Second Grade ELA Unit

Isis Lopez Valdez

Nevada State College
Spring 2013
J. Schulze

Day One

Standard: RL.2.1 Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, when, why and how to
demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
Objective: SWBAT show that in order to understand a text, they must ask and answer questions
of the text such as who, what, where, when, why and how.
Student Friendly Objective: I will be able to ask and answer questions such as who, what,
where, when, why and how to understand a text.
Language Objective: SWBAT recognize the meaning of the words who, what, where, when,
why and how and use each of the words in conversation as well as be able to identify each word
when completing a matching assessment (See independent practice).
Materials:

White Board
The Brave Monkey Pirate, By: Hayes Roberts
Chart Paper
Markers
Student worksheets
Pencils
Document Camera
Assessment worksheet

Direct Instruction (I do):

1. To begin the lesson, I will ask students to help me read the objective of the day
(the student friendly version will be up on the board). As a class we will read the
objective three times.
2. I will ask the students, What does it mean to ask questions? and I will
underline the word ask.
3. I will take a few volunteers and I will recast or build upon their answers to explain
what it means to ask a question of a text.
4. I will then do the same for the word answer, who, what, where, when, why and
how. This will be the first opportunity to hear the words.
5. Next I will tell the class we will be reading a new story today, I will display the
cover on the document camera.
6. I will tell the students to take a moment to look at the cover and think about what
they think the story will be about based on the cover.
7. I will allow some think time and take a volunteer to share thoughts.
8. I will recast and elaborate on the student answer and continue making predictions
about the story based on the cover.
9. I will continue modeling think alouds incorporating the key questions (who,
what, where, when, why and how).

10. I will call groups by table to come to the carpet and I will read the story to the
class. Stopping to model think alouds incorporating the vocabulary and taking
volunteers as I model. I will make sure to point to items as I talk about them
and also use body language and gestures.
Vocabulary:

Ask
Answer
Question
Who
What
Where
When
Why
How
Characters
Setting

Guided Practice (We do):

1. After reading the story, I will ask the students to stay at the carpet and will work
on a chart paper activity together to identify the six key elements (who, what,
where, when, why and how).
2. I will then ask the class to go back to their desks and I will hand out the activity
worksheet. This worksheet will have six boxes that will be labeled with the six
key elements. I will model on the document camera the first two boxes (based
on the story).
3. The first box calls for the who; I will ask the class, who was the main character
of the story again? I will wait for volunteers and I will draw the monkey pirate in
the box as well as label the box Modi, the Monkey Pirate
4. The second box calls for the what, I will do the same.
5. Next I will instruct the students to work with their shoulder partners (grouping)
to work on the remaining 4 boxes. I will encourage students to talk about the
story and try to remember the setting and characters to draw their representations
accordingly.
6. At this point I will walk around the classroom to informally assess the students
and check for understanding of the objectives.
Independent Practice/Assessment (You do):
1. I will first model how to complete the assessment worksheet by doing the first
two sections with the class on the document projector.

2. The worksheet will call for students to match the questions to the answers which
will be displayed in pictures. For example, there will be a picture of Modi the
Monkey Pirate in the third section of the answers column and the question Who
is the main character? on the last section of the questions column. The students
will need to match the questions to the answers or pictures.
3. After I have modeled how to complete the assessment I will have the students put
up offices and complete the rest of the worksheet on their own.
Reflection:
I believe that my lesson is strong. I begin very making sure students understand what they are
going to learn. I dissect the student friendly objective with them extensively so they are clear
on what it means to ask and answer questions as well as go over each of the six elements in a
casual manner. Throughout the lesson I involve the class at all times, I am constantly asking for
feedback, demonstrating think alouds and continuously repeating the six key elements we are
focusing on. For the text, I allow time to examine the cover, think about it, make predictions, we
read it together, once again demonstrating think alouds, we go over the key elements on chart
paper as a class, students have an opportunity to work with a partner and discuss the story as they
complete their activity and at the end I check for understanding with an independent activity.

Day Two
Standard: RL.2.1 Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, when, why and how to
demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

Objective: SWBAT show that in order to understand a text, they must ask and answer questions
of the text such as who, what, where, when, why and how.
Student Friendly Objective: I will be able to ask and answer questions such as who, what,
where, when, why and how to understand a text.
Language Objective: SWBAT recognize the meaning of the words who, what, where, when,
why and how and use these words to answer six questions about a story for independent
practice/assessment.
Materials:

White board
Markers
Muffin Stories: The Baby Lions Mistake (Youtube video)
Prizes (candy or erasers)
Pre-selected short stories
Worksheets
Pencils

Direct Instruction (I do):

