Speaking and Listening: Introducing the Performance Task | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA G1:M4:U3:L8

Speaking and Listening: Introducing the Performance Task

In this Lesson

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

  • 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.
  • SL.1.2: Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
  • SL.1.3: Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information or clarify something that is not understood.
  • L.1.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
  • L.1.1f: Use frequently occurring adjectives.
  • 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.
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can identify the writing criteria for our Feathered Friends Saver. (W.1.2, SL.1.2, SL.1.3)
  • I can identify the scientific drawing criteria for our Feathered Friends Saver. (SL.1.2, SL.1.3)

Ongoing Assessment

  • During the Bird Adjectives activity in the Opening, continue to use the Language Checklist to track student progress toward L.1.1f (see Assessment Overview and Resources).
  • During Work Times A and B, use the Speaking and Listening Checklist to track student progress toward SL.1.1 and SL.1.2 (see Assessment Overview and Resources).

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Developing Language: Bird Adjectives (10 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Analyzing a Model: Feathered Friends Saver: Informational Writing (20 minutes)

B. Analyzing a Model: Feathered Friends Saver: Scientific Drawing (20 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Engaging the Learner: Voting on Local Birds (10 minutes)

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

  • Recall that EL Education believes that high-quality work is a reflection and result of the high expectations teachers have for all students. Thus, it is a means to excellence and equity. The performance task for this module, the Feathered Friends Saver, allows students to create high-quality work based on their deep knowledge of birds. Using the literacy skills built throughout the school year, knowledge built in Modules 3-4, and cycles of drafting, critique, and revision, students are able to create a high-quality product that showcases their learning for the year. Lessons 8-17 support this work for the performance task with both the design of the lessons and the use of optional flex days.
  • During the Opening, students use the Bird Adjective cards from Lesson 7 to discuss examples and facts about birds that show why a bird might be described with a specific adjective.
  • The activity in the Opening gives students a playful, flexible way to think deeply about how words are related and what they mean. Providing many opportunities to engage with vocabulary helps students to feel confident using content-related words.
  • In Work Times A and B, students analyze the informative writing portion and the scientific drawing portion of the performance task. During this Work Time, students are introduced to the final criteria for both components of the Feathered Friends Saver. This criteria guides students as they begin to write their informative paragraph and as they begin their scientific drawing of a local bird.
  • In the Closing, students vote for the local bird they would like to create a scientific drawing of for their Feathered Friends Saver. Student choice is included here to provide them with a sense of ownership and responsibility for their learning. Students should have at least six local birds to choose from.

How this lesson builds on previous work:

  • In Lesson 7, students participated in a vocabulary activity that introduced them to three adjectives that they could use to describe a bird. In this lesson, students will interact with the same words, but the focus of the activity is to discuss examples and facts about birds that show why a bird might be described with a specific adjective.
  • In Lesson 1, students helped create an anchor chart of questions about the Feathered Friends Saver. In this lesson, these questions are revisited and the purpose of the Feathered Friends Saver is unveiled.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

  • Some students may find it challenging to read and understand the adjectives used during the vocabulary activity in the Opening. Consider previewing and defining the words with students before engaging in the activity.
  • Some students may find it challenging to think of examples and facts about birds that show why a bird might be described with a specific adjective. Consider having several examples ready to share and model for students if necessary.
  • Students choose three birds in the Closing that they might like to create a scientific drawing of in future lessons. They may find it difficult to number their choices, so consider having them circle or color in the birds they would prefer.

Down the road:

  • In Lesson 9, students will continue to participate in the same vocabulary activity from Lessons 7 and 9, with new three new adjectives introduced. They will ultimately use these adjectives when writing their informative paragraph for the Unit 3 performance task.
  • In this lesson, students analyze an informative paragraph and a scientific drawing to learn about the different criteria for these two parts of the performance task (Feathered Friends Saver). Students will use this knowledge in Lessons 9-11 to plan and write their informative paragraph and to complete a scientific drawing of a local bird.
  • In addition to the opportunities for critique, feedback, and revision, students are given an opportunity to present their work to an audience from outside of the classroom. Creating work for an authentic audience motivates students to meet standards and engage in revision. Through the process, they develop perseverance and realize that they can do more than they thought they could. Considering reaching out to a local business or community center (e.g., library, hospital, or other school) to see if they'd be willing to display students' Feathered Friends Savers. If so, students may mail or hand-deliver their Feathered Friends Savers to this location and share their work and learning with an additional audience.

