Writing to Show Understanding: Why Do We Need Tools? | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA G1:M1:U1:L7

Writing to Show Understanding: Why Do We Need Tools?

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

  • RI.1.1: Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
  • RI.1.7: Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.
  • SL.1.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
  • L.1.5: With guidance and support from adults, demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
  • L.1.5a: Sort words into categories (e.g., colors, clothing) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.
  • L.1.5b: Define words by category and by one or more key attributes (e.g., a duck is a bird that swims; a tiger is a large cat with stripes). 

Daily Learning Targets

  • I can sort tools into categories. (L.1.5a, L.1.5b)
  • I can ask and answer questions about key ideas using the photographs and text in a book. (RI.1.1, RI.1.7, SL.1.1)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Use the Speaking and Listening Checklist to track students' progress toward SL.1.1a (see Assessment Overview and Resources).
  • During Work Time A, students ask each other questions while sorting pictures. Prompt students still struggling to form a question to use the question words on the Tools and Work Word Wall.
  • During Work Time C, circulate and look for students to show basic phonemic awareness. Note any trend that may need to be re-taught during the K-2 Reading Foundations Skills Block. 

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening 

A. Working with Vocabulary: Tools and Work Word Wall (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Speaking and Listening: Sorting Photographs (10 minutes)

B. Shared Writing: What Job Does the Tool Help to Do? (15 minutes)

C. Independent Writing: What Job Does the Tool Help to Do? (15 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Answering Questions: Using the Text (10 minutes)

B. Song and Movement (5 minutes) 

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards: 

  • In this lesson, students continue to use photographs from Tools to practice asking questions and sorting the photographs into categories.
  • Students are again encouraged to use question words (who, what, when, where, why, and how). Refer students to the Tools and Work Word Wall, if needed. Note students' skill level with asking questions. Begin to assess students as they ask and answer questions, using the Speaking and Listening Checklist in the Assessment Overview and Resources Packet.

How this lesson builds on previous work:

  • Students continue to ask and answer questions by rereading an excerpt from Tools and some captions in the book's index.
  • During previous lessons, students practiced classroom discussion norms as they asked and answered questions about the tools presented in each of the challenges. In this lesson, they further refine these skills of asking and answering questions by rereading an excerpt from Tools and some of the captions in the index, and by engaging in multiple discussions.
  • Continue to use Goal 1 Conversation Cues to promote productive and equitable conversation.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

  • In Work Time A, students may need additional support with organization when asked to sort pictures with a partner. Support students by giving two different colored papers to place their pictures on, or by suggesting that each partner hold his or her own category.
  • In Work Time C, students discuss their answers and then write independently. Support students with prompts and resources around the room in order to write with inventive spelling. If a sentence requires dictation, prompt the student to read it aloud afterward.

Down the road:

  • This lesson is the second of three lessons with opportunities to collect data on students'progress toward SL.1.1a.
  • In Lesson 8, the culminating lesson of Unit 1, students will engage in a similar lesson structure as they show what they can do independently.

In Advance

  • Prepare:
    • Tools and Work Word Wall cards. Write each word on an index card and, where appropriate, draw a corresponding image to support students' understanding of the word.
    • Types of Tools, Picture Set 2 (copying and cut out the pictures so that there are enough sets for every pair in the class)
  • Set up a document camera to display the Cooking/Eating Tools shared response sheet.
  • Reference the Cooking/Eating Tools shared response sheet (see supporting materials) in order to make a chart-sized version for the class to view during shared writing. See Lesson 5 supporting materials for large pictures for this chart.
  • Post: Learning targets, "Learning Target" poem, Sorting Protocol anchor chart, Questions about Tools anchor chart, Classroom Discussion Norms anchor chart, "Tools" song.

Tech and Multimedia

Consider using an interactive whiteboard or document camera to display lesson materials.

