Genre: P e Teacher’S Guide Lengthen the School Year ... Late!” • Reread the Persuasive Essays anchor chart or the web on page 3 to review the features of a persuasive essay

1 Two Persuasive essays abouT year-round schooling ©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLCB e n c h m a r k e d u c a t i o n c o m p a n y

Skills and Strategies

Anchor Comprehension Strategies• Distinguish and evaluate fact

and opinion• Make judgments

Genre Study• Recognize genre features• Analyze genre texts• Make text-to-text genre connections

Tier Two Vocabulary• See book’s glossary

Word Study• Word origins

Fluency• Read with appropriate pauses

Writing• Writer’s tools: Strong ending• Write a persuasive essay using writing-

process steps

Lengthen the School Year Before It’s Too Late!

Summer Vacation Is a Learning Experience, Too!

Teacher’S Guide

Level U/50

Unit at a Glance

Day 1 Prepare to Read Day 4 Reread “Summer Vacation Is a Learning Experience, Too!”*

Day 2 Read “Lengthen the School Year Before It’s Too Late!”*

Day 5 Literature Circle Discussion/Reinforce Skills*

Day 3 Read “Summer Vacation Is a Learning Experience, Too!”*

Days 6–15 Write a persuasive essay using the writing-process steps on page 10

*While you are meeting with small groups, other students can:• read independently from your classroom library• reflect on their learning in reading response journals• engage in literacy workstations

Genre: Persuasive essays

Y07177_G5_PersEssay2School_TG_CSKS_Rev3.indd 1 10/24/10 11:19 PM

2 Two Persuasive essays abouT year-round schooling ©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC

essays this week, we will come back to this anchor chart. We will look for how these features appear in each essay we read.

• Ask students to turn to pages 5–7. Say: Persuasive essays have been powerful instruments for change in the world. The arguments of some great American writers helped make our country what it is today. Read pages 5–7 to learn about four famous persuasive essays that influenced our history and way of thinking.

• Have four students read aloud the background information while others follow along.

• Say: Emerson encouraged people to think for themselves. Thoreau said people should stand up for what they thought was right, even if most others disagreed. What can you infer, or tell, about Emerson’s effect on Thoreau from this? Allow responses. Prompt students to understand that Thoreau and Emerson had similar beliefs and values.

Introduce the Tools for Readers and Writers: Strong Ending• Read aloud “Strong Ending” on page 4. • Say: A strong ending is vital to a persuasive essay.

The author wraps up his or her ideas and has one last chance to convince readers to take a particular action. The essays in this book have strong endings. Let’s practice identifying the characteristics of a strong ending so we can recognize them in the essays we read.

• Distribute BLM 1 (Strong Ending). Read aloud the ending paragraph with students.

• Model Identifying a Strong Ending: This ending takes an imaginative approach to the issue of land use. It asks readers to visualize what a piece of land will be like in the future if the opposing view wins and the land is developed for business. It contrasts that unpleasant image with the more pleasing image of a public park. The ending sums up the problem and offers a solution in a way that motivates readers.

• Ask students to work with a partner or in small groups to discuss other techniques the writer uses, answer the questions, and write their own strong ending for a persuasive essay.

• Bring the groups together to share their findings. Point out that a strong ending may include a question, summary of reasons, restatement of the argument, or glimpse at the future, among other techniques.

• Ask the groups to read their endings. Use the examples to build students’ understanding of how and why writers need strong endings for their persuasive essays. Remind students that a strong ending can influence the reader to agree with the author.

Prepare to ReadBuild Genre Background• Write the word genre on chart paper. Ask: Who

can explain what the word genre means? Allow responses. Say: The word genre means “a kind of something.” Pens and pencils are both kinds of writing tools. Each kind of writing tool has its own distinct qualities that we can use to recognize it. In the same way, each kind, or genre, of literature is unique because it has characteristics that set it apart from other literary genres. As readers, we identify and think about the genre to help us comprehend. Recognizing the genre helps us anticipate what the writing will contain or what we will learn. As writers, we use our knowledge of genre to help us develop and organize our ideas.

• Ask: Who can name some literary genres? Let’s make a list. Allow responses. Post the list on the classroom wall as an anchor chart.

• Draw a concept web on chart paper or the chalkboard. Write Persuasive Essays in the center circle of the web.

• Say: Persuasive essays are one example of a literary genre. Think of any persuasive essays you know. How would you define what a persuasive essay is?

• Turn and Talk. Ask students to turn and talk to a classmate and jot down any features of a persuasive essay they can think of. Then bring students together and ask them to share their ideas. Record them on the group web. Reinforce the concept that all persuasive essays have certain common features.

Introduce the Book• Distribute a copy of the book to each student. Read

the title aloud. Ask students to tell what they see on the cover and table of contents.

