Panda Mania
By Lauri Berkenkamp
National Geographic Explorer, Pioneer Edition, Nov/Dec 2013, pp. n16-23
Close Reading Read-Aloud Plan for GRADE 1
Prepared by Terry Deeney
Planning Guide
Part 1: Ideas and Learning Goals
1. Main Ideas
- Pandas have adaptations to help them survive
· Adaptation to climate
o Pandas have waterproof fur to live in wet climate
· Adaptations to food
o Pandas are omnivores BUT mainly eat bamboo
o Pandas have long bone in wrist, like a thumb, to help hold bamboo
o Sharp front teeth to bit through bamboo stems
o Flat back teeth to crush bamboo
o Move to another place when bamboo is gone
o Lack of adaptation
o Once bamboo is eaten, don’t eat other food
o Means lives are threatened by shrinking bamboo forests
- Pandas are an endangered species
o Pandas eat bamboo
o Bamboo is found in China’s bamboo forests
o Forests are being cut down to make room for people to live
o Ecosystem means that every living thing has a role; if one of the living things is gone, it will affect every other living thing
o This is mentioned in text, but not addressed. For info can go to: http://worldwildlife.org/species/giant-panda
- Pandas are an important part of their ecosystem
- People are trying to prevent pandas from becoming extinct
o Chinese government has created panda reserves—areas where people cannot hunt or cut down bamboo
o Scientists are working to save pandas
§ Study pandas
§ Care for sick pandas
§ Save baby pandas (one of twins) (care for them and reintroduce to wild)
o People looking for other ways to help
2. Big Ideas:
- People have a large effect on the ecosystem
- Everything in an ecosystem depends upon another
3. Goals:
Goals should be written in the form of questions students should be able to answer
- What is the panda’s habitat and how are they adapted to that habitat?
The pandas live in bamboo forests in China. These forests are rainy/wet. The pandas have waterproof fur to keep them dry. They eat the bamboo. They have long bones in their wrists, like thumbs, to hold the bamboo, sharp teeth to bite it, flat back teeth to crunch it. Then they eat the inside!
- Why problem is facing the pandas? What are some causes and solutions to this problem?
Pandas are facing extinction. The pandas need to eat a LOT of bamboo to survive. People are clearing the bamboo forests to build homes, so there is less bamboo for pandas to eat. The pandas move to other places, but their ecosystem is getting smaller and smaller. The Chinese government is creating reserves, which are places where people cannot hunt or cut down the bamboo. They are hoping that these ecosystems will keep the pandas alive. Scientists are also studying pandas to find out more about them. They have created research centers where they can take care of sick pandas or raise pandas whose mothers cannot take care of them.
- Why are scientists afraid of the panda becoming extinct?
Pandas are an important part of their ecosystem. If they become extinct, it will impact the entire ecosystem.
Part 2: Text resources and challenges: See comments within PDF article
· In addition to comments in article: One general issue throughout the text is that topics are introduced before they are explained. Explanation may come in next paragraph or several paragraphs later. Also, the text is structured as effect then cause. Many inferences are required.
Part 3: Pre-reading (Launch)
Pre-teach adaptation and ecosystem
Show cover: Today we are going to read a text called Panda Mania by Lauri Berkenkamp. A panda is a very special kind of bear that lives only in China. (Point to panda) This is a panda right here. Panda Mania sort of means “we’re crazy about pandas!”
When we read today, we’re going to be thinking about some things about pandas. First, we’re going to be thinking about adaptations (write on board). That’s kind of a hard word. Adaptation means how an animal adapts, or makes it so it can survive where it lives.
Let’s think about this for a minute. If it’s really cold outside here, what do you do before you go outside? (put on coat—or some other such response) That’s right, you adapt to the cold by putting on extra clothes. So adapt is something you do (like putting on extra clothes) to protect yourself or make sure you can live.
An adaptation is also something you have. Why do you think we have eyelashes? Why not just have no eyelashes? (because they protect our eyes). Interesting. So humans have eyelashes to protect their eyes. Why do squirrels have long tails? (to hang from trees, etc.) That’s right. They need to climb trees and sometimes hang to get nuts. They’re adapting to where they live and what they eat.
So we’re going to think about adaptations for pandas—what they have or what they do to make sure they survive.
We’re also going to be thinking about the panda in its ecosystem (write on board). That’s another hard word. An ecosystem is where an animal lives and all the other animals that live with it. Let’s think about that for a minute. What do spiders eat? (bugs) So if we had no spiders, what would happen? (we’d have way too many bugs) So, in an ecosystem, everything is important to each other.
Here are some questions we want to be able to answer when we’re finished reading:
- What is the panda’s habitat and how are they adapted to that habitat?
- Why problem is facing the pandas? What are some causes and solutions to this problem?
- Why are scientists afraid of the panda becoming extinct?
Part 4: Assessing Learning Goals and Standards
· Assessment: Using a picture of a panda in its habitat, students will label (as best they can) one adaptation and what the panda eats. Students will then write one idea for how to save the pandas from extinction.
· CCSS: Grade 1 Informational Text
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.2
Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.3
Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.4
Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.
· CCSS Grade 1 Speaking and Listening
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1.1.b
Build on others' talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1.2
Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
Part 5: Planning ways to support students during reading
Page 18, picture / Q: Let’s take a look at this wonderful picture of a panda. What’s he doing?
A: Eating
Q: What do you notice about how he’s eating?
A: holding his food
P. 19. End of 2nd paragraph “as she chews.” / Q: So what is it the panda is eating?
A: Bamboo
Q: But the author told us here that the bamboo “piles up on her lap.” How can it pile up if she’s eating it?
A: she’s eating the inside part.
NOTE: Kids may not get this. If not, back up:
Let’s read that part again.
