CONTENT AREA LITERACY UNIT

Content area lesson plan comparing two texts

LESSON TOPIC: Mind mapping characteristics of liquids and solids using multiple
informational texts.

RATIONALE:
The students previously explored the topic on phases of matter through a book pass. The
students were split into small groups of four and were given different informational texts. Each
student was able to explore each text for five minutes and then passed it on to their partner. In
the previous lesson the students were able to explore the book and skim it for important facts. In
this lesson, the students will use their previous knowledge and book passes to analyze the
characteristics of liquids and solids. They will use mind mapping to organize their thoughts and
characteristics. Mind mapping makes thinking visual. Students are able to understand how their
thoughts connect to each other. Students will be reexamining several titles that are all related to
the two states of matter: liquids and solids. Rereading is an effective strategy for close reading
and deepens the students understanding of the topic. The students will apply what they learn to
their future lessons in the unit.

COMMON CORE STANDARD (S):

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.9
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Compare and contrast the most important points presented
by two texts on the same topic.

OBJECTIVE:
The students will be able to compare and contrast information they learned from different
texts.
The students will be able to identify at least two common characteristics for each phase
of matter: liquid and solid.
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE:
Phase of matter, solid, liquid
Characteristic, compare, contrast, identify, mind map

MOTIVATION OR ANTICIPATORY SET:

The students have already worked with the texts being used to generate information. Revisiting
student work will validate and reinforce what they learned from the book pass. The students
have created mind maps before on their chromebooks and will be excited to work digitally.

BRIEF PROCEDURE:
Introduction: (10 minutes)
The teacher will introduce the lesson by asking the students the open ended question:
What do you know about liquids and solids? Think, then pair for 1 minute.
The students will share with answers like: A liquid is something like water, juice, milk,
the ocean. A solid is something that is hard like a rock, a cup, a table.
The teacher will validate students responses and build upon them if necessary. Then the
teacher will state that the objective today is to use the texts from the book pass to
compare characteristics of liquids and solids.
The teacher will verbally and visually define the term characteristic (a feature or quality
that helps us label). The definition and a key example will be on the smartboard (resource
A)
The teacher will then change the slide to show the key example in a bubbl mind map.
The teacher will explicitly tell the students that they will be putting the characteristics they
learned about liquids and solids into a mind map like the teacher did. (resource B)
The teacher will ask if there are any questions before moving into the development.
Development: (20 minutes)
The teacher will split the students into the same groups they were in for the book pass.
The resource managers will get the chromebooks and the librarians will get the texts.
The students should be getting out their book pass log to refer to and add on to for the
mind map.
Once the groups are settled. The teacher will give the students 5 minutes to share what
they learned from the book pass. The teacher will remind student to highlight information
 that repeats and is shared between books or classmates. The teacher will zone in on
each group.
The teacher will give the students another 10 minutes to individually look back in the text
and find new information. (3 minutes with each book, another mini book pass).The
students will have to reread to find characteristics of liquids and solids. The students will
repeat previous step by sharing what they found.
After five minutes, the teacher will tell the students to start recording on their bubbl mind
maps. The students will have a designated recorder that will type the information. The
students will have to come up with at least three characteristics each for liquids and
solids that they found from the three texts.
Closure: (10 minutes)
To close the lesson, the students will do a 5 minute museum walk of each groups bubbl
mind map. The mind maps will be printed out and put on the science board with phases
of matter.
The students will come back together as a whole group and share what was similar
about the characteristics they found, what was interesting to them, and what new
information they learned about liquids and solids.

MATERIALS USED:
Chromebooks
Smartboard
Collab, L.K. (2017). Bubbl.us. Web. https://bubbl.us
Weidner Zoehfeld, K. (1998). What Is the World Made Of? All about Solids,
Liquids, and Gases. New York, New York: HarperCollins.
Boothroyd, J. (2007). What Is a Solid? New York, New York: Lerner Publishing Group.
Boothroyd, J. (2007). What Is a Liquid? New York, New York: Lerner Publishing Group.
Book pass log

TECHNOLOGY COMPONENT (IF APPLICABLE):

The students will be using their chromebooks to create a mind map on the website bubbl.us
ASSESSMENT OF COMMON CORE STANDARD (S)
Formal: The students will be formally assessed by their bubbl mind maps. This will
provide the teacher with information to evaluate if they were able to compare the texts to
find at least three characteristics for each liquid and solid.
Informal: The teacher will walk around and conference with each group to scaffold
discussion. The teacher will check to see if students are highlighting information that has
already been talked about (similarities). The teacher will ask questions to monitor
comprehension.

ADAPTATIONS:
In the lesson for all learners: The teacher will have the objective written out on the board to
always refer to throughout the lesson. The teacher will explicitly define what a characteristic is
and give an example that students can refer to for their lesson. The teacher can hold up real life
examples of liquids and solids that are in the classroom. The classroom will have roles so each
student knows what they are expected to do. The museum walk will allow the student to move
around the classroom and visually see their classmates thinking.

Student with special needs: If the student is not able to easily move around the
classroom, the mind maps can be displayed on the smartboard for the whole class to
see each work at once. The teacher can give each group a bag that each contains a
liquid and a solid that can be passed along with the book pass. This enables the
students to use tactile and sensory skills as well as literary skills.
English Language Learner: The student can refer to the word wall or the phases of
matter wall which will contain pictures along with key terms. The student will be able to
refer to the pictures that are in the text to aid their understanding of characteristics. The
student will be encouraged to highlight key terms and information that is discussed. This
is a study skill that will help the student.
Struggling Reader: The struggling reader can whisper read when independently
rereading the text. The struggling reader can refer to the word wall and phases of matter
wall for help. The student will be encouraged to highlight key terms and information that
is discussed. This is a study skill that will help the student. The student will be able to
visually see their thinking connect to ideas through the mind map. The lesson will focus
on discussion rather than writing so students are able to express their ideas.

Resource A
Characteristic : Is a feature or quality that helps us label

Characteristics about Gas

Gas has particles that are loose and bounce around.

Gas expands to fill the space.

An example of gas is the air in a balloon.

An example of gas is the air in the sky.

You cant see gas.

Gas is invisible, but you can contain it.

Gas is invisible, but you can see what it does when it is in a container. (ex. balloons)

Resource B

Bubbl.us example see attached