Intermediate Guided Reading Lesson Plan
Title: A Day in the Life of a Colonial Genre:
Dressmaker
Informational
Author: Merrill, Amy French
Publisher: Rosen Publishing Group
ISBN: 0-8239-5818-3
Literacy Core Objective: 5th Grade
S7/O3 Recognize and use features of narrative and
informational text
S8/O6 Write in different forms and genres.
Text Structure:
Narrative
Informational
Level:
S
Enduring Understanding: Purpose for reading
People from various European countries came to
America in search of a new life. With them they
brought their own culture, traditions, and
specialized trades. These cultures, traditions, and
Social Studies Core Objective:.5th Grade
trades mixed as these different people struggled
S1/O2 Assess the global impact of cultural and
to survive together. This blending created the
economic diffusion as a result of colonization. American culture. Students will understand life
during colonial times and how the specialized
trades that colonists brought with them from
their country of origin created an
interdependence among the people and shaped
economic structure of the United States into
what it is today.
ELL Strategies:
“I Can Statements” - Essential Questions:
 How were goods produced, distributed, and
Ask students what kind of jobs their parents or other
consumed during Colonial times?
family members have. Discuss the importance of all
 How was a person trained or educated to
jobs in the world. Relate this importance and guide a
perform specialized work?
discussion of occupations during the colonial time
 How did specialized work help the colonies to
period.
grow and prosper economically?
 How were specialized workers interdependent?
Before Reading
Vocabulary: Use the graphic organizer for the vocabulary. Word, Kid friendly definition, and sketch.
You may want to do the vocabulary in sections each day.
colony (p. 5)
apprentice (p. 5)
sampler (p. 6)
milliner (p.9)
shifts (p. 9)
petticoats (p. 9)
port (p. 10)
exported (p. 10)
imported (p. 10)
kerchiefs (p. 14)
linsey-woolsey (p. 14)
trades (p. 21)
upholstery (p. 21)
legend (p. 21)
Activate/Build Prior Knowledge:
 Discuss the importance of specialized workers during colonial times, specifically 1) that specialized
workers can produce their products faster and better than someone who has to do all the jobs, and 2)
when a producer has surplus goods or services that can be sold to more consumers, the economy grows
and prospers.
 Bring in samples or pictures of clothing and sewing samplers from the colonial time period. Lead a
discussion about the development of Colonial America including the trades that colonists brought with
them from their countries of origin. Explain that dressmaking was one such specialized trade.
 Discuss the structure and text features in the book and how they will aid in the understanding of the text.
(table of contents, headings, bold words, glossary, index, captions, etc.)
Comprehension Strategy:
Text Features
During Reading
Attend to Comprehension Within, Beyond, & About the text:
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: The book could most likely be read in one guided reading sitting
After Reading
Attend to Comprehension Within, Beyond, & About the text:
If you have already completed the A Day in the Life of a Colonial Glassblower lesson, then this part of the
activity will have already been completed. If not, then complete the following. Have students work with
a partner to find out what resources were used by other specialized workers to produce their good or
service. Students may read about several specialized workers on the following website:
http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/trades/tradehdr.cfm Students can record their information on the
worksheets below from the Maryland Council on Economic Education. Students should then share the
information they have gained with the others so that the worksheets are all filled out. (Teacher Answer
Sheets are also attached)
After completing the above activity, have students do an interdependence activity to help them understand
how specialized workers depend on each other. Have students form two circles with equal numbers of
students, and with one circle inside the other circle. Give each student a name card with the name of a
specialized worker the cards attached below. Have each to pretend to be the worker on their name card.
Have each student in the outer circle face a partner in the inner circle. Have each worker in the outer
circle tell his or her partner one way that he or she depends on the worker with the name card worn by his
or her partner. The partner should then reply with one way that the specialized worker he or she depicts is
dependent on the first worker. Next have the outer circle move clockwise and the inner circle move
counter clockwise one person. Have these workers repeat the process of telling each other one way that
they depend on each other. With each move to a new partner, have the students (workers) identify one
way that they are dependent on each other.
Content Core Integration:(Science, Soc. St., Math, etc.)
Assessment:
Activities:
 Click on this link for a slideshow with pictures of
Each student will write an essay about
Goods of the Trades (pictures of the products created
interdependence during colonial times.
by masters of different trades)
http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/Summer0
7/goods_slideshow/
 Click on the following link for a slideshow of
Historic Trades – real pictures of tradesman working
in their shops
http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/Summer0
7/goods_slideshow/
 Host a Colonial Day Marketplace – see the following
link
http://www.germantownacademy.org/Academics/LS/
3/Colonial/ColonialDay/market/milliner.htm
 Teach students how to cross-stitch and create a
sampler with their name. See this site for pictures of
samplers and directions for creating them.
http://www.americancenturies.mass.edu/activity/view
.do?activityID=1295
*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.
Name ____________________________________
Vocabulary
Word: ___________________________
Definition: ________________________
________________________________
________________________________
Word: ___________________________
Definition: ________________________
________________________________
________________________________
Word: ___________________________
Definition: ________________________
________________________________
________________________________
Word: ___________________________
Definition: ________________________
________________________________
________________________________
Date ______________________