Lesson 5: The Lightning Thief, Comparision Writing, Part 1

Have students take out their annotations from Chapter 1, pp. 9–15, and the homework excerpt from “The Hare and the Lion.” Keep partners consistent so students can move quickly into the comparison.

Turn-and-Talk

Say these Directions: In many fictional stories, the author repeats a pattern to build that idea over the course of the text. Today, we’ll look for patterns in “The Hare and the Lion.”

Turn and talk to discuss your response to the question below.

Ask: What patterns do you notice across the story “The Hare and the Lion”?

• A pattern I notice in “The Hare and the Lion” is that the Lion keeps using his power to control the other animals, while the Hare keeps using clever ideas to respond. This repeating pattern shows how the Hare’s intelligence helps challenge the Lion’s unfair power.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: As we look at patterns, we’ll also begin to notice which characters hold the power and how that connects to these patterns. Then we will learn how to turn those ideas into a clear explanatory paragraph.

In this Literacy Lab students will learn how to build cohesive comparison sentences that connect ideas across texts and explain ideas.

Language Study

Teach: Building Cohesive Comparison

Say: In this lesson, we learn how writers connect ideas across texts in one clear, focused sentence. Strong explanatory writing doesn’t list separate points; it links them using comparison words, embedded evidence, and an explanation of what that evidence shows.

Display the following model sentence:

While Percy’s experience of constantly being blamed for things he didn’t cause shows how adults hold power over him, Soongoora’s clever tricks reveal how intelligence can challenge an unfair balance of power.

• Ask: Which word signals the comparison in this sentence?

  • The word while shows the comparison.

• Ask: What evidence is included from Percy’s story?

  • Percy keeps getting in trouble with adults for things that aren’t his fault.

• Ask: What evidence is included from Soongoora’s story?

  • Soongoora’s trick shows how he escapes using cleverness.

• Ask: Which words explain what the evidence means?

  • The words showing and reveals explain what the evidence means.

• Ask: What bigger idea connects both texts?

  • The bigger idea is that sometimes people and characters are affected by an unfair .in different stories similarly balance of power

To build a cohesive comparison sentence, we:

• use a comparison word like while or unlike

• embed evidence from each text

• explain what the evidence shows

• connect both ideas to a shared concept

This helps our writing sound connected instead of choppy.

Say these Directions: With a partner, orally rehearse a comparison sentence using while, unlike, or both … and. Include one idea from each text and explain what they show.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: In this lesson, you practiced building one clear comparison sentence. Next, you will expand this idea into a full paragraph by adding a topic sentence, more evidence, and a concluding statement that explains the shared idea.

Part A: Gather Comparative Evidence (RL.6.9) (12 minutes)

Students work with a partner to compare Percy and Soongoora using examples in the text rather than relying only on page numbers.

Think-Pair-Share

Say these Directions: With your partner, review your annotations from the museum scene in Chapter 1 and “The Hare and the Lion” as you find evidence to respond to the following prompt:

Compare how Percy and the hare respond to the experience of being controlled by those more powerful than themselves.

As you fill in your Venn diagram, put Percy-only details on the left, Soongoora-only details on the right, and shared ideas in the middle. Use examples from the text to support your ideas.

SAMPLE RESPONSE

Part B: Draft and Refine the Paragraph (W.6.2.a, W.6.2.b, W.6.2.f) (18 minutes)

Modeled Writing

Display the following writing model if needed for support and guidance:

• Both Percy and Soongoora are treated like outcasts by characters with more status, but they respond to unfair control in different ways. In the museum scene, Percy’s comment that he should “count to ten, get control of [his] temper” shows that he knows the rules adults expect him to follow. Even so, he is still vulnerable because other people are ready to blame him fast, so his anger makes him look like the problem instead of the pressure around him. In the hare tale, Soongoora is also vulnerable because the Lion can use force and demand obedience. Throughout the story, Soongoora repeatedly escapes the Lion by using clever tricks, including when he deceives the Lion and runs away. Unlike Percy, who is still trapped inside the rules of school, Soongoora bends unfair rules to survive. Together, these stories suggest that when community rules protect the powerful instead of the weak, cleverness can become a necessary response.

Teach:

Demonstrate how to turn the notes from the Venn diagram into a cohesive paragraph that compares information from two texts.

• Say: Now we will work with our notes from the Venn Diagram to write an explanatory paragraph. I start with a topic sentence that names both characters and the idea I am comparing. Then I add one detail from Percy’s experience and one detail from Soongoora’s. After each one, I explain what that detail reveals. I end by telling what both stories suggest about cleverness and community rules.

Say these Directions: Use your Venn diagram to draft one explanatory paragraph in your journal. Include a clear topic sentence, at least one relevant detail from each text, at least one comparative transition, and a concluding statement that explains the shared idea. Before you begin drafting, say your first two sentences aloud to your partner. Include more than one example from the hare tale or use language such as repeatedly or throughout the story to show a pattern.

• Ask: What does your paragraph suggest about the impact of an imbalance of power?

  • My paragraph suggests that cleverness becomes necessary when a character has less power and the rules are unfair. Percy is still trapped inside the system, but Soongoora uses cleverness to survive the Lion’s control.

Lesson 5 Writing Rubric: Explanatory Paragraph — Outsmarting Power

Writing prompt: Draft a comparative explanatory paragraph analyzing how Percy (The Lightning Thief) and Soongoora (East African myth) use wit and cunning to outsmart powerful opponents. Use evidence from both texts.

Quick Write

Say these Directions: In two or three sentences, describe one strategy you used that helped you to write an effective explanatory paragraph that compared characters using details from both texts.

• A strategy that helped me was using the words both and while to connect details about Percy and Soongoora in one sentence. The Venn Diagram also helped me to organize my thoughts so that I could make a clear comparison using details from both texts.

Optional Sentence Starter:

• The writing tool that helped me most was ___ because ___.

Have students access their copies of The Lightning Thief. Instruct students to do the following:

• Read and annotate The Lightning Thief, Chapter 2, pp. 16–22. As you read, mark places where Percy is controlled, blamed, or misunderstood, and note any new clues about the world behind his ordinary life.