Noah’s Ark by Peter Spier Included: A brief excerpt from the book and rigorous question set activities promoting higher level-thinking development

Tier 1 Excerpt from book Jacob’s Ladder Goals & Objectives Habits of Mind

Excerpt This picture book, depicting the loading and unloading of the ark, is a marvelous retelling in pictures of the Biblical story. Obtain the book from a school library to read the story in its entirety and complete the ladder activities.

Students will be able: Ladder A A1 Sequencing-To list in order of importance specific events or plot summaries A2 Cause and Effect-To identify and predict relationships between character behavior and story events, and their effects upon other characters or events. A3 Consequences and Implications-To predict character actions, story outcomes, and make real-world forecasts. Ladder C C1 Literary Elements-To identify and explain specific story elements such as character, setting, or poetic-device. C2 Inference-To use textual clues to read between the lines and make judgments about specific textual events, ideas, or character analysis. C3 Theme/Concept-To identify a major idea or theme common in the text. Ladder D D1 Paraphrasing - Students will be able to restate lines read using their own words. D2 Summarizing - Students will be able to provide a synopsis of text sections. D3 Creative Synthesis - Students will create something new using what they have learned from reading and their synopses.

Habits of Mind Working Interdependently Thinking about Thinking (metacognition) Innovating, Creating, Imagining Refer to Jacob’s Ladder Story Table for Ladder A, C & D Thinking Questions.

Tier 2 Rigor (Discussion) High Level Strategies with Ladder A,C & D Questions

Discussion Strategies: Think-Pair-Share, Write-around, 3-4 Podcast slides (Pixie, Frames). Choose 2 of 3 questions below to complete. A1— Sequence the events of the story by creating a time line. Why did Noah have the animals come in in the order he did? A2— If the storm had not been as strong what would have happened? Show this by writing your answers and drawing a picture. C1 — After finding the rhyming words in the story, first identify the pattern for them. Then explain how they help tell the story. C2— What trend or reasons do you arrive at why Noah is saving the animals? How would you prioritize it in his life? D1— What conclusion can you draw about the events on the page opposite the the rhyming commentary? Write about how important these are to the whole story.

Tier 3 Rigor (Discussion) High Level Strategies with Ladder A, C & D Questions

Discussion Strategies: Think-Pair-Share, Write-around, 3-4 Podcast slides (Pixie, Frames). Choose 2 of 3 questions below to complete. A3 — What is the value or importance of the dove and it’s release? C3 — Giving animals human characteristics is called personification. Authors use this element to teach a lesson. Select an animal pair to write a story and give them a particular human quality. Illustrate their lesson and your story also. D2 — Retelling the story on prose would keep some features and would change some. Retell the story in prose and explain the differences and similarities. D3 — Imagine you were able to write the words to several of the pictures. Would you make them rhyme? Be descriptive.

Tier 4 Reflections/Relevance

Choose one of the writing ideas to complete. Be creative. 1. Create puppets of the story characters to present show to an audience. 2. Rewrite the story with a certain type of animals (ocean, farm, forest, as examples) Write and illustrate about the animals time on a Ark or other form of transportation. Suggested project strategies: Write a podcast script; create a puppet show; develop a PSA; a PowerPoint presentation; write and be an actor in a skit; write a persuasive speech and give before the class.