Reading, Speaking, and Listening: Discovering the Unit 2 Guiding Question | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA GK:M3:U2:L1

Reading, Speaking, and Listening: Discovering the Unit 2 Guiding Question

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.7: With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts).
  • 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.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.
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can share my observations and questions on a new research topic. (SL.K.1, SL.K.2)
  • I can determine the main idea of the text The Tree in the Ancient Forest. (RI.K.2, RI.K.7)

Ongoing Assessment

  • During the read-aloud in Work Time A, use the Reading Informational Text Checklist to track students' progress toward RI.K.1 and RI.K.7 (see Assessment Overview and Resources).

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Picture Tea Party Protocol: Mystery Images (10 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Reading Aloud: The Tree in the Ancient Forest (15 minutes)

B. Role-Play Protocol: The Tree in the Ancient Forest (20 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Shared Reading: What Researchers Do Anchor Chart and Unit 2 Guiding Question Anchor Chart (15 minutes)

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

  • Continue to nurture an inquiry-rich classroom environment by inviting students to ask questions and wonder about how living things depend on trees to meet their needs as they read an informational text, engage in role-play, and discuss and share their observations and questions.
  • This lesson introduces the Unit 2 guiding question, "How do living things depend on trees to meet their needs?" and invites students to continue their study of living and nonliving things by using a tree as an anchoring point.
  • In Work Time B, students are introduced to the habit of character that is a particular focus for this unit: collaboration. In this lesson, students learn the definition of collaboration and the ways it can be applied to their learning and work. Throughout the unit, students reflect on how they and their classmates are showing collaboration (see Unit 2 Overview).

How this lesson builds on previous work:

  • During Unit 1, students learned about what makes something living or nonliving. This unit extends these ideas and invites students to learn more specifically how living things meet their needs for growth and survival.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

  • During Work Time A, students listen to The Tree in the Ancient Forest read aloud. They may find the language and structure of this text challenging. Depending on the needs of your students, consider stopping to define words in context that will support their general understanding that the tree has needs and provides for the needs of other living things.

Down the road:

  • In Lessons 2-3, students will gather information to support answering the Unit 2 guiding question. As they research, write, and discuss, they will add their ideas to the Unit 2 Guiding Question anchor chart.
  • In Lesson 2, students will be introduced to the research text for the unit, Be a Friend to Trees. After an initial read to get the gist and determine the main idea in Lessons 2-3, students will return to several sections of the text to conduct more focused research.

In Advance

  • Prepare:
    • One or two mystery images per student by copying onto cardstock and cutting out (see supporting Materials).
    • Living Things Word Wall card for depend.
  • Strategically pair students for the Role-Play protocol in Work Time B. Consider pairing students with varying levels of language proficiency. The students with greater language proficiency can serve as models in their partnership, initiating discussion and providing implicit sentence frames.
  • Post: Learning targets 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.3, K.1.B.6, and K.2.C.6

Important points in the lesson itself

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs with opportunities to interact with images and a text that has rich illustrations and a poetic, repetitive verse. Visuals, role-play, and discussion support academic knowledge acquisition and inspire students to ask questions.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to grasp some of the Vocabulary (ancient, nourish, vole, underground) and syntax of The Tree in the Ancient Forest. Use gestures and call and response to reveal the text's repetitive structure, encourage participation, and lower the affective filter.

Levels of support

For lighter support:

  • Before students discuss the pictures in the Opening, probe them to share helpful sentence starters (examples: "I observe," "I notice, "I wonder"). Encourage them to share ways we ask questions, both language and tone. (Examples: "What do you observe?" "What do you notice?" "What do you wonder?")
  • During Work Time A, model using the illustrations to help students make sense of the concept of animal and tree interdependence. (Example: "I wonder what a vole is? What on this page could help me figure that out? Oh, look, here is an animal that could be it.")

For heavier support:

  • During the Opening, consider posting, illustrating, and referencing the sentence starters students use to discuss and ask questions about what they observe, notice, and wonder about in the mystery photos.
  • During Work Time A, use nonverbal ways to demonstrate how the tone of the book is mysterious and wonderful. Consider dramatically lowering your voice and using facial expressions to excite the students' imaginations in a way that complements their understanding of the text and illustrations.

