Book Title: Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed

Author: Mo Willems
Sarah Adamson
Lesson Overview

Issue Confronted: Social Change (Rights as a citizen to have a voice in

change)
Objectives/Assessment
o After listening to Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, students will construct
a short persuasive essay to convince a reader to initiate social change
within the school.
Written (short) essay
o Students will reference characters from the story to connect to their
response.
Kinesthetic (drawing)
Standard: 4.W.3.1: Write persuasive compositions in a variety of forms that
o In an introductory statement, clearly state an opinion to a particular
audience.
o Support the opinion with facts and details from various sources,
including texts.
o Use an organizational structure to group related ideas that support the
purpose.
o Connect opinion and reasons using words and phrases.
o Provide a concluding statement or section related to the position
presented.
Differentiation and Culturally-Responsive Practices
o Poverty, parents could be uninterested in school, unliked step-parents,
adjusting to new siblings
o verbal linguistic: Written work/reading; Visual spatial: drawing
responses, seeing the characters of the story; logical mathematical:
problem solving, asking/answering why; bodily kinesthetic: passing a
beach ball to answer questions

Building Background Knowledge

Show a picture of when I was little in one of my dress up times.

When I was a little girl, my mom tried to pick out my outfits, like I
am sure some of your parents might have done. This picture shows
my response to what I thought was an unnecessary rule. I took the
pants, shirt, and socks, everything that my mom picked out for me
to wear, and I purposely put it on wrong. And wouldnt you know it, I
got to pick out my own clothes after this episode.

Activating Background Knowledge: The story I will read today has a similar
story. I wonder how a mole rat can change a community?
Purpose: Today we are going to read a story that will help us see how we
can change the community we live in.
Essential Questions:

What did you think of the story?

What did you like about the story?
o What didnt you like about the story?
What was the main problem in the story, and how was it resolved?
Does this school have any problems that you would like to change?
o How would you change them?

Constructing Understanding

Have students come to the carpet for the read aloud.

Read the book (using different voices for different characters) Naked Mole
Rat Gets Dressed.
When finished reading, tell students to stand up and form a circle.
Get the discussion beach ball.
Now that we are in a circle, I want you all to raise your right thumbs.
The right thumbs you have raised will be your fate: when I call your
name, I will pass the beach ball to you. Whichever question your
right thumb lands on is the question you will answer. The rules are
simple: call a name, gently toss, right thumb is your fate.
Facilitate a grand discussion, making sure everyone gets a turn to answer.
The beach ball that is tossed will have all of the grand discussion questions
written on its surface.
When everyone has answered, hold the ball to get their attention.
So from this story, we see how a naked mole rat changed his
community from a rule that he did not agree with. Now we are going
to do the same thing, except using a different method.
Have students return to their desks. While they are sitting down, set up the
naked mole rat poster.
I am going to pass out a blank piece of paper, and on that paper you
are going to draw a naked mole rat that has come to your
elementary school! What does the naked mole rat see that needs to
change? How is he going to do that? Brainstorm for one minute, then
draw out your scenario with as much detail as possible.
Set the timer for one minute, then have students draw their scenario for five
to seven minutes, once again setting a timer to let the students know when
to stop.

Once the second timer goes off, have students stop drawing.
I have seen some really great ideas. Now the next part of our lesson
is going to step it up a notchwe are going to write a persuasive
essay outline that will eventually go to someone in our school so
that the change we want the naked mole rat to make, can actually
happen. Who will you write your essay to? How are you going to
convince them to make a change and be like the naked mole rat? Use
your picture as a guide to your writing.
Walk around the classroom and help students that have questions or who are
struggling. For the sake of time, encourage a bulleted outline. If students are
finishing early, have them begin a rough draft.

Using New Understanding

Have two to three randomly selected students share their drawing using the
Doc Cam and explain their scenario for change.
Allow students to finish their naked mole rat drawings to hang in the class
room under a banner titled Mole Rats for Change.
The final draft of the persuasive essay will be given to the intended readers
(such as the principal).

Closure

Just as the naked mole rat made a change within his community, we
too have a voice that we can use to make change for the betterment
of our school.