Grade Levels: Third and Fourth Grade

Subjects:  Reading, Language Arts, Art, Music

Learner Outcomes:

Students will:

• learn the vocabulary words for the story Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie and vocabulary associated with lighthouses.
• read the story Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie and complete comprehension exercises.
• listen to the teacher read aloud Birdie's Lighthouse
• work in groups of 4 and write a story in the round.  See Deborah Hopkinson's site.
• keep a log or diary of their daily life for the next 2 weeks.
• complete a timeline for the story and make a timeline of their own life.
• make a group mural depicting the sequence of the story in small groups.
• work on exercises for capitalization of names, titles, and places.
• understand the concept of the schwa vowel sound.
• listen and watch Reading Rainbow's video, Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie with Levar Burton Booking #5168
• Show an understanding of characterization by listing 5 character traits of Abbie and of themselves.

Materials:

• Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie by Peter and Connie Roop (Authors) and Peter Hanson (Illustrator)- historical fiction book
• Birdie's Lighthouse- by Deborah Hopkinson (Author) and Kimberly Bulcken Root (Illustrator)
• Mural paper (large newspaper print, roll paper, or butcher paper)
• notebooks or logs (Can be done on word processor)
• Worksheets and games
• Colored pencils and small magic markers.
• Mural activity requires larger markers, smaller markers, colored pencils or crayons.  Explore watercolor pencils or black ink pens for a different effect.
• 8 inch by 36 inch lengths of paper for timeline activities.

• Internet access
• Computer for online games
• VCR and television
• Word processing or PowerPoint presentation
• Digital camera

• Teachers should look at the following sites for background information about the stories.  Read about Abigail Burgess Grant  http://www.cybercomm.net/~freddie/burgess/abbie.htm After reading from this site, teachers will have much historical information to give to students which makes Abbie very appealing.  Also see http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/gran-abb.htm and also http://groton.k12.ct.us/WWW/cb/teacher.html  or the following http://www.catsmeow.com/product/1970.htm
• Teachers have flexibility in this lesson to make shorter class periods with a longer time or add in more days as it will depend on students and the amount of interrupted time as to how much you will accomplish.  Also, it is dependent upon number of computers available.
• Teachers can order the books by clicking on the names of the books which will take them to a site.
• Teachers may want to study the vocabulary words.
• Vocabulary lessons are available as games online or can be downloaded then copied.  There are several varieties depending on how much time or whether you might want to use them as a homework assignment.

• The teacher will introduce the book  Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie.  She/he might want to read a bit from the excerpt in teacher's notes about Abbie or she/he might want to let students explore the vocabulary online or work in cooperative groups with the various puzzle and games.  The teacher will want to have first read the book and studied the vocabulary words herself.  Students will then play games online at the following site or teacher will have downloaded puzzles and games and pass out. More vocabulary games on lighthouse words are available.
• The teacher will explain the process for keeping a journal or diary for the next two weeks.  The teacher might want to read an example of journal entries of her own and brainstorm a list of what students might want to write about.  Appropriateness should be discussed.  Also, for the reluctant writer minimum requirements should be discussed such as write at least 2 paragraphs or a total of 100 words.  The teacher can determine the format (word processor, small notebooks or booklets that the students prepare, or even PowerPoint if time allows.)  The teacher may want to check journals each day during the 2 week period to make sure students are writing or students could read each other's at the beginning of each lesson.  Students and teachers can use the rubric to evaluate if they so choose.

• Students will read Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie in pair share groups (groups of 2).  The teacher should put a stronger reader with a weaker reader so everyone can get through the story.
• Students will complete the comprehension lesson which is to develop 3 questions of their own about the story and to answer the questions about the story by playing the Comprehension Abbie game online or answering the worksheet questions.

• The teacher will read the story Birdie's Lighthouse to the class.  The class can discuss.
• The teacher will discuss the parts of a story - (setting, characters, problem, and solution)
• Students will begin a story in the round.  Please see Deborah Hopkinson's site for more information about how this works before you try it. Look under journal and letter writing.  Everyone writes a beginning, then passes it on three more times.  The teacher discusses qualities that should take place at each writing sequence.  Students should focus on the character of Abbie or someone in her family. They might discuss her brother who is away and missing his family, her younger sisters who are frightened or jealous, her mother who is very ill or her father who is terribly worried and feels his has made a terrible decision to leave at this time.  They should certainly use any information they have learned about lighthouses, navigation, the sea or living by the ocean.
• The teacher may want to transpose these stories to make a collection for the class or have students volunteer to do this activity when they have finished other lessons.

