17 minute read
Lesson 4
FOCUSING QUESTION: LESSONS 1–7
What are myths, and why do people create them?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
Lesson 4
TEXTS
Understanding Greek Myths, Natalie Hyde Gifts from the Gods: Ancient Words & Wisdom from Greek & Roman Mythology,
Lise Lunge-Larsen
Lesson 4: At a Glance
AGENDA Welcome (5 min.)
Read a Myth
Launch (10 min.) Learn (50 min.)
Analyze Text (20 min.)
Gather and Elaborate on Evidence (30 min.)
Land (8 min.)
Answer the Content Framing Question
Wrap (2 min.)
Assign Homework
Style and Conventions Deep Dive: Examine: Frequently Confused Words (15 min.) STANDARDS ADDRESSED
The full text of ELA Standards can be found in the Module Overview.
Reading
RL.4.1, RL.4.2, RL.4.4, RF.4.4
Writing
W.4.8
Speaking and Listening
SL.4.1
Language
L.4.1.g
MATERIALS
Student copies of Understanding
Greek Myths
Student copies of Gifts from the
Gods
Handout 4A: Myth Analyzer
Handout 3B: Evidence Organizer
Handout 2C: Fluency Homework
Chart paper
Handout 4B: Frequently Confused
Words
Learning Goals
Collaboratively summarize a Greek myth including its theme and how it is referenced in modern society. (RL.4.1, RL.4.2, RL.4.4)
Collaboratively create a graphic organizer to summarize the myth of Victory including its theme and modern-day reference.
Locate the strongest text evidence to support a focus, then explain the significance of the evidence to support points in explanatory writing. (W.4.8)
Complete the evidence and elaboration columns in an evidence organizer to respond to the FQT.
Use context to clarify and choose the correctly spelled homophone. (L.4.1.g)
Complete Handout 4B to demonstrate understanding of homophones.
Prepare
FOCUSING QUESTION: Lessons 1–7
What are myths, and why do people create them?
CONTENT FRAMING QUESTION: Lesson 4
Reveal: What does a deeper exploration of myths reveal about the beliefs of the ancient Greeks?
CRAFT QUESTION: Lesson 4
Execute: How do I choose and explain the strongest evidence when writing an explanatory paragraph about Greek myths?
In this lesson, students build on their understanding of myths by reading the myth of “Victory” in Gifts from the Gods and creating a graphic organizer that highlights different elements of the myth, as well as how it connects to present day. Then, students work on finding and explaining evidence in the module texts to help prepare them for the first focusing question task.
Welcome 5 MIN.
READ A NEW MYTH
Display the following directions for students to follow upon entering the room:
With a partner, read the myth of “Victory” in the book, Gifts from the Gods: Ancient Words and Wisdom from Greek and Roman Mythology. It starts on page 79.
Launch 10 MIN.
Post the content framing question for the lesson.
Explain to students that today they will investigate the mystery of “Victory” to discover why it was created by the Greeks.
Have students create a Read/Think/Wonder chart in their Response Journals and add details to it based on the reading of the “Victory” myth in the Welcome activity.
Use Equity Sticks to call on students to share ideas they recorded in their journals.
Read
Tiny goddess traveled with
Minerva, goddess of war and wisdom. Had wings and could fly. Listened to each side talk about why they were fighting. Helped the side that was more just.
Think
Victoria cared about fighting for the right cause. She was small but was still powerful.
Wonder
How did Victoria learn about justice? How did she learn right from wrong? How did she guide the horses and spears? What other gods and goddesses helped in battle?
Congratulate students on thinking like a detective by creating good questions to drive their investigation into the mystery of the myth of “Victory.”
Ask: “Based on what you read, what do you think victory means?”
It means winning something. Maybe it means defeating your enemy or the person you are competing against.
Learn 50 MIN.
ANALYZE TEXT 20 MIN.
Whole Group
Explain to students that they will read the myth of “Victory” again in small groups and look for evidence to answer the guiding questions. Remind students that they are trying to identify the mystery that this myth explains.
Distribute Handout 4A: Myth Analyzer and read the directions aloud to the class.
Have students work in small groups for ten minutes to complete the handout.
Scaffold
Work with a small group of students who need more guidance. Ask each question on the chart and guide students through a discussion of the answer before they write down their responses.
