- I can find the gist of an informational text. (RI.3.1)
- I can find the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary. (RI.3.4, L.3.4)
These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:
- RI.3.1: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
- RI.3.4: Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.
- SL.3.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
- SL.3.1b: Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
- L.3.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
Daily Learning Targets
Ongoing Assessment
- Finding the Gist and Unfamiliar Vocabulary: Kenya note-catcher (RI.3.4, L.3.4)
Agenda
Agenda | Teaching Notes |
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1. Opening A. Exploring the Text: My Librarian Is a Camel (15 minutes) B. Reviewing Learning Targets (5 minutes) 2. Work Time A. Modeling: How a Close Read of Informational Text Differs from a Close Read of Literary Text (15 minutes) B. Reading for Gist: My Librarian Is a Camel, Pages 18-19 (20 minutes) 3. Closing and Assessment A. Reflecting on Learning (5 minutes) 4. Homework A. Bring a favorite book to school. Be prepared to explain how you got it and why it is your favorite. If you do not have a favorite book, be prepared to explain why. B. Accountable Research Reading. Select a prompt and respond in the front of your independent reading journal. |
Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:
How it builds on previous work:
Areas where students may need additional support:
Assessment guidance:
Down the road:
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In Advance
- Prepare:
- Facsimiles of pages 18-19 from My Librarian Is a Camel.
- Small label with the book title and author to attach to a pin and place on the world map. This needs to be large enough to see, but not too large to cover up too much of the map.
- Predetermine pairs for Work Time B.
- Review the Think-Pair-Share protocol. (Refer to the Classroom Protocols document for the full version of the protocol.)
- Post: Learning targets, Working to Become Ethical People anchor chart, Experiences with Overcoming Challenges anchor chart, Guiding Questions anchor chart, and Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart.
Tech and Multimedia
- Work Time A: Share the Informational Texts handout in an online format, such as a Google Doc, to display and to share with families.
- Work Time B: For students who will benefit from hearing the text read aloud multiple times, consider using a text-to-speech tool like Natural Reader, SpeakIt! for Google Chrome, or the Safari reader. Note that to use a web-based text-to-speech tool like SpeakIt! or Safari reader, you will need to create an online doc, such as a Google Doc, containing the text.
- Work Time B: Students complete their note-catchers in a word-processing document, such as a Google Doc, using speech-to-text facilities activated on devices or using an app or software like Dictation.io.
Supporting English Language Learners
Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 3.I.A.1, 3.I.B.5, 3.I.B.6, and 3.I.B.8
Important points in the lesson itself
- The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs with opportunities to read and determine the gist of a complex text. This will provide students with background knowledge and a framework for understanding the topic as they continue to discuss access to education.
- ELLs may find the abundance of information introduced in this lesson challenging, as it sets the stage for the rest of the unit. If some students are overwhelmed, reassure them that if they do not fully understand everything during this lesson, they will have plenty of time to practice with the new concepts throughout the unit. Frequently refer back to the photographs in the text to guide students' understanding of the content.
Levels of support
For lighter support:
- Before providing sentence frames or additional modeling during Work Time, observe student interaction and allow students to grapple. Provide supportive frames and demonstrations only after they have struggled with the task. Observe the areas in which they struggle to target appropriate support.
- During the Mini Language Dive, challenge students to generate questions about the sentence before asking the prepared questions. Example: "What questions can we ask about this sentence? Let's see if we can answer them together." (Who is the sentence about? What are nomadic villages?)
For heavier support:
- During the reading for gist, distribute a partially filled-in copy of the Finding the Gist and Unfamiliar Vocabulary: Kenya note-catcher. This will provide students with models for the kind of information they should enter, as well as reduce the volume of writing required. Refer to the Finding the Gist and Unfamiliar Vocabulary: Kenya note-catcher (answers, for teacher reference) to determine which sections to provide for students.
- Show a brief video or a series of photographs to set the stage for the reading. Example: Display photos of life in nomadic communities in Kenya. Briefly discuss the similarities and differences between these communities and the community in which the school is situated.
- Throughout the reading for gist, stop often to check for comprehension. Ask students to summarize the events and ideas in the text. When necessary, paraphrase the events in more comprehensible language.
