I chose this book because it's a favorite of 2nd graders. Many of my kids had read this book or others in the series, so it was motivating. I chose to read it aloud to the kids because of the upper 2nd grade level and because of the length.
I did a similar lesson to this with another book and let the kids make movies on their iPads reading their summaries. That lesson was 'Let's Summarize Literature and Make A Movie.'
Underlined words below are lesson vocabulary words that are emphasized and written on sentence strips for my Reading & Writing word wall. I pull off the words off the wall for each lesson, helping students understand this key 'reading and writing' vocabulary can be generalized across texts and topics. The focus on acquiring and using these words is part of a shift in the Common Core Standards towards building students’ academic vocabulary. My words are color coded ‘pink’ for literature/’blue’ for reading strategies/’orange’ for informational text/'yellow' for writing/’green’ for all other words)
Bring to a common learning point
Review parts of a story
Model and Guide
Students are using story organization to deepen their comprehension. Looking at the text features (RL.2.5) allows them to understand how the beginning introduced the action and ending concludes the action. Retelling the story and summarizing the main events gives students practice in finding main idea and the supporting details. (RL.2.2) The Common Core Standards have a shift to close reading and using evidence to verify answers to questions. Students should be able to read ‘closely and deeply’ by asking questions and finding text-based answers. (RL.2.1)
Describe the task
Make sure students are picking the main problem and solutions and choose the main characters. Ask them questions to model or have them tell you what question they used to fill in the organizer
Assess as they work
Explain the task
Let kids work
Scaffolding and Special Education: This lesson could be scaffolded up or down, depending on student ability. For special education students, you could read the chapter to them as a group or they could work together to read the chapter. I would still challenge them to fill out the organizer, but you may need to write words on the board to prompt them.
For students with more ability, I would challenge them to give more details. Instead of just relaying surface details and using vocabulary from the board, ask them to use some ‘juicy’ words as you check their organizer .