Call the whole group back together and review students’ answers to the guiding questions. See the answer key in Appendix C.
Students add the word victory to their Vocabulary Journals:
G4 M4 Handout 4A • WIT & WISDOM™
Name:
Date:
Handout 4A: Myth Analyzer
Directions: Reread the myth about Victoria in Gifts from the Gods. Record bulleted notes to answer each guiding question.
What is happening? What mystery does this myth solve?
What are the themes? Where do we see aspects of this myth today?
Copyright © 2017 Great Minds®
Word
victory (n.)
Meaning Synonym
Success in a game or war. triumph, win
Ask: “Is this myth a creation myth or morality myth? How do you know?” Use a Think-Pair-Share format to have students answer the question.
This is a morality myth because it explains how people should behave. If people were fighting for a good, just cause, they would be rewarded with help from Victoria to win the battle. Fighting for justice will be rewarded.
Ask: “Imagine you work for the Nike Shoe Company. How would you explain to a customer where the company got its name using evidence from this myth?” Provide a minute of think time, then have pairs present their explanations to each other.
Victoria was the Roman goddess who helped people win battles if they were fighting for justice and a good cause. Victoria’s name in the Greek culture was Nike. We named our company after the Greek goddess, Nike, because her name is associated with winning. Customers who wear our shoes will win in any competition!
Have students put aside Handout 4A to use again in the Land activity.
GATHER AND ELABORATE ON EVIDENCE 30 MIN.
Pairs
Explain to students they are moving on to the craft section of the lesson. Now that they have read and solved the mysteries of a few myths, they are ready to find evidence to answer the focusing question: What are myths, and why do people create them?
Have students take out Handout 3B: Evidence Organizer from their writing folders. Review the four contexts that students wrote in the previous lesson. Have the class read each entry in a choral reading.
Include gods and goddesses. Include heroes and monsters. Creation myths tell how the world came to be. Morality myths taught people how to behave.
Copyright © 2017 Great Minds ® Handout 3B: Evidence Organizer
Directions: Choose the strongest evidence to support your focus statement. Write brief notes in the boxes. Follow the prompts at the top of the chart. Remember to only write notes that support your focus statement.
Prompt: For an audience who might be interested in learning more about myths and why people created them, write a well-developed paragraph in which you explain what a myth is and why the Greeks created them. Develop your ideas with evidence and examples from pages 6–23 of Understanding Greek Myths and from the book Gifts from the Gods.
Focus Statement:
Context Evidence
What are the characteristics of myths?
Include gods and goddesses.
List details from the text that support your focus statement. Be sure to use quotations and paraphrasing. Source Elaboration/Explanation
Where did this information come from? List title and page number. Why is this important? What does this help us understand?
Display and read aloud the craft framing question: Execute: How do I choose the strongest evidence when writing an explanatory paragraph about Greek myths?
G4 M4 Handout 3B • WIT & WISDOM ™
Date: Name:
Explain to students that they are ready to find evidence in the texts they have read to answer the focusing question. Students may use both Understanding Greek Myths and Gifts from the Gods to locate the strongest evidence to explain what myths are and why people create them.
Ask: “Think back to the example paragraphs we examined to determine which one included the strongest evidence. What made the second paragraph stronger?” Have students Think-Pair-Share to answer the question.
The second paragraph contained specific, clear details to support the focus statement. The best evidence is detailed and makes the focus easy to understand.
Ask: “How do we decide what the strongest evidence is?”
We need to find evidence that connects to each context. We need to choose the strongest evidence to support our focus statement so our readers understand our answer to the focusing question. We will know it is the strongest evidence when we can elaborate on it with a good explanation.
Next, frame the purpose of the elaboration section of their evidence organizer.
When I am filling out the elaboration section of my evidence organizer, I want to be thinking about what the evidence means, or how it helps me explain my focusing statement.
Ask: “What questions can you ask yourself as you are thinking about how to elaborate on the evidence you have recorded?” Record the questions on a chart for students to refer to as they are completing their evidence organizer.
How does this evidence help me answer the focusing question? Why is this evidence important? What does my reader need to know to understand the connection between the question and my evidence?
Ask: “How does explaining your evidence help prepare you to write a paragraph about it?”