Universal Design for Learning
- Multiple Means of Representation: Not only does this lesson introduce the unit, but also informational texts. Students will benefit from tangible and visual representations of new content. Display examples of informational texts. Include various textual features most often found in these texts, such as tables of contents, diagrams, graphs, appendices, etc. For the purposes of comparison, you may also include examples of fictional texts and discuss the ways in which the text features differ between the two. Engage with new vocabulary in dynamic ways. This can include images, underlining or boxing in familiar words embedded in larger words, or holding a discussion about the meaning of new vocabulary.
- Multiple Means of Action and Expression: Since My Librarian Is a Camel is a complex text, provide supports during Work Time to assist students in accessing it. (Examples: Provide an audio version of the text excerpt; limit the complexity of the task by highlighting or placing sticky notes on key sections of the text that students should focus on; prewrite the gist on a sticky note and ask students to match it to the correct paragraph; use peer mentors.)
- Multiple Means of Engagement: Students who need additional support with reading may be turned off by a unit that focuses on books and reading. Provide space for students to share their honest feelings about reading. Remind them that, even though reading is a skill that is important to learn, it has different value to different individuals, and that is okay. Also, do not assume that students have books at home. Offer a choice between selecting a book from home or from the school/classroom library.
Vocabulary
Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T); Vocabulary Used in Writing (W)
- gist, informational text, inform, researched, text features (L)
- nomadic, take for granted, temperate (T)
See Textual Analysis Resources online for additional academic vocabulary to teach with My Librarian Is a Camel.
Materials
- My Librarian Is a Camel (book; one to display; for teacher read-aloud)
- Working to Become Ethical People anchor chart (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 2)
- Experiences with Overcoming Challenges anchor chart (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 3; added to during Opening A)
- Guiding Questions anchor chart (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 1)
- Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (from Unit 1, Lesson 3)
- Vocabulary log (from Unit 1, Lesson 5; one per student)
- Facsimiles of pages 18-19 from My Librarian Is a Camel (one per student; see Teaching Notes)
- Informational Texts handout (one per student and one to display)
- Finding the Gist and Unfamiliar Vocabulary: Kenya note-catcher (one per student and one to display)
- Academic Word Wall (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 1)
- Domain-Specific Word Wall (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 1)
- Finding the Gist and Unfamiliar Vocabulary: Kenya note-catcher (answers, for teacher reference)
- World map (from Unit 1, Lesson 3; one to display)
- Labeled pin (one to display)
- Compass points (from Unit 1, Lesson 3; one to display)
Materials from Previous Lessons
New Materials
Assessment
Each unit in the 3-5 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. 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
Opening | Meeting Students' Needs |
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A. Exploring the Text: My Librarian Is a Camel (15 minutes)
"How do you feel about books? How do you feel about reading? Are books and reading important? Why or why not?" (Responses will vary.) "This book is about children all over the world, in different places and cultures, learning from books. Has anybody here ever read a book in a different country or culture? What was it like? How is it similar or different from how we read books in this school?" (Responses will vary.)
"What is one interesting photograph or idea you saw in the text?" (Responses will vary.)
"What do you notice about this page?" (It lists names of different countries.) "Does anyone recognize any of the names of these countries? Has anyone ever visited or lived in any of these countries?" (Responses will vary.)
"Who does 'I' refer to? Who wrote this page?" (the author, Margriet Ruurs) "What inspired the author to research and write this book?" (She read a newspaper article about a camel in Kenya that was used to bring books to people living in the desert.) "Find the last sentence in the third paragraph, beginning with 'One librarian in Azerbaijan....' The librarian said that the library is 'as important as air or water.' In your own words, tell what this part of the sentence helps you to understand about the importance of libraries to people around the world." (People around the world need and want to be able to access books, as much as they need water or air.) "What do you think about this idea? Are libraries as important as air or water to you? Why or why not?" (Responses will vary.) "What does it mean to take for granted?" (when you do not appreciate something because you think it will always be available to you)
"What do you already know about how people access books around the world?" (Responses will vary.) "What is your perspective or experience with accessing books? Have you had trouble accessing books? Why did you want to access books, or why have you not been interested in books in the past?" (Responses will vary.)
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B. Reviewing Learning Targets (5 minutes)
"What challenges have you faced when accessing books?" (Responses will vary.)
"I can find the gist of an informational text."
