Our Gracie Aunt by Jacqueline Woodson

(Week 1 Fourth Grade)

Suggested Time: 5 days (30 minutes per day)
Common Core 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.4.3
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.W.4.1
Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.1.A
Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related
ideas are grouped to support the writer's purpose.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.1.B
Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.1.C
Link opinion and reasons using words and phrases (e.g., for instance, in order to, in addition).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.1.D
Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.
Unit Objective: Students will be able to identify what makes a family, compare and
contrast families from literature with their own families, and write an opinion piece
explaining why their family is unique.
Essential Questions: What makes a family? How are families the same? How are
families different? What makes a family unique?

Day 1 (Complete read-through with minimal interruptions)

• Introduction to Read Aloud/Expectation Setting: “Good morning! Today we
are going to have our first ever Read Aloud. I’m sure you know by now that
during Read Aloud we are going to get to read some great books, and I think
you’re really going to love our book today. Before we get started we need to
remind ourselves of our Read Aloud expectations. During Read Aloud we sit
mindfully. That means we’re sitting criss-cross, hands in lap, eyes on the teacher,
with our brains ready to learn and our sounds off. If you have something to say
you should raise a strong silent hand. Let me see you sitting mindfully raising
strong silent hands.” (scan the room narrating the good behaviors you see) “It
looks like you’re all mindful sitting experts. During Read Aloud we will also be
doing a lot of Turn and Talks so we can share our ideas. Let me show you how I
do a Turn and Talk.” (model turning to the person next you so that partners are
knee to knee and eye to eye) “Notice how my partner and I turned to each other so
we are sitting knee to knee and eye to eye. This lets us hear what the other is
saying so we can learn from our classmates.” (point out to students who their
Turn and Talk partner for the summer will be based on who they are sitting next
to) “During Turn and Talks we are all going to be talking at the same time so it’s
important that we whisper so it doesn’t get too loud. Let’s have two friends
practice turning to their partner knee to knee and eye to eye and whispering to
 their partner.” (select two students to practice while the rest of the class watches.
Narrate what they are doing and praise students) “Now everyone, practice
turning to your Turn and Talk Partner so you are knee to knee and eye to eye and
using your best whisper voice to tell your partner something interesting about
yourself. Don’t forget to let both partners have a turn!” (circulate the room
offering feedback as needed) “Great work! I loved how I saw people sitting knee
to knee and eye to eye, whispering, and making sure both partners got a turn to
share. One last thing, but also the most important thing about Turn and Talks is
that we’re only talking about the questions the teacher asked. If you’re sitting
there talking about what you are going to eat for lunch, then you probably won’t
be learning very much! Now that we’ve practiced Turn and Talks and set our
expectations for Read Aloud, let’s get started with our book for today.”
• Book Introduction: “This is a really beautiful story by one of my favorite
authors. This is a story about two kids whose mom can’t take care of them
anymore so they go to live with their Aunt Gracie. At first they’re frustrated, but
then things start to change. Let’s read and see what happens when the children go
to Aunt Gracie’s.”
• Complete Read-Through: (Read through page 9; Miss Roy helped Beebee…)
“How do you think Beebee and Johnson feel? How do you know?” (Choose 2-3
students to share and continue reading so as not to lose momentum. Finish
reading the book.) “How did Johnson and Beebee’s feelings change towards Aunt
Gracie throughout the book? What do you think made them feel differently?”
(accept 2-4 student answers.) “Tomorrow we will re-read part of Our Gracie Aunt
and think more deeply about how the characters in the book are feeling.”
• Teacher Tip: When calling on students be sure to restate your expectations.
(example: “I’m going to call on two students who are sitting mindfully and
raising strong silent hands to answer what they think will happen next in the
story.”)

Day 2 (Read through page 12)

• Prior to the Lesson: Print out and laminate Accountable Talk bookmarks. You
will distribute these to students to have during Read Aloud today and
throughout the summer.
