Shared Research: Turning Notes into Writing, Part II | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA GK:M3:U2:L6

Shared Research: Turning Notes into Writing, Part II

In this Lesson

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

  • W.K.2: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.
  • W.K.7: Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).
  • W.K.8: With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can contribute to the detail sentences and concluding statement in a piece of shared writing. (RI.K.1, RI.K.2, RI.K.3, W.K.7, W.K.8)

Ongoing Assessment

  • During the Pinky Partners protocol in Closing A, circulate and observe as students discuss the photographs. Consider using the Speaking and Listening Checklist to document progress toward SL.K.1 and SL.K.2 (see Assessment Overview and Resources).

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Poem and Movement: "Who Depends on Trees?" (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Shared Writing: How People Depend on Trees for Food (25 minutes)

B. Shared Reading: People Depend on Trees Booklet (5 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Picture Tea Party Protocol: Discovering Our Research Topic (10 minutes)

B. Engaging the Learner: Making Puppets (15 minutes)

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

  • This is the final lesson in a series of three that takes students through the research process, including research reading, note-taking, and informational writing. In Work Time A, students continue the writing process based on their People, Trees, and Food: Class Notes.
  • During Work Time A, students are asked to write their own detail sentence before sharing with the class and contributing to the shared writing. Students may simply draw and label because they do not have enough time to write a complete sentence. However, this gives students time to collect their ideas and also provides an opportunity to do a quick formative assessment of who understands the topic and task.
  • In Closing A, students make predictions about their next research topic by analyzing photographs through the Picture Tea Party protocol. It is important to allow students to investigate possible topics without correction throughout the protocol.
  • In Closing B, students use the photographs that they analyzed to create simple puppets. These puppets help students better understand the text, create notes, share their writing, and understand the information through a different modality.

How this lesson builds on previous work:

  • In Lesson 4, students completed People, Trees, and Food: Class Notes. In Lesson 5, they began the People Depend on Trees booklet using those notes, and in this lesson they complete that booklet.

Down the road:

  • In Lessons 7-11, students will repeat the research writing process and write an informational piece independently for the Unit 2 Assessment (W.K.2).
  • Throughout the rest of the unit, students will use the puppets created in Closing B to help them understand their research and use their notes.

In Advance

  • Prepare:
    • Enough copies of the puppet pictures so that each student has one picture. Copy in color, if possible (see supporting Materials).
    • Completed puppet to serve as a model for Closing B. The puppet picture should be cut out and glued to a popsicle stick.
  • Distribute Materials for Work Time A and Closing B at student workspaces.
  • Post: Learning targets, one set of puppet pictures, 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 1-2 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 K.1.A.1, K.I.B.6, and K.2.B.5

Important points in the lesson itself

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs with opportunities to revisit and write their riddles, to recall and unpack details from the text Be a Friend to Trees, and to contribute to shared writing. Students also make puppets, a visual and kinesthetic art project, to build background knowledge for the next research topic.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to describe their animals in their own words. Reassure students that they can ask for help, use a home language, and refer to the anchor charts available in the classroom.

Levels of support

For lighter support:

  • Before providing sentence frames or additional modeling during Work Time C and the Closing, observe student interaction and allow students to grapple. Provide supportive frames and demonstrations only after students have grappled with the task. Observe their areas of struggle to target appropriate support.

For heavier support:

  • In the Opening, consider spending some time reinforcing the definitions of adjectives in the riddles with sentence frames about the students' own experiences and bringing their attention again to the images and realia that exemplify those words. When reviewing the adjectives (furry, noisy, light, quick, graceful, clumsy, timid, bold), consider dramatically reenacting their meaning through gestures.

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): Continue to support comprehension by activating prior knowledge and scaffolding connections for students. Continue to provide a visual display of questions and student responses on a chart or the board during discussions.
  • Multiple Means of Action & Expression (MMAE): During the shared reading, students are invited to read sentences aloud. Some may not feel confident in their reading skills and may benefit from modeling and supported practice. Provide differentiated mentors by seating students who may be more confident reading aloud near students who may not feel as confident.
  • Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Continue to provide prompts and sentence frames for those students who require them to be successful in peer interactions and collaboration. Also support students in sustaining effort and/or attention by restating the goal of the activity.

