Thanksgiving Literacy Lesson Plan

Created by Kim Greco Sarah Macholdt

University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
Goals/ Objectives
SWBAT articulate their preference for either turkeys or bald eagles using specific facts derived
from two different articles.
Standards (and Assessment Anchors, if applicable) Under pink line is the fourth grade standards*
Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.1
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences
drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details;
provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
Craft and Structure:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.5
Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a
text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.1
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing
inferences from the text.
Craft and Structure:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.6
Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the
differences in focus and the information provided.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.9
Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject
knowledgeably.

Preparation
We will set up the chart paper, including our organizer model. We will show the historical
thanksgiving opening video, and then have a whole-group conversation about norms- including
teamwork skills, general respect, and communication. Students will then begin reading their
articles in groups.
After students read the articles and write down their notes, we will hand out markers and lined
paper and pass around copies of the guiding questions.

Materials
List of Norms (Raise your hand to speak, Respect your partner, No wrong answers)
One laptop (for warm up video)
Camera and tripod from the library
Presenter notes and clipboard (3 sets)
Chart Paper
Markers
Copies of each article (below)
o http://www.nwf.org/news-and-magazines/nationalwildlife/birds/archives/2007/americas-first-bird-controversy.aspx
o https://newsela.com/articles/turkey-eagle/id/2005/
For the purposes of differentiation, article will be printed at a 3rd- 7th
grade level and distributed to students appropriately
Copies of Guiding questions/ sentence stems
Stack of Lined Paper
Sharpened pencil
Independent reading books (for any student who finishes early)
Classroom Arrangement and Management issues
Briefly describe the physical arrangement of the class and with respect to managing your plans in
the particular space:
1. This lesson will be taught in the library, because it is more quiet and spacious than their
classrooms. Students will be immediately assigned a partner and each set of partners will
sit together for the duration of the lesson. The instructor will have sets of partners arguing
the same point in the debate sit on the same side of the table.
2. The instructor (Kim or Sarah) will be in charge of passing out the materials that the
student will use for the lessons while the students are reading and discussing the articles.
3. Possible management concerns are student disengagement or confusion. We will
encourage engagement but rephrasing questions asked by other students. Confused
students will be able to ask their partners for clarification. They will also be able to ask
their instructor if they are still confused.
Plan
1. Rent camera and tripod from the library (week before) Time: Tuesday during lunch
2. Put students into predetermined groups- one higher level student with one lower level
student (1 minutes)
3. Students will read the 2 articles in their groups of 3 (10 minutes)
4. In group students will fill out a sheet of poster paper following a research outline modelfocus on one bird and students will use the guiding questions about the readings to help
with their outline (15 minutes)
5. Then the whole group will debate about which would be the better national bird (20
minutes)
a. For the debate, we will have a chart paper that shows the structure of it. Below is
an example: First, we will flip a coin to see which team starts first
Team Turkey
Team Eagle

Comment [L1]: What will the opening of the lesson look

like?
Comment [L2]: Are they reading individually (but sitting
with their group) or doing group reading? If the latter, you
may need to provide instructions and model this.
Comment [L3]: Theyve done this before, correct?
Regardless, you may want to go over this.

Opening Statement First (2 minutes)

Open Statement Second (2 minutes)
Think about rebuttal (1 min)
Think about rebuttal (1 min)
First Rebuttal (Goes second)
First Rebuttal (Goes first) (2minutes)
Think about closing (1 min)
Think about closing (1 min)
Closing Statement (Goes first) (2min)
Closing statement (goes second) (2min)
6.
Exit slip: List one fact that you learned about the other teams bird If you could ask
Benjamin Franklin one thing about his decision to make the national bird a turkey, what would it
be? (1 minutes)
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
Eagle vs. Turkey: America's First Bird Controversy: (National Wildlife Federation)
1. What character trait of the eagle made it a good symbol for the nature?
2. What national event made people choose the eagle as the American symbol?
3. Which famous American did not like the eagle as a choice as the American bird?
4. Based on context clues, what do you think that He is a bird of bad moral character
means?
5. What other countries can these two birds live in?

Comment [L4]: They may not need two full minutes to

speak.

Are they writing out their statements and rebuttals, and
reading from them? Some students may feel more
confident if theyre able to read what they wrote (rather
than just use an outline).

I think this is what youre referring to in the Materials
section, but just in case: To differentiate instruction, you
may want to offer sentence stems to guide some students
in starting the opening statement, rebuttal, and closing
statement.
Comment [L5]: I suggest leaving time to debrief as a
whole group after the debate. Consider preparing some
relevant high-order thinking skills questions for this
debriefing.

This debate's for the birds: Who's the better national symbol? (NEWSELA):
1. Why did Benjamin Franklin think that the turkey is a more respectable bird?
2. What are some major characteristics about the turkey and eagle?
3. What evidence does Roger Shields, a Florida scientist, present about the Eagle that
supports the Eagle to be the national bird?
4. What comebacks did the birds have, according to the text?

Assessment of the goals/ objectives listed above

Students will be given a piece of paper to answer the exit slip questions, 1) List one fact that
you learned about the other teams bird from the debate. 2) If you could ask Benjamin Franklin
one thing about his decision to name the turkey the national bird, what would it be? (If students
wrote down facts about the bald eagle, they will now write down a fact about the turkey, etc.)
Kim and Sarah will also collect the lined paper on which students took notes. This will help us to
analyze student thinking. We will also use the class discussion and observations of student
conversations to analyze student thinking. Understanding student thinking will help us to more
accurately progress towards our goals for our students.
Anticipating Students Responses and your Possible Responses
a.
We do not anticipate many management issues with the groups of students that we have
selected. They have historically all been fairly well behaved. However, we believe that some
students might have difficulty picking out key facts from the articles are given and be
disengaged. We also anticipate that some students may do more talking and work than others. In
order to try and prevent this, we will ask that everyone tries to voice their thoughts at least once
during the debate, as well as go around and ask those students some one-on-one questions to
guide their thinking.
b.
We hope that the response to content of the lesson will be favorable. We hope that the
students enjoy the incorporation of hands-on activities as well as the debate framework.

Comment [L6]: You may want to review how to pick out

key facts. For particular students that you know will have
great difficulty picking out key facts, consider using a
highlighter to highlight one key fact in the article to get
them startedit depends on the students needs.

Accommodations
a.
Students will be working with groups, so they will have a team to help each if they run
into trouble with reading comprehension, fluency, pronunciation, or general understanding.
b.
Students who need greater challenge and/ or finish early will be able to either read their
independent reading book, start a personal research outline for the debate, or answer the guided
questions on loose leaf paper.