I Am the Hope Diamond - Lesson Plans

I Am the Hope Diamond
Level P

About the Book

Text Type: Informational/Fantasy
Page Count: 16
Word Count: 835

Book Summary
Told through the fictitious eyes of the Hope Diamond, I Am the Hope Diamond is an informational book about the history of this amazing diamond. The book explains this diamond's incredible journey, including how it was discovered, who has owned it, and to which countries it has been taken. The book also describes its original size and shape, as well as how it has been altered through the years. Photographs support the text.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Visualize

Objectives

Use the reading strategy of visualizing to understand text
Analyze point of view in the text
Understand the use of plural nouns
Arrange words in alphabetical order

Materials

Book -- I Am the Hope Diamond (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Visualize, point of view, plural nouns, alphabetical order worksheets

Indicates an opportunity for student to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are reusable.)

Vocabulary

Content words: carats, Cartier, charities, diamonds, facets, jewels, museum, mystery, pendant, royal, set, Smithsonian Institution, vacations, weight

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students to think of different types of gemstones used in jewelry. Invite them to describe the different shapes and colors of the gemstones they remember.
Write the words Hope Diamond on the board. Ask students to share what they know about this diamond. Invite them to explain what might be inferred about the diamond since a book was written about it.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

Give students their book. Guide them to the front and back covers of the book and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the covers. Encourage them to offer ideas as to what type of book it is and what it might be about.
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name).
Ask students to turn to the table of contents. Remind them that the table of contents provides an overview of what the book is about. Ask students what they expect to read about based on what they see in the table of contents. (Accept all answers that students can justify.)

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Visualize

Explain to students that good readers often visualize, or create pictures in their mind, while reading. Visualizing is based on what a person already knows about a topic. Explain that one way to visualize is to draw a picture.
Model how to visualize using a drawing.
Think-aloud: Whenever I read a book, I always pause after a few pages to create a picture in my mind of the information I've read. This helps me organize the important information and understand the ideas in the book. For example, when I read the word diamond on the title page, I picture a clear, shiny gem that is set into a piece of jewelry.
Ask students to share what they visualize when they hear the word diamond. Write their descriptions on the board. Introduce and explain the visualize worksheet. Have students draw what they visualized when they thought about the word diamond on the worksheet.
Invite students to share their drawings. Point out to students that even though their descriptions of a diamond may not be the same, they were each able to create a picture in their mind.
As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Comprehension Skill: Analyze point of view

Write the following on the board: Maybe you have heard of this diamond. the famous Hope Diamond. It is no ordinary diamond. It lives in the center of a pendant, which hangs from a diamond necklace. Sixteen other diamonds circle around it.
Ask students to turn to page 4. Read the first page of the story aloud while they follow along silently. Ask students to identify how the two passages are different.
Model how to analyze point of view.
Think-aloud: As I read page 4 in the book, I noticed that the pronouns being used were I, I'm and me. It seems as though something or someone different is telling the story. I know that when I talk about myself I use these same words. I use them in sentences to share with others what I am thinking and feeling.
Explain that the page was read using two different points of view: third person and first person. Point out that this story is written in first person and that the passage on the board is changed to third-person point of view using similar text from page 4.
Explain that first-person point of view gives a non-living object the qualities of a living thing. Ask students to identify what they would expect to read about in a first-person story (insight into feelings, thoughts, and so on).
Review the words from page 4 that identify first-person point of view (me, I, I'm). Have students identify the words that identify third-person point of view from the passage on the board (it). Point out that third-person point of view also includes the words he and she.

