Grade 4 Tall Tales Lesson
REPRODUCIBLE
Grade 4 Tall Tales Lesson Instructional Strategies, Procedures, and Objectives
Elementary Lesson
Tier 1
The following occurs at Tier 1.
Students choose a tall tale about a folk hero from a selection of books: Paul Bunyan and Babe, the Blue Ox by Jan Gleiter and Kathleen Thompson; Hoop Snakes, Hide Behinds, and Side-Hill Winders: Tall Tales From the Adirondacks by Joseph Bruchac; A Picture Book of Davy Crockett by David Adler; or Pecos Bill Rides a Tornado by Wyatt Blassingame. • Oral expression: Students act out the tall tales in class presentations. • Listening comprehension: Students respond to questions after an oral read of David Adler’s book A Picture Book of Davy Crockett. • Fluency: Students time themselves to see how many words per minute they read. Students graph the number of words they read each Friday for ten weeks to see improvements. • Vocabulary: Students create jokes with vocabulary from their selected tall tales. • Reading comprehension: Students fill in graphic organizers that identify the setting, plot, exaggeration, and solution of the tall tale. • Written expression: Students cooperatively design a five-paragraph tall tale with the following elements— • Character with superhuman powers • Hero who uses ordinary language • Hero who solves a problem with an unusual solution (for example, funny, outrageous) • Fictional story with realistic details (for example, exaggeration with sensory elements that describe a real place or event)
Tier 2
Students listen to digital versions of the tall tales instead of reading requirements. These students receive three fifty-minute periods each week of small-group reading and writing instruction.
Tier 3
One student with weak reading skills receives multisensory reading instruction to increase fluency. He or she also requires assistance with written expression to organize and produce a written product. Since the student has dyslexia and dysgraphia, he or she is allowed to record his or her thoughts to replace handwritten requirements and is offered increased digital instruction as he or she reads along to recorded text.
Anticipatory Set
Students listen to the animated tale Paul Bunyan in “Flapjack Frenzy” (Animated Tall Tales, n.d.; www.animatedtalltales.com).
Assessments
The teacher gives students a rubric that they refer to as they read and write the tall tales (performance-based assessment with a meaningful and authentic task of writing their own tale).
page 1 of 3 Navigating the Core Curriculum © 2017 Solution Tree Press • SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/RTI to download this free reproducible.
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Resources
The teacher uses the following to access these websites for preparation and lesson instruction (activate text to speech on all websites). • Mexican Folklore: Mexican Fairytales (American Folklore, 2014): http://bit.ly/2fIVbLU • Social Studies: Biographies—Johnny Appleseed (BrainPOP Jr., n.d.): http://bit.ly/2p4rbeT • Creative Writing: Tall Tales—Paul Bunyan (KidZone, n.d.): www.kidzone.ws/creative-writing/tall-tales
Collaboration
Students edit each other’s tall tales and then bind each group’s tall tale into a class collection that the teacher can donate to school or community libraries.
Scaffolding: Multitiered Modifications or Accommodations (for diverse levels and skill sets)
Students complete lesson skill requirements independently (full participation)
□□ With accommodations
□□ With modifications
□□ Within a parallel or related assignmen, or task
Additional comments or supports regarding accommodations, modifications, and proficiency levels (include enrichment and remediation): Monitor the progress of the student in Tier 3’s oral reading fluency. Learners “stretch the truth” based on current events articles
Additional Resources
Use the following professional resources to support the lesson. • Once Upon a Time: Lessons for Teaching About Fables, Fairytales, Folktales, Legends, Myths, Tall Tales (Education World, n.d.): http://bit.ly/2o14NRG • Teaching Folklore (Nast, 2014): www.nea.org/tools/lessons/55635.htm • Reciprocal Reading (Reading Rockets, n.d.): http://bit.ly/1DXHpaP
References American Folklore. (2014). Mexican folklore: Mexican fairytales. Accessed at http://americanfolklore.net /folklore/2010/07/mexican_fairytales.html on July 11, 2016. Animated Tall Tales. (n.d.). Paul Bunyan in “Flapjack Frenzy.” Accessed at www.animatedtalltales.com on April 11, 2017. page 2 of 3 Navigating the Core Curriculum © 2017 Solution Tree Press • SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/RTI to download this free reproducible.
REPRODUCIBLE
BrainPOP Jr. (n.d.). Social studies: Biographies—Johnny Appleseed. Accessed at http://jr.brainpop.com /socialstudies/biographies/johnnyappleseed/preview.weml on July 12, 2016. Education World. (n.d.). Once upon a time: Lessons for teaching about fables, fairytales, folktales, legends, myths, tall tales. Accessed at www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson279.shtml on October 12, 2016. KidZone (n.d.). Creative writing: Tall tales—Paul Bunyan. Accessed at www.kidzone.ws/creative-writing /tall-tales on April 11, 2017. Nast, P. (2014). Teaching folklore. Accessed at www.nea.org/tools/lessons/55635.htm on November 8, 2016. Reading Rockets. (n.d.). Reciprocal teaching. Accessed at www.readingrockets.org/strategies/reciprocal _teaching on July 12, 2016.
page 3 of 3 Navigating the Core Curriculum © 2017 Solution Tree Press • SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/RTI to download this free reproducible.