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): Some students may need additional support with visual perception. During the read-aloud, continue to offer options for perception by displaying the text on a document camera or using an enlarged copy of the text to help direct students to the appropriate sentences on each page as they follow along. Pause to clarify new Vocabulary as needed.
  • Multiple Means of Action & Expression (MMAE): In this lesson, individual students are asked to share ideas with the whole group. As students share out, provide options for expression and communication by offering and modeling sentence frames.
  • Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Some students may need additional support in linking the information presented in the text back to the learning target. Invite students to make this connection by explicitly highlighting the utility and relevance of the text to the learning target. For example, provide an index card with the unpacked learning target for students to reference throughout the lesson. Include opportunities to refocus students' attention to the learning target throughout the lesson and invite students to share how each learning activity is supporting their instructional goal.

Vocabulary

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

New:

  • ancient, nourish, tunnel (T)
  • collaboration, depend (L)

Review:

  • main idea (L)

Materials

  • Picture Tea Party Protocol anchor chart (begun in Module 2)
  • Mystery photos (one or two per student)
  • The Tree in the Ancient Forest (one to display; for teacher read-aloud)
  • Reading Informational Text Checklist (see Assessment Overview and Resources)
  • Collaboration anchor chart (new; teacher-created; see supporting Materials)
  • Role-Play Protocol anchor chart (begun in Module 2)
  • What Researchers Do anchor chart (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 1)
  • Unit 2 Guiding Question anchor chart (new, teacher-created; see supporting Materials)
  • Living Things Word Wall card (new; teacher-created; one)
  • Living Things Word Wall (begun in Unit 1; added to during Work Time A; see Teaching Notes)
  • Back-to-Back and Face-to-Face Protocol anchor chart (begun in Module 2)

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. Picture Tea Party Protocol: Mystery Images (10 minutes)

  • Gather students whole group.
  • Tell students they have done excellent work becoming researchers to learn about what makes something living.
  • Tell students that today is an exciting day because you have some mystery pictures to show them that will give them a clue about what they will be learning next.
  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the first one aloud:

"I can share my observations and questions on a new research topic."

  • Tell students they are going to use the Picture Tea Party protocol to view mystery images to give them a clue about what they will be learning next and that they will discuss their observations and questions with partners during the protocol. Remind them that they used this protocol in Unit 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.)
  • Distribute the mystery photos and guide students through the protocol.
  • Invite students back to the whole group area and collect the mystery photos.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What did you notice in your pictures?" (Responses will vary depending on the picture, but may include: I saw a deer eating leaves; I noticed bees close to flowers on trees; or I saw different things that come from trees.)

  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"Based on the pictures you saw, what do you think we will be learning about today?" (different animals, different trees, animals that eat trees)

  • Inform students that the pictures they looked at have to do with a new question they will research.
  • For ELLs: (Questions) Consider probing students to reflect on the difference between asking a question (seeking information you don't have) and telling (saying what you think you know).
  • For ELLs: (Question Words) Consider posting and reviewing words and ways we ask questions: who, what, where, when, why, how.
  • For students who may need additional support with comprehension and engagement: Invite students to share how they observed mystery photos in the previous unit. (MMR, MME)

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Reading Aloud: The Tree in the Ancient Forest (15 minutes)

  • Refocus whole group.
  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the second one aloud:

"I can determine the main idea of the text The Tree in the Ancient Forest."

  • Remind students that the main idea of a text is what the text is mainly about.
  • Display The Tree in the Ancient Forest and read the title aloud.
  • While reading, consider using the Reading Informational Text Checklist to assess students' progress toward RI.K.1 and RI.K.7.
  • Focus students' attention on the word ancient in the title and define it (very old; from a long time ago).
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"How do the author and illustrator of this text make the tree look ancient in the picture on the front cover?" (The tree is very tall, like it has been growing for a long time.)

  • While still displaying the text, begin reading slowly and fluently through page 2.
  • Focus students on the illustration on pages 1-2, particularly the roots.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What do you notice about the roots and the tree in this illustration?" (The roots are big and long. The tree looks tall.)

