By the end of the lesson, SWBAT:

NAME:_______________________________
- Discover the meaning of persistence and DATE:_______________________________
apply their knowledge to their own goal PERIOD:_______________________________
setting. SUBJECT: Reading
Day 1

Do Now
MVP: Silently and Independently answer the following fill-in-the-blank questions.

WORD BANK
Antenna Boulder Joint Motor Planet
Balance Cliff Machine Muscle Slope

1) ____________________________________: a steep, high rock face with a sharp drop to the ground
below.

2) ____________________________________: a state of being firm and steady.

3) ____________________________________: to lie at an angle.

4) ____________________________________: a large, rounded rock, resting on or in the ground.

5) ____________________________________: one of the two long, thin, feelers on the head of many
insects and some water animals such as lobsters.

6) ____________________________________: a part of the body that can be stretched or tightened to

make the body move.

7) ____________________________________: an object that is used to do certain kinds of work.

8) ____________________________________: to stay in a steady position without falling.

9) ____________________________________: the place where two parts meet or come together.

10) ____________________________________: a large object in space that moves in a regular path

around the sun or some other star.

11) _________________________________: a metal rod or wire used to send and receive radio and
television messages.

12) __________________________________: an object that provides the power to make something move
or do work.

13) __________________________________: to hold something in a steady position without letting it fall.

14) __________________________________: a surface, a line, or a piece of land that is higher at one point
than at another.
Objective Review: SWBAT discover the meaning of persistence and apply their knowledge to their own
goal setting.
When was the last time you had to
work hard for something you
wanted?

What did you do to achieve that

goal?

I. Activation Activity: “Icy Persistence”

MVP: The first person to get the penny out of their ice without putting it in their mouth or
hitting it with another object is the winner.

Winner: ______________________________________

II. Reflection
MVP: Answer the reflection questions silently & independently at your assigned seat.

How does melting the ice

cube compare to reaching
your goals?

Did you ever feel like

quitting?

Why do some people quit

before reaching their goals?

Could you have gotten the

penny quicker had you
broken the rules?
Would you feel as good
about winning if you didn't
follow the rules?
How do hard work and
perseverance help you
achieve your goals?

________________________________: Continuing work towards a goal & work hard, despite difficult
situations or events that get in the way and make reaching that goal harder.
III. Reading
MVP: At your assigned seat, follow along, reading the text, with the class as we group
read.

Fly, Eagle, Fly

An African Tale
Questions
Retold by Christopher Gregorowski
A farmer went out one day to search for a lost calf. The herders had
returned without it the evening before. And that night there had been a
terrible storm. (1) 1. Why does the
farmer keep
He went to the valley and searched by the riverbed, among the reeds, saying that the
behind the rocks and in the rushing water. (2) eagle is a
chicken?
He climbed the slopes of the high mountain with its rocky cliffs. He looked
behind a large rock in case the calf had huddled there to escape the
storm. And that was where he stopped. There, on a ledge of rock, was a
most unusual sight. An eagle chick had hatched from its egg a day or two
earlier, and had been blown from its nest by the terrible storm. (3)

He reached out and cradled the chick in both hands. He would take it
home and care for it. He was almost home when the children ran out to
meet him. “The calf came back by itself!” they shouted. (4)

The farmer was very pleased. He showed the eagle chick to his family,
then placed it carefully in the chicken house among the hens and chicks.
(5)

“The eagle is the king of the birds,” he said, “but we shall train it to be a 2. What is the major
chicken.” (6) argument in this
story?
So, the eagle lived among the chickens, learning their ways. As it grew, it
began to look quite different from any chicken they had ever seen. (7)

One day a friend dropped in for a visit. The friend saw the bird among the
chickens. (8)

“Hey! That is not a chicken. It’s an eagle!” (9)

The farmer smiled at him and said, “Of course it’s a chicken. Look— it
walks like a chicken, it eats like a chicken. It thinks like a chicken. Of course
it’s a chicken.” (10)

But the friend was not convinced. “I will show you that it is an eagle,” he
said. (11)
The farmer’s children helped his friend catch the bird. It was fairly heavy, 3. Where do you
but the farmer’s friend lifted it above his head and said, “You are not a see examples of
chicken but an eagle. You belong not to the earth but to the sky. Fly, persistence in this
Eagle, fly!” (12) story?

