Inquiry-Based ELA/Reading Lesson Plan

Lesson Title:
“5 W’s and a H”
Targeted Grade Level:
Grade 8
Academic Subject:
ELA/Reading
Lesson Goals:
To introduce the idea that readers ask questions about texts and look for the answers to
questions within the text.

TEKS
ELAR 8.b.5.F The student is expected to make inferences and use evidence to support
understanding.

Lesson Objectives:

 Students will be able to make inferences and use evidence to support understanding
of complex text.

Materials/Resources Needed:

 Pen/pencil
 Copy of grade-level text
 Journal

Lesson Components:
● Begin by asking students to share some of the things good readers do when reading a
text (e.g., determine the meaning of new words, make connections, think about the
author’s purpose).
 ● List students’ ideas on the board or chart paper (using the table below).
● Explain that one thing good readers do is ask and answer questions about the text.
● Ask students to think of questions they may ask themselves while reading a story. For
example,
○ “Who is the main character?”
○ “Where does the story take place?”
○ “When does the story take place?”
● List students’ suggestions on the board or chart paper, sorting them into categories
where appropriate: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.
● Explain that these categories are known as the “5 W’s and an H” and provide a useful
way for thinking about questions to ask of any text.

WHO

WHAT

WHERE

WHEN

WHY

HOW

Sample Text
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
 “Did Mama sing every day?” asked Caleb. “Every-single-day?” He sat close to the fire, his
chin in his hand. It was dusk, and the dogs lay beside him on the warm hearthstones. “Every-
single-day,” I told him for the second time this week. For the twentieth time this month. The
hundredth time this year? And the past few years? “And did Papa sing, too?” “Yes. Papa sang,
too. Don’t get so close, Caleb. You’ll heat up.” He pushed his chair back. It made a hollow
scraping sound on the hearthstones. And the dogs stirred. Lottie, small and black, wagged
her tail and lifted her head. Nick slept on. I turned the bread dough over and over on the
marble slab on the kitchen table. “Well, Papa doesn’t sing anymore,” said Caleb very softly. A
log broke apart and crackled in the fireplace. He looked up at me. “What did I look like when I
was born?” “You didn’t have any clothes on,” I told him. “I know that,” he said. “You looked
like this.” I held the bread dough up in a round pale ball. “I had hair,” said Caleb seriously.
“Not enough to talk about,” I said. “And she named me Caleb,” he went on, filling in the old
familiar story. “I would have named you Troublesome,” I said, making Caleb smile. “And
Mama handed me to you in the yellow blanket and said...” He waited for me to finish the
story. “And said...?” I sighed. “And Mama said. ‘Isn’t he beautiful, Anna?’” “And I was,” Caleb
finished. Caleb thought the story was over, and I didn’t tell him what I had really thought. He
was homely and plain, and he had a terrible holler and a horrid smell. But these were not the
worst of him. Mama died the next morning. That was the worst thing about Caleb. “Isn’t he
beautiful, Anna?” her last words to me. I had gone to bed thinking how wretched he looked.
And I forgot to say good night. I wiped my hands on my apron and went to the window.
Outside, the prairie reached out and touched the places where the sky came down. Though
the winter was nearly over, there were patches of snow everywhere. I looked at the long dirt
road that crawled across the plains, remembering the morning that Mama had died, cruel
and sunny. They had come for her in a wagon and taken her away to be buried. And then the
cousins and aunts and uncles had come and tried to fill up the house. But they couldn’t.
Slowly, one by one, they left. And then the days seemed long and dark like winter days, even
though it wasn’t winter. And Papa didn’t sing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 For skill practice and as a class, the teacher will read the sample story from “Sarah, Plain and
Tall”.
 Distribute a copy of the table “5 W’s and an H” as well as copies of the excerpt from Sarah,
Plain and Tall.
 Say, “I’m going to show you some of the things I might ask myself while reading this passage
from the book Sarah, Plain and Tall. I want you to follow along and record the questions in the
 appropriate category on the activity. Raise your hand if you have any questions along the
way.”
 Read the passage aloud, stopping to “think aloud” the questions you have while reading the
text.
 Model writing your questions on the board or your own copy of the activity.
 When you finish reading, ask students where they would find the answers to your questions.
From their heads? From other people? Or from the text itself?
 Explain that readers get their answers to almost all of their questions from the text itself. Even
when answering questions such as “How does this story relate to my own life?” or “What do I
like about the story?” good readers support their answers with details from the text.
 Together, discuss the answers to some of your questions, encouraging students to refer to the
text. For example, if one of your questions is “Who is the main character?” and a student
responds, you might say, “Can you tell me what part of the text makes you think the main
character is Anna?”
 Model filling in the answers to your questions on the activity, along with a text reference.
 Explain that, since you are reading such a short passage, you might not be able to answer all
of your questions. The same is true when students read independently—they may have
questions they can’t answer until the end of the book.