"What does it mean to determine the gist of a text?" (to determine what the text is mostly about)
"Which strategies could we use to determine the meaning of this word?" (Student responses may vary, but could include look at the root of the word for clues.) "What familiar word do you see in informational that can help you figure out its meaning?" (information) "What is the translation of information in our home languages?" (informacion in Spanish) Invite students to use their translation dictionary if necessary. Call on volunteers to share. Ask other students to choose one translation to quietly repeat. Invite students to say their chosen translation out loud when you give the signal. Chorally repeat the word in English. Invite self- and peer correction of the pronunciation of the translations and the English.
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"Do you know any other words that end in -al that turn a noun into an adjective or descriptive word?" (magical, logical, emotional) (MMR) |
Work Time
Work Time | Meeting Students' Needs |
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A. Modeling: How a Close Read of Informational Text Differs from a Close Read of Literary Text (15 minutes)
"What is the text about?" (Responses may vary, but could include it's about libraries in Kenya or it's about how some people in Kenya get books.) "How is this text different from the texts we read in Unit 1?" (Responses will vary, but may include: There is no talking in this excerpt; there are separate paragraphs with information about some libraries in Kenya; the information in this book is real or true.)
"What topic is the author informing or teaching about throughout this book?" (how people around the world access books)
"What do you notice about these pages of the text? What is different about the way they look?" (Responses will vary, but students should point out specific text features such as headings or photographs with captions. They will likely not know the correct names of these features yet.)
"Put your finger by the paragraphs that explain what the author did before writing this book." (paragraphs 1-2) "What did the author do before writing this book?" (She researched, or learned more about the topic, by reading about and talking to librarians around the world.)
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B. Reading for Gist: My Librarian Is a Camel, Pages 18-19 (20 minutes)
"How did we find the gist when reading literary texts in Unit 1?" (We read sections of the text and thought about what the text was mostly about.)
"What is the gist of this part of the text? What is it mostly about?" (Some roads in the Kenyan desert are hard for cars to drive on, so librarians use camels to bring books to people living there.) "Are there any words whose meaning you are unsure of? What are they?" (Responses will vary.)
"Where is Kenya located?" (East Africa)
"Which continent do we live in?" (Responses will vary.) "Where are we in relation to Kenya?" (Responses will vary, but students should use the compass points.)
"According to the text, what is the climate like in Kenya?" (The coast is hot and humid; further inland, it is temperate; the northern part of the country is dry.)
"Do all people in Kenya rely on camels to bring them books? Why or why not?" (No; some people who live in hard-to-reach parts of Kenya rely on camels, but people who live in parts of Kenya that are easier to access do not.) "Is this a common experience for people living in Kenya? How else might people in Kenya get books?" (Other people in Kenya might access books by going to a library or bookstore.)
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"What are nomadic villages?" Invite students to share their answers with a partner and then with the class. (communities that travel to different places together) "Who is this sentence about?" (young people) Invite a student to underline "young people." "Can you find a phrase, or part of the sentence, that adds more information about where the young people live?" ("who live in nomadic villages") "Where are the nomadic villages?" (in the area) "What area is the sentence referring to? How do you know?" (Bulla Iftin, the area in Kenya; it is the area the text is about) "The sentence says the young people are hungry for books. What does that mean? Are they going to eat books?" (No, it is figurative language. It means they really want to read books and learn.) Underline the word but. "This sentence starts with but. That means it is offering an idea that contrasts, or is different from, the idea before it. What idea comes before?" (You can't drive cars on the road there.) "What does this sentence mean, in your own words?" (It is hard to get books to the children, but they really want to read.) |
Closing & Assessments
Closing | Meeting Students' Needs |
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A. Reflecting on Learning (5 minutes)
"What is one thing you have learned about some libraries in Kenya after reading this excerpt?" (Responses will vary.) "Describe the climate of Kenya. How is it similar to where we live? How is it different?" (Kenya's climate is different in different parts of the country. It can be hot and humid, temperate, or dry.) "What strategies did you use today to help you read this text? How did these strategies help you to better understand the text?" (Responses will vary.)
"Can you say more about that?" (Responses will vary.)
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Homework
Homework | Meeting Students' Needs |
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A. Bring a favorite book to school. Be prepared to explain how you got it and why it is your favorite. If you do not have a favorite book, be prepared to explain why. B. Accountable Research Reading. Select a prompt and respond in the front of your independent reading journal. |
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