  • Work Time A and C: Record students as they discuss to listen to with students later to discuss strengths and what they could improve on, or to use as models for the group. Most devices (cell phones, tablets, laptop computers) come equipped with free video and audio recording apps or software.
  • Work Time C: Students complete the Cooking/Eating Tools Sample Student Response Sheet using a word processing tool, for example a Google Doc.
  • Closing and Assessment B: If you recorded students singing the "Tools" song in Lesson 1, play this recording for them to join in with.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 1.I.A.1, and 1.I.B.6

Important points in the lesson itself 

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs by providing the opportunity to participate in activities that closely resemble the subsequent lesson's assessment. Allow students more independence in anticipation of the assessment. Take note of the skills with which they struggle. Focus on recommending specific strategies to foster independence. Example: "Daphne, I notice you are having trouble spelling tools. Where can you look to find the spelling of that word?"
  • ELLs may find it challenging that the categories cooking tools and eating tools are closely related. Explicitly highlight the differences between these two categories as necessary. Example: "Would I use a fork to make the food, or to eat the food? Do you eat with a spatula?"

Levels of support

For lighter support:

  • During Work Time B, challenge students to generate questions about the sentence from the text before asking the prepared questions. Example: "What questions can we ask about this sentence? Let's see if we can answer them together."
  • During Closing and Assessment A, if students are accustomed to partnering with higher proficiency peers, consider grouping them in matching proficiency partnerships to challenge them and to assess their independence speaking and listening.

For heavier support:

  • To activate prior knowledge about cooking tools, remind students about the work they did in Lesson 1. Display student work from that first lesson and connect their work to the new category.
  • The word and concept category may be challenging for some students. Remind students of the prior lesson using any visual materials or graphic organizers introduced thus far. Use additional examples and realia to illustrate the concept. Example: Bring in jellybeans and model categorizing them by color.
  • During Work Time C, distribute copies of the Cooking/Eating Tools student response sheets with sentence frames. Students can complete the activity as a cloze exercise. (Example: "The boy uses a ____ to ______.") 

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): In this lesson, students continue to practice sorting photos into categories. Prepare visual and spatial scaffolds for sorting with graphic organizers (e.g., create a T-chart with labels or use masking tape to create rectangle shapes on the floor).
  • Multiple Means of Action & Expression (MMAE): Reinforce tools and their uses by providing individual students with additional practice with song and movement.
  • Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Use pictures to pre-teach vocabulary (e.g., cook, eat, sort, categories), especially in ways that promote connection to students' experience and prior knowledge.

Vocabulary

Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T)

  • categories, cook, eat, even (adverb), photograph (review), sort (L)

Materials

  • Tools and Work Word Wall cards (teacher-created; one for each word; see supporting materials)
  • "Learning Target" poem (from Lesson 1; one to display)
  • Tools (book; from Lesson 5; one for teacher read-aloud)
  • Sorting Protocol anchor chart (begun in Lesson 6)
  • Types of Tools, Picture Set 2 (one per pair; see supporting materials)
  • Unit 1 Assessment Speaking and Listening Checklist (from Lesson 6)
  • Tools and Work Word Wall (from Lesson 3; one to display)
  • Document camera (optional)
  • Cooking/Eating Tools model response sheet (for teacher reference; see Teaching Notes)
  • Cooking/Eating Tools student response sheet (one per student)
  • Cooking/Eating Tools sample student response sheet (for teacher reference)
  • Questions about Tools anchor chart (begun in Lesson 5)
  • Classroom Discussion Norms anchor chart (begun in Lesson 2)
  • "Tools" song (from Lesson 1; one to display)

Materials from Previous Lessons

New Materials

Assessment

Each unit in the K-2 Language Arts Curriculum has one standards-based assessment built in. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize their understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Working with Vocabulary: Tools and Work Word Wall (5 minutes) 

  • Gather students together as a whole group.
  • Show them the Tools and Work Word Wall cards. Have students pretend to open their brains to get ready to put in some important words.
  • Show students the Word Wall card for cook. Say the word and show the picture.
  • Ask students to turn and talk:

"What does it mean to cook?" (to use heat to prepare food)

  • Ask:

"Does anybody know how to say cook in the language you speak at home? (povar in Russian) Call on student volunteers to share. Ask other students to choose one translation to silently repeat. Invite students to say their chosen translation out loud when you give the signal. Choral repeat the translations and the word in English. 

