Unit Title: The Fourteenth Goldfish

Lesson Title: Compare and Contrast Relationships and Changes in the Book
Curriculum Area (s):
Language Arts
Grade Level: 5th grade
Time Required: 2 class periods

Author: Amy Shuman

Author Contact:
aeshum8395@ung.edu
Instructional Groupings:

Are you using whole group, small group,

partners,
quads, homogeneous, heterogeneous?

Mix
Parts of Novel Study assignment addressed in this lesson: Language
Arts
Standards: List the state standards that you are using in this unit/lesson.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3
Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story
or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters
interact).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5
Reading Standards for Literature
Key Ideas and Details
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem
from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama
respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic;
summarize the text.
Objectives: Explain what drives a change in characters and their
relationships.
Students will be able to compare and contrast change by determining
themes of the story and drawing on specific details in the text.
Materials: Change Chart 1, Plot Conflict Chart 1, Plot Conflict Chart 2,
Relationship Change Chart 2, Relationship Change Worksheet,
Photos/illustrations of self at various points in life 3-5 per student, chart
paper, markers, The Fourteenth Goldfish
Overview: What is the purpose of the lesson?
The purpose of this lesson is to aid students understandings and analysis of
change in a story while relating it to their personal changes. Students will be
able to compare and contrast relationships in stories and how their own
relationships have shifted through change.

How will I differentiate? For readiness interest learning profile

affect/learning environment combination
The teacher will differentiate the material by grouping students accordingly
and the worksheets will be tiered. For example, the below level students will
have some blanks filled in, on level students will have only a few blanks filled
in, and above level students will need to create responses for each answer
and no blanks will be filled in.
As a result of this lesson/unit students will
Understand (big ideas, principles, generalizations, rules, the point of the discipline or
topic within
the discipline)

Students will understand that change is inevitable and they will be able to
recognize changes in stories by addressing key elements of plot change and
point of view as various relationships in the stories alter.
Know (facts, vocabulary, howtos, information that can be memorized)
Students will better know how to complete the teacher provided charts by
filling in the appropriate sections with inferences and information drawn from
the text.
Do (Skills) (thinking skills, skills of the disciplineskills you will assess)
Students will complete the charts, bring personal pictures, analyze change in
both the texts and their lives and share with the class.
PreAssessment How will you find out about where your students are at for this
lesson? What will
your preassessment look like?

Prior to beginning this lesson, ask students to gather and bring in 3 to 5

photos of themselves at various points in their lives. If they do not have
photos available, they can draw pictures that illustrate 3 to 5 various
points/ages in their lives. Students should choose photos that portray
important events or days in their lives, placing them in chronological order.
Ask students to create a timeline on poster paper using their
photos/illustrations. The oldest photo should be at the left, with photos
moving to the right in chronological order. (You may want to have students
use paper clips to attach the photos to the paper, rather than using glue.)
Have students think about how they have changed from photo to photo (age,
appearance, feelings, ideas, living spaces, abilities, interests, etc.). They
may write these changes down on their timeline under each photo.
Ask students to share their timeline with the class, describing the changes
they may have experienced during each stage represented in the photos.
Explain that not only do people change personally, but they also bring about
change in others. Ask students to think about how their growing up or their

actions may have changed friends or family members. Students can

brainstorm and discuss this point as a class.

Steps in the Lesson: Include ideas for wholeclass instructions, if any; differentiated
activities;
Sharing; , instructional strategies

The teacher will explain that just as people change over the course of their
lives, characters change over the course of a book. Characters may change
physically or emotionally. Relationships between characters also change. The
teacher will also explain that characters usually change because of events
and/or other characters that impact or influence them. As a whole class, the
discussion will then talk about changes in The Fourteenth Goldfish. The
Relationship Change Chart 1 will be used to understand what drove the
changes in their relationship and how these changes impacted the
characters: What did this relationship look like in the beginning of the book?
What does this relationship look like now? What events or other characters
caused the change in the relationship? How did the relationship change
impact the characters?
The teacher will then ask "How can I identify how a relationship in a The
Fourteenth Goldfish changes, what drives that change, and how a
relationship change impact the characters?" Students should respond that
you examine a relationship in the book and look at details about the
relationship and how it has changed over time. Then, you identify which
events in the book or other characters drove that change. You then compare
and contrast the characters personality and actions from the beginning of
the book to the end of the book, and draw a conclusion about how this
relationship change has also changed the character.
Closure Activity/Wrap up: This may be in the form of independent practice, a
chance to share, or
explicit restatement of the goals of the lesson.

Students will be able to understand what events or other characters caused

the changes in relationships. Finally, we will ask ourselves: How did the
relationship change impact the characters? We will record this information
under the How did the relationship change impact the characters? column
on our Relationship Change Chart 2.
PostAssessment: How will you use this data to inform your next learning experience?
Students will choose two changes that happened in the story and compare
and contrast these changes. Students will examine the differences and
similarities by filling in the columns of your Relationship Change by
answering the following questions: What did this relationship look like in the
beginning of the book? What does this relationship look like now? What

events or other characters caused the change in the relationship? Students

will share their responses in order to identify how the relationship changed
and the events or characters that caused this change. We will engage in a
debate/discussion. Ask, "Which character or event changed Ellie the most?
Why do you think so?" Encourage students to explain their reasoning using
text evidence. "Did any relationship stay the same? If so, which one? Why do
you think so?"
Additional Resources: Provide any websites or other resources you used.
If your activities are not original, you must provide your source.
https://www.readworks.org/lessons/grade5