• Reminder of Expectations and Introduction to Accountable Talk: “Welcome
back to Read Aloud! Who remembers our Read Aloud expectations?” (call on a
few students to remind the class about siting mindfully and raising strong silent
hands. Ask students to model these behaviors and praise exemplars) “We also
talked about Turn and Talks. During Turn and Talks we sit knee to knee and eye
to eye, whispering to our partner, and talking about the question the teacher asked
the whole time. Turn to your partner and tell them your favorite part of Our
Gracie Aunt from yesterday.” (circulate the room. This Turn and Talk should be
brief) “I saw some great Turn and Talks! In order to make our Turn and Talks
even better we are going to do something called Accountable Talk. That basically
means that instead of just listening to what our partner says and then saying what
we think, we are going to have a conversation with our partner and build off their
 ideas! That will really help us learn new things from each other and come up with
exciting new ideas. I’m going to give you a bookmark with some of our
Accountable Talk sentence stems. These sentence starters will help you have a
deep and respectful conversation with your partner. Take a minute to look at these
sentence stems and think about how you could use them when talking with your
partner.” (distribute Accountable Talk bookmarks and give students 1-2 minutes
to read through the sentence stems. Circulate the room helping students as
needed and asking them how they could use the sentence stems in conversation)
“Did you get some good ideas? Let’s rewind back go our question about what part
of Our Gracie Aunt did you like. I’m going to pick a partner.” (choose a partner
and have them tell you what their favorite part of the book was. Model using an
Accountable Talk sentence stem to build off of their idea. Example: I agree with
what you said because…It reminds me of…etc.) “Wow, that was a great
conversation! I learned so much from my partner! Turn back to your partner and
talk about your favorite part of the book again, but this time use your Accountable
Talk stems. Go!” (circulate the room encouraging students to use Accountable
Talk. Count to three to regain attention) “What new things did you learn from
using Accountable Talk with your partner?” (accept 2-3 student answers) “Keep
that bookmark safe because you’ll be using it all summer. For right now put it on
the floor and we can come back to it at our next Turn and Talk.”
• Book Introduction: “Today we are going to re-read part of Our Gracie Aunt and
really focus on Johnson and Beebee’s feelings. As we are reading, pay attention to
the words and illustrations. Think about how each character might be feeling and
why.”
• Read Aloud (through page 12): (Read through page 4; Where’s your mama…)
“We are going to work with our partners to pretend to be Beebee and Johnson.
Using what you know about them from the text and illustrations, what would they
say? What would they do? How would they talk? Turn to your partner and act out
what a conversations between Beebee and Johnson might look like and sound like
when Miss Roy is knocking on the door.” (circulate the room listening to student
conversations and pretending to be Miss Roy knocking on the door and calling
the children. Choose 2-3 students to share. Read through page 6; You think
Mama’s…) “What is foster care?” (choose 2-3 students to answer and discuss
how foster care is when children whose parents cannot take care of them anymore
go to live with a different family for a little while until their parents can care for
them again. Foster care was created to help make sure all children are safe and
well cared for.) “How do you think Johnson and Beebee feel about going to foster
care? Why?” (call on 2-3 students to answer. Emphasize that the children are
probably sad and nervous because they do not know what will happen and will
miss their mom who they love very much. Read through page 12; Miss Roy had a
shiny…) “I’m wondering how each person in the car is feeling as they’re driving
to Aunt Gracie’s. Using what you know from the text and illustrations, what do
you think Beebee is thinking? What would she say? What faces would she make?
What about Johnson? What about Miss Roy? I’m going to put you in groups of
three. Pretend to be your character. What would they say? What would they do?
How are they feeling?” (assign groups and roles. Circulate the room showing the
 illustration on page 11, asking questions, and referencing evidence from the text.
Choose 2-3 groups to share.) “You are really getting in the characters’ shoes and
understanding how they might be feeling. Tomorrow we will finish reading the
book and see how the characters’ emotions, or feelings, change throughout the
story.”
• Teacher Tip: Explicitly review expectations every day. Even though it seems
redundant, it will make your summer classroom management so much easier.
Remind students of expectations throughout the lesson and hold them accountable
for their actions. Praise on-task behaviors and give gentle reminders to others.
Day 3 (Read page 13 – end of book)
• Reminder of Expectations and Accountable Talk Procedures: “Welcome back
to Read Aloud! Who remembers our Read Aloud expectations? (call on a few
students to remind the class about siting mindfully and raising strong silent
hands. Ask students to model these behaviors and praise exemplars) “We also
learned about Accountable Talk. We use our Accountable Talk sentence stems to
build off each other’s ideas and have meaningful conversations with our
classmates. Using your Accountable Talk bookmarks, turn to your Turn and Talk
partner and discuss how Johnson and Beebee felt during the part of Our Gracie
Aunt we read yesterday. Go!” (circulate the room re-directing, listening in on
conversations, and praising encouraging Accountable Talk. Call on 2-3 students
to share their answers.)
• Book Introduction: “Today we are going to finish Our Gracie Aunt and focus
more on how Johnson and Beebee are feeling and also what makes their family
unique.”
