Text Title: Our Earth Author: Anne Rockwell Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ISBN 0 439 10471 8 Learning Objectives The goal of this lesson is to provide the students the opportunity of use reading and writing to respond to a text that introduces a main topic in the curriculum. With prompting and support, the student will begin to understand landforms and how they are created. The students will ask and answer questions about the text and will support answers with the text. Text Selection: This text was selected because of the rich vocabulary and the descriptions of the landforms. The illustrations support the text and will help the reader develop an understanding of landforms. It is an appropriate level informational text and provides the basis for good classroom discussion and activities. Reading Task: The students will listen while the teacher reads the text. Then the teacher will use prompting and support to guide the students through text based questions that encourage the students to examine specific words and illustrations. Students will begin to understand different landforms as depicted in the book. They will be able to discuss how the landform was created and will understand that our Earth is changing all the time. They will understand that some changes happen quickly and some happen very slowly. Discussion Task: Students will discuss the text in depth with the teacher and their classmates and will perform activities that result in a better understanding of the text. Students will discuss specific landforms and will begin to understand how they may have been created. Vocabulary Task: Using the text and illustrations, the student will discover the meanings of most words in the text. The teacher should ask questions about the vocabulary words and not give the definition of the word to the students. The teacher will help the students identify words and phrases in the text that describe landforms and how they were created. Definitions for words were found at www.wordsmyth.net Writing Task: Students will use a combination of drawing, dictating and writing to summarize and extend their learning. Foundational Skills: Teacher will model reading from top to bottom, left to right, and page to page. Students will read/listen to the text with purpose and understanding. Marion County Public Schools revised: 2/24/2013 Page 1
Common Core Standards Addressed: Kindergarten LACC.KRI.1.1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. LACC.K.RI.1.2 With prompting and support, identify the main topic and recall key details of a text. LACC.K.RI.2.4 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text. LACC.K.RI.3.7 With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts.) LACC.K.RI.4.10 Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. LACC.K.W.1.1 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is ). LACC.K.W.3.8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. LACC.K.L.3.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words and phrases based in kindergarten reading and content. Next Generation Sunshine State Standards Addressed: Kindergarten Social Studies SS.K.G.3.1 Identify basic landforms. SS.K.G.3.2 Identify basic bodies of water. Marion County Public Schools revised: 2/24/2013 Page 2
Vocabulary Discussed in Text: The teacher should draw the children s attention to the following vocabulary. They should be given an opportunity to try to determine the meaning of the word before being given the definition. This could be done as a lesson by itself, or could be completed during any of the additional reading of the book. The vocabulary should not be studied as part of the initial reading. There are several words with multiple meaning as noted below. There should be discussed with the class and the students should be guided in using context clues to determine appropriate meaning in this text. globe a round ball with a map of the earth on it, or anything shaped like a ball, the world; planet Earth frozen changed into a solid or made hard by freezing, covered or surrounded by ice icy made of, covered with, or looking like ice, very cold bottom the lowest or deepest part of something ferny having lots of ferns (fern a family of plants with large green leaves shaped like feathers) sheets a thin, broad surface (ice sheet a thick layer of ice covering a large area for an extended period of time) glaciers a large mass of ice formed in cold regions from compacted snow and very slowly moving down a slope or across land. wore to become damaged through long use; also, to have or carry on your body. This second definition should be discussed and students should understand that many words have more than one meaning. crept to move slowly, to grow along a surface like a vine or the roots of certain plants continents one of the earth's seven largest areas of land shorelines the place where land and water meet islands an area of land surrounded by water on all sides volcanoes an opening in the earth's surface through which melted rock, ash, and gases are forced out. erupt to break or burst out suddenly lava hot, melted rock that erupts