Get ready to “Stretch out the Middle” in this beginning, middle, end lesson using the Simplified Writing Diamond - the organizational pattern of story. Students will identify the beginning, middle and end of one of our favorite fall books, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Calandro. Using a combination of drawing and writing, your students will learn that the beginning and the end of a story are proportionally smaller than the middle.
Turkey is in trouble. Bad trouble. The kind of trouble where it's almost Thanksgiving . . . and you're the main course. After many hilarious attempts, Turkey comes up with the perfect disguise to make this Thanksgiving the best ever! Students will listen to the story and then identify each of the story elements; character, setting, problem, solution and theme. Then, using the sentence starters provided, will write a response-to-text paragraph. Gobble, Gobble!