Language Arts:  Comprehension and Bio Poems
by:  Michelle Burke

Grade:   Second Grade, twenty students

Objectives:
  

Without prompts, the second grade students will identify, in discussion, at least one character
trait and relationship among characters from the story The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by
Jon Scieszka.

Given an example of a bio poem, the students will complete a bio poem about their favorite story
book character to the fullest of their ability. (The completion of the activity will yield a
perfect evaluation.)

Anticipatory Set: Who has heard of the story of the three little pigs? … I thought you would
all say that. Who can tell me about it? … I thought that might be the story you had heard.
Today I would like to share with you the same story that you just told me, but from another point of
view. Does anyone know what I mean when I say another point of view? … Good. This story is
told from the point of view of the Wolf. Some of you may know him as the Big Bad Wolf. What I
would like you to notice as I am reading is the personality of the wolf in this story. Do you all
know what personality means? … Ok. When I am finished reading, we will break into two groups and
discuss the wolf’s personality.

Checking for Understanding & Independent Practice: After I read the story aloud to the whole
class, the students will be divided into two groups to complete two activities. The first activity
will assess their understanding of the story through analysis of the main character’s personality
traits. They will be asked a series of questions whose answers I will use to for a chart. The
questions I will ask are:

   Who is the main character?
        What is he or she like?
        Who else is important in the story?
        How does the main character feel about them?
        How does each minor character feel about the main character?
        How did you feel about the wolf before you heard this story?  After?
  

The second activity which they will complete is a bio poem. I will supply the format of a bio poem
and an example. The copy that they will be given will look like this:

   Bio Poems
First name__________________	Snow White
Four traits__________________	Beautiful, giving, loving, unhappy
Related to__________________	The Queen, her wicked stepmother
Cares deeply for_____________	The seven dwarfs
Who feels__________________	Safe in the forest
Who needs_________________	The love of a prince
Who gives__________________	Love to the seven dwarfs
Who would like to see_________	Goodness throughout the kingdom
Resident of__________________	The forest
  

They will be able to use a character from the story I read, or one from a story they have read in
class with their regular teacher, Mrs. H.

Closure: I will ask the students to come back together to share the bio poems that they come up
with. In closing, I will again address the identification of character traits. I will discuss how
it is important to use this skill when reading because it helps you to better remember and
understand what you have read.

Evaluation: The evaluation of this lesson will be done throughout the activities. The students’
ability to answer the questions I ask in the first activity will tell me if they have met the
objective that I have set for them. This will assess the group as a whole. Activity 2 will assess
each student individually, or in small groups. The completion of the bio poem tells me that they
understand the components of personality and character traits enough to apply it in other settings.

Materials: The book that I will read is necessary. Also, each student needs the worksheet that I
created which shows them the format of a bio poem and an example.

E-mail

Michelle!