• Ask students to turn to pages 2–3. Say: This week we are going to read persuasive essays that will help us learn about this genre. First we’re going to focus on this genre as readers. Then we’re going to study persuasive essays from a writer’s perspective. Our goal this week is to really understand this genre.

• Ask a student to read aloud the text on pages 2–3 while others follow along. Invite a different student to read the web on page 3.

• Point to your Persuasive Essays web on chart paper. Say: Let’s compare our initial ideas about persuasive essays with what we just read. What new features of this genre did you learn? Allow responses. Add new information to the class web.

• Post this chart in your classroom during your persuasive essay unit. Say: As we read persuasive

Day 1

©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Teachers may photocopy the reproducible pages for classroom use. No other part of the guide may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or in part in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.ISBN: 978-1-4509-2982-0


©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC 3Two Persuasive essays abouT year-round schooling

• Ask the groups to hand in their paragraphs. Transfer student-written paragraphs to chart paper, title the page “Strong Ending,” and post it as an anchor chart in your classroom.

Reflect and Review • Turn and Talk. Write one or more of the following

questions on chart paper: What is a literary genre, and how can understanding genres help readers and writers? What did you learn today about the persuasive essay genre? How can readers identify a strong ending in a persuasive essay? Ask partners or small groups to discuss their ideas and report them back to the whole group as a way to summarize the day’s learning.

Management Tips• Throughout the week, you may wish to use

some of the Reflect and Review questions as prompts for reader response journal entries in addition to Turn and Talk activities.

• Have students create genre folders. Keep blackline masters, notes, small-group writing, and checklists in the folders.

• Create anchor charts by writing whole-group discussion notes and mini-lessons on chart paper. Hang charts in the room where students can see them.

Before ReadingIntroduce “Lengthen the School Year Before It’s Too Late!”• Reread the Persuasive Essays anchor chart or

the web on page 3 to review the features of a persuasive essay.

• Ask students to turn to page 8. Ask: Based on the title, photographs, and tables, what do you predict this essay might be about? Allow responses.

• Invite students to scan the text and look for the boldfaced words (vociferous, hypothetical, economy, embrace). Say: As you read, pay attention to these words. If you don’t know what they mean, try to use clues in the surrounding text to help you define them. We’ll come back to these words after we read.

Set a Purpose for Reading• Ask students to read the essay, focusing on the

genre elements they noted on their anchor chart. They should also look for a strong ending and think about how the author’s use of a strong ending helps them understand the essay’s main point and form their own opinion on the issue.

Read “Lengthen the School Year Before It’s Too Late!”• Place students in groups based on their reading

levels. Ask them to read the essay silently, whisper-read, or read with a partner.

• Confer briefly with individual students to monitor their use of fix-up strategies and their understanding of the text.

Management TipAsk students to place self-stick notes in the margins where they notice characteristics of a strong ending or features of the genre.

After ReadingBuild Comprehension: Evaluate Fact and Opinion• Lead a student discussion using the “Understand

the Essay” and “Focus on Comprehension” questions on page 16. Then, use the following steps to provide explicit modeling of how to evaluate facts and opinions in a persuasive essay.

• Explain: We learned yesterday that a persuasive essay builds an argument for the author’s point of view about an issue. The author states his or her opinions and then supports them with logical reasons based on factual evidence, not

Day 2

Name Date

Two Persuasive essays abouT year-round schooling ©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLCblM 1

Strong EndingDirections: Read the ending of a persuasive essay. Then answer the questions.

Stop. Take a moment to think. Imagine yourself twenty years from now in Eller’s Mill. You are taking your son or daughter to 24599 Dalton Road. What will you find there? Will it be Evergreen Park: a beautiful, peaceful spot with trees, flowers, grass, and wild animals? Or will it be the hot, bland parking lot of yet another shopping mall? Make a difference for our community. Say “Yes!” to the Park District referendum on the purchase of Dalton Farm. You will be doing good for our community, our environment, and Mother Nature.

1. How does this ending get readers’ attention? Possibleanswer:Itinvolvesreaderspersonallybyaskingthemtoimagineascene.

2. What action does the ending ask readers to take? Why should readers want to do this?

Possibleanswer:Itasksreaderstovoteyesfortheparkdistrictpurchaseoffarmlandforapark.Thisuseofthelandprotectstheenvironmentforthefuture.

3. What important reminder does the ending include? Possibleanswer:Howreadersvotewilldeterminehowthelandisusedand

whetheritissavedforfuturegenerations.

4. Is this ending a convincing way to conclude the essay? Explain. Possibleanswer:Yes.Theauthorengagesthereaders’imaginationsinorderto

directlyinfluencetheiremotionsandpointsoutthattheyhavethepowertodogoodonmanylevels.

