Performance Task: Drafting a Focus Statement and Creating an Informational Tree Collage | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA GK:M3:U3:L10

Performance Task: Drafting a Focus Statement and Creating an Informational Tree Collage

In this Lesson

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

  • RI.K.1: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
  • 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.5: With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
  • 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.1a: Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion).
  • SL.K.1b: Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges.
  • SL.K.3: Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can show what I know about trees through writing and collage. (RI.K.2, W.K.2, W.K.5, W.K.7, W.K.8)
  • I can give and receive feedback that is kind, helpful, and specific. (W.K.5, SL.K.1a, SL.K.1b, SL.K.3)

Ongoing Assessment

  • During Work Time A, circulate and use the Informational Writing Checklist to document progress toward W.K.2, W.K.5, W.K.7, and W.K.8 (see Assessment Overview and Resources).
  • During Work Time C, circulate as students give and receive feedback and use the Speaking and Listening Checklist to document progress toward SL.K.1a, SL.K.1b, and SL.K.3 (see Assessment Overview and Resources).

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Shared Reading: Describing the Sugar Maple Booklet (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Independent Writing: Performance Task Writing Booklet (10 minutes)

B. Engaging the Artist: Planning and Creating an Informational Tree Collage (25 minutes)

C. Giving and Receiving Peer Feedback: Informational Tree Collages (15 minutes)

3. Closing

A. Reflecting on Learning (5 minutes)

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

  • This is the first in a series of four lessons in which students work to complete the informational collage for the performance task. In this lesson, students write the focus statement, complete the collage planner, and start a new collage of the tree they researched in Lessons 5-8.
  • In Work Time C, students give and receive feedback on their informational collages. Since the collages are created by gluing down paper, remind students that their feedback should focus on what their partner can add to his or her collage.

How this lesson builds on previous work:

  • In Lessons 5-8, students participated in small group research to collect information about a specific tree and create notes. In this lesson, students use those notes to create a piece of informational writing and a collage.
  • In Lesson 9, students discussed a variety of patterns that exist among trees. In this lesson, they focus on their specific tree and what it needs to survive.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

  • In Work Times A and B, students may need additional support with fine motor skills as they write, cut, tear, or glue. Consider offering any appropriate supports from Lessons 2-4.
  • In Work Time C, students give and receive feedback about their collages. It may be challenging for students to voice and receive suggestions. Consider modeling the process with another adult.

Down the road:

  • In Lessons 11-13, students continue their informational writing and informational collages.
  • In Lessons 14-15, students present their completed informational collages to classmates and other visitors as part of the Celebration of Learning.

In Advance

  • Prepare:
    • Tree collage templates, ensuring that enough templates are available based on students' research groups. (Example: Students who researched the live oak will need the corresponding tree collage template.)
    • Collaging Materials for Work Time B by pre-cutting construction paper of the necessary colors into appropriate different sizes and shapes. Organize paper by tree type and place into bins at each workstation for ease of student use.
  • Distribute Materials for Work Times A and B at student workspaces.
  • Post: Learning targets 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.B.6, and K.I.C.12

Important points in the lesson itself

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs by returning to familiar content and instructional routines to begin the Performance Task Writing booklet and tree collage. Students engage with language as they read and analyze the class paragraph about the sugar maple as a model for their own work. They practice syntax and Vocabulary with a partner before writing their focus sentence and revisit pictures of their tree and the collage planner to plan their collage.
  • ELLs may find it challenging in Work Time B to fluently convey the sophistication of the feedback they have. Remind students that they can use frames they are familiar with, such as "I notice _____," "I would like to add ______," and "This makes me think _______." Refer them to the references of colors, textures, and shapes you've used to help students create collages. Consider creating a Fishbowl to model language use.

Levels of support

For lighter support:

  • As students interact in Work Time B, circulate and take note of how they are expressing their ideas for corrective feedback and future instruction. Select a few examples of correct use and incorrect use to share with the class, without attributing the sentences to any one student. Scribe the sentences and invite students to help fix the incorrect sentences.

