MAKING MEANING UNIT 6 KINDERGARTEN – Making Connections Expository Nonfiction

Stage 1 Desired Results
ESTABLISHED GOALS/STANDARDS
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL. and RI K.1
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.2
With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.4
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.7
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL. and RI K.10
Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
CSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.1
Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.1.b
Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.4
Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail. / Transfer
Students will be able to independently use their learning to…
Explore text features in nonfiction books.
Identify what they learn from nonfiction books.
Make connections to help them understand nonfiction books.
Explore the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
Relate the value of caring to their behavior.
Look at the person who is talking in whole-group discussions.
Meaning
UNDERSTANDINGS
Students will understand that…
·  Readers construct meaning by making connections between their prior knowledge and new information in a text.
·  People read nonfiction books to learn new things.
·  Listening to one another and looking at the person who is speaking in a whole-group discussion are skills that help students learn and become active members of a reading community.
·  People are responsible for their own learning and behavior. / ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
1.  How does making connections help me to learn more from a nonfiction book?
2.  How are fiction stories and nonfiction books different?
3.  Why is it important to look at the person who is talking?
Acquisition
Students will know…
·  Nonfiction stories are about real people, places, and animals.
·  Nonfiction stories give information that teaches readers new things.
·  Nonfiction stories include special features such as photographs, chapter titles, tables of contents, maps, glossaries, and indexes.
·  Connections between prior knowledge and new information in a nonfiction text help a reader construct meaning and learn new things.
·  Readers make connections before, during, and after reading to help them construct meaning and learn new things.
·  The responsibilities of the student during whole-group discussions (listening to one another, sharing ideas, and facing the person who is talking not the teacher). / Students will be skilled at…
·  Listening closely to expository nonfiction books that are read aloud.
·  Identifying what they have learned from a nonfiction book when prompted by the teacher.
·  Sharing what they have learned from a nonfiction book with others.
·  Activating text-to-self connections to a nonfiction book when prompted by the teacher.
·  Making connections that help them understand and remember what they learn from nonfiction text.
·  Listening to one another during whole-group discussions.
·  Turning to face the person who is talking during whole-group discussions.
·  Reflecting on their behavior.
·  Analyzing the effect of their behavior on their learning and on the learning of others.
Stage 2 - Evidence
Evaluative Criteria / Assessment Evidence
Are the students making connections to important ideas in the text?
Are the students able to make connections to the part of the text they just heard?
Are the students identifying what they’ve learned from a nonfiction book?
Are the students looking at the person who is speaking? / TRANSFER TASK(S):
·  Teacher observation of daily participation in read aloud, “Turn to Your Partner”, and whole class discussions.
·  Running Records
·  Individualized Daily Reading (IDR)
OTHER EVIDENCE:
Make a Class Book
After reading A Day with a Doctor by Jan Kottke, have the students brainstorm things that they do to stay healthy. If they have difficulty generating ideas, suggest a few yourself. Have each student choose one of the ideas to illustrate and complete a frame sentence such as “To stay healthy, I ______.” Collect the papers and compile them in a class book entitled We Stay Healthy. Read the book aloud and place it in the classroom library. (see Making Meaning Kindergarten – Extension p.165)
Write “A Day with a Kindergartner” Class Story
After reading A Day with a Mail Carrier by Jan Kottke, discuss a typical day in the kindergarten class. With the students, sequence the events of the day, and record their ideas on chat paper entitled “A Day with a Kindergartner.” Read the class story aloud; then have the class reread the story with you. Ask some students or volunteers to add illustrations to the story. (see Making Meaning Kindergarten – Extension p.168)
Draw Pictures of Tools
After reading Tools by Ann Morris, have the students look around them and notice the tools they use in the classroom. As a class, discuss the tools the students notice and list them on chart paper. Ask each student to choose a tool he likes to use and draw a picture of the tool. Hang the pictures on a bulletin board titled “Our Classroom Tools.” (see Making Meaning Kindergarten – Extension p.177)
Make a Graph of Favorite Ways to Travel
After reading On the Go by Ann Morris, ask the students to think about a boat, a helicopter or a horse. Then ask them to think about which of these ways to travel they would like to try. Give each student a self-stick note. Without discussing their choice, ask the students who choose a boat to place their self-stick notes on the board; help them to align their notes in a vertical bar. Follow the same procedure for the other choices. Then label each bar along the bottom with the corresponding form of transportation. Have the students analyze and discuss the data to determine which of the three ways most of the students in the class want to try. (see Making Meaning Kindergarten – Extension p. 1850
Stage 3 – Learning Plan
Summary of Key Learning Events and Instruction

© Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe 2011