Speaking, Listening, and Writing: Preparing to Write About How Animals Depend on Trees | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA GK:M3:U2:L8

Speaking, Listening, and Writing: Preparing to Write About How Animals Depend on Trees

In this Lesson

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

  • RI.K.2: With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
  • RI.K.3: With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
  • 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.
  • SL.K.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
  • SL.K.1b: Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges.
  • SL.K.2: Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.
  • L.K.5d: Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing the same general action (e.g., walk, march, strut, prance) by acting out the meanings.
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can prepare for writing by creating notes that show how animals depend on trees for food. (RI.K.1, RI.K.2, RI.K.3, W.K.7, W.K.8)
  • I can share my notes with a partner and ask questions about his or her notes. (SL.K.1, SL.K.1b, SL.K.2)

Ongoing Assessment

  • During the Pinky Partners protocol in the Closing, circulate and observe as students share their notes with a partner. Consider using the Speaking and Listening Checklist to document progress toward SL.K.1, SL.K.1b, and SL.K.2 (see Assessment Overview and Resources).
  • Collect students' individual notes to document progress toward W.K.7 and W.K.8.

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Song and Movement: "We Depend on Trees" Version 1 (10 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Engaging the Researcher: Reviewing Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes (15 minutes)

B. Preparing for Independent Writing: Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes (25 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Pinky Partners Protocol: Reflecting on Learning (10 minutes)

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

  • In Work Time A, students review the Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes by playing charades. This charades game is designed to build comprehension and fluency with the information gathered through shared research in a fun, engaging, and playful way.
  • In Work Time B, students use the information on the Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes to inform the creation of their own individual notes. These individual notes serve as preparation for independent writing for the Unit 2 Assessment beginning in Lesson 9 (W.K.7, W.K.8).
  • In the Closing, students use the puppets created in Lesson 6 to act out their Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes with a partner. The use of puppets allows students to engage with their notes and build comprehension and fluency in a familiar and joyful way.

How this lesson builds on previous work:

  • In Lesson 7, students collaborated to create the Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes. In this lesson, students review the notes by playing charades before using the information from the class notes to create their own Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

  • During Work Time A, students take part in charades to review the Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes. Consider partnering students so that all feel comfortable participating in front of the class.
  • In Work Time B, students work independently to create the Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes by labeling and cutting and pasting symbols onto a note-catcher. Students may need support with the fine motor skills involved in the process. Consider offering pencil grips, alternative types of scissors, and/or slanted surfaces to aid students' abilities throughout the note-taking process.

Down the road:

  • In Lessons 9-11, students continue working with the "We Depend on Trees" song as they learn about and engage with verbs and the shades of meaning for verbs that mean "to eat."
  • The Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes created in Work Time B will be used in Lessons 9-11 as students complete the Unit 2 Assessment to write a research booklet in response to the research question: "How do animals depend on trees for food?" The Common Core Standard W.K.2 does not require students to write a concluding sentence. However, students are introduced to the purpose and structure of a concluding sentence with teacher guidance to create a complete informational research text.
  • In Lessons 9-10, students view video clips of different animals that depend on trees for food to build their understanding of the research topic.

In Advance

  • Prepare:
    • Charades food cards and animal cards by cutting out cards to make one class set of the food cards and one card per student of the animal cards (see supporting Materials).
    • Animals, trees, and food symbols by cutting out one set of strips for each student to allow for ease of use while note-taking.
  • Distribute Materials to student workspaces for Work Time B.
  • Post: Learning targets, "We Depend on Trees," and any 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.1.A.3, and K.1.B.5

Important points in the lesson itself

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs through multiple opportunities to engage with language and content knowledge in interactive ways: song, movement, a charades game, and review of shared notes. Students use their puppets to discuss what they've learned with a partner.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to write their own labels for the class notes they select independently. Encourage them to use the Word Wall, their classmates, and the visuals/realia you've created and developed as starting points for their ideas.

Levels of support

For lighter support:

  • In the Closing, remind students that they heard words in the song today that mean something similar to the word eat. Invite them to substitute in one of those words (munch, feed, scarf down, dine) in the frames as they present.

For heavier support:

  • During the Opening, use index cards and tape to affix illustrations for key terms in the "We Depend on Trees" song. To reinforce comprehension strategies, ask students to predict what the song will be about by looking at the index cards before you begin.
  • During the charades game in Work Time A, if students struggle to link the animal you say with the food it eats, encourage them to use the visuals on anchor charts, the Word Wall, and around the classroom to remember which word you are saying. In addition, cue them to ask you to repeat the word and/or demonstrate a gesture to help jog their memory.

