Curriculum / ELA / 2nd Grade / Alternate Unit 3: Lessons from Anansi the Spider / Lesson 9
ELA
Alternate Unit 3
2nd Grade
Lesson 9 of 19
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Describe Spider by describing how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
Book: The Adventures of Spider: West African Folktales by Joyce Cooper Arkhurst — "How Spider Helped a Fisherman"
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Tasks that represents the peak thinking of the lesson - mastery will indicate whether or not objective was achieved
Who is the fool in this story, Spider or the fisherman? Defend your thinking with evidence from the text.
An example response to the Target Task at the level of detail expected of the students.
Questions about the text that will help guide the students understanding
Spider offered to help the fisherman. Was this helpful? Why or why not?
Describe the fisherman.
What options does the fisherman give Spider? Why does he give him the choice to get tired?
Model fluent reading: “Watch me as I read the characters’ dialogue with expression today. How does it help you understand what they are thinking or feeling?”
Why did the people pay the fisherman, even though Spider did all the work?
Literary terms, text-based vocabulary, idioms and word parts to be taught with the text
fool
n.
a person who is likely to get tricked/acting like a fool
foolish
adj.
gullible
easily tricked
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L.2.6 — Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe (e.g., When other kids are happy that makes me happy).
RL.2.2 — Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
RL.2.3 — Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
RL.2.9 — Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.
Standards that are practiced daily but are not priority standards of the unit
L.2.1.e — Use adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified.
L.2.1.f — Produce, expand, and rearrange complete simple and compound sentences (e.g., The boy watched the movie; The little boy watched the movie; The action movie was watched by the little boy).
L.2.4.a — Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
RL.2.10 — By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2—3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
SL.2.1 — Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
SL.2.2 — Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
Lesson 8
Lesson 10
Explain why people in West Africa tell folktales about Spider by making inferences about key details that support the central message of a story.
RL.2.1 RL.2.2
L.2.6 RL.2.2 RL.2.3
Discussion & Writing
Recount “How Spider Got a Thin Waist” and determine the central message or lesson.
RL.2.2 SL.2.1 SL.2.2 SL.2.4
Retell “Why Spider Lives in Ceilings” and determine the central message or lesson.
RL.2.2 RL.2.5 RL.2.9 SL.2.1 SL.2.2 SL.2.4
Writing
Construct better and more informative sentences by using question words to add more details.
L.2.1.e L.2.1.f
Explain if Spider had been helpful or not by explaining how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
L.2.6 RL.2.2 RL.2.3 RL.2.9
Retell “How Spider Got a Bald Head” and determine the central message or lesson.
Retell “How Spider Helped a Fisherman” and determine the central message or lesson.
Explain what lesson Spider learned and how he learned it by recounting stories and determining their central lesson.
Retell “Why Spiders Live in Dark Corners” including the central message or lesson.
Explain why Spider decided to throw the pot on the ground by describing how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
Retell “How the World Got Wisdom” and determine the central message or lesson.
RL.2.2 RL.2.5 SL.2.1 SL.2.2 SL.2.4
Argue if Spider has more positive or negative traits by defending claims or opinions to content-related questions.
L.2.6 RL.2.3 RL.2.9 SL.2.1 SL.2.2 W.2.1
3 days
Perform a reader’s theater version of Anansi by reading with sufficient accuracy and fluency.
RF.2.3 RF.2.4 RL.2.4 SL.2.4
Narrative Writing – 4 days
Write a trickster tale featuring Spider that includes details about a beginning, middle, and end.
L.2.2.c L.2.6 W.2.3 W.2.5
Assessment
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