EQWhy is teamwork important in accomplishing a goal?
ELA Week Theme: Community Teamwork

Learning Target:I can identify problems and solutions and cause and effect situations in text. I can recognize and understand idiomatic expressions.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Text Features or LiteraryElements:idiomatic expressions

Materials / Resources
City Green by Diane DiSalvo-Ryan (E DIS)

Pocket Chart

Sentence Strips:

Realistic Fiction

Locavore

Sour Grapes

From lemons to lemonade

Prior Knowledge

Students are reading a nonfiction selection, “A Growing Interest,” in their anthology. They are learning about the health benefits of inner city gardens and how they foster community teamwork.

Procedure

  1. Tell students that you will be sharing a realistic fiction story with their class today. Put the sentence strip in the pocket chart and review the genre.

Building knowledge

  1. Put the word locavore in the pocket chart. Tell students that the word was invented by a gardener in California in 2007. Ask if they can figure out the meaning of the word.
  2. After a quick discussion, tell students that a locavoreis one who eats food that is grown locally. Many gardeners encourage people to buy foods grown in their communities rather than buying food that comes from other parts of the world. Briefly discuss “farmers’ markets.” Explain that the word locavore became very popular with gardeners and farmers around the world. It was used in so many countries by so many people that it met the criteria for inclusion in the dictionary in 2009. Ask students how that word could be applied to the story they read in their anthology.
  3. Tell students that the story you are going to read today is about an inner city community that worked together to “make lemonade” when they were handed a bunch of lemons. Discuss the meaning of the expression and tell students that after reading, you would like for them to explain how the expression applies to the story.
  4. Discuss the expression “sour grapes.” Give some examples if the students haven’t heard or don’t understand the expression. Ask them to listen for that expression and think about how it is used in the story. Discuss after reading.

Read the story. After reading, review the discussion points mentioned above. Ask students what this story has in common with the informational text they read in the anthology. (Teamwork; Improving the community)

Guided Practice

  1. Ask students to state problems and solutions they heard in the story; for example:

P: A boarded up building – an eyesore in the community

S: Tearing the building down

P: Vacant lot filled with trash

S: Clearing the lot and planting a garden

P: Old Man Hammer’s attitude

S: Getting him involved in the community project

  1. Discuss cause and effect in the story; for example: Old Man Hammer was upset that the building was torn down because it was once his home. Mrs. Wells chose the garden spot because that is where her grandmother’s bedroom used to be.

Reflection

  1. Summarize with discussion / reflection on how and why Old Man Hammer’s attitude towards Marcy and the community garden changed in the story.