Learning Standards Listen to and follow directions. Recall major details of a story. Begin to predict story content. Dictate or compose simple stories in response to multicultural literature. Classroom Activities Fifth grade mentors help children with Internet access for making origami Samurai helmet.
Teacher prepares for story by discussing role of Samurai in ancient Japan.
Children listen to the beginning of The Wise Old Woman. When the woman is about to be banished, students draw a picture illustrating their responses to the problem. Teacher resumes story and stops at the three impossible tasks, reads tasks from a prepared scroll, and displays scroll in classroom. On a chart, teacher records children's predictions about solutions to tasks. Continue with story to discover how son and his mother changed treatment of the elderly.