Focused Read-aloud: A Place for Birds, Pages 1–6 and 11–20 | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA G1:M4:U3:L2

Focused Read-aloud: A Place for Birds, Pages 1–6 and 11–20

In this Lesson

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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.1.3: Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
  • RI.1.4: Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.
  • RI.1.7: Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.
  • L.1.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.
  • L.1.4a: Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
  • L.1.4b: Use frequently occurring affixes as a clue to the meaning of a word.
  • L.1.4c: Identify frequently occurring root words (e.g., look) and their inflectional forms (e.g., looks, looked, looking).
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can identify the author's point in the text A Place for Birds using key details and illustrations. (RI.1.1, RI.1.3, RI.1.7)
  • I can use different strategies to determine the meaning of new words. (RI.1.4, L1.4, L.1.4a, L.1.4b, L.1.4c)

Ongoing Assessment

  • During the Closing, use the Language Checklist to track student progress toward L.1.4, L.1.4a, L.1.4b, and L.1.4c (see Assessment Overview and Resources).

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engaging the Learner: "Fascinating Birds" Jazz Chant (10 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Focused Read-aloud: A Place for Birds, Pages 1-6 and 11-20 (30 minutes)

B. Language Dive: A Place for Birds, Page 12 (15 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Reflecting on Learning (5 minutes)

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

  • In the Opening, students are introduced to "Fascinating Birds," the second jazz chant for the module. The chant invites students to review adjectives before choosing an adjective for their writing later in the unit. Recall that in a jazz chant there is no poetic license or artificial change to the stress and intonation patterns of natural speech. The meaning of most of the adjectives in the jazz chant will be introduced in Lessons 8-9. A jazz chant provides opportunities for natural and enjoyable repetition as students rehearse language and later transfer the language to other contexts. All students, and ELLs in particular, can improve their pronunciation in a nonthreatening way while developing fluency and natural speed in speaking "chunks" of language. A jazz chant has a four-beat rhythm: 1, 2, 3, 4. In the Rhythmic Beat of "Fascinating Birds" Jazz Chant (for teacher reference), each beat is in bold print and will be either a stressed word, a stressed syllable, or a pause marked by a clap (see supporting materials). Practice saying and clapping the rhythm of the chant to yourself before introducing it to the students.
  • In Work Time A, students participate in a focused read-aloud of the text A Place for Birds. The purpose of the read-aloud is to help students understand the author's point (people cause harm to birds but can do things to help them, too) and draw attention to the details in the text and illustrations that support the author's point. Leading students through this process supports them as they return to this book to identify the author's reasons as a class in Lesson 3 and then individually in Lesson 4.
  • The pages of A Place for Birds  are not numbered. For instructional purposes, the page that begins with "Birds fill our world with bright colors" should be considered page 1 and all pages thereafter numbered accordingly.
  • In Work Time B, students participate in a Language Dive that guides them through the meaning of a sentence from A Place for Birds. The focus of this Language Dive is using a conditional clause and adjectives (L.1.1f). Students apply their understanding of the meaning and structure of this sentence when determining the author's point of the text, when determining the function of adjectives in A Place for Birds, and when working with adjectives in the performance task. Refer to the Tools page for additional information regarding a consistent Language Dive routine.

How this lesson builds on previous work:

  • In Unit 2, students read the "Two Sides of the Story" jazz chant and focused on the determiners. In this unit, they learn the "Fascinating Birds" jazz chant and use it to review adjectives.
  • Students spent time in Unit 2 learning how to support an opinion with reasons. In this unit, they learn to identify the reasons an author gives to support the point in the text.
  • Vocabulary strategies that were introduced in Unit 1 are reviewed and used throughout this unit in conjunction with the texts students read.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

  • To support students, display the book on a projector and draw attention to parts of the text and the illustrations by pointing with your finger or highlighting with a sticky note.
  • While reviewing the language strategies, consider telling the students which strategy to use while defining new words.