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): Continue to support students by displaying photographs of students demonstrating collaboration to connect this term to concrete shared experiences, or invite students to recall one way they showed collaboration recently outside of the classroom.
  • Multiple Means of Action & Expression (MMAE): This lesson offers several opportunities for students to engage in discussion with partners. For students who may need support with expressive language, provide sentence frames to help them organize their thoughts.
  • Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Continue to remind students of the learning goal and its value or relevance for this lesson.

Vocabulary

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

New:

  • munch, feed, scarf down, dine (T)

Review:

  • research, eat, depend, notes, flower, bark, inner bark, bud, twig, leaves (L)

Materials

  • "We Depend on Trees" Version 1 (one to display)
  • Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes (completed in Lesson 7; one to display)
  • Charades animal cards (one per student and one for teacher modeling)
  • Charades food cards (one class set)
  • Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes (one per student and one for teacher modeling)
  • Animals, Trees, and Food: Symbols (one set per student and one set for teacher modeling)
  • Scissors (one pair per student and one pair for teacher modeling)
  • Glue sticks (one per student and one for teacher modeling)
  • Pencils (one per student and one for teacher modeling)
  • Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes (example, for teacher reference)
  • Pinky Partners Protocol anchor chart (begun in Module 2)
  • Puppets (from Lesson 6; one per student)
  • Speaking and Listening Checklist (for teacher reference; see Assessment Overview and Resources)

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. Song and Movement: "We Depend on Trees" Version 1 (10 minutes)

  • Gather students whole group.
  • Follow the same routine established in Modules 1-2 to sing the "We Depend on Trees" song.
    • Display "We Depend on Trees" Version 1.
    • Invite students to first listen as you sing the song fluently and without interruption.
    • Invite students to contribute ideas for gestures/actions for the poem.
    • Sing each verse with students and invite them to sing along and act out the gestures/actions as you point to the text.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What is this song about?" (animals that eat parts of trees)

  • Tell students that the song uses different words that mean "to eat": munch, feed, scarf down, and dine. Point to each word in the lyrics of the song.
  • Provide specific, positive feedback on students' participation with the song and tell them that they will continue to sing the song "We Depend on Trees" and learn more about the different words that mean "to eat" in upcoming lessons.
  • For ELLs: (Expression) Consider making exaggerated motions to demonstrate the nuanced differences among the words eat, munch, scarf down, dine.
  • For ELLs: (Color-coding) Consider highlighting the verbs in a color different from what you've used for nouns or adjectives. However, refer to them as the action words in the poem. In Lesson 9, students will explicitly learn that they are called verbs.

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Engaging the Researcher: Reviewing Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes (15 minutes)

  • Display the Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes.
  • Tell students they are now going to review the Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes from Lesson 7.
  • Tell students that there are many ways to review notes. In Lesson 5, they reviewed their notes using the Back-to-Back and Face-to-Face protocol, but today they will review notes a different way.
  • With excitement, tell students that they will play a charades game to review their notes!
  • Ask:

"Has anyone played charades before? How do you play?" (Responses will vary, but may include: You need to act like the picture on the card, and you can't use words. Everyone else has to guess what you are acting as.)

  • Tell students that today they will learn how to play charades to review the information from the Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes.
  • Invite students to move into a circle in the whole group meeting area.
  • Introduce the following routine for playing charades:
    • Show a charades animal card to the group. Tell students that they will each get a charades animal card, but that they should keep their animal a secret so their friends can have fun guessing!
    • Invite students to look and listen as a charades food card is pulled from the set (e.g., bark).
    • Model how to check if the food on that charades food card is a food that an animal on the charades animal card eats by looking at the Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes. If it is, students should stand up in the middle of the circle and act like the animal on their card. The rest of the students will guess their animal.
    • If they do not have an animal that eats the food shown on the charades food card, they should stay seated and wait until the food their animal eats is shown to the class.
    • Model the above process by distributing charades animal cards to two students. Tell them to look at their card and keep it a secret. Invite them to use the Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes to check what food that animal eats. Show another charades food card and tell the two students that if their animal eats that food, they should stand in the circle and act like the animal. Invite the rest of the class to guess the animals.
    • Tell students that there could be more than one animal that eats the food. For example, elephants, giraffes, and caterpillars all eat leaves. So sometimes many students will be acting out the animals at the same time.
    • Remind students to play charades respectfully by taking care not to bump or hit anyone's body while acting like animals.
  • Distribute charades animal cards.
  • Invite students to look and listen carefully as you turn over a card from the charades food card set.
  • Tell students to check the Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes to see if their animal eats that food. If their animal does eat that food, they come into the circle and act it out.
  • Continue pulling charades food cards and reminding students to check the class notes and act out the animal when appropriate (multiple students may act out animals at the same time).
  • After about 8 minutes, ask students to clean up the charades cards and return them to the designated area.
  • Turn and Talk:

"How did you use the Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes while playing charades?" (Responses will vary, but may include: I checked the notes to see if the animal eats that food.)

