Small Group Research: Taking Notes and Unit 3 Assessment, Part I | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA GK:M3:U3:L6

Small Group Research: Taking Notes and Unit 3 Assessment, Part I

In this Lesson

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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

  • 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.4: Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can describe my tree and what it needs using my research notes. (W.K.7, W.K.8)
  • I can discuss the needs of my tree and identify patterns among different types of trees. (SL.K.1a, SL.K.1b, SL.K.4)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Circulate and observe students throughout the Science Talk in Work Time B. Use the Speaking and Listening Checklist to document progress toward SL.K.1a and SL.K.1b (see Assessment Overview and Resources).
  • During the shared reading in Work Time C, circulate and listen as students discuss patterns among trees. Prompt them to provide more detail when listening in and/or sharing with the whole class to measure progress toward SL.K.4.

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Poem and Movement: "Connecting Trees" (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Preparing for a Science Talk: Tree: Individual Notes (20 minutes)

B. Unit 3 Assessment, Part I: Science Talk (15 minutes)

C. Shared Reading: All about Trees Anchor Chart (15 minutes)

3. Closing

A. Reflecting on Learning (5 minutes)

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

  • This is the first of four lessons that open with the poem "Connecting Trees." These Openings are meant to be joyful while providing opportunities for fluency practice. They also provide quick reviews of the Language standards L.K.1c and L.K.5b.
  • In Work Time A, students use the Tree: Small Group Notes from Lesson 5 to make their own individual notes. Students will add to these notes again in Lesson 8, and they will be used during the Science Talks in this lesson and in Lesson 9, and also for the performance task.
  • In Work Time B, students engage in the first of three Science Talks that will serve as Part I of the Unit 3 Assessment. During each Science Talk, select a portion of the class to observe and evaluate. Use each of these formal assessment opportunities to measure student progress toward mastery of SL.K.1a and SL.K.1b. During this first session, consider choosing to observe a slightly larger group of students who have previously demonstrated mastery of the standards because you are formally assessing their previously documented progress.

How this lesson builds on previous work:

  • In Lesson 5, students created Tree: Small Group Notes about their specific trees. In Work Time A, they use those notes to create their own individual notes and to help them prepare for a Science Talk.
  • In Lesson 5, students examined facts about their specific small group tree. In this lesson, they compare all of the five trees by examining the All about Trees anchor chart, a synthesized version of the Tree: Small Group Notes.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

  • Students may need additional support transferring their ideas from the small group notes to their individual notes.

Down the road:

  • Work Time C gives students time to identify patterns among the various trees. This will prepare them for their third Science Talk in Lesson 9.
  • In Lessons 8-9, students use their Tree: Individual Notes to complete the writing for their performance task.
  • The research cycle that students experienced in Lesson 5 and in this lesson will be repeated in Lessons 7-8 to answer a different research question. Both research questions will help students uncover patterns among living things, which they will explore and discuss in Lesson 9.

In Advance

  • Prepare the Tree: Individual Notes Symbols 1 by printing one copy per student and cutting them into strips to ease the fine motor demand on students (see supporting Materials).
  • Distribute Materials for Work Time A at student workspaces.
  • Determine groups of three or four students for the Science Talk in Work Time B, with one student from each of the different research groups. Also, consider which groups you will observe today and which groups you will observe in Lessons 8-9.
  • 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.I.C.12

Important points in the lesson itself

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs with opportunities to engage with poetic syntax and Vocabulary about trees in "Connecting Trees." Students build Vocabulary and fluency discussing content-specific knowledge with classmates as they prepare for and participate in a Science Talk and Unit 3 Assessment, Part I.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to process and use the new Vocabulary introduced in the poem "Connecting Leaves" (touches, underground, crumbly, shines, tiny, connected). In addition to gestures and practice saying the words, consider adding pictures of items or real things that exemplify these words to a basket of realia in the classroom. Add the words to the nouns, verbs and adjectives charts created throughout Module 3 and encourage students to identify translations (example: connect -conectar).

Levels of support

For lighter support:

  • Before providing sentence frames, additional modeling, or discussion gestures for the Science Talk, consider inviting students to recall ways we share information in a Science Talk.

For heavier support:

  • During the Science Talk, circulate and take note of correct use of syntax and Vocabulary as well as miscues. After the discussion is complete, highlight a few examples without attributing them to a particular student. Ask students to explain how each miscue could be corrected. This will be helpful corrective feedback for Parts II and III of the assessment in Lessons 8-9.

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): Continue to support students as they generalize skills that they learned from the previous lesson to set themselves up for success in the Science Talk.
  • Multiple Means of Action & Expression (MMAE): In this lesson, students participate in a Science Talk. Continue to support them in setting appropriate goals for their effort and the level of difficulty expected.
  • Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): Continue to remind students of the goal for the work they are doing with their research. Returning to the learning goals lifts up their value and relevance to students.