Evaluation:

For evaluation, students will be given a copy of the short story “The Open Window” as well as
another copy of the 5 W’s and a H.

Students will be instructed to silently read the story and answer the questions at the end.
Students are also required to write at least 1 question in each column of the 5 W’s and a H
worksheet before and/or while they read the story and before they begin answering the
questions at the end. Students will be encouraged to refer to the first 5 W’s and a H sheet for
assistance on writing questions related to “The Open Window”.

Students will be advised and encouraged to work independently on this assignment and to
ask the teacher questions when help is needed.

Adaptation of
The Open Window by Saki
Read the adaptation of this short story by Saki, first published in 1914. Then answer the questions that follow.
“My aunt will be down shortly, Mr. Nuttel,” said a
very self-possessed young lady of fifteen. “In the
meantime, you must try and put up with me.”
Framton Nuttel smiled politely. Privately, he
doubted whether these formal visits to a series of
total strangers would help calm his nerves, as they
were supposed to. “I know how it will be,” his sister
had said as he was preparing to migrate to this rural
retreat. “You will bury yourself there and speak to
no one; your nerves will be worse than ever from
moping. I shall give you letters of introduction to the
people I know there. Some of them were quite nice.”
Framton wondered whether Mrs. Sappleton, the lady
to whom he was presenting one of the letters of
introduction, came into the “nice” division.
“Do you know many of the people round here?”
asked the niece, after a sufficient period of silence.
“Hardly a soul,” said Framton. “My sister stayed
here, some four years ago. She gave me letters of
introduction to some people here.” He said this with
a tone of distinct regret.
“Then you know practically nothing about my
aunt?” pursued the self-possessed young lady.
“Only her name and address,” admitted the
caller.
The child said, “Her great tragedy happened just
three years ago; that would be since your sister’s
time.”
Continue reading. Then answer the questions that follow.
“Her tragedy?” asked Framton; somehow in this
restful country spot tragedies seemed out of place.
“You may wonder why we keep that window wide
open on an October afternoon,” said the niece,
indicating a large French window that opened on to
a lawn.
“It is warm for this time of year,” said Framton.
“But has that window got anything to do with the
tragedy?”
“Out through that window, three years ago today, my
aunt’s husband and two brothers went off for their
day of hunting. They never came back. In crossing
the moor, all three were trapped in a treacherous
piece of bog. It had been dreadfully wet that
summer, and places that were safe in other years
gave way without warning. Their bodies were never
recovered.” Here the child’s voice lost its self-
possessed note and became falteringly human. “Poor
aunt always thinks they’ll come back someday, they
and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them,
and walk in at that window just as they used to do.
She keeps the window open every evening till dusk.
Poor aunt, she often talks of how they went out, her
husband with his white coat, and her youngest
brother singing ‘Bertie, why do you bound?’* as he
always did to tease her, because it got on her nerves.
You know...on still, quiet evenings like this, I
sometimes get a creepy feeling that they will all
walk in through that window...”
She broke off with a little shudder. It was a relief to voice chanted out
Framton when the aunt bustled into the room with a of the dusk,
whirl of apologies for being late. “Bertie, why do
“I hope Vera has been amusing you,” Mrs. Sappleton you bound?”
said. “And I hope you don’t mind the open window. Framton grabbed
My husband and brothers will be home soon from wildly at his stick
hunting. They come in this way so as not to make a and hat; the hall
mess of the carpets.” She rattled on cheerfully about door, the gravel
her husband and brothers’ hunting pursuits. To drive, and the front
Framton it was all purely horrible. His hostess was gate were dimly
clearly distracted, her eyes constantly straying to the noted stages in his
open window and the lawn beyond. What an headlong retreat. A
unfortunate coincidence that he paid his visit on this cyclist coming
tragic anniversary. along the road had
to run into the
hedge to avoid an immediate collision.
“Here we are, my dear,” said the man with the white
coat, coming in through the window. “Not too
terribly muddy. Who was that who bolted out as we
came up?”

