Preliminary Information

Name: Tom Blanchard

Lesson 3 out of 3

Date:

Grade: 2nd

Course/Subject: Literacy

Number of Students: 29
Unit/Theme: Mystery

Estimated Duration: 45 minutes

Where in the unit does this lesson occur?

Structure(s) or grouping for the lesson

(Check any that apply)

Beginning of the unit

Middle of the unit
End of the unit

Whole class
Small group
One-to-one
Other (specify)

Big Idea or Concept being taught: Drawing conclusions from important evidence
Rationale/ Context (why this lesson at this time; how does it connect to previous or
succeeding lessons?)
This lesson falls in the middle of the mystery unit, in which the students have been learning
about the mystery genre. They are working to understand the elements of a mystery and that
mysteries typically follow a standard structure (introduction of the problem, multiple attempts to
solve the mystery, a solution at the end). By the end of the unit, students will be able organize
the evidence from the text, analyze characters, and determine a solution to the mystery.
Students will write their own mysteries as the final product of this unit and include all elements
of a mystery.
Students are working on drawing conclusions based on the evidence presented in the text. This
is a skill that will benefit them as they read more mysteries, and will encourage them to be able
to draw conclusions based on evidence from the text.
Prior Knowledge and Conceptions (what knowledge, skills and/or academic language
must students already know to be successful with this lesson?)
Prior Knowledge:

Students know how to make inferences

Students have experience identifying the important events in a text
Students are very familiar with the mystery genre
Students are very familiar with the structure of a narrative

Prior Academic Language:

Paraphrase: write or say something in ones own words

Infer: deduce or conclude (information) from evidence and reasoning rather than from
explicit statements.

Student Learning Goal(s)/ Objective(s)

Students will work independently to identify important evidence from a mystery and draw a
reasonable conclusion about that text evidence.
Common Core Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.1. Ask and answer such questions as
who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
Academic Language Demands (identify academic language, particular words/ phrases
that are essential to understanding the content of this lesson)
Key phrases: identifying important clues, drawing reasonable conclusions, and making
inferences.
The discourse will be something that the students must master as well, as they will need to
identify the vocabulary to use to discuss a mystery, and then use that vocabulary as they
describe and write about the important evidence from the text. They will use the discourse of the
mystery genre as they draw conclusions as well.
Materials and Resources:

Two Texts: Mrs. Readsalots Brooch (9 copies), Case of the Carnival Money (Reith,
2008) (21 copies)
Differentiated graphic organizers by reading group level (21 copies of scaffolded graphic
organizer, 9 copies of full paragraph graphic organizer)
Gathering clues graphic organizers (29 copies)
Glossary for English Language Learners and struggling readers (10 copies)
Self assessments (29 copies)
Motivation
Activate prior knowledge about gathering evidence about the missing snail, and the missing
jacket in the Cam Jansen mystery.
Lesson Development
1. Introduction (10 minutes)
2. Students are in the meeting area.
3. Activate prior knowledge about gathering evidence about the missing snail, and the
missing jacket in the Cam Jansen mystery. Then we drew a reasonable conclusion
based on clues we found in the text or information they knew for sure.
4. Turn and talk: Why do we draw conclusions when we read?
5. Remind students about drawing conclusions from clues in the text. Say: we identified
important information from a mystery by highlighting, then we paraphrased this evidence
and finally we drew a reasonable conclusion. We read the Cam Jansen story, then right
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when we got to the part that let us know what the problem was, we analyzed the story to
find important evidence. Then based on those important clues, we drew a conclusion
about what happened to Cams jacket.
6. Introduce teaching point on the smartboard: Students will work independently to identify
important evidence and draw a reasonable conclusion about a mystery.
7. Model the paragraph on the smart board that shows how students should organize their
thinking.
Modeled Paragraph for Cam Jansen
After reading Young Cam Jansen and the Pizza Shop Mystery, I gathered clues that will help
me to draw a conclusion about the mystery of the missing coat. First, Cam left her blue coat on
the back of her chair and went to get pizza at the counter. When she came back to the table she
thought was hers, there were two pizza slices and two drinks on the table, but her blue jacket
was missing. Cam has an amazing memory. She knew that table was hers. It was underneath
the light and in the corner, just like she remembered. No one with Cam left the pizza and drinks
on that table. Based on this information, my conclusion is that the person who left the drinks and
pizza on the table may have taken Cams jacket. It seems like this was the last person to be
near the table. My conclusion is reasonable because Cam has an excellent memory and I dont
think she would have forgotten where her table was.
8. Provide instructions for students on the smart board:
You will read through your mystery first.
Then you will go back through the text to see if you can find at least 3 important
clues that would help you to draw a conclusion about the mystery.
Dont forget to answer the questions who, what, when and where.
You will paraphrase your clues
Then you will draw a reasonable conclusion based on the evidence
9. Show students rubric so they will know how they will be successful.
10. Independent practice (25 minutes)
11. As students are working independently, circulate around the room to provide additional
scaffolding for struggling students, ELLs and gifted learners. I will ask targeted questions
like: how do you know this evidence is related to the mystery? What else do we know
about the jacket? What other clues will help you understand the mystery? Why is your
conclusion reasonable? (For example). Support the students analysis of the text by
asking whether specific sentences are clues about the mystery.
12. Share (10 minutes)
13. Students return to the meeting area with their graphic organizers but leave their self
assessments and stories on their desk
14. Ask one struggling reader to share the summary of the story, important clues he or she
identified and the conclusion he or she drew based on those clues. Students will use
language like: I identified these clues or the important clues I found were I drew this
conclusion because My conclusion was correct or incorrect because
15. Ask an advanced student to share the same information.
16. Share with students the solution to the mysteries so they can confirm whether the
conclusions they drew were reasonable.
17. Close: Students will give a summary about what they learned over the course of three
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lessons. Ask the following questions: How do we draw conclusions? Why do we draw
conclusions?
18. Self-assess students complete self-assessments including their highlighted stories.
They will self assess against the rubric and rate their abilities to draw conclusions.

1 (I am still working on this skill.)

2 (I did well, but I think I could
improve.)
3 (I am very good at this.)
I highlighted and wrote down at least three
important clues that were related to the mystery.
I drew a reasonable conclusion based on the clues
in the text.
I used complete sentences, sequence words and
vocabulary from the mystery genre.
Differentiated Instruction

What differentiated strategies (content/process/product) will you prepare to meet the

needs of all students (teaching strategies, roles)? (This includes struggling students and
students needing a challenge.) Do you have students with IEPs? What are their IEP
goals and how are you addressing them in this lesson? Do you have English Language
Learners? What language acquisition stage are they in? How are you addressing their
language acquisition stage in this lesson?

The assessments are differentiated for each of the leveled reading groups. The
assessments for the struggling readers and English Language Learners provide
opportunities for them to practice the essential literacy strategy and find important clues.
The assessments for the advanced students enable them to write a paragraph
explaining their thinking and provides less scaffolding for them to create a paragraph
similar to the on I modeled. The former and current ELLs will receive texts that contain
glossaries. For the students who struggle with manual dexterity, I will be sure to provide
additional time for them to complete their assessments so they can continue to work on
the clarity of their handwriting. Because of all these adaptations, all students will be
better able to access the content and demonstrate their understanding of identifying the
important clues and drawing reasonable conclusions about those clues.