Vocabulary

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

New:

  • touches, underground, crumbly, shines, connected (T)

Review:

  • tiny (T)
  • pattern (L)

Materials

  • "Connecting Trees" (one to display)
  • Tree: Individual Notes (one per student)
  • Tree: Individual Notes Symbols 1 (one per student)
  • Tree: Small Group Notes (begun in Lesson 5; one per small group)
    • Coast Redwood: Small Group Notes (one per this small group)
    • Paper Birch: Small Group Notes (one per this small group)
    • Quaking Aspen: Small Group Notes (one per this small group)
    • Weeping Willow: Small Group Notes (one per this small group)
    • Live Oak: Small Group Notes (one per this small group)
  • Tree: Small Group Notes (from Lesson 5; example, for teacher reference)
  • Scissors (one pair per student and one for teacher modeling)
  • Glue sticks (one per student and one for teacher modeling)
  • Tree: Individual Notes (example, for teacher reference)
  • Pinky Partners Protocol anchor chart (begun in Module 2)
  • Science Talk Protocol anchor chart (begun in Module 2)
  • Speaking and Listening Checklist (for teacher reference; see Assessment Overview and Resources)
  • All about Trees anchor chart (new; teacher-created; see supporting Materials)
  • All about Trees anchor chart (example, for teacher reference)

Materials from Previous Lessons

New Materials

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.

Download this Lesson’s Assessment

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Poem and Movement: "Connecting Trees" (5 minutes)

  • Gather students whole group.
  • Display the poem "Connecting Trees" and read the title. Share with students that this poem was written by a group of kindergarteners. They worked together to take facts about trees and turn them into a beautiful poem using shared writing with their teacher.
  • Follow the same routine established in Modules 1-2 to read the "Connecting Trees" poem.
    • Direct students' attention to the posted poem.
    • Invite students to first listen as you read the poem fluently and without interruption.
    • Reread the poem with students and briefly define the following words as you read:
  • connected (joined or linked together)
  • touches (puts a hand or a finger on something to feel it)
  • underground (beneath the earth's surface)
  • crumbly (easily broken)
  • shines (gives off light)
    • Reread the poem for a third time and invite students to read along as you point to the text.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What is this poem about?" (Trees are connected to the sun or to the water.)

  • If productive, cue students to explain why a classmate came up with a particular response:

"Who can explain why your classmate came up with that response? I'll give you time to think."

  • Tell students that the poem teaches us that trees have connections to lots of different things, including the sun, the water (where it gets its needs), and all of the animals that live in them and eat from them and depend on them.
  • Provide specific, positive feedback on students' participation with the poem and tell them that they will continue to read the poem "Connecting Trees" in upcoming lessons.
  • For ELLs and students who may need support with comprehension: (Visuals) Consider attaching illustrated index cards of the words in the poem for the students to predict, retell, and manipulate during this Opening, as well as in Lessons 7-9. (MMR)
  • For ELLs: Mini Language Dive. "When/it shines on it/it grows bigger." ("Connecting Trees" poem)
    • Deconstruct: Discuss the sentence and each chunk. Language goals for focus structure:
  • it shines: "What is this chunk about?" This chunk is about something that shines. It refers to the sun. The sun shines or gives off light. (pronoun; verb)
  • on it: "What does it shine on?" on tells us where the sun, shines. It is a tree (preposition; pronoun)
  • Practice: When ___________[it (rain) falls on it] it grows bigger. Suggested question: What else makes a tree grow bigger? "Can we act out the chunk?"
    • Reconstruct: Reread the sentence. Ask:

"How do you know the first it is the sun, and the second it is a tree?"

"How does this Language Dive add to your understanding of what trees need?"

    • Practice: When the sun shines on me, I __________ [feel happy/get hot/put on a hat]. Ask:

"Was this sentence difficult or easy to understand? Why? What words could we replace it with in this sentence?"

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Preparing for a Science Talk: Tree: Individual Notes (20 minutes)

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

"I can describe my tree and what it needs using my research notes."

  • Tell students that they will use their small group notes about their specific tree to create their own individual notes. These notes will help them get ready to do a Science Talk and later write their booklets for their informational collage.
  • Tell students that in a moment, they will go to their seats and get started creating their individual notes from their small group notes. First, you will show them exactly what to do.
  • Display the Tree: Individual Notes and the Tree: Individual Notes Symbols 1.
    • Focus students on the Tree: Individual Notes and read aloud the columns:
    • "Tree"
    • "Need"
    • "Animals"
    • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"Based on your research and small group notes that you have made, what parts of your notes are you ready to complete today?" (the tree and what it needs)

