote and complete the first row of the note-catcher. Refer to the Explaining Quotes: Figurative Language note-catcher (answers, for teacher reference) as necessary.
• Select a volunteer to read the next mystery quote aloud:
• "Senhor, when you awake, please look upon us all with new eyes."

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

"What type of figurative language is used in this quote?" (idiom: "look upon us all with new eyes.")

• Invite students to work with an elbow partner to use the Explaining Quotes handout to interpret this quote, recording their thinking on the next row of the Explaining Quotes: Figurative Language note-catcher. Invite pairs to share out with the group.
• To acknowledge diversity and foster inclusion, say:

"Place your finger on the word Senhor. What language is this word? Do other languages use a cognate, or similar word? What is the translation into English? Why does the boy use this word instead of saying something informal like Man or Dude?" (Portuguese; Senor in Spanish; Sir or Mr.; Senhor is respectful.)

• Continue with the remaining mystery quotes as time allows.
• Explain that students will have a chance to practice interpreting figurative language and explaining quotes from literary texts throughout the rest of the unit.
• Refocus students on the two learning targets and invite them to show ether a red, yellow or green marker for how close they feel they are to meeting each target now, with red being a long way from meeting the target and green being fully meeting the standard. Scan student responses and make a note of students who may need more support with this moving forward.
• Repeat, inviting students to self-assess against how well they used their strengths and applied their learning in this lesson.