It’s a good way to know if the evidence we are including is good evidence. If it isn’t, we might not have that much to say about it in a paragraph. It helps organize our thinking before we write our paragraph. We can make sure we have the most important evidence.
Have students work in pairs to locate the strongest text evidence and elaborate on it to answer the focusing question. Circulate among the students to answer any clarifying questions students have. Allow students to work for about twenty-five minutes.
A sample student response to Handout 3B can be found in Appendix C.
Land 8 MIN.
ANSWER THE CONTENT FRAMING QUESTION
Return to the content framing question for the lesson and call on a volunteer to read it aloud: What does a deeper exploration of myths reveal about the beliefs of the ancient Greeks?
Have students return to Handout 4A and answer the content framing question at the bottom of the handout in the white space. If more room is needed, students should continue on the back of the handout.
Collect and review Handout 4A for formative assessment.
Wrap 2 MIN.
ASSIGN HOMEWORK
Assign Handout 2C for fluency practice homework. On this third night of fluency homework, students read the passage three to five times focusing on reading with appropriate expression.
Analyze
Context and Alignment
In small groups students complete a graphic organizer to summarize a popular myth (RL.4.2, RL.4.4). Check for the following success criteria:
Recognize elements that make a myth a myth, and provide examples from the “Victory” myth. Explain the lesson or theme in the “Victory” myth. Define the meaning of victory and explain how and why the myth of Victory is still used in modern society.
Next Steps
In the next lesson, small groups are assigned different myths to teach to other students. They use the same graphic organizer format to design a poster that efficiently summarizes their myth. It is important that summaries are accurate, as students may want to use themes from a variety of myths to provide evidence for the Focusing Tasks in this module. The graphic organizer is a built-in scaffolding tool and the teacher note earlier in the lesson is designed to help students before they struggle. However, if students continue to struggle with the comprehension of the myth “Victory” with high teacher support, you might group them together and assign this group the myth “Panic,” as the concepts should already be familiar to students. Before reading and discussing the myth, spend time on vocabulary development of the words panic, mischief, prank, and inspiration. Continue to use the questions on the graphic organizer to develop comprehension.
LESSON 4 DEEP DIVE: STYLE AND CONVENTIONS
Examine: Frequently Confused Words
Time: 15 min.
Text: Understanding Greek Myths, Natalie Hyde Style and Conventions Learning Goal: Use context to clarify and choose the correctly spelled homophone. (L.4.1.g)
STYLE AND CONVENTIONS CRAFT QUESTION: Lesson 4
Examine: Why is it important to choose the correct spelling of a frequently confused word?
Launch
TEACHER NOTE
This lesson examines homophones: words with the same pronunciation, but different meanings, spellings, or origins. In this case, students will be working with words that sound the same, but are spelled differently. Most students are already aware that there are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently.
Post the Style and Conventions Craft Question.
To begin scaffolding from prior knowledge, ask students, “Can you think of any words that sound the same, but are spelled differently?”
Call on student volunteers. Write their answers on the board as they are given. Ask students to try to remember the two (or more) different spellings, but help them if they are having trouble by listening to the definitions they give and then writing the correct spelling for that meaning.
Hear and here. Be and bee. Whole and hole. Sea and see. In and inn. Die and dye. Son and sun. Cent and scent.
Ask students to number from 1 to 4 on a piece of paper. Read the following sentences aloud, emphasizing the italicized words. Have students copy down the emphasized words only.
1 Greek society was made up of two main groups: free men and their families, and slaves. (24) 2 “She sent two snakes to kill him when he was a baby, but the plan failed.” (9) 3 “There were two main types of Greek myths: creation myths and morality myths.” (8) 4 Sometimes slaves were able to buy their freedom with money they may have saved or borrowed. (24)
Have students Think-Pair-Share to compare answers. Then, ask student volunteers to share answers with the class. Write the correct spelling of each word on the board and clarify any student misunderstandings.
1. Two, their 2. Two, to 3. There, two 4. Their
Learn
Display the following anchor chart:
Frequently Confused Words
To, too, and two:
The word to is a preposition, or used as the basic form of a verb. We drove to the mall after school. I’m going to train my dog how to sit.
The word too shows an extreme or to replace also. It was too hot to go to the park. I’m going, too.
The word two is a number. I have two dogs.
