Lessons & Units :: The Great Gilly Hopkins 5th Grade Unit

Textual Analysis Lesson: Fostering Love and Care

Lesson Plan

The Great Gilly Hopkins | 840L

The Great Gilly Hopkins
Learning Goal
Use the Textual Analysis Process to answer questions about a text.
Duration
Approximately 1 Day (25 minutes)
Necessary Materials
Provided: “Fostering Love and Care” Reading Passage (Student Packet, pages 4-5), “Fostering Love and Care” Textual Analysis (Student Packet, page 6)

Before the Lesson: Continue to read Chapters 1-4 of The Great Gilly Hopkins; Work on Student Packet Worksheets for Chapters 1-4 (to be completed by Lesson 1)

Activation and Motivation

Ask students if they have ever had experiences with foster families, foster parents, or foster children. Have students discuss their experiences and share information about what they know about foster care. Explain that Gilly Hopkins, the main character of The Great Gilly Hopkins, is a foster child, and her experience as a foster child builds her character traits. It makes her who she is. We will read the passage “Fostering Love and Care” to learn about foster care, and use this information to understand who Gilly is.

Instruct students to carefully follow the steps for Textual Analysis to read the passage and answer the questions that follow. Be sure to have students discuss and prove their answers after they are done.

Before Reading

  1. Read the passage title, introduction, and any captions.
  2. Look at any pictures or photographs.
  3. Read the first two sentences only.
  4. Stop! Brainstorm what you think the text is going to be mostly about.
  5. Read and label the Textual Analysis questions with the Concepts of Comprehension©.
  6. Do not read the answer choices. Spend only a few seconds labeling each question with the appropriate Concepts of Comprehension©.

During Reading

  1. Read the whole section of text that was assigned.
  2. As you read, underline or highlight any information that may help you answer the question.
  3. Have students answer questions independently.
  4. Use the process of elimination for any questions for which you are not positive of the answer.

After Reading

  1. Prove all of your answers by underlining or copying evidence from the text. Go back and check your work. Do your answers make sense? Can you prove each answer?
  2. Share your answers with the group. Use text evidence to explain why you think an answer is correct.
  3. Guidance for Question 2:
    • For Question #2: The word “main” in the question might make you think of main idea, but the question is asking about the main purpose of the passage. Some students may argue that choice c is a good option because many statistics are given about foster care. However, the use of statistics supports the author’s primary purpose which is choice d (to inform the reader about foster children and foster families).

TIP:

Build Student Vocabulary abuse

Tier 2 Word: abuse
Contextualize the word as it is used in the story “Foster children may be removed from their birth families because of problems such as abuse, neglect, substance abuse, illness, or death.”
Explain the meaning student-friendly definition) Abuse is cruel or harmful treatment. If children receive serious abuse at home, such as getting beaten by their families, they may have to get help from the government (such as entering foster care). Abuse can also mean using something incorrectly or inappropriately. Substance abuse refers to people who use illegal substances inappropriately, such as alcohol and drugs.
Students repeat the word Say the word abuse with me: abuse
Teacher gives examples of the word in other contexts Child abuse is a serious crime. If you abuse alcohol, you will hurt your health.
Students provide examples What would you do if you saw someone abusing an animal? Start by saying, “If I saw animal abuse, I would _____________________________.”
Students repeat the word again. What word are we talking about? abuse
Additional Vocabulary Words neglect, license

Texts & Materials

Standards Alignment

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