  • Reread the first line on page 1 and, using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What do the roots do for the tree?" (They bring in food.)

  • Reread the text on page 1 and focus students on the word nourish.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"If the roots bring in food from the ground to nourish the tree, what do you think the word nourish means?"

  • If necessary, define nourish (to supply with food needed for life and growth).
  • While still displaying the text, continue reading slowly and fluently through page 8.
  • Reread the first line on page 7 and focus students' attention on the word tunnel and define it (to dig out under or through something).
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What do you notice in the illustration that will help us understand what the word tunnel means?" (The mouse is underground and using its paws to keep digging under the ground.)

  • Invite students to mimic the mouse as they tunnel underground for roots and truffles.
  • Reread pages 7-8 and, using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What can we learn from this page about how living things depend on this ancient tree?" (Mice need the food that grows near the tree.)

  • Continue reading slowly and fluently through page 16.
  • Reread the first two lines on page 16.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"Looking at the illustrations and listening to the text, what can you learn about how the woodpecker depends on the tree to live and grow?" (The woodpecker eats ants that crawl on the tree. I see the woodpecker sitting on the tree looking for something to eat.)

  • Invite students to mimic the woodpecker searching for ants on the tree.
  • Continue reading slowly and fluently through page 18.
  • Reread the first two lines on page 18 and focus students' attention on the illustration.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"Looking at this illustration and listening to the text, what can you learn about how the squirrel depends on the tree to live and grow?" (The squirrel hunts for food and follows the woodpecker. The squirrel looks mad at the woodpecker because it is taking food that the squirrel needs.)

  • Invite students to mimic the squirrel that hunts for nuts and food.
  • Continue reading slowly and fluently through the end of the text.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What is this book mainly about?" (the food that animals eat)

"What did you notice from the illustrations about the foods that the animals eat?" (The foods came from the tree.)

"Why is the title of this book The Tree in the Ancient Forest? How is the book about a tree? (The tree provides the food that the animals need. The mice eat food that grows on the roots of the tree. The woodpecker eats bugs that live on the tree.)

  • If productive, use a Goal 4 Conversation Cue to encourage students to agree or disagree and explain why:

"Do you agree or disagree with what your classmate said? Why? I'll give you time to think."

  • Confirm students' understanding and, if necessary, guide them toward the main idea that the tree provides the food that other living things in the forest need to live and grow.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: (Restating) Invite a few students to restate the learning target in their own words. In particular, focus on the word determine and help students by offering synonyms (e.g., discover, figure out, find out). (MMR)
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with sustained effort: (Text Engagement: Call and Response) After the first page of The Tree in the Ancient Forest, stop after "That grows" and invite students to fill in the rest of the sentence. Strategically pause in front of phrases that repeat often. (MME)
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: (Text Engagement: Paraphrasing) After reading sentences, stop and ask strategic questions to encourage engagement and help students paraphrase. (Examples: "Wait, what grows in the ancient forest?" "How old is the tree?" "Which animals?") (MMR)
  • Before reading, continue to provide white boards and dry-erase markers as an option for students to record (in drawing or writing) their ideas. Recall that this helps scaffold active listening for key details. (MMR, MMAE)

B. Role-Play Protocol: The Tree in the Ancient Forest (20 minutes)

  • Refocus whole group.
  • Offer students specific, positive feedback on their engagement during the read-aloud.
  • Tell students that they are going to act out part of The Tree in the Ancient Forest using the Role-Play protocol. Remind them that acting out different parts of the text can help them understand it better.
  • Inform students that before they begin the Role-Play protocol, you want to share with them a habit of character for helping us learn that they will focus on during the role-play and throughout the rest of the unit: collaboration.
  • Direct students' attention to the posted Collaboration anchor chart, read it aloud, and review the definition of collaboration (to work well with others to get something done).
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What does it mean to work well with others? What are some ways you can work well with others?" (Responses will vary, but may include: taking turns, sharing materials, listening to others' ideas, helping classmates when they are stuck.)

