HOLY NAMES UNIVERSITY LESSON PLAN

Planning Statement
Title of Lesson: The Shire Times - Read all about it!

Grade: 5th

Subject Area: Literature

Anticipated Time Frame: 50 min

10 mins - teacher explaining task to whole class
5 mins - students collecting evidence from previous work
30 mins - working in pairs to formulate interview answers
5 mins - whole class review of work

Classroom organization:
Students desks are organized
into small groups of 4, but
students will be working in pairs.

Resources and materials: Attach any worksheets or graphic organizers.

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Newspaper Examples (1 Per group)
Newspaper Rubric
Paper
Pencil
Character Organizer
Newspaper Article Sheet- To be filled online
Central Focus or Big Idea of Learning Segment:
Being able to analyze characters and themes

California Common Core State Standard

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.
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).
RL 5.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative language such as metaphors and similes.
Specific Learning Objectives:Students will demonstrate their learning by answering
questions as the characters, and writing a newspaper article (using the questions) with the
same theme as the book.
Students will be able to compare two different characters using specific details
Students will be able to see how characters contribute actions that are helpful to determining
themes.

Prerequisites:
What skills, knowledge and prior experience do students need for this lesson?
How will you determine whether students have these?
How will you connect to students interests, backgrounds, strengths, needs?
Students will have read the novel and have completed ongoing tasks to help them further
understand the book.
Students will have an understanding of how to write a newspaper article, including a catchy
headline, lead, content and picture.
Students will use previously completed graphic organizers on character development, theme,
plot (see attached) to aid them in writing their newspaper article.

Key ELD Standard(s):

ELD, Listening and speaking- Comprehension and organization and delivery of oral
communication (All Levels).
ELD, Writing- Organization and focus (All Levels).
Challenging Academic language and concepts: What particular language demands are there
in this lesson? (types of text, features of text, key subject-specific terms, for example) What
language demands are likely to be challenging?
As The Hobbit was a vocabulary rich text students have been given a breakdown of new words
or words they do not know each week. The students will be allowed to reflect on these
previously completed worksheets. ( see attached )
As they are writing a newspaper article it could prove challenging to ELD students considering
it is a piece of formal writing that is trying to interest and appeal to readers.
Access to the curriculum / modifications:
How will you make the lesson accessible to English learners?
How will you make the lesson accessible to students with special needs?
Students will work in pairs to find the answers to the interview questions supplied by the
teacher.
The students will be allowed to refer to their novel and any previous work they have completed
to help them formulate answers.

Assessment: What evidence of student learning will you collect?

What criteria will you use to interpret the evidence? Attach any rubrics or descriptions of
performance tasks. How will the results of this assessment inform your next steps in teaching?
Students will complete a newspaper article interview as Bilbo Baggins and as Thorin to help
think as characters in the novel.
The newspaper articles will help the teacher to see if the students have gained a well rounded
understanding on the progression of the characters throughout the story.
Instructional Sequence
Set or introduction: How will you begin to involve the students in the content of your
lesson? What activity or questions will motivate them, get them to interact with content
or draw on prior knowledge? What will you say to let them know the purpose and
objectives of this lesson?
This will be the end of the novel but still within the first quarter of the unit on characters,
setting, and theme.
Begin by saying Now that weve finished the book, Im going to take 5 volunteers. Who
was your favorite character? Why? Call on appropriate number of students. Draw
students attention to the fact that they know a good amount about their favorite
characters. Notice that you were able to tell me traits about your favorite character when
you said why they were your favorite. Remember that this means that they are a round
character.
Next ask students, Who can name some of the themes we said are in this book? Make
sure students name the theme of personal growth. Very good. Remember that themes can
run through any text, not just books.
Say to students, Today, you are going to write a newspaper article about certain
characters from the book. Before you do that, though, who can tell me the elements of a
newspaper article that we talked about in social studies? Call on students until all
elements are named. Give hints for unnamed elements.
Say to students, Very good. Now that we know a little bit about our favorite characters
and whats in a good newspaper article, we can get our learning train rolling! Display or
write the following objectives on the board: We will be able to compare different
characters using specific details and We will be able to see how characters contribute to
the theme.
Give directions for the lesson: You are going to work in pairs today to write a newspaper
article online about the characters Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield. Use your filled
in character worksheets to help you answer the questions that the newspaper has sent you.

