ELA G2:M1:U3:L6

Independent Writing: Focus Statement and Differences between Two Schools

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

W.2.2: Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
W.2.5: With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing.
SL.2.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
SL.2.1a: Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
SL.2.1c: Ask for clarification and further explanation as needed about the topics and texts under discussion.
L.2.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Daily Learning Targets

I can write a focus statement for my "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book. (SL.2.1a, SL.2.1c, W.2.2, L.2.2)
I can write about the differences between my school and the school that I researched using details from my notes. (SL.2.1a, SL.2.1c, W.2.2, W.2.5, L.2.2)

Ongoing Assessment

During Work Time A, Work Time B and Work Time C, use the Informative/Explanatory Writing Checklist to document students' progress toward W.2.2 and L.2.2 (see Assessment Overview and Resources).

Agenda

Agenda	Teaching Notes
1. Opening A. Engaging the Learner: Working with Our Writing Partners (5 minutes) 2. Work Time A. Independent Writing: Focus Statement (10 minutes) B. Independent Writing: Information about Differences (25 minutes) C. Revising and Editing: Focus Statement and Information about Differences (10 minutes) 3. Closing and Assessment A. Pinky Partners: Sharing Our Work (10 minutes)	Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards: In this lesson, students use their notes from their Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catcher as they begin to write the first part of their very own "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book: the focus statement and information about differences between two schools. (W.2.2) At the end of Work Time B, students are reminded of the habit of character, perseverance, that they were introduced to in Unit 2. Students are invited to think of strategies to show perseverance when writing gets hard. Connecting habits of character to the academic work students are doing can give them a meaningful way to apply the habits they have learned about in earlier lessons. During the Closing, students are reintroduced to the idea of giving kind and specific feedback to their classmates based on the writing they have done during this lesson. (W.2.5) How this lesson builds on previous work: In Lesson 4, students took notes in their Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catchers. Students will use these notes to help them write parts of their "The Most Important Thing about Schools" books. In Lesson 5, students analyzed a model of "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book. They will revisit parts of this model to begin writing their own books. In Unit 2, students were reminded of the term focus statement, both where it is located in informational paragraphs and the job that it has. This prior knowledge will help them write focus statements for their "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book. In this lesson, students have various opportunities to work with their writing partners to write parts of "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book: They practice turning their notes into complete sentences orally before writing them in their books. They also have a chance to revise and edit sections of the book with their writing partners. (SL.2.1, W.2.2) Similar to the writing lessons in Unit 2, this lesson once again embeds the revising and editing of particular parts of their writing as a regular routine. Continue to use Goal 1 and 2 Conversation Cues to promote productive and equitable conversation. Areas in which students may need additional support: In Work Time B, students use their Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catcher to write information about differences in complete sentences. For students whose notes aren't as clear, you may encourage them to use the public notes about the school they have researched and their own school to support their writing. When students are revising and editing their writing during Work Time C, consider strategically placing partnerships that need more support in closer proximity to you. Down the road: In Lesson 7, students will continue producing their performance tasks by writing and drawing information about similarities between the school they researched and their own school. In Lessons 8-9, students will write their conclusions, as well as revise and edit their entire books. They will share these published books at the Celebration of Learning. During the Celebration of Learning, in Lesson 10, students also will present their Readers Theater scripts from Unit 2. They will practice their plays in Lesson 9 of this unit. If you want students to have additional practice, you may want to find other parts of your day to give them time to rehearse.

Teaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engaging the Learner: Working with Our Writing Partners (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Independent Writing: Focus Statement (10 minutes)

B. Independent Writing: Information about Differences (25 minutes)

C. Revising and Editing: Focus Statement and Information about Differences (10 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Pinky Partners: Sharing Our Work (10 minutes)

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

In this lesson, students use their notes from their Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catcher as they begin to write the first part of their very own "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book: the focus statement and information about differences between two schools. (W.2.2)
At the end of Work Time B, students are reminded of the habit of character, perseverance, that they were introduced to in Unit 2. Students are invited to think of strategies to show perseverance when writing gets hard. Connecting habits of character to the academic work students are doing can give them a meaningful way to apply the habits they have learned about in earlier lessons.
During the Closing, students are reintroduced to the idea of giving kind and specific feedback to their classmates based on the writing they have done during this lesson. (W.2.5)

How this lesson builds on previous work:

In Lesson 4, students took notes in their Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catchers. Students will use these notes to help them write parts of their "The Most Important Thing about Schools" books.
In Lesson 5, students analyzed a model of "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book. They will revisit parts of this model to begin writing their own books.
In Unit 2, students were reminded of the term focus statement, both where it is located in informational paragraphs and the job that it has. This prior knowledge will help them write focus statements for their "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book.
In this lesson, students have various opportunities to work with their writing partners to write parts of "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book: They practice turning their notes into complete sentences orally before writing them in their books. They also have a chance to revise and edit sections of the book with their writing partners. (SL.2.1, W.2.2)
Similar to the writing lessons in Unit 2, this lesson once again embeds the revising and editing of particular parts of their writing as a regular routine.
Continue to use Goal 1 and 2 Conversation Cues to promote productive and equitable conversation.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

In Work Time B, students use their Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catcher to write information about differences in complete sentences. For students whose notes aren't as clear, you may encourage them to use the public notes about the school they have researched and their own school to support their writing.
When students are revising and editing their writing during Work Time C, consider strategically placing partnerships that need more support in closer proximity to you.

Down the road:

In Lesson 7, students will continue producing their performance tasks by writing and drawing information about similarities between the school they researched and their own school.
In Lessons 8-9, students will write their conclusions, as well as revise and edit their entire books. They will share these published books at the Celebration of Learning.
During the Celebration of Learning, in Lesson 10, students also will present their Readers Theater scripts from Unit 2. They will practice their plays in Lesson 9 of this unit. If you want students to have additional practice, you may want to find other parts of your day to give them time to rehearse.

In Advance

Preview the think-aloud in Work Time B to familiarize yourself with how to model writing information about differences with students.
Prepare:

Comparing and Contrasting Research Note-catcher: Teacher Model for Work Time B.
"The Most Important Thing about Schools" books.

Review the Pinky Partners protocol. (Refer to the Classroom Protocols document for the full version of the protocol.)
Post: Learning targets, Important Book Parts anchor chart, Turning Our Notes into Sentences anchor chart

Tech and Multimedia

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

Work Time A, B, and C: Students complete and revise their book using a word processing tool, for example a Google Doc.
Work Time A, B, and C: Students use Speech to Text facilities activated on devices, or using an app or software like Dictation.io.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 2.I.A.1, 2.I.A.3, 2.I.B.5, and 2.I.C.10

Important points in the lesson itself

The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs with opportunities to work closely with paragraph structure, building on their understanding one sentence at a time. In this lesson, students work on their focus statements and their sentences about differences. Students continue to benefit from the activities and visual resources that establish paragraph structure and sequence from prior lessons.
ELLs may find it challenging to keep pace with the class as they work to plan and write each sentence of their books. Consider providing additional writing time between sentences to accommodate students who may need more time to process language. Alternatively, during Work Time C, consider working with a small group of students to complete any unfinished writing.

Levels of support

For lighter support:

Provide students with familiar structures from the Mini Language Dive from Lesson 1 to support writing: "In _________, students can miss ____ of school during ________, when _________ cause(s) ________. (In Wisconsin, students can miss days of school during winter, when heavy snow causes slippery roads.)

For heavier support:

If ELLs who need heavier support are placed together in the same research school team, provide them with scaffolded materials such as partially pre-filled templates of their "The Most Important Thing about Schools" books. Consider working closely with this group throughout the lesson and completing their focus statements and difference sentences with them as shared or guided writing sessions.

