Understanding By Design Unit Template

(Revised & adapted)

Title of Unit / Informational Writing / Grade Level / 2nd
Subject / Writing / Time Frame / February 11 – April 19
Developed By / Sammie Cheng, Daniela Wiener, Jonelle Wood, Justina Oliva
Stage 1 - Identify Desired Results
Narrative about this Unit of Study: (including the Big Idea)
BIG IDEA: Writers use different structures to teach what they know.
This unit leads students in an exploration of informational texts centered on the three types of communities, which is integrated with the Social Studies Curriculum for Grade 2. Read alouds, shared reading and structured conversations are used to guide students in the process of using an informational text as a learning tool. Students then use what they’ve learned from mentor texts to create their own “teaching text.” The length of this unit is 8 weeks (school will be closed for 9 instructional days for vacation between 2/11 and 4/19) , including one week dedicated to pre-assessment, one week to post-assessment and one week for re-teaching.
This writing unit will be done in tandem with the Informational Reading Unit where students will be immersed in informational texts through read alouds, shared, guided and independent reading. Students will use the text features of informational texts to gather information while at the same time recording and sharing facts through writing their own informational texts. This unit will be integrated into the social studies unit on communities with the students reading informational texts about urban, suburban, and rural communities.
The students will be involved in shared and interactive writing to demonstrate how to group facts. They will be introduced to the idea of grouping ideas in paragraphs with a concluding sentence. They will also be involved in research stations, which will help them gather information and organize it into a report on an urban community. Guided practice will support students to then write independently on a topic. Students will write about a community and collaborate on grouping facts under headings. The unit will last for five weeks. During the 8th week of instruction (April 10-12, 2013) students will complete an on-demand task about urban communities. Students will be given time to read, gather, and organize information independently, then plan, draft, and revise their writing on the community. The final week of the unit provides an opportunity to use the information gathered from the task to re-teach, or extend learning for students.
Task Details
Task Name: Where is Home?
Depth of Knowledge Level: 4
Length of Time: 9 Weeks
Week 2/11:Pre Assessment and Immersion
Weeks 2/20-4/9: Instruction and Mid Assessment
Week of 4/10-4/12: Post-Assessment
Task Description: This task comes in the eighth week of a nine week unit on reading and writing informational texts on the topic of communities. In this task the students will read and watch informational texts and ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of key details about urban communities. Then the students will demonstrate their understanding by writing their own informational text about urban communities in response to the reading.
Learning Outcomes – Identified Primary Standards
What relevant goals will this unit address?
Common Core Learning Standards
W.2.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
Standards that are addressed in an ongoing way throughout the year:
W.2.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with
peers and adults in small and larger groups.
Understandings
What understandings about the big ideas implied in the PLOs are desired? / Essential Questions
What provocative questions will foster inquiry into the content?
Students will understand that...
·  Writers share information that they have learned from informational texts through their writing.
·  Writing is a process and good writers make many changes to their writing to ensure their meaning is clear for the reader.
·  There are many resources that will help with writing (e.g. teacher, word wall, word lists, environmental print, etc.).
·  Writers write about what they know.
·  Writers use special structures to teach what they know. / ·  Why do writers write “all about” informational texts?
·  How do we choose a topic for our informational writing?
·  How do authors use text features to provide information?
·  How can we organize our information to help the reader?
·  How do writers revise for clarity?
Knowledge:
What knowledge will student acquire as a result of this unit? / Skills
What skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?
Students will know...
·  Informational texts present interesting information in an organized structure that makes sense for the reader;
·  Information gathered from informational texts can be used in our writing.
·  Informational writing has special structures and features (i.e. headings, sub-headings, etc.) / Students will be able to…
·  Plan for writing using talk, text, or drawing;
·  Use graphic organizers to organize information gathered from reading;
·  Organize ideas under headings;
·  Elaborate on ideas by adding details or comments;
·  Begin to use structures of written language, i.e. write in the third person;
·  Respond to feedback by making changes to their writing;
·  Includes topic specific vocabulary and attempts to use varied and precise verbs, adjectives and nouns;
·  Participate in research stations and learn how to be a researcher.
Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence
Performance Task
Through what authentic performance task will students demonstrate the desired understandings, knowledge, and skills?
Brief Written Description of the Performance Task:
This task comes in the fourth week of a five week unit on reading and writing informational texts on the topic of communities. In this task the students will read and watch informational texts and ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of key details about urban communities. Then the students will demonstrate their understanding by writing their own informational text about urban communities in response to the reading.
Rubric for Assessment:
Second Grade Writing Rubric
Assessing Task / Level 1-
Novice
(Below Grade Level) / Level 2-
Intermediate
(Approaching) / Level 3-
Proficient
(At Grade Level) / Level 4-
Above Proficient
(Above Grade Level)
Structure – Focus/Genre
W. Standard 2.2
Students write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section. / When asked to write an informational text that teaches people important information and ideas about a topic, the writer writes an opinion and/or story in an attempt to write factual information. The information given is likely to be tangentially related to the topic. / When asked to write an informational text that teaches people important information and ideas about a topic the writer chooses a topic he or she knows about and includes some important information about the topic. Most of the information is related to the topic although the writer may include a narrative statement in the piece as if it is a fact. / When asked to write an informational text that teaches people important information and ideas about a topic, the writer chooses a topic in which he or she has some knowledge and provides important and/or interesting information to support that topic. / When asked to write an informational text that teaches people important information and ideas about a topic, the writer provides main points that not only support the topic but also begins to raise an idea or concept about the topic.