Their, there, and they’re:
Their is a pronoun. Their car was left in our parking garage.
There shows a location. There is a dressing room in the front of the store. Go sit over there.
They’re is a contraction meaning they are. They’re going to move to Chicago next month.
Its and It’s:
Its is a pronoun. Its paw was injured from the accident. It’s is a contraction meaning it is. It’s going to rain tonight.
Explain to students that there are some words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and may mean different things. These words are called homophones. When these words are used incorrectly in writing, readers may become confused.
Display the following adapted excerpts from Understanding Greek Myths (incorrect homophones in italics):
“Parts of the animal were burned four the gods, while the rest of the meet was eaten buy the followers inn a big feast as part of the ceremony.” (11) “Offerings were also made two different gods as a way two say thanks four blessings or two ask them four help inn hard times.” (10) “Four ancient Greeks, the world was created buy the gods.” (12) “If Pelops one, he could marry Hippodamia.” (32) “But the not was sew tricky two untie, that it stayed knotted four many generations.” (39) “Achilles dyed inn battle when an arrow pierced his heal, the only spot where he was knot immortal.” (21)
Have students form small groups. Assign each group one of the excerpts and have them work together to fix the sentence. Tell them to read the sentence aloud and discuss which homophone they need to use to replace the incorrect word. Tell them to also discuss why the sentence is confusing as it is written with the wrong word. Remind students that the word will sound the same but will be spelled differently and will have a different meaning.
Have a volunteer from each group come up and write the correct homophone above the incorrect one in their sentence:
“Parts of the animal were burned for the gods, while the rest of the meat was eaten by the followers in a big feast as part of the ceremony.” (11) “Offerings were also made to different gods as a way to say thanks for blessings or to ask them for help in hard times.” (10) “For ancient Greeks, the world was created by the gods.” (12) “If Pelops won, he could marry Hippodamia.” (32) “But the knot was so tricky to untie, that it stayed knotted for many generations.” (39) “Achilles died in battle when an arrow pierced his heel, the only spot where he was not immortal.” (21)
Next, have students briefly discuss why the sentences were confusing when they had the wrong homophone.
The first sentence looks like it’s talking about four animals or four gods if for is spelled incorrectly.
Also, spelling other words incorrectly makes the sentence seem like it’s about meeting gods, buying followers, or having a feast at an inn. In the second sentence, spelling to and for incorrectly makes the sentence all about counting things: just two gods, four blessings. In the third sentence, spelling for incorrectly makes it seem like there were only four ancient Greeks.
Using one instead of won in the fourth sentence makes it about numbers instead of victory. Spelling knot or so wrong in the fifth sentence turns it into nonsense, or makes it seem like it’s talking about sewing something. In the sixth sentence, the story about Achilles takes on an opposite ending: instead of dying, Achilles heals, and gets to work changing the color of something. Even if a word sounds the same when you say it out loud, using the wrong spelling makes writing confusing. Some sentences don’t make any sense at all, and others take on a completely different meaning. If the whole meaning of a sentence is changed, it’s a big problem. If a writer uses the wrong spelling, it makes the writer’s message confusing or even impossible to understand. It distracts the reader.
Land
Distribute Handout 4B and instruct students to reference the chart at the top of the paper as they complete the sentences.
Students complete Handout 4B.
Have students share their answers. Generate a discussion as time allows about why spelling is important and how misspelling words can be confusing for the reader.
G4 M4 Handout 4B • WIT & WISDOM™
Name:
Date:
Handout 4B: Frequently Confused Words
Directions: Refer to the chart to write in the correct words in the sentences below.
to Indicates a preposition: Go to the store.
two The number 2: Please give me two pennies.
too The word also could replace it: I want to see, too.
OR
An excess of: It is taking too much time.
there Location: The water is over there.
their Ownership: Their car broke down.
its A pronoun: The tree lost its leaves.
it’s A contraction meaning it is: It’s cold out today.
1. Please give me new address so I can send a holiday card.
2. There were roosters in the road this morning.
3. If you go to the fair, I would like to go, .
4. We went
5. school at 8:00 in the morning.
is a new secretary in the front offi ce.
6. The moon lit up the night sky with glow.
7. I am glad that almost the weekend.
Copyright © 2017 Great Minds®