Directions: Think of an issue about which you have strong opinions. Imagine you have written a persuasive essay about the issue. Write a strong ending for your essay. Possibleanswer:Musicmeanscreative,happy,smartstudents.Withoutit,wewill

sufferinsilence.Don’tletourmusicclassesbetakenawayfromus!Standupandbecounted!Votetokeepextracurricularactivitiesinourschool!



• Say: Today I will help you learn how to answer Find It! questions. The answer to a Find It! question is right in the book. You can find the answer in one place in the text.

• Model. Read the first Find It! question. Say: When I read the question, I look for important words that tell me what to look for in the book. What words in this question do you think will help me? Allow responses. Say: Yes, I’m looking for the words summer learning loss. On page 11, I read “Summer learning loss happens to all students: high achievers and those who struggle.” This sentence answers the question.

• Guide Practice. Use the Power Tool Flip Chart to help you develop other Find It! questions.

Focus on Vocabulary: Word Origins• Explain/Model. Read aloud “Word Origins” on

page 4. Say: Understanding the origin of a word can help you understand the word’s meaning and expand your vocabulary. For example, the word century, a period of one hundred years, comes to us from the Latin word centuria, which means “a group of one hundred.” Knowing this history helps you understand other words that contain the root cent, such as centimeter, centigrade, and centipede.

• Practice. Ask students to find the words psychologists (page 10) and procedural (page 11) and read the sentences. Then help students find the origin of each word in a dictionary or online. (Greek psykhe, “life, spirit, soul” + -logia, “study of”; Latin pro-, “forward” + -cedere, “to go”)

• Say: Let’s find the boldfaced words in this essay. What can you do if you don’t know what these words mean? Allow responses. Say: Besides using the glossary or a dictionary, you can look for clues in the text and in the word itself to help you. One “intheword” strategy is to look for a root or base word you recognize and think about its meaning.

• Ask students to work with a partner to complete the “Focus on Words” activity on page 17 using BLM 3 (Focus on Word Origins). Explain that they should read the sentences around the boldfaced word, think about the meaning of the root in column 1, and predict the definition of the word.

• Transfer Through Oral Language. Ask groups of students to share their findings. Invite them to use the boldfaced words in sentences with rich context. Then challenge partners to find other words with the same root, using a dictionary to check the origins. After partners share their lists, invite individual students to use the words in original sentences.

• Ask students to save their work in their genre studies folders to continue on Days 3 and 4.

Day 2 (cont.)emotion. Evaluating facts and opinions can help you decide whether the author’s argument is sound and convincing or weak and unsuccessful.

• Distribute copies of BLM 2 (Evaluate Fact and Opinion) and/or draw a chart like the one below.

Author’s Opinion

Facts Given to Support Opinion

Students in the United States need to spend more time in school.

• Thirty-nine summer learning loss studies show that students lose at least one month of instruction as measured by standardized test scores.

• In 2003, the U.S. ranked fifteenth in reading literacy out of 27 countries belonging to the OECD and twenty-first out of 30 OECD countries in scientific literacy.

• Japanese students attend school 243 days per year. In comparison, U.S. students sit in their school classrooms only 180 days per year.

• Standardized reading test scores for grade school kids rose 19.3 percent when they were schooled year-round.

• Growth occupations in the twenty-first century include the computer, mathematical, technical, and health care fields. These occupations require that students have strong math, science, and literacy skills.

• Model: The author states: “Students in the United States need to spend more time in school.” The clue word need shows that this is an opinion or belief that cannot be proven. However, to convince readers that this opinion is correct, the author cites several facts. For example, thirtynine summer learning loss studies show that students lose at least one month of instruction as measured by standardized test scores. This is a fact that can be proven by checking the study results online or in print.

• Guide Practice. Work with students to evaluate facts and opinions in the essay. Help them identify sources they could use to check facts and to identify clue (feeling) words that signal opinions. Ask students to think about how the facts support the author’s position, the main opinion in the essay.

• Have students keep BLM 2 in their genre studies folders.

Practice Text Comprehension Strategies for ELA Assessment• Remind students that when they answer questions

on standardized assessments, they must be able to support their answers with facts or clues and evidence directly from the text.

• Use the Comprehension Question Card with small groups of students to practice answering text-dependent comprehension questions.



Root and Meaning

Page Word from Essay

Possible Definition from Root and Text

voci or voc—to shout or yell

8 vociferous loud; agitated

hypo—under 8 hypothetical something supposed for the sake of argument; possible

nomy—distribution or management

13 economy system for distributing and managing goods and services

brace—pair of arms

14 embrace to throw arms around; accept

Reflect and Review • Turn and Talk. Ask partners or small groups to

reread the “Features of a Persuasive Essay” web on page 3 and decide whether all of these features are present in “Lengthen the School Year Before It’s Too Late!” Ask groups to share and support their findings.

