Mackenzie Maxwell

10/04/16

Teaching Reading: Mini Lesson Format (Calkins, 2001)

Targeted Literacy Strategy or Skill: Distracting Connections
Grade level: 3rd grade
Objective: The student will be able to identify distracting connections when they are reading
independently or in reading groups and develop skills to stay on task with their reading.
Common Core State Standard/ PASS Standard:
3.1.R.2 Students will ask and answer questions to seek help, get information, or clarify about information
presented orally through text or other media to confirm understanding.
3.1.R.3 Students will engage in collaborative discussions about appropriate topics and texts, expressing
their own ideas clearly in pairs, diverse groups, and whole class settings.
Prior knowledge: (What students already know)
Students already know how to make text-to-self and text-to-text connections while reading certain books
and passages.
Observations/Rationale: (Before Lesson) What did you notice in your students work that let you
know this lesson was necessary? (This will be an approximation this semester.)
Students can make text-to-text and text-to-self connections, but they are getting distracted by some of
these connections and they are not staying on track with their reading.

Materials Needed: Whiteboard, markers, sticky notes, and Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary.
Lesson from (Name your source including page number): Strategies that Work page 95
Mentor Text: Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary.
Student Groups (whole/small group/partners): Whole group conversations and talking to their table
partners
Mini Lesson Format:
Connect (AKA~ Anticipatory Set, Engagement/Pre-reading):
During your quiet reading time and during your reading groups I have noticed that you all are
making great text-to-self and text-to-text connections and talking about them. However, I have also
been noticing that some of these connections are distracting you all from understanding the part of
the book you read after you make a connection. So today I am going to read a part of the book
Beezus and Ramona and we are going to work on these distracting connections together. Are
any of you familiar with this book or the movie? This is a book about nine year old girl named
Beezus that is just too grown up to hang out with her little sister Ramona who is 4 because
Ramona does babyish things. Beezus tries to be patient with Ramona, but it is impossible.

Teach (Model/Explain):
I can make great connections in this book, but sometimes when I make connections, I think too
much about the connection I made and I get distracted from what I am reading. I am going to read
a part of this book to you and I am going to write the connections I have down on a sticky note.

Read the first part of the book pages 7-8 and stop to write down any connections I make as I read.
I can make a connection with Ramona because I have a sister that is five years older than me
and even though I always tried to play with her, she always played games that were too big for me.
So that is a connection I can make. So I am going to write TS on my paper because I can make a
text-self clue about me and my older sister. My sister actually called me last night and talked to me
about my nephews. One of my nephews is 6 and had soccer practice last night and the other one is
about to have his second birthday in November he was born on Thanksgiving day two years ago.
His party is going to be Mickey Mouse themed. They are so cute. But wait, I cannot remember
what I was just reading because I got distracted by the connection I made about my sister. So I am
going to go back to where I made my text clue and I am going to see what I was reading and get
back on track. Okay so because I know that I wrote my text clue here I know that is where my
connection distracted me. So now I can continue reading from this point and make more
connections.

Active Engagement (AKA~ Check for Understanding: students try it out, teacher observes):
So I am going to read you another part of this book and when I read this next passage and you
make a connection I want you to write down a text clue on your paper.
Read pages 39-41 and stop to write down connections.
I can make a connection at this part because I am always so happy when Friday afternoon comes
I am so happy to be out of class and away from school for a few days. So this is a place I can write
a text clue. Last Friday I got to go back home to see my family and we all went to a wedding on
Saturday. And my nephews stayed the night with me and my mom. My sister came to eat breakfast
with us the next morning. Oh no, I am getting distracted by connection again, so now I can go
back to where I wrote my text clue and start back reading there.
Finish reading the pages.
Did any of you make any connections while I was reading that? So when I was reading this part
of the book and you all were making connections did some of your brains wonder off what I was
reading and get distracted because you were thinking about the other connections? I want you to
turn to your table partner and share with them your connection and if you got distracted by it.
Let students talk about their connections and if they got distracted.
What are some of the connections and distractions you all had?
Okay, what are some ways that we can prevent this from happening when we are reading?
Let students answer and have conversations with them about the ideas they have come up with
Great Job! Some of the ideas that I would think of was to realize where you got distracted, go
back to that point in the book, and re-read what you just read that you did not understand. Or stop
every paragraph or every other paragraph and ask yourself What did I just read If you can
explain what you have just read, then you know that you have moved past the distracting
connections.

Link (AKA~ Closing the Lesson [with accountability for the skill/process])
You all did a great job. So now that you are aware that some of these text-to-text and text-to-self
connections can be distracting and now that we have talked about some things we can do to avoid
these distractions I want you all to practice these strategies when you are doing your independent
reading or reading with your reading groups.