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Picturing the Journey
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Map of your city;
statistics about homelessness in your city and
in the nation; books and other resources on homelessness
(see Resources ) |
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Create a display in a part
of your classroom dedicated to the topic of homelessness.
Using a map of your city as a backdrop, feature statistics
about homeless people living in your city and across
the country. Leave room to post additional information
as your class learns more. |
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Gather a resource library
in a corner of your classroom where students can go
to learn more about homelessness. Bring in fiction
and nonfiction books for students to check out and
print out relevant information and activities from
the Internet. See the Resources section of
this guide for book titles and websites. |
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Post photographs of different
types of shelters that people use in the United States.
Include familiar structures, such as houses or apartment
buildings, as well as structures that might be less
familiar, such as hogans, shacks, automobiles, cardboard
boxes, street corners, doorways, lean-to-s, or igloos.
Label each picture with the shelter’s name and,
if possible, its location. Use these pictures to discuss
with students the importance of shelter and the characteristics
of a successful shelter. |
What Do We Know? What Do We Want to Know?
In preparation for reading A Shelter in Our Car,
students create a Know, Want to Learn (KWL) chart recording
what they know and what they would like to know about homelessness.
20 min. |
whole class; partners |
| CA
Language Arts Standard 2.2: Students ask questions
and support answers by connecting prior knowledge
with literal information found in, and inferred from,
the text. |
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Flipchart
and markers |
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- Create a KWL chart
about homelessness. (What do you know about homelessness?
What do you want to know? What have you learned?)
Ask class members to share what they know about homelessness.
Record responses in the first column.
- Read out loud a dictionary definition of homeless:
“Without a home of any kind. People without a home
of any kind.”
- Ask students to discuss this definition with a partner.
What does the word homelessness make students
think or feel? What questions do they have about people
without homes? Encourage them to base their questions
on what they already know – from their lives or
from books.
- Have pairs share
their responses with the whole class and record their
questions under the second column of the KWL chart.
Possible questions include: Who is homeless? Why are
people homeless? What does it feel like to be homeless?
What happens to homeless children?
- Tell students that this is the beginning of a unit
on homelessness, and that the class will explore many
of these questions during the units. Ask them to remind
you, as they find answers to their questions, to record
answers to the questions in the KWL chart.
Diving In
45 min. |
large group |
Introduce the book to students in
a large group. Focus this first reading on reading comprehension
strategies that will support students in understanding and
taking pleasure in the story. Ask students to practice predicting
the book’s plot and inferring what they need
to know to make sense of the story.
- Read the title and ask the group if they know what
the word shelter means. Through discussion, come
to a shared understanding of the meaning of shelter
in this context – a safe place that protects people
from the outside world. Ask the group to brainstorm
reasons why people need shelter; for example climatic
conditions, physical safety, privacy, or protection
from other people.
- Now read the book aloud to students, modeling fluent
reading and reading with expression. Be sure to give
students opportunities to examine the illustrations
that support the text. Pause after each designated section
to check for comprehension, asking questions that prompt
students to make predictions and inferences:
- p. 7 Why are Zettie and
Mama in the United States? Why did they leave Jamaica?
- p. 14 Why does Zettie
want Mama to drop her off at the corner instead
of in front of the school?
- p. 16 What do you think?
Why can't Zettie's mother “do some other kind
of work?”
- p. 19 What do you know
about Benjie? How do you know?
- p. 25 What will happen
next? What will Zettie do? What would you do?
- p. 30 Why does Mama say,
“How would you like to sleep in a bed all summer
instead of in our car?”
- Once you have finished
reading the story, ask students to predict what will
happen next. Ask them to explain how they used what
they know about Zettie and Mama to make their predictions.
A Shelter in Our . . .
Students will practice classifying words based on categories
of human needs, such as food, shelter, and clothing. As
students do so, they will generate and organize vocabulary
banks.
40 min. |
whole class and small groups |
| CA
Reading Standard 1.5: Students demonstrate knowledge
of levels of specificity among grade appropriate words
and explain the importance of these relations. |
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Chart
paper and markers; pencils or pens and paper
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- Remind the class
that for Zettie and Mama, their shelter is a car, but
that most people have other types of shelters. Ask students
to find the word for the shelter their family lives
in. Take examples.
- Ask students to
brainstorm all the different types of shelters that
people might live in. Record these words in a list.
If you have posted photographs of different types of
shelters in your classroom, have students use them for
additional ideas.
- Tell the class that
shelter is just one of the things that human beings
need to survive. Ask students to brainstorm other categories
of things people need, such as food, clothing, or warmth.
Draw a diagram that shows how these words are related
to each other, classifying by levels of specificity:
- Break the class
up into small groups. Assign one need to each group
and ask students to come up with types of things that
belong in that category. Tell them to write their list
of ideas down.
- Bring students back
together as a whole class. Ask groups to share their
lists and record them on the flipchart. Ask the class
why these things are important to all people. How do
you know if something is necessary to live? What things
do they have in their lives that they could live without,
such as televisions or computers? What would life be
like without those things? How would that be different
from life without the items on their lists?
To Make a Long Story Short . . .
Using a story organizer, students will identify key story
elements. They will then create story summaries based on
the information they have identified.
40 min. |
small groups or pairs |
| CA
Reading Standard 2.6: Students extract appropriate
and significant information from the text, including
problems and solutions. |
- As a group, look
at the story map on the overhead projector. Remind students
that every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Ask students how they would describe the beginning of
A Shelter in Our Car. Together, take notes
on the first space of the story map.
- Next, have students
work in pairs to fill in the rest of the story map.
- When students have
finished, have them share their responses with the entire
class. Follow along on the story organizer on the overhead
projector as students share their answers.
- Ask students to
identify the beginning, middle, and end of this story,
using the information on the story organizer. Ask students
to identify other important features of all stories,
such as characters. Together, come to agreement on who
the characters in A Shelter in Our Car
are.
- Finally, ask students
to write a one-paragraph summary of the book with their
partners. Remind them to include all the key pieces
of information that you just discussed.
Showing and Telling
Students practice making inferences about the characters
based on their words and actions.
30 min. |
individual |
| CA
Reading Standard 3.3: Students will determine
what characters are like by what they say or do and
by how the author or illustrator portrays them. |
- Ask students for words that describe somebody they
all know (such as the principal, a custodian, or another
teacher). Remind students that the words we use to describe
are called adjectives. List the adjectives that
students brainstorm on a piece of chart paper or the
blackboard. Then, ask students how they know these words
are true. As students share their responses, record
them under the headings “words” or “actions.”
- Tell students that,
just like real people, we can figure things out about
a person in a book by looking at what they say –
their words – and what they do – their actions.
Point to the character of the policeman in A Shelter
in Our Car on page 8. What words would students
use to describe him? What does he say or do to make
the students use those words to describe him? Again,
record responses under “words” and “actions.”
- Place the transparency
of the Character Analysis Worksheet on the overhead
projector. As a class, fill out the boxes using the
lists students brainstormed about a school character
and the policeman from the book.
- Finally, distribute
the Character Analysis Worksheet and ask students to
fill out three boxes each for Mama and Zettie. Tell
them that they can either draw or write in the boxes
to show what the characters say and do.
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