James and the Giant Peach

Relevance for students:

James and the Giant Peach is a children's novel that contains morals and life lessons that even adults can appreciate. A principal expectation of the unit is that students will develop their skills in reading, writing, and listening.

Justification:

This unit is built upon a novel study of James and the Giant Peach. Students will extend their learning by connecting literature with science. After learning how entomologists classify insects, students are asked to determine which of the characters in the novel James and the Giant Peach are insects, and which are not. They will then have the opportunity to select an insect of their choice, research that insect, write a paper, and make a digital presentation.

Iowa Common Core Standards

Literacy:

Reading Standards: Foundational Skills

Fluency

• RF.5.4. Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

Reading Standards for Literature

Key Ideas and Details

• RL.5.IA.1 Employ the full range of research-based comprehension strategies, including making connections, determining importance, questioning, visualizing, making inferences, summarizing, and monitoring for comprehension.

Writing Standards

Production and Distribution of Writing

• W.5.4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience

Range of Writing

• W.5.10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Speaking and Listening Standards

Comprehension and Collaboration

• SL.5.1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• SL.5.2. Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Language Standards

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

• L.5.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 5 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

Science:

Life Science

• S.3–5.LS.1 Essential Concept and/or Skill: Understand and apply knowledge of organisms and their environments, including:

               *Structures, characteristics, and adaptations of organisms that                             allow them to function and survive within their habitats.

               *How individual organisms are influenced by internal and

                      external factors.

               *The relationships among living and non–living factors in terrestrial                       and aquatic ecosystems.

Science as Inquiry

• S.3–5.SI.2 Essential Concept and/or Skill: Recognize that scientists perform different types of investigations. Types of investigations include describing objects, events, and organisms; classifying them; and doing a fair test (experimenting), depending on the types of questions they want to answer.

21st Century Skills:

Technology Literacy

• 21.3–5.TL.2 Essential Concept and/or Skill: Use interactive technologies in a collaborative group to produce digital presentations or products in a curricular area.

Student Learning Targets:

1. I can research and collect facts about an insect of my choice.
2. I can write a research paper that includes details about the insect.
3. I can create a digital visual aid to present information on my insect. 

Summative Assessment:

Throughout the course of the unit, the students will be reading James and the Giant Peach and working on an insect project. The overall effect of this unit will reflect in their project. For the final summative assessment students will research an insect of their choice, write a paper covering the details of their insect, and create a visual aid using some form of technology (power point, prezi, blogger, etc.)

Formative Assessment:

Students will have a reading journal where they will write down interesting notes from the chapters they read. They will write about the characters in the story and summarize what is going on throughout the chapters. After they write this down into their reading journals, they will have group discussions on what they wrote down.

Vocabulary Activity

Comprehension Activity #1

Comprehension Activity #2

Writing Activity

Interactive Activity

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