ELA Unit 1

KINDERGARTEN
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ELA CCGPS UNIT PLANNER: KINDERGARTEN 1 9 WEEKS, PART 1

This unit is provided as a sample of available resources and tasks; it is for informational purposes only. It is your responsibility to investigate the
resources listed here to determine their value and appropriateness for your district. GaDOE does not endorse or recommend the purchase or use of
any particular resource.

READING FOCUS: LITERARY

THEME: Let’s Make New Friends!

PART 1 EXTENDED TEXT (4.5 WEEKS):

Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel (400L)
Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel (400L)

THEMATICALLY CONNECTED SHORT TEXTS:

Will I Have A Friend? By Miriam Cohen (300L)

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes (410L)

That’s What A Friend Is by P.K. Hallinan

Can I Play Too? by Mo Willems (70L)

The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown (580L)

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL:

Short Poems:

A Circle of Friends by Faizan Sarang
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-circle-of-friends/

Hug o’ War by Shel Silverstein
http://www.readinglady.com/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_printable&PAGE_id=35&lay_quiet=1

Cooperative Group Activity:
Friendship Salad
http://www.kinderthemes.com/backtoschool.html

Georgia Department of Education
Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent
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KINDERGARTEN
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ELA CCGPS UNIT PLANNER: KINDERGARTEN 1 9 WEEKS, PART 2

READING FOCUS: INFORMATIONAL

THEME: Amazing Friendships

PART 2 EXTENDED TEXT (4.5 WEEKS):

Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle by Brian Dennis, Mary Nethery and Kirby Larson (810L)

Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, and Julianna Hatkoff (930L)

THEMATICALLY CONNECTED SHORT TEXTS:

How To Be A Friend: A Guide To Making Friends and Keeping Them by Laurie Kransy Brown and Marc Brown (140L)

My Buddy by Audrey Osofsky (550L)

Let's Be Friends (Scholastic News Nonfiction Readers) by Amanda Miller

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL:

SHORT POEM:

Our Puppies by Evaleen Stein
http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mstein-ourpuppies.htm

WEBSITES:

http://www.seewinter.com/winter/media/webcam - live webcam feed of Winter

http://www.scholastic.com/winterstail/ - virtual field trip to Clearwater Marine Aquarium

http://www.winterstail.com/singalong/ - great site for age appropriate songs

http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/features/storyofnubs/index.html - website containing information on Nubs and the Marine who saved him

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PART 1 WRITING FOCUS: Narrative
These prompts will be your assessments for the first 4.5 weeks:

AFTER 10 DAYS OF INSTRUCTION:
“We have made many new friends in school. Today you will draw a picture of yourself and one new friend in our class doing an activity together. Use the names
of the friends in our class that we have in our pocket chart so you can label the both of you. You may add more writing to describe what the two of you are doing
together. Be sure to include many details in your illustration.”


After reading The Important Book draw and write about what you think the important thing about friendship is. Teacher constructs a list of ideas, models
choosing one idea and placing it in the sentence stem “The important thing about friendship is ____________.” Students will then be given a paper with the
sentence stem printed and will add their idea. Scaffold assistance with the writing task by having chart(s) constructed from previous lessons available for
students to copy from, providing dotted lines to aid student printing, and allowing students to dictate to the teacher. Emphasize adding details to the illustration
which match the text on the paper.

PART 2 WRITING FOCUS: Narrative
These prompts will be your assessments for the second 4.5 weeks:


“We’ve just finished reading Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle. Major Dennis and Nubs have an amazing friendship. They help one
another out in many ways. Think about a time when you helped one of your best friends with a problem he or she may have been having. Today you can draw a
detailed picture and write about it. Do your best to write your ideas down, but I’ll be available to help you if you need it.” Students may use inventive spellings or
dictate a response to the teacher.


“We now know a lot about friendship. We’ve also learned about writing too. (point out anchor charts and posters constructed throughout the unit) Today you are
going to get to draw a detailed picture and write about friendship. Why do you think good friends should treat each other with kindness? Write about a time
when a friend in our class showed kindness towards you. Add as many details as you can.”

Research Connections:

Student Interviews
After the teacher and parapro model how to interview one another students will discuss what an interview is and each student will conduct an interview with a
classmate to gain knowledge about their likes and dislikes. Students will use a graphic organizer to record their information. Students will then have the
opportunity to orally present to the class.

Examples of Friendship in Text
After the book Can I Play Too? by Mo Willems (70L) is read aloud students will look through additional books by Mo Willems for examples of friendship. Media
centers should have many of this author’s books available for checkout. Students will participate with the teacher (Shared Pen Activity) in recording what they
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found in the books on chart paper for display in the classroom. The author has a website students can visit for more activities:
http://www.pigeonpresents.com/books.aspx

Teacher guides students as they research the following animals. Students will use a frayer graphic organizer to record their data.

Dolphin
Sea Turtle
Otter
Dog

Students may use the website www.PebbleGo.com to research information. Check with your media specialist for access. Media centers also have
nonfiction series such as Let’s Read About Pets by Weekly Reader, Pull Ahead Books by Lerner Publications, Pebble Books by Capstone Press, and
Read and Learn Books by Heinmann Library.

PART 1 ROUTINE WRITING – SUGGESTED TOPICS:

Will I Have A Friend?
How did you feel on your first day of school? Why? (students may dictate to the teacher – good addition to begin a student portfolio)

That’s What A Friend Is
Present the sentence stem, “A friend is ________.” and elicit responses from students as to how each of them would complete the sentence. Students will begin
illustrating while the teacher and parapro conference individually or in small groups to help students write responses.

