Close Reading of Chapter 14: The Birchbark House

Reading Unit: 2 Lesson: 10 Module: B • Objectives: • Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text. RL.4.4 • Identify key ideas and details in a story. RL.4.2 Today we will be doing a Close Reading of chapter 14. • Essential Questions: • How do readers compare and contrast topics? • How does a writer use evidence to support ideas of compare and contrast in • an essay?

First Read Let’s explore the text! Read the title. To come full circle is “to return to the original source, position, or situation.” As you begin to think about the journey of each character from the beginning of the novel to the end, remember the Essential Questions: • Essential Questions: • How do readers compare and contrast topics? • How does a writer use evidence to support ideas of compare and contrast in an essay?

Read Aloud Routine Focus: What is the “gist” of the text? I will begin reading The Birchbark House while you follow along in your book. Then, you will continue reading to the end of chapter 14, silently on your own. Focus on the similarities and differences between each character at the beginning of the novel and each character at the end of the novel. Be prepared to discuss the following questions when you are done with the reading: • Based on details from the text, what role did birds play in Omakayas’s life? • Based on evidence in the text, why did Omakayas start to feel more positively about her brother Pinch? • What questions do you have?

Second Read When you reread The Birchbark House, focus on focus on comparing and contrasting Omakayas at the beginning and the end of the story. Be prepared to discuss the following questions when you are done with the reading: 1. Chapter 13 ends as Omakayas begins to claim her identity as a unique individual. Yet, Chapter 14 begins with a problem: “Omakayas often experienced the haunting sense of things missing.” Which missing things is Omakayas able to identify? 2. How is Omakayas able to fill the missing space left in her heart by the loss of Neewo? 3. Which missing things is Omakayas unaware of? 4. How does Old Tallow fill in the missing space of Omakayas’s origins? What is the effect of this story on Omakayas? 5. How is Omakayas similar to the girl she was at the beginning of the story, and how is she different? 6. Albert LePautre takes his dreams very seriously. Given this, what do you think portentous (page 222) means?

Focused Reading • Text-Based Vocabulary • provisions, p. 221 • virtue, p. 223 • admonished, p. 223 • coincidence, p. 225 • Vocabulary Routine: • 1. Read the sentence containing the word. • 2. Identify context clues about its meaning within the passage. • 3. Look up the word in a dictionary and read the definition. • 4. Use the word in other ways. • *After we review these words, write your sentences on p. 134 in your Reader’s and Writer’s Journal.*

Focused Reading Text-Based Conversation In Chapter 1, the family builds the birchbark house, and Omakayas behaves like a typical child. She tries to sneak away to avoid the task of scraping a moose hide. In Chapter 14, the family builds the birchbark house, and Omakayas, who is preoccupied with sadness, fulfills her responsibilities without complaining, much as an adult would do. Discuss similarities and differences between the first building of the birchbark house and the second building.

Focused Reading Team Talk Routine Did Old Tallow choose the right time to reveal to Omakayas the story of her origin? Use story details to explain your thinking.

Reading Analysis Describe an Event The plot of a story is made up of a sequence of events. Generally, these events take place during a particular time frame, which is part of the setting. In some cases, an author may jump back in time to reveal an earlier event. This is called a flashback. Plot events, including those that occur in the past, contribute to character development because characters grow and change as they respond to the events of the plot.

Reading Analysis Describe an Event Use Story Sequence Chart B to record your responses to the questions on the next slide. I will model how to fill out the first row of the graphic organizer using the beginning of the story of Omakayas’s rescue from Spirit Island: the island population is stricken by small pox, and two year-old Omakayas is the lone survivor.

Reading Analysis Cite Text Evidence Focus on Omakayas’s rescue from Spirit Island. •Who first finds Omakayas on Spirit Island? •What is his reaction? •How does Old Tallow learn about Omakayas, and what is her reaction?

Independent Reading Reading Analysis Work independently to continue and complete the Event Description charts describing Omakayas’s rescue from Spirit Island. Writing in Response to Reading Turn to page 135 in your Reader’s and Writer’s Journal and read the prompt: After learning the story of Omakayas’s rescue from Spirit Island, how have your thoughts about Old Tallow changed? How would you have described Old Tallow before learning this story? How would you describe her now? Use story details to explain your ideas.

Small Groups It’s time to get into our groups! Please see me if you don’t know what group you belong in.

Writing Opinion Writing • Objectives: • Include effective summaries in opinions. • Produce compound sentences.

Writing Opinion Writing You will be writing a book review of The Birchbark House. A book review gives the writer’s opinion of a book. Usually, a book reviewer provides a brief summary of the book, a positive or negative opinion of the book, and reasons and evidence to support the opinion. Effective book reviews also help readers decide if they themselves want to read the book.

Writing Opinion Writing When writers summarize, they give only the most important information about the book. They describe the characters and events that are crucial for the reader to know about. Details that are not as important to an understanding of the book should be left out. A summary in a book review should not give away the entire plot. •Book reviews give a writer’s opinion of a book, whether positive or negative. •A brief summary of the book is usually included. •The book reviewer’s opinion of the book is supported with reasons and with text evidence, such as story details or quotations.

Writing Analyze the Text Let’s try to understand how to choose story details to summarize. By grouping related information, the writer helps readers to focus on one aspect of a topic and to see connections between details.

Writing Conventions Focus: Producing Compound Sentences A simple sentence has one complete thought. An independent clause is a group of words with a subject or a verb that can stand alone as a complete sentence. A compound sentence has two or more independent clauses. They can be joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction such as and, but, for, or so. An example of a compound sentence is the following: “Omakayas was eager to find berries, but she had to work on the moose hide.” The clauses could stand as sentences, but here they are joined into one sentence by a comma and the coordinating conjunction but.

Writing Independent Writing Write three paragraphs reviewing The Birchbark House for a class blog. Include a brief summary and state your opinion of the novel. Include strong reasons and text evidence to support your opinions.

Close Reading of Chapter 14: The Birchbark House