Grades 2-3
Journeys
and
Destinations
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Language Arts Enrichment Activities for Advanced and Gifted Learners Overview
The College of William and Mary's Center for Gifted Education is one of the nation's
foremost leaders in the development of curriculum materials and instructional and
assessment approaches for gifted learners. The lessons included in this packet are
condensed versions of those lessons. In these abridged lessons, teachers will find the
following components:
Lesson Title: Please note this is the lesson title exactly as it is referred to in the
accompanying teacher's edition.
Grade Level: The grade level has been assigned by the College of William and Mary.
Teacher's Edition Title and Lesson Number: Several teachers' editions were
referenced in creating the lessons. Use the title listed (i.e. Journeys and Destinations,
Patterns of Change, etc.) and lesson number, to locate the full lesson in the teacher's
edition.
Lesson Goals:
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GOAL 1-to develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature
GOAL 2-to develop persuasive writing skills
GOAL 3-to develop linguistic competency
GOAL 4-to develop listening/oral communication skills
GOAL 5-to develop reasoning skills in the language arts
GOAL 6-to understand the concept of change in the language arts
Assignment Overview: The major activities of the lesson are summarized here so that
teachers may see at a glance what each lesson will entail.
Suggested Materials: This section includes the title of the text as well as the author.
When possible, a direct link to the text has been provided.
Discussion Questions: When necessary discussion questions are categorized by text
(if more than one text is used for the lesson), as well as by question type (literary
response/interpretation, reasoning, and questions pertaining to change).
Response Journal: Encourage the students to keep a Response Journal for
responding to the questions in each lesson.
Extensions/Homework: Here you will find a preview of all extension activities, which
are optional activities offered to provide further enrichment or to accommodate
expanded schedules. Cross curricular connections are also noted here.
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The texts for these lessons include high-quality poems, short stories, and essays. A
great deal of the language arts lessons focus on the concept of change. As students
progress through these units, they learn that change is everywhere, change is linked to
time, change may be positive or negative, change may be perceived as orderly or
random, change may happen naturally or change may be caused by people. As
students read they will identify examples of how change affects the story.
To enhance the learning experience of students, the concept of change and
accompanying generalizations should extend into the students' other curricula. The
more connections they are able to draw, the deeper they will be able to examine and
understand the concept of change. The following generalizations are introduced in
Lesson 2:
Change is linked to time.
Change may be perceived as orderly or
random.
Change is everywhere.
Change may be positive or negative.
Change may happen naturally or may be
caused by people.
Change does not affect everything.
Throughout each lesson, two models are frequently used to encourage close interaction
with the text: The Literature Web Model and Vocabulary Web Model.
The Literature Web Model encourages students to consider five aspects of the
selection they are reading: keywords, feelings, ideas, images or symbols, and the
structure. This web helps students organize their initial responses and provides them
with a platform for discussing the piece in small or large groups. Whenever possible,
students should be allowed to underline and make marginal notes as they read and
reread. After marking the text, students then organize their notes into the web.
Suggested Discussion Questions for Literature Web:
Key Words-What words or phrases from the story are important? Why do you
think the author chose these words? What are some words that the author
seems to emphasize?
Feelings-What feeling do you get when you read the story? Why do you think
you had those particular feelings? What feelings do you think the characters
have? What feelings do you think the author had or is trying to show?
Ideas-What idea is the story mostly about? What other ideas does the folk tale
show? What is the author saying about Change?
Images/Symbols-What are some pictures or images that came to mind when
you read the story? How does the author use description and imagery?
Structure-What are some characteristics of the way the story is written? How is
dialogue used? How does its structure contribute to the meaning of the story?
