Unit: Be a Friend, Make a Friend

Lesson Title: The Rumor

Concept

To learn how character traits are an integral part of understanding stories.

Standards RL.2.1, RL.2.2, RL.2.3 Objectives

SW determine moral of story. SW demonstrate understanding of key details in text. SW describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. SW perform characters using traits found in story, specifically the action words that show how they move. 1. Play Telephone to show how a sentence can be changed as it gets retold over and over and how that is a representation of how stories can change. 2. Discuss the word rumor and how what they learned in the game Telephone can teach them a lesson about spreading rumors. 3. Read the story The Rumor by Monique Felix. 4. Discuss how the rumor in the story kept growing the more it was told over and over. 5. Have the following action verbs written on paper and the character names written on post it notes. After reading the story, discuss those words and how using those key details helps you understand how to act out that character. 6. Play a matching game where each post it is matched up to how that character moved. 7. Have students stand and go over each movement of each animal. 8. Reread the story and have the students act it out. Be sure to have them stay in character and say the dialogue in a way that appropriately matches the character. 9. Have students act out story in small groups or in front of the class. Character development, animal traits, action verbs

Procedure

Connectio ns Extensions
Create a new rumor that gets passed on by the same characters or new ones. Write a story with a rumor as the main source of the problem. Apply the action verbs to human characters and have them speak dialogue as that character. Each member of the group can be given the words to act out and told what movement to do.

Adaptation s

Assessmen t

Written response of what a rumor is. Performance of story in small groups: checking for action verb understanding and appropriate representation of character trait. Review of story written by students if extension is used.