A Literature Focus Unit on
The Barn by Avi
5th -7th grade
Amy Edlefson
October 24, 2011
Intermediate Literacy
Themes and Essential Questions
Hope
How does hope play a role in helping Ben accomplish the mundane tasks of caring
for his father as well as the culminating task of building the barn?
Love
How is the love the children have for each other and their father displayed
throughout the book? How is love put into action?
Perseverance
How does Ben persevere through his father’s illness? How do Nettie and Harrison
show perseverance?
Loss/Acceptance
How do the children deal with the slow loss of their father? Does acceptance mean
to give up hope? Why or why not?
Ingenuity
How is ingenuity shown through Ben as he relates to his father as well as the
building of the barn?
Objectives
Students will be able to:




Develop an understanding of life on the frontier in 1855 and produce a
research paper based on life in 1855.
Assess and verbalize their own feelings about hope, loss, and perseverance
through writing and discussion.
Apply knew vocabulary to their journal writing.
Evaluate their own work ethic based on Work Ethic Rubric, and create 2
individual growth goals for improving work ethic.
Assessment
Assessments throughout the unit are highlighted in red within the context of the
activity with which they are connected. In addition to these intrinsic assessments,
the teacher will also be encouraging and assessing the use of new vocabulary within
student writing. Students and teacher will also conference and periodically evaluate
how a student is fulfilling their personal work ethic goals based on the rubric.
Background Knowledge
In order to read and engage with The Barn students will need to have an
understanding of Western Expansion in the United States in the later half of the
nineteenth century. They will need to know about the Homestead Act and how
settlers needed to maintain their land for 5 years in order to own it outright. They
need to be exposed to types of resources available to the settlers of the western
territories during this time and the difficulties they faced in establishing a
homestead.
Geographically, they need to understand where Portland, Oregon is and have some
understanding of how far the settlers traveled to get to the far western territories
from the east. In particular, where are Vermont, Illinois, and Missouri? What are
the distances between these places and how far would it have taken someone to
travel on foot, by wagon, or by train between these locations?
As far as some of the details in the book, students will need to understand what
boarding school is, what were the roles of men and women in the mid-nineteenth
century Western Territories, what medical practices were like in the mid-nineteenth
century, and what were some of the tools that were used by people during this time
in history.
Teaching Vocabulary
palsy (p. 7)
daubed (p. 12)
hearth (p. 12)
mangled (p. 16)
standoffish (p. 17)
lean-to (p. 24)
glisten (p. 37)
musket (p. 38)
crossness (p. 41)
chalky (p. 45)
recollect (p. 49)
coverlet (p. 55)
wheeze (p. 55)
planking (p. 59)
barrow (p.62)
convinced (p. 65)
North Star (p. 68)
midpoint (p. 68)
territory (p.70)
maul (p. 74)
gluts (p. 75)
wasting away (p. 81)
frolic (p. 86)
framing (p. 98)
Word Expert
In order to better know and understand the words that may be unfamiliar to
students, I would have them work together in pairs to become word experts of 2-3
words from our vocabulary list for The Barn. By working together and discovering
on their own what these words mean, how to use them in the text, and how they can
explain their use to fellow classmates, students will gain a deeper understanding of
knowledge of these new words within the text of the story and in their own writing.
Using the word expert graphic organizer, students will define the word, discover
synonyms, use the word in the sentence and either draw or cut and paste a picture
to help define the word for other students. These graphic organizers will be shared
with the class as a whole and will be traded regularly throughout the unit so that
students can be exposed to all of vocabulary presented in the text.
Context Clues
Within groups of 3, students would be given 4-5 words from the list and the
correlating page number. Students will have to discover what information from the
text can help them define and better understand the vocabulary word. Using the
context clues graphic organizer, students will explain where the word is found in the
text, how it is used within the text and how they could use the text to help to
understand the meaning of the word.
Free Word Sort
The students will be given all 24 words to sort in whatever categories they choose.