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After students have completed their webs individually, they should compare their webs
in small groups. This initial discussion will enable them to consider the ideas of others
and to understand that individuals interpret literature differently. These small groups
may compile a composite web that includes the ideas of all members. Following the
small group work, teachers have several options for using the webs. For instance, they
may ask each group to report to the class, they may ask groups to post their composite
web, or they may develop a new web with the class based on the small group work. The
discussion that is generated through the use of the Literature Web is one which the
teacher should facilitate through the use of open ended questions. Students should be
encouraged to provide evidence from the text to support any response. A black line
master of the Literature Web is found in Appendix E in the designated teacher's edition.
Similarly, the purpose of the Vocabulary Web Model is to enable students to gain an
in-depth understanding of interesting words. Rather than promoting superficial
vocabulary development, the web approach allows for deep processing of challenging
and interesting words. Vocabulary Web components include: word, origin, part of
speech, word families, synonyms, antonyms, sentence from the text using word,
student example using word, stems, and dictionary definition. A black line master of the
Literature Web is found in Appendix E in the designated teacher's edition.
Students may complete the Vocabulary Web individually or in small groups. Please
allow students to access a dictionary as needed. Once students become familiar with
this activity, they may use a streamlined version to accommodate new words they meet
in their independent reading.
A vocabulary section should be kept in a separate place in students' notebooks for this
purpose. They only need to list the word, definition, and sentence in which the word was
encountered, plus any additional information they find particularly interesting. They may
then develop webs for the few selected words.
We hope you are able to implement these lessons in your classroom to enrich and
differentiate your curriculum. The original, unabridged lessons can be found in the
designated teacher's editions published by the College of William and Mary. If you have
any questions regarding the content or procedures involved within this adapted
curriculum, please feel free to contact the Advanced Studies and Gifted Learners
Department.
Teacher's editions and student guides for each unit are available for check out
from the Advanced Studies and Gifted Learners Department. Contact Irene
Benfatti’s secretary, Kathleen Romano, for details (ext. 70102).
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Lesson Title: The Concept of Change (page 1 of 3)
Grades 2-3: Journeys and Destinations-Lesson 2
 GOAL 4-to develop listening/oral communication skills
 GOAL 5-to develop reasoning skills in the language arts
 GOAL 6-to understand the concept of change in the language arts
{The content of this lesson provides the framework for future lessons and activities.}
Assignment Overview:
Facilitate the brainstorming of multiple examples of change on chart paper.
Complete a change model chart including change linked to time, change is
everywhere, change may be positive or negative, change may be perceived as
orderly or random, change may happen naturally or may be caused by people,
and change does not affect everything (see chart below).
Share group ideas with class adding new ideas to their original lists.
Encourage groups to categorize their examples of change using the following
criteria:
Change is linked to time.
Change may be perceived as orderly or
random.
Change is everywhere.
Change may be positive or negative.
Change may happen naturally or may be
caused by people.
Change does not affect everything.
Suggested Materials:
Chart paper, markers
Discussion Questions for Change Model
Brainstorming ideas about change and recording all responses:
What do you think about when you hear the word change? What kinds of things
change? What is it about them that changes?
Categorizing ideas and titling each group:
How could you put your change ideas into groups? How are some of the
changes alike?
What could you call each group? Why?
Could some of your changes belong to more than one group? Why?
What are some different ways that you could categorize your changes?
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Lesson Title: The Concept of Change (page 2 of 3)
What do your ideas tell you about changes in general? What are some of the
characteristics of change?
Brainstorming a list of things that do not change:
What are some things that are always the same, or that always happen the same
way?
Look at the list of things that change. While those things are changing, can you
think of anything else that stays the same?
What can you say about the ideas of things that do not change? How could you
put them into groups?
What would you call each group? Why?
Think about these ideas and whether they show change: routines or habits, rules
and regulations, table manners, laws, customs of cultures. Explain your answers.
If they do show change, then where would they fit into your categories of
changes? If they do not, then where would they fit into your categories of things
that do not change?
Making generalizations about change:
A generalization is something that is always or almost always true. Can you say
something that is always or almost always true about change?
Look at the categories of changes that we found and see if they help you make
generalizations about change. How are your examples alike?
