DIARY OF A FLY Written by Doreen Cronin Illustrated by: Harry Bliss

This lesson plan provides readers with an opportunity to explore a diary- style text written from a particular perspective. This would be an ideal lesson plan for a small group or as a guided lesson experience focused on developing strengths in analyzing text through perspective.

Lesson Objectives: To be able to read, comprehend and make sense of narrative fiction by identifying perspective To be able to identify examples of nouns and verbs in a rhyming text structure To be able to extend text by considering author intent and theme

Grade Level: 2 - 5

Common Core Connections: Meaning: Multiple levels of meaning, implicit purpose Structure: fiction structure, diary style, picture book Language Convention/Clarity: ambiguous meaning Knowledge Demands: multiple perspectives

Strategies: Students will be able to read, comprehend and make sense of narrative fiction by identifying perspective. Students will be able to identify examples of nouns and verbs in a rhyming text structure. Students will be able to extend text by considering author intent and theme.

Materials/Resources: - DIARY OF A FLY e-book on Tumblebooks - SMARTboard or other interactive white board (or projector/laptop) - Noun/Verb Sort graphic organizer - Laptops/iPads - Writing books/logs

Strategic Lesson Plan:  Review with students the structure of this picture book, DIARY OF A FLY (can do a brief picture walk on the Smartboard and support students with identifying the characters/setting in this diary-style text)  Explain to students this diary-style story is written from the perspective of a fly – discuss with students what their understanding of perspective is – accept all answers; use clarifying questions to reduce confusion and dispel misconceptions  Discuss with students how often a story has an underlying theme that Is not overtly addressed in the story (eg. courage, friendship, etc) Ask the students to think about what the underlying theme might be in this story as they engage in reading  Invite the students to begin listening/reading along to the e-book DIARY OF A FLY in pairs or triads on the laptops/Smartboard/iPads on Tumblebooks in pairs or triads  Circulate while students listen, offering support as needed and encouraging students to use their most useful reading and comprehension strategies  When students are finished their first reading/listening experience, provide opportunities to share ideas and understandings from the story using ‘turn and talk’ strategy (3 – 5 minutes)  Encourage students to share their ideas about the story - who are the characters? What did they notice about the structure of the story? Whose perspective is the diary written from – where is the evidence? What might another insect think about this story?  Following a discussion of the story, engage students in the following activities:

Additional Activity #1:  Ask students to re-visit the text and find examples of nouns and verbs in the rhyming text structure and place on the Noun/Verb Sort Graphic Organizer

Additional Activity #2:  In their writing logs, ask students to write their opinions about the author’s intent in writing this story - what do they think the underlying theme is in this story?

The writing log activity can be used as a formative assessment strategy for identifying theme in a fiction story. N O U N S & V E R B S

Nouns Verbs