Vocabulary

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

New:

  • detail sentence, concluding statement (W)

Review:

  • collaboration, depend, adjective (L)
  • furry, noisy, light, quick, graceful, clumsy, timid, bold (T)
  • focus statement (W)

Materials

  • "Who Depends on Trees?" Version 1 (from Lesson 2; one to display)
  • What Researchers Do anchor chart (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 1)
  • People Depend on Trees booklet (begun in Lesson 5; one to display)
    • Focus statement (completed in Lesson 5; page 1 of People Depend on Trees booklet)
    • Detail sentence (page 2 of People Depend on Trees booklet)
    • Detail sentence (page 3 of People Depend on Trees booklet)
    • Concluding statement (page 5 of People Depend on Trees booklet)
  • Be a Friend to Trees (one to display)
  • People, Trees, and Food: Class Notes (completed in Lesson 4; one to display)
  • People Depend on Trees booklet (from Lesson 5; example, for teacher reference)
  • Pencils (one per student)
  • Paper (lined; one piece per student)
  • Picture Tea Party Protocol anchor chart (begun in Module 2)
  • Puppet pictures (one set per small group and one set to display )
  • Puppet: Teacher Model (one for teacher modeling)
  • Scissors (one per student)
  • Glue sticks (one per student)
  • Popsicle sticks (one set per group)

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. Poem and Movement: "Who Depends on Trees?" (5 minutes)

  • Remind students that they have worked closely to solve four riddles over the past few lessons.
  • Tell students that today they will celebrate how hard they have worked to solve the riddles by rereading them and acting them out.
  • Direct students' attention to "Who Depends on Trees?" Version 1 and read aloud the riddles one by one while tracking the print.
  • Invite students to use hand gestures, motions, or accompanying actions to go along with the text as you reread the riddles.
  • Continue to reread the riddles and add accompanying movements as time allows.
  • For ELLs: (Translation) Consider having students name and describe the animals in the riddles in their home languages.

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Shared Writing: How People Depend on Trees for Food (25 minutes)

  • Gather students whole group.
  • Direct students' attention to the What Researchers Do anchor chart.
  • Tell students that they will continue to work like a researcher by using their notes to share learning with others through writing.
  • Display page 1 of the People Depend on Trees booklet and remind students of the definition of focus statement (a sentence that tells the big idea of your piece of writing).
  • Invite students to read aloud the shared writing with you as you track the print so they remember what they have written.
  • Tell them that since they have already shared the big idea with their reader, they now have to give specific examples in detail sentences. Define detail sentences as sentences that give specific examples of the focus statement.
  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning target and read it aloud:

"I can contribute to the detail sentences and concluding statement in a piece of shared writing."

  • Display Be a Friend to Trees. Remind students that in the previous lesson, they noticed differences between the detailed sentence and focus sentence. Although the focus statement was about many different animals living in trees, we did not know which ones. The detailed sentence told us specific information that birds build nests in trees.
  • Tell students that they will do the same thing in their writing today. They will choose details from their People, Trees, and Food: Class Notes and turn them into specific detail sentences to answer the question: "How do people depend on trees for food?"
  • Refer to the People Depend on Trees booklet (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Tell students that in a moment, they will go to their workspaces and write their own detail sentence, just like the sentence about birds in Be a Friend to Trees. This will help them generate ideas so they can write two or three detailed sentences as a class.
  • Display pages 2-3 of the People Depend on Trees booklet and follow steps similar to those in Work Time C of Lesson 5 to complete pages 2-3 (and 4, as time allows) in the People Depend on Trees booklet. Follow these steps with students:
    • Remind students that detail sentences are clear, specific answers to the question. Give them 30 seconds to review the People, Trees, and Food: Class Notes to think of a response.
    • Turn and Talk:

"What is a detail that we should share about what people get from trees?" (People get cherries from trees.)

    • Invite students to transition to their workspaces and use the pencils and paper to draw and label a picture and write a sentence that shares a detail about what food people get from trees.
    • After 10 minutes, refocus whole group.
    • Give students 30 seconds to review their drawing and writing and ask:

"What picture should we draw that will show a detail about how people depend on trees for food?" (a picture of a person eating cherries from a tree)

    • If productive, cue students to add on to what a classmate said:

"Who can add on to what your classmate said? I'll give you time to think."

    • As students share out, use their responses to quickly draw a picture.
    • Tell students that they will now think of a sentence that matches the picture you just drew. Encourage students to incorporate the word eat in their sentence. Review skywriting and spelling the word eat.
    • Ask:

"Now we need to write a sentence that matches our drawing. What is a sentence that will explain this detail?" (People eat cherries from trees.)

    • As students share, capture their ideas on page 2 of the People Depend on Trees booklet.
    • Repeat this process to complete page 3 (and page 4, as time allows) of the booklet.
  • Tell students that their book now has a lot of important information that will teach people facts about how people depend on trees. However, it is not finished!
  • Share with students that researchers also write a concluding statement at the end of their work to make sure their reader really understands the big idea of the information. Define a concluding statement as a sentence that repeats the big idea.
  • Remind students that the focus statement says the big idea, so the concluding statement needs to match it. The big idea that needs to be in the concluding statement is: People depend on trees for food.
  • Display page 5 of the People Depend on Trees booklet.
    • Quickly sketch a drawing that shows people getting different foods from trees. While sketching, think aloud about how your picture shows the main idea and repeats the focus statement.
    • Invite students to think of a clear sentence that includes the big idea and matches the picture you just drew. Tell them they will share their idea with a partner. Give students 30 seconds to think of a response.
    • Turn and Talk:

"What could a concluding statement be that includes the big idea that people get food from trees?"