Some examples of these might be:
 How the words might be used in the context of the story, i.e. words relating
to characters, plot, conflict, setting.
 Which words share the same part of speech, i.e. nouns, adjectives, verbs
 Which words do I feel very confident in understanding, which ones could I
use more work on, which words I am still struggling with, and which words I
find particularly interesting and want to remember for my future writing.
Students will write out a sort of these words within their journals and have to give
some explanation as to why they chose to sort in this manner and some examples of
why they put the words in categories they did.1
Comprehension Strategies
Predicting/Generating questions
Students will be asked to look at the cover and title of The Barn and then asked to
read the first 4 paragraphs, until “Your sister has come to take you.” Students will
be asked to create at least 3 questions that they have about the book. These
questions need to have more than a one-word answer. They will write these 3
questions in their journals and then pair up to take turns asking their questions of a
partner while answering their partner’s questions. After the short discussion time,
they will be asked to respond in their journals to 2 more questions by the teacher.
These questions will try to push the higher learning end of questioning:
Why do you think that Benjamin was away at boarding school?
What do you think has happened to Benjamin’s father? What type of accident do
you think has occurred?
What clues in text tell you about the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Dortmeister
and Benjamin? What do you think their relationship is like?
How do you think Benjamin feels about being at boarding school? How do you think
he feels about hearing the news of his father’s accident?
This is an opportunity for differentiation as students are able to decide on how
they will sort their words as long as they can justify why they sorted in the manner
they chose.
1
Cause and Effect
At the end of chapter 9, students will be asked to look at the events that lead to
Benjamin’s decision to build the barn. Each student will be given a stack of post-it
tabs and will be asked to go back through the text so far and determine what specific
events lead to his decision to build a barn. Students will need to highlight at least 2.
Students will discuss these contributing events in a group of four. Each group will
write their ideas on a large sheet of paper and these lists will be posted in the
classroom for later reference.
It says, I say, and so…
At the end of chapter 17 students will be shown how to make inferences using the
“It says, I say, and so…” format. The teacher will read the book My Rotten RedHeaded Older Brother and students will be asked:
What do you think will happen with her wish?
As a class the students will talk about and write about the clues in the text that give
us information, our own thoughts or experiences as they relate to the text, and what
we believe will happen.
Students will then take their newly learned format and apply it to the text by using
the question:
What do you think Ben means by the barn being, “a gift”?
Comprehension Questions
Knowledge
1. Why did Benjamin have to return home from boarding school?
2. Where is the homestead located?
3. How does Ben communicate with his father?
4. What has happened to their mother?
Comprehension
1. Why would Nettie leave the homestead?
2. Define the word “palsy”.
3. Outline the steps that it took to build the barn.
Application
1. If you were Benjamin, would you accept help to build the barn? Why or why
not?
2. What are some of the reasons why this story could not have occurred today
in Oregon?
3. Examine a time in your life when you had to do something that you did not
want to do. How did you feel about the task at the beginning? How did you
feel when it was done? Are you glad you had to do it, why or why not?
Analysis
1. Compare Benjamin’s view of his father to that of Nettie and Harrison
2. What are some of Ben’s motives behind building the barn?
3. Explain what Ben means when he describes his father as a cave with some
kind of animal or creature inside at the end of chapter 6.
Synthesis
1. Compare what Nellie believes about her mother with what she believes about
her father based on the conversation with Ben at the end of chapter 2.
2. Why do you think Ben expresses so much anger toward his father at the end
of chapter 9?
Evaluation
1. If you were Ben, what do you think would be the hardest part of taking care
of your father? Why?
2. How would you feel if you were Nettie? Would you have left to marry Tod or
stayed to help your brothers? Why?
3. If you had the choice, would you have traveled west to settle a new
homestead or would you have stayed in the east. Why?
4. In chapter 17, Ben is worried that his siblings will think he is weaker than
them if they knew he was not able to swing the ax. How would you describe
Ben as a person? Is he weaker than his siblings?
5. Do you believe that the barn was a gift to the children from their father? Why
or why not?
