Determining the Main Idea: Pages 20–21 of One Well: The Story of Water on Earth | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA G3:M4:U1:L7

Determining the Main Idea: Pages 20–21 of One Well: The Story of Water on Earth

In this Lesson

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

  • RI.3.1: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
  • RI.3.2: Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
  • RI.3.4: Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.
  • W.3.7: Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
  • W.3.8: Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.
  • L.3.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
  • L.3.1a: Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences.
  • L.3.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can explain the function of verbs. (L.3.1a)
  • I can determine the main ideas and supporting details of pages 20-21 of One Well. (RI.3.1, RI.3.2)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Determining the Main Ideas note-catcher (RI.3.1, RI.3.2)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engaging the Reader: One Well, Pages 20-21 (5 minutes)

B. Reviewing Learning Targets (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Language Dive: The Function of Verbs (15 minutes)

B. Determining the Main Ideas: One Well, Pages 20-21 (15 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Researching: Why Must We Act Now to Protect Our Water Supply? (20 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Complete the Language Dive Practice: One Well: Verbs in your Unit 1 homework.

B. Accountable Research Reading. Select a prompt and respond in the front of your independent reading journal.

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards: 

  • In this lesson and in Lesson 8, students read about the topic of water access, specifically how not all people in the world have access to enough water. Be aware that the topic may be sensitive for students, and that some may connect with these issues personally and deeply. Monitor students and determine whether there are any issues surfacing that need to be discussed in more detail as a whole group, in smaller groups, independently, or with families. Students'feelings may be personal, and they are not required to share them.
  • In Work Time A, students participate in a Language Dive that guides them through the meaning of a sentence from One Well. The focus of this Language Dive is describing the function of verbs (L.3.1a). Note that this sentence will be used again in the Lesson 9 Language Dive, focusing on the function of adverbs. Students then apply their understanding of the meaning and structure of this sentence when determining the function of verbs in texts and during the End of Unit 1 Assessment. Refer to the Tools page for additional information regarding a consistent Language Dive routine.
  • In the Closing, students reread the text to gather research. They then use this research in Unit 2 to write an opinion piece. Pay careful attention to this routine in order to apply it in subsequent lessons.
  • Students practice their fluency in this lesson by following along and reading silently as the teacher reads One Well aloud in Opening A.
  • In this lesson, students focus on working to become effective learners with a characteristic of their choice.

How this lesson builds on previous work:

  • In Lesson 6, students read pages 16-19 of One Well to determine the main idea and supporting details. In this lesson, they repeat that process with pages 20-21.Areas in which students may need additional support: ?Students may need additional support determining the main idea and supporting details in a text and choosing information to record on their research note-catchers. Invite those students who may require additional support to sit together for teacher help.

Assessment guidance:

  • Review students' Determining the Main Ideas note-catchers and research note-catchers to identify common issues for use as whole group teaching points.
  • Collect the Language Dive Practice: One Well: Pronouns homework from Lesson 4. Refer to Language Dive Practice: One Well: Pronouns (answers, for teacher reference) as necessary.

Down the road:

  • In Lesson 8, students determine the main idea and supporting details of the informational text "Access to Water" before comparing the main idea and supporting details to those on pages 20-21 of One Well.

In Advance

  • Strategically group students into pairs for work in this lesson, with at least one strong reader per pair.
  • Review the Questions We Can Ask during a Language Dive anchor chart (begun in Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 7).
  • Preview the Language Dive Guide and consider how to invite conversation among students to address the questions and goals suggested under each sentence strip chunk (see supporting materials). Select from the questions and goals provided to best meet your students' needs.
  • Post: Learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • 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 3.I.A.1, 3.I.B.6, 3.I.B.7, 3.I.B.8, 3.I.C.10, 3.II.B.3

Important points in the lesson itself 

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs with opportunities to hear a section of text read aloud and discuss the gist as a class before determining main ideas and supporting details in pairs; gather research from the text in preparation for writing opinion pieces in Unit 2; and build on their understanding of parts of speech by explicitly discussing the function of verbs.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to determine the main idea and supporting details of the section of text and complete the research note-catcher, as they may struggle to understand the language in the text itself. Before Work Time B, consider reading aloud the section of One Well several times and inviting students to discuss its meaning in home language groups. See Meeting Students' Needs and levels of support below for additional supports.

