Bring a story video into your literacy block and your SEL time in one ready-to-teach lesson.
The Bird Who Went Back for Tomorrow is Episode 3 of The Stories Symbols Tell on Teach Between the Lines TV. Kena, a little bird with big dreams, flies off toward tomorrow without learning her grandmother's song. When a storm leaves her lost, she remembers the song, her grandmother's words and the landmarks she passed, and finds her way home by looking back. The story is inspired by Sankofa (SAHN-koh-fah), the Adinkra symbol of learning from the past to build the future, from the Akan peoples of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.
What's inside (24-page printable PDF):
3 sessions of 40–45 minutes each, with timed video pause points and discussion questions
ELA focus: story order, character change, point of view, central message, nonliteral language and picture clues
SEL focus: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making
Common Core reading, writing and speaking standards (RL.3.1, RL.3.2, RL.3.3, RL.3.4, RL.3.6, RL.3.7, W.3.3 and SL.3.1), with grade 2 and grade 4 notes
Cultural background on Adinkra and Sankofa, with the traditional proverb, a pronunciation guide and teaching-with-care notes
A "Sankofa walk" to open the SEL session
11 printer-friendly student pages: word work, story sequencing, a "Kena Then and Now" character chart, a writing planner, "Look Back and Get It" sorting cards, "The Egg I Carry Forward" and exit tickets
Differentiation for emerging readers, multilingual learners and advanced students
Writing rubric, SEL observation checklist, family take-home page and answer key
Works with the free video on Teach Between the Lines TV (10 minutes, captions available): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjWDprOKSXQ
License: one teacher, for use with their own students. Please do not share, post publicly or resell.