Kings and Queens: Fantasy and Reality

I ask students to get out their book and ask them to use Speed Three to skim over what we had read previously in Chapter Two. I lead a brief discussion on what the chapter was mainly about. I have students practice summarizing pieces that they reviewed while scanning the text. 

I then ask students to tell me what they remember about King Christian the X of Denmark. I am really amazed at how well they do with using character traits to describe him. I ask them to give me evidence about how they know that this trait was a good choice to describe him. 

I hand out a lined piece of paper and have them fold it long ways in half. They can then trace a line down the middle. The titles I give each side are, reality and fantasy. Students will use the iPad and their book to write down facts about kings and queens. 

They will fill in the fantasy side using their book and the story that Annemarie tells her little sister in the book. They can also include their own prior knowledge of fantasy kings and queens. They can use the iPads to research the common themes in fairy tales and how they relate to kings an queens. This iPad research might only be possible for my higher students. Most students will use their book to look for the information about the pretend king. 

To conclude all their research, I want them to take what they have found and write a response. To make sure they understand the expectations, I write and explain what I want in their writing. First, they need to have a good introductory sentences that explains to the reader that their paragraph will about kings and queens. Next they will write about the facts both of fantasy and reality. They will need to include their research in their writing. The last piece is a good conclusion. I model a possible intro and conclusion. I do not write them on the board because many of them will take this to be something they can copy. They need to use their best handwriting, and follow grammar rules.