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Unit of Study #35
Unit Components
School District:Watertown
Unit of Study Title:Tuck Everlasting
Grade Level:6-8
Time Frame:approximately 3 weeks
Key Words:life cycle, immortality
 
Unit Designer:Buffy Towle
Unit Designer E-mail:Elizabeth.Towle@k12.sd.us
Date Added:6/14/2002 9:18:04 AM
Date Last Revised:6/26/2002 4:49:45 PM
 
Topic Area:Communications/Language Arts
 
Peer Reviewer:Mark Sanden
Peer Reviewer E-mail:mark.sanden@k12.sd.us

Brief Summary of Unit: While reading the novel Tuck Everlasting, I hope to stimulate the children’s interest in reading. The students will be working on a variety of activities throughout the novel that will increase their knowledge of the life cycle, making decisions, as well as cause and effect. Students will also be asked to look at death as being a part of life.
Students will Understand: 1. The students will understand the importance of the cycle of life.
2. The students will understand that all things that look or seem great may not be so great. (Be careful what you wish for.)
3. The students will understand that certain actions cause effects that may or may not be desirable.

SD Content Standards
Link to Standards #1
Goal:

Communications/Language Arts
Students will use critical listening and viewing skills in various situations and for a variety of purposes.
Indicator:Indicator 1
Students will use various reading cues/strategies to comprehend text.

Indicator 2
Students will evaluate the patterns of organization, literary elements, and literary devices within various texts.

Indicator 4
Students will access, synthesize, and evaluate information from a variety of sources.
Benchmark(s):Indicator 1
Use specific cues/strategies to make connections with, predict meaning of, and comprehend information within text.
Use prior knowledge and experience to interpret and construct meaning from various texts.

Indicator 2
Students will compare and contrast various organizational techniques authors use to create reader interest.
Explain literary elements and/or devices used in various texts.

Indicator 4
Select and use suitable information sources for a variety of purposes.
Collect and summarize information to make reasonable and informed decisions.
Other Content Standards:1. Students will ask questions and make predictions about the information of the message found in text.
2. Students will use background knowledge and experience to comprehend text.
3. Students will determine the organizational structures and patterns in various literary texts.
4. Students will explain how character and plot development are used in a selection to support a central conflict or story line.
5. Students will identify and understand types of figurative language.
6. Students will draw conclusions and make inferences based on explicit and implied information.
7. Students will use reference tools to retrieve and manage information.

Other Components
Essential Questions to Guide this Unit and Focus Teaching and Learning: 1. Would you like to live forever? Why or why not?
2. What would be the benefits of not aging?
3. What would be the drawbacks of not aging?
4. How would the Tuck’s survive today in this computer age?
5. Is time a trap? More time, less done? Do you agree?
6. What do you think society would be like if the public finds out about the spring?
7. What if the plan to let Mae out doesn’t work?
8. Would you drink from the spring?
9. What did Winnie do to “make a difference in the world?”
Key Knowledge and Skills Students will Acquire: 1. Students will be able to diagram the life cycle of a living thing.
2. The students will compare the cycle of life to a wheel.
3. Students will define immortality.
4. Students will write their own obituary after using Inspiration to write their life so far & predict future years.
5. Students will predict what would happen if Winnie drank from the spring.
6. Students will create a power point presentation of a suspenseful scene in the story.
7. Students will be able to state ways people can make a difference in the world.
8. Students will compare what Winnie did by pouring water on the toad and what the man in the yellow suit wanted to do.
Assessment Plan: 1. Use a rubric to assess their power point presentation.
2. Accelerated Reader quiz on the computer
3. Use a rubric to assess their obituary
4. Use a rubric to assess their inspiration project.
Learning Activities: 1. Students will work with a partner to complete a power point presentation on a suspenseful part of Tuck Everlasting.
2. Students will listen to the tape of the story.
3.Students will complete an inspiration project by making a timeline of events.
4. Students will write their own obituary and type it in Word with one scanned picture.
5. Students will use an interactive page between Word & Internet Explorer to learn more about the author of Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt.
6. Students will create a wheel of life for themselves.
Notes:This unit will allow students to think about tough questions concerning life and death.
Internet Resource Link: http://et009.k12.sd.us

Adapted from the the work of Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins. Understanding by
Design. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Alexandria, VA. 1998.

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