Universal Design for Learning

Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): During the Closing, students give kind and specific feedback about a partner's writing. Some students may be unsure what aspect of their partner's writing to comment on. It may help to generate a list of ideas and display this list before students talk with their pinky partners.
Multiple Means of Action & Expression (MMAE): After students have written their focus statement and information about differences, they will revise and edit their writing. The revision and editing process includes attending to coherence, grammar, and punctuation. Some students may need additional support in self-monitoring each of these areas independently. As you prepare for revising and editing, support students' self-monitoring by creating a writing checklist for students to use that includes each step of the revision/editing process.
Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): During Work Time A, students discuss what to write for their focus statement. To increase engagement and optimize authenticity, refer to the kindergarteners' first question from yesterday's letter. Contextualize the importance of the topic (that schools can be similar and different) as it helps answer the kindergarteners' question.

Vocabulary

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

New:

kind and specific feedback (L)

Review:

similar, different, alike, unlike, similarity, difference, focus statement, perseverance, revise, edit (L)

Materials

Writing Partners anchor chart (begun in Unit 2, Lesson 2)
Important Book Parts anchor chart (begun in Lesson 5)
"The Most Important Thing about Schools" Book: Teacher Model (from Lesson 5; one to display; see Performance Task)
"The Most Important Thing about Schools" book (one per student; see Performance Task)
Informative/Explanatory checklist (for teacher reference; see Assessment Overview and Resources)
Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catcher (from Lesson 4; one per student)
Comparing and Contrasting Research Note-catcher: Teacher Model (one to display)
Turning Our Notes into Sentences anchor chart (new; teacher-created; see supporting materials)
Pinky Partners anchor chart (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 6)

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

Opening	Meeting Students' Needs
A. Engaging the Learner: Working with Our Writing Partners (5 minutes) Gather students in the whole group area. Remind them that yesterday, they analyzed a model for "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book and identified the criteria for this book through the sorting activity. Tell students they will have four days to get their books ready so they can share their work with kindergarteners at the Celebration of Learning. Invite students to do a microphone response and ask: "Because we will be doing a lot of writing to complete our performance task, what kind of partners do you think we should work with today?" (Our writing partners!) Direct students' attention to the Writing Partners anchor chart. Read the first row of the chart with students, including both "Plan and think together about what we will write" and possible answers in the "looks and sounds like" column. Invite students to whisper a response into their hands and ask: "What is one thing you will do to plan and think together with your writing partner?" (look at my partner, listen with care) If productive, cue students to listen carefully: "Who can repeat what your classmate said?" (Responses will vary.) Invite students to move to sit with their writing partner.	For ELLs: Offer students sentence starters they can use for planning and thinking. (Examples: "What if ____?" "I think I will write _____." "One idea I have is _____.") (MMAE)

Meeting Students' Needs

A. Engaging the Learner: Working with Our Writing Partners (5 minutes)

Gather students in the whole group area.
Remind them that yesterday, they analyzed a model for "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book and identified the criteria for this book through the sorting activity.
Tell students they will have four days to get their books ready so they can share their work with kindergarteners at the Celebration of Learning.
Invite students to do a microphone response and ask:

"Because we will be doing a lot of writing to complete our performance task, what kind of partners do you think we should work with today?" (Our writing partners!)

Direct students' attention to the Writing Partners anchor chart.
Read the first row of the chart with students, including both "Plan and think together about what we will write" and possible answers in the "looks and sounds like" column.
Invite students to whisper a response into their hands and ask:

"What is one thing you will do to plan and think together with your writing partner?" (look at my partner, listen with care)

If productive, cue students to listen carefully:

"Who can repeat what your classmate said?" (Responses will vary.)

Invite students to move to sit with their writing partner.

