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Ela Instructional Unit
Ela Instructional Unit
This unit is designed to be all about our community Emporia, Ks. In this unit we will
compare past Emporia to present day Emporia. Students will create a variety of writings, poems,
timelines, and art projects that are all intertwined in the topic Our Community: Emporia, Ks. I
am designing this unit based off of the third grade standards for Social Studies and Language
Arts. Students will be reading stories in Reading about communities that have changed over time
and comparing those stories to their community, Emporia.
Theme: Our Community, Emporia KS and how it has changed over time
Grade Level: 3rd
Rationale: Students will become more familiar with the history of their community. Students
will also learn about their community in todays world. Students will become comfortable
comparing and contrasting these two. Students will also compare and contrast their community
and other communities we read about.
Standards:
Social Studies: 3.H4.1 The student will recognize and evaluate continuity and change over time
and its impact on individuals, institutions, communities, states, and nations.
Writing: W.3.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
W.3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information
clearly.
W.3.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
Literature Resources:
Informational:
Days of Digging By: Holly Cefrey
Earthquake The 1906 San Francisco Nightmare By: Lynn Brunelle
Life in a Farming Community (Learn about Rural Life) By: Lizann Flatt*
Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Change: Courageous Actions Around the World By: Garth Sundem
On the Town: A Community Adventure By: Judith Caseley
Poetry:
If I Could Build a Town By: Betsy Franco*
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/profbooks/commpoems.pdf
Argumentative/Persuasive:
Should There Be Zoos?: A Persuasive Text By: Tony Stead
Narrative:
Town Mouse Country Mouse By: Jan Brett*
Website:
http://www.legendsofkansas.com/emporia.html
Six Trait Writing (Ideas): W.3.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or
events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences
Students will write a narrative piece about the community they founded. Students can take this
piece any direction they like. The only requirement will be that the students introduce the
community they founded. I will be grading this writing using the Ideas section on the Six Trait
Rubric. Students are encouraged to get creative! We will be displaying and sharing these writings
for Parent/Teacher conferences. Like all other writings, students will use a graphic organizer to
organize their thoughts. After completing the graphic organizer students will write their rough
draft. Then, students will conference with the teacher before writing their final draft.
Poetry: L.3.3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading,
or listening.
Students will be writing an acrostic poem using the word Community. We will read several
acrostic poems together, as a class. We will also create an acrostic poem together using the word,
student. This will help students to understand the objective of writing an acrostic poem.
Students will be provided a sheet that outlines the acrostic poem for the word, Community.
Students will write their poem independently. All students will be encouraged to share their
acrostic poem with the class.
Language/Grammar: L.3.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English
capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Objective: Students will demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English when
writing: capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5UGoh4GkuIR3Y4aktPcllsQk9MdlJlV3h1UDI5djh1TU13
might
tonight
delight
slight
knight
bright
right
light
thigh
tight
night
high
Speaking/Listening: SL.3.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-onone, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on
others ideas and expressing their own clearly.
I will read aloud the text Town Mouse Country Mouse By: Jan Brett. The story is about
two mouse couples, one from town and one from the country. These couples swap homes to get a
feel of what it is like to live in the other couples home. The mouse couples experience
adventures throughout the story. At the end, both couples realize there really is no place like
home. Both of the mouse couples return to their own home.
After reading the story, students will individually make a decision of which mouse they
want to be, town or country mouse. The students who chose the town mouse will be divided into
one group and the students who chose the country mouse will be divided into another group.
Students will discuss in their group why they would rather live in town or in the country. Each
student will have a T-chart (Pros and Cons). The town mouse group of students will discuss why
they prefer to live in town and write those reasons in the left side of the T-chart. Then that group
will write the reasons why they wouldnt want to live in the country on the right side of the Tchart. The country group will write why they prefer to live in the country in the left side of their
T-chart and why they wouldnt want to live in town on the right side.
After discussing with their group, each group will choose a reporter. The reporter will
report their groups reasonings to the class. All students will listen to the report from the two
group members. After listening to the reasonings of the other group, students will individually
make a final decision whether they would want to be town mouse or country mouse. After
choosing town or country students will all write an opinion piece on why they chose town or
country mouse. The student must use supporting details that were discussed within the groups to
make their argument.
Viewing: SL.3.2 Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or
information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
Reader Friendliness Checklist
Name _______Amy Carlson__________________________ Class
Date
Directions: Do a search on an appropriate topic and choose a website from the search results
list. Go to the website and use this checklist to see if the site would be helpful for learning about
your topic.
URL: http://www.legendsofkansas.com/emporia.html
Yes No
3. Are the links easy to distinguish from the rest of the text by color, size, or
shape?
5. If you go to a bunch of other pages within the website, is it easy to get back to
the homepage without using the back button?
6. Is each page or section clearly labeled with a heading?
X
X