For heavier support:

  • During Work Time A, as students write their sentences independently, consider scribing with a light-colored highlighter the responses of any students who are struggling with putting their ideas into written language. Students can trace over the words with a pencil.

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): Similar to previous units, this lesson offers a variety of visual anchors to cue students' thinking. Continue to support students by creating additional or individual anchor charts for reference and charting student responses during whole class discussions to aid with comprehension.
  • Multiple Means of Action & Expression (MMAE): Continue to support a range of fine motor abilities and writing needs by offering students options for writing utensils. Also consider supporting students' expressive skills by offering partial dictation of their responses.
  • Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Students who may need additional support during this lesson may feel uncomfortable sharing their collage with peers and receiving feedback. Create an inclusive and supportive classroom environment by emphasizing that everyone is working hard toward the learning targets and collaboration helps us learn and grow even more than we could alone.

Vocabulary

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

Review:

  • focus statement(L)

Materials

  • Describing the Sugar Maple booklet (completed in Lesson 4; one to display)
  • Performance Task Writing booklet (page 1; one per student; see Performance Task Overview)
  • High-Quality Work anchor chart (begun in Module 2)
  • Tree: Individual Notes (completed in Lesson 8; one per student)
  • Pencils (one per student)
  • Colored pencils (a variety of colors per student)
  • Performance Task Writing booklet (example, for teacher reference; see Performance Task Overview)
  • Model of Informational Collage (from Lesson 1; one to display)
  • Collage planner (new; from Lesson 2; one per student)
  • Tree images (one set per student based on research group)
  • Crayons (class set; variety of colors per student)
  • Construction paper (class set; a variety of browns, grays, and blacks per student)
  • Glue sticks (one per student)
  • Tree collage templates (one per student; see Performance Task Overview)
  • Peer Feedback anchor chart (begun in Module 2)
  • 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. Shared Reading: Describing the Sugar Maple Booklet (5 minutes)

  • Gather students whole group and display the Describing the Sugar Maple booklet.
  • Remind students of the research questions:
    • "What do trees need to live and grow?"
    • "What do trees provide to help other living things live and grow?"
  • Read aloud the Describing the Sugar Maple booklet without interruption.
  • Turn and Talk:

"How does our booklet inform the reader about the sugar maple and what it needs?" (It describes the tree and says that it needs water or sun.)

"How does our booklet inform the reader about animals that depend on the sugar maple?" (It describes an animal that gets its food from the tree.)

  • Tell students that next they will use their own notes from research to start writing a booklet about their tree.
  • For ELLs: (Color-coding) As you engage students in the shared reading during the Opening, consider color-coding nouns, verbs, and adjectives in the class paragraph about the sugar maple.

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Independent Writing: Performance Task Writing Booklet (10 minutes)

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

"I can show what I know about trees through writing and collage."

  • Tell students that now they will talk, plan, and write the focus statement in their Performance Task Writing booklets as the writing piece of their informational collage.
  • Remind students that the focus statement is the first sentence that tells the reader the topic, or what the writing is all about.
  • Display the Performance Task Writing booklet and flip through the pages, thinking aloud about how it is structured the same as the Describing the Sugar Maple booklet.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What is the topic you will write about?" (Each student is writing about his or her researched tree.)

  • As needed, reread the focus statement from the Describing the Sugar Maple booklet to serve as a model.
  • Display the High-Quality Work anchor chart and review the big ideas.
  • Point out the writing booklets, Tree: Individual Notes, pencils, and colored pencils at their workspaces.
  • Transition students to their workspaces and invite them to use their individual notes to write a focus statement about the tree they researched on page 1 of the Performance Task Writing booklet. Refer to the Performance Task Writing booklet (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Circulate to support students as they write.
  • After 10 minutes, invite students back to the whole group meeting area.
  • Tell students that next they will begin collaging their trees for the informational collage.
  • For ELLs: Mini Language Dive. "I can show/what I know/about trees/through writing and collage."
    • Deconstruct: Discuss the sentence and each chunk. Language goals for focus structure:
  • through: "How?"/Meaning: How you can show what you know about trees is by doing something. (preposition)
  • writing and collage: "What?"/Meaning: You will use two things to show what you know about trees. The first is writing (putting your ideas into words on paper) and the second is collage (making artwork with pieces of construction paper). (nouns/ conjunction)
  • Practice: I can grow through ________.
    • Reconstruct: Reread the sentence. Ask:

"Now what does this sentence mean?"

"How does this help you know what we're going to do today?"

    • Practice: I can _____through___ .

B. Engaging the Artist: Planning and Creating an Informational Tree Collage (25 minutes)

  • Display the Model of Informational Collage and remind students that a collage of their researched tree is part of what they are creating for the performance task.
  • Tell students that before they collage, they will plan out the colors and shapes they will need for the different parts of the tree using the collage planner, just like they did with the sugar maple in Lesson 2.
  • Point out the tree images, collage planners, crayons, and pencils at their workspaces.
  • Transition students to their workspaces and invite them to complete their collage planners.
  • Circulate and support students as they complete the planner, reminding them to use the tree images for accuracy in color and shape as needed.
  • After 5 minutes, refocus whole group.
  • Follow the same routine from Work Time C of Lesson 3 to guide students through using construction paper and glue sticks to collage the trunk, bark, and branches of their tree onto a tree collage template.
  • Circulate to support students as they collage and to reinforce the habit of perseverance as necessary.
  • After about 15 minutes, invite students to clean up and return to the whole group area with their collages.
  • Tell students that they will continue to work on their collages over the next few lessons.
  • Provide specific, positive feedback on their ability to collage accurately and with details.
  • Tell students that next they will use their collages to give and receive feedback with a partner.
  • For students who may need additional support with sustained effort: Invite students to take a quick stretch break once or twice throughout the Work Time. (MME)

C. Giving and Receiving Peer Feedback: Informational Tree Collages (15 minutes)

  • Refocus students whole group and ask them to bring their collages with them.
  • Remind students that another way to show perseverance is to work to improve their artwork by asking others for feedback.
  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the second one aloud:
    • "I can give and receive feedback that is kind, helpful, and specific."
  • Remind students that the words "kind, helpful, and specific" come directly from the Peer Feedback anchor chart.
  • Direct students' attention to the Peer Feedback anchor chart and briefly review it.
  • Consider reviewing the High-Quality Work anchor chart as well. Tell students that their feedback should be related to the ideas on this anchor chart.
  • Model giving and receiving feedback as necessary.
  • Move students into pairs and invite them to begin giving and receiving feedback.
  • Circulate and listen as students provide peer feedback. Use the Speaking and Listening Checklist to document student progress toward SL.K.1a, SL.K.1b, and SL.K.3.
  • After both partners have shared and offered feedback, refocus whole group.
  • Tell students that they are now going revise their collage based on feedback they received from their partner. Consider modeling this as necessary.
  • Dismiss students back to their workspaces and invite them to begin revising their collages.
  • After 5 minutes, tell students to clean up by returning Materials to the designated areas.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with planning verbal expression: (Modeling and Thinking Aloud: Providing Examples) Model and think aloud a few ways that students can provide kind, helpful, and specific feedback using complete sentences. (MMR, MMAE)

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Reflecting on Learning (5 minutes)

  • Gather students whole group.
  • Offer specific, positive feedback on students' ability to give and receive feedback that is kind, specific, and helpful.
  • Turn and Talk:

"What went well in your writing and collage today?" (Responses will vary.)

  • Circulate and listen as students share, providing sentence frames as needed.
  • Offer specific, positive feedback on students' ability to reflect on how they showed perseverance in today's lesson.
  • With excitement, tell students that they will continue to write about and collage their trees to work toward the final product for the informational collage.
  • Continue to strategically pair students to ensure that they have a strong, politely helpful partner to support their efforts at sharing. (MME)

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