The bird stretched out its wings, looked about, saw the chickens feeding,
and jumped down to scratch with them for food. (13)

“I told you it was a chicken,” the farmer said, and he roared with laughter.
(14)

Very early the next morning the farmer’s dogs began to bark. A voice was
calling outside in the darkness. The farmer ran to the door. It was his friend
again. “Give me another chance with the bird,” he begged. (15) 4. What does the
eagle do when
“Do you know the time? It is long before dawn.” the farmer and
the friend take it
“Come with me. Fetch the bird.” to the mountain
top?
Reluctantly, the farmer picked up the bird, which was fast asleep among
the chickens. The two men set off, disappearing into the darkness. (16)

“Where are we going?” asked the farmer sleepily.

“To the mountains where you found the bird.”

“And why at this ridiculous time of the night?”

“So that our eagle may see the sun rise over the mountain and follow it
into the sky where it belongs.”

They went into the valley and crossed the river, the friend leading the way.
“Hurry,” he said, “for the dawn will arrive before we do.”
5. How can we
The first light crept into the sky as they began to climb the mountain. The relate to the
wispy clouds in the sky were pink at first, and then began to shimmer with quote, “You
a golden brilliance. Sometimes their path was dangerous as it clung to the belong to the sky
side of the mountain, crossing narrow shelves of rock and taking them into not to the Earth”
dark crevices and out again. At last he said, “This will do.” He looked down
in our everyday
the cliff and saw the ground thousands of feet below. They were very near
lives?
the top.

Carefully, the friend carried the bird onto a ledge. He set it down so that it
looked toward the east, and began talking to it. The farmer chuckled. “It
talks only chicken-talk.”

But the friend talked on, telling the bird about the sun, how it gives life to
the world, and how it reigns in the heavens, giving light to each new day.
“Look at the sun, Eagle. And when it rises, rise with it. You belong to the sky,
 not to the earth.” At that moment the sun’s first rays shot out over the
mountain, and suddenly the world was ablaze with light.
The sun rose majestically. The great bird stretched out its wings to greet the
sun and feel the warmth on its feathers. The farmer was quiet. The friend
said, “You belong not to the earth, but to the sky. Fly, Eagle, fly!” He
scrambled back to the farmer. All was silent. The eagle’s head stretched
up, its wings stretched outwards, and its legs leaned forward as its claws
clutched the rock.

Then, without really moving, feeling the updraft of a wind more powerful
than any man or bird, the great eagle leaned forward and was swept
upward higher and higher, lost to sight in the brightness of the rising sun,
never again to live among the chickens.

IV. Ways to persist

MVP: With a partner, imagine each scenario and jot down a way that you could practice
persistence in order to achieve your goal.

You have an F in math class

and there is only two more You made the basketball team
weeks left before report cards but never get any playing time.
are sent home.

You set a goal at the beginning of the year to

improve your behavior, but it’s really hard to pay
attention in 5th block and you can’t keep still.

You don’t like to read but the

teacher always calls on you in
class to read out loud.
V. Steps to practicing persistence
MVP: Follow along with Ms. Wieseman as we fill in the blanks and answer each question
along the way, silently & independently at your assigned seat.

1. Have a __________________ bigger than yourself.

What is one academic or personal goal you would like to reach between now and the end of the
school year?

2. Build a _________________ _____________________.

Who is on your “support

team”?
List their names here

3. Have a ____________________ mindset.

How can you model persistence while working towards this goal?

I can…

4. Schedule it!

Jot down steps you can take for each day!

Today:
Tomorrow:
The next day:

5. _______________ others.

Accountability buddies My accountability buddy is…

Choose someone from our class
who will watch you and keep you
accountable while you work
towards this goal and practice
persistence.