Fifth Grade November-January Unit 4:Nonfiction Research Projects

Mentor Texts

Unit Objective: Students will read as researchers across texts. Student will be able to read across-texts, compare information and acquire and apply technical vocabulary. Students will be able to critically think about their research and determine the authors point of view across texts. Students will Special Note: You can choose to tie this unit into Writing Unit 4: Research Based Argument Essays. use their research to share and teach others. Part 1: Procedure Strategy/Skill Strategy/Skill Strategy/Skill Strategy/Skill Synthesizing Complex Choosing a Topic Researching Technical Vocabulary Facts/Thoughts Clarifying Information Information Across Today I want to teach you that Today I want to teach you that Today I want to teach you that Today I want to teach you that Today I want to teach you how to Diverse Texts and researcher can choose topics researchers look for new and researchers use and learn new researchers need not only to catch conflicting information Working in the that will become their areas of important information about technical vocabulary about their collect, but researchers also need across multiple texts. Company of Fellow expertise. They gather and their topic. Researchers search topics to become experts. to think! P. 75 Researchers preview a collection of texts, for unique information that they P.74, 79 P.74-75, 80 Read a third text to mapping out the structures wish to discover more about Model for students how Have student use the judge which information across those texts to plan their rather they general information to use the boxes and stop and jot strategy to can be trusted more. learning. they can obtain from the book. bullets format to pull out think about their topic Teach the difference P.73, 79 P.73-74, 79 technical vocabulary. as they are researching. between a primary and While looking across Remind the students Notice bold wording, Model how to rewrite secondary source. texts make flow of the structures of italics, side bars and something Use primary sources and charts or tables of nonfiction books in glossaries for technical fascinating in their contrast them with contents of the topics order to gather vocabulary. own words by using second hand accounts of they will be information. (Unit 3) prompts. Have students use their their topics. researching. Have students make a newly obtained academic In other words RI 5.6 Develop and record map in their head of vocabulary to discuss This matters because questions they have all the smaller parts their topic with peers. This makes me about the topics they that make up their realize will be researching. topic. RI 5.4 This is interesting Preview headings Have students record because and subheading their researcher based This makes sense across texts to gather on teacher discretion. because more information (ie. Graphic This reminds me of about your topic. organizers, index RI 5.6, 5.9 RI 5.2, 5.6 cards, post its, notebook, etc.) W. 5.7, W 5.8

Fifth Grade November-January Unit 4:Nonfiction Research Projects

Part 2: Critiquing Texts with Analytical Lenses and Sharing Our Research

Strategy/Skill Visualization Today I want to teach you that researchers dont just take in knowledge. We construct mental models that represent our ideas about our topic. P.80 Model how mental models influence our reading through the use of a graphic organizer. Create a three column organizer with the headings, What did I notice, What I decided to record, What do I think. RI 5.3

Literal/Craft Authors Point of View Today I want to teach you that researchers analyze their resources to determine the authors point of view. P.77, 80 Pay close attention to the images, the stories, and choice of information that authors include. Model for students how to read analytically for the authors point of view rather that as consumers of information. Look at how different authors opinions influence our thinking about our topic. Ex. One text might present sharks as bloodthirsty killers while another presents them as intelligent animals that dont attack nearly as often as people think. RI 5.6

Strategy/Skill Asking/Answering Questions Today I want to teach you that research questions that you cant answer on your own can look inside or outside of a book for your answers. P. 77, 80 Model how when students outgrow their current resources (text sets) they can use websites, library searchers, librarians, and local experts. Encourage students to continue to pursue their interests and seeks knowledge. RI 5.7

Celebration Sharing Research Today I want to teach you that as researchers we decide what we want to say and organize what we know to decide how to share it with others. (teach it) P.77, 80 Model how to prepare research in order to present it. (teacher discretion) Examples: teach the class or other classes, create a poster, make a model, create a powerpoint, etc. SL 5.4

Fifth Grade November-January Unit 4:Nonfiction Research Projects