Change Generalizations Chart with Discussion Questions:
Change is linked to time. How is change
linked to time? Are all changes linked
to time in the same way? How do some
of your examples relate to time?
Change may be positive or negative.
What is progress? Does change
always represent progress? How could
a change be both positive and
negative?
Change may be perceived as orderly or
Change may happen naturally or may be
random. Can we predict change? Select caused by people. What causes
examples of change and describe
change? What influence do people
which aspects of these changes can be have over changes in nature? What
predicted and which are unpredictable? influences does nature have over the
changes people intend to make?
Change is everywhere. Does change
Change does not affect everything.
apply to all areas of our world? What
Consider the following: non-living
are some specific changes that are
things, traditions, religious rituals, and
universal and some that apply only to a universal truths. How does not apply
particular area at a given time?
or not apply to these categories?
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Lesson Title: The Concept of Change (page 3 of 3)
Extensions/Homework:
Have students find a newspaper or magazine article that tells about change or
changes. Have them write a paragraph identifying the change or changes
described in the article and explaining which of the generalizations about change
the article illustrates.
Discuss the different ways weather changes. Have students collect data
measuring the temperature outside for five days in a row. After the data has been
collected, show students how to make a line graph. Discuss which generalization
about change is illustrated by the data.
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Lesson Title: Exploring Poetry (page 1 of 2)
Grades 2-3: Journeys and Destinations-Lesson 7
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GOAL 1-to develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature
GOAL 2-to develop persuasive writing skills
GOAL 3-to develop linguistic competency
GOAL 4-to develop listening/oral communication skills
GOAL 5-to develop reasoning skills in the language arts
GOAL 6-to understand the concept of change in the language arts
Assignment Overview:
Read and discuss I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
Complete a Vocabulary Web including word, origin, part of speech, word families,
synonyms, antonyms, sentence from the text using word, student example using
word, stems, and dictionary definition for teacher selected vocabulary
(Suggested words to use: vales, sprightly, vacant, continuous, jocund, pensive,
margin, wealth, solitude).
Complete a Literature Web including poem title, key words, feelings, ideas, and
images or symbols.
Suggested Materials:
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174790
Discussion Questions for Literature Web:
Key Words-What words or phrases from the poem are important? Why do you
think the poet chose these words?
Feelings-What feeling do you get when you read the poem? How do you think
the speaker in the poem feels?
Ideas-What idea is the poem mostly about? What changes does the poem
show?
Images/Symbols-What pictures do you have in mind when you read the poem?
Do any of the things describe in the poem seem to stand for something else?
Discussion Questions:
Literary Response/Interpretation:
What is an important idea from the poem?
What does the speaker mean when he says, “I gazed-and gazed-but little
thought/What wealth to me the show had brought”?
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Lesson Title: Exploring Poetry (page 2 of 2)
When the speaker says that he “wandered lonely as a cloud,” does he really
mean that he floated high in the sky? What is he trying to say that he compared
himself to a cloud?
How does the speaker feel about the daffodils that he saw? The lake? The stars?
Even though he is no longer looking at the field of beautiful daffodils, how does
the speaker still enjoy them?
Do you think the speaker would agree that memories could be very important to
people? Explain.
What would be another good title for this poem? What parts of the poem give you
the idea for this title?
What does this poem have to say about change? Give examples from the poem
that relate to one or more about the generalizations about change?
Extensions/Homework:
Have students work together to write a paragraph in response to the question,
should I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud be renamed Change in Memory?
Have students read more poems by William Wordsworth, William Blake or by
other Romantic poets. Discuss the language and topics of the poems. What does
the language reveal about the time period?
Have students read I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud again and then write a letter
to the author describing a personal connection with the poem, such as their
reaction to the poem, a similar experience in nature, or a memory they would like
to recall.
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Lesson Title: Understanding Poetry (page 1 of 3)
Grades 2-3: Journeys and Destinations-Lesson 12
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GOAL 1-to develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature
GOAL 2-to develop persuasive writing skills
GOAL 4-to develop listening/oral communication skills
GOAL 6-to understand the concept of change in the language arts
Assignment Overview:
Read and discuss poem for rodney, Perfection, and Poem.
Write a Response Journal entry.
Suggested Materials: (see poems at end of lesson)
poem for rodney by Nikki Giovanni
Perfection by Felice Holman
Poem by Langston Hughes
Discussion Questions:
poem for rodney
What is an important idea from the poem?
Why do you think the speaker (Rodney) uses a small “i” to talk about himself?
Why does the speaker say “i always/just think/i’d like to grow/up”?
Why do you think the author chose the title, poem for rodney? What would be
another good title? What part or parts of the poem gave you the idea for your
title?
Perfection
The speaker in this poem sees flaws or something wrong, in the turkey, hog, and
goose. What is wrong with each of these animals?
What do you think the author of the poem is trying to say about the concept of
perfection? What does it mean to be perfect?
What does the speaker think about trading places with the “odd-necked goose”?
Why might the goose want to trade places with the speaker-or not? Why might
the speaker want to trade places with the goose-or not?
What do you think the author is trying to say about the concept of perfection?
What does it mean to be perfect?
What does this poem say about the generalization about change?
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Lesson Title: Understanding Poetry (page 2 of 3)
Poem
Why does the poet use the word “soft” in line 5? What does this word mean in
the poem?
What can happen when a friend leaves? What effects can it have you? What
effects can it have on your friend? What feelings might you both have?
What causes friendships to end?
The poem is simply called Poem. What would be another good title for this
poem? What are your reasons for choosing this title?
What does this poem say about the generalization about change?
Writing to Respond:
Have students respond to the following question in their Response Journal:
Think of a good friend. How do you feel about that friend? How would you feel if
that friend moved to a different place?
Extensions/Homework:
Have students collect objects that represent change displaying them in a collage.
Have students express how these objects show change in a poem or essay.
Write a poem about “waiting.” How do you feel when you have to wait? For what
are you usually waiting?
Have students read Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days by Stephen Manes.
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Lesson Title: Understanding Poetry (page 3 of 3)
poem for rodney by Nikki Giovanni
people always ask what
am i going to be
when i grow
up an i always
just think
i’d like to grow
up
Perfection by Felice Holman
Surely the turkey
is not pleased
to walk about with
knobbly knees,
his wattles
wobbling in the breeze.
And does the hog
enjoy his girth?
Or if the whim
were up to him
would he prefer
to be as slim
as I, perhaps,
and leave his bog?
And so,
if I don’t like myself
entirely,
I do suspect
the odd-necked goose
might trade with me,
if we could choose.
But then, would i
accept his neck
so I could fly?
Poem by Langston Hughes
I loved my friend.
He went away from me.
There’s nothing more to say.
The poem ends,
Soft as it beganI loved my friend.
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Lesson Title: Inside and Outside Changes (page 1 of 2)
Grades 2-3: Journeys and Destinations-Lesson 16
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GOAL 1-to develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature
GOAL 3-to develop linguistic competency
GOAL 4-to develop listening/oral communication skills
GOAL 5-to develop reasoning skills in the language arts
GOAL 6-to understand the concept of change in the language arts
Assignment Overview:
Write about things that students would and would not like to change about
themselves.
Read and discuss The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen.
Complete a Literature Web including title, key words, feelings, ideas, and images
or symbols.
Suggested Materials
The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/UglDuc.shtml
Discussion Questions:
Literary Response/Interpretation:
What is the “problem” with the duckling in the story?
How is the way the cat and the hen treat the duckling different from the way that
the other animals treat him?
What do you think is the main idea of the story?
At the end of the story, it says that the duckling was “not proud, for a kind heart
can never be proud.” What does this statement mean? Can you give examples
from other stories, your life, or the world that show the meaning of this
statement?