Chrysanthemum
“Chrysanthemum had a very special name. You have a special name too. Let’s look at a website which tells us what each of our names mean.”
http://www.meaning-of-names.com/ Teacher enters a student’s first name and discusses the meaning. After everyone has had a turn each student will practice
printing their name correctly on paper and may also use Play-Dough to make the letters in their name.

Can I Play Too? “We’ve learned how to extend friendship to others. Draw a picture of how you would invite someone on the playground to play with you. What
would you say to them? Use a speech bubble, like the ones in the Piggy and Elephant books, in your illustration to write what you would say to the friend.”

Frog and Toad Are Friends
Why do you think Frog and Toad are such good friends? Students will complete the sentence stem “Frog and Toad are good friends because ____________.”
Students may use inventive spellings or may dictate to the teacher.

Frog and Toad Together
Model completing the sentence stem “My good friend and I like to ____________ together.” Students may use inventive spellings or may dictate their responses
to the teacher as they provide an activity they enjoy doing with a good friend.

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PART 2 ROUTINE WRITING –

All of the following prompts can be included in a “Friendship Journal” for the unit:

“One thing I learned about friendship is ______________.”
“Being a good friend means ________________.”
“A good friend helps you __________________.”
“When I play with my best friend I feel ___________.”
“One thing my best friend and I like to do together is ______________.”

LANGUAGE, FOUNDATIONS, SPEAKING AND LISTENING FOCUSES
(List the standards taught in this nine weeks; elaborate in task planner below)

Print features:
> Students will participate in shared reading experiences in which the teacher models left-to-right sweep, following text from the top to bottom of the page, and
reading page by page.
> Teacher will demonstrate sounding out simple words through language experience activities on chart paper.
> As teacher demonstrates writing a sentence students will come to the chart paper and demonstrate how to use a finger space between each word.
> Phonemic awareness activities: teacher models/edits print features in daily morning message and compares/ discusses print feature differences between
prose and poetry

Phonological Awareness:
> Teacher will provide practice identifying rhyming words found in read aloud text such as That’s What A Friend Is. Students will signal when they hear a
rhyming word.
> Students will clap the syllables in one another’s names
> Teacher will provide the onset of a word and students chorally produce the rime.
> Literacy centers.

Phonics and Word Recognition
> Students will explore letters of the alphabet and brainstorm words for each that begin with its sound.
> Students will begin to sort letters into consonants and vowels.
> Teacher will highlight and explore common high frequency words occurring in read aloud text.
(All of the above can be practiced in the context of readings and lifted texts)
> Literacy centers will provide practice and reinforce these concepts.
> Direct phonics instruction during guided reading groups.

English Grammar Conventions in Writing and Speaking
> Direct teacher instruction of handwriting and spacing of words.
> Students use play-dough to form letters of the alphabet.
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> During language experience activities teacher will model using nouns and verbs correctly.
> Students will signal when they hear plural nouns as the teacher reads aloud Will I Have A Friend?
> Students will dictate questions they have about making friends. As the teacher writes each question she will draw attention to the question words (who, what,
when, where, why, how) and students may come to the chart and highlight each.
> Teacher will provide examples of complete and incomplete sentences from the text Frog and Toad Are Friends and students will sort them.

Standard English Conventions in Capitalization, Punctuation, and Spelling when Writing
Teacher will model identifying capital letters at the beginning of sentences during morning message.
> Teacher will model using ending punctuation during morning message.
> Teacher will model editing text during morning message.
> Teacher will model sound blending during shared pen activities and morning message.

Clarify Meanings of Unknown and Multiple Meaning Words
> Use cloze passages (can be from unit texts, copy passage and white out key words) to practice context strategy for meanings of words
> Rehearse context strategy in all guided reading groups.
> Direct instruction with multiple meanings of words (ex: note pad & lily pad, hand of a clock & hand on the body, etc.)
> Teacher models identifying words with inflectional endings in lifted text.

Relationships between Words and Nuances in Meaning
> Teacher provides items of which one does not belong. Students sing the song “One of These Things Is Not Like The Other”
http://members.tripod.com/tiny_dancer/one.html
> Direct instruction with read alouds such as If You Were an Antonym by Nancy Loewen
> Language experience stories
> Students view School House Grammar Rock video on verbs http://www.schooltube.com/video/fd42ff2c8d9cd23d5ac3/Grammar-Rock-Verb and then identify
verbs (action words) in read aloud text and act them out.

Use Words Acquired in Lessons, Reading, and Conversation
> Teacher will identify new vocabulary words taken from read aloud texts and post on a vocabulary word wall.
> Model use of new words
> Tally mark number of times a new word (that has been focused on in a lesson) is used in class.
> Provide a signal whenever a “focus word” has been used correctly in speaking or writing

Participate in Collaborative Conversations
> Class meetings.
> During instruction teacher stops (press and release) and allows students to sit “knee-to-knee” to discuss lesson objectives.
> Direct teaching of listening behaviors (ex: sitting still, hands in lap, eye contact, etc.)

Ask and Answer Questions about Texts and Other Media
> DLTA (Directed Listening Thinking Activity): using pre-determined stopping points during read alouds, record predictions and questions, confirm/deny/answer
former predictions and questions, make new ones, and read on.

Ask and Answer Questions for Clarification of a Speaker
> Teacher models giving appropriate commentary for student work with “glows” and “grows”.
> Construct an anchor chart for how to ask a question.
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Describe People, Places, Things, and Events with Relevant Details and Clarity
> Students will interview one another and present to the class.
> Teacher models presentations at time of assignment

Add Visuals to Clarify Ideas
> Use student friendly rubric to guide students to include details in illustrations.
> During read alouds and guided reading reinforce relationship between text and illustrations.

Produce Complete Sentences when Appropriate
> Direct instruction of complete sentences (“Who?” & “Did What?”)
> If students do not use complete sentences teacher will correctly model and/or ask for same information in a complete sentence

SPEAKING/LISTENING: Pair students and have them gather information about one another’s favorite things (ex. favorite color, animal, food, etc.) Students
may also ask one another questions such as number of brothers and sisters, when their birthday is, etc. Then have student pairs introduce their friend to the
class and tell 3 important things they learned about their new friend.

SPEAKING/LISTENING:
Students will work in small cooperative groups to sequence the events in Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle. Each student in the group will
illustrate and write about one of the main events. Cooperative groups will present their work to the class. Teacher may present Nub’s journey to the class from
the website: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/features/storyofnubs/journey.html (this is a good introduction to map skills)

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PART 1 ASSESSMENT: CONNECTING READING TO WRITING AT GRADE-APPROPRIATE LEVEL

PROMPTS: Let’s Make New Friends

After 10 days of instruction:

After reading The Important Book draw and write about what you think the important thing about friendship is. Teacher constructs a list of ideas, models
choosing one idea and placing it in the sentence stem “The important thing about friendship is ____________.” Students will then be given a paper with the
sentence stem printed and will add their idea. Scaffold assistance with the writing task by having chart(s) constructed from previous lessons available for
students to copy from, providing dotted lines to aid student printing, and allowing students to dictate to the teacher. Emphasize adding details to the illustration
which match the text on the paper.

SKILL BUILDING TASKS

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Why is it important to listen carefully to a story so I can respond to it in writing?
Task: Shared Reading/Writing
ELACCKW3: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the
order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.
ELACCKSL1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and
larger groups.
a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under
discussion).

1-2 DAYS OF INSTRUCTION

Read aloud Will I Have A Friend? by Miriam Cohen (300L). After reading begin a discussion about feelings and how each child felt on their first day of school.
Teacher will begin a word web on chart paper with the question “How did you feel on the first day of school?” in the center. Teacher will begin with discussing
how Jim felt as his dad took him to school on the first day and begin the word web with “worried”. At this time have students sit on the floor in pairs facing one
another (knee-to-knee) and talk with each another about how they felt on the first day. This should only take a few minutes and may require teacher and parapro
modeling first. After students have had time to share with each other the teacher will elicit responses from the students. As responses are given the teacher will
sound out each word as she writes it down. After an adequate number of responses have been given and recorded on the chart the teacher will model using the
sentence stem “On the first day of school I felt _________.” and add “worried”. Each student will then be asked to pick a word from the word web describing their
feelings. The teacher will copy the word onto a sticky note and the student will copy it into the sentence stem. Students will then illustrate. All student responses
will be placed into the first class book of the year.

Differentiation Option(s):
For fluent readers – Ask students to reread the sentence to you demonstrating one-to-one correspondence. These students can peer tutor others as
they complete the task.
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For students who find the task overwhelming they may dictate their response and watch as the teacher/para models writing the word in the sentence
stem. The teacher/para can also use dotted lines to guide the student’s printing

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can I identify words that rhyme?
Task: Language Experience/Identification of Rhyming Words
ELACCKRF1: Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.
a. Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page-by-page.
ELACCKRF2: Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
a. Recognize and produce rhyming words.
b. Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.
ELACCKRL5: Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems).

1 DAY OF INSTRUCTION

Introduce the poem A Circle of Friends by Faizan Sarang. Poem can be displayed on interactive whiteboard or lifted onto chart paper. Read the title
and author. Discuss what a circle of friends could be. Read the poem aloud modeling left-to-right sweep. After reading talk about what the author is
trying to convey. Reread the poem chorally several times and identify and highlight rhyming words. Students can illustrate a copy of the poem and
highlight rhyming words. This poem can be placed into a poetry notebook which each student will maintain and add to throughout the school year.

Remind students that all members of the class are friends and we should all know one another’s names. Lead an activity in which students clap the
names of all class members into syllables. Students can sit in a circle (circle of friends) and toss a beanbag to one other. When each student catches
the beanbag they state their name and the class claps it into syllables. Each student then goes to their seat to write their name on a sentence strip.
Each name will be placed into a pocket chart for display in the classroom. Names can be sorted in the pocket chart according to the number of syllables
in each. Teacher/para can also take a photo of each child and display it next to each name.

Teacher/para can use dotted lines on the sentence strip as guides for students to correctly print their name.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Why is it important to understand the correct order of steps when you follow directions?
Task: Cooperative Group Activity – Following Directions

c. Understand that words are separated by spaces in print.
d. Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.


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Friendship Salad:

Teacher will use ingredients from the recipe to illustrate the importance of friendship. Write the steps contained in the recipe on chart paper or display on
interactive whiteboard to aid student’s understanding of correctly following directions. Complete directions for the activity can be found at
http://www.kinderthemes.com/backtoschool.html Be sure to scroll down near the bottom of the page. As you go over each step in the recipe point to each word
emphasizing concepts of print (left to right, top to bottom, spacing between words). Also, use this opportunity to identify upper and lower case letters from the
text. Allow students to use the marker to circle these letters as they are identified.

Teacher can take a photo of students eating the friendship salad and display it in the classroom along with a statement explaining what the class learned about
the importance of friendship and treating one another with kindness and respect. Example: “Our Friendship Salad helped us understand how important it is for
us all treat each other with kindness.”

Varying levels of teacher support as students orally share their thoughts and ideas.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can making predictions help you become a stronger reader?
Task: DLTA - Directed Listening & Thinking Activity (read, predict, confirm/deny)
ELACCKRL3: With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
ELACCKRL9: With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories.

5 DAYS OF INSTRUCTION

Introduce the book Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel (400L). Many copies of the book contain a synopsis of the book on the back cover. If
your book does not contain one read the following to the students: “One day Frog was sick in bed. Who stood on his head to tell him a story? His best
friend, Toad. And when Toad needed help, who helped him? His best friend, Frog. There are five funny stories about Frog and Toad in this book.”
Read aloud the title of the first story, Spring. Teacher chooses pre-set stopping points in this first story. Allow students to make predictions about what
the story could be about based on the title and characters. Record predictions on the board or a chart (teacher models appropriate sounding out, spacing
between words, capitalization and punctuation). Teacher reads Spring aloud. At each pre-determined stopping point, review predictions made and cross
out those that you already know to be untrue; add new predictions if possible. Continue this procedure throughout the story.

Continue this lesson for the next four days with the following short stories from Frog and Toad Are Friends: The Story, A Lost Button, A Swim, and The
Letter.

*repetition of the DLTA strategy (Directed Listening & Thinking Activity) with all five stories should result in greater ease and understanding as
students learn to make and confirm predictions.

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Each day after you have completed the read aloud, follow up with a writing activity. Students could complete a journal entry about Frog and Toad. Entries can
be simple responses to the text read that day, or a picture (with or without labels), or a sentence stem that students complete. You can also give students a
purpose as they listen to the story each day. You can task them to listen for their favorite part in the story that day, or for specific story events, or for examples of
friendship. This is an excellent opportunity to differentiate for the needs in your classroom.

On day 5 after all stories have been presented the teacher will ask “Why do you think Frog and Toad are such good friends?” The teacher will lead a discussion
of ideas with the students and then model completing the sentence stem “Frog and Toad are good friends because ____________.” Students may use inventive
spellings or may dictate their responses to the teacher.

Varying levels of teacher support to guide students to an understanding of making and confirming predictions in text.
More capable students can write additional sentence(s) during the writing activity.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can orally present information?
Task: Speaking & Listening – Student Interviews
ELACCKSL4: Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
ELACCKSL5: Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.
ELACCKSL6: Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.


Day 1: Ask students, “How can we learn more about one another?” Allow students to make recommendations and share their ideas. Define what an interview
is. Teacher and parapro will then model using a graphic organizer to interview one another. The graphic organizer can be displayed on an interactive whiteboard
or lifted onto chart paper during this process. Correct modeling of concepts of print and phonetic skills such as sounding out words, writing left-to-right, and letter
recognition should be stressed as information is placed into the graphic organizer. Teachers will model cooperative behaviors, taking turns, and active listening
during the activity.

Pair students and have them gather information about one another’s favorite things using an interview graphic organizer.

Day 2: After student pairs have had time to practice they will introduce their friend to the class and tell 3 important things they learned about their new friend
using their graphic organizer.

Varying levels of teacher support as students collect and record information onto graphic organizers.

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ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do I write about my friends?
Task: Writing Assessment



COMPLETE ASSESSMENT:


ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do I add letters and words to pictures that convey meaning?

b. Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.
ELACCKRL6: With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.
ELACCKRL7: With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a
story an illustration depicts).


Begin with the question “What is a friend?” Elicit responses from students and record on interactive whiteboard or chart paper. Teacher models writing left-to-
right and using correct spacing between words as student responses are recorded. Present the book That’s What A Friend Is by P.K. Hallinan and discuss the
title and illustration on the front cover. Point out that P.K. Hallinan is both the author who wrote the words and the illustrator who drew the pictures. Read the
book aloud. Emphasize to the students that each illustration matches the text on the page. The text contains rhyming words in a predictable pattern. After
reading a few pages pause and allow students to predict what an upcoming rhyming word will be. Example: “And then late at night a friend is just right for telling
ghost stories when you turn off the _______.” Pause and allow students to predict the missing word which rhymes with “night”. Teacher will closely observe
students to assess those who need further assistance in understanding the concept of rhyming words. (Repeat this strategy with all texts containing rhyming
words.)

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After reading the text and discussing ideas presented by the author about activities friends do together, revisit the predictions made prior to reading. Check for
similarities and differences. Next, present the sentence stem, “A friend is ________.” and elicit responses from students as to how each of them would complete
the sentence. Students will begin illustrating while the teacher and parapro conference individually or in small groups to help students write responses.

Teacher/para pro can use dotted lines on student paper as guides for correct printing of letters and words

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do I develop good writing habits?
ELACCKRL2: With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.
ELACCKL1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
a. Print many upper- and lowercase letters.

1 TO 2 DAYS OF INSTRUCTION

Tell students that today we will read aloud a book about someone who has a very special name. Introduce the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes (410L).
Explain that Chrysanthemum is the name of a beautiful flower and is also the name of the main character in this book. Ask students if they know the meaning of
their own name. Go to the website http://www.meaning-of-names.com/ and demonstrate putting in the teacher’s first name. Show students the meaning of the
name. Enter each student’s name and find the meaning. (You may want to go to the website ahead of time and enter each student name to preview the
meanings)

Discuss the title and illustration on front cover of the book. Explain this book tells about Chrysanthemum’s first day of school. Read the book aloud pausing to let
students comment on Chrysanthemum’s feelings as the others make fun of her name. After completing the book, allow students to turn to a partner (knee-to-
knee) and retell what they remember about the story. Emphasize telling the story in the correct sequence. Teacher and parapro can informally assess students
and note those requiring extra assistance with the task. Next, display a large heart made from red construction paper. Explain this represents our heart and our
feelings. When others make fun of us or call us names it hurts our heart and our feelings. Crumple up the red heart to illustrate this. Explain that a good friend
will always apologize when they hurt your feelings. Flatten out the crumpled paper to illustrate. Show the students that even though we tried to flatten the
crumpled heart back out, the wrinkles in the paper remain. The wrinkles are like scars on our hearts….they never totally go away. Tell students that since we
are learning so much about friendship we should learn from this story that hearts are delicate and we should take good care of them by not hurting the feelings of
others. Attach the crumpled heart to a large sheet of paper and have students sign it as a promise/pledge to not knowingly hurt the feelings of others. Display
the poster in the classroom throughout the year so students can refer back to it.

Explain to students that we have learned everyone’s name is special. We should take pride in our name and also take pride in how we print it. Today we will
practice correctly printing our names. Using age appropriate lined paper the teacher and parapro will assist students individually or in small groups to correctly
print their name.

Students lacking adequate fine motor skills may use play-dough or clay to form the letters of their name.

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ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do I identify rhyming words in text?
Task: Identification of Rhyming Words
b. Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.


Introduce the poem Hug o’ War by Shel Silverstein. Poem can be displayed on interactive whiteboard or lifted onto chart paper. Read the title and author.
Discuss what a hug o’ war could mean. Read the poem aloud modeling left-to-right sweep. After reading talk about what the author is trying to convey. Reread
the poem chorally several times and identify and highlight rhyming words. Give students a copy of the poem to illustrate. Assist students in highlighting the
rhyming words. This poem can then be placed into a poetry notebook which each student will maintain and add to throughout the school year.

Rhyming Basket Game: Students sit in a circle on the floor. Objects are placed into a basket (one object for each child present), and the basket is passed
around the circle. As each child gets the basket, the teacher says a word (such as “shoe”) and a student pulls out the object that rhymes (“glue”). Many various
objects can be used as it does not matter if the rhyming words are real words or nonsense words. Teacher monitors for understanding of the concept.

Remediation Option - for those students requiring more support small groups can play rhyming bingo.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can predicting help me become a stronger reader?
Task: DLTA - Directed Listening and Thinking Activity (read, predict, confirm/deny)


Introduce the book Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel (400L). Many copies of the book contain a synopsis of the book on the back cover. If
your book does not contain one read the following to the students: “Frog and Toad are friends. They take walks together, they eat cookies together, they
play games together – and sometimes, the things they do together are scary! There are five wonderful stories about Frog and Toad in this book.” Read

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aloud the title of the first story, A List. Teacher chooses pre-set stopping points in this first story. Allow students to make predictions about what the story
could be about based on the title and characters. Record predictions on the board or a chart (teacher models appropriate sounding out, spacing between
words, capitalization and punctuation). Teacher then reads the story aloud. At each pre-determined stopping point, review predictions made and cross
out those that you already know to be untrue; add new predictions if possible. Continue this procedure throughout the story.

Continue this lesson for the next four days with the following short stories from Frog and Toad Together: The Garden, Cookies, Dragons and Giants,
and The Dream.

*repetition of the DLTA strategy (Directed Listening & Thinking Activity) with all five stories should result in greater ease and understanding as
students learn to make and confirm predictions.

On day 5 after all stories have been presented the teacher will ask “Why do you think Frog and Toad are such good friends?” The teacher will lead a discussion
of ideas with the students and then model completing the sentence stem “My good friend and I like to ____________ together.” Students may use inventive
spellings or may dictate their responses to the teacher as they provide an activity they enjoy doing with a good friend.

Varying levels of teacher support to guide students to an understanding of making and confirming predictions in text.
More capable students can write an additional sentence(s) during the writing activity.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do I conduct research?
Task: Research and Text Features
ELACCKL2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
b. Recognize and name end punctuation.
ELACCKW8: With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a
question.


Tell students we will be reading another book about two special friends. Introduce and read aloud Can I Play Too? by Mo Willems (70L). Explain the author
uses speech bubbles throughout the book to indicate what each character is saying. Before reading aloud print the word “Hello” with a period after it and read it
with the proper inflection. Next, change the period to an exclamation mark and read again. Discuss the difference between the two marks and how the word was
read each time. Then, change to a question mark and read again. Have students contrast the three different marks and discuss reasons for using each one.
Then, read the book aloud emphasizing the speech bubble text features and the author’s purpose for including them. Also, draw attention to the punctuation in
the sentences. Be sure to read each with proper inflection. Pause during reading to allow for discussion of events. After the book is finished pair children up
(knee-to-knee) and have them discuss how Piggy and Elephant extended friendship to the worm in the story and why it was a good choice to do so. Students
then come back to whole group to share ideas.

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Provide student pairs with another book in this series by Mo Willems and ask them to look through and read to find an example of friendship. Media centers have
many of these books in this series. This may be a good opportunity to take the class to the media center for an introductory activity. Explain that they are
conducting research. Research is like being a detective and finding out information to help you better understand something. Teacher and parapro circulate to
offer support with text. Once student pairs have found an example of friendship in their book they return to the whole group to share it. As student pairs share
their examples the teacher records them on a chart which is titled “Examples of Friendship” (teacher models appropriate sounding out, spacing between words,
capitalization and punctuation) This chart will be posted in the classroom.

Review that we have learned a lot about how to extend friendship to others. Ask students to draw a picture of how to invite someone on the playground to play
with you. What would you say to them? Have students use speech bubbles, like the ones in the Piggy and Elephant books, in their illustration to write what
would be said to the friend.


For students who find the task overwhelming they may dictate their response and watch as the teacher/para models writing the words in the speech
bubble. The teacher/para can also use dotted lines to guide the student’s printing.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do I add letters and words to pictures that convey meaning?
Task: Culminating Activity
ELACCKSL1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and
larger groups.
a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion).
b. Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges.
ELACCKRF3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
a. Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or many of most frequent sounds for each
consonant.

1 TO 2 DAYS OF INSTRUCTION

Explain we have learned many important things about friendship. Introduce The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown (580L). Ask students to predict what
the title of this book is telling us about what we will read in the text. What clues does it provide? Does the illustration on the cover help us to predict? Next,
begin a discussion about things you think are important. Give many age appropriate examples that students can relate to (brush your teeth every day, listen to
the teacher, look before you cross the street, etc.). Read the text aloud pausing to reflect why each topic in the text is important. Children this age are very
engaged when the word “important” is involved in any subject. After the book is finished explain we have learned many important things about friendship. Refer
to the “Examples of Friendship” chart previously posted to aid students in recall efforts as they brainstorm things they feel are important about friendship. Also,
review the stories read about Frog and Toad and what was learned from them about friendship. Allow students to share personal examples of friendship.
Emphasize to students that while one person shares others should be showing proper listening behaviors (sitting still, hands in laps, eyes on the person talking,
etc.). Explain this is also a way of showing friendship because good friends listen to one another. As students share teacher writes their ideas on chart paper or
interactive whiteboard. This is an excellent opportunity for a shared pen activity emphasizing letter /sound correspondence.
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COMPLETE ASSESSMENT:

After constructing a list of ideas, model choosing one idea and placing it in the sentence stem “The important thing about friendship is ____________.” Students
will then be given a paper with the sentence stem printed and will add their idea. Scaffold assistance with the writing task by having the chart(s) available for
students to copy from, providing dotted lines to aid student printing, and allowing students to dictate to the teacher. Emphasize adding many details to the
illustration matching the text on the paper.

This may be the time of year for many schools to conduct Open House. Another idea would be to take the student responses from this activity and add them to a
powerpoint presentation, “The Important Thing About Friendship”, which could run during the Open House in your classroom. You could include student pictures
with their responses.

PART 2 ASSESSMENT: CONNECTING READING TO WRITING AT GRADE-APPROPRIATE LEVEL
PROMPT:

After the first 10 days of instruction:




SKILL BUILDING TASKS

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can predicting help me become a stronger reader?
Task: DLTA - Directed Listening and Thinking Activity (read, predict, confirm/deny)

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Teacher chooses five pre-set stopping points in Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle. (predetermine your stopping points based
upon the time you have available and the needs of the class)
Explain to students that this is a true story that really happened. It is not made up like other stories we’ve read about friends (Frog and Toad). Point out
the book contains real photographs of the characters.
Begin by having students make predictions based on cover art and title. Record student predictions on the board or a chart (teacher models appropriate
sounding out, spacing between words, capitalization and punctuation).
Teacher reads Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle aloud to the first predetermined stopping point. At each stopping point, review
predictions made before and cross out those that you already know to be untrue; add new predictions if needed. Be sure to require reasons and
examples from the text for confirming /denying/ adding new predictions. Continue this procedure throughout the story for the next four days.

Each day after you have completed the read aloud, a good follow up writing activity would be to have students complete a journal entry about Nubs. Entries can

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Why is it important to understand the elements of a story?
Task: Identification of characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end of story


Day 1: Characters Introduce a story map on either interactive whiteboard or chart paper. Discuss and explain the element – characters. Lead a discussion
centered on the two main characters in Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle – Major Dennis and Nubs. Explain that the story was mostly
about these two characters. Ask students to help you draw a picture of and label each main character on the story map. This is a good time to introduce the
term nonfiction to the students and ask them to recall that this is a true story. Go to the website -
http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/features/storyofnubs/index.html and click on the download tab at the top of the page to download a coloring page of
Major Dennis and Nubs. (Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page) You may also want to explore the sight further with students to view pictures of Nubs
and facts about him to reinforce to students that this is nonfiction. Allow students to color and label the coloring page.

Day 2: Setting Review the story map started yesterday and the two main characters. Discuss and explain the element – setting. Explain the setting is where
the story mostly took place. Talk about what a desert is and how it looks. Look back at the pictures in the book and pick out features of a desert. Point out that
the story mostly took place in the desert. Ask students to help you draw a picture of a desert on the story map. Explain that now that we have the characters
and setting on our story map we can use it to help us retell the story of Major Dennis and Nubs and their amazing friendship. Preview the elements of beginning,
middle and end which are on the story map. Ask how these can help us to retell the story. Tell students that we will learn about these tomorrow.

Day 3: Beginning, Middle, End Review the story map and elements of characters and setting. Ask students to tell a partner (knee-to-knee) how these
elements can help us to retell the story. Next, go back to the website: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/features/storyofnubs/index.html and click on the
green tab at the top titled “Nubs Journey”. This will provide a short summary of the book. You may wish to view this more than one time. Pause it to discuss
beginning, middle, and end of the story. After students have an understanding of the sequence of events fill in the remainder of the story map. Provide students
with a flip book consisting of three labeled parts: beginning, middle, end. Allow students to draw a picture to illustrate each sequenced element in their flip book.
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Afterward have student pairs practice retelling the story to one another using their flip books. Teacher circulates to all student pairs to facilitate understanding of
the concept of retelling. Bring the students back to whole group and ask for volunteer pairs to share and demonstrate their retelling of the story. Be sure to
model appropriate, standards-based after students pairs present to the class.

Varying levels of teacher support as students orally share their thoughts and ideas.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can I work in a small group and present information?
Task: Speaking and Listening
ELACCKSL4: Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
ELACCKSL5: Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.


Day 1: Explain we have learned how a story map can help us retell a story in the right sequence or order. Model using the class example to retell in Nubs: The
True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle. Explain the class will be divided into three groups. One group will focus on the beginning of the story, another on
the middle, and another on the ending. With teacher and parapro support each group will be tasked to work together to illustrate their part on a large sheet of
paper. After illustrating the group will need to write about or use labels to tell about their part of the story. Students should be encouraged to use inventive
spellings. If your class is too large for three small groups you may consider making six groups, 2 for each part. Be sure to review cooperative group expectations
for the time spent working on the task.

Day 2: Explain that today each group will practice telling about their illustrations. Go over expectations and reinforce that each student will need to contribute.
Set expectations for the oral presentation: each member speaks, everyone must try to speak audibly (loud enough for the class to hear them), group members
must take turns speaking, and audience members must not interrupt and should demonstrate listening behaviors. After groups have had time to practice allow
each the opportunity to present to their peers. This is a great opportunity for the teacher to model appropriate, standards-based commentary to each group.
These posters can be displayed in the classroom for the remainder of the unit.

Varying levels of teacher support as students orally share their thoughts

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do I use letters and sounds to create words?
Task: Writing Assessment


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Administer the following writing assessment:

ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
Task: Poetry Analysis
ELACCKRI2: With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
ELACCKRL5: Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems).


Introduce the poem Our Puppies by Evaleen Stein. The poem can be displayed on interactive whiteboard or lifted onto chart paper. Read the title and author.
Discuss experiences students have had with puppies. Read the poem aloud pointing to each word and model left-to-right sweep. After reading talk about what
the author is trying to convey in this poem about puppies. Reread the poem chorally several times in different ways (all together, just boys, just girls, in a soft
voice, loud voice, etc.) then ask students to help identify and highlight the rhyming words. Students can then illustrate a copy of the poem and highlight rhyming
words. Student pairs can practice “buddy reading” their poems together as they finish. This poem can be placed into the student’s poetry notebook and then
sent home to re-read with family members.

Students requiring more practice identifying and producing rhyming words can visit the following website to play a rhyming word game:
http://pbskids.org/games/rhyming.html

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can I use sounds and letters to write a response to a story?

ELACCKW2: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing
about and supply some information about the topic.
ELACCKRI3: With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information.


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Introduce the book My Buddy by Audrey Osofsky. Display the front cover of the book and ask students to comment on what they see. Explain that this book is
about a young boy with muscular dystrophy and tells how he is teamed up with a dog trained to do things for him that he can't do for himself. Explain that
muscular dystrophy means someone’s muscles are not very strong. Explain that the dog’s name in this book is Buddy and he is a helper dog. Allow students to
ask questions and tell about any experiences they may have had with individuals in wheelchairs or with helper dogs. Read the book aloud. Afterward lead a
discussion about the book. Ask the students turn to a buddy (knee-to-knee) and talk about what they feel are the similarities and differences between the boy in
the book and themselves. Afterward, allow students to share their thoughts. Next, ask students how the boy and Buddy showed that they have an amazing
friendship. As students share their ideas the teacher writes them down modeling how to slowly sound out each word.

Tell students that they came up with a great list of ideas and that now you want them to put their idea onto paper. Present the sentence stem, “Being a good
friend means ________________.” Model using one of the ideas shared by the class to finish the sentence. Provide a copy of the sentence stem to each
student and allow them to complete the sentence stem and illustrate. Students may then share their products in an “Author’s Chair”. All student copies can be
collected and made into a class book about friendship.

For students who find the task overwhelming they may dictate their response and watch as the teacher/para models writing the word(s) in the sentence
stem. The teacher/para can also use dotted lines to guide the student’s printing.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: Why is it important to listen carefully to stories so I can write a response?
Task: Prompt Writing
ELACCKRI2: With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
question.


Day 1: Begin by saying, “We have learned so much about friendship over the past few weeks. Turn to a partner (knee-to-knee) and tell him/her why being a
good friend to someone is so important.” Allow time for the students to share ideas and then bring them back to a whole group and ask students to share what
they talked about with their buddy. This “press and release” strategy of allowing the students to talk to one another during the lesson provides the teacher with
the opportunity to quickly clarify misunderstandings the students may have, provides opportunities to the students to voice their thoughts, and produces an
environment in which students can refocus on the task at hand.

Explain that before we begin reading a new book we are going to make a list of the ways that people show friendship to one another. On a t-chart list ” Ways To
Be A Friend” on one side. Elicit student responses and add to chart. Introduce the book How To Be A Friend: A Guide To Making Friends and Keeping
Them by Laurie Kransy Brown and Marc Brown. Turn to the table of contents and explain that it lists all of the things we will learn about in this book.
Emphasize the table of contents is a feature of most nonfiction books. Read aloud pages 4-18 pausing at the end of each short chapter to summarize the point
being made by the authors about being a good friend.

After reading and discussing the text revisit the t-chart. Ask students to help you read what is on the list and ask if anything else needs to be added now that
we’ve read part of the book. Some examples of items on the list could be: share, don’t argue, play together, cooperate, say kind words to each other, etc.

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Model using one of the ideas from the list to illustrate. This is a good opportunity for a mini-lesson on adding details to illustrations. Model how to label items in
your illustration and then writing a sentence about it. Next, allow students to pick something from the list and answer the following question, “What is one good
way to show friendship to someone?” Encourage students to label items in their illustration. For those more capable, encourage them to use inventive spellings
to write a sentence about their illustration. Students can then share in the “Author’s Chair” as a summarizing activity.


Day 2: Review t-chart from yesterday and discuss. Add “Ways Not To Be A Friend” on the other side of the t-chart. Follow the same procedure as yesterday to
elicit responses from the students and record on the t-chart. Turn to the table of contents in the book and point out that we’ve read the first five chapters and will
now complete the remainder of the book starting on page 20 with “Ways Not To Be A Friend”. Read aloud pages 20-30 being sure to pause at the end of each
short chapter to summarize the points being made by the authors.

After completing the book revisit the class t-chart and add any additional ideas from students. Children this age love to talk about what they should not do. Point
out that sometimes we don’t always get along well with our friends. Provide students with the following prompt, “Sometimes good friends don’t always get along.
Tell about what good friends should do when they need to share something fairly but can’t work out a plan. Draw a picture and write about a good choice they
can make to solve their problem. Don’t forget to add labels to your illustration.” Students may use inventive spellings or dictate their response to the teacher.


ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can making predictions and checking them as I read help me become a stronger reader?
Task: DLTA – Directed Listening and Thinking Activity (read, predict, confirm/deny)

ELACCKRI3: With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information.


Teacher chooses five pre-set stopping points in Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, and
Julianna Hatkoff (predetermine your stopping points based upon the time you have available and the needs of the class)
Explain to students that this is another true story that really happened. This is another nonfiction book. Point out the book contains real photographs of
the characters.
To build interest and excitement about the book visit the Clearwater Marine Aquarium website at www.seewinter.com to view real-time video streaming of
Winter. Students will enjoy making this real life connection before beginning the book.
Begin by having students make predictions based on what they saw on line and on the cover art and title. Record student predictions on the board or a
chart (teacher models appropriate sounding out, spacing between words, capitalization and punctuation).
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Teacher reads Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again aloud to the first predetermined stopping point. At each stopping point,
review predictions made before and cross out those that you already know to be untrue; add new predictions if needed. Be sure to require reasons and
examples from the text for confirming /denying/ adding new predictions. Continue this procedure throughout the story for the next four days.

Each day after you have completed the read aloud, a good follow up writing activity would be to have students complete a journal entry about Winter. Entries can
ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can I compare and contrast two books?
Task: Compare and Contrast
ELACCKRI9: With prompting and support, identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations,
descriptions, or procedures).


Have students sit on the floor in a large circle. Display two hoola-hoops in the center of the circle and tell students we will use these today to help us compare
two books we have read. Lay the two hoola-hoops down on the ground next to one another but not overlapping. Place a copy of Nubs: The True Story of a
Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle in one hoop and Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim in the other. Ask students to tell you things about one
story. Write their ideas on index cards and place it in the hoop with that book. Repeat this for the other book. Ask if any of the cards in the circles are the same.
Be sure as you are eliciting student responses to guide them in such a manner as some will overlap. For example: this book is about an animal and a person
being good friends, the two characters help one another, etc. When students begin to see that several similarities exist between the books take those cards out
of the hoops. Ask, “How can we show these things are similar in both of these books?” After listening to student suggestions demonstrate taking the hoops and
overlapping them forming a new space in the center. Put the cards that were in common in the center space. Go back over the similarities and differences
between the two books using the now completed Venn Diagram.

As a summarizing activity, have students complete a “ticket out the door” by providing one example of how the two texts are similar and one example of how they
are different.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What are the characteristics of fiction and nonfiction?
Task: Characteristics of Fiction and Nonfiction

ELACCKRI8: With prompting and support, identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.

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Revisit all of the charts in the classroom constructed during this unit. Discuss everything that has been learned about the importance of friendship. Tell students
we have one more book to read today that sums up everything that has been learned over the past weeks. Introduce the book Let's Be Friends (Scholastic
News Nonfiction Readers) by Amanda Miller. Ask students if they believe this book is fiction or nonfiction. Ask students what the difference is between the two.
Construct an anchor chart for fiction and nonfiction with student responses. This anchor chart should remain in the classroom throughout the school year.
Students often have trouble understanding all of the differences between these two types of books and having an anchor chart readily available will help students
better understand as new texts are presented during the school year. Your anchor chart could look something like the example below:

Fiction Non-Fiction
Characters are made up Characters are real people or animals
Setting is not real The setting is a real place
Read for enjoyment Contains facts and information
Illustrations Photographs

Read aloud Let's Be Friends (Scholastic News Nonfiction Readers). As you read aloud discuss the nonfiction text features (photographs, table of contents,
headings, bold printed words). Pause during reading for discussion. Be sure as you read to model return sweep, one-to-one correspondence, and attention to
punctuation. Point out how each photograph matches the text on the opposite page. During reading allow students “press and release” time when they turn to a
partner, knee-to-knee, and discuss important points in the book.

Administer the following writing assessment:


ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can I gather information about a topic?
Task: Gathering Research

ELACCKW7: Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).
question.
ELACCKSL2: Confirm understanding of written texts read aloud or information presented orally or through media by asking and answering questions
about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.

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Day 1: “We learned about some amazing animals in the books we’ve read about friendship. Today we will begin doing some research on some of the animals
that were in the stories we read so we can learn more about them. I am going to show you how to use a fun website called PebbleGo to begin our research.”
Load the website www.pebblego.com onto your interactive whiteboard. If you do not have one, gather students around a classroom computer. Be sure to
check with your media specialist for assistance with accessing this site before you begin the lesson. Follow the prompts on the website to find the topic
“dogs”. Demonstrate how to listen to the text being read aloud and also how to navigate through the tabs in order to find information about appearance, habitat,
foods eaten, etc. This is a very kid-friendly and safe website for students to utilize.

Provide each student with a frayer graphic organizer. Model how to fill in the four areas with information found on the website.

What do they look like? Where do they live?

dogs Students can use pictures, labels,
and inventive spellings as they
fill in the graphic organizer.

What do they eat? This is a picture of a dog.

Day 2: Repeat lesson researching “dolphins” and filling in frayer.

Day 3: Repeat lesson researching “otters” and filling in frayer.

Day 4: Repeat lesson researching “sea turtles” and filling in frayer.

Day 5: Students now have information on four animals. Allow each child to pick their favorite animal and using the graphic organizer orally present facts about
that animal which support their opinion that it is their favorite one.

**Media centers also have nonfiction series such as Let’s Read About Pets by Weekly Reader, Pull Ahead Books by Lerner Publications, Pebble
Books by Capstone Press, and Read and Learn Books by Heinmann Library that could be used in place of the website.

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