    • Tell students that they will have an opportunity to do more research to find out even more about their individual trees, but for now they will focus only on the Tree and Need columns on their Tree: Individual Notes. Star those columns to signal where students will focus.
    • Focus students on the Tree: Individual Notes Symbols 1 and think aloud about one researched tree (e.g., quaking aspen) and the needs of that tree. Model how to look back to the Tree: Small Group Notes to remind yourself of the information. Refer to the Tree: Small Group Notes (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
    • Model how to select, cut out, and glue down the tree and the accurate symbols for the tree's needs using the scissors and glue sticks. Refer to the Tree: Individual Notes (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
    • Remind students that they should use their Tree: Small Group Notes to help them create accurate notes.
  • Tell students that they will find the Materials they need at their workspaces (Tree: Small Group Notes, Tree: Individual Notes, Tree: Individual Notes Symbols 1, glue sticks, scissors).
  • Invite students to move their legs like kindergartners but move their arms like tree branches blowing in the wind as they transition back to their workspaces with their small groups.
  • Before students begin working, invite them to read over their Tree: Small Group Notes with their small
  • Invite students to begin working on their individual notes. Circulate and observe as they work.
  • After 10 minutes, ask students to begin cleaning up Materials.
  • Invite students to bring their individual notes and return to the whole group meeting area.
  • Tell students they are going to use the Pinky Partners protocol to share their Tree: Individual Notes. Remind them that they used this protocol in Unit 2 and review as necessary using the Pinky Partners protocol anchor chart. (Refer to the Classroom Protocols document for the full version of the protocol.)
  • Guide students through the protocol using the prompt:

"What does your specific tree need?"

  • Tell students that next they will share what they have learned about their tree in a Science Talk!
  • For students who may need additional support with fine motor skills: Offer pre-printed selections of the information (e.g., one possible need) on a separate sheet from the small group notes. For students who need heavier support, pre-cut the information into strips for student selection. (MMAE, MME)

B. Unit 3 Assessment, Part I: Science Talk (15 minutes)

  • Refocus students whole group.
  • Offer specific, positive feedback on their hard work creating their individual notes.
  • With excitement, tell students they are going to use the Science Talk protocol to share what they have learned about their specific tree with other small groups that focused on different trees. Remind them that they used this protocol in Modules 1-2 and review as necessary using the Science Talk Protocol anchor chart. (Refer to the Classroom Protocols document for the full version of the protocol.)
  • Post and review the following sentence frames:
    • "I would like to add ______."
    • "This makes me think ______."
  • Move students into pre-determined groups and guide them through the protocol using the following question:

"What does your tree need to live and grow?"

  • As students participate in the Science Talk, circulate to observe pre-selected students and use the Speaking and Listening Checklist to document progress toward SL.K.1a and SL.K.1b.
  • Gather students whole group.
  • Offer specific, positive feedback on their work in the Science Talk.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with planning: (Strategy Recall) Invite students to recall when they used frames and gestures to share information during a Science Talk. Encourage them to show the gestures and practice saying the frames. If needed, remind students of the frame "I would like to add _____" and gesture, as well as the frame "That makes me think ______" and gesture. (MMR, MMAE)

C. Shared Reading: All about Trees Anchor Chart (15 minutes)

  • Remind students that they have just learned about many different types of trees. They will now look closely to find patterns among the different trees.
  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the first one aloud:

"I can discuss the needs of my tree and identify patterns among different types of trees."

  • Quickly remind students of the definition of pattern (something that is the same and repeats over and over again).
  • Remind them they have learned that researchers seek out patterns in the world around them.
  • Direct students' attention to the All about Trees anchor chart and tell them that you looked at all the Tree: Small Group Notes that they created and put all of the information on one chart so they can find patterns. Read aloud the anchor chart.
  • Ask:

"What hand gesture or motion can we do to show how much water and sun each tree needs?" (Responses will vary, but may include: hands moving in and out to show a lot versus a little.)

  • Reread the anchor chart and invite students to read it with you while doing their hand motions or gestures.
  • Tell students that they will look through the information about all of the trees to find patterns. To help find the patterns, they will think about how the trees are the same and different.
  • Follow this process for each of the questions below:
    • Give students 30 seconds of think time and then Turn and Talk.
    • Circulate and listen in as students discuss, referring them back to the anchor chart as necessary.
    • Select a few volunteers to share out.
    • Record one or two ideas on the All about Trees anchor chart. Refer to the All about Trees anchor chart (example, for teacher reference) as necessary.
    • Ask:

"What is the same about all of these trees?" (They all need water and sun.)

"What is different about all of the trees?" (They look different; they need different amounts of sun.)

"What is a pattern you notice about all of the trees?" (They all need water.)

  • If productive, cue students to explain why a classmate came up with a particular response.

"Who can explain why your classmate came up with that response? I'll give you time to think."
  • For students who may need additional support with organizing ideas for verbal expression: Provide scaffolds as students share during the discussion. (MMAE)

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Reflecting on Learning (5 minutes)

  • Offer students specific, positive feedback on finding patterns in the All about Trees anchor chart.
  • Direct students' attention to the first learning target and read it aloud:

"I can describe my tree and what it needs using my research notes."

  • Tell students they will now use the Pinky Partners protocol to reflect on how creating clear notes helped them to participate in a Science Talk. Review the Pinky Partners protocol anchor chart as necessary.
  • Guide students through two rounds of the protocol using the following questions:

"What did you do to create clear notes?"

"How did your clear notes help you during the Science Talk?"

  • Tell students that they will continue to do research about their specific trees and find patterns to answer the Unit 3 guiding question:
    • "What patterns can we observe in how living things meet their needs?"
  • For students who may need additional support with organizing ideas for verbal expression: Allow students to discuss and rehearse their sentences before sharing in the protocol. (MMAE)

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