Story: “The First Mouse on the Moon”

Unit/Curricular Connections: Reading – Vocabulary

Grade Levels: Elementary, grade 5

Objective: By the end of the lesson, students will have become familiar with the illustrations and the story and will have learned the definitions for new vocabulary in the story.

Direct teaching: Depending on the number of copies of the graphic novel, share the entire book with the class or have the students share the book in pairs or trios. Depending on the length of the class, it may take two twenty-minute sessions to complete the sharing and discussion of the book. In a picture walk of the story, discuss what is happening in each panel with the students. (A panel is a separate square or rectangle of artwork.) Focus the students’ attention on the facial expressions of the characters, the action in the panels, and the use of lines and shading to suggest movement and action. Generate a chart of predictions and for future reference, correlate those predictions to the page numbers of the story.

Writing Activity: Using a dictionary, have the students identify the following vocabulary terms from the story: trajectory, mechanism, organic, sullen, stalagmite, gumption, carp(ing), and consolation. After students write the definition, have them write the word in an original sentence in their vocabulary journals.

Technology Connection: Students may use Kid Pix to put a vocabulary word in the center of the slide and create illustrations to demonstrate their understanding of the word.