Cluster 3: Integration of Knowledge and IdeasArchived

Students will learn all about the life cycle of plants. They will work in a whole group setting while completing a K-W-L graphic organizer with the teacher and building meaning for vocabulary words relevant to the understanding of the text. They will have an opportunity to work in small groups and share the information they have learned by writing an expository paragraph.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn to identify central idea and relevant details while learning about immigration in the early 1900s. After reading informational texts about immigration, students will write an expository paragraph about why immigrants came to America.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will participate in a research study of our world’s habitats using texts and sources from the internet. Students will demonstrate their new learning by writing an expository paragraph, completing a checklist about their writing, and sharing a favorite fact about their habitat with the class.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use nonfiction texts to learn about how text features help readers. Groups will be assigned a text feature to become an expert on. They will create a poster about their text feature and teach the class about what they have learned. Students will be given a group presentation self-assessment to think about what the group did well together and what could be done differently the next time.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn to compare and contrast texts about life cycles using a Venn diagram. Then, using the Venn diagram, students will write an expository paragraph including an introductory sentence, comparing/contrasting sentences, and a concluding sentence.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson integrates text features from reading into science with the study of jellyfish. Students will listen to a story, play a game and create a mock jellyfish to represent how trash often looks like jellyfish to the jellies' prey.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson plan, students will explore what items are attracted to magnets. They will learn that magnets have an invisible force called a magnetic field and that objects can be moved without even touching them.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be investigating the effect of various pushes and pulls on on objects and seeing that the greater the force applied, the greater the change in motion. Students will be using hands-on activities and then build and race their own zucchini car to better understand the concept of force and motion.

Type: Lesson Plan

The students will investigate the effect of applying various pushes and pulls on different objects.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will conduct a guided inquiry lab involving the chemical change that creates rust. This lab is meant to be set up in one day and then observed over the course of 3 weeks.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson teaches children about different weather patterns using nonfiction text with supporting pictures. After reading the text, children will play a Jeopardy style game and then create a foldable as a formative assessment.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson integrates text features from reading into science with the study of plant parts. Students will listen to a story, watch a short video and design their ideal plant while being able to recognize the various parts of all plants.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson demonstrates how students can compare and contrast different types of habitats. The lesson provides the opportunity for students to apply reading concepts while encountering nonfiction text. This lesson provides students with the opportunity to read and discuss various nonfiction selections about habitats and includes a jigsaw learning activity.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will work in groups of two or three to read an article about one of the major human body parts. They will create a list of facts related to their body part and turn them into questions.

The students will be reading online articles from kidshealth.org. These articles can be read online or printed. Each article describes the major purpose for each body part, how it relates to other systems in the body, and fun facts. Videos are also included.

Each group will present their facts and questions generated with the entire class. The teacher will create an anchor chart for each major body part and post them in the classroom.

Each student will use the key details generated during their group work to assist them in writing a paragraph about their body part. A diagram will be completed to go along with their paper. The questions generated by each group will be compiled into a final assessment for the class.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will read the informational text The Life Cycle of a Butterfly by Lisa Trumbauer. Students will use elements of nonfiction, such as photographs and diagrams, to aid in their understanding of the text. They will create a graphic organizer and use it to produce an expository piece of writing that explains the stages of a butterfly life cycle.

Type: Lesson Plan

This model eliciting activity is based on the book The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney. In the story, Mrs. Brisbane's class spends a fun filled school year with their class pet, a hamster named Humphrey. In this MEA, Mrs. Brisbane needs the students' help getting Humphrey ready for the summer. First, the students need to design a cage for Humphrey and create a shopping list of all the supplies he will need to make it through the summer months. Then they need to sort through all of the applications Mrs. Brisbane receives to choose the best summer home for Humphrey the hamster.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this multi-day lesson, students will read informational text on germs, learn how germs are spread, and ways to avoid getting sick. They will identify the key details of the text and use the images (diagrams, photos, charts) in the text to help them understand the key points. The students will create a detail web using evidence from each text and will then write an explanatory paper explaining what they have learned. The students will also participate in a guided class discussion. The students will learn the guidelines and procedures for successful discussion and will also learn how to come prepared for discussion by providing supporting information from the texts they have read.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn various contributions made by famous African Americans throughout history. They will answer questions about informational text while identifying the central idea and relevant details in the text. They will then write about two famous African Americans and the contributions they made, using information from the text.

Type: Lesson Plan

Identify specific points in text, identify the supporting reasons, and describe HOW the reasons support the specific points that the author makes in a text as you read about stormy weather in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

In this activity, students will identify similarities and differences between two topics. NOTE: The activity will need to compare and contrast information from two texts on the same topic to fully meet the aligned standards.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify the topic and key details in informational text. As an extension, students may also compare and contrast the important details presented by two texts on the same topic.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will locate text features and explain how they help the reader understand the text.

Type: Student Center Activity