Writing Activities
Diamante Poem
Students will begin by doing a 2 minute word splash of words that describe Ben’s
emotions and thinking. This will be done in journals. Together, in groups of 4,
students will discuss the many aspects of Ben and how often his emotions are
conflicting. Students will then be introduced to the diamante poem. On their own
they will choose words from their word splashes to create a diamante poem that
focuses on two opposing aspects of Ben’s feelings.
Proverbs
Students will look at the proverbs used by Nettie throughout the book, i.e. “People
who talk about luck don’t think much of themselves.” Using the various resources
provided, students will decide on a proverb for Ben, either one that would describe
him, or one they think he might use, and explain in their journals why this proverb is
fitting for Ben. 2
http://www.quotationspage.com/
http://www.quoteland.com/
http://creativequotations.com/
The web resources above can be used to discover proverbs that can be used for this
activity. The teacher may also offer books filled with proverbs, sayings or quotes for
student research.3
Father’s Words
In their journals, students will free write about what father would say to Ben if he
could speak. This will be a timed activity where the students will keep their pencils
moving for two minutes, take a 1 minute break to read through what they have
written, write again for two minutes either continuing or expanding on what they
have written. Again they would take a 1 minute break to read and then write again
for two minutes. Students will be encouraged to just write their ideas without
thought of linear thinking or complete sentences, but to simply get their ideas on the
page, expanding and following their ideas as far as they will go.
This again allows for student choice in what proverb they choose and allows for
differentiation based on student ability
3 This writing activity comes from
http://members.accessus.net/~bradley/Writingbarn.html
2
Students will then share their writing with a partner and they will critique each
others writing based on ideas and voice. They will need to offer 2 specific things
that they really liked and 1 critique they would suggest. As a class, students will
practice together with the teacher based on a sample writing that they will read as a
class and critique before engaging in their peer critique.
Students will then use their free writing and peer critique and write a letter from
father to Ben. This will be a formal writing activity that will be written in draft for
and then in final copy form to be showcased in the classroom.
What was it like to live in 1855?
Students will examine, though writing in their journals, different aspects of life in
Oregon in 1855. Some short journal assignments might include such topics as:
 Would you like to attend boarding school? Why or why not?
 What would life be like for a woman in 1855?
 What would it be like to get sick in 1855?
 What were building practices like in 1855 on the frontier?
 What was farming like in 1855?
 What food was available to people on the frontier?
These would be short writing experiences drawing on their knowledge from the
books as well as discussions in class. Using these writings, students will then choose
one aspect of life in 1855. They can choose something from their writing or a new
topic of their choosing and research the topic using multiple digital and print
resources. They will use the writing process, the rubric for 6 traits of writing, peer
editing, and their research to create free writes/notes, a rough draft and a final
paper about the topic of their choosing.
Differentiation
Although aspects of this lesson allow for differentiation based simply on allowing
students to have some choice in what they choose to research or in how they define
their own learning goals, here are a few more specific ways in which differentiated
learning can occur:



Students may use the tic-tac-toe board of comprehension questions to start
their journal writing. These questions vary in complexity based on Bloom’s
taxonomy. Students may write about three questions either in a row, a
column or on the diagonal.
Students will create a unique story/activity/project using the
Understanding by Design R.A.F.T format. Ideas for this project are outlined
on the R.A.F.T graphic organizer
Students can use Think Cubes to engage in deeper thinking when it comes to
vocabulary words. Students will work in teacher assigned groups of two or
three according to their reading level/spelling inventory. They will use the
cube for their group to roll and accomplish the task outlined on the cube in
connection with the vocabulary words.
Poetry on topic with the themes in The Barn by Avi
The first three poems are similar in theme to The Barn and talk about loss,
love, perseverance and hope. The last four are more similarly linked to the time
period and context of The Barn.
Say that things don’t work out?
Say I fail the test?
Say I’m just not good enough?
Say I did my best?
Say my friends all snigger?
Say they think I’m mad?
Say I’m just a loser now?
