A. Reading Aloud and Paraphrasing Venom (15 minutes) 

• Display the cover of Venom and read the title and author aloud to students. Ask:

"What do you think venom means?"

• Use equity sticks to call on a few students. Accept all responses but do not clarify the meaning at this point. 
• Ask:

"What do you notice about this book? What do you think you will learn from it?"

• Read the back cover of the book, then ask:  

"Now what do you think venom means?"

• Display pages 4 and 5 and read the heading: "Introduction: Don't Eat, Don't Touch, Don't ...Well, Just Don't!" Ask:

"What do you notice about these pages? What do you wonder about these pages?" (Students should notice the text features, headings, color, and use of punctuation, all of which are to capture readers' attention and cue them to the topic's dangerous nature.)

• Read aloud the three paragraphs on page 4. Invite students to turn and talk, sharing one interesting thing they learned while listening to page 4. After a minute, use equity sticks to cold call several students and ask:

"What is one thing your partner learned while listening to page 4?"

• As students share their partner's learning, ask students to give a thumbs-up to show if they found the same thing interesting.
• Validate responses, then ask the following questions and continue to use equity sticks to cold call students:

"According to this text, what does poisonous mean?"  (Something that has poison, or Something that can make you sick.)

• Ask:

"After reading this page, did your definition of venom change? Why or why not?" (poison; reasons may vary)

"Why do you think the author titled this book Venom?"

• Validate responses. If it did not come up in the discussion, explain that this book is all about animals that use venom and poison to survive.
• Invite students to look at the visual on page 4. Read aloud the title and question. Read about each pair of animals. Ask students to hold up one finger if they think the animal on the left is poisonous, or two fingers if they think the animal on the right is poisonous (e.g., hold up one finger for the American toad or two fingers for the bullfrog for the first set of animals). 
• Read aloud the title and two paragraphs on page 5. Invite students to turn and talk, sharing one interesting thing they learned while listening to page 5. After a minute, use equity sticks to cold call several students and ask:

"What is one thing your partner learned while listening to page 5?"

• As students share their partner's learning, ask students to give a thumbs-up to show if they also think what the student is sharing is interesting. Validate responses. Ask:

"Why might an animal use venom?" (To catch prey, for self-defense, or to defend its family or community.)

• If productive, cue students to listen carefully and seek to understand:

"Who can tell us what your classmate said in your own words?" (Responses will vary.)

• Invite students to look at the diagram on page 5. Read aloud the title and directions. Invite students to match the animal with how it injects venom.
• Explain that students will use this text throughout the unit to learn how animals use venom to protect themselves and to practice how a listener can take notes and paraphrase a text.
• Explain to students that to paraphrase a text, they will need to retell the text. Explain that this is different from summarizing a text, because when summarizing a reader needs to determine the importance of the ideas presented in a text and say the big ideas concisely. When paraphrasing, readers need to simply tell everything they read or heard in their own words.
• Explain that they will practice paraphrasing a text that is read aloud to them and that to do this effectively, they will need to take notes while listening to what is being read. Tell students that taking notes is an important step in paraphrasing because it will help them include specific details from the text, and that they should not try to paraphrase a text from memory because they may miss details from the text.
• Explain that this type of note-taking can be described as running notes. Tell students that as they listen to the text, they will jot down notes about what they observe or hear. Then they will review their notes and paraphrase the text.
• Introduce the guest reader (if necessary), sharing that he or she will read Venom aloud as you model how a listener can take notes and then paraphrase a text.
• Ask students to get out their Animal Defenses research notebook and turn to the Listening Closely note-catcher on pages 2-3. Display a blank copy of the note-catcher. Explain that students will use this note-catcher to record their running notes during the read-aloud. 
• Use equity sticks to call on a student to read the directions and headings of the table in the note-catcher. Answer any clarifying questions.  
• Point out the research question on the note-catcher: "How do animals' bodies and behaviors help them survive?" Explain that researching to answer this question is the purpose for reading this text, and they should keep this in in mind as they work.
• Tell students that the text will be read aloud twice: one time for them to simply listen for gist and a second time for them to take running notes.
• Explain that today they will practice paraphrasing pages 4 and 5 of Venom. Tell them that since they have already listened to these pages read aloud once, they should be able to determine the gist.
• Invite students to turn and talk. Ask, and then use equity sticks to call on a student to share out:

"What was the gist of these pages?" (Some animals use venom and poison to survive.)

• Tell students that they will now hear page 4 read aloud a second time, and that you will model how to take running notes about what you hear while listening to the text read aloud. Explain that they do not need to write anything on their note-catchers at this time.
• Invite the guest reader to reread the first paragraph on page 4. Ask:

"After hearing this paragraph read again, what notes could we take?" (Students will name various details from this section of the text.)