For ELLs: Offer students sentence starters they can use for planning and thinking. (Examples: "What if ____?" "I think I will write _____." "One idea I have is _____.") (MMAE)

Work Time

Work Time	Meeting Students' Needs
A. Independent Writing: Focus Statement (10 minutes) Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the first one aloud: "I can write a focus statement for my 'The Most Important Thing about Schools' book." Invite students to whisper a response into their hand and ask: "What part of 'The Most Important Thing about Schools' book will you be working on first?" (focus statement) Direct students' attention to the Important Book Parts anchor chart. Remind students that they wrote focus statements for the informational paragraphs they wrote in the last unit. Invite students to turn and talk with an elbow partner: "What is the job of the focus statement?" (It introduces the reader to your topic, or what you will be writing about.) Display page 1 of "The Most Important Thing about Schools" Book: Teacher Model and turn students' attention to the focus statement as you read it aloud: "Schools around the world may be different, or they may be similar." Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group: "What does this focus statement tell us?" (It tells us that some schools may be different, or they may be similar.) "For your book, what will you want to make sure to communicate to our readers that the topic is?" (that schools can be similar, or they can be different) Tell students they may have noticed that their focus statements will sound similar to yours, but they don't have to be exactly the same. Tell them that there are ways they can think of to introduce the reader to this topic using different language. Use cold call and ask: "What are other words we can use to describe things that are different?" (unlike, difference) "What are other words we can use to describe things that are similar?" (alike, similarity) With excitement, tell students that they are going to get their own version of "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book so they can start planning and thinking about their focus statement with their writing partners. Remind students that we should treat the booklets with care. Tell students that they will be working with these booklets for the next few days and the sharing these very books at the Celebration of Learning, so it important that they take good care of them. Distribute one "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book to each student. Invite students to turn to page 1 of their books. Tell them that this is where they will write their focus statements. Tell students that after some think time, they will have a chance to share their focus statement with their writing partners. Tell students that they should share exactly what they plan to write on their paper with a partner. Invite students to Think-Pair-Share with their writing partner: "What will you write for your focus statement?" (Example: Schools all over the world may have differences, and they may have things that are similar about them. Responses will vary.) Point out to students that there is also a box for including a picture. Remind students that just as in books that we read, the pictures they draw should match the words on that page. Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group: "What could you draw in the box provided?" (I could draw our school and the school I have researched.) Tell students that they should write their focus statement and then draw a picture that matches their idea. Circulate and support students as they write by directing them to the classroom supports (e.g., anchor charts, Interactive High Frequency Word Wall, etc.). Use the Informative/Explanatory Writing Checklist to gather data on students' progress toward W.2.2 and L.2.2. As students are working, ask a student who has a strong focus statement if you can use his or her work to share with the rest of the class during Work Time C. After 7-10 minutes, bring them back to the meeting area with their Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catcher.	For ELLs: Ask students about the meaning of the sentence from the lesson/text: Schools around the world may be different, or they may be similar. Examples: "What is different in our home languages?" (diferente in Spanish) Invite all students to repeat the translation in a home language other than their own. Invite students to make a circular motion with their hands. Ask: "What does the phrase around the world mean? Why?" (In different parts of the world. The world is round and people live all over it.) "So what is this sentence about?" (schools in different parts of the world) "Why does my book say that schools around the world may be different? Why didn't I just say that they are different?" (Because sometimes they are different and sometimes they are not.) "In the next part of the sentence, who or what is they?" (schools in different parts of the world) Invite a student to draw a line between schools and they. "Why did I use the connecting word or?" (Because you have to choose to compare or contrast. When we compare and contrast, we talk about different qualities.) "How does this focus statement tell us the topic of 'The Most Important Thing about Schools' book?" (Responses will vary.) For ELLs: Reinforce and reframe the purpose of writing the focus statement by inviting a student to share his or her progress with the class. (Example: "Wow, after reading Oscar's focus statement, now I really know exactly what the topic of this book is! Great job, Oscar!") (MME) As you discuss the focus statement with students, optimize authenticity by referring to the kindergarteners' first question from yesterday's letter ("Do other students have schools just like ours?"). Contextualize the importance of the topic (that schools can be similar and different) as it helps answer the kindergarteners' question. (MME)