Reasoning:
What reasons do the other animals give for rejecting the duckling?
What evidence is in the story that even the duckling’s mother rejects him?
What does the story say about “the pain of being different”?
Change:
How does the story relate to the idea of change? Its generalizations?
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Lesson Title: Inside and Outside Changes (page 2 of 2)
Extensions/Homework:
Have students write a short dialogue between the ugly duckling and the swans,
in which the ugly duckling realizes he is a swan.
Have students use reference sources to find other animal species in which the
young look very different from the adults.
Create a collage showing the three most beautiful things in your life. Write a
description telling why each of these things are beautiful.
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Lesson Title: Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain (page 1 of 2)
Grades 2-3: Journeys and Destinations-Lesson 18
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GOAL 1-to develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature
GOAL 3-to develop linguistic competency
GOAL 4-to develop listening/oral communication skills
GOAL 5-to develop reasoning skills in the language arts
GOAL 6-to understand the concept of change in the language arts
Assignment Overview:
Complete a Literature Web for Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain including title, key
words, feelings, ideas, and images or symbols.
Complete a Venn diagram comparing Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain and Rain
Player.
Write a Response Journal entry.
Suggested Materials:
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema
http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/kipatcolour.pdf
Rain Player by David Wisniewski
Discussion Questions:
Literary Response/Interpretation:
What causes the grass to turn brown in the story?
What are some other things that happen because there is no rain?
What does Ki-pat do to solve the problem?
How would you describe the character of Ki-pat? How is the character important
to the story?
Why does Ki-pat think of using a feather?
What does this story show about cause and effect in nature?
Why does the story end by telling about Ki-pat’s son tending the herds?
If the cows had died, how would the story have turned out differently?
In your opinion, what is the best part of the story? Why?
Change:
What is the major change in the story caused by humans or by nature?
How does the story relate to the generalizations about change?
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Lesson Title: Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain (page 2 of 2)
Writing to Respond:
Have students respond to the following questions in their Response Journal:
In the story, the drought is a terrible for Ki-pat. Drought and famine are also
terrible problems in the world today. Write a paragraph about why our country
should provide help to parts of the world suffering from drought and famine. You
may write your argument in the form of a letter to the President or to the editor of
a newspaper.
Think about hero stories in different cultures. How are Ki-pat and Superman
different? Alike?
Extensions/Homework:
Have students write a two-paragraph essay using the Venn diagram comparing
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain and Rain Player.
Have students read one of the following books by Verna Aardema: Who’s in
Rabbit’s House? Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears, The Lonely Lioness
and the Ostrich Chicks, Borreguita and the Coyote. Have students make a list of
similarities among Aadema’s books. Ask them to describe three specific
characteristics of her books and give examples from the books to illustrate these
characteristics.
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Lesson Title: The Royal Bee (page 1 of 2)
Grades 2-3: Journeys and Destinations-Lesson 21
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GOAL 1-to develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature
GOAL 3-to develop linguistic competency
GOAL 4-to develop listening/oral communication skills
GOAL 5-to develop reasoning skills in the language arts
GOAL 6-to understand the concept of change in the language arts
Assignment Overview:
Read and discuss The Royal Bee.
Complete Literature Web including title, key words, feelings, ideas, and images
or symbols.
Complete a Vocabulary Web including word, origin, part of speech, word families,
synonyms, antonyms, sentence from the text using word, student example using
word, stems, and dictionary definition for teacher selected vocabulary
(Suggested words to use: privileged, scholars, murmured, instruction, governor,
knowledge, eavesdropping, ceremonial).
Write a Response Journal entry.
Suggested Materials:
The Royal Bee by Frances Park and Ginger Park
Discussion Questions:
Literary Response/Interpretation:
“But the distant sound of a school bell made him (Song-ho) dream of the day
when he could read books and write poetry.” Why did the sound of the bell affect
him in this way?