• Teachers should refer to the information about Abbie Burgess and the story and disseminate information as needed to students.  Students will complete the timeline on the story, Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie.  Students will begin to make their own timeline of their life.  The teacher may want to have sheets of paper taped together to form about a 3 foot long paper or find rolls of paper about 6 to 8 inches long.  Students should think of obvious milestones in their life. . . being born, walking, talking, going to kindergarten, etc. or they might want to do it by age 0 then spaces for each year where they can write in something that was significant to them.
• Teachers might encourage some brainstorming before hand to make this activity less stressful for the teacher - with examples such as riding a bike, playing a sport, learning to read, using the computer, going away to camp, getting the first permanent tooth, getting braces or glasses, learning to ski, swim, etc.  Family developments such as a new sibling, a marriage, divorce or death are also realistic.
• Small markers or colored pencils work well for this activity as some students may even illustrate their milestones.  A teacher rubric will help with evaluation and should be shared with students at the beginning of the lesson.

• Students will practice the schwa sound by playing the game online of schwa words.
• Students will practice capitalization of words by correcting words in the story that need to be corrected.
• Students can work in groups of two on the computer or work in pairs on the worksheets for practice.  This is up to the teacher's discretion.

• Students will be divided into approximately 3 groups.  Each group will be given the following outline.  The teacher can let them revise or add to the scenes but the following is a guideline of the story.  Scene 1:  Abbie talking with her father about caring for the lamps and the reasons that he must leave.  Scene 2:  Abbie watching her father's boat sail off.  Scene 3:  Abbie talking to her sisters and mother at home.  Scene 4:  Abbie at the lighthouse, lighting lamps and watching the storm roll in.  Scene 5:  Abbie scraping the ice off the windows and shivering in the night.  Scene 6:  Abbie rescuing the hens as a big wave rolls in towards them.  Scene 7: Papa coming home.
• Students could discuss the format . . . will they let the scenes move into each other or will they draw a line in between.  Will they label the scenes?  Will they add more?  What medium will they use?  (Crayon, ink, marker, pencil, colored pencils or watercolor pencils)  Do they have other ideas?
• Students can display in the hall, cafeteria, or classroom.

• Students will watch READING RAINBOW'S Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie. (30 minutes)
• Students will discuss the ship in the bottle activity. If the teacher has a ship in a bottle or can borrow one, it would be interesting for the students to have a hands on sample.
• Students will name 5 characteristics about themselves and 5 characteristics about Abbie.  How are they alike and how are they different?  See the characteristics worksheet on Microsoft Office.

Enrichment:

• Students may purchase a kit and make a ship in the bottle activity.
• Students may role play and act our the parts of Captain Burgess, Abbie, her mother or her sisters.  See the following site.
• Music - Students can listen to Debussy's La Mer and think about how the composer tries to express the many moods of the sea.  Children can even draw what they hear in the second playing of the music.
• Discuss constellations and how they were used as a navigational tool.  Sea captains used them to guide their journeys.
• Make lighthouse cookies from cookie dough.  Read the following sugar cookie recipe.  If time doesn't allow the mixing, buy prepared dough and let students form a lighthouse.
• Let students put together puzzles of lighthouses.  There are many easily available at department stores.
• Look at web sites about lighthouses.

• See Rubric for Journal Writing
• Mural
• Writing in the Round
• Answering comprehension questions.
• Playing vocabulary games - Abbie story vocabulary and lighthouse vocabulary
• Timeline
• Teacher observation of students reading the story
• Characterization worksheet
• Digital photos of students at work
• Capitalization worksheet

• English/Language Arts
• Listening/Speaking-3.1, 3.2, 3.8, 4.1,4.3, 4.8, 4.9
• Reading Comprehension-3.15,3.16, 3.17, 3.18, 3.19, 3.20. 3.27, 4.19, 4.20, 4.21, 4.22, 4.26,
• Reading Vocabulary-3.27, 4.43, 4.44, 4.45
• Writing-3.44, 4.53
• Spelling-3.55
• Language-3.57, 4.69
• Study Skills-4.85, 4.86
• Computer Technology-3.85, 4.93, 4.95

National Standards:
 

• Language Arts-1, 5, 8
• Life Skills-Thinking and Reasoning
• Visual Arts-5
• Historical Understanding 1, 2

References:  See the list.

Created by:
Cathy Orndorff, Connie Williams, Carol Young - Wiles Hill School