The Secret Garden for 6 th graders

1. The Secret Gardenfor 6th graders Katrina Butcher

2. My Classfull demographics of students not included on A-2 form? • From Jefferson County School Class averages from their website: • # of Students:  25  • # of IEP Students:  6   • # of GSSP Students:   4  • # of LEP Students:   2  • Demographics • 11 are Black, 4 are Hispanic, 1 is Asian, and 10 are White. • 20 are on free and reduced lunch • 15 are from basically collectivist cultures.

3. My IEP students • Mary – (C, 12) mild dyslexia • Alma – (H, 11) Native Spanish speaker with improving reading skills • Ikhran – (African, 12) Recent immigrant from Somalia who goes each day to ESL tutoring at school. • Zack – (C, 11) ADHD • LaShawna – (A-A, 11) ADHD • Henry – (Vietnamese, 11) ADHD

4. The Secret Garden • AR Level: 6.3 • Unabridged • Pages: 288 • Interest level: 9-12

5. Why this book? • Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett • Published in 1910 • Well written, solid story • Entire text available online: http://www.online-literature.com/burnett/secretgarden/

6. Essential Question • Big Idea: Interpreting Text (Reading) • “Interpreting text requires readers to extend their initial impressions to develop a more complete understanding of what is read. This involves linking information across parts of a text, as well as focusing on specific information. Texts (including multicultural texts) encompass literary and informational texts (expository, persuasive, and procedural texts and document). Strategies for interpreting print texts can also be applied to non-print texts (e.g., digital, environmental).” • Basically, this is an introduction to reading a novel and understanding it in the context of its broader themes and the world in which it was written.

7. Guiding Questions • EL-6-IT-S-1 - Students will use comprehension strategies while reading, listening to, or viewing literary and informational texts • EL-6-IT-S-2 - Students will use text structure cues (e.g., chronology, cause/effect, compare/contrast, description, logical/sequential) to aid comprehension • EL-6-IT-S-3 - Students will use text references to explain author’s purpose, author’s message or theme and supporting evidence

8. Content for Assessment • RD-O6-3.0.2 • Students will identify an author’s purpose in a passage. • DOK 2 • RD-O6-3.0.7 • Students will identify an author’s opinion about a subject. • DOK 2

9. Cross-Curriculum Tie-In • Social Studies • Big Idea: Cultures and Societies • Culture is the way of life shared by a group of people, including their ideas and traditions. Cultures reflect the values and beliefs of groups in different ways (e.g., art, music, literature, religion); however, there are universals connecting all cultures. Culture influences viewpoints, rules, and institutions in a global society. Students should understand that people form cultural groups throughout the United States and the World, and that issues and challenges unite and divide them.

10. Themes • Loneliness • Self-realization • Secrets • England in the 1870s • Human Companionship • Health and Nature • Death of family members • Power of positive thinking

11. Basic How-to • Provide a book to each student to take home. • Keep a set in the classroom as well. • Text also available online • Provide 10 minutes of reading time in class each day • Closing activity • Read out loud in groups • Look for extra time to allow in class reading as you can over the time of the unit • Give the students CLEAR guides on what is expected of them. • Hand out a schedule. • Teach your lessons on the book 3 times a week. • Have the students journal every chapter

12. Length of lesson • Reading a book in class is a challenge. It takes time. • It will take longer than you expect. • 9 to 12 class periods devoted to this unit • Teaching students in the sixth grade to read a novel critically is an important skill they have likely never done before.

13. Final assessments • Journal • Short answer test, 10 questions plus 2 open response • Students will have 4 open responses to pick their 2 choices from. • Group poster session set up in lunch room. • Invite students in class to dress as a character from the book. • Invite other grades to come see them.

14. Actual 12 question test here • Short Answer: Answer the following questions in 1 to 3 sentences. (4 pts each) • Who is the author of The Secret Garden? • In what time period is it set? • Why does Mary come to stay at Misselthwaite Manor? • How does Mary find Colin? • How is the key to the secret garden found? • What gift does Dickon bring Mary when he meets her and how is that important? • What is the secret garden and why is it locked? • What do the children do in the garden and why is it important? • Describe Mary at the beginning of the book and then name three ways she changes over the course of the book. • Besides Ben Weatherstaff, what adult is invited into the garden and why is this important to the book? • Open response: Pick two of the following questions and write out your answers on notebook paper. Each question will take between 2 and 5 paragraphs to answer. (10 pts each). • How is Dickon different from Mary and Colin? • Why is Colin sick at the beginning of the book and how does Colin recover? • Why does Master Craven avoid Colin? • Describe three different secrets that are kept in the book, tell why they are kept, and how they are discovered.

15. Lastly… • Journals are not collected until two weeks after last lesson. • Pay careful attention to your struggling readers. • Remember, you have to sell this book to get your students interested and keep them interested. • You will be spending a lot of time on it. • Be creative!