B. Independent Writing: Information about Differences (25 minutes) Give students specific, positive feedback on writing focus statements for their "The Most Important Thing about Schools" books. Tell them to keep their Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catchers to the side for now. (Example: "You did a good job of introducing the reader to the topic.") Direct students' attention to the Important Book Parts anchor chart. Invite students to whisper a response into their hand and ask: "Now that you have written your focus statement for your books, what comes next?" (information about differences) Tell students that they are really growing as informative writers! Direct students' attention to the learning targets and read the second one aloud: "I can write about the differences between my school and the school that I researched using details from my notes." Invite students to turn and talk to their writing partner: "Which tool has notes on it that can help you write information about the differences between our school and the school you researched?" (Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catcher) While displaying pages 2-5 of "The Most Important Thing about Schools" Book: Teacher Model, read aloud information about the differences between two schools: "Schools around the world can be different. At the rainforest school in Brazil, there are 19 children in the school. In my school, there are 300 children. At the rainforest school in Brazil, students ages 4-16 all learn in the same classroom. In my school, the students in a classroom are mostly the same age." Invite writing partners to join with another writing pair sitting close to them to form a group of four. Ask each group to Think-Group-Share: "What do you notice about the information about differences?" (One page is about the rainforest school, and the next page is about our school. There are two differences. She used details from the book.) Display page 1 of the Comparing and Contrasting Research Note-catcher: Teacher Model and think aloud: "I am going to show you how I used the notes from my Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catcher to help me think of the sentences I wrote about the differences between the two schools in my book. "Right now, I know that I'm only looking for information in my notes about how the schools are different, so I'm going to look at the page that says "Contrast: How the Two Schools Are Different." "Let me remind myself of the notes that I took about how the two schools are different. (Read through the notes and pictures in front of students from the "Contrast: How the Two Schools Are Different" table.) "I know that the book needs two differences, so I will want to pick two differences between the rainforest school and our school. I will pick two differences that I think are important or that show a big difference between the two schools. Let me work on one difference at a time. Hmmm ... first I think I will choose the details that say '19 children in the school' and '300 children in my school.' I think that's a pretty big difference!" (Circle this on page 1 of the Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catcher.) "Well, I know I can't just write '19 children in the school' because that won't make sense to the reader. I need to write complete sentences. For this note, I will write, 'In the rainforest school in Brazil, there are 19 children in the school.' I wrote it right here, and drew a picture about that sentence. (Show students page 2 of the "The Most Important Thing about Schools" Book: Teacher Model.) "Now that I wrote about that detail about the rainforest school, I need to include the detail about how that is different from our school." "Just like the last note, I can't write exactly what the note says because the kindergarteners will not understand that. For this note, I will write, 'In my school, there are 300 children.' I wrote that on page 3 of my book, and drew an idea about that sentence too." (Show students page 3 of "The Most Important Thing about Schools" Book: Teacher Model.) Invite students to turn and talk to their writing partner: "What is one thing you noticed on pages 2 and 3 of the teacher model?" (They are about how the schools are different.) Focus students' attention on the Turning Our Notes into Sentences anchor chart and walk through it with students: Look carefully through your notes about the differences or similarities. Remind yourself what the notes say. Choose two important differences or two important similarities. Circle them on your paper. Take one note about the school you researched and turn it into a sentence by saying it out loud. Take the note about our school and turn it into a sentence by saying it out loud. Write these sentences in your book and draw a picture. Tell students that they are going to have a chance to use the notes from their Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catcher, and think about the sentences they will write about just the differences between our school and the school they researched. Tell students that after some think time, they will have a chance to share their information with their writing partners. Invite students to take out their Comparing and Contrasting Research note-catcher and use the notes from the "Contrast: How the Two Schools Are Different" table of their note-catcher. Direct students' attention to the Turning Our Notes into Sentences anchor chart, and encourage them to follow steps 1 and 2 before they share with their partners. Invite students to circle the two differences on their note-catchers that they are going to write about in their book. Once students have had time to think on their own and circle two differences on their note-catcher, invite them to follow steps 3 and 4 from the Turning Our Notes into Sentences anchor chart with their writing partner. Once both partners have shared, refocus whole group and ask: "What information will you include about the two differences?" (Responses will vary.) Invite a few volunteers to share their thinking. Tell students they are almost ready to write and draw information about differences on pages 2-5 of their "The Most Important Thing about Schools" books. Transition students to their workspaces. Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group: "Writing about the differences may be hard today. What can you do to show perseverance?" (Reread what you have written. Look more closely at your notes. Ask your writing partner for help. Take a few deep breaths.) If productive, cue students to listen carefully and seek to understand: "Who can tell us what your classmate said in your own words?" (Responses will vary.) Tell students that all writers need to show perseverance when they're writing, so you'll be looking for them to use these strategies as they write. Transition students to their seats. Invite students to turn to page 2 and begin writing and then drawing. Circulate and support students as they write by directing them to the classroom supports (e.g., anchor charts, Interactive High Frequency Word Wall, etc.). Use the Informative/Explanatory Writing Checklist to gather data on students' progress toward W.2.2 and L.2.2. After 15 minutes, tell students to return to the whole group area with their "The Most Important Thing about Schools" books.	