ALEX Classroom Resources

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ELA2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story. [RL.K.3]

[ELA2015] (0) 9 :

9 ) Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. [RL.K.10]

[ELA2015] (0) 23 :

23 ) Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding. [RF.K.4]

[ELA2015] (0) 26 :

26 ) Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened. [W.K.3]

[ELA2015] (0) 29 :

29 ) Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them). [W.K.7]

[ELA2015] (1) 1 :

1 ) Ask and answer questions about key details in a text. [RL.1.1]

a. Make predictions from text clues. (Alabama)

[ELA2015] (1) 3 :

3 ) Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details. [RL.1.3]

[ELA2015] (2) 24 :

24 ) Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. [W.2.3]

[ELA2015] (2) 25 :

25 ) With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing. [W.2.5]

After exploring a variety of circle plot storybooks, students identify, explore, and apply the elements of circle plot structures to their own stories. "Reading like writers," students will explore the ways that stories are structured; then, "writing like writers," students explore organizational structures in their own writing. Students first examine the attributes of circular shapes and brainstorm things with a circular pattern, such as seasons. After exploring how Cynthia Rylant's Long Night Moon might be a circular story, students listen to a circle story read aloud. Students discuss why the story is called a circular story and make connections to Rylant's book. They then read several more examples and, using circle plot diagrams as their tools, students write their own circular plot stories. Finally, students share their work with peers, revise their work using a checklist for self-evaluation, and compare their self-evaluation to teacher assessment.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ELA2015] (1) 2 :

2 ) Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson. [RL.1.2]

[ELA2015] (1) 3 :

3 ) Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details. [RL.1.3]

[ELA2015] (1) 23 :

23 ) Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. [RF.1.4]

a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding. [RF.1.4a]

b. Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. [RF.1.4b]

c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. [RF.1.4c]

[ELA2015] (1) 31 :

31 ) Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about Grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups. [SL.1.1]

a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion). [SL.1.1a]

b. Build on others' talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges. [SL.1.1b]

c. Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion. [SL.1.1c]

[ELA2015] (2) 5 :

5 ) Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action. [RL.2.5]

[ELA2015] (2) 9 :

9 ) By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the Grades 2-3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. [RL.2.10]

Comprehension is an essential component of successful reading. Through modeling and progressive levels of independent work, students become aware of the importance of retelling and essential story elements. Students demonstrate their understanding of stories through the use of online interactive graphic organizers and present story elements of an individual book through a book talk.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ELA2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story. [RL.K.3]

[ELA2015] (1) 3 :

3 ) Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details. [RL.1.3]

[ELA2015] (2) 1 :

1 ) Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. [RL.2.1]

a. Infer the main idea and supporting details in narrative texts. (Alabama)

[ELA2015] (3) 3 :

3 ) Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events. [RL.3.3]

[ELA2015] (4) 3 :

3 ) Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions). [RL.4.3]

[SS2010] LWT (0) 11 :

11 ) Identify symbols, customs, famous individuals, and celebrations representative of our state and nation. (Alabama)

Examples: symbols—United States flag, Alabama flag, bald eagle (Alabama)

customs—pledging allegiance to the United States flag, singing "The Star-Spangled Banner"

individuals—George Washington; Abraham Lincoln; Squanto; Martin Luther King, Jr.

celebrations—Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Veterans Day

[SS2010] LWT2 (2) 2 :

2 ) Identify national historical figures and celebrations that exemplify fundamental democratic values, including equality, justice, and responsibility for the common good.

•  Recognizing our country's founding fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, John Adams, John Hancock, and James Madison

•  Recognizing historical female figures, including Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Harriet Tubman, and Harriet Beecher Stowe

•  Describing the significance of national holidays, including the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.; Presidents' Day; Memorial Day; the Fourth of July; Veterans Day; and Thanksgiving Day

•  Describing the history of American symbols and monuments

Examples: Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, bald eagle, United States flag, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial

[SS2010] ALA (4) 14 :

14 ) Analyze the modern Civil Rights Movement to determine the social, political, and economic impact on Alabama.

•  Recognizing important persons of the modern Civil Rights Movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr.; George C. Wallace; Rosa Parks; Fred Shuttlesworth; John Lewis; Malcolm X; Thurgood Marshall; Hugo Black; and Ralph David Abernathy

•  Describing events of the modern Civil Rights Movement, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, the Freedom Riders bus bombing, and the Selma-to-Montgomery March

•  Explaining benefits of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Brown versus Board of Education Supreme Court case of 1954

•  Using vocabulary associated with the modern Civil Rights Movement, including discrimination, prejudice, segregation, integration, suffrage, and rights

In this learning activity, students learn about the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. A link to National Geographic's Xpeditions Atlas Maps is included. This activity is recommended to be used with Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport.