Olivia Graff

4th Grade Literacy Summary

8:00-8:20am Morning Meeting
This is a time for us to gather before our day starts and set the tone for the rest of our literacy
block. During this time, the teacher will draw upon the previous days lesson, which covered
poetry. The teacher will ask the students if they read or saw examples of poetry yesterday
afternoon or this morning. As the students raise their hands, the teacher will guide a conversation
centered on discovering poetry in everyday life.
Teacher: So yesterday we learned about and discussed some kinds of poetry. Did anyone read a
poem or hear or see one after school yesterday? Where did you see it? Who was reading it? What
kind of book was it in? Maybe you heard one on the radio or on the television.
Student: I heard one on the radio! It was more of a song though. The end words rhymed and it
sounded like a poem though so I guess it was one.
Teacher: Yes! Songs can be a type of poem. If you read it instead of sing it, it does sound like
poetry. Its amazing how poetry is a part of our daily life and we dont even notice it sometimes.
Did anyone else notice poetry yesterday?
Student: I wrote a poem yesterday. It was about my dog and playing outside with him. It was
such a cold day out that we couldnt go outside so I wrote about it instead!
Teacher: Wow! Thats great! So poetry was a way for you to express how you felt, right?
Sometimes poems help up to get our feelings out when we cant actually do what we want.
Thats a great example of poetry in daily life.
Student: I read a poem yesterday in a magazine that said you are my sunshine. I was kind of
confused by what the author meant by that.
Teacher: Good observation! Sometimes people use what we call metaphors in poems. Theyre a
way of describing what you are feeling in a creative way. The two things being described share
some of the same characteristics.
Student: So when they said you are my sunshine they dont really mean that their friend is the
sun?
Teacher: No, but they do mean that the person reminds them of the sun for some reason! What
do you think the author means by that?
Student: Maybe that person is really bright and happy like the sun and thats why he said that.
Teacher: Good idea. What other reasons could there be?
The teacher will wrap up the meeting by asking the students to think more about metaphors and
how they are seen in poetry. She will ask the students to come in tomorrow with an example of a
metaphor they saw or heard that night to share with the class at the next morning meeting. She
will finish by telling the students that this talk was a great way to transition into todays lesson
on reading and understanding poetry and the words used in them.
I based this activity on the NPR radio talk we heard on poetry. It inspired me to center this lesson
on poems and their applications in our life. I liked the idea of poetry and wanted to incorporate
other aspects of it that also addressed the standards, which included metaphors. The idea of a
morning meeting is based on what we have discussed in class and what I have seen in my

placements. Its a great way to warm students up to the day and to introduce the topics without
lecturing. They have a chance to talk and share and get thinking about what they will be learning
today.
Standards:
ELACC4SL4: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized
manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes;
speak clearly at an understandable pace.
ELACC4L5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and
nuances
a. Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors (e.g., as pretty as a picture) in context.
8:20-9:00am Poetry Read Aloud and Discussion
The teacher will then transition into a mini lesson on poetry and figurative language. The
teacher will open up this poem on the SMART Board for the class to look at and read together. A
copy of the poem with plenty of space for highlighting, circling, and writing will be provided for
each student. The teacher will read the poem slowly and fluently to the students. Then, the
teacher will ask the students to each read the poem to their selves for a few minutes, stopping to
make notes or think more about the words. The students have had plenty of practice reading on
their own at their own level with texts, including some poetry, so they are familiar with this
routine. The teacher will then read the poem aloud to the class once more. Now they will discuss
the poem. The first thing the teacher will ask the students is if there is a pattern to this poem.
There is not and the class will discuss how poems do not always have to rhyme. Next, the teacher
will ask if anyone knows what this poem is about. The class will answer with various guesses
and the teacher will write them on the white board to keep up as they discuss. The teacher will
ask the students to look at the first sentence in the poem (the first three lines). She will point out
the phrase devour me in an hour like a ravenous lion to them. At the word Ravenous the
teacher will ask the students to decode the sounds and sound it out. They should know how to
decode complex words at this point, so instruction should not be needed. Then the teacher will
say the word and ask the students to repeat it. Since they have already discussed similes in a
previous lesson, she will ask the students what kind of figurative language that is. They should
respond with simile, but metaphor might be an expected response. The teacher will ask the
students to quickly define a simile to refresh their memory. The teacher will ask what like a
ravenous lion might mean. The students will respond with answers such as its really hungry, it
eats as much as a lion, it tears it up because its so hungry, it looks like a lion eating. The
teacher will ask what the word Ravenous might mean then. Student responses will be taken
and then a definition will be concluded upon and written up on the board. The students will write
the definition on the bottom of the paper where there is extra room. Next, the teacher will ask if
knowing the definition of ravenous changes what they think that simile means.
The rest of the lesson will go similarly to that, with the teacher asking about word
meanings, figurative language, and how they go together. She will continue to read the poem,
stopping at each sentence to decode the meaning. At around two-thirds of the way through the
poem, the teacher will ask if they have any better idea of what the poem could be talking about.
Drawing on the text to make their predications, the students should use the meaning they have
decoded so far to think deeply about what the poem is alluding to.

Throughout this lesson, the teacher will model how she wants students to think about a
poem. Looking at patterns first, reading once for a quick introduction, and then reading two or
three more times to gather more information. The students should look at the poem line by line to
discover hidden meaning, decode words, and figure out figurative language that is tricky.
Identifying hard words and figurative language is important and something the students should
record when reading a poem.
At the end of the poetry discussion, the teacher will ask the students to talk to an elbow
partner and retell the poem in their own words. They should each have a turn to speak to each
other. Once they are finished, the teacher will ask a few students to share. They will then come to
a conclusion about what the poem was talking about. The students should cite evidence for why
they think this. Since the poem is talking about books, they should make connections to their
own lives for why these phrases and words are referring to books. The teacher will direct this
discussion and ask students to give evidence for what they are saying.
I came up with this activity based on the NPR poetry talk. Seeing how the class discussed
and took apart a poem and discovered what it was talking about was very interesting. I found this
poem off a teacher blog about 4th and 5th grade poetry that included metaphors and similes.
Based on the video on close reading, I drew from her strategies of whole class and teacher
directed instruction. I liked how she modeled how she wanted students to read a piece of
literature closely, which is how I came up with this close reading poetry version.

Standards:
ELACC4RF4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
b. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on
successive readings.
ELACC4L5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and
nuances
a. Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors (e.g., as pretty as a picture) in context.

ELACC4RL2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text;
summarize the text.
ELACC4RL1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says
explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
ELACC4RL4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean).
ELACC4RF3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
a. Use combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and
morphology (e.g., roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multi-syllabic words in context
and out of context.
ELACC4L4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and
phrases based on grade 4 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
a. Use context (e.g., definitions, examples, or restatements in text) as a clue to the meaning of a
word or phrase.
9:00-9:05 Break
9:05-9:50 Daily 5 Centers
During this next block, students will have a chance to partake in 3 daily 5 centers each lasting 15
minutes. While this is happening, the teacher will have a chance to work with students one-onone and conference with small groups and individuals. At this point, the students have only
worked up to 15 minutes of daily 5 but know how it runs.
Center 1: Read to Self
The students will grab their book boxes and chose a book to read silently for 15 minutes. This
book will be on their reading level and students should be able to read at least 90% of the words.
Center 2: Read to Someone Else
Students will work with a partner and take turns being read to or reading to another from one of
their books in their book box. This should be done quietly and without disturbing others.
Center 3: Small Group with teacher
Students will meet with the teacher in differentiated reading groups and will have a chance to go
more in depth about poetry and reading instruction. The teacher will chose another poem to work
on with the group and go over figurative language and understanding the words and phrases in a
poem. The teacher should pick a poem that reflects the reading level of the group she is working
with.
Teacher: Lets review some of the figurative language weve been working on. Lets talk first
about similes. What is a similie?
Student: Its when you say something is like something else.
Teacher: Can someone give me an example?
Student: My stomach sounds like a lion roaring!
Teacher: Good one! I know sometimes when my stomach growls, I think it sounds as loud as a
lion. But does that mean it really and actually sounds like a lion?
Student: No, but its a cool way of using your words to show what you mean.

Teacher: Exactly! We dont always mean exactly what we say when we use a simile, but youre
right, its a cool way of comparing how we feel to something else. What is another kind of
language we talked about? We mentioned it this morning.
Student: Metaphor!
Teacher: Correct. And whats a metaphor?
Student: Its when you say something is something else. Except you dont use the word like
like when you use a simile. You kind of say that one thing is another and not just like it.
Teacher: Exactly! And can someone give me an example of a metaphor?
Student: You are my sunshine!
Student: Time is money!
Student: Life is a highway!
Teacher: Those are all great examples of metaphors. Sometimes it can be tricky to tell the
difference between the two, but I think you all gave great examples and definitions to help
remember the difference. Simile is when you say something is like something else, but a
metaphor is when you say something IS something else. With that being said, lets go through
another poem.
Now the teacher will go through another poem with the students similarly to how she did earlier.
They should cover unknown words, decoding their meaning based on context. This may have to
be less in depth or only for two or three lines of the poem since there is less time. The poem
should be tailored to each reading group, as well as the teachers instruction.
I drew upon our use and exposure to the daily 5 for this activity. I liked how teacher conferences
could be held during silent individual reading time so that the teacher could have more direct
instruction on the students ability level. Poetry can be a hard topic to cover and I think that oneon-one time is very significant at this point. I found examples of metaphors and similes at this
website which also was helpful when coming up with kid friendly definitions.
https://www.udemy.com/blog/metaphor-examples-for-kids/
Standards:
ELACC4RF4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
b. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on
successive readings.
ELACC4L5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and
nuances
a. Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors (e.g., as pretty as a picture) in context.
ELACC4RL2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text;
summarize the text.
ELACC4RL1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says
explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

9:50-10:05 Mystery Word Phonics Practice

As a short brain break from the rest of our lesson, we will not play a game to get the kids
working on using phonics and spelling patterns to better pronounce words. I am basing this short
activity on Sample Mystery Word Match Round from Phonics They Use on page 218-219. The

teacher will draw eight short lines on the board and tell the students that the mystery word has
ten letters. The teacher will then write three clue words under the lines (insisting, reformer, and
inheritance). The class pronounces each and puts each one in a sentence.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (re/sis/tance)
insisting
reformer
inheritance
The teacher will call on a student and they will ask if the mystery word beings line, has a middle
like, or ends like one of the clues. If the student guesses correctly, the teacher write the letters in
the correct lines on the board and the student continues to ask. If the student guesses wrongly, it
goes on to another student.
S1: Does the mystery word begin like inheritance?
T: No it does not, its S2s turn.
S2: Does it end like reformer?
T: No Im sorry, S3, your turn.
S3: Does it begin like reformer?
T: Yes it does! *Writes r e _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Go again.
S3: Does it have a middle like insisting?
T: Yes it does! *Writes r e s i s _ _ _ _ _
Go again.
S3: Does it have an end like inheritance?
T: Yes it does! *Writes r e s i s t a n c e
S3: Resistance!
The point of this activity is to have kids pronouncing difficult words and pulling apart their
letters to find similar sounds and to mash them into a new word. The teacher will play a few
more rounds, selecting vocabulary that is appropriate to her class. Possible words could be
destination (Dessert, assassination, article), argument (regulate, statement, artistic), and
contestant (constitution, informant, pretested). The teacher can keep points if the class can handle
that. I came up with this activity based on Phonics They Use pages 218-219 and I think it would
be a really great activity to use with older students to have them practice phonics, spelling, and
working with vocab words.
Standards:
ELACC4RF3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
a. Use combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and
morphology (e.g., roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multi-syllabic words in context
and out of context.