Structure – Organizes Information / The writer provides information, although he or she does not categorize the information into subtopics. / The writer gestures toward dividing his or her larger topic into larger subtopics, however the subtopics are too narrow to hold up as entire categories. / The writer divides his or her larger topics into subtopics. Each subtopic is addressed in a different section of the text. Most (or all) of the information within each section relates to the subtopic. / The writer categorizes information into subtopics that not only include related information about the topic, but also ideas or concepts.
Structure – Introduction/Conclusion
W. Standards 2.2
Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section. / The writer does not name the topic he or she is writing about, and/or ends abruptly without providing a conclusion. / The writer names the topic that he or she is writing about and/or provides a general concluding statement that could apply to any topic, rather than relating to the specific topic. / The writer includes an introduction to the topic and provides a concluding statement or section that fits with the topic or at least some of the information. / The writer includes an introduction to the topic which provides a preview of the main points. He or she also includes a concluding statement or section, restating and/or building on the topic and main points.
Grade Two Scoring Guide: Writing Task
In each row, circle the descriptor in the column that matches the student work. Total the number of points according to the guidelines below.
Use the provided table to score each student on scale from 0 – 4.
For each response in column one, students receive one point.
For each response in column two, students receive two points.
For each response in column three, students receive three points.
For each response in column four, students receive four points.
Scoring Table:
Number of Points / Scaled Score
No response / 0
1 – 8 points / 1
9 – 14 points / 2
15 – 20 points / 3
21 – 24 points / 4
Other Evidence
Through what other evidence – student work samples, observations, quizzes, tests, self-assessment or other means – will students demonstrate achievement of the desired results?
Pre-Assessment
Students will learn about animal families by reading books, watching videos, hearing some read alouds, and taking notes on all they’ve learned. At the end of it all, they will have the chance to teach others by making an information book about what they’ve learned.
For a full script go to http://readingandwritingproject.com/public/themes/rwproject/resources/assessments/performance/2011-2012/2nd%20Grade%20Performance%20Assessments//Second%20Grade%20Common%20Core%20Curriculum%20Assessment.pdf (use pages 3-6 ONLY)
Materials
·  Video links:
o  http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/animalspets-kids/birds-kids/penguin-emperor-parenting-kids.html
o  http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/animalspets-kids/reptiles-kids/alligator-hatchlings-kids.html
o  Projector for playing video links
·  Excerpts from Big Babies Little Babies by Lorrie Mack and Penny Smith (pp 22-23, pp 42-43)
·  Excerpt from Wolves by Seymour Simon (p. 18, Beginning with “Wolves live in packs…”) (On the Server)
·  Excerpt from Amazing Arctic Animals by Jackie Glassman (pp 28-35)
Day 1
In the first session, the teacher will immerse students in the topic through read alouds and a video clip. Students will not need to take notes on this day. The teacher will revisit these texts later in the assessment. The goal for now is to create excitement for the upcoming work and to help students to familiarize themselves with some of the content they will be asked to study. First, the teacher will read excerpts from the text Big Babies Little Babies. Then, a video about penguins will be shown. Finally, the teacher will read an excerpt from Wolves by Seymour Simon. As the teacher reads aloud, he/she does not need to scaffold student understanding by discussing the text. However, do read aloud with expression, pausing at important points and pointing to pictures to support student understanding.
Day 2
Task 1: Approximately 20-25 minutes
The first task will be to show students the penguin video for the second time. As the teacher shows the video, invite students to take notes in whatever manner they prefer (jot, sketch, etc.) using teacher-created Research Notebook. Before showing the video, ask students to come to the meeting area and the teacher reads the questions/prompts that are written on the chart paper.
Questions/Prompts:
What is this video about? Think about the most important things you just learned. You can ask yourself questions to help you. For
example, you might ask: Who or what is this about? Where are they? What do they do? How do they do it? Why do they do it? Write down the important details you remember.
After showing the video, ask students to respond to the prompt in the teacher-created Research Notebook. Allow students 10-15 minutes to complete this task. If most of the students need additional time, you can give them a few extra minutes.
Task 2: Approximately 20-25 minutes
Next, the students will be asked to read independently and respond to the chapter entitled “By Sea” in Amazing Arctic Animals. Note that although the task is planned to take place on the same day as the above video task, the teacher may administer it on the following day, depending on time and student stamina. After reading the chapter, ask students to respond to the questions/prompts in a notebook.
Questions/Prompts (written on the chart paper for the teacher to read to the students):
What is this book about? Think about the most important things you just learned. You can ask yourself questions to help you. For
example, you might ask: Who or what is this about? Where are they? What do they do? How do they do it? Why do they do it? Write down what you can remember because you will use this later to write your information book.
Allow students 20-30 minutes to complete this task. If most of the students need additional time, the teacher can give them a few extra minutes.
Day 3
Task 3: Approximately 20-25 minutes
For the next task, the teacher will read-aloud pages 22-23 and 42-43 from the text Big Babies Little Babies. Students will pause at several points and write responses to questions about the text. The teacher will have read aloud these pages to students previously, without asking them to stop and jot or otherwise supporting their understanding. During this reading of the text, students will record their responses as they listen in a Research Notebook. As the teacher reads aloud, he/she will stop at several points, asking students to record their thinking in response to the questions as outlined below. First, stop after page 23, prompting students to record their responses. Then, resume reading and stop after page 43, asking students to record their responses. Then, resume reading and stop at the end of the section, asking students to record their responses. Each time, the teacher will give them time to answer the question and then push them to elaborate by saying, “How do you know? Give some examples.” If most of the students need additional time, the teacher can give them a few extra minutes.