Recounting Farfallina & Marcel Day 1 of 2

Context and Overview

Today, I am having my students reread the story of Farfallina & Marcel. Doing a second read of a complex text is a very powerful technique in aiding comprehension. They are rereading to recount the story today. Though we will touch on middle events, our focus is to recount the beginning and ending to get an understanding of the how the beginning of the story sets the stage and how the story concludes the action. This is an approach that is tailored to this specific text because it has a circular ending that mirrors the beginning, which I am hoping the students will pick up on.

As they read, students will use sticky notes to gather details about the beginning and ending. My students will get the chance to share their recounting with each other afterwards. I will also give them a chance to add illustrations to their recounting. I have found that allowing students at this age level to draw helps them remember important details and also serves to motivate them.

Lesson Opening:

After sharing the objective, I ask the students to think about the story. I ask them what are the key details of a literary text. I post them on the easel.

Then, I ask them to think of the key details of Farfallina & Marcel specifically. I give them some important think time and then a few share out loud: Reviewing The Story of Farfallina & Marcel.

My students need much practice with building academic language. This task helps them with that.

I give my students sticky notes to use as they reread.  They are to read the entire story to give them much needed practice with building reading stamina. Also, they need to understand the flow of the story to recount the ending, and so that is why I am having them read the entire story. And, it is important to note, this is story my students can read this text easily now that we have read it once before.

How are they using the sticky notes? I want them write three details that show how the story begins. This student finds a A Beginning Detail. 

Once they are done, they are to identify three details of how the story ends. I am hoping these details on the sticky notes help them with the recounting both orally and in writing. When we write things down, we tend to remember them.

I make sure to review the rules for participation and the process for handing-off before starting the Seminar. I have two charts for my students to reference:

• Chart: Socratic Seminar Rules
• Chart: Handing-Off Discussion Starters

I am attaching a document that gives more details about how I implement Socratic Seminar in my room in case you would like to read more: Socratic Seminar Rules.

The students sit around the edges of the carpet ready for discussion. They have brought their books with them because in their responses they will need to refer back to the book to support their claims.

We are discussing two questions:

• What happened in the beginning?
• What happened in the end?

Here are a couple of clips of our discussion:

• What Happened In The Beginning
• What Happens At The End

I give my students a large white paper. I ask them to fold the paper in eighths. The top four squares are for them to recount the story with words. The bottom four are for them to recount with illustrations.

First, they recount with words. I ask the students to refer back to their sticky notes to begin their recount. Some students will use them, others will not, and that is okay, as long as they are recounting with key details beginning and ending.

I ask them to recount this story with beginning and ending first because the beginning of the story is very similar to the ending. The reason the characters recognize each other at the end after their transformation is because they behave the same way towards each other as they did in the beginning.

Here are some samples of their recounting of the beginning and ending:

• Recounting The Beginning
• Recounting The Beginning 2
• Recounting The Beginning 3
• Recounting The Ending
• Recounting The Ending 1
• Recounting The Ending 2

Now some of the students share their recounting of what happened in the beginning and the ending of the story.

Here are the students sharing:

• Sharing The Beginning & Ending
• Sharing The Beginning & Ending2
• Sharing the Beginning & Ending3

After students share they get feedback. I ask students to use the following structure when proding the feedback to make it safe and fun:

• Two Stars: Two different students share specifically what they like about the content of the writing.
• A Wish: Another student shares specifically how the writing can be improved.