Why was being able to attend school so important to Song-ho?
Why did Master Min allow Song-ho to stay outside the school and listen to the
lessons each day?
Why did Master Min think that Song-ho was brave?
Reasoning
Why do you think the author wrote this story? What about the story suggests the
author’s purpose to you?
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Lesson Title: The Royal Bee (page 2 of 2)
Change:
Describe how the Grandmother and Sachiko have changed?
How does the story relate to the generalizations about change?
Writing to Respond:
Have students respond to the following questions in their Response Journal:
Why did Song-ho value education so much?
In your opinion, why did Master Min ignore the rules of society in order to allow
Song-ho to get an education?
Extensions/Homework:
Most names have more than one meaning. Have students use books and online
resources to find out the meanings of their names. Have students prepare a
visual aid to address the meaning of their name, as well as respond to the
following prompt in their Response Journal: Does the meaning of your name fit
who you are? Explain.
If students find that the meaning of their name does not represent them, have
them select an alternative and explain why this name fits them better.
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Lesson Title: Concluding Poetry (page 1 of 2)
Grades 2-3: Journeys and Destinations-Lesson 25
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GOAL 1-to develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature
GOAL 3-to develop linguistic competency
GOAL 5-to develop reasoning skills in the language arts
GOAL 6-to understand the concept of change in the language arts
Assignment Overview:
Read and discuss two versions of Nurse’s Song.
Complete a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the two nurses.
Complete a Vocabulary Web including word, origin, part of speech, word families,
synonyms, antonyms, sentence from the text using word, student example using
word, stems, and dictionary definition for teacher selected vocabulary
(Suggested words to use: besides, pale, echo, disguise, dale).
Write a Response Journal entry.
Suggested Materials:
Nurse’s Song (from Songs of Innocence) by William Blake
Nurse’s Song (from Songs of Experience) by William Blake
http://www.blakesongsettings.co.uk/index.php/the-poems/108
Discussion Questions:
Nurse’s Song (from Songs of Innocence) by William Blake
Discuss with students what situation is being described in the poem, how the
children feel, and why the Nurse might agree to let the children play at dusk.
Nurse’s Song (from Songs of Experience) by William Blake
Explain that William Blake was trying to demonstrate that changes occur in
people over time. Discuss how the Nurse’s feelings and response to the
children’s play in this version are different from those in the first version.
Literary Response/Interpretation:
What feeling do you get when the first poem describes “the voices of children
[that] are heard on the green/And laughing [that] is heard on the hill”? Does this
description make you think of or remember anything? How do these noises make
the Nurse in the first poem feel?
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Lesson Title: Concluding Poetry (page 2 of 2)
What reason do the children give the Nurse for wanting to continue to play
outside? Do they seem afraid of the dark or of nature? Does the Nurse in the first
poem seem scared?
What is meant by the line “Your spring & your day are wasted in play”? Why
might the nurse in the second poem claim that winter and night are “in disguise”?
The Nurse in the second poem states she remembers her own youth, her “face
turns green and pale.” Why might this be? What about her childhood might cause
her to respond in this way?
Reasoning
Imagine that the Nurse in both poems is the same woman. What might have
caused the difference in her attitude toward the children and their play in the two
poems?
Imagine that the Nurses in both poems are two different women. Why do you
think that the second nurse thinks and responds so differently to the children and
their play than the first nurse does?
Change:
If the Nurse in both poems is the same women, then how has she changed
between the two poems?
How are any of the generalizations about change demonstrated in these poems?
Writing to Respond:
Have students respond to the following questions in their Response Journal:
Do you think the way the Nurse changes between the two poems is normal for
most people as time passes? Explain.
Do you have any adult friends or relatives who seem to have changed since you
have known them? How does that feel? Be sure to include how they have
changed and whether these changes were positive or negative.
Extensions/Homework:
Have students reread both poems and look for sets of poems that are related or
demonstrate a change in thought or attitude.
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