You Tricked Me

The False Clue-Red Herrings Rationale: The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the concept of red herrings in mystery novels. Students have been reading mystery novels in their book club groups and are learning strategies they can use when reading this genre. This lesson is important because red herrings are used all the time in mystery novels and students need to learn to be able to recognize that not all clues are good clues in mystery novels. This lesson is scheduled in the unit plan for teaching mystery novels and is a necessary part of the West Windsor curriculum.

Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.5 Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.

Source: The source of this lesson is from the West Windsor curriculum provided by Columbia. I made this lesson my own by completely changing the original unit plan. This original suggestion from the unit was to have a discussion about a read aloud book; however, I wanted to make it a little bit more interactive for the kids by having an activity in the beginning. This lesson is important because students need to learn to recognize red herrings and their patterns in mystery novels, so they can identify false clues in future novels.

Objectives: Students will be able to explain and define a red herring and its purpose in the story. Students will be able to identify red herrings in book club books.

Materials: Smartboard Marker (Red) Book club materials

Procedure: Anticipatory Set o Before students arrive, hide the red Smartboard marker in the cabinet above the closet. o Have students stay at desks

Third graders, before we start reading today, I was wondering you all could help me. We have a bit of a classroom mystery. This morning, one of my Smartboard markers went missing. I am not too sure what happened to it. All I have seen is this post-it note with a clue that says look down. Using this clue, do you think you could help me look for my marker? Allow students to help look for marker for about 2-3 minutes. Lesson Development o Okay, boys and girls, did anybody find it? Its okay if you didnt, lets just all take a seat on the carpet and start reading. o So, tell me boys and girls, where are some of the places you all looked for the marker? Allow student responses o Why did you all look down on the floor or on the carpet or under your desks? Allow student responses o How come you didnt look up on the table in the back or in any of the cabinets or anything like that? Allow student responses o Right. Because I told you that the clue I saw this morning said to look down, so we all decided that we would look down for the marker. Well, boys and girls, I have to tell you something. This wasnt a very good clue because I happen to know that our Smartboard marker is up in that cabinet. Have Jess or someone go and get the marker in the cabinet and place back at the Smartboard. o Now, boys and girls, before we go on, I just want to tell you that I would never ever trick you to be mean or to be dishonest. I wanted to do this activity to prove a point to you. Sometimes, in mystery books, the author gives us false clues just like the one we had this morning. o In mystery novels, these false clues are put into the story to make the reader think the suspect is one person or that the answer is one thing, but really it has nothing to do with the mystery at all. In fact, it usually leads the reader and the detective in the completely wrong direction to actually solving the mystery. o Why do you think the author may use red herrings in a mystery story? Allow student responses. o Exactly. Red herrings make the mystery much more interesting and they also help create some sort of conflict in the novel. Now, Im going to let you in on a little secret. Usually red herrings follow a sort of pattern. There are only so many things an author can do to trick a reader and authors like to share ideas. So your goal is to read a lot of mysteries so you start to recognize what red herrings look like. o Now, boys and girls, red herrings can be a little bit tricky to spot, but you will eventually learn to recognize them. Then you want to ask yourself What did the author do to trick me? so that you dont fall for it again. So what kind of things did I do to make you think the marker was somewhere down? Allow student responses o Right. Now, its important with red herrings to realize that you may not realize right away that the detective has come across a false clue, just like this morning you did not know that look down was a false clue until I told you where the marker was. So sometimes we just have to keep reading until we find out whether our clue was real or just a trick. o Who is confused? Does everybody understand how our activity this morning showed this point? Does everybody understand this was just an activity and that o

outside of this I would never do something to trick my favorite third graders? Okay good. Closure o Today, what you are going to be doing is meeting with your book clubs for the first time. Now, all of you have read the chapters in the book you said that you would so you all should have lots of great things to talk about. In your discussions today, I really want you to focus on the clues you have come across and talk about if you think any of them might be red herrings and why. o You will have about 15 minutes to talk and then I will stop you and you will fill out BOTH sides of your self reflection sheets. o Have group leaders come get self reflections, cubes, conversation sticks, etc. Tell students they can use cubes however they want to use them Monitor talking Monitor topic o Have groups break into book clubs

Differentiation: This lesson addresses the needs of all types of learners: o Visual: Use of prompts and cubes in book club discussions o Auditory: Talking during book clubs/discussion o Kinesthetic: Activity in Anticipatory Set I also will be conferring with book club groups, along with my cooperating teacher, to make sure groups are accurately covering information and getting a lot out of the discussions. Book clubs are grouped by ability, so I will especially be conferring with my lower groups.

Assessment: Assessment will be done through student participation in whole group and book club discussion