Intermediate Guided Reading Lesson Plan
Title: The Story of Sitting Bull
Genre:
By Jeffrey A. Rucker
I
ISBN 0-8239-8169-X
Literacy Core Standard:
Standard 7 Objective 2i
Content Core Standard:
Standard 2 Objective 2
Enduring Understanding: (Purpose for reading)
The cultures of indigenous Americans
(Native Americans) changed with the arrival
of Europeans.
Native Americans had specific cultural
traditions, many of which are maintained
today.
Text Structure:
Narrative
Informational
Level:
N
Language Objective:
Synthesize information from the story to create a
Sitting Bull ABC book.
Essential Questions: (what students will know and
be able to do)
How are Native Americans today different from
Native Americans of the past?
What caused the changes?
Should these changes have taken place?
Before Reading
Vocabulary: Use the glossary in the back of the book to discover some words that will be found in
the story. Introduce the words and have the students fill out the vocabulary chart.
Arrest, courage, hide, honor, nation, plain, reservation, shelter, Sioux, solider, warrior.
Activate/Build Prior Knowledge:
Look at the cover of the book. Discuss the title and what you think you know about Sitting Bull.
Look at the index. Discuss the words that haven’t already been discussed.
Canada, buffalo, chiefs, dance, freedom, hunt, Native American, North Dakota, skills, South
Dakota, tribes
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Some of the words start with capitals. What words are they, and why are they all capitalized? What
do you think these words have to do with Sitting bull?
Some of the words are verbs. Which words are verbs? How do these verbs related to Sitting Bull?
Why does the word hunt(ed) have –ed in parentheses?
Freedom/government/reservations: What is the purpose of a government? Did the government give
freedom to the Native Americans? What was the government trying to do? Were reservations a fair
trade for the Indians to receive from the government?
Comprehension Strategy: Synthesizing information
During Reading
Using appropriate Guided reading strategies, students will be reading at their own pace and teachers
will be listening to students read, monitoring, giving feedback, taking anecdotal notes and running
records.
Suggested Pacing
Day 1- Before Reading activities, read first half of the story.
Day 2- Read second half of the story and after reading.
Day 3- Start ABC book
Day 4- Work on ABC book
Day 5- Finish ABC book
Attend to Comprehension Within, Beyond, & About the text:
After Reading
(The following things are ideas that can be used either before, during, or after to aide in
comprehension and understanding of the text)
Why was Sitting Bull a famous Sioux?
Sitting Bull had to learn lots of skills as a young boy. DO you have any of the same skills as him?
Do you know anyone who has similar skills as Sitting Bull?
Was it fair for the Sioux people to fight the soldiers in an effort to keep their land?
When the Sioux would not sell their land, the soldiers did something to try to force the Sioux off
their land. What did they do? Was this a good plan? Did the soldiers get what they wanted? Is
getting what you want the most important thing in life?
If you had been Sitting Bull how would you have reacted to: the killing of the buffalos? Selling
your land? The opportunity to be on the Wild West Show?
If your people were starving, what would you have done to help feed them?
How did the lives of the Native Americans change with the arrival of the Native Americans? What
traditions of the Native Americans are still in place today?
The students will work cooperatively to create an ABC book about Sitting Bull. They can sign their
name by the letter they are going to work on and take the paper that has that letter of the alphabet.
Depending on the size of the group, students can do 2-3 pages a day.
Expectations for each page in the ABC Book: Use a dictionary entry if desired.
Word writing legibly in a big font.
A sentence about how the word is related to Sitting Bull. Your sentence must have as many words
as you are old. Ex- If you are 7, your sentence must have 7 words.
A picture of the word.
A border around the paper.
Attend to Comprehension Within, Beyond, & About the text:
Content Core Integration:(Science, Soc. St., Math, etc.) Social Studies
Assessment:
Activities:
Check the vocabulary chart for
understanding.
Have the students compile a Sitting Bull ABC book.
Listen to student responses about the cover
Use the word list of ideas only when the children
and index of the book.
become stuck and don’t have ideas for the remaining
Look for understanding in the ABC book.
letters.
See if the students can distinguish between
good and bad in the story. See if they can
see identify how the life of the Sioux people
changed with the arrival of Europeans.
*Not all activities will be done in each lesson. Some lessons may take multiple days to complete.
However, all students should be reading each time you meet.