Levels of support

For lighter support:

  • During Work Time A, explain that the word access can be used as a noun but also as a verb. Invite students to determine the function of access in the section title. (It is a noun because it tells us the topic of this section of the book.) Challenge students to use access in a sentence serving the function of a noun, and then of a verb. (Examples: He needed access to more water to clean his house. [noun] He could not access all of the water he needed to clean his house. [verb])

For heavier support:

  • Consider using the index cards from Lesson 3 in "For heavier support." On each index card, circle the verbs in bold in the sentence. (Example: "The children are building a sandcastle on the seashore.") Students can talk in pairs, explaining the function of the circled word. (Example: Partner A: "What is the function of the verb are building in this sentence?" Partner B: "Are building describes what the children are doing.") Allow students to practice with these familiar examples during Opening B, in preparation for explaining the function of verbs in the Language Dive, as well as during the end of unit assessment.

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): In this lesson, students again engage with One Well. Before students engage with this text, support comprehension by activating prior knowledge. Consider a brief review of the previously read sections to highlight relevance and scaffold connections for students. Also, continue to provide questions visually as well as verbally.
  • Multiple Means of Action and Expression (MMAE): Continue to facilitate student management of information and resources by allowing them to identify unknown words and record them in their vocabulary log.
  • Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Similar to previous lessons in this unit, students have opportunities to share ideas and thinking with classmates in this lesson. Continue to support their engagement and self-regulatory skills during these activities by modeling and providing sentence frames as necessary.

Vocabulary

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

  • verb, main ideas, supporting details, issue, impact (L)
  • access, distribute (T)

Materials

  • One Well (from Lesson 2; one per student)
  • Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
  • Academic Word Wall (begun in Module 1; added to during Opening A)
  • Parts of Speech anchor chart (begun in Module 1; added to during Opening B)
  • Working to Become Effective Learners anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
  • Language Dive Guide: One Well: Verbs (for teacher reference)
    • Questions We Can Ask during a Language Dive anchor chart (begun in Module 3) 
    • Language Dive Chunk Chart: One Well: Verbs (for teacher reference)
    • Language Dive Note-catcher: One Well: Verbs (one per student and one to display)
    • Language Dive Sentence Strip Chunks: One Well: Verbs(one to display)
  • Colored pencil (red; used by the teacher to underline verbs on the Parts of Speech anchor chart)
  • Determining the Main Ideas Note-catcher: Pages 20-21 of One Well (one per student and one todisplay)
  • Determining the Main Ideas Note-catcher: Pages 20-21 of One Well (example, for teacher reference)
  • Research Note-catcher: Access to Water (one per student and one to display)
  • Performance Task anchor chart (begun in Lesson 1)
  • Research Note-catcher: Access to Water (example, for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive Practice: One Well: Pronouns (homework from Lesson 4; one per student)
  • Language Dive Practice: One Well: Pronouns (answers, for teacher reference)

Assessment

Each unit in the 3-5 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. 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 Reader: One Well, Pages 20-21(5 minutes) 

  • Move students into pre-determined pairs.
  • Invite students to retrieve their copies of One Well and turn to page 20.
  • Read pages 20-21 aloud as students read along silently in their heads.
  • Think-Pair-Share:

"What is the gist of these pages? What are they mostly about?" (Different places in the world have different amounts of rain, so there are different amounts of water across the Earth.)
Conversation Cue: "Who can repeat what your classmate said?" (Responses will vary.)

  • Focus students on the word access in the title and on the vocabulary strategies on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart. Invite them to work in pairs to determine the meaning of the word.
  • Use a total participation technique to select students to share their responses whole group (able to get something).
  • Focus students on the word distribution in italics on page 20.
  • Think-Pair-Share:

"Using the context and reading around the word, what do you think this word means?" (the way something is shared or spread across an area)
Conversation Cue: "Who can repeat what your classmate said?" (Responses will vary.)