from a volcano, the rock formed when this hot, melted rock cools and gets hard coral the hard skeleton of tiny sea animals called corals. reefs a ridge of rock, sand, or coral at or near the surface of ocean waters. gushing to flood out in large amounts and with great force; spurt; also, to speak with too much emotion or enthusiasm. Again, students should be given both definitions and should understand that they need context clues to determine correct meaning. stream a flowing body of water like a small river enclose to put something around a thing to separate it from other things or people valleys a long area of low land between mountains or forests a large area of land covered with many trees and other plants rain forests a dense evergreen forest, mostly found in a tropical areas, that receives a large amount of rain all year long deserts a very dry region with few plants growing in it. A second definition showing a different pronunciation of the word, but same spelling: to leave someone or something behind when you have a duty to stay. This should be discussed with the students with emphasis on the first definition. prickly full of small, sharp points cacti a thick stemmed, often prickly plant without conventional leaves that grows in hot, dry areas of America damp wet, but not very wet caves a natural hole in the earth. A cave is big enough for a person or animal to enter canyons a deep valley with steep sides carved to form or write by cutting, to slice or cut into pieces snowcapped a cap like crown of snow, as on a mountain or ridge Marion County Public Schools revised: 2/24/2013 Page 3
Reminders: It is important that the text remains the expert, not the teacher. All answers to questions must be supported with specific text sections or selections. Students must be asked to support their claims by giving specific text sections to justify their answers. Collaborative discussion and processing is an important piece of this lesson. Ask students to share with partners their thoughts and ideas, and then ask them to share out their answer. When possible, the teacher should ask a question, allow partners to discuss an answer that they can support with the text, then allow them to answer. Subsequent partners should be allowed to share additional justified answers before the teacher moves to the next question. The goal is for deep understanding of text and not rushing through the text. Lessons should be completed over the course of SEVERAL days. Reading a book to a class once is not sufficient to really enjoy the text and to understand the deeper meanings of the text. When possible, allow students to see the text during the discussion. If each student cannot have his/her own copy, or even share with a partner, the teacher should display the pages so all the students have exposure to the text during discussions. Have the text available to students when it is not being discussed so that they can explore the text independently as their confidence with the text improves and their understanding deepens. You will find students returning for multiple reads of this text independently. Do not front load the text prior to the first read, and do not front load any assignments. It is important that students discover and develop answers on their own or through collaborative discussion with peers. Marion County Public Schools revised: 2/24/2013 Page 4
Lesson Sequence: Day 1: Read the story aloud to students straight through with very little discussion. When the story is over, ask the students to turn and talk to their partners about how they liked or disliked the story. Ask students to support their statements with specific examples in the text. After a short time, have students that are willing share their discussion points. (Note: The teacher should not share his/her opinion about the story, as students need to use their own judgment.) Day 2 and beyond (varies): Revisit specific sections of text for the various lesson points listed below. Student responses and behaviors should be noted so that the discussion activities do not last too long for their age and attention span. Make note which activities were completed each day, so that the other lesson discussions can be complete on subsequent days. (Note: Not all discussion lessons need to be completed. In addition, discussions do not need to follow a specific sequence.) Final Day: Introduce and complete one of the cumulative writing activities listed below. Writing in Response to Reading: 1. The teacher should review the landforms from the text and from children s experiences with the class. 2. The students should write about where they would like to live or visit. They should refer to the text in their writing and should related details of the specific landform in their writing. Discussion Activities: Teacher asks the class a set of guiding questions and students refer to the text in response to the questions. The teacher should look for ways to reduce the amount of guidance given the students. This text provides the basis for the students to discuss various landforms and time should be allowed for discussion of students personal experiences seeing different landforms such as the beach or the mountains. Discussion should be focused on the landform and not just on what the student did while visiting (e.g. the beach has sand, shells, waves, tide pools, etc,; not just that the student went to the beach and had a picnic there.) Reading the Text Together The teacher will introduce the text and will read it through the first time without stopping so the students can enjoy the book. If possible, allow the students the opportunity to review the book independently following this reading. A tape or CD of the book could be made available to the students. Marion County Public Schools revised: 2/24/2013 Page 5
