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3-5: Christmas Carol Chronology

Christmas Carol Chronology, based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, provides students with an opportunity to develop comprehension by listing plot developments and arranging them sequentially. This lesson begins with cooperative learning groups and ends with an individual manipulative activity of cutting and pasting strips of events in chronological order.

A lesson plan for Grades 4–8 English Language Arts

Learning outcomes

Students will:

• develop comprehension of plot development.
• examine flashbacks in the story in order to determine time.
• work cooperatively in groups to determine story events.
• arrange events in chronological order using time order words, context clues, and logical reasoning.

Time required for lesson: 2 Days

Materials/resources

• A Christmas Carol text (this activity uses the 1968 copyrighted version from Houghton Mifflin’s Discovering Literature) * notebook paper * pencils * markers * chart paper * tape or glue to share within each group * scissors * red and green construction paper

Pre-activities

Before this activity, students must read the entire story. In previous lessons where flashbacks are explained by using current movies or “soap operas” and time order words are listed on the board, students will form groups to point out specific examples from the text of both of these skills. (An example of a flashback would be the Ghost of Christmas Past taking Scrooge into his past to see scenes from his youth; time order word examples would be before, after, when, next, at three o’clock, etc.)

Activities

Day 1

1. After having read the entire story, students will be placed in eight groups. Two groups will work on Stave One with the introduction and the entrance of Marley. Two other groups will work on Stave Two with the Ghost of the Past, two will work on Stave Three with the Ghost of the Present, and the final two will work on Stave Four with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

2. The group assignment is to list all main plot developments and events. These should be listed in order on notebook paper.

3. Next, the two groups who were working on the same sections should collaborate by writing their answers on chart paper for a change of pace. (The primary purpose for this was to provide small working groups on the initial assignment.)

4. The teacher will take those events from each group to scramble, type, and edit for the next day’s lesson.

Day 2

5. Each student will be given 2 copies of randomly arranged events for the entire story. Working in small groups, have students cut events apart and arrange them in chronological order from the beginning to the end of the story. Students will attach them with tape or glue. First have students cut apart the first copy and arrange the events chronologically as they happened in Scrooge’s Past, Present, and Future. Then have students cut apart the 2nd copy of events and arrange the events as they appear in the story. They should notice time order words, flashbacks, and the four major divisions of the story.

6. Discuss how time order (transition) words signal a flashback in time and a return to the “real time” timeline of the story. Also discuss why Dickens chose to show Scrooge’s character in the Present before showing how he was in the past.

7. You will probably work on this near the Christmas season so the use of red and green construction paper can be used for a more festive atmosphere.

8. Followup activity: Have students write a fictional description of all the negative characteristics of an unsympathetic character. Then have them add a flashback describing the character in the past, before they became so unlikeable. Finally, have students add a description of the event that changed them into such an unlikeable person. Has the flashback changed their feelings about the character?

Assessment

Assessment will occur when students’ papers are checked to see if events are correctly ordered.

Supplemental information

A sample list of events is attached (Events 1 and Events 2). The answer KEY numbers correspond to the listed events. 5,14,2,1,10,13,8,3,6,9,11,4,17,15,7,20,18,12,19,16.

Comments

Cutting and pasting with sixth graders takes a long time-it works better with older students. I found that giving each student a strip of tape about a yard long and having them roll the tape for the backs of their strips was a more efficient use of time.

Return to Lesson Plans

Holiday Lessons:

1.) The Holidays of December

2.) Positivity Presents: A Classroom Activity

3.) Potpourri Gel Jars

4.) Making Holiday Gifts & Decorations in Class

5.) Holiday Writing Prompts

6.) The Grinch Who Stole Christmas: Writing Ideas

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