“She nibbles the green leaves.” So what has she done?
A: Eaten the leaves
Q: “Finally she bites the stem. The bamboo snaps.” What does that mean? What’s the panda doing to the bamboo?
A: Breaking it
Q: Then it says, “inside the stem, the bamboo is soft. The panda smacks her lips as she chews.” So what is she really eating?
A: The inside.
Q: So what does the author mean when she says the bamboo is piling up in the panda’s lap?
A: All the stems are piling up—the parts that she doesn’t eat.
P. 19, 3rd paragraph “focuses on eating.” / Q: What’s going on?
A: (several answers are possible)
· If kids say “panda is eating,” Q: But the author tells us she “focuses on eating.” What does that mean? (she’s so busy eating, she doesn’t notice anything)
· If kids say, she eats a lot. Q: “What does that tell us about the bamboo?” (there needs to be a lot of it!)
Kids may not say anything about other creatures. If not, ask
Q: We also learn something about the panda’s ecosystem. What did we learn?
A: Pheasants, monkeys, insects, bamboo
Q: What kind of environment is it?
A: A forest (kids might say rainforest)
P. 19 4th para “habitat” / Q: (provide info) this word is in bold, that means the author tells us what it means in the back of the article. Let’s look. (Turn to glossary.)
Q: What is the panda’s habitat?
A: Bamboo forests of China
Q: And what did we learn about the habitat?
A: cool and rainy
P. 19, 4th para, “she just keeps eating” / Q: So what did we learn about the panda?
A: Waterproof fur
Q: Why?
A: keeps her dry
Q: How does that connect to what we were talking about before about how animals make sure they survive?
A: Waterproof fur is an adaptation to where she lives
P. 19, second section, title
Eating a lot to get a little / Comment: I wonder what that means.
P. 19, second section, first paragraph: “eats bamboo.” / Q: What did we learn?
A: omnivore
Q: What does that mean?
A: eats plants and meat
Q: That’s right, she eats BOTH plants and meat. But the author says “however.” That means we’re about to learn something a little different than what we just learned. Let’s read that part, “The panda, however, mainly eats bamboo.” What does that tell us?
A: Even though pandas can eat meat and plants, they really eat mostly bamboo.
P. 19, second section, second paragraph: “nutritious.”
SO
“a lot of work”
“adaptations that help.” / Annotate: Bamboo is not very nutritious. That means one stick of bamboo doesn’t give her a lot of food—not a lot of vitamins and things she needs.
Q: Turn and Talk: What might that mean for the panda?
A: Kids might say she has to eat a lot or something.
Annotate: So is an important word. It means we’re about to learn what that means for the panda.
(can have kids confirm/reject their prediction)
Q: How can eating be a lot of work?!
A: eating process (breaking the stem, eating the inside) takes time, eating a LOT takes time
Q: What did the author tell us about how the panda spends most of her time?
A: eating!
Q: What does adaptations mean again? Turn to your partner and talk.
A: how an animal changes to survive or things an animal has to survive.
Q: So if eating is “a lot of work” for the panda, I wonder how this goes together with adaptations?
A: A panda must have something that helps it eat so much.
P. 19, second section, third paragraph: “bamboo.” / Q: What did we learn about the panda’s adaptations?
A: long bone/thumb, sharp teeth, flat teeth
Q: (ask what each is for, particularly thumb—what’s so unusual about that?)
P. 19: A New Arrival
“…warm and dark.”
NOTE: Kids might be confused by “hollow.” Can either tell them when the word comes up (hollow means a big hole/big space), or ask at end of questions to describe where the panda is in the tree. / Q: What’s going on here?
A: Panda is going to have a baby.
Q: What did we learn that the baby is called?
A: A cub
Q: How does she prepare for her baby?
A: Finds a safe place.
Q: Where?
A: inside a tree
A New Arrival
“…stick of butter.” / Q: Wow! What does the cub look like?
A: (describe) If students don’t discuss size ask:
Q: We learned the cub is as “tiny as a stick of butter.” Turn to your partner and tell how big that is.
Show picture
P. 20 Getting Stronger
“…den for the first time.” / Q: Where has the cub been all this time?
A: in the tree
Q: But the text says, “It’s time to leave the DEN for the first time.” What’s that all about?
A: Den means its home.
Show top left picture: This is how big the panda got. Wow!
P. 20 Getting Stronger
“…learning about bamboo.” / Q: Interesting. What is the cub learning?
A: About bamboo
Q: Why doesn’t he already know about it?
A: he’s only a cub, never eaten bamboo
Q: Why not?
A: Mom has been feeding with her milk
P. 20: Stepping Out
End of section / Q: What has the cub learned?
A: How to take care of himself.
Q: What did we learn about the cub and bamboo
A: eats as much as mother
P. 21: Unexpected Guests
SKIP FOR NOW / We’re going to move to page 21. We’ll come back to this part later.
P. 22 Shrinking Refuge / Q: The heading here is “a shrinking refuge.” What does it mean to shrink?
A: get smaller
Q: Hmmm… I wonder what this section will be about.
P. 22 Shrinking Refuge
“…plentiful here. However” / Q: If I tell you I have plenty of candy, what does that mean?
A: You have a lot
Q: So if bamboo is usually plentiful, what does that mean?
A: There’s usually a lot.
Q: Yes, but the author says, “bamboo is usually plentiful, however.” What does that “however” mean again? Turn to your partner and talk about what the author is about to tell us: “bamboo is usually plentiful, however.”
A: means something is going to be different
P. 22 Shrinking Refuge
“…cities and farms.” / Q: So what’s going on with the bamboo?
A: pandas eat it, move to another place to get more, but bamboo is being cut down
If kids cannot get, break up the section
…find more.
Q: What’s going on with the bamboo?