I. Curricular Framework

Concept:

Home

Essential Question:

Why does the place where we grew up always stay in our hearts?

Bridge:

Homesickness

Content:

"Grandfather's Journey" by Allen Say

Outcomes:

II. Standards Aligned

III. Instruction and Assessment

1. Connect: Connecting to the Concept Experientially

Objective: To raise learner awareness as to what things make us comfortable.

Activity: Have the learners describe to each other a place where they are very comfortable.

Assessment: Quality of responses

2. Attend: Attending to the Connection

Objective: To have the learner examine their feelings about leaving comfortable places..

Activity: Have the learners answer the question: How do you feel when you leave your comfortable place? Discuss in groups.

Assessment: Exchange of information and children’s interest

Assessment, Phase One, Level of Engagement, Fascination:

3. Image: Creating a Mental Picture

Objective: To introduce the idea of leaving what we know and how sometimes it results in what we call “homesickness”.

Activity: Have the learners draw five “things” they would miss if they were away from home.

Assessment: The level of meaning for the missing things

Assessment, Phase Two, Seeing the Big Picture:

4. Inform: Receiving Facts & Knowledge

Objective: To understand and enjoy the book.

Activity: Read Grandfather’s Journey.

Assessment: Attentiveness and understanding on the part of the children

Assessment, Phase Three, Success with Acquiring Knowledge:

5. Practice: Developing Skills

Objective: To have the learners recall and focus on some of the main points of the story.

Activity: Have the students answer the following: Name three out of the six things that the grandfather saw when he came to his new country. What place did he like best? Why was he unable to ever come back?

Assessment: Correct understanding of the facts of the story

Assessment, Phase Four, Success with Acquiring Skills:

6. Extend: Extending Learning to the Outside World

Objective: To enhance the students’ understanding of their grandparents’ homes (or an elderly friend’s)

Activity: Have the students interview a grandparent or an elderly friend about their childhood homes.
Questions for the Interview:
Tell me about your home, was it near mountains, a river, in a big city, near an ocean?
Who lived in your house with you?
What was your favorite place in your house or near your house? Describe it
Tell me a happy memory you have about something that happened when you were my age.
What do you miss the most about your home? Describe it.

Assessment: Successful interview with interest on the part of the students.

7. Refine: Refining the Extension

Objective: To have the learners ponder the idea of how our hearts are touched by the places we call home.

Activity: Have students tell what this statement means: “Home is where the heart is.”

Assessment: Their understanding of the meaning of home.

8. Perform: Creative Manifestation of Material Learned

Objective: To have the learners ponder the idea of how our hearts are touched by the places we call home.

Activity: Have students tell what this statement means: “Home is where the heart is.”

Assessment: Their understanding of the meaning of home

Assessment, Phase Five,Performance, Creative Use of Material Learned: