fourth grade literary essay writing...

Unit: Nonfiction Unit / Content Area Reading -Grade: 5

Desired Results for the UnitGOALS (What are our relevant goals for this unit?)

Students will utilize text structure and text features (such as bold print, illustrations, photographs, diagrams, maps, graphs, etc…) to help them distinguish important information from unimportant information.

Students will develop and use their schema (their mental images or preconceptions) as they read to incorporate new information revealed through the text

Students will use questions and questioning to deepen their understandings through analysis and interpretation of text

Students will learn how to use 2 or more sources to support an opinion on a topic and include relevant evidence to support their argument

OUTCOMES OF UNDERSTANDING (To achieve our goals, what understandings will be needed?)Students will understand that…

Connections: the realization that newly learned concepts “fit” with and extend existing background knowledge, and they affirm our existing knowledge.

Fascination: a growing sense of wanting – to know more, a developing passionate interest in a particular topic or idea.

A need to reread and revise thinking: the desire to revisit, reread, or explore other texts in order to learn more about a concept.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: (What essential questions will focus our goals, stimulate conversation, and guide our actions?)SS: Should the Spanish have been allowed to take over the Aztec Civilization or Should the Aztecs have fought harder?

Lit: How can I read nonfiction texts on a topic of interest to me, integrate and analyze information in order to develop my informed opinion and share that opinion in a persuasive essay?

Guiding Questions:How did you use the text features to distinguish important information from unimportant information? Explain.

How did you use your prior knowledge before, during, and after reading the text?

As you are reading, how did you adapt new images to incorporate new information?

What were the questions you had about the time period events, or consequences of certain historical events?

Adapted from Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2004) Understanding by Design and Keen, E.O. (2008) To Understand.

Assessment EvidenceCULMINATING PROJECTS AND PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF LEARNING:

Persuasive Essay:oIntroductionoBody paragraphs – Includes evidence from 2 sources to support your reasoning

oConclusion

Diagnostic: Assessment: 2 weeks prior to start of unitFormative Assessment: During the 5 week unitSummative Task: Aztecs vs. Spanish

INFORMAL ASSESSMENTS: (What are the key observable indicators of short and long term progress? What data should be collected?)

Readers’ notebook (stop and jot, t-chart, Venn diagram, and other graphic organizers.

Post-itsReading logConferencing

Resources (What materials and resources are needed to support this unit?)UNIT RESOURCES:

T.C. Reading unitMentor texts (Immigrant Kids, Tenement Writer)Social Studies textbookCoach book/Doing History book Immigration Kit Industrial Revolution KitRevolutionary War Kit

STUDENT RESOURCES:

Leveled books - Revolutionary WarNative AmericansGovernment and CitizenshipShort-TextsSocial Studies textbookCoach book, Doing History book, Scoring High in Social Studies


Date Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5Reading OverarchingTheme

Getting Ready to Read Non Fiction Texts and Becoming Expert on a Topic

WEEK 1: Readers get ready to read NF texts by thinking about what the text will be about. They use the headings to think to themselves…‘I think this book is mostly about…’I wonder if this text will have…'Readers use headings, subheadings, font differences, and other visual cues to get a "lay of the land", anticipating how the text might go and what the text might be trying to teach.Paying attention to expository text features such as: the table of contents, diagrams, charts, graphic organizers, photos, and captions helps developa sense for text content.

Readers of NF read in order to learn. Readers become expert on a topic and can discuss the topic. To teach someone, we need to know the main ideas and the supporting details, and it helps to use an explaining voice and sometimes even to use your face, hands, and whole body to illustrate what you mean.

Readers are constantly confirming, revising or adding to their initial expectations about the text

Readers can use the headings to discuss main ideas and the information that follows are the supporting details.

Partnership: Readers determine importance and can summarize information on a page. They can tell a partner "the gist"

Reading nonfiction is like taking a course where a person is told a whole lot of new and detailed information. Instead of trying to memorize all that information, it helps to create larger categories to organize that information. That way, as we read, we sort the little bits of information under bigger points, creating aboxes-and-bullets outline that matches the text. It is almost as if, as we read, we write headings for the texts that don’t have any.

Readers discuss texts to let ideas get through to us, to let texts change our minds. We talk to grow ideas. We read with purpose (to be able to discuss the new or interesting information) Isn’t it weird how…’ ‘I wonder why…’ ‘Did you notice

that….’ But I want to add

one more thing.


Date Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5Overarching Reading Theme

Examining Text Structures -Authors Present Information to the Reader in Different Ways

Breaking up Non-Fiction Text and Developing Discussion in Partnerships

WEEK 2:

Include Videos

Authors Present Information to the Reader in Different Ways. Readers of NF can look for those structures as a strategy to support comprehensionDescriptive or List/Like

StructureQuestion and Answer

StructureCompare and Contrast

StructureCause and Effect

Structure

Readers can understand the interconnectedness of ideas within the text. Readers can use this knowledge of presentation of information to structure their own reading, allowing parts of the text to take on greater significance while letting other parts of thetext fall away - determine significance

Examine and classify various model textsIdentify how information is presented to the reader and how identifying that prepares you to absorb the informationTry in NF and then switch to Fiction or JR books

Readers pay attention to author’s purpose. They notice if the author includes his or her own agenda or argument about a topic by looking for:

Opinion statements

Judgments Telling only

half the story They consider

author’s background

Authors Present Information to the Reader in Different Ways. Readers of Narrative NF will notice: Longer stretches of

text than in non-narrative nonfiction

the story-like quality of the information

includes both story and information

1 central characterProblem/solution like

structureEvents that culminate

in disaster or achievement

Readers of narrative nonfiction read the same way that readers of fiction read. We use the same thinking strategies to help us to comprehend or understand. We summarize to come away with big idea and we ask, "How does all of this fit together?"

Readers of nonfiction text break the text into manageable chunks by fishing out the main ideas - rather than being side-tracked by supporting facts and details. At the end of each chunk, readers may say (or write on a Post-it), “This part teaches me…”

Readers of nonfiction text break the text into manageable chunks by fishing out the main ideas - rather than being side-tracked by supporting facts and details. At the end of each chunk, readers may say (or write on a Post-it), “This part teaches me…”


Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5Overarching Reading Theme

Breaking up Non-Fiction Text and Developing Discussion in Partnerships

Questioning to Support Inferring

WEEK 3:Readers can move from finding the main idea of a paragraph to figuring out the overarching idea of a multi-paragraph text by noticing as they read from one paragraph to another whether the two paragraphs continue to build on one main idea or whether the second paragraph turns a bend, laying out yet another idea

When partners meet they:point out the details

in the pictures or diagrams that highlight what they’re saying.

link previous learning to the new information that they just encountered by flipping back and forth to show pictures that build off of one other and by explaining how these gotogether.

add gestures to their explanations and use their voices to emphasize what’s important.

act out what they learned and invite their partner to join in

Try in NF and then switch to Fiction or JR books

Readers naturally have questions when they are learning new concepts, words, ideas or information on a topic. Readers actively form questions to help clarify meaning "What does that

mean? "Why did that

happen? "How does that

work?" "When did that

happen? "What is that word

and how do I pronounce it?"

Try in NF and then switch to Fiction or JR book

Readers question the historical value/relevance/importance of an event

Try in NF and then switch to Fiction or JR books

Readers consider/question alternate points of view on a topic



Domain Specific Vocabulary and Synthesizing Information

Week 4: Readers often come across challenging words and can:use text features to

make sense of unfamiliarvocabulary—illustrations, photographs, and diagrams often accompany the text's effort to defineand explain new words or concepts.

Reread to try to make sense of the word in context

Think about prior knowledge

Use a glossary, if included

Readers often come across challenging words and can:use text features to

make sense of unfamiliarvocabulary—illustrations, photographs, and diagrams often accompany the text's effort to defineand explain new words or concepts.

Reread to try to make sense of the word in context

Think about prior knowledge

Use a glossary, if included

Readers read on in text, seeking answers, and thinking back over everything they’ve read so far and everything they already know. (Synthesize information)

Readers read on in text, seeking answers, and thinking back over everything they’ve read so far and everything they already know. (Synthesize information)

Readers of narrative NF move from retelling or recalling facts and details to inferring. They ask, "What is this story teaching me?How does it fit with what I have been learning?” Readers think about how all of the parts of the narrative non-fiction go together



From Retelling to Inferring

Week 5: Readers of NF move from retelling or recalling facts and details to inferring. They ask, "What is this story teaching me?How does it fit with what I have been learning?” Readers think about how all of the parts of the narrative non-fiction go together

Readers of NF move from retelling or recalling facts and details to inferring. They ask, “What do I know now that I didn’t know before reading this book/text?” and/or “Howis my thinking different from reading this text?”

Readers of NF move from retelling or recalling facts and details to inferring. They make connections between the facts/ideas they learned and form opinions about those facts/ideas

Readers of NF move from retelling or recalling facts and details to inferring. They make connections between the facts/ideas they learned and form opinions about those facts/ideas


Date Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5Overarching WritingTheme

Writers Form Opinions on Topics and Take Notes with Speed and Purpose

WEEK 1:Diagnostic Task

Survey:2 weeks prior

to unit

Writers consider topics that allow them to take a side:

Rainforest DestructionSodaBullyingJunk foodNutrition/obesityElectronics in SchoolsGreenhouse effectHomeworkAfterSchool ProgramsArts EducationPresidential Issues/Promises

Writers consider both sides to an issue –realize that there are 2 or more sides to an issue

Writers can jot their thinking: What is This Text

Making Me Feel about the Topic

How does the Author Manage to Make

Me Feel This Way?

Develop Partnerships

Writers choose a side about a topic. They develop their opinion

Writers can jot their thinking: (see web below)They can take the topic and ask: “How might different groups of people see this topic?”Then writers add their own stance on the topic

Writers research and develop opinion/more about the issue- argument – take noteswebbing

Writers research and develop opinion/more about the issue- argument – take notesGraphic organizers



Writers Take Notes with Speed and Purpose

WEEK 2: Writers research and develop opinion/more about the issue- argument – take notesBoxes and Bullets

Cite Text with title, author, pub, page # publication web site, year

Writers research and develop opinion/more about the issue- argument – take notesOutlines

Cite Text with title, author, pub, page # publication web site

Writers research and develop opinion/more about the issue- argument – take notesT-Chart pros and cons

Researchers can ask, “Are there two ways to look at this topic?”Writers can record the “many faces” of a topic. (When researchers know about a topic well they can see all its sides)

Writers research and develop opinion/more about the issue- argument – take notesVenn Diagram

Researchers can ask, “Are there two ways to look at this topic?”Writers can record the “many faces” of a topic. (When researchers know about a topic well they can see all its sides)

Continued as needed

Writers take a stance on the topic



Drafting Persuasive Essay

WEEK 3: Writers understand the structure of persuasive essay by looking at samplesIntroBody ConcluReviewing rubric

Writers plan for their essay by using a Planning page and begin writing

Writers continue planning and drafting evidence paragraphs citing specific references to textCan start with intro

Writers make sure their stance is clear and is woven across the essay and use transitions like: Nevertheless Still Despite this/ In

spite of However But

Writers draft the intro Although some

people believe...it may actually be argued that

Some people feel that... In reality, however...

Despite … I want to argue that...

While it may be true that...the real point to consider is that …

Even though most people don’t see... I want to suggest...



Drafting Revision/Editing

WEEK 4: Writers develop the conclusion by:

Writers revise by adding a quote from a source



Summative Task Publish/Celebrate

WEEK 5:


Diagnostic Assessment

Say: Today you will take a diagnostic test – so that we can better understand you as a writer and thinker. You will read the articles, “Biologists Make Cause for Killer Whales in Captivity” and “Biologists, Killer Whales ‘Neurotic’ in Captivity”.

As you are reading, think about; Should killer whales be made to perform at Sea World?

I’m going to give you the paper that has the directions for the writing. Follow along as I read the task to you.You can have between now and ______ to complete it.

Should Killer Whales Perform?

Should Killer Whales be made to perform at Sea World? Choose a position. Then read both articles– take notes on information that supports your positionWrite a persuasive essay that:

Introduces the topic and states your thesis or position; Includes 2 body paragraphs (your text evidence) that develop your argument - you may quote the text Ends with a concluding paragraph that restates your position on the topic (your thesis) Be sure to include appropriate mechanics and spelling


Biologists: Killer whales 'neurotic' in captivityTRAINERFebruary 25, 2010|By Elizabeth Landau, CNN

Trainers at SeaWorld are taught to reinforce the whales' good behavior with rewards and to not react at all to bad behavior.

Killer whales can weigh up to 22,000 pounds, and may be as long as 32 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They often travel in groups of up to 50, being highly social.

Confining such an enormous animal in an aquarium tank leads the animal to display neurotic behavior, experts say.

"They get very stressed out," marine biologist Nancy Black of Monterey Bay Whale Watch said on CNN's "Larry King Live."

SeaWorld whale trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, died Wednesday from "multiple traumatic injuries and drowning" after a whale called Tilikum grabbed her ponytail and pulled her underwater at Shamu Stadium, the Orange County Sheriff's office said Thursday.

An orca can travel easily 100 nautical miles every day, and to put them in a pool where they swim around in circles continually, and kept away from their families, "takes a toll on their brains," said Jim Borrowman, who has worked with whales for 30 years and runs Stubbs Island Whale Watching on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

"'Neurotic' is the word that we've used, and I sense that that's probably what's happening," he said. "Perhaps that's what drives some of these issues."


http://articles.cnn.com/keyword/trainer

Tilikum, weighing about 12,000 pounds, has been linked to two other deaths -- he and two other whales were involved in the drowning of a trainer at a Victoria, British Columbia, marine park in 1991. Authorities said in 1999 that a 27-year-old man was the apparent victim of Tilikum's "horseplay" at SeaWorld.

Whales are dangerous in captivity because of their tremendous size, experts said.

Annette Eckis Godsey, the victim of a 1972 incident, had to have 200 stitches from the waist down when a killer whale attacked her at the aquarium where she worked, she said on CNN's "Larry King Live." She said she didn't know why it happened, but "heard later that no one had ever ridden the whale without a wet suit, and no women had ever ridden the whale."

"Things that we've never heard or seen in the wild are happening in aquariums," Borrowman said.

"In the wild, killer whales have never been known to attack a human," said Kim Parsons, independent whale biologist from Seattle, Washington. "But they do play with, and/or kill, other species."

Trainers at SeaWorld are taught to reinforce the whales' good behavior with rewards and to not react at all to bad behavior, a technique developed by influential psychologist B.F. Skinner, said Dr. Jeffrey Ventre. Skinner's ideas fall under the psychological framework of operant conditioning


Posted by: whalesandmarinefauna | May 22, 2011

Biologists make case for killer whales in captivityMay 22, 2011 (Judith Lavoie). Killer whales in captivity help to steer young people into the conservation field, according to a marine biologist. But Jerry McCormick-Ray, a visiting scientist at the University of Virginia’s environmental sciences department, and her husband, G. Carleton Ray, a University of Virginia marine ecologist, were lone voices supporting orca captivity at the ” Too Killer to be Captive ? ” debate held during the International Marine Conservation Congress in Victoria.

The word debate initially seemed dubious as the two official speakers, Paul Spong of OrcaLab, a Hanson Island whale research station, and Naomi Rose of the Humane Society of the United States, both believe firmly that killer whales should not be held captive.

Invitations were sent to industry representatives, said organizer Leslie Cornick, marine biology associate professor at Alaska Pacific University.

“But there was no response. Just a deafening silence,” she said.

“It’s quite disappointing. We were really hoping to get both sides.”