I will display those questions after I have finished giving directions. Once you have
answered the questions once for Bilbo and once for Thorin, put together a newspaper
article that incorporates all your information. While you write the article, I want you think
about this: how do Bilbo and Thorins answers to the questions relate to the theme of
personal growth? Display or write the focus questions (below) on the board. These are
the questions that you need to answer. Once you are done we will post them on the school
website for everyone to view your wonderful work! You may begin.
Developing Content: (Inquiry-based approach)
Focus questions for this lesson:
Why did the character go on the quest?
What notable things did you (as the character) do while on the quest?
Are you (as the character) happy with the outcome of the quest and why?
Professional Preparation
List here things that you, as a teacher, need to find out before starting this lesson.
Need to have a solid understanding of the novel.
Ensure that each of the students were present for previously learning about the layout and
content of a newspaper article. Ensure they mastered this skill and borrow from this skill
set to help them complete the current task.
Inquiry Attributes Already Possessed by Learners
Answer the questions here as a guide for pre-assessment and taking the learners to the
next level:
What are the skill levels of the learners?
A few students are lower level learners while most are medium to higher level.
What nurtured habits of mind do the learners possess?
The teacher will guide students through leading questions which make students use their
ability to reflect and share on their own understanding of questions and other students
responses.
What are the levels of conceptual understanding of the learners?
Depending on the students background some may have a better understanding than others
of the concept of fantasy and newspaper article formats, but with access to the book and
group discussions students can build a better understanding of what it means to
understand fantasy writing and newspaper article formats.

What are the levels of content understanding of the learners?

Since this is the end of the book readings, but the first unit of the lessons the learners will
have a strong understanding of the content based on the worksheets they have completed
such as the character development worksheets (see attached) and from the examples also
provided.
Potential Roadblocks to Learning
List any problems you see with helping students learn this material. Also list possible
solutions. Include several alternatives. This section will grow as you progress.
The text is rich in vocabulary and may be complex to some students. Therefore we have
the students working in pairs so they can help one another.
Some students may not remember previously covering how to write a newspaper article
however the teacher will bring in newspapers for each pair so students can review them to
help with the layout and style of writing.
The students will also have access to the newspaper articles they previously wrote in class
as a refresher.
Students may not be able to think as one of the characters from the novel therefore the
students will use previously completed graphic organizers to help guide their train of
thought to understand how the character thinks.
Focus activities that engage students in their own inquiries pertaining to the focus
questions: How do students interact with each other, the content, and a variety of
resources to explore the focus questions and gain new knowledge and understandings?
Students will be supplied a list of 3 questions to answer in their pairs. They will use
previous findings, graphic organizers, character development worksheets (see attached)
and knowledge of the book to help them to formulate answers. The questions are not one
word answers and are instead open ended to allow for the students to expand and explore,
creating answers that require them to delve deeper in the novel. The answers are not
necessarily referred to in the novel but are supported by the novel.
Resources, including specific uses of computer technologies: What resources are
available for students as they explore the guiding questions? What computer
technologies are available for them that assist them in their exploration?
The students will have access to the text and to the worksheets already completed in class
to help them with the project. The students will use computers to put type up their
newspaper article and then publish them on the school website.
Describe how the teacher guides the students in discussion(s) that dont just have

