1. My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother by Patricia Polacco
Hollie Holtebeck
EDUC 580
Summer 2014

2. Objectives Students will:
Use their background knowledge to make predictions.
Make movies of what they are reading in their heads.
Use technology to show what they are visualizing.
Put events from a story into the correct order.
Read closely by reading text and illustrations.
Determine a character’s traits.
Use their opinion to recommend a book to a peer.

3. D:\Anticipation Guide for My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother.docx
Lesson One:
(building background knowledge)
Show students the cover of the book My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother. Discuss what they see and talk briefly about how the front cover can help us to learn about what the book will be about.
Introduce the anticipation guide and how to use it. Model filling out the first statement together.
Allow students time to fill out the anticipation guide on their own.
Come together on the carpet and ask frontloading questions: do any of you have a brother or sister that is sometimes rotten to you? What kind of things do they do to you that are rotten?
D:\Anticipation Guide for My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother.docx

4. Lesson Two:
Begin with students at carpet to read the story. Revisit thoughts from yesterday, if needed.
Tell students that this is a story about a girl named Patricia and her rotten older brother, Richard. They NEVER get along and are always in competition with each other.
Read story (without showing the pictures), stopping to discuss various points, especially those on the anticipation guide.
Tell students that they are going to redo their anticipation guide, being sure to change their thinking where necessary.

5. (comprehension-visualization):
Lesson Three
(comprehension-visualization):
Have text from page 12 displayed on the easel. Read it aloud to the students.
Model how I read the section and see a movie playing in my head. Model closing my eyes and picturing the scene in my head.
Draw a picture on my chart paper that shows what I am seeing in my head. Talk about how good readers have pictures in their head as they read because it helps them understand what they’re reading.
Divide students into partnerships and give them each a section of the text. Each group should have an iPad and the app Doodle Buddy. Each group should read their text and draw a picture of what they see in their minds, using the app.
Save the pictures to use in the next lesson.
Supplies needed:
Enlarged copy of the text from page 12
Chart paper, markers
Choose 9 sections of text from book, one copy of each for a partnership

6. (comprehension-retelling/sequencing)
Lesson Four:
(comprehension-retelling/sequencing)
Bring iPads out and show what each group drew for their section of text.
Have students work together to put the iPads in order of story events, working on sequencing skills.
Read story, allowing them to see pictures.
Supplies Needed:
iPads
My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother

7. (comprehension: reading text and illustrations)
Lesson Five:
(comprehension: reading text and illustrations)
Show students page 5 and 6 in the text.
Model how good readers use the text and illustrations to read the story and understand it better. Demonstrate how I can tell how the character is feeling based on the illustrations and the words they use.
Students choose from a selection of texts on the carpet. With their reading partner, they open up to the marked page (teacher marks it) and talk about what their character might be like using the illustrations and text.
During independent time, students will apply this strategy in their own text and journal about it in their response notebooks.
Supplies Needed:
Copies of page 5 and 6
Texts for students to practice in (mark page in each text with a sticky note)

8. (comprehension-close reading)
Lesson Six:
(comprehension-close reading)
Sometimes, in fiction books, real facts are sprinkled within.
Model how to read closely. Reread page 1 to students, stopping to talk about where the story takes place and how Union City, MI is a real place. Show pictures from the link below:
Also talk about the term ‘babushka’ and how that’s actually the Russian word for ‘grandma’. Show pictures and definition from the links below:
Today, during independent time, have students read closely out of their choice book. Make note of anything they come across that they would like to look up.
Allow students to look these ‘facts’ up either on the iPad as they come across them or in the computer lab later in the week.
Supplies Needed:
My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother
Teacher computer
iPads (optional)

9. (comprehension: character traits)
Lesson Seven:
(comprehension: character traits)
Good reader think about their characters in order to understand their story better and how their characters are really feeling.
Talk about character traits.
Demonstrate how to determine what a character’s traits are. “I can tell that Richard is competitive because in my story, it says that he was always telling Patricia how he could do things better than her. I would also say he is a little sneaky because when they were near the rhubarb bushes, Patricia asks him if he likes rhubarb to which he responds he doesn’t. Later he says, ‘I don’t like it…I LOVE it!’ which of course bothers Patricia.”
Partners choose a text from the middle of the carpet and turn to the marked section. With their partner, they are to read the page and study the illustrations, determining a character trait for one of the characters highlighted in that section.
During independent reading time, students should determine a character trait or two of a character in their choice book. They should write about it in their response notebook, or mark their book with sticky notes so they can share with their partners
Supplies Needed:
My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother
Variety of text with simple character analysis, marked

10. (informal assessment on character traits)
Lesson Eight:
(informal assessment on character traits)
Students bring in pictures of their family members
Give each student a paper plate and help them divide it into as many sections as there are members in their families.
Glue the picture of each family member into a section of the plate (each member gets their own section)
Students need to write 3 traits of each family member (including themselves) near their picture
Supplies Needed:
Pictures of family members
Paper plates

11. Lesson Nine: (text critic)
Talk to students about how exciting it is to talk to others about our books that we read.
Show them my pile of books ‘to read’ and remind them how I generate that pile: from others’ recommendations.
Model how I can use my opinions and thinking to convince others to read this book (or not read it).
Demonstrate how to video record myself giving a book recommendation (use the iPad).
**this lesson will be used later in the year with my unit on book recommendations
Supplies Needed:
iPads
My pile of books to read

12. Additional thoughts:
Video of Melissa Gilbert reading My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother (during computer lab or snack time)
E-postcards to compose on line and then send to family members, telling them what you like about them (writing and/or computer lab)
During my author study unit, use Patricia Polacco as my demonstration

13. Other texts with a sibling theme:
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