1. To begin the lesson, I will ask students to help me read the objective of the day (the
student friendly version will be up on the board). As a class we will read the objective
one time.
2. I will ask the class if they remember from yesterday (prior knowledge) the six key
elements or questions we should ask of a text to understand it.
3. I will take volunteers to come to the board and write each question down and circle it, we
will do this until we have six circles on the board.
4. I will ask the class, So how many elements are we learning about this week? they
students should respond six.
5. I will then show a short video of an age appropriate story Muffin Stories: The Baby
Lions Mistake (found on youtube), before showing the video I will tell the class to keep
in mind the six key elements we need to know in order to understand a text in this case a
video.
Vocabulary:

Ask
Answer
Question
Who
What
Where

When
Why
How
Characters
Setting

Guided Practice (We do):

1. After the video, I will instruct students to work within their (heterogeneous)
groups for the following activity/game.
2. I will give clear instructions: I will pose a question about the video, such as
where did the story take place? Students will discuss the answer among their
groups and come to a consensus as to the answer, and then I will ask each student
#4 to stand up (students already know their numbers). I will call on each group
and each student #4 will express the answer their group came up with. I will keep
track of the teams answers on the board. They will be competing for a prize (for
motivation).
3. After I have asked all questions I will go over the correct answers and we will
figure out the winners.
Independent Practice/Assessment (You do):
1. I will model the worksheet and give clear instructions on how to
complete it.
2. Students will complete a worksheet answering six questions about the
video story (these questions will incorporate the six key elements to
understand a text).
Reflection:
I think this lesson is a good follow up to day one. Today the class looks not at a text but a video;
this will help the visual learners as well as enhance listening skills. Students participate in whole
group, small group and independent work with the six key elements and are getting more
practice to achieve the objective. I think the game activity is a great way to promote interaction. I
believe that even if student #4 isnt yet getting it, this game will encourage collaboration and
on build communication skills.

Day Three
Standard: RL.2.1 Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, when, why and how to
demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

Objective: SWBAT show that in order to understand a text, they must ask and answer questions
of the text such as who, what, where, when, why and how.
Student Friendly Objective: I will be able to ask and answer questions such as who, what,
where, when, why and how to understand a text.
Language Objective: SWBAT recognize the meaning of the words who, what, where, when,
why and how and will be able to identify each key element as they read a story by placing sticky
notes on the pages where they find the element.
Materials:

White board
Pre-made magnet cutouts: green for questions and red for answers
Pre-selected grade level short stories for heterogeneous partner activity
Sticky notes for each student
Pencils
Lined paper
Document camera

Direct Instruction (I do):

1. To begin the lesson, I will ask students to help me read the objective of the
day (the student friendly version will be up on the board). As a class we
will read the objective one time.
2. I will begin by directing the students attention to the magnet cutouts I will
have on the board. These will be the six questions (green) and six random
answers (red).
3. Without giving instructions, I will ask students to raise their hand if they
think they know what they are supposed to do with these (match the
questions to the answers). Example: Green cutout-When, Red cutoutChristmas day.
4. I will take volunteers to come the board and do what they think they are to
do. Students will know to match the greens with the corresponding red
answers.
5. I will then ask the class what are the green cut outs? they should say
the questions to understand a text and then do the same for the red cut
outs.
Vocabulary:

Ask
Answer
Question

Who
What
Where
When
Why
How
Characters
Setting

Guided Practice (We do):

1. I will begin by modeling and giving clear directions for the partner activity.
2. I will pair up students heterogeneously.
3. I will hand out the pre selected short stories to each partnership to work with, each
student will have their own copy but students will be encouraged to work
together.
4. Sticky note activity: As students read their stories, they will need to identify the
six key elements to understand a text (who, why, what, when, where and how).
They will use sticky notes to stick on the page where they find each element, they
will write the: who, what, when, where, why or how on the sticky and the actual
answer on the sticky. For example, if I find one of the characters on page one, I
will stick a sticky on page one and write down the name of the character, if I find
another character on page 5, I will stick a sticky on page 5 and write down that
name. (Before releasing the students I will have modeled the activity clearly on
the document projector).
Independent Practice/Assessment (You do):

For informal assessment I will have the students take their sticky notes and write
down on lined paper one sentence for each element. I will give clear directions
and model the activity on the document camera. Example: Who: The main
character of my story is named Lucy. Where: The story takes place at the beach.
When: The story takes place in the summer, etc.

Reflection:
My opener is a great way to review and to start the lesson. My guided practice activity is fun and
will give students an opportunity to communicate and work with a heterogeneous partner.
Doing this sticky note activity will give students a chance to clear misconceptions because they
will be talking about the story and working together to find the appropriate answers. I think I
may encounter some challenges in this lesson. The: who, where and when are usually easy to
identify. On the other hand the why, how and what may be difficult for some students to identify

as these story elements are usually not that directly stated. I may have to remind students that
they may have to just look at the big picture and make a determination of these elements if
they are not stated right on the text.