• Model recording these notes in the "What do you OBSERVE/HEAR?" box on the note-catcher. Invite students to record these details on their note-catchers. Refer to the Listening Closely note-catcher (Example, for Teacher Reference).
• Continue in this manner for each paragraph on pages 4-5, stopping after each paragraph and discussing and modeling what kind of running notes could be recorded on the note-catcher.
• Remind students of the purpose for reading this text: to research how animals' bodies and behaviors help them survive. Invite students to write down any questions they have after hearing this text in the "What QUESTIONS do you have?" box.
• Invite students to turn to the next page of their note-catchers. Explain that now that they have completed their running notes, they can paraphrase the text. Remind them what it means to paraphrase as necessary.

Ask students to reread their notes; then give the following instructions:

1. Reread your notes from today's reading of Venom. 

2. Think about how we could paraphrase what we heard today.  

3. Share with an elbow partner how you would explain this text in your own words.

• As students work, point out that they should include the source when they paraphrase and that referring to their running notes can help them include many specific details when they paraphrase. Invite students to write their paraphrased version of the text on their note-catchers.
• Use equity sticks to call on several pairs to share how they would paraphrase the text. This allows students to hear the text paraphrased in a variety of ways. (This section of Venom was about how some animals are toxic. Some animals are poisonous and can make you sick if you eat them or touch them. This is how they protect themselves from predators. For example, if a dog bites a toxic toad, it would spit it out and the toad would not get eaten. Some animals are venomous and inject their poison by biting or stinging their enemy, like snakes or spiders. Animals use venom to catch their prey and to protect themselves or their community.)
• Encourage students to thank the guest reader. Tell them that they will use this book throughout the module to learn about animal defense mechanisms and to practice paraphrasing. They will have many more opportunities to read this book and can read through it on their own during independent reading or in their free time during the school day if they wish.

C. A Closer Look at Words: Animal Behavior: Animal Defenses (10 minutes) 

• Explain that students will now have a chance to discuss the unfamiliar vocabulary words from this selection of Animal Behavior: Animal Defenses. Invite them to skim page 7 and ask the following, then use equity sticks to call on students to share out, listing the words shared on the board:

"What words did you circle that you didn't know the meaning of?" (Answers will vary; students may identify savannah, herd, gazelles, prey, graze, predator, and quiver.)

• Ask students to turn to their partner and choose a word to try to figure out the meaning of. After a few minutes, invite students to share out whole group which word they tried to decipher and the strategy they used to do this.  
• Tell students that they have learned a lot about how to figure out new words. Now, they get to use that knowledge. Focus students on the strategies for determining unfamiliar vocabulary on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart.
• Use the strategies to determine the meanings of the following challenging words from the text. Encourage students to help you.
• savannah (a grassland)
• herd (a group of animals)
• gazelles (a kind of antelope living in Africa)
• prey (an animal that is eaten by other animals)
• graze (to eat grass)
• predator (an animal that eats other animals)
• quiver (to shake)
• Tell students that they now will use some of these strategies while rereading this selection of Animal Behavior: Animal Defenses to determine the meaning of some more challenging words.  
• Invite students to continue to use the back of their vocabulary log to keep track of the words they learn related to animal defenses throughout the module. 
• Show students the glossaries in the backs of Animal Behavior: Animal Defenses and Venom and remind them that a glossary is a text feature authors often use in nonfiction texts and is found at the end of a book. Also remind students that glossaries are formatted so the words appear in alphabetical order.  
• Model adding a new word to the back of the vocabulary log using the word prey on page 7 of Animal Behavior: Animal Defenses:
• Reread the first paragraph and circle the word prey in the third sentence.
• Explain that the text makes you think this word means "an animal that is hunted by another animal," but that you want to confirm this.
• Demonstrate using the strategies for determining unfamiliar vocabulary on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart to select a strategy for determining the word and tell students that your strategy will be to use the glossary. Point out that you are using this strategy because the word is in bold, which is a clue to the reader that the definition is in the glossary.
• Turn to the glossary on page 124.
• Think aloud in a way similar to the following: "The glossary is organized in alphabetical order, so I need to skim the words to find the words starting with the letter p. Here is the word prey, and the definition after says, 'an animal that is eaten by other animals.'"
• Complete the entry for this word as a class in the vocabulary logs.
• Distribute dictionaries and explain that students will use them to look up another word from this selection of Animal Behavior: Animal Defenses.
• Reread the third paragraph on page 7 and point out the word quiver.
• Allow students a few minutes to reread the paragraph and look the word up in the dictionary. Point out that this word has several meanings, as outlined in the dictionary:
• n a case for carrying arrows
• v to move with a slight shaking motion
• n the act or action of quivering
• Invite students to turn and talk with their partners, and then use equity sticks to call on a few pairs to share how they determined the meaning of this word:

"Which meaning of the word quiver makes the most sense in the context of this text?" (Quiver is describing what the gazelles are doing, so is used as a verb in this text. Thefirst definition of a case for carrying arrows does not make sense within the context of the text--the gazelles are not carrying arrows.)

• Ask students to help you add this word to their vocabulary log as a class.
• Answer clarifying questions.
• Focus students on the learning targets. Read each one aloud, pausing after each to use a checking for understanding protocol for students to reflect on their comfort level with or show how close they are to meeting each target. Make note of students who may need additional support with each of the learning targets moving forward.