In Advance

  • Determine pairs for Work Time B.
  • 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, I.B.7, and I.C.12

Important points in the lesson itself

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs through opportunities to analyze a model to understand the structure and language needed to make a Feathered Friends Saver and write an informative paragraph. This lesson scaffolds to the performance task on W.1.6.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to stay focused during Work Times A and B when they analyze the writing and scientific drawing criteria for the Feathered Friends Saver (see levels of support and the Meeting Students' Needs column).

Levels of support

For lighter support:

  • In Work Time A, invite a small group of students to demonstrate what actions to perform depending on the part of the informative writing that is being read.

For heavier support:

  • In the Opening, consider modeling examples of how birds show the adjectives for the last column of the Birds Adjectives anchor chart. (Birds are amazing because they can fly. Birds are important because they are part of the food chain. Birds are fascinating because they can build their own nests.)
  • Review resources from previous work in Modules 3-4 to choose a bird fact to match to an adjective (e.g., Beaks: Class Notes, Feathers: Class Notes, Stories of Bird Helpers anchor chart, Pale Male: Class Notes).
  • Preview the questions on page 6 of the Caring for Birds notebook using a copy of the Model Feathered Friends Saver and annotate as needed.

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): Continue to support students by offering options for perception. Pausing for clarification of new vocabulary will also help students who may need additional support with comprehension.
  • Multiple Means of Action and Expression (MMAE): Continue to support students learning to monitor their own progress by prompting them to identify the type of feedback they are seeking during this lesson.
  • Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Invite students to reflect on their learning from previous lessons to support them in understanding the value and relevance of the activities in this lesson. Continue to provide prompts and sentence frames for those students who require them.

Vocabulary

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

Review:

  • adjective, amazing, important, fascinating, criteria (L)

Materials

  • Bird Adjectives anchor chart (begun in Lesson 7; added to in advance; see supporting materials)
  • Bird Adjectives anchor chart (begun in Lesson 7; example, for teacher reference)
  • Back-to-Back and Face-to-Face Protocol anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
  • Bird Adjective cards 1-3 (from Lesson 7; one set per class)
  • Model Feathered Friends Saver: Scientific Drawing (one per student and one to display; see Performance Task Overview)
  • Questions about Feathered Friends Saver anchor chart (begun in Lesson 1)
  • A Place for Birds (from Lesson 2; one to display; for teacher read-aloud)
  • Feathered Friends Saver: Performance Task Invitation (one to display; see Performance Task Overview)
  • Model Feathered Friends Saver: Informational Writing (one to display; see Performance Task Overview)
  • Feathered Friends Saver Criteria anchor chart (new; teacher-created; see Performance Task Overview)
  • Feathered Friends Saver Criteria anchor chart (example, for teacher reference; see Performance Task Overview)
  • Parts of an Informative Paragraph anchor chart (begun in Module 3)
  • Caring for Birds notebook (begun in Lesson 1; added to during Work Time B; page 6; one per student and one to display)
  • Caring for Birds notebook (from Lesson 1; example, for teacher reference)
  • Local Birds voting sheet (one per student and one to display)
  • Pencils (one per student)

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. Developing Language: Bird Adjectives (10 minutes)

  • Gather students whole group.
  • Tell students that today they will continue to work with the same bird adjectives that they were introduced to yesterday.
  • Direct students' attention to the Bird Adjectives anchor chart and review the column headings.
  • Review the three adjectives and corresponding definitions by reading them aloud:
    • "amazing: causing great wonder"
    • "important: having great meaning"
    • "fascinating: capturing one's interest and attention"
  • Remind students that in the previous lesson they paid attention to the first two columns. Today they will begin to look at the last column.
  • Point to the last column, "Facts about birds that show this," and tell students that you will need their help to fill in this last column.
  • Tell students that the facts in the last column provide examples of how the bird shows the adjective. (Example: "The word amazing means to cause great wonder or to be surprising. A fact that shows this is that birds have all different shapes and sizes of beaks that help them eat different types of food.")
  • Turn and Talk:

"What is one fact that gives an example of how birds are amazing?" (Responses will vary.)

