1. Reading
Unit: 2 Lesson: 4
Module: A
Objectives:
Define and use close-reading vocabulary words. RL.4.4
Refer to details and examples when explaining what a text says. RL.4.1
Today we will be doing a
Close Reading
of pages
Essential Questions:
How does a reader identify themes?
How does a writer use internal and external dialogue to develop the theme
of the story?

2. First Read Let’s explore the text!
On previous pages, Hiawatha is learning about nature through the stories Nokomis shares with
him. Have students focus on the illustrations on pp. 24–29 to determine the animals that Hiawatha might be learning about in this section.

3. Independent Reading Routine
Focus: What is the “gist” of the text?
Silently read pages In this first reading, you should be looking for a general understanding of what the text is mainly about.
Be prepared to discuss the following questions when you are done with the reading:
• How does the environment Hiawatha lives in affect
his relationship with the birds and beasts?
• What evidence from the text suggests that Nokomis
was patient with Hiawatha?
• What questions do you have?

4. Second Read
When you reread Hiawatha, focus on what and how Hiawatha learns about each animal.
Be prepared to discuss the following questions when you are done
with the reading:
1. What do you know about Hiawatha based on p. 24?
2. Why might Hiawatha want to learn the language of all beasts? Why might he want to learn their names and secrets?
3. How do you think the animals feel about Hiawatha?
4. In the line, “How the beavers built their lodges” (p. 27), what does the word lodges mean?
5. What are some clues in the italicized text on p. 29 that help you understand the meaning of the word ballad (p. 29)? What does the word ballad mean?

5. Focused Reading Vocabulary Routine: Text-Based Vocabulary
• timid, p. 27
• distinguish, p. 29
Vocabulary Routine:
1. Read the sentence containing the word.
2. Identify context clues about its meaning within the passage.
3. Look up the word in a dictionary and read the definition.
4. Use the word in other ways.
*After we review these words, write your sentences on p. 84 in your Reader’s and Writer’s Journal.*

6. Text-Based Conversation
Focused Reading
Text-Based Conversation
Hiawatha is learning all that he can about the animals around him. I see on p. 24 that he learns where the birds hide in winter. The birds hide to stay safe in the cold months. I know that Hiawatha affectionately calls the birds “Hiawatha’s Chickens” so it is unlikely that he means to harm the birds. If Hiawatha knows where the birds hide, he can study them in winter and keep learning about them.
Discuss what Hiawatha
learns about the animals.

7. Focused Reading Team Talk Routine
Do you think it is possible for Hiawatha to learn the language of all the animals? Use details from the text to support why or why not.

8. Reading Analysis Genre
Genre refers to a type of text. Authors choose genres that have features that best suit the text they are writing. The epic poem is a type of genre. Epic poems usually feature a hero with incredible abilities. Some epic poems may be based on the legends or myths of a culture and include details that are important to that culture.

9. Reading Analysis Cite Text Evidence Focus on the stanza on p. 27.
How is Hiawatha a hero?
•What incredible ability or abilities does Hiawatha have?
•What is Hiawatha’s relationship to nature?

10. Writing in Response to Reading
Independent Reading
Reading Analysis
Work independently to complete your own Web to identify the features of an epic poem revealed on p. 24.
Writing in Response to Reading
How is Hiawatha a hero with an incredible ability? Use details from the text to explain.

11. Small Groups It’s time to get into our groups!
Please see me if you don’t know what group you belong in.

12. Writing Objectives: Narrative Writing
Use quotations to identify theme.
Use quotation marks correctly.

13. Writing Narrative Writing
Writers include a theme, or central message about life, in narratives. A writer may sometimes state a theme
directly, but more often theme is revealed through events in a text. Readers can use quotations, or specific sections of text, to support their interpretation of the theme.
•What events occur on pp. 24 and 27?
•What do the events reveal about Hiawatha?
•What is a theme of pp. 24–29?

14. Writing Analyze the Text
Identify specific words and phrases that identify the theme.
Focus on the first two lines on p. 27.
Hiawatha considered the animals to be part of his family.
The writer has included text that supports the theme that people and animals are part of the same family and can understand each other.

15. Conventions Focus: Quotation Marks
Writing
Conventions Focus: Quotation Marks
Quotation marks go before and after the quotations from text or in dialogue, and direct quotations from text.
A punctuation mark should be included before the second set of quotation marks.

16. Writing Independent Writing
Write a paragraph about the theme of Hiawatha. In your paragraph, state the theme and support your idea with relevant details and at least two direct quotations from the text.
Be sure to:
credit the poem and to properly punctuate quotations.
Look back at your paragraph to be sure you used commas and quotation marks correctly when quoting text.