For ELLs: Some students may need more practice turning notes into sentences. Consider completing two or three more sentences as a shared or interactive writing experience with the whole class. Guide the class to refer to the Turning Our Notes into Sentences anchor chart as they write. (MMAE) For ELLs: Illustrate the Turning Our Notes into Sentences anchor chart with examples of each step. Paste samples of model work next to each step with the relevant parts underlined or circled with a red marker. (Example: Next to step 1, paste sample notes, and underline the note that will be developed into a sentence.) (MMR) For ELLs: Encourage students to use the Language for Comparing and Contrasting anchor chart from Lesson 1 to identify sentence frames that will support their writing. Invite students to practice using the frames with content from their notes. (Example: The boat school and our school are different because the boat school has class in a boat and our school has class in a building.) (MMAE) When demonstrating writing on page 2 of "The Most Important Thing about Schools" Book: Teacher Model, emphasize process and effort by modeling how to sound out a word with tricky spelling. Demonstrate how to use environmental print if students get stuck with spelling. (MME)
C. Revising and Editing: Focus Statement and Information about Differences (10 minutes) Give students specific, positive feedback on their ability to write information about the differences between two schools. (Example: "You chose differences that are important. You turned your notes into complete sentences.") Tell students that just as they did with their Problem and Solution informative paragraphs, they will now revise and edit their writing. Ask students to turn to their writing partners: One partner should share the definition of revise, and the other partner should share the definition of edit. (Listen in for students to say that revising is when writers make sure their writing makes sense and that each part of their writing is doing its job, and editing is when writers do their best to make sure their writing is correct and fix any mistakes they notice.) Tell students that they are going to have a chance to revise and edit their focus statement first. Remind them that the job of the focus statement is to introduce the readers to the topic. Tell students that a writer is going to share his or her focus statement in front of the class, and you want all students to be listening to see if the focus statement does its job. (This should be the student you identified and asked in Work Time B to share his or her focus statement.) Read the student's focus statement. Invite students to give a thumbs-up if this focus statement introduces readers to the topic or tells the readers what they will be reading about. (Look for students to give a thumbs-up.) Invite students to read aloud their focus statements to their writing partners and make sure it does its job. After 5 minutes, refocus whole group. Tell students that they will now edit their focus statements. Display page 1 of "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book and point out how the sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. Model for students how to reread their focus statements aloud and edit their writing. If a capital letter is missing at the beginning of a sentence, show students how to cross out the first word and write it again with a capital letter at the beginning. If punctuation such as a period, question mark, or exclamation point is missing at the end of a sentence, show students how to reread their writing and place the correct punctuation at the end of the sentence. Invite students to stay in the meeting area to edit their focus statements on page 1 of their books with their writing partners. Tell students to read their sentences out loud to their writing partners so they can help them edit their work. After 5 minutes, refocus whole group. Say: "You just spent time revising and editing your focus statements." Tell students they are now going to have a chance to revise and edit the information about the differences. Model a similar process for students to support them in revising the information about the differences. Say: "Remember that revising my writing means to make sure the information makes sense and that this part of the paragraph is doing its job." "The information about the differences should describe two differences between my school and the school I researched using details from my notes." Display "The Most Important Thing about Schools" Book: Teacher Model. Read pages 2-5 aloud: "In the rainforest school in Brazil, there are 19 children in the school. In my school, there are 300 children. In the rainforest school in Brazil, students ages 4-16 all learn in the same classroom. In my school, the students in a classroom are mostly the same age." Invite students to give you a thumbs-up if these sentences make sense to them. (Look for students to give you a thumbs-up.) Invite students to give you a thumbs-up if this part of the paragraph does its job: describes two differences between my school and the school I researched using details from my notes. (Look for students to give a thumbs-up.) Invite a few volunteers to share examples that show how they know this part of the paragraph does its job. (There are two differences between our school and the rainforest school.) Tell students that they are going to work with their writing partners to revise their information about differences in their books. Invite students to begin sharing and revising with their partners. Encourage students to check that their partner's work does its job. After 5 minutes, refocus whole group and say: "You just spent time revising information about the differences." Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group: "What do we need to do now?" (edit the information about the differences) Remind students that when they edit today, their job is to make sure their sentences begin with a capital letter and end with the correct punctuation. Invite students to stay in the meeting area to edit their information about differences on pages 2-5 of their book with their writing partners. Tell students to read their sentences out loud to their writing partners so they can help them edit their work. Use the Informative/Explanatory Writing Checklist to gather data on students' progress toward L.2.2.	For ELLs: Consider choosing an ELL as the student writer to share his or her focus statement with the class. This will boost the writer's confidence while providing successful modeling for other students who are still developing English language skills. (MME) For students who may need additional support with self-monitoring: Create a writing checklist for them to use that includes: read to see if it makes sense, check for capital letters, and check for punctuation. (MMAE)

