Preparing for the Unit 3 Assessment: Identifying Reasons Animals Need Birds | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA G1:M4:U3:L6

Preparing for the Unit 3 Assessment: Identifying Reasons Animals Need Birds

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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.1.8: Identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.
  • W.1.8: With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
  • SL.1.2: Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
  • 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).

Daily Learning Targets

  • I can identify reasons an author gives to support the point that animals need birds in the text A Place for Birds. (RI.1.1, RI.1.3, RI.1.4, RI.1.8, W.1.8, SL.1.2)
  • 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 Work Time C and the Closing, use the Language Checklist (see Assessment Overview and Resources) to note student progress toward standards L.1.4, L.1.4a, L.1.4b, and L.1.4c.

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engaging the Learner: Choose the Reason (10 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Focused Read-aloud: A Place for Birds, Page 26 (15 minutes)

B. Language Dive: A Place for Birds, Page 26 (15 minutes)

C. Independent Writing: Caring for Birds Notebook (10 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Shared Writing: We Need Birds Anchor Chart (10 minutes)

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

  • This lesson follows a similar structure to Lesson 5, with students participating in a listening exercise, focused read-aloud, Language Dive, independent writing task, and confirming their thinking on the We Need Birds anchor chart.
  • In Work Time B, students participate in a Language Dive that guides them through the meaning of a sentence from A Place for Birds. This Language Dive focuses on the verb phrase depend on, the adjective new, and the determiner many to help address the daily learning targets and L.1.1f. Students apply their understanding of the meaning and structure of this sentence when determining the main idea of the text, when working with adjectives on the performance task, and in the Unit 3 Assessment when they identify the reasons the author gives to support the point that people need birds. Refer to the Tools page for additional information regarding a consistent Language Dive routine.

How this lesson builds on previous work:

  • This lesson repeats the routines from Lesson 5.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

  • Students may continue to need support in the Opening and Work Time C. Continue to reread the text and discuss the icons when necessary.

Down the road:

  • In the next lesson, students use the same skills practiced in Lessons 5-6 to complete the Unit 3 Assessment.
  • Students complete the We Need Birds anchor chart in the Closing of Lesson 7.
  • In Lesson 8, students vote on a local bird to create a scientific drawing of for their Feathered Friends Saver. Before Lesson 8, select six different birds from your geographical area. Prepare the voting sheet by inserting small pictures and names of the local birds.

In Advance

  • Prepare the We Need Birds anchor chart by filling in the icons under the "Animals need birds" column before the lesson (see supporting materials).
  • Review the Questions We Can Ask during a Language Dive 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 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 and I.C.10

Important points in the lesson itself

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs through opportunities to practice listening to a text read aloud to identify an author's reason and to define words before the Unit 3 Assessment in Lesson 7.
  • Students may find it challenging to process the volume of information read aloud to them in the Opening and Work Time C (see levels of support and the Meeting Students' Needs column).

Levels of support

For lighter support:

  • In Work Time A, review the author's use of when to signal a cause or condition that must happen for birds to live and grow.
  • In Work Time A, remind students of the repeating pattern on the heading of each page (problem and solution).

For heavier support:

  • Support students individually in Work Time C by asking them to discuss different ways they can arrive at an answer. (Examples: "What are you listening for? What is the author's point? What vocabulary strategy did you try?")
  • Support students by rereading the text as needed in the Opening and in Work Time C.

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): Before students begin each activity, continue to support information processing by offering explicit prompts for each step they will complete and invite students to verbally restate the steps they will follow.
  • Multiple Means of Action and Expression (MMAE): Continue to support students in monitoring their own progress by asking questions that guide self-monitoring and reflection during each learning activity.
  • Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Continue to include opportunities to refocus students' attention to the learning targets throughout the lesson and invite students 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:

  • larger (T)

Materials

  • A Place for Birds (from Lesson 2; one to display; for teacher read-aloud)
  • Listening Exercise 3, Pictures A and B (one of each to display)
  • We Need Birds anchor chart (begun in Lesson 5; added to during Work Time A and the Closing; see supporting materials)
  • We Need Birds anchor chart (begun in Lesson 5; example, for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive Guide III: A Place for Birds (for teacher reference)
    • Questions We Can Ask during a Language Dive (begun in Module 3)
    • Chunk Chart III: A Place for Birds  (for teacher reference)
    • Sentence Strip Chunks III: A Place for Birds  (one to display)
  • Caring for Birds notebook (begun in Lesson 1; added to during Work Time C; page 5; one per student)
  • Caring for Birds notebook (from Lesson 1; example, for teacher reference)

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: Choose the Reason (10 minutes)

  • Follow the same routine from the Opening in Lesson 4 to complete the listening exercise to identify something people can do to help birds (Picture A). Refer to the following pages and materials:
    • Page 2 in A Place for Birds
    • Pages 9-10 in A Place for Birds
    • Listening Exercise 3, Pictures A and B (Picture A)
  • Tell students that they will do more work with identifying the author's reasons in small groups later in the lesson.
  • For ELLs: (Discussing Icons) Discuss what each picture (A and B) from Listening Exercise 3 represents.