  • Encourage students to use the word in a sentence to a partner. Have students repeat after you: "My sister knows how to cook eggs for breakfast."
  • Show students the motion of cooking by pouring spices into a pan, stirring the mixture, and then flipping the food with a spatula. Invite students to join you in the motion.
  • Show students the Word Wall card for eat. Say the word and show the picture.
  • Ask students to turn and talk:

"What does it mean to eat?" (to chew and swallow food)

  • Show students the motion of eating by holding a sandwich, taking bites, and chewing. Invite students to join you in the motion.
  • Encourage students to use the word in a sentence to a partner. Have students repeat after you: "I eat with my friends at lunch time."
  • Invite students to close up their brains to hold those important words inside. 
  • For ELLs: Activate background knowledge by inviting students who participated in the pre-teaching to help explain the words (e.g., cook and eat). (MMR)
  • Optimize relevance by contextualizing information based on students' experiences with prompts. Example: "Give a thumbs-up if you have seen someone use a tool to cook eggs before." (MME) 

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Speaking and Listening: Sorting Photographs (10 minutes)

  • Remind students that they have learned all sorts of new words and ideas about tools, and tell them they are going to learn more today. Invite students to chorally recite the "Learning Target" poem together as a class.
  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the first one aloud:

"I can sort tools into categories."

  • Focus students' attention on the word sort.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"Who can remember what the word sort means from the last lesson?" (to separate things into special groups)

  • Focus students' attention on the word categories and circle it. Ask students to show a thumbs-up if they remember the meaning of this word. If few students remember, tell students that categories are special groups where everything in that special group is the same in some way.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What categories of tools did we talk about yesterday?" (cutting tools and farming tools)

  • Share with students that you are going to read aloud another part of the text Tools, just like in the previous lesson. Encourage students to listen and look for categories.
  • Read aloud pages 14-17 of Tools slowly, fluently, with expression, and without interruption. As you read, show students the photographs on each page.
  • Reread page 16. Point out that the author chose to put the word even on this page to show that something is surprising. Tell students that the author thought it was surprising to eat with tools.
  • Point out that the girl in the picture is using chopsticks. Ask if any students have ever used chopsticks. If so, ask:

"Does it surprise you that you use tools when you eat with chopsticks, just like the author was surprised?"

  • Direct students to the Sorting Protocol anchor chart. Tell them they are going to talk with a partner, just like yesterday, to sort pictures into categories.
  • Review the Sorting protocol, pointing to each step on the anchor chart for reference. (Refer to the Classroom Protocols document for the full version of the protocol.)
  • Ask:

"How will you show your partner you are listening?" (use eye contact; answer the questions they ask me) 

  • Designate partners. Invite students to decide who will be partner A and who will be partner B.
  • Remind students that they saw many types of tools in the book. Today, these photographs show cooking tools and eating tools, so one category is cooking tools and another category is eating tools.
  • Place a set of Types of Tools, Picture Set 2 in front of each pair of students.
  • Guide students through the Sorting protocol, using the steps on the Sorting Protocol anchor chart.
  • As students complete the last three pictures, circulate to collect information on the Unit 1 Assessment Speaking and Listening Checklist. In order to gather sufficient data, prompt each student to share in more detail.
  • If productive, cue students to expand the conversation by saying more:

"Can you say more about that?" (Responses will vary.)

  • Give students specific positive feedback about the conversations and questions you heard them using in pairs. (Example: "I saw Maria using eye contact with her partner" and "I noticed Isaac asked a question with the question word where.")
  • Have students clean up their pictures and turn them in.
  • For ELLs: Customize the display of information by using masking tape to create two clear "categories" on the floor. Briefly remind students how to sort using photos from the previous lesson (farm tools vs. cutting tools) and demonstrate by sorting a few photo cards into two categories. (MMR)
  • For ELLs: Provide alternatives to response strategies by using a graphic organizer (T-chart) with two categories (labeled "cooking tools" and "eating tools"). As the teacher or a partner holds up the photo card, invite individual students to indicate the correct category by pointing. (MMAE)
  • For ELLs: To facilitate active listening, invite students to look and listen for the new vocabulary words they learned. Prompt them to give a thumbs-up when they recognize one of the words or tools.
  • For ELLs: Provide dialogue to help students decide which partner they would like to be. Example: "Would you like to be partner A?" "Yes, I would." OR "No thanks, I would prefer to be partner B."
  • Differentiate the degree of difficulty or complexity by reducing (or expanding) the number of photo cards individual children are required to sort. (MME)
  • For ELLs: As students interact, notice instances in which students omit the plural -s. Identify the error and recast the sentence correctly. Invite students to repeat. Example: "A fork and pan are cooking tools. Now you say it!"

