Unit: Reading and Writing Informational Text Lesson Essential Question 2
Acquisition Lesson Plan
Topic: Reading/Language Arts
Lesson Essential Question: How do you identify text features and how are they used to preview before reading?
Assessment Prompts: 1. Students must be able to identify examples of text features.
2. Students must be able to make predictions about informational texts using text features. 3. Students must be able to explain how text features help you understand texts.
Activating Strategy: “Word Splash” activity. Students will have 10 minutes to relate as much information as possible about the following text features (displayed in a Social Studies or Science text): purpose paragraph, heading, subheading, summary statement, table of contents, title, bold print, glossary, italics, highlighted terms, index, graphics.Students will look at various newspapers, observing the front page. Discuss what they noticed about how the text was featured. Create a concept map about text features.
Key Vocabulary to Preview: text features (or text elements), heading, italics, bold print, subheadings, graphics, illustrations
Teaching Strategies:
Graphic Organizer: “Print Concept” chart, (see Learning-Focused Reading to Learn manual), or any 3-column chart.
Instruction:
Day 1: Continue discussing a list of text features that we noticed during the newspaper activity. Encourage students to add other text features that they have seen or remember. Students will play “I Have…Who Has….?” to review the meanings of text features. We
will look at nonfiction text in our Science, Social Studies, or Health textbooks. Students will complete a graphic organizer identifying text features or print elements. Students will continue to read and note various text elements in nonfiction texts.
Summarizing Strategy: (3-2-1 form). Students will write 3 text features, 2 ways it helps to locate and remember information, and 1 feature that you feel is most helpful.
Instruction:
Day 2: Model lesson together. Preview articles. Discuss what text elements we observe and develop a class list. Using the Big Fox graphic organizer, we will list text elements found in the Camp for Kids Brochure. Students will summarize by explaining the graphic organizer to their partners.
Summarizing Strategy: Students will write an ad entry. How do text features help you preview an informational text?
Instruction:
Day 3:In this lesson, we will read Shutting Out the Sky, page 117, a nonfiction selection about immigrants. Students will brainstorm what they already know about immigrants. Next, students will conduct a picture walk through the selection, pointing out the various text elements or print features. Before reading, students will be challenged to predict what they think will happen based on the text features. What do the text features tell us about what we are about to read?
Summarizing Strategy:Students will record the text features used in Shutting Out theSky and explain on a text features chart which one helped them predict the story’s outcome.
Instruction:
Day 4:Students will continue to read Shutting Out the Sky.
Summarizing Strategy:Students will summarize lesson by writing a character description of Marcus, the peddler, using text features to gather ideas.
Instruction:
Day 5:Students will complete selection assessment on Shutting Out the Sky. Students will also complete a nonfiction article that focuses on main idea and details, our month comprehension focus.
Summarizing Strategy: “Text Mapping”: the class will be broken into 5-6 groups. Each member will receive a page of nonfiction text from a Social Studies textbook. Students will work to create a scroll of text features, labeling and highlighting certain text features. When these are completed, students will tape them together and share them as a summarizing activity to be displayed them in the classroom.