In a desperate effort to turn the talk to a less ghastly “A most extraordinary man, a Mr. Nuttel,” said Mrs.
topic, Framton announced, “The doctors have Sappleton. “Only talked about his illnesses, and
ordered me complete rest, an absence of mental dashed off without a word when you arrived. One
excitement, and avoidance of all strenuous would think he’d seen a ghost.”
exercise.” Framton labored under the delusion that “I expect it was the spaniel,” said the niece calmly.
total strangers were hungry for details of his “He told me he had a horror of dogs. He was once
ailments. chased into a cemetery by a pack of vicious dogs
“Is that so?” said Mrs. Sappleton, just barely stifling along the Ganges. He spent the night in a newly dug
a yawn. Then she suddenly brightened into alert grave, the creatures snarling above him. Enough to
attention. “Here they are at last!” she cried. “Just in make anyone lose their nerve.”
time for tea!” Romance at short notice was her specialty.
Framton shivered and turned toward the niece
with a look of sympathetic comprehension. But
the child was staring out the open window with
dazed horror. Framton swung round in his seat
and looked in the same direction.
In the deepening twilight, three figures walked
across the lawn toward the window, one of them
wearing a white coat. A brown spaniel was close at
their heels. Noiselessly they neared the house; then a
Answer the following questions about the adaptation of “The Open Window” by Saki.

1. Which of the following statements best reflects

the central idea of the story? __________________________________________
a. A woman is confused by a man’s strange behavior. _
b. A girl plays a trick on an unsuspecting
stranger. 4. In paragraphs 3 and 5, Vera asks Mr. Nuttel two
c. A man recovers from an illness that affects questions that seem like polite conversation.
his nerves. After reading the entire story, what is the
significance of these questions?
d. A woman’s long-lost family returns from
the dead.
__________________________________________
2. I n paragraphs 1, 5, and 11, the author uses the _
word “self-possessed” in reference to the niece.
What does this word indicate about the girl? __________________________________________
_
__________________________________________
_ __________________________________________
_____ _
_____________________________________
__________________________________________
3. At the beginning of the story, how does Framton _
Nuttel feel about being at the Sappleton home?
Support your answer with evidence from the text. 5. Which three adjectives below describe the
character of Framton Nuttel?
__________________________________________ a. nervous c. malicious e. outgoing
_ b. deceitful d. gullible f. self-involved

__________________________________________
_ 6. Use text evidence to support your choice of one
of the adjectives in Question 5.
__________________________________________
_ __________________________________________
_
__________________________________________
_ __________________________________________
_
__________________________________________
_
__________________________________________ __________________________________________
_ _

7. Vera knows things that Framton Nuttel does not. __________________________________________

Describe the effect of this knowledge disparity
on Mr. Nuttel’s view of the men’s arrival.
__________________________________________
_
__________________________________________
_
__________________________________________
_ indicate about Vera?
__________________________________________
_ b. Vera has a knack for making people fall in
8. Throughout most of the story, the reader is as
unaware of Vera’s deceitfulness as is Mr. Nuttel.
At what point might the reader suspect the
deceit, and at what point can the reader be sure
of it?
_
__________________________________________
_
__________________________________________
_
10. What does the last sentence of the passage,
“Romance at short notice was her specialty,”
a. Vera does not like living with her aunt and
uncle.
love.
c. Vera enjoys reading romantic love stories.
d. Vera has a talent for creating extraordinary
tales.

__________________________________________
_

__________________________________________
_

__________________________________________
_

__________________________________________
_

9. How does the author use dramatic irony at the

end of the story? What effect does it have?