Introduce the Vocabulary

Cut out pages 4, 10, and 12. Write the words carats, facets, jewels, and pendant on the board. Explain that the photos depict vocabulary words in the story. These vocabulary words help to explain the meaning of the story.
Show students the photo from page 4. Review with students what they already know about diamonds. Point to the parts of the diamonds that are catching the light and glistening. Ask students to explain what they think makes diamonds sparkle. Explain that the sides, or facets, which are cut on the diamonds is one reason why they sparkle in the light.
Point out that the center stone on page 4 is larger than the other smaller stones that surround it. Ask students to explain how the weights of these stones might be different. Explain that usually larger diamonds weigh more than smaller diamonds. The weight for diamonds and other jewels is measured in carats.
Ask students what they think the word pendant means. Show students the photo from page 12. Point out the object hanging from the woman's necklace, and tell them that the necklace with the large stone inside is described as a pendant.
Show students the photos from page 10 and 12. Explain that these are pictures of expensive stones called jewels that are used in jewelry. Facilitate a discussion about the jewels with questions: What types of jewels do you know about? What might be reasons why these stones are so expensive? Why do people wear jewels? What might this explain about the people from the story?
Ask students to explain how the words carats, diamonds, facets, jewels, and pendant help them to determine what the story might be about.
For tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

Have students read the book to find out more about I Am the Hope Diamond. Remind them to stop after every few pages to visualize the story in their mind to help them identify thoughts and feelings characteristic of first-person point of view.

During Reading

Student Reading

Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 5. Encourage students who finish early to go back and reread. Have students draw what they visualized as they read.
Model visualizing.
Think-aloud: When I read the description of the Hope Diamond, I thought about a deep blue color of the ocean. This color is a lot different from the clear diamonds I usually see. I pictured the diamond glistening in the light, just as the ocean water glistens in the sunshine. This seems to be a very beautiful and special diamond.
Have students share the pictures of what they visualized while reading. Have them explain their drawings aloud.
Remind students that books written in the first-person provide insight into the feelings and thoughts of a character. Point out the phrase but I'm no ordinary diamond on page 4. Ask students to identify what this phrase might tell readers about the diamond (it thinks it is special, it thinks a lot of itself, and so on). Have them explain whether such thoughts are real or fantasy.
Ask students to explain why they think the author chose to use these words to describe the diamond (so people would understand the uniqueness of the diamond).
Introduce and explain the point of view worksheet. Have students write this first-person characteristic on their chart.
Check for understanding: Have students read to the end of page 9. Have them visualize the information in the text. Ask students to use their worksheet to add to their drawings as they visualize the information in the book.
Have students identify words or phrases from the book that provide insight into the feeling and thoughts of the diamond. (For example, it might have thought it was special, amazing, scared, and so on). Have them write these on their worksheet. Invite them to share and explain what they wrote.
Have students read the remainder of the book. Remind them to stop after every few pages to visualize the story in their mind to help them identify thoughts and feelings characteristic of first-person point of view.

Have students make a question mark in their book beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. Encourage them to use the strategies they have learned to read the word and figure out its meaning.

After Reading

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

Ask students what words, if any, they marked in their book. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
Ask students to explain or show how the strategy of visualizing helped them understand and remember information in the story.
Think-aloud: When I read about how the Hope Diamond was cut to about the size of a quarter, I paused to picture in my mind how a diamond that size would look. I read that at this size, it was less than half the original weight of over 100 carats. I envisioned an amazing blue diamond, twice the size of a quarter, thinking about how huge it used to be. I pictured how a diamond that size might look hanging from the neck of a king or queen.
Independent practice: Have students complete the visualize worksheet. If time allows, have students share their pictures when finished.