Say they call me sad?
Say that I'm embarrassed?
Say I lose esteem?
Say disaster strikes again?
Say I drown in dreams?
Say I never even try?
Say I don’t begin?
Say I put it off for now?
Say regret sets in?
Say that I just give up?
Say I never dared?
Say that I look back and think -
‘I could have but was scared.’
Say I might just make it?
Say that I deserve?
Say I keep believing big?
Say I test my nerve?
Say what I imagine,
Say I see it through,
Say this dream up in my head -
Say it will come true?
Say I never give up?
Say I plant the seed -
That roots, and shoots and blossoms?
Say that I succeed?
©2009 Mark C Bird
http://www.ps4k.com/kids-poems/children-inspirational-poems-believe/say-i-fail.html
Holding On
© Keshia
The three of us hold on tight,
Never ever let go and we'll be alright,
We've held on this long,
And we've put up a fight,
So don't let go now,
And we'll make it through another night.
Source: Holding On, Hard Times Poem
http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/holding-on#ixzz1b9XjsXyU
Hope
Hope lights up our soul
And never fades away
It makes our life go smoothly
Excitement for the next day
It appears magically
Inspires us to try
Its sweetens bitter days
Never letting our dreams die
Copyright © 2011 Marinela Reka
Crossing Shoal Creek
BY J. T. LEDBETTER
The letter said you died on your tractor
crossing Shoal Creek.
There were no pictures to help the memories fading
like mists off the bottoms that last day on the farm
when I watched you milk the cows,
their sweet breath filling the dark barn as the rain
that wasn’t expected sluiced through the rain gutters.
I waited for you to speak the loud familiar words
about the weather, the failed crops—
I would have talked then, too loud, stroking the Holstein
moving against her stanchion—
but there was only the rain on the tin roof,
and the steady swish-swish of milk into the bright bucket
as I walked past you, so close we could have touched.
Poem copyright ©2010 by J.T. Ledbetter, and reprinted from his most recent book of poetry,
Underlying Premises, Lewis Clark Press, 2010, by permission of J.T. Ledbetter and the publisher.
Copyright © 2011 Marinela Reka
The Pioneer Women
Grandma, on her start of day
Milked the cows and fed them hay
Slopped the pigs, saddled the mule
And got the children off to school.
Did the washing, mopped the floors
Shined the windows and did some chores
Cooked a dish of home dried fruit
Pressed her husband's Sunday suit.
Swept the parlour and made some beds
Baked a dozen loaves of bread
Split some firewood and lugged it in
Enough to fill the kitchen bin.
Cleaned the lamps and put in oil
Stewed some apples she thought would spoil
Cooked a supper that was delicious
And afterwards, washed all the dishes
Fed the animals and sprinkled some clothes
Mended a basket full of hose
Then opened the organ and began to play
'When you come to the end of a perfect day'
written by Marion Pedersen St.John
The Homesteader
The homesteader
Lived in a small one room shack
Until he could build something better
And sometimes a shack only made out of sod
Was the home of the earliest settler.
The homesteader
Walked behind oxen and plow
To break up the land he first seeded
He only had but a meager supply
Of all the equipment he needed.
The homesteader
Had to be strong to survive
For his work was one of hard labor
He depended alot on the mate at his side
As well as his friends and his neighbors.
The homesteader
Suffered trials and defeat
You couldn't find men any braver
Through all kinds of weather he kept plodding on
Though sometimes his spirit did waver.
The homesteader
Much like the farmers today
Was forced to take many chances
And hardships encountered were hardest of all
When his land drifted over his fences.
The homesteader
Had the will to stay on.
When depressions his dreams nearly finished
A lot of his friends gave up and moved on
Before all they had diminish.
The homesteader
Strove to follow those dreams
Of someday being a rich farmer
And tho there were many who did not succeed
There were those who, in time did prosper.
written by Marion Pedersen St.John
Pioneers, O Pioneers!
Come my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
Have you your pistols?
have you your sharp-edged axes?