• Read Aloud (page 13 – end of book): (Read through page 14; Miss Roy drove
us…) “I notice that Beebee is being very defensive, she seems angry and isn’t
showing a lot of her feelings. Why do you think Beebee is acting this way? Why
is she getting frustrated with Johnson? Turn and talk to your partner. Go!” (call
on 2-3 students to share. Discuss how Beebee is likely afraid of not knowing what
will happen and misses her mother. Sometimes when we are afraid or sad we act
with anger or frustration towards those we love.) “The book says that Aunt
Gracie is shaking her head like she couldn’t believe it. That tells me that Aunt
Gracie was probably surprised when she got the call from Miss Roy that Beebee
and Johnson would be living with her! That would be crazy to suddenly have two
more kids come live with you! I’m thinking that Aunt Gracie is a pretty unique
and special person to take care of Johnson and Beebee.” (continue reading
through page 15; That night our Gracie…) “Beebee seems to be changing a little
bit. How do you think Beebee’s feelings about Aunt Gracie are changing as the
story goes on?” (call on 2-3 students. Read through page 17; But how come…)
“What does Aunt Gracie mean by ‘just because a person goes away doesn’t mean
they don’t love you?’ Turn to your partner and talk about what that means.”
(circulate the room listening to conversations. Call on 3-4 students to share.
Discuss how this is a really confusing idea that Aunt Gracie doesn’t even
understand fully. Talk about how sometimes we have to make hard choices about
what is best for the people we love. Sometimes that means going away for a little
 while and then coming back. In this part of the book Aunt Gracie had to take a
break from Mama because they weren’t getting along, but even though she went
away she still loved Mama very much- their love never changed. Read through
page 21; One day me and Beebee were playing…) “Beebee and Johnson are
finally going to get to see their Mom! How do you think they feel? What would
they say? What faces would they make? One partner will be Johnson and one
partner will be Beebee. What do you feel? What are you thinking? What are you
saying? Go!” (circulate the room asking questions, showing illustrations, and
listening to conversations. Choose 2-3 students to share.) “I notice that Aunt
Gracie isn’t in this illustration, but what do you think she is thinking and feeling
as the kids are getting in the car to go see Mama?” (choose 2-3 students to pretend
to be Aunt Gracie and act out what she is thinking and feeling. Discuss why she
might be feeling this way. Read through page 25; Even when a mama loves
you…) “As I read this page I’m making a connection to earlier in the book when
Aunt Gracie talked about how ‘just because a person goes away it doesn’t mean
they don’t love you.’ It seems like Mama isn’t able to take care of Johnson and
Beebee right now so she’s leaving them with Aunt Gracie where she knows
they’ll be safe and taken care of. It seems like this is a really hard choice for
Mama, she seems very sad. I can tell that Mama really loves her children and
wants what is best for them. Even though she is going away, she still loves them
and is leaving them with Aunt Gracie who she trusts will take good care of them.”
(Read through the end of the book.) “Who is in Johnson and Beebee’s family?
What makes their family unique? Talk with your partner about why their family is
unique and who is in their family. Go!” (circulate the room listening to student
conversations and asking follow-up questions as needed. Encourage use of
Accountable Talk. Call on 3-4 students to share their ideas.) “Johnson and
Beebee’s family is really unique because the people in their family change
throughout the story. I also think they’re unique because each family member is
full of so much love. Aunt Gracie is unique because she loves the children enough
to invite them to stay with her when she might not have been expecting them and
Mama is unique because she loves her children enough to let them live with Aunt
Gracie until she knows she can take better care of them. Being filled with love is
one thing that can make a family unique and special. Tomorrow we are going to
think about what makes our own families unique and begin a really special
writing project.”
• Teacher Tip: To encourage students to listen to their partner during Turn and
Talks you can ask students sharing with the whole class to share what their
partner said instead of what they said. This will encourage students to listen
closely to their partner and make valuable connections between ideas.
Day 4 (Introduction to Writing Task)
• Reminder of Expectations and Accountable Talk Procedures: “Welcome back
to Read Aloud! Who remembers our Read Aloud expectations?” (call on a few
students to remind the class about siting mindfully and raising strong silent
hands. Ask students to model these behaviors and praise exemplars) “We also
learned about Accountable Talk. You have an Accountable Talk bookmark to
 remind yourself of strong questions and comments you can make to build off your
partner’s thinking. This helps us have meaningful conversations and learn from
our classmates. Turn to your partner and talk about how Johnson and Beebee’s
family was unique. Go!” (circulate the room re-directing, listening in on
conversations, and praising exemplar behaviors. Call on 2-3 students to share)
• Introduction: “Yesterday we talked about why Johnson and Beebee’s family is
unique and it seems like you remember a lot of really important details from the
text. Today we are going to think about our own families and what makes them
unique.”
• Writing Task: “We’ve talked a lot about Johnson and Beebee’s family and why
they’re unique. I want us to think about our own families and why our families are
special! I’m thinking about my family and how we love to play board games
together and eat dinner together. During those times we talk about our days and
tell funny jokes. I think my family is special because we like to spend time
together. One of my friends told me that she loves to have dance parties with her
family in the kitchen. Another of my friends likes to sit on the front porch with his
mom just watching cars go by. They don’t really talk, they just like to be together.
Turn and talk to your partner about what makes your family unique. Go!”