B. Shared Writing: What Job Does the Tool Help to Do? (15 minutes) 

  • Gather students together as a whole group.
  • Direct their attention to the posted learning targets and read the second one aloud:

"I can ask and answer questions about key ideas using the photographs and text in a book."

  • Invite students to turn and talk:

"What is one question you asked or answered yesterday during your work time with Tools?" If necessary, prompt using the question words on the Tools and Work Word Wall.

  • Using a document camera, display the Cooking/Eating Tools model response sheet.
  • Point to the first picture under "Cooking tools" on the model response sheet. Tell students that you'd like to know more about the tool in this picture, so you will read about it in the index of Tools. Allow students to continue focusing on the picture while you read aloud the caption in the index for page 14.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What is the name of this tool?" (stick)

  • Tell the students that you will label the picture now that you know the name. Sound out the word stick slowly, using helpful spelling suggestions from the students as you label the picture.
  • Remind students that people use all kinds of tools to cook, even a stick. Ask students about some of the tools their family uses at home.
  • Tell students that this time, you need help listening for "What job does the tool help to do?" Reread the caption in the index for page 14.
  • Invite students to turn and talk:

"What job did you hear the tool doing?" (helps a woman cook fritters)

  • Think aloud as you model writing the sentence "The stick helps a woman cook fritters" below the picture.
  • Tell students that they will do the next one with you at their seats. Transition students to their seats by having them walk back while pretending to eat the fritters the woman just cooked.
  • Support encoding by demonstrating how to use mini alphabet strips or other environmental print to help with writing the word stick and writing a sentence. (MMR)
  • For ELLs: Provide options for physical action by inviting children demonstrate the motion of cooking fritters with a stick. (MMAE)
  • For ELLs: Optimize relevance by discussing "fritters" with students. You might say: "Give a (silent signal) if you've eaten fritters before. Can someone explain what fritters are like?" If no one can, you might say: "Fritters can taste sweet like donuts or salty like tater tots. They are delicious! People cook them in different ways. Some people might cook fritters with a spatula, and some people might cook them with a stick." (MME)
  • For ELLs: Ask students about this sentence from the index: ?Here, a woman makes fritters by holding the dough on a stick and dipping it into boiling fat." Examples:
    • "Let's look at this sentence. I wonder why this woman needs the stick. Let's see if there are clues in the sentence. Why do you think she uses the stick?"
    • When the author says here, where does she want us to look?" (at the picture)
    • This woman is making fritters. Fritters are a food. What is dough? (It's fritters before they are cooked.)
    • Reread the phrase by holding the dough on a stick. Ask: "What does the stick help her do?" (hold the dough)
    • Say: "I see the word and. That tells me there is something else the stick helps her do. What is that?" (dip the dough) Say: "Show me how you dip something. Pretend to dip a pretzel in chocolate!"
    • Reread the phrase into boiling fat. "Fat is something that you cook with. When fat is boiling, do you think it is hot or cold?" (very hot!)
    • "If she is using boiling fat to cook her dough, why does she need to use the stick?" (It is too hot to use her hands.)
    • "So how does this tool help her cook?" (It helps her hold the dough so she is safe and does not get burned.)

C. Independent Writing: What Job Does the Tool Help to Do? (15 minutes) 

  • Direct students' attention to the Cooking/Eating Tools student response sheets and writing utensils at their workspaces.
  • Using Tools, point to the picture from page 16. Ask students to also point to the picture on their response sheet that shows a boy eating. Circulate to ensure all students are pointing to the correct picture.
  • Tell students you are going to read the caption for that picture, and you want them to think about the following question:

"What is the name of this tool?"