Fluency: Read with Appropriate Pauses• You may wish to have students reread the essay

with a partner during independent reading time, focusing on using appropriate pauses. Review the kinds of pauses that punctuation marks signal: a short pause for a comma, semicolon, dash, colon, ellipses, or parenthesis; and a full stop for a period, question mark, or exclamation point. Model by reading aloud the second paragraph of the essay, using a short pause for each comma, parenthesis, or dash and a full stop for each period or question mark. Invite partners to practice pausing as they read other paragraphs aloud to each other.

Note Regarding This Teacher’s GuideEach book provides an opportunity for students to focus on an additional comprehension strategy that is typically assessed on state standards. The strategy is introduced on page 4 (the third item in the “Tools for Readers and Writers” section) with text-specific follow-up questions found on the Reread pages. Some Reread sections also introduce an advanced language arts concept or comprehension strategy, such as protagonist/antagonist, perspective, or subtitles, because students at this level should be able to consider more than one comprehension strategy per text.

Before ReadingIntroduce “Summer Vacation Is a Learning Experience, Too!” • Ask students to turn to page 18. Say: This essay

is written in a different format from the other persuasive essay we read. Notice the notes in the margins. First, we will read to understand the essay, focusing on the author’s opinions and the facts she used as evidence. Tomorrow, we will read this essay like a writer and think about how the notes in the margins can help us write our own persuasive essays.

• Say: Let’s look at the title and photographs of this essay. What do you predict it might be about?

• Ask students to scan the text and look for the boldfaced words (instrument, verbal, community, amuse). Ask: What do you notice about these words? Why do you think they appear in boldfaced type? (All of these words include a Greek or Latin root that we use to build words.)

• Say: As you read, try to figure out the meanings of these words. Look for parts within the word that you recognize from other words. After we read, we will talk about how you used word origins and context clues provided by the author.

Set a Purpose for Reading• Ask students to read the essay, focusing on how

the author uses facts and evidence to make a case for her viewpoint. Encourage students to notice how the author uses a strong ending to complete the persuasive essay.

Read “Summer Vacation Is a Learning Experience, Too!”• Place students in groups based on their reading

levels. Ask them to read the essay silently, whisper-read, or read with a partner.

• Confer briefly with individual students to monitor their use of fix-up strategies and their understanding of the text.

After ReadingBuild Comprehension: Evaluate Fact and Opinion• Say: Yesterday we evaluated facts and opinions

in the first essay by identifying the arguments and facts the author used to support her position. What opinions does the author state in today’s essay? How does she support her opinions? Record responses on a whole-group chart like the one below.

• Discuss Facts and Opinions Across Texts. Lead a discussion using the following questions: How are the facts in the first essay similar to those in the second? How are they different?

Day 3



Focus on Vocabulary: Word Origins• Ask students to work with a partner to complete the

“Focus on Words” activity on page 29 using BLM 3. Have groups of students share their findings.

• Transfer Through Oral Language. Invite pairs of students to discuss the meaning of each target word as it is used in the essay by pointing out context clues. Then challenge them to share four things they enjoy about summer using as many of the target words as possible.

Root and Meaning



instru—to equip 20 instrument an object used for making musical sounds

verb—word 21 verbal having to do with words

commun—common

24 community area that a group of people share in common

muse—to ponder; stare

25 amuse to thoughtfully occupy or entertain

Reflect and Review • Turn and Talk. Ask partners or small groups to

discuss the following questions and report their ideas to the whole group. Which summer vacation experience do you think is most valuable: learning a sport or musical instrument, working, traveling, or energizing for the next year? Explain your answer. Think of a summer vacation when you discovered something valuable through a new experience. Tell what you learned and how it helped you.

Fluency: Read with Appropriate Pauses• You may wish to have students reread the essay with

a partner during independent reading time, focusing on reading with appropriate pauses. Ask students to discuss how pauses in speaking help listeners understand the ideas being communicated and how a reader knows when and how long to pause. Invite a volunteer to model reading page 21 aloud using short pauses and full stops for the appropriate punctuation marks. Then ask partners to select a passage to read aloud with appropriate pauses.

Day 3 (cont.)How does each essay respond to the fact that American students make a poor showing in global comparisons? Which essay uses words more powerfully to persuade? Which essay’s conclusion seems more logical? Which conclusion influenced your emotions more?

Author’s Opinion


Summer vacation provides unique opportunities students can’t get in a classroom.

• Many children attend sports camps where they learn the skills of soccer, tennis, golf, or another sport. Due to economic challenges, many schools no longer offer sports programs.

• Some camps specialize in artistic expression. Children study a musical instrument or pursue their interest in acting, singing, or painting. Many schools no longer have arts education programs.

• In 2004, students who studied music scored 40 points higher on the math portion of the SAT Reasoning Test than students reporting no arts coursework. Students who studied acting and play production outscored their non-arts peers on the verbal portion of the SAT by an average of 66 points.

• Internships expose young people to specific fields they are interested in.