(Circulate the room listening in on conversations and re-directing students. Call
on 4-5 students to share what makes their family unique, encouraging students to
think of unique reasons) “All of your families sound so unique and you had such
great ideas! Today we are going to write about why our families are special. The
first thing I want to do with my writing is think of a good ‘hook’ to get my reader
interested in what I have to say and give them an idea of what they’ll be reading
about. I’m thinking about some good hooks I could write to get them excited and
I’m thinking maybe I could write something like ‘Does your family play games
after dinner? Well, my family does!’ to get them excited about my writing. I could
also write something like, ‘All families are unique, but I think my family is extra
special.’ I want to hear some of your ideas for a good hook. Turn to your partner
and talk about some ways you could open your writing. Go!” (circulate the room
providing feedback and suggestions as needed. Call on 4-5 students. You could
record their answers on an anchor chart. Choose one hook or have students vote
on their favorite hook) “Okay now I have my hook,” (repeat your hook, hold up
and touch your thumb as you say it) “now I need to come up with some details
that support my first sentence and explain to the reader why my family is so
unique. I like to tell my writing across my fingers so I don’t forget anything. The
first reason my family is unique is because we play games like cards together. I’m
going to write a sentence that says, ‘My family is unique because we play cards
together’ to explain to the reader why my family is unique.” (hold up and touch
your pointer finger as you say the first reason. Repeat this process for Details 2
and 3, making sure to ‘read’ the writing across your fingers) “Take a minute to
think about three reasons why your family is unique.” (give students some think
time then call on 3-4 students to share. If students give vague answers encourage
them to include more details and revise their sentence with the whole group)
“Now that I have my hook and my details to explain why my family is unique, I
need I nice way to close my writing. I want to remind the reader about what I’ve
 been writing about, but also not say the same thing over and over because that
would be boring. I think I might finish my writing with the sentences, ‘My family
is so unique and amazing! What makes your family unique?’ That will get the
readers thinking about their own families and I’m not repeating something I’ve
already said before. Now it’s your turn. You need a hook, three reasons why your
family is unique, and a closing. Telling the sentences across your fingers and
touching each finger as you say your sentence will help you not to forget anything
important. Turn to your partner and tell your writing across your fingers. Go!”
(circulate the room listening in on conversations and providing feedback. Call on
2-3 students to share their ideas) “Your writing is sounding great! Now we need
to get our ideas on paper. I’m going to give you something called a Flee Map to
help you organize your thinking. This isn’t going to be your final draft, but it’s a
great way to organize your ideas and your writing so that your final draft
tomorrow can be nice and neat. You’ll write your hook in the top box of your Flee
Map, include your three details in the three columns, and your closing in the last
big box. After you’ve written your sentences you can do some little sketches
about your details in the boxes above your details to help brainstorm what you’ll
include in your illustration tomorrow.” (point to the Flee Map boxes as you
explain) “Remember to write in complete sentences, use an uppercase letter at the
beginning of sentences or when writing names, use finger spaces, and punctuation
marks. You can get started on your Flee Map!” (circulate the room providing
feedback. Teaching points will likely include: using complete sentences, using
phrases such as ‘in addition to’ and ‘for instance,’ making sure sentence
structure is not repetitive, and ensuring that the structure of the writing makes
sense)
• If Time Permits: give students time to read their Flee Map to the person sitting
next to them and provide ‘glows and grows,’ one compliment and one suggestion
to improve their writing
• Teacher Tip: Spend time after students leave examining their work. An easy way
to provide feedback is to write Post-It notes with suggestions/feedback and put it
on their work. This way when you return their work the next day you’ll have
helpful and ready-to-go feedback for each student, they will have a way to
reference the feedback, and you can know if you need to address any common
misconceptions with the whole group.
Day 5 (Writing Task)
• Reminder of Expectations and Introduction: “You all did an amazing job with
your Flee Maps yesterday. I noticed people with engaging hooks, strong details
that explain why their family is unique, and good closing sentences. Let’s hear
what some of you are writing about.” (choose 2 students to share their writing
and affirm things they did well)
• Writing Task: “Now it’s time to transfer our writing to our final draft. I’m going
to give you a final piece of paper to write the information from your Flee Map on.
If there is something you needed to revise or edit you’ll fix that on your final
draft.” (these revisions and edits will come from 1:1 conferences or Post-It notes
as you return student work today.) “You’ll also add an illustration to support your
 writing and make it more interesting. Make sure that you’re writing neatly and
that your illustration matches what you wrote about. You can get started.” (return
student work and circulate the room providing feedback)
• If Time Permits: (gather students in a circle and allow students to share their
writing and illustrations. If time permits, call on students to offer compliments for
their peers’ writing.) “You all did an amazing job on your first writing project!
Next week we will read another fabulous book and write about it. Nice work!”
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