Bend I Session 2: Finish The Forest Keeper , Including the Back Matter, and Determine Main Ideas
Add the word vegetation to your vocabulary word wall. “ Vegetation is all the plants and trees that grow in a certain area.” “What’s happening in this part to the river and the vegetation ? Turn and discuss it with your partner.” (There’s a river in northeast India that can get filled with too much water. When that happens, it can wash away the land and plants, and even people and animals. But the river has some good parts, too.) “Oh, interesting. Are you better understanding what the author means when she writes that ‘The river is both a curse and a blessing?’” Raise the point briefly, and then move on. Continue reading pages 3–22, pausing to support students’ understanding of the text. Pause after reading page 8: “Wow, we’re getting to know more about Jadav. The author says he is a tribal boy. That means he belongs to a tribe, or a group of people who live together. In this case, Jadav’s tribe is in northeastern India. And in this part, he first goes and talks to the elders. Elders are older or respected members of a group.” “Jadav seems like the kind of person who wants to help others. What is Jadav’s plan to help his community?” (Jadav wants his community to plant trees on the sandbars to help preserve the land. The elders would not help him plant trees, but he did get bamboo seed- lings that he will probably plant.) “Did you notice that the author is using figurative language to describe how the tribal elders feel? She wrote that when the tribal elders tell Jadav that trees won’t grow on sandbars, they say it ‘with the sorrow of a thousand monsoons.’ Let’s see if we can figure out what that phrase means. I know that monsoons are incredibly powerful storms. And sorrow is a deep, deep sadness. So, what might the tribal elders mean when they say something ‘with the sorrow of a thousand monsoons’?” (The elders must have been incredibly sad that trees did not grow on the sandbars.) Pause after reading page 13: “This part feels so important. A few pages ago, the tribal elders told Jadav that ‘trees don’t grow on sandbars.’ But look—they’re growing! Do you see those tiny bamboo shoots growing into a huge thicket (point to the image on page 14)?” Pause after reading page 15: “The author writes that ‘Jadav began to plant trees of many species.’ What does the word species mean?” (Students might say “kinds.” You might respond, “Yes, species means groups or kinds of living things. (There can be different plant species or different animal species.”) Add the word species to the Vocabulary Word Wall. Continue reading to page 22. AFTER READING Pose a few questions that invite students to reflect on what they’ve learned so far. “Wow! We’ve already learned a ton about Jadav and the community he lives in. And we’re learning so much about Jadav’s plan to plant bamboo on the sandbar. What’s something you admire about Jadav so far?” Use the all-call signal. “In this biography, the author, Rina Singh, wrote that Jadav ‘watched in awe at the wonder he had created.’ What would it look like to ‘watch in awe’? Act that out right now. Imagine you were watching our read-aloud book in awe. Exactly!”
Focus Standards z Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1 z Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea. CCSS.ELA- LITERACY.RI.3.2
Using tools to promote talk is a powerful move for your MLL students. Consider bringing in maps of the world or India, pictures to represent the new vocabulary words, or sentence frames to support beginning conversations. The words tribal and elders are important to understanding The Forest Keeper , but they are not related to the broader topic of plant adaptations. We suggest you define these words for stu- dents but not add them to the Vocabulary Word Wall.
BEFORE READING Invite students to summarize what they’ve already read in The Forest Keeper . Set them up for today’s reading work. “Readers, I can’t wait to finish The Forest Keeper with you, and to learn more about what happens to Jadav Payeng and his bamboo forest. Let’s retell the book to get ourselves ready to read. I’ll flip through the pictures, as you and your partner retell.” Flip through the pages as students summarize what they’ve learned. “Let’s continue reading The Forest Keeper . We’ll pick up where we left off, when we heard that Jadav was watching in ‘awe at the wonder he had created’ on the sandbar. Let’s work together to learn more about Jadav and the forest he created.” DURING READING Read aloud from page 23 to page 32, pausing along the way to channel students to talk about problems and solutions. Pause after reading page 25: “Oh, no! It seems like the villagers are threatening Jadav here. They just said, ‘If we see another elephant in our village again, we will burn your forest to the ground!’ Why are the villagers threatening to cut down Jadav’s beautiful forest?” (The villagers were concerned about the elephants that smashed some of the huts in the village. They were concerned the forest was attracting the elephants.) “I hope nothing happens to Jadav’s forest. Let’s read on and find out.” Pause after reading page 32: “Phew! What a relief that Jadav’s forest is OK. What did Jadav do to ensure both the elephants and his forest were safe?” Use the all-call signal. Project pages 33–34. Channel students to read those pages aloud with you, and then to quiz themselves on what they read. “Oh, there’s some back matter. It looks like the author included some additional information at the end of the book to teach us more about Jadav Payeng and the work he did to create such a thriving habitat. I’ll project this part of the text. Let’s read it together, in one voice.
For your students who are still working on retelling texts, it is helpful to use gestures or icons to support this work. You might have students retell across their fingers or touch pic- tures in the text that represent story elements.
See what else you can learn about Jadav as we read.” Project page 34, and channel students to read it with you.
Acting out the figurative language in a text is highly ben- eficial for multilingual language learners. This will help students visualize the meaning behind the words, so be sure to prioritize this teaching.
Cognitive learning scientists call this retrieval practice. After studying something, you can quiz yourself as to what you remember, and then check back with a resource to see any addi- tional information you forgot.
“Scientists that study how people learn have found that one way you can help yourself learn is by quizzing yourself. That is, after you read a section like this one, you can stop and ask yourself some questions about it, and try to answer those questions without looking back at the passage. Then, after you’ve run out of things to say, you can check back with the passage to see what parts you remembered and what parts you might have forgotten. This kind of quick quizzing can help you really hold onto what you are learning.
“Now envision Jadav in this part. Why was Jadav in awe? What wonder had he helped to create?” (At first, there was just a sandbar on an island. By planting bamboo seedlings and then other plant species, Jadav created a thriving habitat for animals, including elephants.) “Tomorrow, we’ll finish this book and hear more about Jadav’s inspiring life story.”
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GRADE 3 • Unit 2 • Let’s Gather
Unit 2 • Book 1 • The Forest Keeper: The True Story of Jadav Payeng
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