ALEX Learning Activity

  

Who Was Senator John Lewis?

A Learning Activity is a strategy a teacher chooses to actively engage students in learning a concept or skill using a digital tool/resource.

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  This learning activity provided by:  
Author: Nicole Tudor
Organization:-1
  General Activity Information  
Activity ID: 2989
Title:
Who Was Senator John Lewis?
Digital Tool/Resource:
 
Web Address – URL:
Not Applicable
Overview:

Students will read aloud the picture book, "Because of You, John Lewis," by Andrea Davis Pinkney. This is a biographical book and contains informational text on Senator John Lewis. Then students will discuss with a peer what facts they learned about the senator. Lastly, they will demonstrate their knowledge by sharing these facts with the class.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.
  Associated Standards and Objectives  
Content Standard(s):
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 4
14. Demonstrate comprehension of literary and informational text by utilizing its content when discussing or writing in response to the text.
Unpacked Content
Teacher Vocabulary:
14.
  • Comprehension
  • Literary text
  • Informational text
  • Discussing
  • Writing
  • Response
Knowledge:
14. Students know:
  • Comprehension of text can be demonstrated by referring to the text in discussions or written responses.
  • Informational text is nonfiction text, and literary text is fictional.
Skills:
14. Students are able to:
  • Demonstrate understanding of literary and informational text by referring to the text in discussions.
  • Demonstrate understanding of literary and informational text by referring to the text in written responses.
Understanding:
14. Students understand that:
  • They can show that they understood literary and informational text by discussing or writing about specific content from the text.
Learning Objectives:

Students will demonstrate comprehension by writing biographical facts obtained from "Because of You, John Lewis," by Andrea Davis Pinkney.

 
  Strategies, Preparations and Variations  
Phase:
Before/Engage
Activity:

  1. Building on prior knowledge, the teacher will ask students what type of book is defined as a biography.

  2. Then the teacher explains that students must listen and locate biographical information in the text

  3. Students will read the picture book biography, “Because of You, John Lewis," by Andrea Davis Pinkney. This will be done as a read-aloud with the teacher projecting the book and directing students to take turns reading

  4. The class will pair up for Think, Pair, Share. They will work together to write 2-3 facts about John Lewis on note cards. Then the note cards will be placed on the bulletin board for everyone to learn from.

  5. The paired students will share their notes with the class. 

  6. The teacher will then pose the question, how did the author find the information?
Assessment Strategies:

Teacher can assess that students comprehended the text by collecting the note cards to verify that they utilized its content when writing in response to the text.
Advanced Preparation:

The approximate time for this lesson is 30-45 minutes.

Teacher Needs: teacher should familiarize themself with the book, "Because of You, John Lewis," by Andrea Davis Pinkney.  (I use a digital copy of the text and project it so that everybody follows along together)

Students Needs: students will need to have an understanding about what types of books are classified as biographies and whether these books contain factual information.

Materials and Resources:

Copy of the book “Because of You, John Lewis,” by Andrea Pinkney

Pencils

Projector and teacher laptop to show navigation skills and lesson

 
Variation Tips (optional):

Acceleration: Students may continue to write additional facts on note cards.

Intervention: Students who are struggling can receive help from their partner. They may also verbalize their example or use the book to point out examples.
Notes or Recommendations (optional):

Ultimately, the resource will be used as a tool for the students to take part in the research process. The whole lesson can be modified with other biographical picture books and Gale in Context: Elementary articles to meet the need for other historical figures.

This lesson was written as a set and the next lesson progression is "A Look Into the Life of John Lewis," which has students further their knowledge about Senator John Lewis by reading the article "John Lewis" found in GALE in Context through the Alabama Virtual Library.

Then there is an additional learning activity "A Day in The Life of John Lewis," that is the "After' activity.
  Keywords and Search Tags  
Keywords and Search Tags: 4th grade, Alabama Virtual Library, informational texts, John Lewis