Lesson A: Elements of a Tall Tale

Grade 2 Module 2-1 Lesson A: Elements of a Tall Tale

Content Overview for Lesson Create an anchor chart to determine what students know about tall tales, elements of tall tales as well as tall tale characters they already know. This will connect what is known to what they will learn. Students will also explore the use of simile and find examples in their own reading.

Teacher Preparation Gather tall tales for read alouds such as Pecos Bill, Johnny Appleseed, Mike Fink, Paul Bunyan, and Thunder Rose. Familiarize yourself with the read alouds. Create a chart with the heading: Tall Tale. Decide on the read aloud and pull several examples of exaggeration from the story and write the sentences on sentence strips. Create another chart with the heading: Figurative Language.

Instructional Considerations (Misconceptions/Common Errors, Additional Instructional Strategies) Some students confuse tall tales with fairy tales. Make sure they understand the difference between the two. Students tend to get the terms fiction and non-fiction confused. Make sure to revisit the terms periodically for clarification.

Students should have examples of tall tales in their independent reading bags during this study.

Key Vocabulary and Concepts Anchor chart: a chart constructed by the teacher or by the teacher and students to guide thinking. Figurative language: language enriched by word images and figures of speech (for example, similes and metaphors). Simile: a device of figurative language that is a stated comparison between two unlike things using the words “like” or “as.” Tall tale: an exaggerated story that is obviously untrue but is told as though it should be believed.

Objective for Lesson A The student will recognize the elements of a tall tale. The student will find examples of similes.

Materials Needed Read alouds such as Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Mike Fink, John Henry, Johnny Appleseed, Thunder Rose, Chart Paper, Markers, Sentence Strips. Suggested Resources A variety of tall tales at various reading levels.

Technology Connections http://www.americanfolklore.net/tt.html http://www.hasd.org/Faculty/DHietpas/Index.htm http://42explore.com/talltale.htm

Overhead Projector, Document Camera, and promethean boards can be used to project text.

Teaching Lesson Introduction to the lesson Demonstration and Guided Practice: Show the tall tale chart to the students. Ask students what they know about tall tales. Students will discuss in groups and then share out with the whole group. Record their statements on the chart. Note what the students know about tall tales and clarify any misconceptions about the elements of a tall tale. Read aloud a tall tale to students and have them add any additional information gained after the reading. In groups of 3-4, have each group write a definition of a tall tale. Discuss the definitions, clarifying any misconceptions and post them on the chart. Go back into the text and discuss how the author describes the character and some of the events in the tall tale. For example, in Paul Bunyan, the author writes that Paul build a colossal flapjack griddle. Explain to the students that the author uses colossal so that the reader will understand how big the griddle is. Explain that another way that an author can do this is to use figurative language such as a simile. Provide students with the definition for a simile and write it on the anchor chart titled, “Figurative Language”. Tell the students that you will be adding more to the chart later on. Demonstrate how the author could have described the griddle as being as big as a football field. Provide a few more examples from the text and have students generate similes. Add these to the chart. Independent Practice: Provide students a copy of a tall tale to read independently. Students respond in writing noting the characteristics of tall tales in that particular book. Have them write down any examples of similes that they find. At the end of independent reading, students will share with the whole group and use their writing to share insights gained from reading to add more new information to the chart.

Teacher will be conferencing with individual students during independent reading. Conferencing allows you to determine the strengths and weaknesses of individual students and plan instruction accordingly. A conference notebook should be maintained to record observations. This serves as an ongoing record of the student’s progress and should be used to plan instruction. Assessing the Lesson Formative Assessment and Summative Assessment Formative Assessment Create a checklist with students’ names and characteristics of tall tales. Use the checklist to record each student’s understanding of the elements of a tall tale. Observe students during discussion and note level of understanding of the characteristics of a tall tale Assess their written response for elements of a tall tale Assess the examples of similes found during independent reading Conferencing notes taken on individual students during independent reading.

Summative Assessment Teacher and district created assessments to be used as needed. Use the information from checklists to design rubrics to measure student performance at nine week intervals. See the website http://rubistar.4teacher for examples of reading and writing rubrics.

Extending the Learning Differentiation and Enrichment Provide other tall tales at various reading levels. Provide stories on tapes so lower level students can listen to them. Have students visit the American folklore website mentioned above to learn more about tall tales.

Students create a poster that illustrates the elements of a tall tale. Students select a tall tale to read and perform for the class.

Intervention Provide small group or one-on-one support for those students needing more scaffolding with this concept.