Day Four
Standard: RL.2.1 Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, when, why and how to
demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
Objective: SWBAT show that in order to understand a text, they must ask and answer questions
of the text such as who, what, where, when, why and how.
Student Friendly Objective: I will be able to ask and answer questions such as who, what,
where, when, why and how to understand a text.
Language Objective: SWBAT recognize the meaning of the words who, what, where, when,
why and how and will be able to highlight each element on a classmates story.
Materials:

Document camera
Markers
White board
Pre-made story boxes containing a variety of different items such as toys, drawings,
marbles, etc.
Lined paper
Highlighters

Direct Instruction (I do):

1. To begin the lesson, I will ask students to help me read the objective of
the day (the student friendly version will be up on the board). As a class
we will read the objective one time.
2. I will then pose this situation to the class: If I wanted to tell a story, what
type of answers should my story provide to the person reading my story?
3. I will go over the six key elements with the class.
4. I will write on the board as I make up my story: Who: A small frog,
What: is lost, Where: in a huge pond, Why: She was playing and didnt
pay attention to her mother, When: One rainy afternoon, How: It
happened so quickly.
5. I will tell the class, now that I have my six key elements I can begin
writing my story.

6. I will model (using the document camera) how to write a short story
including all six key elements. I will ask for help from students to write
the story.
Vocabulary:

Ask
Answer
Question
Who
What
Where
When
Why
How
Characters
Setting

Guided Practice (We do):

1. I will model and explain the activity clearly with my own story box; my story box
will contain a small toy car, a small tree, a cat and a drawing of snow.
2. I will think of a story that must include all of the items in my story box. Example:
on a dark winter night the snow was piling up and all of the animals were cold
and were trying to find a warm place to hide. One cat climbed up in the trees and
others under carsetc.
3. I will model how they must incorporate the items in their story boxes in their own
unique stories.
4. I will remind students to include the six elements.
Independent Practice/Assessment (You do):
1. I will ask students to trade their stories with a person who is not in their
groups.
2. The students will need to read their classmates story and identify the six
key elements by highlighting them on the paper.
3. The students who wrote the paper will write their name at the top and the
students names who read and highlighted the paper will be at the bottom.
Reflection:

I think that students will be excited to work on their stories because of the story boxes! The story
boxes will guide them to write about each key element. Student will identify each and put the
story together. Not only will each student get to write their own story based on the items in the
story boxes, they will also be able to identify the six elements by reading a classmates story. I
think this activity will help students who have a hard time getting started writing or those who
lack creativity.

Day Five
Standard: RL.2.1 Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, when, why and how to
demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
Objective: SWBAT show that in order to understand a text, they must ask and answer questions
of the text such as who, what, where, when, why and how.
Student Friendly Objective: I will be able to ask and answer questions such as who, what,
where, when, why and how to understand a text.
Language Objective: SWBAT recognize the meaning of the words who, what, where, when,
why and how and will identify each element in a story.
Materials:

White board
The goose who tried to keep the summer (apples4theteacher.com) for whole class activity
The Best Chef in Second Grade, By: Katharine Kenah for assessment.
Lined paper
Pencils

Direct Instruction (I do):

1. To begin the lesson, I will ask students to help me read the
objective of the day (the student friendly version will be up on the
board). As a class we will read the objective one time.
2. Next I will cover up the objective on the board and ask for
volunteers to name all six elements to understand a text.
3. Next I will ask the class, why do we need answers to these
questions when we read a text?
4. I will elaborate on their answer and make it clear that in order for
us to understand a text, we need to figure out what it is about, who
it is about, where we think it takes place, why things in the text
take place, when it might take place and how things happen within

a text. I will emphasize that if we dont know these details in a text

then it will be difficult to understand a text.
Vocabulary:

Ask
Answer
Question
Who
What
Where
When
Why
How
Characters
Setting

Guided Practice (We do):

1. As whole group, I will read the goose story to the class and model and give clear
instructions about the activity: As I read this short grade level story, students will
pay close attention and listen for the six key elements. When they have identified
one, they will write it down on lined paper and cover it up. I will ask the student
to number their paper one through six before we begin.
2. After I read the story I will ask shoulder partners to compare papers to see if their
answers match.
3. As a class, we will go over each of the elements in the story I read to the class.
Independent Practice/Assessment (You do):
1. Since this is the final day, this will be formal assessment, students will put
up their offices, I will hand out a paper copy of The Best Chef in Second
grade to each student (grade level, everyone gets the same story). They
will highlight the six key elements as they read.
2. After they read, they will write six sentences identifying each element of
the story.
Reflection:
As the last day of any unit, this is a review and assessment day. To begin with I explicitly went
over the objective of the unit and why it is important we learn this information. For guided
practice I included a whole class and a partner activity (heterogeneous grouping), and for

assessment and review the students took a formal test which will show me if the unit was
successful, who really got it and or who needs more support with this standard.