  • Invite students to share facts that show how birds are amazing.
  • As students share out, clarify and mediate thinking to correct any misconceptions. Capture the facts on the Bird Adjectives anchor chart. Refer to the Bird Adjectives anchor chart (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Repeat the same routine for the words important and fascinating.
  • Read aloud the completed anchor chart.
  • Tell students that today they will once again follow a similar routine from Lesson 7 to share and exchange Bird Adjective cards using the Back-to-Back and Face-to-Face protocol. Review the Back-to-Back and Face-to-Face Protocol anchor chart as necessary.
    • Hold up each Bird Adjective card 1-3 and read the adjective and definition aloud.
    • Tell students they will each receive one bird adjective card, and they will need to find a partner who has a different bird adjective card.
    • Today when they share with a partner, they will each share their adjective and an example that shows why a bird might be described with this adjective. (For example, "if the adjective is important, you could say that birds are an important part of the food chain.")
    • After sharing, students should exchange Bird Adjective cards and then find a new partner.
    • Distribute Bird Adjective Cards 1-3 to students and lead them through two rounds of the protocol:
      • Round 1: Find a partner with a different word and share your adjective and an example that shows why a bird might be described with this adjective.
      • Round 2: Find a partner with a different word and share your adjective and an example that shows why a bird might be described with this adjective.
    • During each round, allow students 1 minute of think time before sharing.
  • When students have finished Round 2, refocus whole group.
  • Tell students that in the next lesson they will complete this activity with new adjectives.
  • For ELLs: (Using Charts) Review the annotated Bird Adjectives anchor chart by reading the annotation by each word in the heading (definition: meaning of a word or phrase; fact: information; and adjective: describes a person, place, or thing).
  • For ELLs: (Pronunciation Practice) Invite students to practice pronouncing the adjectives in the Bird Adjectives anchor chart.
  • Support communication and engagement by pairing students with strategic partners to ensure that they have a strong, politely helpful partner to model and support during the protocol. (MME)

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Analyzing a Model: Feathered Friends Saver: Informational Writing (20 minutes)

  • Refocus whole group and give students specific, positive feedback on their work matching adjectives with examples that show why a bird might be described with a specific adjective.
  • Remind students that they were given a special gift by their ornithologist friend at the beginning of this unit.
  • Display the Model Feathered Friends Saver: Scientific Drawing.
  • Remind students that during the first lesson of this unit they compiled questions to help them figure out what a Feathered Friends Saver is and what it is used for.
  • Direct students' attention to the Questions about Feathered Friends Saver anchor chart and review the questions and answers.
  • With excitement, tell students that today is the day they get to figure out what a Feathered Friends Saver is and what it is used for!
  • Display and read aloud pages 15-16 from A Place for Birds. Begin by reading the top of both pages and then read the sidebar on page 15.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"Why do people mark their windows?" (so that birds won't crash into them)

"How can people help birds and keep them from crashing into windows?" (mark their windows by adding images)

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

  • Turn and Talk:

"How could the Feathered Friends Saver help mark windows?" (Responses will vary, but may include: You can put the image on windows so birds won't fly into them.)

  • Invite a few students to share out.
  • With enthusiasm, unveil the mystery of the Feathered Friends Saver.
  • Say: "The Feathered Friends Saver that the ornithologist gave to our class is a tool that can be used to mark windows to keep birds from flying into them."
  • Display the Feathered Friends Saver: Performance Task Invitation and read it aloud.
  • Tell students that, to get started on their Feathered Friends Saver, they first need to analyze a model. They will begin by analyzing the informational writing portion of the model.
  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the first one aloud:

"I can identify the writing criteria for our Feathered Friends Saver."

  • Display the Model Feathered Friends Saver: Informational Writing.
  • Remind students that criteria are things people use as a guide or a model.
  • Focus students' attention back on the Model Feathered Friends Saver: Informational Writing and ask:

"What do you notice on this model?" (Responses will vary, but may include: writing, typing)

Conversation Cue: "Who can add on to what your classmate said?" (Responses will vary.)

