This mini-unit is designed for a third grade class of twenty students with varying levels of reading attainment (assessed using Guided Reading levels and The Teacher’s College assessment tool.)

Student goals:

Universal Understandings: To present an interactive read aloud using realistic fiction told in first person narrative; students can deepen their appreciation of Chinese culture, and that differences exist between people of the same country by interacting with the text through the use of the drama process and role play, discussion, drawing and written reflections.

Content and Language Objectives:  The students will actively listen to the realistic fiction story, I Can See the Sun  and they will reflect on the themes by envisioning themselves as the protagonist ( an unnamed girl) and a sense of being there will be created through partner dialogue, role play situations, and other critical thinking activities. [The students will also examine the strategies used to the explore text. What did we do?]

Brief Theoretical Framework to Unit:

Critical Reading:

• Including critical reading pedagogy is an essential part of any effective reading program. Interactive engagement with text allows children to critically explore texts in multimodal ways.  It is said that in the early years (pre-k to grade three) children learn to read and in the succeeding years children read to learn.  My philosophy is that children are never too young to engage in interactive activities that promote their engagement with text in deeper ways.  Children have feelings, and they do think about themselves, the world and their place in the world.  It is not only a matter of how does one present broad issues that are reflected in stories such as racism, sexism, divorce etc.  It is also about understanding democracy, social justice, empowerment, empathy, and love for our fellow human beings.