Supporting a Claim in the Story "Gaston"

Yesterday students made a prediction based on a preview of some words from the story Gaston."  They will use that prior knowledge to help them choose a claim today.  We will first review each of the predictions from yesterday, and I will ask the students to explain to use how they came up with that particular prediction.  I will show the predictions up on my document camera for everyone to see.  

For this next part of the activity students will start in a group of 4.  I have designed the groups strategically for this lesson with a high student, a struggling student, and two typical students.  My reasoning is that this is a difficult activity and a difficult story.  I want each group to have someone to help support them when I can't be there.  Each group member will choose a different claim:  We are checking validity not worrying about our opinions here, so it doesn't matter which claim anyone ends up with.  Here are the potential claims from the story:

Now students will use the white boards to come to consensus about a question based on the evidence they have gathered.  Each group will make a consensus map on their white board.

 The question I'll pose will be:  Which parent should the girl live with and why?  

Each student will take a few minutes to write in his or her work space.  Then, each group will discuss their views, noting anything that they can come to consensus on in the middle circle of the map.  While they discuss, I will run around the room with a pencil and clip board, jotting down snippets that I hear and who says them.   Instead of having groups recap at the end, I will share what I heard as they discussed.  I will place my notes under the document camera and read them aloud to the group.  The purpose of this is to keep the talk and ideas focused on the topic.  Instead of calling on people and not knowing what they will say, I can control the comments that are presented.  

This activity will prepare them for a guided reading lesson tomorrow where the students will investigate exactly when the girl is cared for and when she is not.