Pioneers! O pioneers!
For we cannot tarry here,
We must march my darlings, we must bear the
brunt of danger,
We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us
depend,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
O you youths, Western youths,
So impatient, full of action, full of manly
pride and friendship, Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping
with the foremost,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
Have the elder races halted?
Do they droop and end their lesson,
wearied over there beyond the seas? We take up the task eternal, and
the burden and the lesson,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
All the past we leave behind, We debouch upon a newer mightier world,
varied world,
Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the
march,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
We detachments steady throwing,
Down the edges, through the passes,
up the mountains steep, Conquering, holding, daring, venturing as we go
the unknown ways,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
We primeval forests felling,
We the rivers stemming, vexing we and
piercing deep the mines within,
We the surface broad surveying, we the
virgin soil upheaving,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
Colorado men are we, From the peaks gigantic, from the great sierras
and the high plateaus, From the mine and from the gully, from the
hunting trail we come,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
From Nebraska, from Arkansas,
Central inland race are we, from
Missouri, with the continental blood intervein'd, All the hands of
comrades clasping, all the Southern, all the Northern,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
O resistless restless race!
O beloved race in all! O my breast aches with
tender love for all!
O I mourn and yet exult, I am rapt with love for all,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
Raise the mighty mother mistress,
Waving high the delicate mistress,
over all the starry mistress, (bend your heads all,)
Raise the fang'd and
warlike mistress, stern, impassive, weapon'd mistress,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
See my children, resolute children,
By those swarms upon our rear we
must never yield or falter, Ages back in ghostly millions frowning there
behind us urging,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
On and on the compact ranks,
With accessions ever waiting, with the
places of the dead quickly fill'd,
Through the battle, through defeat,
moving yet and never stopping,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
O to die advancing on! Are there some of us to droop and die? has the
hour come?
Then upon the march we fittest die, soon and sure the gap
is fill'd.
Pioneers! O pioneers!
All the pulses of the world,
Falling in they beat for us, with the Western
movement beat,
Holding single or together, steady moving to the front, all
for us,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
Life's involv'd and varied pageants, All the forms and shows, all the
workmen at their work, All the seamen and the landsmen, all the masters
with their slaves,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
All the hapless silent lovers, All the prisoners in the prisons, all the
righteous and the wicked ,
All the joyous, all the sorrowing, all the living,
all the dying,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
I too with my soul and body,
We, a curious trio, picking, wandering on our
way,
Through these shores amid the shadows, with the apparitions
pressing,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
Lo, the darting bowling orb! Lo, the brother orbs around, all the
clustering suns and planets,
All the dazzling days, all the mystic nights
with dreams,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
These are of us, they are with us,
All for primal needed work, while the
followers there in embryo wait behind,
We to-day's procession heading,
we the route for travel clearing,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
O you daughters of the West!
O you young and elder daughters! O you
mothers and you wives!
Never must you be divided, in our ranks you
move united,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
Minstrels latent on the prairies!
(Shrouded bards of other lands, you may
rest, you have done your work,)
Soon I hear you coming warbling, soon
you rise and tramp amid us,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
Not for delectations sweet,
Not the cushion and the slipper, not the
peaceful and the studious,
Not the riches safe and palling, not for us the
tame enjoyment,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
Do the feasters gluttonous feast?
Do the corpulent sleepers sleep? have
they lock'd and bolted doors? Still be ours the diet hard, and the blanket
on the ground,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
Has the night descended? Was the road of late so toilsome? did we stop
discouraged nodding on our way? Yet a passing hour I yield you in your
tracks to pause oblivious,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
Till with sound of trumpet,
Far, far off the daybreak call—hark! how loud
and clear I hear it wind,
Swift! to the head of the army!--swift! spring to
your places,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
By Walt Whitman
For a complete list of books to be used with this unit please go to:
http://www.scholastic.com/tbw/viewBooklist.do?dp=%3D%3FUTF8%3FB%3FYm9va2xpc3RJZD0xMTAwMTgy%3F%3D