Organization

Mini-Lesson:  The Scramble Game

Goal:  Students will sequence and organize events from a scrambled text using transition words and time order words as clues.     

TEKS: 

3.14C   write to communicate with a variety of audiences

3.18A  generate ideas for writing by using prewriting techniques such as drawing and listing key thoughts.

3.18B  develop drafts

Sources: 

Creating Writers.  (Spandel), p. 183

Teaching Writing Skills with Children's Literature, (Dierking & Anderson-McElveen) p. 105.

Lesson Procedure:

1.         Explain that in order for a story to make sense to the reader, it has to have a beginning, middle and end.  Emphasize that authors use transition words to help readers understand the sequence of events. 

2.        Show them the book, Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber.  Ask them if they have ever slept over at a friend or relative's house.  Elicit responses about how they felt and what they did to prepare for their overnight stay. 

3.        Explain that in the book, Ira is worried about spending the night at his friend's house.  He is ashamed to take along his special teddy bear. 

4.        Inform the students that the events from Ira Sleeps Over are all mixed up.  Tell them that you need their help organizing the events of this story so that it makes sense. 

5.        Give partner pairs a set of sentence strips with the events from the story written on them .  Ask the pairs to try to predict the sequence of events as think they occur in the story.  Encourage students to read each sentence strip carefully and use clues such as transition words to help them. 

6.        Read the story.  Have the students test their predicted sequence with the actual order of events from the book.