Ready-to-teach lesson
TUMBLETA | ELA SKILL LESSON
Pigs
Opened It Just A Little GRADE 1 · 34 minutes FULL · 18 minutes SHORT
PRIMARY SKILL
Distinguish a trigger from a condition in cause and effect
- OBJECTIVE
- Find what causes the stampedes in this book, and prove it from the three doors.
- STUDENT PRODUCT
- A table of the three doors and the three steps
- FOCUS
- A cause you can test, because the book runs it three times
- ESSENTIAL QUESTION
- The doors are open twice and nothing happens. So what actually sets the pigs off?
- BEFORE TEACHING
- Materials:
- The book; Passages 2, 5 and 7 marked; one table with the three doors filled in.
Text to mark: Passage 2 gate and Megan's reason. Passage 5 - front door. Passage 7 - school door.
Passage 4 - kitchen aftermath.
FULL ROUTE
TIME
TEACHER MOVE
STUDENT WORK
4 min Read the gate page. Ask why Megan opens it; require the reason written in what she says about the pigs.
State Megan's reason.
- 7 min
- Read the three door pages one after another. Model: open a little - nothing; open more - Notice which step changes the nothing; shout - pigs move. outcome.
page 1
- 13 min
- Use the gate, front door and school door to record the same three steps and identify Complete all three rows and name the which step triggers the stampede. trigger.
- 10 min
- Return to Megan's first idea about the pigs. Connect that wrong idea to what follows in Explain why she opened the first gate the house and beyond. and one consequence.
TEACHER GUIDANCE
Pigs
Opened It Just A Little
WHY THIS TEXT WORKS
Teach this as a controlled experiment. The same three steps occur at three different doors, and the pigs ignore the open door twice in every round. The shout triggers the stampede; the open door gives the pigs a way out. Keep those two roles distinct.
ASSESSMENT
- The pigs do nothing when the door is only a little open.
- The pigs move when Megan shouts.
- The same pattern happens at more than one door.
- Megan opened the first gate because she thought the pigs were stupid.
- Names one consequence in the house.
SHORT ROUTE
3 min launch; 5 min model; 10 min complete the three-door table and explain the trigger.
KEEP THE CLAIM TIGHT
Assess only the named skill. Do not turn a correct partial explanation into a broader claim the student has not shown.
| STUDENT PAGE Pigs Opened It Just A Little Name: ________________________________ Date: ______________ | |
| Door Open a little Open more Shout | What happens? |
| Gate |
page 2
Front door
School door
WHAT TRIGGERS THE STAMPEDE?
Use both ideas: the shout is the trigger; the open door is the way out.
TEACHER KEY
Pigs
Opened It Just A Little
EXPECTED RESPONSE
At each of the three doors, Megan opens the door a little and the pigs do nothing. She opens it farther and they still do nothing.
When she shouts, the pigs jump up and run. The shout triggers the stampede; the open door gives the pigs a way out. Megan repeats the same sequence without noticing the pattern.
WHY SHE OPENED THE FIRST GATE
She had decided the pigs were too stupid to do anything even if the gate were open. The events that follow show that this idea was wrong.
page 3