  • Add access and distribution to the Academic Word Wall with translations in home languages.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with activating prior knowledge: (Recounting) Before reading, invite students to recount the main ideas from the previous sections of One Well in 30 seconds or less (with feedback) and then again in 20 seconds or less with a partner. (MMR)
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: (Visual Reinforcement/Acting Out Word Meanings) Consider adding a sketch or drawing next to accessand distribution and/or inviting students to act out the meaning of each word as it is added to the Academic Word Wall. (MMR)

B. Reviewing Learning Targets (5 minutes) 

  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and select a volunteer to read them aloud:

"I can explain the function of verbs."
"I can determine the main ideas and supporting details of pages 20-21 of One Well."

  • Focus students on the first learning target. Underline the word verbs. Focus students on the Parts of Speech anchor chart.
  • Turn and Talk:

"What is a verb?"(a word that describes an action or state of being)

  • Remind students that they have seen the second learning target in previous lessons. Review what the main idea and supporting details are.
  • Focus students on the Working to Become Effective Learners anchor chart and invite them to read the habits of character on the chart to themselves. Tell students to choose a habit to focus on as they work with their classmates today. Cold call students to share with the whole group and select one as a class.
  • For ELLs: (Parts of Speech Practice: Verbs) Invite students to play What's My Function? with the cards from "For heavier support." Put all index cards in a bag and invite a volunteer to pull one out and ask about the function of the circled verb. Invite that student to call on another student to explain. The student who explained the function then repeats this process. Add the verbs to the Examples column on the Parts of Speech anchor chart.
  • For students who may need additional support with motivation: Ask students to give specific examples of how they have worked toward the second learning target in this unit. (MME)

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Language Dive: The Function of Verbs (15 minutes) 

  • Tell students they will now participate in a Language Dive using the same format from Module 3.
  • Focus students' attention on the Questions We Can Ask during a Language Dive anchor chart and remind them that they thought of their own questions to ask during a Language Dive.
  • Think-Pair-Share:

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

  • Reread Paragraph 3 on page 20 of One Well.
  • Focus on the sentence:
    • "Because water is not evenly distributed across the globe, nearly one-fifth of the world's population does not have access to enough water."
  • Use the Language Dive Guide: One Well: Verbs and Language Dive Chunk Chart: One Well: Verbs to guide students through a Language Dive of the sentence. Distribute and display the Language Dive Note-catcher: One Well: Verbs and Language Dive Sentence Strip Chunks: One Well: Verbs.
  • After the Language Dive:
    • Underline the word verb in the table in the Parts of Speech anchor chart using a red colored pencil.
    • Write the Language Dive sentence under the table and underline the verbs using the colored pencil.
  • Use a checking for understanding technique (e.g., Red Light, Green Light or Thumb-O-Meter) for students to self-assess against the first learning target. Select one or two students showing they have met the learning target to provide evidence.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with vocabulary: (Parts of Speech: Identifying) After adding the sentence to the Parts of Speech anchor chart, challenge students to identify other parts of speech in the sentence. Challenge them to "prove" which part of speech each word falls under. Underline any words students identify with corresponding colors from the chart and add them to the Examples column on the chart. (MMR)

B. Determining the Main Ideas: One Well, Pages 20-21(15 minutes) 

  • Distribute Determining the Main Ideas Note-catcher: Pages 20-21 of One Well and use the same routine from the Closing of Lesson 6 to guide students through determining the main idea(s) and supporting details of the text:
    • Invite students to think about the big idea(s) the author wants them to understand from reading these pages of the text. Remind them that there may be more than one main idea.
    • Invite students to look in the text for details to support their main idea(s).
    • If they can't find supporting details for their main idea(s), remind them to revise their main idea(s).
    • Circulate to support students as they identify the main ideas and supporting details.
  • Refocus whole group and use a total participation technique to select students to share their main ideas and supporting details. Refer to the Determining the Main Idea Note-catcher: Pages 20-21 of One Well (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Use a checking for understanding technique (e.g., Red Light, Green Light or Thumb-O-Meter) for students to self-assess against the second learning target and how well they demonstrated the habit from the Working to Become Effective Learners anchor chart they decided to focus on today. Select one or two students showing they met the learning target to provide evidence.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: (Evaluating Main Idea and Details) Identify a main idea and one detail, and then invite students to evaluate it. (Example: "The author says that huge differences in rainfall can happen from country to country. Does that detail support the main idea that there is more water in some parts of the world than in other parts? Why or why not?") (MMR, MME)
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with strategy development: (Sharing Strategies) Cue students with: "What strategies helped you determine the main idea and supporting details of the sections you have read so far?" and invite them to share out. Provide sentence frames for support. (MMAE)

