Someday a Tree
Eve Bunting
Ideas
Lesson Focus: Identifying ideas from students' lives for writing stories
Focus Grade Level: First Grade
Time Frame: One Day
Focus Text/Author: Someday a Tree/ Eve Bunting
Other Materials:
· markers
· Chart paper
· Story idea list paper for students
Ohio Academic Content Standards Lesson Focus:
Standard: Writing Processes
K-2 Benchmark:
A. Generate ideas for written compositions.
B. Develop audience and purpose for self-selected and assigned writing tasks.
1st Grade Level Indicators:
1. Generate writing ideas through discussions with others.
2. Develop a main idea for writing.
3. Determine purpose and audience.
4. Use organizational strategies (e.g., brainstorming, lists, webs and Venn diagrams) to plan writing.
Book Summary:
A beloved oak tree begins to die in the middle of spring. Despite a massive town effort to save it, its leaves keep falling. A girl whose entire childhood has revolved around the oak, plants its acorns as a sign of hope that someday again they will have a beautiful oak tree.
About the Author:
Eve Bunting is the author of more than 100 books for young readers. She was born in a tiny village of Maghera in Northern Ireland. In 1958, she traveled to the United States, where she has lived ever since, raising three children and four grandchildren. Bunting began writing after moving to California, where she enrolled in a community college creative writing course. When Bunting isn't writing, she enjoys reading and playing golf. She lives in Pasadena, California, with her husband.
Before the Lesson:
Make sure the story is a familiar read. The story needs to be about the author being a model and mentor to the students in their writing.
Things to Remember:
You do not have to read the entire story. This is a familiar read and students can benefit even with a short excerpt of the story if your time is limited.
Lesson Steps:
1. First, read the story or excerpt of the story to engage ideas from students.
2. Discuss how Eve Bunting had many different ideas from her story. Where did she get her ideas from? What are some of the stories she wrote about for the little boy? Do these stories help you think of ideas?
3. Create a chart of different ideas and memories of childhood that Eve helped them to think about through her writing. Hang this chart in the classroom for future reference.
4. Have the students go back to their seats and independently write a story list on a story list template (use numbering and lines on Microsoft word).
5. Ask the students to share their idea list with a peer.
6. Discuss how Eve’s story helped spark different ideas for their own writing.
7. On future days, have the students use this list and the childhood memories in Eve’s story to assist students in writing different stories in Writers Workshop.
8. The class list should be posted in the classroom. If possible, put the students’ lists in a sheet protector in a writing folder that has fasteners. This keeps this for future use.
9. Continue to practice this concept and revert back to this lesson for students to remember how Eve used memories of the little boy’s life to help create different stories. Students can continue to add different ideas to their list throughout the year.
10. Extension: Encourage students to think about WHEN they will use these stories in their writing. HOW did Eve use the purpose of the story to plan her ideas? Who are you writing for? How does it change your story? (This is an extension activity ONLY. It should be done after your students can generate ideas based on their audience independently).
Additional Resources:
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