  • Tell students they are now going to use the Role-Play protocol to act out different sections of the text The Tree in the Ancient Forest with a partner. Remind them that acting out different parts of the text can help them understand it better. Remind them that they used this protocol in Module 2 and review as necessary using the Role-Play Protocol anchor chart. (Refer to the Classroom Protocols document for the full version of the protocol.)
  • Tell students that as they complete the Role-Play protocol today, it is important that they collaborate with their partner or small group.
  • Guide students through the Role-Play protocol for the following sections of text:
    • pages 7-8
    • pages 15-16
    • pages 17-18
  • Refocus students whole group and, using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"How did you collaborate today during the Role-Play protocol?" (We each took a role and acted it out to show what was happening during the story.)

"Why was it important to collaborate during this protocol?" (If we hadn't worked well with our partners, we wouldn't have been able to act out parts of the story. I needed my partner to show everything that was happening in the story.)
  • For ELLs: (Strategic Grouping: Partners) Create partners with varying levels of language proficiency. Alternatively, group students according to home language.
  • For ELLs: (Leadership) Invite a few students who might normally shy away from participation to demonstrate their role-play in front of the class.
  • For ELLs: (Gestures: Word Meaning) Consider demonstrating that a way to remember the word collaboration is by shaking hands with each other and invite students to shake hands. Tell them this gesture is one way to demonstrate working together. If time permits, invite them to share other ways.
  • For students who may need additional support with self-regulation: Facilitate personal coping skills and strategies by modeling socially appropriate ways to express enthusiasm and excitement during the role-play (e.g., give yourself a hug or take a deep breath and smile). (MME)

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Shared Reading: What Researchers Do Anchor Chart and Unit 2 Guiding Question Anchor Chart (15 minutes)

  • Refocus students whole group and offer specific, positive feedback on their collaboration during the Role-Play protocol.
  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and reread the first one aloud:

"I can share my observations and questions on a new research topic."

  • Remind students that throughout the lesson, they viewed mystery pictures, discussed their observations, listened to a text, acted out portions of the text, and shared their questions, all to generate ideas about what they will be researching next.
  • Direct students' attention to the What Researchers Do anchor chart and remind them that researchers are constantly asking questions and seeking information to help answer those questions.
  • Share with students that now they will learn what question they will work to answer as they gather information, read, discuss, write, and draw as researchers during this unit.
  • Direct students' attention to the Unit 2 Guiding Question anchor chart and read the guiding question aloud:
    • "How do living things depend on trees to meet their needs?"
  • Focus students on the word depend.
  • Remind students that they read about animals, such as the squirrel, mouse, and woodpecker, that depended on the tree in the text The Tree in the Ancient Forest.
  • Show students the Living Things Word Wall card for depend (to trust or rely on) and follow the same process established in Modules 1-2: provide its definition, clap out its syllables, use it in a sentence, and place the Word Wall card and picture for it on the Living Things Word Wall.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What are some examples of how you depend on someone or something?" (I depend on my mommy for dinner; I depend on my teacher for help with reading; I depend on my parents to bring me to school.)

  • Tell students they are now going to use the Back-to-Back and Face-to-Face protocol to discuss their ideas about the Unit 2 guiding question. Remind them that they used this protocol in Unit 1 and review as necessary using the Back-to-Back and Face-to-Face Protocol anchor chart. (Refer to the Classroom Protocols document for the full version of the protocol.)
    • Guide students through two rounds of the protocol to discuss ideas about the Unit 2 guiding question.
    • As students talk, circulate and listen in to target a few students to share out with the whole group.
  • Refocus whole group and, with excitement, tell students that they will be reading new texts, writing, discussing, and drawing to help answer the Unit 2 guiding question over the next several lessons!
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: (Summarizing Learning Target) Check for comprehension by asking students to summarize and then to personalize the learning target. Ask:

"Can you put the first learning target in your own words?" (I can tell you my ideas and questions about the new research topic.)

"How do you feel about that target?" (It might be a little hard, but it is interesting.) (MMR)

  • Continue to strategically pair students with strategic partners to ensure that they have a strong, politely helpful partner to support their efforts at sharing. (MME)

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