• Many kids in the United States visit different parts of the country during their summer vacation.

Practice Text Comprehension Strategies for ELA Assessment • Use the Comprehension Question Card to practice

answering text-dependent questions.• Say: Today we will learn how to answer Look Closer!

questions. The answer to a Look Closer! question is in the book. You have to look in more than one place. You find the different parts of the answer. Then you put the parts together to answer the question.

• Model. Read the first Look Closer! question. Say: This question asks me to identify a stated main idea. I know because it has the clue words What sentence and main idea. Now I need to look for other important information to find in the book. What information do you think will help me? Allow responses. Say: Yes, I need to reread the first full paragraph on page 19. The first sentence says, “Summer is the time when young people experience life firsthand.” Most of the other sentences are details that support the first sentence, so it states the main idea. I found the answer by looking in more than one sentence.

• Guide Practice. Use the Power Tool Flip Chart to help you develop other Look Closer! questions.



Before ReadingSet a Purpose for Rereading• Have students turn to page 18. Say: Until now, we

have been thinking about persuasive essays from the perspective of the reader. Learning the features of persuasive essays has helped us be critical readers. Now we are going to put on a different hat. We are going to reread “Summer Vacation Is a Learning Experience, Too!” and think like writers. We’re going to pay attention to the annotations in the margins. These annotations will help us understand what the author did and why she did it.

Reread “Summer Vacation Is a Learning Experience, Too!”• Place students in groups based on their reading

levels. Ask them to reread the essay silently or whisper-read.

• Confer briefly with individual students to monitor their use of fix-up strategies and their understanding of the text and annotations.

After ReadingAnalyze the Mentor Text• Explain to students that the text they have just read

is a mentor text. A mentor text is a text that teaches. This text is designed to help them understand what writers do to write a persuasive essay and why they do it.

• Read and discuss each mentor annotation with students. Encourage them to comment on the writer’s style, position statement, development of reasons and supporting facts, and use of literary techniques such as a strong ending.

Practice Text Comprehension Strategies for ELA Assessment • Use the Comprehension Question Card with small

groups of students to practice answering text-dependent questions.

• Say: Today I will help you learn how to answer Prove It! questions. The answer to a Prove It! question is not stated in the book. You have to look for clues and evidence to prove the answer.

• Model. Read the first Prove It! question. Say: I will show you how I answer a Prove It! question. This question asks me to find evidence to support a conclusion. I know because it asks, “What clues support the conclusion . . .?” Now I need to look for other important information in the question. What information do you think will help me? Allow responses. Say: Yes, I need to find details about ways learning a sport benefits kids. On pages 19 and 20, I read that learning a sport provides children with advantages on and off the field. Young people improve their fitness

level and gain selfesteem. By being part of a team, they also learn to cooperate and get along with all kinds of people. These effects show benefits that are physical, psychological, and social. I have located the clues I need.

• Guide Practice. Use the Power Tool Flip Chart to help you develop other Prove It! questions.

Analyze the Writer’s Craft• Ask students to turn to page 30. Explain: Over

the next few days, you will have the opportunity to write your own persuasive essays. First, let’s think about how the author wrote “Summer Vacation Is a Learning Experience, Too!” When she developed this essay, she followed certain steps. You can follow these same steps to write your own persuasive essays.

• Read steps 1 and 2. Say: The first thing you’ll do is choose a problem or issue to write about. Then, you’ll identify the audience you want to persuade. Who was the audience for the essays we read? Let’s list some problems or issues we could explore and the persons or groups we might want to persuade. Allow responses. Write down students’ ideas on chart paper.

• Read steps 3 and 4. Say: In each essay, the author stated her position, provided facts, examples, and values that supported that position, and suggested the proper action or solution to the issue. For example, in the second essay, the author stated that students develop personal interests by amusing themselves during summer vacations. What could our position on an issue be? Let’s list facts and examples that will support our opinion and a reasonable solution to the problem. Allow responses. Write down students’ ideas on chart paper.

• Read step 5. Say: After we list our position, supporting evidence, and proposed solution, we need to plan a strong conclusion. The author of the second essay concluded by restating the benefits of summer vacation to students. When you write your essay, think about how you can end your essay strongly. Choose a position on an issue and some of the supporting evidence the class has brainstormed and work together to develop a solution and conclusion.

Build Comprehension: Make Judgments• Explain: In a persuasive essay, the author makes

judgments about a problem and solution and reports facts and evidence to support those judgments. As readers, we think about the facts and decide whether we agree with the author’s judgments. Finally, we must make our own judgments about the issue or problem.

• Model: In the first essay, the author makes the judgment that U.S. students’ ranking against

Day 4



Analyze & SynthesizePractice Text Comprehension Strategies for ELA Assessment • Use the Comprehension Question Card with small

groups of students to practice answering text-dependent questions.

