Cluster 4: Range of Reading and Level of Text ComplexityArchived

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that addresses how different types of precipitation are formed. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Options to extend the lesson are also included.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), the students have been hired as consultants to analyze data and recommend a new farm location for a fruit company. The students will learn about climate, weather changes, and develop a proposal for the Organic Inc. company.

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. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will observe a speaker and analyze a piece of informational text (an excerpt from Bill Clinton's 1993 Inaugural Address) to further develop their knowledge of summarizing, identifying central ideas and relevant details, and identifying claims and supporting reasons with evidence. Students will then play the role of the speaker and create their own writing on a topic they think would be important to kids, why they would be a good candidate for president, or how they might motivate other kids. At the lesson's end, students will present their speech to the class. A graphic organizer, student handouts, and rubrics are provided for the writing and speaking activities.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a 5th grade MEA designed to have students compare different types of solar cookers based on temperature, cook time, dimensions, weight, and customer reviews.

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 lesson, students will conduct research on the history of wildlife refuges in Costa Rica using a variety of reliable resources. They will collect information in pairs and work collaboratively to compare the information they found on different wildlife refuges to make sure the information is reliable. They will use the information they have found to independently create a brochure to present the information with pictures, graphics, or other multimedia elements to support their details.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will engage students in discussions involving how two texts on the same event can be compared. Students will read one text on the Great Chicago Fire that is a primary source, and another text that is a secondary source. For the summative assessment, students will write a summary about the Great Chicago Fire that includes the central idea and relevant details from the texts, and the similarities in how each author describes the Chicago fire.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will be read the non-fiction article, "A Well-Kept Secret." The students will work to determine the meaning of selected vocabulary from the article and find evidence in the passage to answer a set of text-dependent questions. Students will also explain how the relevant details support the central ideas and summarize the article.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this activity, students will make and confirm predictions before, during, and after reading teacher-selected text (narrative or expository) using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will use multiple reading strategies to answer questions and comprehend text.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will answer questions to comprehend text.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, the students will use number and listening skills as they reinforce their understanding of dolphin behavior using echolocation. As the students listen to the teacher read a story about a dolphin's adventure they can either connect dots or plot points on a graph to figure out what the dolphin gets to eat at the end of the story.

Type: Teaching Idea

This informational text is intended to support reading in the content area. The text informs readers about how several types of precipitation are formed in the atmosphere, including rain, hail, freezing rain, and snow.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The text details the intriguing relationship between turtles and butterflies in the Amazon rainforest: butterflies drink the turtles' tears to get their sodium fix! The article also explores how both organisms are affected by this relationship.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article and graphics explain the atmospheric conditions needed to form different types of precipitation: snow, freezing rain, and sleet.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This National Geographic article describes the amazing attributes of the human brain, comparing its features to everyday objects like a light bulb or a computer.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how the dwarf seahorse's head shape allows it to be a better predator.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how, through high-speed video, scientists are able to see how bladderworts (carnivorous plants) trap small animals very quickly.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes properties of items as hyrdophobic or hyrdophilic and how they work.

Type: Text Resource

This resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The comet ISON, believed to originate from the frozen Oort cloud, has been studied in order to make predictions about its destiny – will it be destroyed by, or slung around, the sun?

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article walks the reader through the water cycle, from the point of view of a drop of water.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article discusses the steps in the water cycle.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This text explores the possibility of creating a prosthesis (artificial limb) that can feel things.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes the ability of the hornworm caterpillar to defend itself against predators using its food source.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article discusses the study of a population's ability to adapt to the environment. The section of focus is on the cichlid population in Lake Victoria.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. "Secrets of the World's Extreme Divers" explores the reason sea mammals are able to hold their breath for long periods of time.

Type: Text Resource