    • Circulate and listen in as students discuss. Listen for sentences that include the big idea that people get food from trees.
    • Refocus students whole group and offer specific, positive feedback about their focused brainstorming.
    • Tell students that you listened to their ideas and used them to come up with a concluding statement.
    • Write: "People eat many different foods from trees" on page 5 of the booklet.
  • Offer students specific feedback about completing their research writing.
  • For ELLs: (Summarizing the Target) Ask students to summarize and then to personalize the learning target.
  • For students who may need additional support with fine motor skills: Vary methods of response by offering options for drawing utensils and writing tools. (MMAE, MME)
  • For students who may need additional support with self-regulation: When giving students a warning before the transition, continue to provide a clear routine for what to do with unfinished work and use a visual timer. (MME)

B. Shared Reading: People Depend on Trees Booklet (5 minutes)

  • Refocus students whole group.
  • Share with students that researchers always reread their writing and celebrate their work because it is exciting to know that now that their ideas are clear and written down, they can easily share this new information with others!
  • Display and invite students to join you in reading aloud the People Depend on Trees booklet.
  • Tell students that they will read it once more and invite them to act out each page while they read.
  • Quickly celebrate students' hard work creating a text that will really teach others about people and trees! (Examples: giving shout-outs, doing a cheer, offering each other high fives, etc.)
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with visual perception: (Text Engagement: Technology) During the shared reading, display the booklet on a document camera or use an enlarged copy of the text to help focus student attention. (MMR)

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Picture Tea Party Protocol: Discovering Our Research Topic (10 minutes)

  • Refocus students whole group.
  • Tell students that they did such brilliant work as researchers with the question "How do people depend on trees for food?" that they are ready to take on a new research question.
  • Direct students' attention to the What Researchers Do anchor chart and point out the following bullet:
    • "observe closely"
  • Invite students to do the accompanying gesture.
  • Tell students that they will now observe photographs using the Picture Tea Party protocol to make a prediction about what they might be studying next. Remind students that they used this protocol in Lesson 1 and review as necessary using the Picture Tea Party Protocol anchor chart. (Refer to the Classroom Protocols document for the full version of the protocol.)
  • Tell them they will be going through the Picture Tea Party protocol two or three times so they can see a number of pictures to get a better idea of what they will be studying.
  • Direct students' attention to the displayed puppet pictures and guide them through two or three rounds of the protocol using the following prompts:
    • "What did you notice about the photographs?" (Or "Who was in the photographs?" "What was happening?")
    • "Based on what you saw in the photographs, what do you think we will study next? What in the photographs makes you think that?"
  • After students have observed at least two sets of photographs, refocus them whole group.
  • Give students specific, positive feedback on their work during the Picture Tea Party protocol.
  • Invite volunteers to share their ideas regarding the protocol prompts.
  • For ELLs: (Metacognition) Consider asking students how images can help us generate discussion and learn language.
  • For students who may need additional support with organizing ideas for verbal expression: Provide options for communication by offering sentence frames. (MMAE)

B. Engaging the Learner: Making Puppets (15 minutes)

  • With excitement, tell students that they will be switching focus from people to animals for their next research topic. The next research question is: "How do animals depend on trees for food?"
  • Tell students that they will spend the rest of the time together creating an important tool with the people at their workspaces. The tool they are making will help them understand the research that they will begin doing in the next lesson.
  • Reveal that they will be making puppets in small groups!
  • Tell students that each small group will get a set of puppet pictures. Each student can select one puppet picture to make into a puppet.
  • Display the Puppet: Teacher Model. Post and review the following steps for how to create the puppets:
  1. Choose one puppet picture.
  2. Use scissors to cut out your chosen animal shape.
  3. Use the glue stick to glue the back of the animal shape to the popsicle stick.
  4. Let it sit so the glue can dry.
  • Answer clarifying questions.
  • Tell students that in upcoming lessons they will share these puppets with small groups, so it is important to share the responsibilities of making the puppets as well. Before sending students back to their workstations, ask:

"How can you collaborate on this project and share the responsibility of creating the puppets?" (Responses will vary, but may include: Everyone makes a puppet.)

  • Move students into pre-determined groups and assign them to an area of the room.
  • Distribute puppet pictures, scissors, glue sticks, and popsicle sticks.
  • Invite students to begin working.
  • After 10 minutes, gather students whole group.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"How do you think you could use these puppets to help you research and learn about our question: How do animals depend on trees for food?" (Responses will vary, but may include: We can use them to act out animals getting food.)

  • Invite a few volunteers to share out.
  • Tell students that they will use the puppets many times in the next week to help them do research!
  • For students who may need additional support with fine motor skills: Consider providing precut animal shapes. (MMAE)

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