• Say: Today I will help you learn how to answer Take It Apart! questions. To figure out the answer to a Take It Apart! question, you must think like the author.

• Model. Read the first Take It Apart! question. Say: This question asks me to analyze text structure and organization. I know because I must find a particular structure. Now I need to look for other important information in the question. What information do you think will help me? Allow responses. Say: Yes, I need to look for a part of the essay that has several questions addressed to readers. I find these questions in the second paragraph on page 18. The questions encourage readers to think about what summer vacation meant to them when they were young. Thinking about the text structure and organization helped me figure out the answer.

• Guide Practice. Use the Power Tool Flip Chart to help you develop other Take It Apart! questions.

Summarize & Make Connections Across Texts• Engage students in a discussion about the two essays

in this book. Invite a different student to summarize each essay. Encourage other students to add their ideas and details.

• Ask students to turn to the inside back cover of the book. Say: Good readers think about how literary works are related. We know, for example, that both of these essays share certain features. They both take a strong position on a specific issue. They both use facts and evidence to support that position. What else do they have in common? Allow responses. Say: Today we will think about the position statements in both essays and the evidence used to defend them.

• Ask students to work individually or in small groups to complete BLM 4 (Make Connections Across Texts).

• Class Discussion or Literature Circles. Facilitate a whole-class discussion or keep students in their small groups for a literature circle discussion. If you choose to conduct literature circles, share the rules for good discussion below. Each group should discuss and be prepared to share its ideas about the following prompts. Which arguments are most similar? How are they similar?

Which arguments are most based on fact? How do you know? Which counterargument do you find most effective? Why?

other nations is a dire situation. To support this judgment, the author states the results of a 2003 study in which U.S. students were ranked based on their reading and scientific literacy. Students from countries with a longer school year, such as Japan, ranked much higher. These facts help support the author’s judgment that American students spend too little time in school.

• Guide Practice. Invite students to work in small groups to locate at least one judgment each author makes and identify its supporting evidence. Ask the groups to evaluate whether the judgments are convincing and to share judgments they made after reading the essays.

Reflect and Review • Ask and discuss the following questions.

How is reading a persuasive essay different from writing one? How is it similar? What new words have you added to your vocabulary this week? Which is most interesting to you? Which argument do you find most persuasive? Why? How can you use word origins and a strong ending as a writer?

Fluency: Read with Appropriate Pauses• You may wish to have students reread the essay

with a partner during independent reading time, focusing on reading with appropriate pauses. Model by selecting and reading aloud a passage first without pauses and then with short pauses for commas, dashes, and other internal punctuation marks and full stops for end marks. After discussing which reading is easier to understand, ask partners to choose a different passage and practice reading aloud with appropriate pauses.

Day 4 (cont.) Day 5



Reinforce Vocabulary: Build Words from Roots• Place students in small groups. Have group

members write each word root and meaning from the Focus on Word Origins charts on pages 17 and 29 on a scrap of paper and put it in a box.

• The first student chooses a root, names the target word derived from the root, and explains how the meaning of the root relates to the word. Then the student challenges the others by giving a clue for another word with the same root. For example, the student may have the root hypo- and give the clue “used for giving a shot under the skin.” (hypodermic) The person who guesses the word can then offer a clue for another word made from hypo-.

• When no more words can be derived, play passes to the next member of the group. Continue until all students have drawn a root and completed the process.

Reread for Fluency: Oral Reading Performance• Discuss with students the feelings shown by the

authors in the persuasive essays. • Say: The authors feel strongly about their

positions on the issue. When you read the essays aloud, you can demonstrate your understanding of these feelings through your expression. This helps your listeners appreciate the strong convictions of the authors and better understand their arguments.

• Invite individual students to read a section of one of the essays with expression that helps listeners understand the author’s feelings.

• Encourage students to have fun with their readings and to make them as dramatic as possible.

• As a whole class, discuss each reader’s interpre-tation. Think about alternate ways to interpret the feelings.

Review Writer’s Tools: Strong Ending• Ask students to look for other examples of strong

endings in titles from your classroom library or the school’s library. Each student should select one title at his or her independent reading level. Ask students to read pages specifically to find an example of a strong ending.

• Invite students to share their examples with the class. Encourage students to discuss how the strong endings help them grasp the main points of a text and put them in perspective. Point out that most students will likely have found examples in the books they chose. A strong ending is a tool that most nonfiction writers use, especially in persuasive writing.

• Tell students that at the end of their discussion, you will ask them to share the important text-to-text, text-to-world, and text-to-self connections they have made.

• While each small group of students discusses the book, confer with individual or small groups of students. You may wish to revisit elements of the genre, take running records, or model fluent reading skills.

Directions: Use the chart to compare and contrast the two persuasive essays.

Position Arguments CounterargumentsLengthen the School Year Before It’s Too Late!

American students must expand the school year to boost learning and become competitive in the global economy.