Down the road:

  • Students revisit the "Fascinating Birds" jazz chant in Lesson 3 and other lessons as a movement break.
  • Students use A Place for Birds in Lessons 3-4 to identify reasons an author uses to support his point and again in Lessons 5-6 to prepare for the Unit 3 Assessment in Lesson 7.
  • Students use the strategies on the L.4 Vocabulary Strategies anchor chart as a whole class during Lessons 3-6, which supports their individual work with vocabulary on the Unit 3 Assessment.

In Advance

  • Preview the focused read-aloud to familiarize yourself with what will be expected of students.
  • Review the Questions We Can Ask during a Language Dive anchor chart as needed (begun in Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 3).
  • Preview the Language Dive Guide and consider how to invite conversation among students to address the language goals suggested under each sentence strip chunk (see supporting materials). Select from the language goals provided to best meet your students' needs.
  • Post: Learning targets, "Fascinating Birds" jazz chant, and applicable anchor charts (see materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

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

  • Continue to use the technology tools recommended throughout Modules 1-3 to create anchor charts to share with families; to record students as they participate in discussions and protocols to review with students later and to share with families; and for students to listen to and annotate text, record ideas on note-catchers, and word-process writing.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards I.B.6, II.B.4, and I.C.12

Important points in the lesson itself

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs through opportunities to use details in the text and illustrations to understand the point the author is making. This lesson scaffolds the work identifying author's reasons in Lessons 3-4.
  • Some students may find it challenging to listen to the high volume of text from A Place for Birds  being read without stopping, especially if they do not understand some of the language (see levels of support and the Meeting Students' Needs column).

Levels of support

For lighter support:

  • Provide more time and practice to work with vocabulary strategies in the Closing.

For heavier support:

  • To ensure students understand how the text structure works in A Place for Birds, consider rereading select pages of the text and discussing text structure.

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): In this lesson, students listen to a read-aloud from A Place for Birds. Some students may need support in incorporating the most valuable information from the text into existing knowledge. Recall that providing explicit cues or prompts supports students in attending to the features that matter most as they follow along. Before reading the text, activate background knowledge by previewing the questions you will ask.
  • Multiple Means of Action and Expression (MMAE): This lesson offers several opportunities for students to engage in discussion. Continue to support those who may struggle with expressive language by providing sentence frames to help them organize their thoughts.
  • Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Continue to support students in linking the information presented in the text back to the learning target. Invite students to make this connection by explicitly highlighting the utility and relevance of the text to the learning target. Continue to include opportunities to refocus students' attention on the learning target throughout the lesson and invite them to share how each learning activity supports their instructional goal.

Vocabulary

Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T); Vocabulary Used in Writing (W)

New:

  • author's point (L)
  • winged, creatures (T)

Review:

  • interesting, strong (T)

Materials

  • "Fascinating Birds" jazz chant (new; teacher-created; one to display)
  • Rhythmic Beat of "Fascinating Birds" jazz chant (for teacher reference)
  • A Place for Birds  (one to display; for teacher read-aloud)
  • L.4 Vocabulary Strategies anchor chart (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 3)
  • White boards (one per student)
  • White board markers (one per student)
  • Language Dive Guide I: A Place for Birds (for teacher reference)
    • Questions We Can Ask during a Language Dive anchor chart (begun in Module 3)
    • Chunk Chart I: A Place for Birds (for teacher reference)
    • Sentence Strip Chunks I: A Place for Birds (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. Engaging the Learner: "Fascinating Birds" Jazz Chant (10 minutes)

  • Gather students whole group.
  • Tell them that you have another jazz chant to share with them today.
  • Display the "Fascinating Birds" jazz chant and read the title.
  • Remind students that in a jazz chant, you say the words while keeping a 1, 2, 3, 4 beat. Show what this beat sounds like as you clap and say 1, 2, 3, 4 for each beat. Refer to the Rhythmic Beat of "Fascinating Birds" Jazz Chant (for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Invite students to join in as you say the entire chant slowly, fluently, with expression, and without interruption while clapping the 1, 2, 3, 4 beat.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What is this chant mostly about?" (bird body parts; things bird body parts can do)

Conversation Cue: "Who can add on to what your classmate said? I'll give you time to think." (Responses will vary.)

