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Core Ideas
(Standards/Topics/Academic Vocabulary)
Writing Standards
W3.2 W
rite informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and
information clearly.
W3.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen
writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.
W3.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
W3.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and
digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided
categories.
Speaking and Listening Standards
SL3.1 E
ngage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in
SL3.2 Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to
provide requested detail or clarification.
SL3.3 Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering
SL3.6 Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to
provide requested detail or clarification.
Language Standards
L3.4 D
etermine 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
L3.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and
domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal
relationships (e.g., After dinner that
Performance Expectations
(Knowledge and Skills)
See standards above.
Essential Questions
Bend 1: Teach children to gather texts that relate to a subtopic and to read the most
basic of them and to preview all the texts to glean an overview of the subtopics
contained within the topic.
Bend 2: Compare and contrast the information and ideas their club has learned about
two different animals.
Bend 3: What are the same about these two animals? Whats different about these
two animals? What can this tell me about the animal kingdom in general?
Assessments
1. Pre-assessment The Bully and the Can Queen *from Heinemann website
2. Formative assessments (post-its, stop & jots, observations from small groups and
conferences)
3. Post-assessment Jump *from Heinemann website
See Narrative Reading Learning Progression by Lucy Calkins.
Learning Activities
Session 7: Planning a Second Study Today I want to teach you that when nonfiction readers
set out to study a new topic, they start by making a plan for how that study will go. They think
about all that they know to do-about their repertoire of reading and research strategies-and
they make a plan for the study on which theyre embarking.
Session 8: Reading with Volume and Fluency Today I want to teach you that when
nonfiction readers read with fluency, they often read with a teachers voice, an explaining
voice.
Session 9: Readers Notice Text Structures and Use Them to Organize Their Learning
Today I want to remind you that when youre trying to learn about a subject, it doesnt work to
pile a zillion facts in one huge pile, or one huge list. It helps to bucket those facts, to make
subsections in your notes, and to pop out the main ideas, showing how the smaller details go
with them.
Session 10: Compare and Contrast Today I want to teach you that when you look over a
text, thinking, How is this structured? it helps to have a handful of optional text structures in
mind. Although some texts are structured as main ideas and supports (boxes and bullets),
some are sequentially ordered, and some authors will use another important
structure-compare and contrast.
Session 11: Cause and Effect Today I want you to explore another text structure authors
use, which is cause and effect. Were going to study a text with this structure to figure out
answers to the questions What kinds of words and phrases signal a cause-and-effect
structure? And How can we take notes to fit with this structure?
Session 12: Reading Closely, Thinking Deeply Today I want to teach you that its important,
when we read nonfiction, to be aware that the author made particular choices. Its important
to ask, Why might the author have chosen to include this particular bit of information? To
structure the text in this particular way? What does the author want me to know and think
when I read this part of the text?
Session 13: Experts Widen Their Field of Focus and See Patterns Today I want to teach
you that to develop expertise on a topic, nonfiction readers go from learning about specific
related topics (such as penguins or frogs) to learning about their bigger field of knowledge
(the animal kingdom). As a researchers focus gets bigger, the researcher thinks more about
patterns and relationships.
Session 14: Asking Questions, Growing Big Ideas Today I want to teach you that as readers
research the similarities and differences between the things they are studying, they ask,
Why? Are others the same? What explains this? These questions lead to more thinking,
more talking-and to more reading!
Session 15: Pursuing Questions (no teaching point)
Session 16: Developing Evidence-Based Theories Today I want to teach you that once
researchers have read books, collected information, studied patterns, and grown theories,
they are ready to do more. They ask, What does the evidence suggest? How can I study all
the evidence to grow new theories that are evidence-based?
Session 17: Adding to Theories by Researching Big-Picture Concepts Today I want to teach
you that researchers dont just read about their focused topic. They also read around the
topic, looking for help learning about the big theories they have developed.
Session 18: Learning to Apply the Knowledge Readers Develop Through Their Research
Today I want to teach you that when researching a solution to a real-world problem, it helps
to think about all of the aspects of the problem. Researchers ask themselves, How might I
go about solving the different parts of this problem? What information will I need, and where
can I get it? Then, they sketch a plan for what theyll do first, next, and next.
Session 19: Finding Solutions to Real-World Problems: A Celebration (no teaching point)
Instructional Materials
Teacher Instructional Texts
Research Clubs: Elephants, Penguins and Frogs, Oh My! by Lucy Calkins and
Kathleen Tolan
Suggested Mentor Texts
The Life Cycle of The Emperor Penguin by Bobbie Kalman and Robin Johnson
Penguins by Bobbie Kalman
The Penguin by Beatrice Fontanel