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Researching: Why Must We Act Now to Protect Our Water Supply? (20 minutes) 

  • Distribute and display the Research Note-catcher: Access to Water.
  • Focus students on the question at the top of the note-catcher:
    • "Why must we act now to protect our water supply?"
  • Remind students of the Performance Task anchor chart and of the PSA they will create about a water issue. Tell students that One Well and other texts they will read in this unit will help them research to answer the question at the top of their note-catcher.
  • Focus students on the top two boxes of the note-catcher:
    • "Issue"
    • "Impact"
  • Focus students on the vocabulary strategies on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart and invite them to work in pairs to determine the meaning of each of these words (issue: a problem for discussion; impact: having a strong effect on something or someone).
  • Focus students on the Issue box. Remind them to look back in the text to answer the question and to use the sentence starter.
  • Think-Pair-Share and refer to the Research Note-catcher: Access to Water (example, for teacher reference) to confirm student responses:

"What is the issue people are facing with water?"
"Why do you think that? What in the text makes you think so?"

  • Repeat with the Impact box.
  • Use student responses to model completing the Issue and Impact boxes on the displayed note-catcher and invite students to complete their own note-catchers accordingly. Refer to the Research Note-catcher: Access to Water (example, for teacher reference)as necessary. Emphasize that students do not need to write in full sentences. This is a note-catcher, for notes, so it is important that they can understand what they record.
  • Focus students on the next two boxes:
    • "Action"
    • "Call to Action"
  • Think-Pair-Share:

"What is action?" (doing something)
"So what do you think 'call to action' means?" (wanting to do something about an issue)

  • Focus students on the Action box. Think-Pair-Share:

"Do these pages of text suggest any solutions to the problem?" (No.)

  • Tell students they will read other texts in this unit to fill the gaps.
  • Focus students on the Call to Action box. Remind them to look back in the text to answer the question and to use the sentence starter.
  • Think-Pair-Share and refer to the Research Note-catcher: Access to Water (example, for teacher reference)to confirm student responses:

"Why is it important to solve the problem?"
"Why do you think that? What in the text makes you think so?"

  • Use student responses to model completing the Call to Action box on the displayed note-catcher and invite students to complete their own note-catchers accordingly. Continue to refer to the Research Note-catcher: Access to Water (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Focus students on the Sources box at the bottom of the note-catcher.
  • Turn and Talk:

"What source have we used today?" (pages 20-21 of One Well)

  • Collect the Language Dive Practice: One Well: Pronouns homework from Lesson 4. Refer to the Language Dive Practice: One Well: Pronouns (answers, for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: (Highlighting and Rephrasing Key Sentences) Consider highlighting key sentences on pages 20-21 of One Well that encapsulate the ideas in each section of the research note-catcher. Invite students to identify which sentence best articulates each idea (issue, impact, action,and call to action) and then rephrase the sentence in their own words before adding their thinking to the note-catcher. (MMR)
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with expressing ideas: (Sentence Starters) Encourage students to use the sentence starters on the research note-catcher when sharing their thinking about the issue, impact, action, and call to action. (MMAE)

Homework

HomeworkMeeting Students' Needs

A. Complete the Language Dive Practice: One Well: Verbs in your Unit 1 homework.

B. Accountable Research Reading. Select a prompt and respond in the front of your independent reading journal.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with written expression: (Oral Response) Read aloud, discuss, and respond to your prompt orally, either with a partner, family member, or student from grades 4 or 6, or record an audio response. (MMAE)

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