• Many students watch bad TV, play video games, and hang out instead of learning.

• Psychologists say that structure, like school routines, makes children happier, healthier, and better behaved.

• Without the positive mentoring of teachers, many succumb to peer pressure and get into trouble.

• Studies show all students lose the equivalent of a month of instruction to summer learning loss. At the start of the school year, they lose additional time when teachers must review and reteach.

• Students in countries that have a longer school year outperform U.S. students by a large percentage.

• U.S. students will not be prepared to compete for twenty-first century jobs, which require strong math, science, and literacy skills.

• What I am suggesting goes against tradition and will certainly raise some vociferous objections.

• Some traditionalists argue that children need downtime to recharge their batteries.

• Many parents do limit children’s video, television, and Internet time and demand that their children read books during the summer.

• Many parents argue that kids need time away from their studies in order to be ready to focus intently on schoolwork in the fall.


American students should keep their summer vacation as it is and maximize its opportunities for enrichment, growth, and learning.

• In summer camps, kids improve fitness, gain self-esteem, develop the brain, relieve stress, and gain independence.

• Summer work provides income, develops work ethic, and helps ensure future success.

• Travel expands perspective and develops tolerance, respect for diversity, and appreciation of other values.

• Amusing oneself leads to discovery of simple pleasures and development of personal interests.

• Downtime relieves burnout from stress and energizes kids for the school year.

• Many places in the U.S. that have tried year-round school find no conclusive evidence of greater academic achievement.

• The year-round model upsets the schedules of families and school employees.

• Many adults think summer is wasted time in which students forget what they learned during the school year.

• It’s true that not everyone goes to summer camp, works, or travels, Some adults will argue that these kids just sit around, waste time, and get bored.

• Some adults maintain that a longer school year is crucial for our children to become successful adults and that time away from formal schooling breaks vital concentration on school studies.

• Other adults will argue that our kids need to go to school year-round in order to compete with kids around the globe.

Rules for Good Discussion• Pay attention to the person who is talking

and do not interrupt him or her.

• Think about what others are saying so you can respond and add to their ideas.

• Allow and encourage everyone in the group to speak.

• Be respectful of everyone’s ideas.

Reinforce SkillsIf time permits, choose from the following activities to reinforce vocabulary and fluency.

Day 5 (cont.)


10Two Persuasive essays abouT year-round schooling ©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC

Write a Persuasive Essay• Use the suggested daily schedule to guide

students through the writing-process steps. Allow approximately 45 to 60 minutes per day. As students work independently, circulate around the room and monitor student progress. Confer with individual students to discuss their ideas and help them move forward. Use the explicit mini-lessons, conferencing strategies, and assessment rubrics in Using Genre Models to Teach Writing for additional support.

• Before students begin planning their essays, pass out copies of BLM 5 (Persuasive Essay Checklist). Review the characteristics and conventions of writing that will be assessed. Tell students that they will use this checklist when they complete their drafts.

• This daily plan incorporates the generally accepted six traits of writing as they pertain to persuasive essays.

Days 6–7: Plan • Ask students to use BLM 6 (Persuasive Essay Planning

Guide) to brainstorm a problem or issue, audience, supporting evidence, solution, and conclusion for their persuasive essays.

• Encourage students to refer to the “Features of a Persuasive Essay” web on page 3 and to the steps in “The Writer’s Craft” on pages 30–31 of the book.

• Confer with students and focus on their ideas. Did students begin their essays with an issue? Did they support the issue with facts and examples?

Days 8–9: Draft • Tell students that they will be using their completed

Planning Guides to begin drafting their essays. • Say: Remember that when writers draft their ideas,

they focus on getting their ideas on paper. They can cross things out. They can make mistakes in spelling. What’s important is to focus on clearly stating your opinion and strongly supporting it with evidence. You will have an opportunity to make corrections and improvements later.

• Confer with students as they complete their drafts. Use the Persuasive Essay Checklist to draw students’ attention to characteristics of the persuasive essay genre that they may have overlooked. Focus on how students have organized their ideas and the voice of the writer. Did students introduce the problem or issue and their position at the beginning of the essay? Did they support their position with facts and examples and present a solution or suggested action? Does the persuasive essay have a strong voice? Will the voice keep readers interested?

• Pair students for peer conferencing.

Days 10–11: Edit and Revise • Based on your observations of students’ writing,

select appropriate mini-lessons from Using Genre Models to Teach Writing.

• Remind students to use the Persuasive Essay Checklist as they edit and revise their essays independently.

• Confer with students focusing on sentence fluency, word choice, and conventions. Did students include both long and short sentences? Do the sentences read smoothly? Have students used interesting words and phrases? Did they use techniques to create a strong ending? Did they use appropriate spelling, punctuation, and grammar?

• You may want students to continue their editing and revision at home.

