Lesson Title: Roxaboxen
Topic/Focus Area: comprhension

Lesson Overview

Third grade students study the desert. Roxaboxen is one of the stories that we integrate into our desert theme. Roxaboxen is a story in our Language Arts book as well as our Social Studies book. During the course of the unit students will learn about safety in the desert. They will also be learning about some desert plants and animals. We conclude our desert theme by taking a field trip to the Anza-Borrego State Park.

Students learn about different aspects the desert through out the unit. They learn about safety/survival in the desert. They learn about various kinds of animals and their habitats. They also learn about plants and how they were used by people that lived in the desert.

Subject : English-Language Arts
Grade : Third
Strand : Reading
Substrand 2.0 : Reading Comprehension

Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. They draw upon a variety of comprehension strategies as needed (e.g., generating and responding to essential questions, making predictions, comparing information from several sources). The selections in Recommended Readings in Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Eight illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students. In addition to their regular school reading, by grade four, students read one-half million words annually, including a good representation of grade-level-appropriate narrative and expository text (e.g., classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, online information). In grade three, students make substantial progress toward this goal.


Concept : Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text

 

 

Standard:

2.6

Extract appropriate and significant information from the text, including problems and solutions.

Strand : Writing
Substrand 1.0 : Writing Strategies

Students write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a central idea. Their writing shows they consider the audience and purpose. Students progress through the stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting, drafting, revising, editing successive versions).


Concept : Organization and Focus

 

 

Standard:

1.1

Create a single paragraph: a) Develop a topic sentence. b) Include simple supporting facts and details.

Concept : Penmanship

 

 

Standard:

1.2

Write legibly in cursive or joined italic, allowing margins and correct spacing between letters in a word and words in a sentence.

Concept : Evaluation and Revision

 

 

Standard:

1.4

Revise drafts to improve the coherence and logical progression of ideas by using an established rubric.

Student Learning Objectives

• Students will demonstrate knowledge of desert by giving an oral presentation. Student presentations should include graphics found on the internet.
• Students will take an Accelerated Reading Test after reading the story Roxaboxen. 80% of the students in the class will pass the test with a percentage of 70 or above.
• Students will write a paragraph describing their experience at Anza-Borrego State Park. Student will make a map. Then they will write a rough draft. They will then edit their draft. They will submitt a final copy of their paragraph complete with an illustration.

Activities

1. Teacher will introduce five to ten new vocabulary words from the story Roxaboxen. Students will then search for the words on the internet. They will go to the Merriam-Webster's dictionary site. The site is listed on the Teacher's Favorites List. Here is a list of words students can look up: border, edge, plenty, remember, trace, mayor, plain, reach, thorny and seasons.
2. The teacher will then read the story Roxaboxen aloud to the students. Following there will be a class discussion of the story along with story mapping. During story mapping students will recall events that happened in the story and organize them sequentially on there maps. The purpose of the map is for students to have a visual aide/graphic organizer for when they're writing their story summaries.
3. Sometime during the same week students will listen to the story Roxaboxen on tape when its their turn to go to the listening center. They audiocassette cassette is included with the literature series. There is also a video cassette students can watch. If you are interested in the VHS see the attached files.
4. After listening and reading the story twice, or in some cases three times, students will then take the Accelerated Reading Test.
5. As part of our desert theme, students learn about safety in the desert. Before we go on our field trip, students learn about the importance of having water at all times. They also learn the importance of staying together. There is to be no running off, because the desert is so expansive and desolate in some areas. Students learn about how to dress before going hiking. Students are to wear jeans, bring a light jacket and hat. No open-toed shoes. Students are also incouraged to bring along plenty of sun-screen. If students plan on hiking with there families we encourage the use of flashlights. We also remind students not to litter. Students learn to leave the animals alone if they incounter them in their natural habitat surroundings.
6. Students also learn about desert plants and animals. Students learn about different animals that live in the desert. They learn about the big-horned sheep and how they use their horns as a defense mechaninsm. They also learn about coyotes and smaller animals such the scorpion. During the field trip a Park Ranger gives a tour. During the tour she gives detailed information on certain desert vegetation.
   
   Students learn about different plants that grow well and survive the desert heat, such as the saguaro cactus and mesquite trees. Students also learn about plants that were used by people that lived in the desert from the Park Ranger. For some parts of this activity students use the Enchanted Learning web site.
7. When we are near the end of our desert theme students go on a field trip to the Anza-Borrego State Park. While their students are given a tour of the Visitor Center by a Park Ranger. Students learn about the plants and animals that are common to the park first hand. They also view a slide show. Finally, students explore the desert by hiking up a canyon trail.
8. Students are asked to write a paragraph on their experience at Anza-Borrego State Park. They also illustrate their writing. Students will be assessed using the rubric that is attached.
9. Students make an art activity of the desert using colored sand. They make their sandpainting according to what they remember of their field trip.

Resources

File Attachments

Pic1
  — ranger.jpg   (33.6 KB)

Pic2
  — kids.jpg   (40.1 KB)

Pic3
  — stream.jpg   (43.5 KB)

Pic4
  — rocks.jpg   (26.8 KB)

Sandpaintings
  — Mvc-001s.jpg   (40.4 KB)

Rubric
  — Rubric.jpg   (64.6 KB)

Final Presentation
  — Roxaboxen.ppt   (780 KB)

High paragraph
  — High.jpg   (98.1 KB)

Low paragraph
  — Low.jpg   (116 KB)

Medium Paper
  — Middlepaper.jpg   (79.9 KB)

Story Map
  — Storymap.jpg   (18.1 KB)

Students will be asked to help fill out a KWL chart before the lesson begins so the teacher has an idea of what students already know of the desert.

Students will take an Accelerated Reading Test on the story of the week, in this case, Roxaboxen. Teacher will have information on student comprehension of the story based on the students' TOPS report. Students are expected to pass the A.R. with 80% or better.

Students will also be evaluated on their writing. Evaluations will be made according to the attached rubric.

Students will look for words on the internet in pairs. They will also be listening to the story on audiocassette in groups of three or four. They will take the A.R. quiz individually.

The writing will be done individually, but the editing can be done in groups of three.