Language Arts - Grade 3 TEKS 3.9B - Establishing Purposes for Reading and Listening by Jeni Downs

Category:  Language Arts
Grade Level:  3rd Grade
Objective: 

Language Arts TEKS 3.9B  Reading/comprehension.
The student uses a variety of strategies to comprehend selections read aloud and selections read independently. The student is expected to establish purposes for reading and listening such as to be informed, to follow directions, and to be entertained.

Music TEKS 3.4A  Creative expression/performance.
The student creates and arranges music within specified guidelines.  The student is expected to create rhythmic phrases.

Behavioral Objective:
The students will establish the differences between information, directional and entertaining literature.

Materials: 
Several books, magazines, newspapers, poems, comic strips, etc.  Enough so each group of kids can have a few.  Chalkboard/chalk or dry-erase board and markers, non-tuned percussion instruments.

Activities: 
Have the classroom set up for group work, and at each group have a variety of books, magazines or poems so that the kids will get different results.  Ask each group to look at their pieces of literature and decide (establish) whether it is informative, directional or entertaining. This could either be the literature in general (an entire section of the newspaper) or parts of the literature (the comics section).  Then to include MATH into this lesson, you can make a chart with how many of each section (Informative, Directional, or Entertaining) each group had.  An example could look something like this:

	Informative	Directional	Entertaining
Group 1	II	I
Group 2			III
Group 3	I	I	I

Use one of the poems that you’ve given to one of the groups and read it aloud, or previously make an overhead of one of the poems, or have it up on the board so the children can actually see the poem.  Then ask the children to find a word in the poem that could serve as a steady beat word (one syllable).  Ask the children to pick a phrase out of the poem.  Last, ask the children to come up with a word that isn’t in the poem, but is related to it.  Have each group write these down as a group.  After a few minutes, ask the groups to share their ideas with the class.  Write a few ideas down on the board.  For example the words could be (1) spoon (2) I do that, too (3) a_ _ge, from the poem The Little Boy and the Old Man by Shel Silverstein.  For the students to actually see the beats easier, hold up four fingers (each finger representing one beat).  Say the words on the appropriate beat while pointing to the finger.

Finger 1	Finger 2	Finger 3	Finger 4
(spoon)	(spoon)	(spoon)	(spoon)
(I)	(do)	(that)	(too)
(a--	---	---	ge)

Process:

• Say words with entire group

• Divide into groups.  Groups say words -- start with steady beat (one syllable)

• Add body percussion to words

• Drop words - body percussion alone

• Move to non-tuned percussion with words

• Drop words - non-tuned percussion alone

	Beat 1	Beat 2	Beat 3	Beat 4
High = Gong	A	-	-	ge
Middle = Tone block	I	do	that	too
Low = Bongo	Spoon	Spoon	Spoon	Spoon

Evaluation: 
The students can be observed by playing a game with them after discussing the differences between informative, directional and entertaining pieces of literature.  Put the students into two or three groups.  Read a section of an article or piece of literature to them, and have the students either race to the front of the classroom or raise their hand.  The first group to respond, answers.  Have each student take a turn so it will be fair.  Another idea is to have two of the students come to the front and, without any help of any teammates, have them quickly decide if the article or literature is informative, directional, or entertaining (in Family Feud style).  Also ask questions that would involve identifying rhythmic phrases in the article or piece of literature (or they can make their own up).