Days 12–13: Create Final Draft and Illustrations • Ask students to rewrite or type a final draft of their

essays.• Invite students to illustrate their final drafts with one

or more drawings or graphic features that depict specific facts or suggested actions in their essays.

• Confer with students about their publishing plans and deadlines.

Days 14–15: Publish and Share• Explain: Authors work long and hard to develop

their works. You have worked very hard. And one of the great joys of writing is when you can share it with others. Authors do this in many ways. They publish their books so that people can buy them. They make their work available on the Internet. They hold readings. We can share our writing, too.

• Use one or more of the ideas below for sharing students’ work:

Make a class display of students’ completed persuasive essays.

Hold a class reading in which students can read their essays to one another and/or to parents.

Create a binder of all the essays and loan it to the library so that other students can read them.

Create a binder of all the essays for your classroom library.

Days 6–15

Name Date


Title:

Persuasive Essay Checklist Features of the Genre Checklist Yes No1. My persuasive essay has a strong lead. 2. My persuasive essay has an intended audience. 3. My persuasive essay is logically sequenced. 4. My persuasive essay states a strong position. 5. I state my case using facts and evidence. 6. My persuasive essay suggests solutions and actions. 7. I use emotional words to affect my reader. 8. My persuasive essay has a strong ending.

Quality Writing Checklist Yes No I looked for and corrected . . .

• run-on sentences • sentence fragments • subject/verb agreement • correct verb tense • punctuation • capitalization • spelling • indented paragraphs

Name Date


Persuasive Essay Planning GuideDirections: Use the steps below to plan your own persuasive essay.

1. Choose a problem or cause to write about and identify your position.

2. Identify your audience.

3. Brainstorm facts, examples, and values to support your position.

4. Provide a solution or suggest an action

5. Write a strong conclusion.

Problem or Cause

Position

Audience

Supporting Facts

Concrete Examples

Relevant Values

Solution or Action

Conclusion


Name Date


Strong EndingDirections: Read the ending of a persuasive essay. Then answer the questions.

Stop. Take a moment to think. Imagine yourself twenty years from now in Eller’s Mill. You are taking your son or daughter to 24599 Dalton Road. What will you find there? Will it be Evergreen Park: a beautiful, peaceful spot with trees, flowers, grass, and wild animals? Or will it be the hot, bland parking lot of yet another shopping mall? Make a difference for our community. Say “Yes!” to the Park District referendum on the purchase of Dalton Farm. You will be doing good for our community, our environment, and Mother Nature.

1. How does this ending get readers’ attention? 2. What action does the ending ask readers to take? Why should

readers want to do this? 3. What important reminder does the ending include? 4. Is this ending a convincing way to conclude the essay? Explain.

Directions: Think of an issue about which you have strong opinions. Imagine you have written a persuasive essay about the issue. Write a strong ending for your essay.


Name Date


Evaluate Facts and OpinionsDirections: Use the charts below to evaluate facts and opinions in the persuasive essays.

Author’s Opinion


Lengthen the School Year Before It’s Too Late!



Name Date


Focus on Word OriginsDirections: Reread each essay. Locate words with the following roots. Then use the meaning of the root to predict a possible definition for each word.

Root and Meaning



voci or voc—to shout or yell

8

hypo—under 8

nomy—distribution or management

13

brace—pair of arms

14

Root and Meaning



instru—to equip

20

verb—word 21

commun—common

24

muse—to ponder; stare

25


Name Date


Make Connections Across TextsDirections: Use the chart to compare and contrast the two persuasive essays.

Position Arguments CounterargumentsLengthen the School Year Before It’s Too Late!



Name Date


Title:

Features of the Genre Checklist Yes No1. My persuasive essay has a strong lead. 2. My persuasive essay has an intended audience. 3. My persuasive essay is logically sequenced. 4. My persuasive essay states a strong position. 5. I state my case using facts and evidence. 6. My persuasive essay suggests solutions and actions. 7. I use emotional words to affect my reader. 8. My persuasive essay has a strong ending.

Quality Writing Checklist Yes No I looked for and corrected . . .

• run-on sentences • sentence fragments • subject/verb agreement • correct verb tense • punctuation • capitalization • spelling • indented paragraphs

Persuasive Essay Checklist


Name Date


Persuasive Essay Planning GuideDirections: Use the steps below to plan your own persuasive essay.

1. Choose a problem or cause to write about and identify your position.

2. Identify your audience.

3. Brainstorm facts, examples, and values to support your position.

4. Provide a solution or suggest an action

5. Write a strong conclusion.

Problem or Cause

Position

Audience

Supporting Facts

Concrete Examples

Relevant Values

Solution or Action

Conclusion


Documents

Genre: P e Teacher’S Guide Lengthen the School Year ... Late!” • Reread the Persuasive Essays anchor chart or the web on page 3 to review the features of a persuasive essay