Learning Activity

Learning Poetry With the Snowbird: Part 3

Subject Area

English Language Arts

Grade(s)

3

Overview

In this activity, students will read a familiar poem with appropriate phrasing, rhythm, and meaningful expression. In addition, students will identify the main idea and details within the poem, using text evidence to support their answers when completing the question set included with the text on ReadWorks. 

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 3

ELA21.3.11

Read and reread grade-appropriate poetry, practicing phrasing, rhythm, rhyme, and meaningful expression.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.3.11

Vocabulary

  • Reread
  • Grade-appropriate poetry
  • Phrasing
  • Rhythm
  • Rhyme
  • Meaningful expression

Knowledge

Students know:
  • The features of poetry include phrasing, rhythm, and rhyme.
  • Words rhyme if their vowel and ending sounds are the same (example: ham, Sam).
  • Rhythm is a steady beat made by stressed syllables in spoken words.
  • A phrase is a group of words.
  • Strategies to show meaningful expression, including making appropriate changes in voice, pitch, and expression while reading poetry orally.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Read and reread grade-appropriate poetry.
  • Practice rhyming, stressing syllables that create rhythm, grouping together words in phrases, and meaningful expression when reading poetry.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Poetry is a genre of text that uses distinctive style and rhythm to aid in the expression of feelings.
  • They can reread poetry to practice their use of phrasing, rhythm, rhyme, and meaningful expression.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 3

ELA21.3.19

Determine the explicit or implied main idea and supporting details of a text.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.3.19

Vocabulary

  • Explicit main idea
  • Implied main idea
  • Supporting details

Knowledge

Students know:
  • The main idea is the most important idea presented in the text.
  • Sometimes an author will clearly state the main idea, while other times an author will merely suggest the main idea.
  • The supporting details explain the main idea or provide more information about the main idea.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Identify the main idea in of a text.
  • Determine if the main idea is explicitly stated or implies.
  • Identify the supporting details of a text.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Literary and informational texts have a main idea, or most important message, and supporting details, which provide more information about the main idea.
  • An author can choose to state the main idea in the text or provide clues to imply the main idea.
  • A text usually just has one main idea, but multiple supporting details.

Phase

After/Explain/Elaborate
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

Students will read grade-appropriate poetry, practicing phrasing, rhythm, rhyme, and meaningful expression.

Students will determine and explain the main idea and supporting details of a text, using textual evidence when answering the question set included with the text on ReadWorks.

Students will summarize key ideas from the text, using textual evidence when answering the question set included with the text on ReadWorks.

Activity Details

Note: This activity can be completed digitally or by using paper copies. See the Advanced Preparation section for more details.

  1. Each student will need a copy of the poem, "The Snowbird's Song."
  2. The teacher will divide students into partner groups: Partner 1 will read the poem aloud to Partner 2 using appropriate phrasing, rhythm, and meaningful expression. Partner 1 should identify at least two rhyming words from the poem and share them with Partner 2. Partner 2 repeats these steps, reading the poem aloud to Partner 1. (If desired, the teacher can listen to each student read the poem aloud in a one-on-one setting.) 
  3. The students will answer the corresponding question set that contains questions about the main idea and supporting details of the poem and requires students to provide textual evidence to support their answers.
Assessment Strategies

Assessment Strategies

The teacher will listen to students reread the poem aloud to ensure each student reads with appropriate phrasing, rhythm, and meaningful expression and can identify at least two rhyming words. The teacher can listen to students in their partner groups or require students to read the poem to the teacher. 

The teacher will review each student's responses to the questions. The question set will assess each student's ability to determine the main idea, supporting details, and key details in the text. The question set requires students to support their answers with textual evidence. An answer key is available on the ReadWorks website. If using the digital version, the multiple-choice questions will be graded automatically.

Variation Tips

There is a Full Question Set (10 questions) and an Express Question Set (5 questions). The Express Question Set still correlates with the selected standards, so the teacher can choose which set to use. 

Approximate Duration

Total Duration

16 to 30 Minutes

Related Learning Activities

Learning Activity (Before)

Learning Poetry With the Snowbird: Part 1

Learning Activity (During)

Learning Poetry With the Snowbird: Part 2

Learning Activity (After)

Learning Poetry With the Snowbird: Part 3

Background and Preparation

Background / Preparation

  • ReadWorks is a website that provides K-12 teachers with free literacy resources (About ReadWorks). ReadWorks has literary and informational texts on a variety of subjects and reading skills. You may narrow your search using grade level or Lexile level, making this website a wonderful tool for differentiation. Students will complete their work digitally, and you will provide their scores and feedback digitally. This makes it easy to go paperless for this activity.
  • Prior to implementing this activity, you will need to sign up for an Educator Account on ReadWorks. After setting up an account, create a class from the Class Admin tab, this will provide you with a Class Code to give to students. Next, use the Find Content tab to search for the poem that will be used during this activity, The Snowbird's Song. After navigating to the article, click on the blue Assign button to assign it to your class.
  • Each student will need access to a digital device, such as a tablet or laptop. The first time students enter the website they will need to enter the Class Code that is listed on your Class Admin page. If you utilize Google Classroom, you can import your Google Classroom rosters into ReadWorks. You can also assign ReadWorks articles directly to your Google Classroom platform. 
  • Alternatively, the poem and corresponding question set can be printed and copied for each student.

Digital Tools / Resources

The Snowbird's Song from ReadWorks
https://www.readworks.org/article/The-Snowbirds-Song/cd30140f-fa23-4c42-8e65-39…

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

habradley
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