  • Read aloud the caption in the index for page 16.
  • Invite students to turn and talk:

"What is the name of this tool?" (This is a spoon.)

  • Circulate to collect information on the Unit 1 Assessment Speaking and Listening Checklist. In order to gather sufficient data, prompt each student to share in more detail.
  • Invite students to label their picture with the tool's name.
  • Refocus students on the picture. Tell them you are going to repeat this process with a new question:

"What job does the tool help to do?"

  • Reread the caption in the index for page 16, ask students to turn and talk, and circulate to collect information on the Unit 1 Assessment Speaking and Listening Checklist.
  • Invite students to write their response below the picture on their response sheet.
  • Choose a student to read his or her response aloud for the class. Give specific positive feedback to the student about the process s/he took to write the sentence.
  • Collect student work. Inventive spelling should be accepted. Be sure to be aware of students' independent phonemic abilities as you consider each response. Refer to the Cooking/Eating Tools sample student response sheet (for teacher reference).
  • Embed support for symbol-sound relationships by providing mini alphabet strips for reference at students' workspaces. (MMR)
  • For ELLs: Read the caption for page 16 twice for each discussion prompt--once before asking the questions and once after asking the questions. This will provide students more time to process the text and to formulate their answers to discussion questions.
  • Consider seating arrangements that provide differentiated mentors by seating developing readers/writers with stronger readers/writers. (MMAE)
  • To optimize challenge, vary demands and resources by differentiating degree of complexity within the response activity (i.e., allow for individual students to focus effort only on labeling the picture, while others may extend the activity by writing multiple sentences). (MME)
  • For ELLs: To boost confidence and to provide speaking opportunities, call on an intermediate proficiency student to share his or her work with the class. Provide prompting as necessary.

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Answering Questions: Using the Text (10 minutes) 

  • Share with students that today they learned about two categories of tools: cooking tools and eating tools.
  • Explain that you would like to ask the class to discuss the Questions about Tools anchor chart and that you will be looking for students to follow the discussion norms to see if they can answer some of the questions.
  • Draw students' attention to the Classroom Discussion Norms anchor chart. Ask for volunteers to remind the class of a discussion norm they should follow while talking. Create a signal with students that will help them remember each norm (example: pointing to your eyes for eye contact).
  • Read a question aloud and give time for students to turn and talk. Listen to collect information on the Unit 1 Assessment Speaking and Listening Checklist. Prompt students to continue sharingwith each other by asking: "Would anyone like to add to that idea?" "What do you think about that idea?" "Is there anything you can build onto that?"
  • If productive, cue students to expand the conversation by giving an example:

"Can you give an example?" (Responses will vary.)

  • Repeat this process as time allows. Write answers to the questions on the anchor chart at the culmination of the discussion.
  • Activate background knowledge by reminding students they can use the Tools anchor chart to help them answer the discussion question. (MMR)
  • Provide options for expression and communication by prompting students to first respond to the question in Think-Pair-Share before inviting students to discuss as a whole group. (MMAE)
  • Optimize relevance by asking: "Can you think of another cooking tool (or eating tool) that wasn't discussed today? Whisper to your shoulder partner." (MME)

B. Song and Movement (5 minutes) 

  • With excitement, tell students that to wrap up this lesson, they will sing and dance to the "Tools" song.
  • Begin singing, and encourage students to sing along with you.
  • Add movement to make the song interactive. (Example: Pretend to use a hammer to tap, tap, tap.)
  • Enhance perceptual features by directing individual students' attention to pre-printed or hand-drawn images associated with key words in the song (e.g., builder and her hammer, painter and his brush, dentist with her mirror, tailor and his needle). (MMR)
  • Provide differentiated mentors by pairing developing readers with stronger readers to build fluency with song. (MMAE)
  • Allow students to participate in the design of song and movement activity by inviting students to suggest movements for different parts of the song. (MME) 

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