Literacy
Themed Literature Unit: Overcoming Challenges with Courage
by Josh Benson
Dear students and families,
Courage is a powerful quality that helps us overcome
nearly every challenge in life. For most young people, as well as
adults, it takes courage to make the right choices. In today's
society, it's not always easy to make tough choices when we're
confronted with peer pressure and other influences that don't always
have our best interest at heart. This is one of the main reasons
that I picked this theme for our literature unit this winter. By
the end of our literature unit, the students will have a deeper
understanding of what it means to be courageous as well as a deeper
understanding of themselves.
We will begin the unit by addressing three central questions:
1. What does it mean to exhibit courage?
2. What does it take to find courage?
3. Why is it important for us to face challenges?
Throughout the unit, the students will be reading books that address
the theme in some way. Based on what the students learn in class,
and what they take away from their readings, we will add to our concept
of courage and what it means to the students personally.
In addition to learning about courage, we will also examine other
literacy skills including: identifying main ideas, summarizing using
theme, predicting, and identifying character traits in a story.
Aside from the reading and writing assignments, the students will be
sharing their readings with classmates within small groups called
literature circles. Each group will meet one or two days a week
and share what they have reading about in their own books, similar to a
book club.
Book choices include the following:
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Rosa Parks: My Story
The Maze
Call it Courage
Adrift
Chain of fire
These books cater to a range of
reading abilities as well as various student interests.
Parents. As I'm sure you already know, your support inside and
outside of the classroom is always greatly appreciated. For this
unit, I would like to extend a special invitation to help out as a
volunteer with the literature circles. Not only would I
appreciate your help in the classroom, but the students would love to
have you with us. If you think you might be interested in
volunteering, please contact me via email or phone listed below.
For your convenience, I have included 3 websites below that are
connected in some way to the literature unit. Again, please
contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
literature circles web page
literacy
resource for parents
literacy
trust web page
Thanks again for your support,
Mr. Benson
bensonj@seattleu.edu
class phone: 425-431-2777