Lessons & Units :: Lost Star: The Story of Amelia Earhart 5th Grade Unit

Lesson Plan

Lost Star: The Story of Amelia Earhart | 870L

Lost Star: The Story of Amelia Earhart
Learning Goal
Use a text feature to find and explain facts in a text.
Approximately 2 Days (40 minutes for each class)
Necessary Materials
Provided: 50 Facts about Animals Handout, Facts about Animals Key,Featuring Text Features Handout, Finding the Facts Chart, Featuring Amelia! Worksheet (Student Packet, page 21)
Not Provided: Chart paper, markers, Lost Star: The Story of Amelia Earhart by Patricia Lauber
  • Before the Lesson

    Read Chapter 11: “Last Flight” – Chapter 13: “Lost Star;” Complete Student Packet Worksheets for Chapters 11-13

  • Activation & Motivation

    Pass out the 50 Facts about Animals Handout to the entire class. Hand out the Facts about Animals Key to half of the class and instruct these students to keep the key private from those who did not receive it.

    Ask the students to answer three questions about the facts on the 50 Facts about Animals Handout: "Where are the tastebuds of butterflies? What is a group of owls called? Is a zebra black with white stripes or white with black stripes?" The students who answer first should raise their hands and keep them up for the teacher.

  • Teacher Modeling

     will explain that the group with the key was sooner able to answer the questions about animals because they had a tool to help them figure out where to look on the page for the answer. A key is one type of “text feature” that helps readers find and comprehend information in a text. I will distribute the Featuring Text Features Handout and explain that a text feature is a device in a text that organizes and emphasizes information. Authors use text features to help readers find and understand textual details more easily. Text Features include indexes, maps, timelines, tables of contents, diagrams, captions, and photographs. In a biography, an author may include several text features to help the reader find and understand factual information in the book.

    Now that we have finished reading the book, we want to be able to find and gather information about Amelia Earhart’s life. I will model identifying and using text features to help us find and understand explicit information in Lost Star: The Story of Amelia Earhart. I will start by asking questions: Where did Amelia Earhart start her solo trip across the Atlantic Ocean? Was her solo flight longer or shorter than her trip as a passenger? I will write these questions in the first column of my three column chart. Note: See the Finding the Facts Chart for specific examples.

    I will explain that while I read the book, I don’t remember any specifics about the Amelia’s solo trip. Is there a text feature that can help me go back and find the information to answer these questions? I will look at my Featuring Text Features Handout and find the appropriate text feature to help me answer these questions. One text feature I can use is the Table of Contents. I see that there is a chapter called “Facing the Atlantic,” so I can look there. Also, since these questions are about a place, I will look for a map. I see one on page 55 that can even more quickly help me find the information. I will write these text features the middle column of the Finding the Facts Chart. I will think aloud as I examine the map, look for Amelia’s starting location, and determine how long or short the trip as in comparison to her previous trip. In the final column of the Finding the Facts Chart, I will answer the questions by summarizing the facts I found in the text the map and table of contents.

    I will model answering the next question, “What was the Itasca?” using the index and the photograph and caption on page 83. I will record my answers on the Finding the Facts Chart.

  • Think Check

    Ask, "How can I use text features to find information in a book?" Students can answer that you can look at what the question is asking and see if there is a specific text feature that might help narrow down where you should look for information. The table of contents and index can help you find information about a specific topic, while maps and timelines can help you quickly find important information in a text about where and when something happened.

  • Guided Practice

    will answer the next three questions on our Finding the Facts Chart: 1) Who was Amelia Earhart’s chief advisor? 2) How did Amelia feel about Purdue University? 3) Who do some people think captured Amelia Earhart after her plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean?

    We will look at the question and our Featuring Text Features Handout to find the appropriate text feature to answer the question. For example, the question, “Who was Amelia Earhart’s chief advisor?” does not give us a name to look up in the index or table of contents. It also cannot be answered by looking at a timeline or a map. Since it is about a person, we will look for a photograph of Amelia (p. 67) and write “Photograph and Caption” in the second column of our Finding the Facts Chart.

    We will interpret the information we found to answer the question. For example, we learned from the photograph that Paul Manz was Amelia’s chief advisor. We will write our answer in the third column of our Finding the Facts Chart.

  • Independent Practice

    will use multiple text features to find information in the text about Amelia Earhart’s last flight. You will answer the questions on the Featuring Amelia! Worksheet in your Student Packet. You will be sure to include which text feature helped you find that piece of information. (See page 21 in the Student Packet.)

  • Reflective Practice

    will come back together and share the answers to questions about Amelia’s last flight. Ask: "Did using text features make it easier to find the answers?"  We will discuss how some text features emphasize information, while others organize it. Can students classify and categorize these different types of features?

Build Student Vocabulary rumors

Tier 2 Word: rumors
Contextualize the word as it is used in the story "Perhaps because no one else had found a trace either, rumors began to spread."
Explain the meaning student-friendly definition) A rumor is a piece of information or a story passed from one person to another, without any proof that it is true. The book talks about how rumors spread that Amelia and Fred might have been captured as spies. This means that the story spread, and some people believed that it was true, but there wasn’t any proof one way or the other.
Students repeat the word Say the word rumors with me: rumors.
Teacher gives examples of the word in other contexts When I was in school, my classmates used to spread mean rumors about this one girl who was a new student, and it made her really upset. I heard a rumor that we’re going to get a new principal next year – do you know if that’s true?
Students provide examples Have you heard any rumors about what sixth grade is like? What did you hear? Students should say, “I heard a rumor that…”
Students repeat the word again. What word are we talking about? rumors
Additional Vocabulary Words loan, rotated, forbidden, evidence, pursued

Texts & Materials

Standards Alignment


User Comments

Post new comment