  • Direct students' attention back to the chant. Focus them on the underlined words and read them out loud. Ask:

"What type of words are underlined?" (adjectives)

"What is an adjective? Why would we use adjectives?" (a word the describes a person, place, or thing; we use them to give details about something or someone)

  • Invite students to chorally say the lines in the chant and clap the 1, 2, 3, 4 beat.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What does the word interesting mean?" (causing attention or interest)

"What does the word strong mean?" (having power; difficult to break or damage)

  • If there is time, say the chant chorally one more time while clapping the 1, 2, 3, 4 beat.
  • Tell students that in the next lesson they will have a chance to work with the chant again and to add moves to it!
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: (Annotating Jazz Chant) Annotate the chant to show major stresses, intonation, and linking. (Examples: Place backward slashes to show phrases and pauses, circle words that are stressed, connect words that link together and sound almost like one word, etc.) (MMR)
  • ELLs: (Pronunciation Practice) Invite students to practice pronouncing the adjectives in the chant.
  • For students who may need additional support with comprehension: Invite students to share an antonym for each underlined adjective in the poem. (Example: boring for interesting, weak for strong) (MMR)

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Focused Read-aloud: A Place for Birds,  Pages 1-6 and 11-20 (30 minutes)

  • Gather students whole group.
  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the first one aloud:

"I can identify the author's point in the text A Place for Birds using key details and illustrations."

  • Tell students that authors write books to make a point and then they add information to help us understand and believe their point.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"How do you think we can find the author's point of a book?" (look for what the author wants us to know; find patterns in the text or illustrations)

  • Share with students that they will begin reading a book that has clues in the text and in the pictures to show the author's point and all the reasons she gives to support her point.
  • Tell students that after you read through the book once, you will reread to ask them questions about details in the text and illustrations that help them understand the book and identify the author's point.
  • Display A Place for Birds.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What do you notice on the cover? What do you think the book will be about?" (birds, a marsh, water, and grass, etc.; it will be about places where birds live, etc.)

  • Read aloud the tops of pages 1-6 and 11-20.
  • Invite students to look closer at the pictures as you reread pages of the book.
  • Reread pages 1-2 and ask:

"Based on these pages, what do you think the author's point is?" (People do things to hurt birds, but people can do things to help birds, too.)

Conversation Cue: "Do you agree or disagree with what your classmate said? Why? I'll give you time to think." (Responses will vary.)

  • Display and reread aloud pages 3-6.
    • Draw student's attention to the repeating words in the sentences on pages 4 and 6 ("birds can live and grow")
    • Draw students' attention to the picture on pages 5-6 and ask:

"How does the illustration show what this page is about?" (It shows the birds using a small birdhouse.)

"How does this support the author's point?" (It shows how birds need houses and birdhouses help them with a place to live.)

  • Read aloud pages 11-12.
    • Tell students the sidebar on page 12 will give them more information about the problem.
    • Read the sidebar on page 12 aloud.
    • Summarize the sidebar by saying: "When people first moved to Hawaii, they brought farm animals to live there too, and they let them out into the wild. When the farm animals started to have babies and eat all the plants, the birds that lived in Hawaii had a hard time finding nectar to drink."
    • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"How does the illustration on these pages show how people solved the birds' problem?" (They put up a fence to give the animals and the birds their own sections.)

"How does this support the author's point?" (It shows how birds are harmed by animals and can be helped by fences.)

  • Continue reading pages 14-18, directing students' attention to the repeating patterns in the text.
    • Draw students' attention to the illustration on pages 17-18 and ask:

"How does the illustration show what these pages are about?" (The cat is creeping up to attack the birds.)

"How does this support the author's point?" (It shows how people's cats will harm birds, so they should be kept inside.)