  • Tell students that their final Feathered Friends Saver will include three things:
  1. Informative writing about birds that is handwritten
  2. A scientific drawing of a local bird
  3. A typed heading that describes what a bird saver is
  • Direct students' attention to the Feathered Friends Saver Criteria anchor chart.
  • Point out that this chart is split into three categories according to the three things that the Feathered Friends Saver needs to include. Refer to the Feathered Friends Saver Criteria anchor chart (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Tell students that now they are going to spend time looking at the criteria for the first category (informative writing).
  • Read the criteria aloud:
    • "Informative writing includes:"
      • "Focus statement that includes an adjective to describe bird"
      • "Two detail sentences that include evidence and elaboration to support the focus statement"
      • "Conclusion sentence that wraps up your piece and reminds the reader of the big idea"
  • Remind students that these criteria are based on the Parts of an Informative Paragraph anchor chart from Module 3.
  • Tell students that they are going to read the handwritten text on the Model Feathered Friends Saver as a class and will identify each part according to the criteria.
  • Invite students to read the first sentence aloud with you:
    • "Birds are helpful animals."
  • Say:

"This is the introduction sentence. The adjective in this sentence that describes birds is helpful."

  • Invite students to read the next sentence with you: "Birds sometimes spread seeds, which helps plants to grow so people have food to eat."
  • Say:

"This is one of the detail sentences that includes evidence and elaboration to support the focus statement."

  • Invite students to read the next sentence with you:
    • "Birds are an important part of the food chain because they eat pests, and birds also are food for bigger animals."
  • Say:

"This is the second detail sentence that includes evidence and elaboration to support the focus statement."

  • Invite students to read the last sentence aloud with you:
    • "That's why birds are helpful."
  • Say:

"This is the conclusion. The conclusion wraps up your paragraph and reminds the reader of the big idea."

  • Tell students you will slowly reread the handwritten text on the Model Feathered Friends Saver one more time. Students should listen for the different parts of the informative writing and perform one of four actions depending on the part.
  • Say:

"When I read the adjective that describes the bird, put one hand in the air."

"When I read one piece of evidence with elaboration, touch your head."

"When I read the second piece of evidence with elaboration, touch your nose."

"When I read the conclusion, clap once."

  • Remind students to move safely and begin reading, pausing after each part to allow students to perform the action.
  • Refocus whole group.
  • Tell students that later on in today's lesson they will identify the criteria for the scientific drawing on the Feathered Friends Saver, and in the next lesson they will begin to plan the informative writing.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: (Adding Visuals) Consider labeling the three things the Feathered Friends Saver needs to include on the Model Feathered Friends Saver (informative writing, scientific drawing, typed heading). (MMR)
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: (Understanding Detail Sentences) Point out to students how the evidence and elaboration in the detail sentences support the focus statement, "Birds are helpful animals." Say:

"Birds are helpful when they spread seeds because plants can grow so people have food to eat."

"Birds are helpful because they eat pests and because they are food for bigger animals." (MMR)

  • For ELLs: (Adding Visuals) Create a visual so students remember what actions to perform depending on the part of the informative writing that is being read. (Examples: Draw a hand in the air by the adjective, a hand touching a head by the first piece of evidence, a hand touching a nose by the second piece of evidence, and hands clapping by the conclusion.)
  • For students who may need additional support with information processing: Highlight the function of each part of the informative writing model with a visual display of the two detail sentences supporting the focus statement. (Example: Prepare each part on a sentence strip. Arrange the strips with the focus statement at the top and the detail sentences side by side below the focus statement. Draw lines from each detail sentence to the focus statement. Display the conclusion below the detail sentences.) (MMR)

B. Analyzing a Model: Feathered Friends Saver: Scientific Drawing (20 minutes)

  • Refocus students whole group.
  • Direct students' attention to the posted targets and read the second one aloud.

"I can identify the scientific drawing criteria for our Feathered Friends Saver."