Closing & Assessments

Closing	Meeting Students' Needs
A. Pinky Partners: Sharing Our Work (10 minutes) Invite students to give you an air high-five for their hard work today as writers. Tell them that they are going to use the Pinky Partners protocol to share their work with a partner. Remind them that they used this protocol in Unit 1, and review as necessary using the Pinky Partners anchor chart. (Refer to the Classroom Protocols document for the full version of the protocol.) Explain to students that today when a partner shares his or her work, they are going to give kind and specific feedback. This is feedback that tells the writer one thing he or she did a good job of in the writing. Invite two students to model this in front of the class. (Point out how one student listened while the other shared. Then the listener pointed out one good thing about the writer's work, such as: "There is a focus statement," "You wrote about two important differences," or "You used specific details from your notes.") Guide students through the protocol, encouraging them to use the sentence starter "You did a good job of _____." Ask students to return to their seats in the whole group area. Tell them that they will continue working on their books tomorrow.	For ELLs: Prompt students to share some kind words in their home languages. Example: "How do you say good job in Malay?" (Syabas) Call on student volunteers to share. Choral repeat the translations and the word in English. After students model pointing out a good thing about their partner's writing, maximize transfer by generating a list of ideas for what aspects of their partner's writing to comment on. Write this list on the board or chart paper so students can refer to it as they talk with their pinky partner. (MMR)

Closing