  • Tell students that now that they have become experts at reviewing and using the class notes, they will use the class notes to help them create their own independent notes about different animals that depend on trees for food.
  • For students who may need additional support with far-point display: Consider providing an individual copy of the Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes for use during charades. (MMR)

B. Preparing for Independent Writing: Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes (25 minutes)

  • Refocus whole group.
  • Offer students specific, positive feedback on their engagement during the review of the class notes.
  • Remind students that in their research about how people get food from trees, they wrote a class booklet. For this new research on how animals get food from trees, they will write their own individual booklets, but first they need to prepare.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What animals have we learned about that get their food from trees?" (Responses will vary, but may include: Porcupines eat inner bark; deer eat twigs and leaves from trees, etc.)

  • 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."

  • Tell students that there are so many animals that depend on trees, if we wrote about them all our booklet would be so long! So today they will choose three animals to write about.
  • Invite students to silently think of three animals they would like to write about in their research booklets.
  • Turn and Talk:

"What three animals would you like to write about in your research booklet?" (Responses will vary.)

  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the first one aloud:

"I can prepare for writing by creating notes that show how animals depend on trees for food."

  • Tell students that before they write in the booklets, they need to take notes. These notes will help them remember what they need to write when they use the booklets.
  • Display the Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes and the Animals, Trees, and Food: Symbols.
  • Direct students' attention to the Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes and read the titles of the columns aloud: Animal; Verb: "to eat"; and food.
  • Direct students' attention to the Animals, Trees, and Food: Symbols and model how to select, cut out, and glue down an animal using the scissors and glue sticks. Then use a pencil to label the animal.
  • Model how to read the word eat in the verb column of the Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes.
  • Direct students' attention back to the Animals, Trees, and Food: Symbols and model how to select, cut out, and glue down the food that the animal eats. Remind students to look at the Animals, Trees, and Food: Class Notes to check which animals eat which food as needed.
  • Tell students that they will choose three animals and the foods they eat to record in their notes. Invite students to wiggle three fingers, one for each animal.
  • Tell students that they will find the Materials they need at their workstations (Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes, Animals, Trees, and Food: Symbols, glue sticks, scissors, and pencils).
  • Invite students to move like one of the animals as they transition back to their workspaces.
  • Circulate to support and observe students as they create their notes. Refer to the Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • After 15 minutes, invite students to clean up their Materials and return to the whole group meeting area with their notes.
  • Tell students that next they will share their notes with a partner to help them say what they will begin writing tomorrow. If you can say it, you can write it!
  • For ELLs: (Summarizing the Target) Ask students to summarize and then to personalize the learning targets.
  • For students who may need additional support with planning: Provide a chart of five or six animals from which to choose for their writing. (MMAE)

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Pinky Partners Protocol: Reflecting on Learning (10 minutes)

  • Refocus students whole group and direct their attention to the posted learning targets and read the second one aloud:

I can share my notes with a partner and ask questions about his or her notes.

  • Tell students they will now share their Animals, Trees, and Food: Student Notes with a classmate using the Pinky Partners protocol. Remind them that they used this protocol in previous lessons and review as necessary using the Pinky Partners Protocol anchor chart. (Refer to the Classroom Protocols document for the full version of the protocol.)
    • With excitement, share that students will also use the puppets from Lesson 6 to act out how the different animals eat food from trees.
    • Tell students that before they share, they should look at each other's notes and determine which animal puppets they will need. If they have the same animal, they should take only one of those puppets and share (e.g., if we both have deer, we only need one deer puppet).
    • Invite a few partners at a time to come and select the puppets they need to share and act out their notes.
    • Once all partners have selected their puppets, invite students to begin the protocol by sharing their notes and acting them out using the puppets.
    • Circulate and listen in as students share and act out their notes. Consider using the Speaking and Listening Checklist to track student progress toward SL.K.1, SL.K.1b, and SL.K.2.
    • Gather students whole group and invite them to give a silent cheer for all the great note-taking they did today.
  • Tell students that as they continue the research process, next they will begin writing their research booklets about how different animals depend on trees for food.
  • For ELLs: (Metacognition) Ask students to reflect on how talking with a partner helps them practice speaking. Invite a few students to share their ideas.
  • For students who may need additional support with expression: Invite students to practice and share their puppet actions before the protocol. (MMAE)

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