Unit Theme/Topic for Grade 1: Writing informative papers that provide facts about their topic.

Lesson Title: Topic Detectives Time Needed for Lesson: 60 minutes Teacher: Jamie Collins, Lindsay Kryda, Karlene Zarzycki Enduring Understandings In completing this unit students will understand how to identify and gather supporting facts for a topic by using informational texts. Students will understand how to research and use the writing process effectively. Essential Questions to Guide Instruction 1. How can we use informational texts to supply facts to conduct an informative essay about a topic? 2. Why is research important when writing essays? Prior Knowledge Needed Students will already know what research is, why its important, and a grasp of how to use research effectively. Students will already know what an informative text is. Lesson Objectives & I Can Statements: Knowledge Students Will Construct as They Engage in This Lesson Students will be able to 1. Read a selection of texts and discuss the topics. 2. Students will brainstorm and select their topic for their informative piece. 3. I will define what a topic is and how to find it. 4. We discuss what a topic is from the mentor texts. 5. You identify what the topic is. Assessment: Evidence of Student Understanding 1. I will know that the students master this standard when they apply what they have learned to make their essays on the seasons. 2. Students will participate in the discussions in the classroom to see if they know how to find the topic and supporting facts. 3. By asking higher order thinking questions and using relevant experiences pertaining to the lesson, the students will know facts about the seasons Higher Order Thinking (H.O.T.): Engaging Students in Constructing Deep Understanding 1. How can you find a topic in a book? Why do you think that? Why is it important to find the topic? 2. What are some facts that you noticed when we were reading and what is important about them? 3. How did being Topic Detectives help you determine the topic? And why?

LESSON SEQUENCE Introduction: Hooking Students, Activating Prior Knowledge, Setting Lesson Goals, etc. The class will make an anchor chart about what a topic is, why its important, and how to find it. Teacher will have an anchor chart with labels who, what, when, where and why. These questions will be answered as we read. Instructional Moves: Engaging Students in ACTIVELY Constructing Deep Understanding The teacher will do a read aloud of one of the mentor texts, as the teacher is reading the teacher will pause and together with the students be able to answer the who, what, where, when and why questions. After teacher finished reading, teacher will discuss the 5 questions and why its important to find them while you read. Centers: Teacher will set out excerpts with pictures from the mentor texts at 5 different centers. Each center will be a different question (who, what, where, when, and why). They will have to search for clues within the text to determine what the answer to the question is. Each center will be labeled what question they are answering. The students will have a worksheet with who, what, where, when, and why and they will fill it in as the move around to each center. Center 1-Who: Center 2-What: Center 3-When: Center 4-Where: Center 5-Why: Students will act as Topic Detectives, the students are going to use magnifying glasses and hats while reading the excerpts and using the clues provided to determine the answer to the question. Closure: Engaging Students in NAMING IT So They Can CLAIM IT For closure the teacher will use an exit slip that has the students name the 5 questions that need to answer when finding a topic. By giving the students a purpose to read the material the students will be able to answer facts and be able to determine what the topic is. Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners, Including ELLs: Intentional Choices You Made in Planning During our centers, the students will also be provided pictures as well as the prompt to find who, what, when, where and why questions. The students that are bodily-kinesthetic learners will be able to walk around from center to center exploring the concept. By picking the groups for the centers, the teacher will make sure that each individual is supported based on the group work that they have done in the past. The teacher will need to make sure that the books that have been chosen will be diverse as well as the topics that will be supplied. Each text has been chosen to meet the needs and relate to each child individually. Meeting the Needs of Exceptional Learners: Possibilities for Accommodations &Modifications The students will have more time to complete the task if needed. Depending on the student, 5 centers may be too difficult for them. These learners could go to three of them and the teachers can work with the student to catch up on what they have missed. The
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students will be provided with larger text or having the material read to them. By making accommodations and modifications for them, the students will become great topic detectives. References & Resources

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