The Text: Text under Discussion Our Earth is where I live. It is a big, round globe. It has a frozen North Pole at top and an icy cold South Pole at the bottom. Our Earth was shaped by water, fire, ice, and living things. It is always changingmuch too slowly for us to see. Directions for Teachers/Guiding Questions For Students Vocabulary: globe How does this picture compare with the globe or maps in your classroom? What part of the Earth is represented by the color blue? What about the green sections? _ Vocabulary: frozen, icy, bottom How are the North and South poles alike? What are some ways that we can see changes in the Earth? How do living things change the earth? How does the water change the Earth? Can you see an example of that in the illustration? Once, our earth was covered with warm water. Some dinosaurs lived in its warm and ferny swamps. Then our Earth turned cold. Huge sheets of slowing moving ice called glaciers crept across the earth and wore rocks smooth. Glaciers are still moving in places on our earth. _ Vocabulary: ferny, sheets, glaciers, crept, wore What do you imagine happened to the dinosaurs? Why? Why would the glaciers wear down the rocks? Where do you think glaciers are moving today? Marion County Public Schools revised: 2/24/2013 Page 6
The biggest pieces of land on earth are continents. Their shorelines meet the sea. Islands are smaller pieces of land that rise up out of the sea. Some islands are born when volcanoes erupt below the sea. Hot lava cools. And over time it turns to soil where green things can grow. Some islands are coral reefs that grow and grow until they poke above the water, and birds bring seeds to them. Water gushing up from the ground, and rain, and melted snow, fills streams ponds, and lakes. Streams flow into small rivers, which flow into bigger ones. Nothing can stop water from finding its way. Some rivers dry up and stop flowing. But some empty into the salty sea. Vocabulary: continents, shorelines, islands Why does all land eventually meet the sea? How do islands rise up out of the sea? Vocabulary: volcanoes, erupt, lava, coral, reefs Would living on an island formed by a volcano be a safe place to live? Defend your answers. How do birds bring seeds to an island? How does that change things? Vocabulary: gushing, streams Where do streams, ponds and lakes get water from? Why does the water go from little streams to bigger rivers? Where do the illustrations show that all of the streams and rivers finally go? What happens when something is in the path of the water? What does the illustration show? Why would some rivers dry up? How would that affect the Earth around it? The text says that the rivers empty into the sea? What does the author mean? Do the rivers become empty? Are the rivers salty like the sea? Do you know another name for sea? _ Marion County Public Schools revised: 2/24/2013 Page 7
The land on the earth has rounded hills that enclose valleys. There are many forests on our earth. Rain forests are full of flowers, and birds, and monkeys jumping through greenleafed trees. There are hot, sandy deserts where lizards and prickly cacti grow. There are dark, damp caves that go far down into the earth. Vocabulary: enclose, valleys, forest, rain forest How do the hills enclose the valley? Do you have forests around where you live? Some people refer to the rain forest as a jungle how is that different from a forest we may have around our homes? Use the illustration to help answer the question. Vocabulary: deserts, prickly, cacti, damp, caves Explain how a cave and a desert are alike and how they are different. You should refer to the text in your answer. There are tall canyons carved by years and years of rushing water. There are high, snowcapped mountains reaching up to the clouds in the sky Our big, round earth is very beautiful. It is my home and yours. _ Vocabulary: canyons, carved, snowcapped Why do you think it would take many years to carve a canyon in the land? Does it look like many animals could live in the high, snowcapped mountains? Why do the mountains have snow on them all year? Do the mountains really reach up to the clouds? Describe a landform on Earth. How does the text describe it? How has the Earth changed over the course of time? Refer to the text for your answer. What landforms do you have where you live? Have you ever visited any of the landforms in this text? Marion County Public Schools revised: 2/24/2013 Page 8