- I can use text features to find information about the glass frog efficiently in Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures. (RI.3.5)
- I can find the gist of an excerpt from Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures. (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.
- RI.3.5: Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
- RI.3.10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
- W.3.7: Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
- W.3.8: Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.
- 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
- KWEL chart (RI.3.1, RI.3.10, W.3.7, W.3.8)
Agenda
Agenda | Teaching Notes |
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1. Opening A. KWEL Chart: Frogs (10 minutes) B. Reviewing Learning Targets (5 minutes) 2. Work Time A. Mini Lesson: Using Informational Text Features (15 minutes) B. Reading for Gist: Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures (15 minutes) 3. Closing and Assessment A. Research Reading Share (15 minutes) 4. Homework A. Choose a Regular Verb practice from your Homework Resources to complete. B. Vocabulary. Follow the directions in your Unit 2 homework packet. C. Accountable Research Reading. Select a prompt to respond to 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:
- Why?, Informational Texts, Close Readers Do These Things anchor charts.
- Small label: "Glass Frogs" to attach to a pin and place on the world map. This must be large enough to see but not too large to cover up too much of the map.
- Research reading share using with the Independent Reading: Sample Plan standalone document, or using your own independent reading routine.
- Post: Learning targets.
Tech and Multimedia
- Opening A: Students' Freaky Frog research notebooks could be completed online, for example on Google Docs in a folder for each student.
- Opening A: Students complete their KWEL charts in a word processing document, for example a Google Doc using Speech to Text facilities activated on devices, or using an app or software like Dictation.io.
- Work Time B: For students who will benefit from hearing the text read aloud multiple times to find the gist, 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.
Supporting English Language Learners
Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 3.I.B.6, 3.II.A.1, 3.II.A.2, 3.I.C.10.
Important points in the lesson itself
- The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs by focusing on text features, which may be similar to texts in their home language system and at times might be different.
- ELLs may find text features challenging, too. If students home culture does not focus on literacy, text features may be completely new. Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures has so many different text features that it can be overwhelming for some students. To focus students, emphasize that captions help tell about a picture, words in larger print are important, and headings name the topic of each section.
Levels of support
For lighter support:
- To reinforce students' learning on verb tenses, ask them to note when the author uses the present simple tense while reading Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures. Example: "The glass frog blends in perfectly with its environment. Invite them to identify the verb and ask how they know it is present tense. Tell them that many informational text authors write in the present simple, just like they will.
For heavier support:
- To emphasize the usefulness of text features, type up a page of Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures without any text features at all. Compare it to the book. Point out that when all of the text looks the same and is organized in the same way, our eyes do not know where to look.
Universal Design for Learning
- Multiple Means of Representation (MMR): Some students may need additional support understanding informational texts and text features. Consider working in a small group in advance to look closely at the Informational Texts handout. Pull together some examples of informational texts and guide students to highlight words or phrases that show what topic these texts are about. Emphasize the idea that all informational texts give information about a certain topic and authors are careful to stay on topic and provide details about that topic. Also, look closely at some of the text features common to informational texts and discuss what a reader can find in each one.
- Multiple Means of Action and Expression (MMAE): Because this lesson requires students to shift the focus of their thinking multiple times, consider quickly revisiting and pointing out learning targets throughout the lesson as an indicator for students that they will now be working on. Some students who may need support attending to the task may also benefit from having a personal "map" of the lesson that they can physically point to or use to check off what they have accomplished and "see" what they need to focus on next.
- Multiple Means of Engagement (MME): While holding high expectations is important, be aware that sometimes these expectations can raise student anxiety. Emphasize the importance of process and effort by discussing how even when you try your best, you may make a mistake and that is okay because it is an opportunity to learn and use that knowledge the next time.
Vocabulary
Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T); Vocabulary Used in Writing (W)
- informational, topic (L)
- table of contents, index (T)
Materials
- Freaky Frog research notebooks (from Lesson 1; one per student and one to display)
- KWEL Chart: Frogs (page 1 of Freaky Frog research notebook)
- Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures (from Lesson 1; one per student and one to display)
- KWEL Chart: Frogs (answers, for teacher reference)
- Why? anchor chart (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 2)
- Informational Texts handout (from Lesson 1; one per student and one to display)
- Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
- Finding the Gist and Unfamiliar Vocabulary note-catcher (optional; one per student; see Teaching Notes)
- Sticky notes (optional; one per student; see Teaching Notes)
- Vocabulary logs (from Module 1; one per student)
- Academic Word Wall (started in Module 1)
- Domain-Specific Word Wall (started in Unit 1, Lesson 1)
- Pin and label (see Teaching Notes; two for display)
- World map (from Module 1; one for display)
- Working to Become Ethical People anchor chart (from Module 1)
- Independent Reading: Sample Plan (standalone document)
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. KWEL Chart: Frogs (10 minutes)
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B. Reviewing Learning Targets (5 minutes)
"I can use text features to find information about the glass frog efficiently in Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures." "I can find the gist of an excerpt from Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures."
"Why is the glass frog so hard to see?"
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Work Time
Work Time | Meeting Students' Needs |
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A. Mini Lesson: Using Informational Text Features (15 minutes)
"What kind of text is Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures?" (informational) "What makes it an informational text?" (It informs or teaches about a topic.)
"What is the topic of these pages?" (amphibians and what makes them unique)
"Look at the pictures on pages 6-7. Why might the writers have included these pictures?" (to help the reader visualize what the text is saying; to help the reader better understand the text)
"Why is the glass frog so hard to see?"
"Which pages have information about glass frogs? What text features did you use to help you find this information?" (table of contents: page 32--The Glass Frog; index: pages 32-33)
"What did you learn about the glass frog on these pages? What in or about the text helped you find that information?" (Responses will vary; for example, the picture on page 32 shows me that glass frogs are green; the diagram at the bottom of page 32 shows me the size of a glass frog, etc.) "Why is it called a glass frog? What qualities of the frog remind you of glass?" (It is see-through or transparent, just like glass.)
"Can you figure out why the authors used these specific text features? I'll give you time to think and discuss with a partner." (Responses will vary.)
"Who can tell us what your classmate said in your own words?" (Responses will vary.)
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"What does this sentence mean?" "What does it mean for a text to be focused?" (clear, specific, paying attention to something) "Who is focusing the text?" (me, the writer) "What does the sentence mean by the same topic?" (It doesn't change topics to a different one. It talks about only one topic.) "What does the sentence mean by throughout?" (the whole time; from beginning to end) "What is the piece?" (the writing; the paragraph) "Now, can you put the sentence in your own words?" (Informational texts talk about only one topic the whole time.) |
B. Reading for Gist: Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures (15 minutes)
"What is this text about?" (Student responses may vary, but could include it's about glass frogs.)
"Where do glass frogs live?" (Central and South America.)
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Closing & Assessments
Closing | Meeting Students' Needs |
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A. Research Reading Share (15 minutes)
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Homework
Homework | Meeting Students' Needs |
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A. Choose a Regular Verb practice from your Homework Resources to complete. B. Vocabulary. Follow the directions in your Unit 2 homework packet. C. Accountable Research Reading. Select a prompt to respond to in the front of your independent reading journal. |
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