  • Remind students that they just finished analyzing the writing criteria for the Feathered Friends Saver. Now they will begin to identify the scientific drawing criteria. Review the definition for criteria (things people use as a guide or a model).
  • Direct students' attention back to the Feathered Friends Saver Criteria anchor chart.
  • Remind students that this chart is split into three categories according to the three things that the Feathered Friends Saver needs to include.
  • Point to the second category on the chart and read it aloud:
    • "Scientific drawing of a bird includes:"
  • Remind students to think about the work they did in the previous module about scientific drawing.
  • Think-Pair-Share:

"What are some of the criteria that we used for our expert bird drawings when we created our riddle cards?" (thinking about shapes, size, placement, and details)

  • As students talk, circulate and listen in. Take note of the ideas students are sharing and target a few students to share out with the whole group.
  • Draw students' attention back to the Feathered Friends Saver Criteria anchor chart and read the criteria aloud: "Scientific drawing of a bird includes:"
    • "Attention to:"
      • "size"
      • "shape"
      • "placement"
      • "details"
    • "Coloring should be:"
      • "inside the lines"
      • "covering all the space"
      • "layered"
      • "matching the bird picture"
  • Explain that these criteria are similar to the scientific drawing criteria used to create their expert bird riddle cards in Module 3.
  • Point to the bullet on the chart that says:
    • "Coloring should be:"
  • Tell students that there is one new criterion they need to help figure out.
  • Display page 6 of the Caring for Birds notebook and tell students that now they will work with a partner to examine the Model Feathered Friends Saver: Scientific Drawing and answer questions to try to figure out what the new criterion is.
  • Move students into pre-determined pairs.
  • Distribute the Caring for Birds notebooks and direct pairs to copies of the Model Feathered Friends Saver: Scientific Drawing at their workspaces.
  • Once pairs are settled, direct their attention to the first question on page 6 of the Caring for Birds notebook and read it aloud:
    • "What is one thing that is new on this scientific drawing that was not included on the expert bird drawing for the riddle cards?"
  • Invite students to discuss briefly and then answer Question 1.
  • Repeat this process with the second and third questions:
    • "Do the colors match the colors in the bird photograph?"
    • "Why is it important for the colors to match?"
  • Use the Bird Boogie transition from Module 3 to transition students back to the whole group area.
  • Invite two or three pairs to share out their answers.
  • As students share out, clarify and mediate thinking to correct any misconceptions. Refer to the Caring for Birds notebook (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • When pairs are finished sharing, unveil the final scientific drawing criterion on the Feathered Friends Saver Criteria anchor chart.
  • Read the final criteria aloud one final time:
    • "Coloring should be:"
      • "inside the lines"
      • "covering all the space"
      • "layered"
      • "matching the bird picture"
  • Emphasize that their final Feathered Friends Saver will be colored in.
  • Tell students that in the next lesson they will begin the first draft of their scientific drawing for their Feathered Friends Saver.
  • Tell students that throughout the remainder of the unit they will use the scientific drawing criteria to work on multiple drafts of their own Feathered Friends Saver.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: (Display, Repeat, Rephrase) Display and repeat the first question on page 7 of the Caring for Birds notebook. Ask:

"What is one thing that is new on this scientific drawing that was not included on the expert bird drawing for the riddle cards?"

  • Rephrase the question:

"What is different between the scientific drawing we did in Module 3 and the one we are doing now?" (MMR)

  • For students who may need additional support with self-regulation: Invite students to share one way they will monitor their own progress toward the learning target. (MMAE, MME)

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Engaging the Learner: Voting on Local Birds (10 minutes)

  • Tell students that now that they have identified the criteria for the scientific drawing portion of the Feathered Friends Saver, they need to think about which local bird they want to create a drawing of.
  • Tell students that now they will each get to vote on the bird they want to draw.
  • Remind students that they followed a similar voting routine in Unit 3 of Module 3 when they selected their expert birds to research.
  • Display the Local Birds voting sheet.
  • Read aloud the names of each bird as you point to the corresponding picture.
  • Explain how to vote:
    • Write a 1 next to the bird that is your first choice.
    • Write a 2 next to the bird that is your second choice.
    • Write a 3 next to the bird that is your third choice.
  • Think aloud to model how to vote for their top three choices. Say: "I notice that the voting sheet has six choices of birds to choose from. I have to choose my top three choices. My top three choices are.... I want to make sure that I only vote for three birds. There will be three birds that I do not put a number next to."
  • Distribute the Local Birds voting sheets and pencils and invite students to begin voting.
  • Refocus whole group and collect the voting sheets. Tell students that they will find out their local bird in the next lesson.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with auditory processing: (Adding Visuals) Consider posting the explanation of how to vote and ensuring that students understand the directions and can complete the Local Birds voting sheet. (MMR)

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