The Important Book Lesson

I will read The Important Book to my students. We will discuss the repetitive style of the passages in the book. We will examine the way each topic is discussed in the book. We will do "Spoon" together.
Topic: Spoon
Main Idea/Topic Sentence: The important thing about a spoon is that you eat with it.
Supporting Detail: It's like a little shovel,
Supporting Detail: You hold it in your hand,
Supporting Detail: You can put it in your mouth,
Supporting Detail: It isn't flat,
Supporting Detail: It's hollow,
Supporting Detail: And it spoons things up.
Concluding Statement: But the important thing about a spoon is that you eat with it.

Discuss how the writer uses descriptive, vivid details.

Ask for student volunteers to read different passages.
Have students identify the main idea and supporting details in each passage.

As a whole class the students will brainstorm important qualities of a good teacher.
The students will decide on the main idea or most important quality, then come up with the supporting details, and restating the main idea in the concluding statement.

The students will then conduct interviews with partners, and then write an important book passage for their partner on The Important Book sentence frame.

Name #: _______________________________________ Date: __________ 

“The Important Thing” Sentence Frames

Directions: Use these sentence frames to create you “Important Thing” passage about a classmate. Be sure to include details about your partner to really sell the point of your  partner being important. 

The Important Thing About ____________________ 

By: _______________________________________ 

The important thing about _______________________ is ___________________.

It is true that _____________________________ and _________________________ and ___________________________________________.

It _______________________, ________________________, and ______________. The ____________ also _________________________________________________. It ______________________ and ____________________.

But the important thing about _____________________ is __________________. 

Here is a teacher example:

The Important Thing About Ms. Willis by Tracei Willis

The important thing about Ms. Willis is that she is someone different to everyone she meets.

She is a mother who provides for her family.

She goes on trips with daughters, she laughs and cries with them as well...

She is a daughter who goes home to check on her parents.

She sits and listens to her mama, and she cleans up her daddy's room.

She worries about her parents and prays for their safety and well being.

She talks to her sister at 6:00pm M-F and listens to her silly nephew chatter away on the phone.

She misses her brother every day and in every way...

She thinks, worries, and dreams about her students--

the ones from the past, the present, and the future.

She wants nothing but the best for them and hopes they will walk away from her class with a renewed view on reading and writing.

But the important thing about Ms. Willis is that she is someone different to everyone she meets.

 

Next, students will write an important book passage about themselves in their journals, which will be journal entry #3.