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Taking a Stand: Shiloh
Students grapple with how a person develops values, identities, and beliefs, and explore what it means to stand up for what you believe in, while reading and discussing the novel Shiloh.
ELA
Alternate Unit 1
4th Grade
Unit Summary
In this unit, students grapple with the overarching question of how a person develops values, identities, and beliefs while reading the novel Shiloh. Marty, the main character in Shiloh, sees someone mistreating a dog and thinks it’s his right and responsibility to step in to save the dog, even if the dog doesn’t belong to him. His action raises a question for readers about when an individual should step in to take a stand against what he/she believes to be an injustice. His action also causes readers to consider how different people, depending on their values, identities, and beliefs, may have different opinions on what constitutes an injustice. Students will be challenged to take a stand on both of these ideas, based on the experiences and opinions of the different characters in Shiloh. Students will also be exposed to the idea of courage, and what it means to show courage, especially in situations where you are standing up for what you believe in. It is our hope that this unit will inspire students to grapple with these questions at a deeper level and understand the power of showing courage to fight for the things they believe in, no matter what obstacles they may face.
Shiloh was chosen as the text for this unit not only because of the powerful themes, but because of how Phyllis Reynolds Naylor artfully develops the setting, characters, and plot. In this unit, students will be challenged to think deeply about how the details an author includes help a reader better understand a character. The setting of Shiloh in rural West Virginia in the 1970s allows students to deeply analyze how an author develops a setting, and how the setting of a text influences the characters.
Throughout the unit, students prepare for class discussions, determining which evidence best supports a particular idea and how to elaborate on that evidence. By writing daily in response to the Target Task question, students build their writing fluency, seeing the power of writing as a tool for understanding what they are reading. This unit also serves as the foundation for learning how to brainstorm and write strong literary analysis/opinion paragraphs, focusing on drafting topic sentences and determining supporting details. At the end of the unit, students write a narrative continuation of the unit text.
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Texts and Materials
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Core Materials
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Book: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2000) — 890L
Supporting Materials
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Template: Opinion Writing Brainstorm Note-taker
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Resource: Single Paragraph Outline
- Resource: Recommended Texts for Independent Reading
Assessment
The following assessments accompany Unit 1.
Content Assessment
The Content Assessment pushes students to synthesize unit content knowledge or unit essential questions in writing. The Content Assessment should be used as the primary assessment because it shows mastery of unit content knowledge and standards.
Cold Read Assessment
The Cold Read Assessment tests students' ability to comprehend a "cold" or unfamiliar passage and answer standards-based questions. The Cold Read Assessment can be given in addition to the Content Assessment as a pulse point for what students can read and analyze independently, a skill often required for standardized testing.
Fluency Assessment
The Fluency Assessment allows teachers to monitor students' oral reading fluency progress with a reading passage drawn from one of the unit's core texts. Find guidance for using this assessment and supporting reading fluency in Teacher Tools.
Unit Prep
Intellectual Prep
Essential Questions
- How do beliefs, ethics, or values influence different people’s behaviors?
- When should an individual take a stand against what he/she believes to be an injustice? What are the most effective ways to do this?
- What does it mean to show courage?
Reading Focus Areas
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Characters are dynamic and multi-faceted.
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Characters can change over the course of a story.
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Characterization can be direct or indirect.
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Setting can influence character development.
Writing Focus Areas
Opinion Writing
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Use single-paragraph outlines to brainstorm cohesive paragraphs.
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Write strong topic sentences that clearly state an opinion.
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Provide reasons to support a topic.
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Link reasons using transition words and phrases.
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Write concluding sentences.
Narrative Writing
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Use relevant text details or background knowledge from the text to develop characters, ideas, or situations.
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Brainstorm and draft a story with a logical sequence of events that unfolds naturally.
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Use different strategies to start a story.
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Use concrete words and descriptions to describe characters.
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Use transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events.
Speaking and Listening Focus Areas
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Prepare for discussion.
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Elaborate to support ideas. Provide evidence or examples to justify and defend a point clearly.
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Use specific vocabulary. Use vocabulary that is specific to the subject and task to clarify and share thoughts.
Vocabulary
Text-based
abusedashamedbargainbawlbawlingblackmailboldcouragecringedecencydependdisgusteddwelledgyenthusiasmflusteredfondhumbleimpactimpatientinfluenceinfuriateintentionjubilationlicked missionmistreatedobligedomissionpesterpitifulquarrelquaveryremedyrehearsedscaleshamesnoopsquealsstumpedsuspicionssympathytensethreatstrembleunfastenwhirlswitnessyelps
Literary Terms
dialect
Root/Affix
-fulanti-im-mis-un-
To see all the vocabulary for Unit 1, view our 4th Grade Vocabulary Glossary.
Supporting All Students
In order to ensure that all students are able to access the texts and tasks in this unit, it is incredibly important to intellectually prepare to teach the unit prior to launching the unit. Use the intellectual preparation protocol and the Unit Launch to determine which support students will need. To learn more, visit the Supporting all Students teacher tool.
Lesson Map
Common Core Standards
Core Standards
Supporting Standards
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