Minilesson # 2

Teaching Point: Good readers get connected with their main character by thinking about their similarities and differences, such as likes/dislikes, what they experience, how they think and act.

Materials Needed: Chart paper Picture books – Ruby Sings the Blues and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Connection: Readers, today we are going to talk about how good readers make connections to the character in the book they are reading by thinking about their similarities and differences. Have you ever thought of knowing your character more, and understand them better so that you can get into the story more, and become more interested in it, and wonder why he/she did that, or say, ‘oh, I would do the same thing!’ Let me show you what I mean. Because characters are like humans, like us. And when we know them better, and put ourselves in their shoes, we can get ourselves into reading the story.

Teaching:Remember Ruby Sings the Blues? First of all, Let me try to remember who Ruby is. Ok those are all true. Now, what I can do is make a t-chart like this: So some people were saying how she acts, or behaves, or how she feels about people disliking her.
(The following should be in a T-Chart, but I am not able to create it on this blog)
Ruby
1. She is a nice girl
2. She is loud
3. She gets upset that nobody likes her
4. She solved the problem by switching herself off

Me
1. I think I am a nice girl too
2. I am soft
3. I would get upset too
4. I would probably cry

So now, what I can do is, I can look at this T-chart, and think about, hmm… wow, I am kind of like her, than I am a nice girl, but I am soft, so maybe that’s why I have never been teased this way. So now, it makes me wonder how does one feel when she is being teased. And I keep going down the list, nobody likes her, and she becomes quiet. And now I look at how I would do, I am pretty similar to her when we face this problem. So I am really getting myself into her shoes, and this story has become more interesting to me, because, I can keep adding on this list, and see what I would do differently or similarly.

Active Engagement: Ok, let’s see you do it. Remember the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? Let’s brainstorm something about Alexander and put it on the t-chart. Ok, now I want you to turn and talk to your partner and share how you two are the same and different. Great boys and girls. Who wants to share? Good work.

Link: Good job readers. So today you learn that good readers make connections to the character in the book by thinking about their similarities and differences, so that they can understand the character better and get more into the story they are reading.