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Focused Read-aloud: A Place for Birds, Page 26 (15 minutes)

  • Follow the same routine from Work Time A of Lesson 5 to complete the focused read-aloud using A Place for Birds:
    • Review the learning targets.

"I can identify reasons an author gives to support the point that animals need birds in the text A Place for Birds."

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

    • Display and read aloud the topics of pages 25-26.
    • Review the author's point. (Many things need birds to survive.)
    • Focus students on the header on page 26 and ask:

"What will this paragraph be about?" (ways animals need birds)

    • Say:

"You will now listen carefully to a paragraph called 'Animals Need Birds.' It is about why birds are important to animals. The author gives some reasons to support the point that birds are helpful to animals. Your job as you listen is to identify these reasons."

    • Display the We Need Birds anchor chart and write "Animals need birds" on it. Refer to the We Need Birds anchor chart (example, for teacher reference).
    • Read aloud the sidebar on page 26.
    • Tell students that this time you will ask questions to figure out the author's reason.
    • Reread the first sentence and ask:

"What is a food chain?" (in nature, living things eat other living things)

    • Tell students that you heard the word sources and want to know what it means.
    • Reread the next sentence and Turn and Talk:

"What does the word sources mean?" (starts, causes, or places where you can get something)

Conversation Cue: "Do you agree or disagree with what your classmate said? Why?" (Responses will vary.)

    • Direct students' attention to the We Need Birds anchor chart and remind them that they are selecting the icon that shows the reason the author gave to support her point.
    • Point to and read aloud each icon.
    • Turn and Talk:

"Which icon shows the reason the author gave in this text?" (Animals eat eggs.)

Conversation Cue: "Why do you think that?" (Responses will vary.)

      • Cross out the first and third icons and circle the second.
      • Finish rereading the paragraph.
      • Tell students you heard another reason in there that you hope they'll be able to pull out on their own!
  • For ELLs: (Discussing Icons) Discuss what each picture from the We Need Birds anchor chart represents.
  • For students who may need additional support with self-regulation: Before reading, invite students to think of one thing they did during the read-aloud in Lesson 5 that helped them identify the author's reasons and whisper it into their hand. (MME)

B. Language Dive: A Place for Birds,  Page 26 (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 sidebar on page 26 of A Place for Birds.
  • Focus on the sentence:
    • "Without birds, many other creatures would go hungry."
  • Use the Language Dive Guide III: A Place for Birds  and Chunk Chart III: A Place for Birds  to guide students through a Language Dive of the sentence. Display the Sentence Strip Chunks III: 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)

C. Independent Writing: Caring for Birds Notebook (10 minutes)

  • Use the Bird Boogie transition from Module 3 to transition students back to their workspaces.
  • Follow the same routine from Work Time C of Lesson 5 to guide students through completing page 5 in their Caring for Birds notebook.
    • Tell students you will reread the text about how birds help animals so that they can listen for a second reason the author gives to support her point.
    • Invite students to open their Caring for Birds notebook to page 5.
    • Read the Part 1 prompt aloud.
    • Turn and Talk:

"What will you be listening for?" (a second reason why birds help animals)

    • Reread the tops of pages 25-26 and the sidebar on page 26.
    • Invite students to look at the icons in their notebook and circle the icon that shows the reason the author gives in the text.
    • Circulate to support students. Refer to the Caring for Birds notebook (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
    • When students have finished with Part 1, read aloud Part 2 and the sentence with it.
    • Turn and Talk:

"What does larger mean?" (bigger in size in comparison to something else)

Conversation Cue: "Who can tell us what your classmate said in your own words?" (Responses will vary.)

    • Invite students to write their answer on the line provided in their notebook.
  • When students are done, direct them to bring their notebooks to the whole group area to check their thinking.
  • For ELLs: (Reviewing Icons) Review what each picture from the We Need Birds anchor chart represents before inviting students to circle the icon that shows the reason the author gives in the text.
  • For students who may need additional support with organizing ideas for written expression: Invite students to first verbally share their answer and then state it again as they write their answer. (MMAE)

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Shared Writing: We Need Birds Anchor Chart (10 minutes)

  • Follow the same routine from the Closing of Lesson 5 to review student notes and complete the We Need Birds anchor chart:
    • Turn and Talk:

"What icon did you choose?" (second; animals eat birds)

    • Invite a few volunteers to share out and confirm or correct their thinking.
    • Direct students' attention to the We Need Birds anchor chart. Cross out the first and third icons. Circle the second icon. (Animals eat birds.)
    • Invite a few volunteers to share out their definition for the word larger and their strategy for figuring it out.
    • Define the word as bigger, grander, giant, huge.
    • Give students specific, positive feedback for their work with the author's reason.
  • Tell students they will get to practice the same thing again in the next lesson when they learn how people need birds!
  • For ELLs: (Using Icons) Discuss why the first and third icons need to be crossed out.
  • For students who may need additional support with comparative adjectives: Offer visual display for the words large and larger on index cards. (Example: a picture of a large box and a larger box) (MMR)

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