Lessons & Units :: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind 3rd Grade Unit

Paired Text Questions: "Ryan's Well" & The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Lesson Plan

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind | 910L

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Learning Goal
Integrate information from the non-fiction passage “Ryan’s Well” and the book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind to compare solutions to water-related problems in Africa.
Necessary Materials
Provided:
  1. Questions
  2. Non-fiction reading passage “Ryan’s Well”

Not Provided:
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
 
  • Questions 1 and 2 refer to the non-fiction passage “Ryan’s Well” Questions 3 and 4 refer to the book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Questions 5 and 6 refer to both the passage and the book.
  • Student versions of the questions are in the 'Texts & Materials' tab.
 
Part 1: "Ryan's Well"
 
Read the passage “Ryan’s Well” out loud to your students. Alternatively, students can read the passage independently or as a group.
 
Question 1: What was the problem that Jimmy’s village in Africa had?
 
Sample student answer: Jimmy’s village did not have clean water to drink.
 
Question 2: How was this problem solved?
 
Sample student answer: This problem was solved by Ryan Hreljac raising money to build a well for Jimmy’s village.
 
Part 2: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
 
Question 3: What was the water problem that William’s village in Africa had?
 
Sample student answer: William’s village did not have enough water to grow food.
 
Question 4: What idea did William have for solving this problem?
 
Sample student answer: William’s idea for solving this problem was building windmills.
 
Part 3: "Ryan's Well" and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
 
Question 5: How were the problems in Jimmy’s village and William’s village similar?
 
Sample student answer (may vary): Jimmy’s village and William’s village both had problems with access to water.
 
Question 6: What do the solutions that Ryan and William come up with tell you about solving problems?
 
Sample student answer (may vary):
  • Their solutions show that kids can solve problems facing people of all ages.
  • Their solutions show that solving big problems takes a lot of effort over time
  • Their solutions show that getting water out of the ground is important to solving the water problem in Africa.

Texts & Materials

Standards Alignment

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User Comments

i mistakenly wrote suggesting your reading passages were mostly knowledge based but I realize now, there is a variety of higher level thinking skills in other sections besides reading passages. My error! Thank you! As a tutor, I enjoy finding interesting on-line materials I can use with students.

Submitted by carefreepat_1573077 on 12/14/15

There is a video of his story on You Tube. It is very inspiring.

Submitted by CroskeyS on 3/18/15

I love this book.

Submitted by Ja'QuonStembridge_1141646 on 1/18/15