  • Give students specific, positive feedback for looking at details in the illustrations and the text.
  • Remind students that understanding the words in the text is an important part of comprehending the details and author's point.
  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the second one aloud:

"I can use different strategies to determine the meaning of new words."

  • Tell students that they will review the strategies they can use as they continue to read the text in coming lessons.
  • Direct students' attention to the L.4 Vocabulary Strategies anchor chart and review it as needed.
    • Tell students they will now use these strategies to explore a word from A Place for Birds.
    • Distribute white boards and markers.
    • Display page 2 of A Place for Birds and reread this sentence:
      • "If we work together to help these amazing winged creatures, there will always be a place for birds."
    • Invite students to write the word winged on their white board.
    • Ask:

"What does this word mean? Circle or underline the part of the word that helped you figure it out." (circle wing)

Conversation Cue: "Do you agree or disagree with what your classmate said? Why? I'll give you time to think." (Responses will vary.)

"Who can explain how they used a strategy to figure out the word?" (I found the base word wing and noticed that the word has an extra part on the end, -ed. The word winged must mean to have wings.)

    • As time permits, reread the sentence and invite students to define the word creatures using the clues from the sentence to help them.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: (Display, Repeat, Rephrase) Display and repeat the guiding question: "How can people care for birds so they can live and grow?" Rephrase the question: "What can people do to help birds live and grow?" (MMR)
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with sustained effort: (Problem and Solution) Every few pages, invite students to turn to an elbow partner and describe the problem and solution on each page.
  • ELLs: (Clarifying Meaning) While reading page 4 of A Place for Birds, clarify the meaning of the phrasal verb set  aside as "separate or reserve the land for the purpose of protecting the nesting birds."
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with vocabulary: (Using Strategies to Determine the Meaning of a Word: Finding Suffixes) To give extra practice with this strategy, circle or underline the extra part in the word feathered and ask students how it helped them figure out the meaning of the word. (MMR)

B. Language Dive: A Place for Birds,  Page 12 (15 minutes)

  • Tell students they will now participate in a Language Dive.
  • Focus students' attention on the Questions We Can Ask during a Language Dive anchor chart.
  • Think-Pair-Share:

"What is one question you can ask during a Language Dive?" (Responses will vary.)

  • Reread the sentence in big print at the top of page 12 of A Place for Birds:
    • "When people stop animals from spreading into new areas and work together to get rid of the unwanted invaders, native birds can live and grow."
  • Use the Language Dive Guide I: A Place for Birds  and Chunk Chart I: A Place for Birds  to guide students through a Language Dive of the sentence. Display the Sentence Strip Chunks I: A Place for Birds.
  • For students who may need additional support with oral language and processing: Allow ample wait time after asking questions during the Language Dive. (MME, MMAE)

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Reflecting on Learning (5 minutes)

  • Share with students that sometimes we read books that tell us about problems, but these books also provide opportunities for us to learn about ways we can help, too.
    • Say:

"This book shows a lot of birds that have problems. Some of the birds we learn about in this book get hurt or lose their homes. That may make us feel sad. But the important thing about this book is that it also gives us ways that we can help birds and protect them. If we feel sad about the birds in the text, it is important that we think about how people all over the world are doing different things to help them."

  • Turn and Talk:

"How are you feeling about what we can do for birds after reading this book?" (Responses will vary, but may include: hopeful, excited, etc.)

"What will help you stay happy about birds as we continue to reread this book in coming lessons?" (focusing on how to help the birds)

  • Remind students of the unit guiding question:
    • "How can people care for birds so they can live and grow?"
  • Remind students that the author's point is not only how birds have problems, but also how we can help them.
  • Turn and Talk:

"What is one way you have read about helping birds from the text?" (Responses will vary, but may include: building nesting boxes; marking windows; keeping pets indoors.)

  • Tell students they will continue to look closely at this book in the next several lessons.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with working memory: (Rereading) Consider rereading or naming ways that we can help birds and protect them before asking the question: "What is one way you have read about helping birds from the text?" (MMAE)

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