McCormick-Ray, a former whale trainer turned scientist, was left to provide the pro-captivity side.

“The number of children that go through and look at these animals and want to become marine biologists is incredible for marine conservation,” McCormick-Ray said.

“How many people are going to get to see them in the wild and do you think the coastal environment is all that safe ?

There’s boats, pollution, noise and loss of their fish. They have problems out there,” she said.

Rose does not believe aquariums educate the public about conservation.

“I think a lot of information given by the theme parks is actually incorrect,” she said. “I don’t think it’s necessary to get up close and personal to generate a conservation ethic.”

Spong said the main reasons for not keeping orcas in captivity are that they are acoustic animals who suffer sensory deprivation in a concrete tank, they are social animals, closely bonded to their families and they are sentient creatures with obvious self-awareness.

“We cannot provide an appropriate experience for them in captivity,” he said. But Carleton Ray questioned whether the size of an orca’s brain should be a consideration.“How big a brain do we have to have before we say no whales in captivity. Do snakes count?” he asked.


Name _____________________________________________________________Date ____________________

Diagnostic Assessment - Grade 5 Planning Page

Choose a position: Killer whales should be made to perform at Sea World

orKiller whales should not be made to perform at Sea World

My Position: ________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Name of Article: ____________________________________________________________________________

Evidence for body paragraph 1:

Name of Article: ____________________________________________________________________________

Evidence for body paragraph 2:


Name _____________________________________________________________Date ____________________

Should Killer Whales Perform?

Should Killer Whales be made to perform at Sea World? Choose a position. Then read both articles– take notes on information that supports your positionWrite a persuasive essay that:

Introduces the topic and states your thesis or position; Includes 2 body paragraphs (your text evidence) that develop your argument

- you may quote the text Ends with a concluding paragraph that restates your position on the topic

(your thesis) Be sure to include appropriate mechanics and spelling


Grade 5 Opinion Essay Rubric - October 2012


Primary Trait – Forming Opinion, Supplying Reasons and OrganizationLevel 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

The writer introduces the topic clearly and states an opinion

Ideas may be listed


Ideas may not be grouped logically.


Ideas are grouped logically.

The writer introduces the topic clearly, states an opinion and includes relevant evidence using the included sources.

Ideas are grouped logically.

Secondary Trait – Research SkillsLevel 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

Writer copies directly from

source

Writer is able to summarize and

paraphrase evidence –may be from one source

only

Writer is able to summarize and

paraphrase evidence from 2

sources

(All of Level 3+) Writer is able to

assess the credibility of the

sources

Grade 5 Performance Task Class Analysis


Grade 5 Diagnostic and Summative Data

Teacher:__________________

Intr

oduc

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the

Topi

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Stat

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n op

inio

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Idea

s ar

e gr

oupe

d

Para

phra

ses

evid

ence

Fina

l Gra

de

Dia

gnos

tic

Fina

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de

Sum

mat

ive

grow

th

Last Name First NameD S D S D S D S

Grade 5 Performance Task Class Analysis

Grade 5 Diagnostic and Summative Data

Teacher:__________________

Intr

oduc

es

the

Topi

c

Stat

es a

n op

inio

n

Idea

s ar

e gr

oupe

d

Para

phra

ses

evid

ence

Fina

l Gra

de

Dia

gnos

tic

Fina

l Gra

de

Sum

mat

ive

grow

th

Last Name First NameD S D S D S D S


Summative Performance Task Grade 5

Based on your knowledge of the European’s arrival in the New World; Choose a position:The Aztecs should have allowed the Spanish to conquer their civilization OrThe Aztecs should not have allowed the Spanish to conquer their civilization

Using the resources provided write a persuasive essay trying to convince readers whether or not the Spanish should have been able to take over the Aztec civilization. Be sure to use what you know from writing essays to state a claim and back it up with evidence from your research.

Be sure to:Introduce the topicState your claimCreate body paragraphs to organize your reasonsInclude relevant facts and details from sources you watched or readUse transition word to link information and ideasWrite a conclusion


fourth grade literary essay writing...

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