students recalling information, but lead to students gaining new knowledge and new
understandings.
The teacher is allowing for the students to explore and use their imagination to complete
this task and therefore only wants to guide the students. The teacher will use thought
provoking phrases like How do you think Bilbo felt when he attacked the spiders? or
tells the students to refer to the character development of Thorin to see if there is anything
that would indicate why he went on the quest.
Collaborative work: What will the collaboration look like? How will the collaboration
help all students effectively explore the inquiry questions?
The students will work in pairs so they can help one another develop their answers to the
interview questions and hopefully create more in-depth, creative answers. They will also
be able to explain and describe certain situations that occurred in the book that they may
need more help understanding.
Student reflections, learning logs, What are the means for students to document
their work and reflect on them in terms of learning new knowledge and understandings?
Students will use character development worksheets to document their understanding of
the different characters from the book and they will then use these worksheets to fill in the
newspaper article online. All work completed in class up to this point will contribute to
the task at hand.
Students sharing the results of their inquiry with other students: How will the students
share their new knowledge and understandings with other students or the class? Or
beyond the class?
During the writing of the articles students will have the opportunity to discuss what their
understanding of the characters are and how they think these characters will react or
respond. Once the newspaper article has been completed the students will have the
opportunity to share their articles on the school website and they will discuss how their
articles may be different or similar to other groups.
Inquiry-based lesson narrative: Using the information you have thought through above,
what will the lesson look like?
First, the teacher will go through the Set (above) to engage students, refresh them on
important concepts they will need for the lesson, and give the directions for the lessons.

Then, the teacher will present the questions to the student pairs and discuss the format that
is required, which is a filled in newspaper format. After students understand that they will
be answering this set of questions for both Bilbo and Thorin they will then discuss and
combine their answers into one newspaper article.
After students have typed their articles, they will share and compare their articles online.
Finally, the teacher will use the Closure (below) questions to have students reflect on their
learning.
Checks for Understanding / On-going informal assessment:
How will you know what students are understanding?
Ensuring that the teacher is available throughout the task, walking around, listening to the
groups discussion and ensuring it is on task and relative to the task. It is important that
students use previously completed work to help them with the task so it is evident that
they have an understanding of the novel. Their understanding has been an ongoing
process and this project particularly highlights their understanding of the characters
thoughts and reasoning behind actions.
Ask individuals who may need extra help for example..Was it apparent to the reader that
Bilbo wanted to go on the quest at first? What makes you think that?
Encourage students to look through their character worksheets to find notable things for
each character. Ask students Why is this important enough to be included?
Ask students What was the final outcome for Bilbo? For Thorin? What traits do they
have that you think will help you figure out how they felt about the outcome?
Closure:
How will learners summarize or reflect on what they learned (for example, share work,
share a strategy, share a process, discuss what they learned, raise a new questions)?

The written article itself is a synthesis of information that they have been compiling. Ask
students the following questions:
Did Bilbos actions demonstrate the theme of personal growth?
Did Thorins actions demonstrate the theme of personal growth?
How did they, or why not?
What were the differences between the way Bilbo had answered questions compared to
the way Thorin answered questions?
Students will also have had the opportunity to share their articles with each other and
discuss the similarities and differences of their article.

Newspaper Article Rubric

CATEGORY

Headline

Article has a
headline that
captures the reader's
attention and
accurately describes
the content.

Article has a headline

that accurately
describes the content.

Article has a
headline that does
not describe the
content.

Article is missing
headline.

Supporting
Details

The details in the

article are clear and
supportive of the
topic.

The details in the article

are clear but need to be
developed more. Some
details may not fit in
with the topic.

Most details in the

article are clear.
Article does not
focus on the topic
well.

The details article

are neither clear nor
related to the topic.

Who, What,
When, Where &
How

Article adequately
addresses the 5 W's
(who, what, when,
where and how).

The article is missing

one of the 5 W's.

The article is
missing 2 of the 5
W's.

The article is
missing 3 or more
of the 5 W's.

Lead Sentence

Lead sentence grabs

the reader's attention
and focuses the
reader on the topic.

Lead sentence tells

most important details.

Lead sentence is not

clearly connected to
the article.

There is no clear
lead sentence in the
article.

Spelling and
Grammar

No spelling or
grammar errors.

No more than a couple

of spelling or grammar
errors.

No more than 3
spelling or grammar
errors.

Several spelling or
grammar errors.