Grade 4 Tall Tales Lesson Instructional Strategies, Procedures, and Objectives
Elementary Lesson
Tier 1
The following occurs at Tier 1.
Students choose a tall tale about a folk hero from a selection of books: Paul Bunyan and Babe, the Blue Ox by Jan Gleiter and Kathleen Thompson; Hoop Snakes, Hide Behinds, and Side-Hill Winders: Tall Tales From the Adirondacks by Joseph Bruchac; A Picture Book of Davy Crockett by David Adler; or Pecos Bill Rides a Tornado by Wyatt Blassingame. • Oral expression: Students act out the tall tales in class presentations. • Listening comprehension: Students respond to questions after an oral read of David Adler’s book A Picture Book of Davy Crockett. • Fluency: Students time themselves to see how many words per minute they read. Students graph the number of words they read each Friday for ten weeks to see improvements. • Vocabulary: Students create jokes with vocabulary from their selected tall tales. • Reading comprehension: Students fill in graphic organizers that identify the setting, plot, exaggeration, and solution of the tall tale. • Written expression: Students cooperatively design a five-paragraph tall tale with the following elements— • Character with superhuman powers • Hero who uses ordinary language • Hero who solves a problem with an unusual solution (for example, funny, outrageous) • Fictional story with realistic details (for example, exaggeration with sensory elements that describe a real place or event)
Tier 2
Students listen to digital versions of the tall tales instead of reading requirements. These students receive three fifty-minute periods each week of small-group reading and writing instruction.
Tier 3
One student with weak reading skills receives multisensory reading instruction to increase fluency. He or she also requires assistance with written expression to organize and produce a written product. Since the student has dyslexia and dysgraphia, he or she is allowed to record his or her thoughts to replace handwritten requirements and is offered increased digital instruction as he or she reads along to recorded text.
Anticipatory Set
Students listen to the animated tale Paul Bunyan in “Flapjack Frenzy” (Animated Tall Tales, n.d.; www.animatedtalltales.com).
Assessments
The teacher gives students a rubric that they refer to as they read and write the tall tales (performance-based assessment with a meaningful and authentic task of writing their own tale).
page 1 of 3 Navigating the Core Curriculum © 2017 Solution Tree Press • SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/RTI to download this free reproducible.
REPRODUCIBLE
Resources
The teacher uses the following to access these websites for preparation and lesson instruction (activate text to speech on all websites). • Mexican Folklore: Mexican Fairytales (American Folklore, 2014): http://bit.ly/2fIVbLU • Social Studies: Biographies—Johnny Appleseed (BrainPOP Jr., n.d.): http://bit.ly/2p4rbeT • Creative Writing: Tall Tales—Paul Bunyan (KidZone, n.d.): www.kidzone.ws/creative-writing/tall-tales
Collaboration
Students edit each other’s tall tales and then bind each group’s tall tale into a class collection that the teacher can donate to school or community libraries.
Scaffolding: Multitiered Modifications or Accommodations (for diverse levels and skill sets)
Students complete lesson skill requirements independently (full participation)
□□ With accommodations
□□ With modifications
□□ Within a parallel or related assignmen, or task
Additional comments or supports regarding accommodations, modifications, and proficiency levels (include enrichment and remediation): Monitor the progress of the student in Tier 3’s oral reading fluency. Learners “stretch the truth” based on current events articles
Additional Resources
Use the following professional resources to support the lesson. • Once Upon a Time: Lessons for Teaching About Fables, Fairytales, Folktales, Legends, Myths, Tall Tales (Education World, n.d.): http://bit.ly/2o14NRG • Teaching Folklore (Nast, 2014): www.nea.org/tools/lessons/55635.htm • Reciprocal Reading (Reading Rockets, n.d.): http://bit.ly/1DXHpaP
References American Folklore. (2014). Mexican folklore: Mexican fairytales. Accessed at http://americanfolklore.net /folklore/2010/07/mexican_fairytales.html on July 11, 2016. Animated Tall Tales. (n.d.). Paul Bunyan in “Flapjack Frenzy.” Accessed at www.animatedtalltales.com on April 11, 2017. page 2 of 3 Navigating the Core Curriculum © 2017 Solution Tree Press • SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/RTI to download this free reproducible.
REPRODUCIBLE
BrainPOP Jr. (n.d.). Social studies: Biographies—Johnny Appleseed. Accessed at http://jr.brainpop.com /socialstudies/biographies/johnnyappleseed/preview.weml on July 12, 2016. Education World. (n.d.). Once upon a time: Lessons for teaching about fables, fairytales, folktales, legends, myths, tall tales. Accessed at www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson279.shtml on October 12, 2016. KidZone (n.d.). Creative writing: Tall tales—Paul Bunyan. Accessed at www.kidzone.ws/creative-writing /tall-tales on April 11, 2017. Nast, P. (2014). Teaching folklore. Accessed at www.nea.org/tools/lessons/55635.htm on November 8, 2016. Reading Rockets. (n.d.). Reciprocal teaching. Accessed at www.readingrockets.org/strategies/reciprocal _teaching on July 12, 2016.
page 3 of 3 Navigating the Core Curriculum © 2017 Solution Tree Press • SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/RTI to download this free reproducible.
