The Evidence for the Wish

Ready-to-teach lesson

The Evidence For The Wish

Ruby's Wish - Grade 3 - Short lesson

TIME

OBJECTIVE

18 minutes Say what this book is about and support it from the pages, including the pages that prove it is true.

Essential question: What had to happen before Ruby got her wish?

Materials

Text to mark

PRODUCT

A written answer with two pieces of evidence

• The book

• Passage 11 - one lit window in a dark house

• One writing frame

• Passage 12 - writing with a brush on a long scroll

each

• Prepared passages: Passage 11, Passage 12, Passage 16, Passage 18

• Passage 16 - the Lantern Festival, a plain lantern beside a glowing cockerel

Lesson sequence

1 Launch - 3 min

• Passage 18 - the grandfather at his desk with the poem

Focus:

Two lines, and the second one is worse

Teacher direction:

Read the poem again and ask the class which of its two lines is the sharper one. It is the second, and it is about her own family.

Prepared text:

Passage 12 2 Teacher model - 5 min

Teacher model:

I look for what the book puts in as proof rather than as decoration. The candle burning long after everyone else is in bed is proof that she paid for those lessons twice. The plain lantern beside a glowing red cockerel is proof about the difference she is describing. And the photograph at the end is proof that it happened. Each of those is doing a job.

Prepared text:

Passage 11, Passage 16 3 What the book is saying, with evidence - 10 min

Focus:

Say it, then prove it from a page

Teacher direction:

Using Passages 11, 12 and 18, write what you think this book is saying, and give two pieces of evidence.

page 1

Expected answer:

A fair answer is that somebody has to say plainly what is unfair before it can be put right, and that being listened to matters as much as asking. The evidence is the poem, which says out loud what nobody in the house had said - that only the boys are cared for - and the fact that Ruby had to be asked three times before she would repeat it to her grandfather's face. Another good answer is about determination, and the evidence for that is the candle: she is the only girl left in the classes and she pays for it with her evenings. What the book does not say is that wanting something is enough. Somebody with the power to act had to change his mind.

Student product:

A written answer with two pieces of evidence

Prepared text:

Passage 11, Passage 12, Passage 18

Support & extension

Above: The book never says whether Ruby's grandfather was right or the rest of the house was wrong. Decide what the book thinks, and argue it from a page.

Below: Write what the book is saying with two pieces of evidence, then how it shows the story is true.

Assessment

• States what the book is about in a sentence

• Uses the poem as evidence

• Uses the candle at night as evidence

• Says the grandfather had to act for the wish to come true

• Says the last page shows a real photograph

page 2