Unit Plan: Historical Fiction

STAGE 1: DESIRED RESULTS

Genre: Historical Fiction
Focus: Regions of the U.S.
Texts Read Aloud/Mentor texts:
Audio
Historical Fiction Texts
Video
IRAs/Chapter Books: Focus: WWE
A Picture Book of Lewis and Clark by David Adler
Lewis and Clark and Me by Laurie Meyers
Audio/Video:
http://www.history.com/shows/america-the-story-ofus/videos/america-the-story-of-us-westward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfoQBTPY7gk
http://www.schooltube.com/video/22442bc478824f72
b086/Westward%20Expansion%20US%20History
%20Video

Month/Duration: 4-5 Weeks

Student Texts:
Various texts from class &
public library
Additional Resources:
Individual book club
books available from
school library: focus on
HF or WWE

Common Core State Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when

drawing inferences from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the

text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.3
Identify the reasons and evidence a speaker provides to support particular points.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.6
Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the
difference between first- and third-person narrations.

Writing Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.1
Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
Essential Questions

How do people see the world through the eyes of others?

How is power portrayed in history?
How can an individuals perspective on a situation affect how history is told?
What causes change? Can change be positive and negative?

What themes can be drawn from historical fiction that pertain to everyday-life?
How can these specific events be related to events today?
In what ways can personalities reflect a historical time period, event, or setting?
What can a reader learn from reading historical fiction?

Enduring Understandings

The history we read about can help us explain the world around us.
Reading different accounts of the same event enables the reader to get more accurate picture.
Information can be communicated in multiple ways within a text, in order to aid our understanding of
a concept.
Information on the same topic can be communicated differently by two or more authors.
Hearing a story from different points of view allow us to gain perspective.

Reading Strategies
Students will be able to:
1. Refer to details and examples in a textwhen explaining events in chronological order.
2. Explain eventsincluding what happened and whybased on specific information in the text
3. Write or speak about a subject knowledgably by referring to information in a text
4. Summarize and synthesize information by taking into account the POV of the author
5. Explain how two or more specific events, ideas, concepts, or individuals are connected
Content Connections
Writing Workshop- Historical Fiction Writing
Social Studies- Regions of the U.S

STAGE 2: ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE (STUDENT WORK)

Performance Tasks/Formative Assessments
Performance Task/ Formative Assessment:
On-going conferences and guided reading observations
Thinking Tracks based on historical fiction texts in Reading Logs
Weekly Reading Responses
Read Aloud discussions
Book Talks
Vocabulary & Terms
Social/political circumstance, timeline, cause-and-effect, relationships, theme, POV (3rd person/1st person),
impact, time period, motivation, Time period, Historical figure, Flashback

STAGE 3: ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE (STUDENT WORK)

Week 1:
Essential Questions:
How can these specific events be related to events today?
In what ways can personalities reflect a historical time period, event, or setting?
What can a reader learn from reading historical fiction?
Mini lessons:
1. Constructing the Sense of Another time
CCSS: RL.4.3
Teaching Point: Readers notice the setting in a historical fiction story so that they can think about how
life was like at that time in history.
2. Synthesizing Story Elements
CCSS: RL.4.2
Teaching Point: Readers keep track of story elements as we read, continually building on our
understanding of what is going on.
3. Holding on When Time Jumps Back and Forth
CCSS: RL.4.1
Teaching Point: Readers are aware when time jumps back and forth in their story.
4. Unfolding Characters While Unfolding History
CCSS: RL.4.6
Teaching Point: Readers think not only of a characters timeline but also the historical timeline.
5. Scholastic News
Week 2:
Essential Questions:
How do people see the world through the eyes of others?
How can an individuals perspective on a situation affect how history is told?
What themes can be drawn from historical fiction that pertain to everyday-life?
Mini-lessons:
6. Thinking As Someone Else
CCSS: RL.4.6
Teaching Point: To deepen our understanding of characters, readers step into their shoes and realize that
they are shaped by the times in which they are shaped.
7. Scrutinizing, Not Skipping, Descriptions
CCSS: RL.4.1 & RL.4.2
Teaching Point: Readers pay close attention to descriptive passages to gather details and deepen our
understanding.
8. Making Significance
CCSS: RL.4.3 & RL.4.1
Teaching Point: Readers decide for ourselves what we will notice and how we will make meaning as we
read.
9. Forging Trails of Thought as We Read
CCSS: RL.4.1
Teaching Point: Readers hold onto big ideas as they continue to read, allowing them to shape our
thinking as we read on.
10. Scholastic News

Week 3:
Essential Questions:
How do people see the world through the eyes of others?
How is power portrayed in history?
How can an individuals perspective on a situation affect how history is told?
What causes change? Can change be positive and negative?
Mini lessons:
11. Widening the Horizons of Our Thinking
CCSS: RL.4.1 & SL.4.3
Teaching Point: Readers are open to new ideas, both as we read and in conversations.
12. Strengthening Our Empathy for Quiet Characters
CCSS: RL.4.6
Teaching Point: Readers deepen our understanding by imagining the perspectives of even the minor, or
absent characters.
13. Seeing Power in Its Many Forms
CCSS: RL.4.6
Teaching Point: Readers deepen our thinking by investing power dynamics in our stories.
14. Sparking Nonfiction Against Fiction to Ignite Ideas
CCSS: RL.4.1 & RL.4.2
Teaching Point: Readers spark new ideas when we read relevant nonfiction alongside our fiction books.
15. Scholastic News
Week 4
Essential Questions:
What themes can be drawn from historical fiction that pertain to everyday-life?
How can these specific events be related to events today?
In what ways can personalities reflect a historical time period, event, or setting?
What can a reader learn from reading historical fiction?
Mini Lessons:
1. Finding Themes through Different Texts
CCSS: RL.4.2
Teaching Point: Readers look for similar themes across different books to deepen our understanding.
2. Conveying Complex Ideas Artfully
CCSS: RL.4.2
Teaching Point: Readers convey complex ideas by alluding to ideas in other texts.
3. Making a Mark on History
CCSS: RL.4.3
Teaching Point: Readers pay attention to the choices characters make to give them a fuller picture of
historyand of human nature.
4. Celebration of Knowledge
CCSS: SL.4.3
Teaching Point: Celebrating and sharing what you learned with others!
5. Celebration of Knowledge Continued, if needed.
If not, Scholastic News will take place.
CCSS: SL.4.3
Teaching Point: Celebrating and sharing what you learned with others!