Reflect on the Comprehension Skill

Discussion: Review the difference between reality and fantasy. Write the words reality and fantasy on the board. Talk about how this book contains examples of both, and ask for students to give examples (reality: the Hope Diamond was over 100 carats when it was discovered, it was worn in a crown by the king of France in the 1600s, and so on; fantasy: the Hope Diamond's memory was cut off when its facets were made, it liked its royal life in France, and so on). Write the examples on the board under the appropriate heading as they are given.
Review that a diamond is a non-living object. Point out that all of the examples of fantasy from the book were included in the story because it was written in first-person point of view of a diamond. Ask students to explain why they think the author chose to write the story from a first-person point of view (to share his/her opinions about the diamond, to make the story more interesting, and so on).
Independent practice: Have students complete the point of view worksheet, identifying additional examples of phrases that depict feelings and thoughts from a first-person point of view. (For example, it felt safe in the drawer, it's feelings were hurt when no one wanted it, it was glad to help with charity work, and so on.) If time allows, discuss their responses.
Enduring understanding: The Hope Diamond, owned by several people throughout history, is now a protected jewel and popular attraction at the Smithsonian Institution. Now that you know this information, what does this tell you about the characteristics of the things people value or consider special?

Build Skills

Grammar and Mechanics: Plural nouns

Show students a pencil. Have a student identify the object. Write the word pencil on the board. Have a volunteer identify the word's part of speech (nouns).
Show students two pencils. Have a student identify the objects. Write the word pencils on the board. Ask students how the meaning of the word pencil changed (the -s suffix on pencils changes the meaning from one to more than one pencil). Explain that the word pencils is a plural noun.
Write the following nouns on the board and ask students to provide the plural form for each by adding -s: diamond, facet, jewel, king. Write the plural form of each word on the board as students provide answers (diamonds, facets, jewels, kings).
Write the noun charities on the board. Have students identify the singular noun (charity). Write the word on the board. Ask them to explain how the word charities was changed to make the word charity (the -y was changed to an -i and the suffix -es was added).
Explain that changing the -y to an -i and then adding -es creates the plural form of nouns ending in -y.
Write the word party on the board. Ask students to explain how to change the word to a plural noun (parties). Write the word on the board.
Check for understanding: Write the words carat, jewel, memory, and mystery on the board. Have students change each singular noun to a plural noun and write them on a separate piece of paper.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the plural nouns worksheet.

Word Work: Alphabetical order

Write the words hope and diamond on the board. Have a volunteer explain which word would appear first in alphabetical order and why. (Diamond; The letter d comes before the letter h in the alphabet).
Review or explain the process of putting a list of words in alphabetical order. Remind students that if the first letter of two words is the same, they must compare the next two letters instead.
Write the words blue and bright on the board. Point out that the words begin with the same letter (b). Ask a volunteer to tell which word would appear first in alphabetical order and why. (Blue; The letter l comes before the letter r in the alphabet).
Write the words king and kings on the board. Have a volunteer explain which word would appear first in alphabetical order and why. (King; all of the letters in king and kings are the same until the final letter s. Since there is no additional letters to compare at the end of the word king, it comes first in alphabetical order.)
Check for understanding: Write the words cut, crown, and charm on the board. Have students work with a partner to place the words in alphabetical order.
Independent practice: Have students complete the alphabetical order worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Build Fluency

Independent Reading

Allow students to read their book independently. Additionally, partners can take turns reading parts of the book to each other.

Home Connection

Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends. Have students practice visualizing the story with someone at home and then compare the pictures that they created in their mind.

Extend the Reading

Writing and Art Connection
Have students write a continuation of I Am the Hope Diamond, explaining where the diamond's next home might be. Remind students that the Hope Diamond feels sad that it is in a museum, and wants to be worn by kings and go to parties again. Ask students to choose the diamond's next adventure. Discuss possible scenarios, such as the diamond being stolen by thieves, or the king of France buying it back to place in his crown. Remind students to write their story in first person point of view.

Social Studies and Science Connection
Have students use the Internet to research the topic of jewels. Ask them find photographs of different jewels, and ask them to research where they came from, what they are used for, and what they look like. Have students create a small poster illustrating the jewel and the important information about it.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

consistently use the strategy of visualizing to comprehend text during discussion and on a worksheet
correctly identify characteristics of first-person point of view in the book during discussion and on a worksheet
correctly identify and create plural nouns with -s and -ies endings during discussion and on a worksheet
accurately arrange words in alphabetical order during discussion and on a worksheet

Comprehension Checks

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