LESSON FOCUS: Choose text or book that is challenging, short in length and worthy of

a close reading lesson.

Some People are mad at SeaWorld- Informational text, high interest, grade level appropriate 450
Lexile Level.
Students would answer questions relating to the text such as,
Who is mad at SeaWorld?
Why do they want the orcas to be put in the ocean?
How do you think the orcas feel being in a large tank of water?
Students will also be given a graphic organizer with pictures of orcas and what they eat
LEARNING GOAL: Craft a learning goal that references a Common Core State Standard.
(It may be more than 1).
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate
understanding of key details in a text. (Rl. 2.1)

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE: Determine if there are any concepts or skills in your

Learning Goal that would require brief, direct instruction prior to the close read. For
example, if Im asking my students to retell a story including key details, do my
students need to know what key details are?

Students need a basic understanding of what an orca looks like and also what SeaWorld is and
looks like.
Students will also need to understand the meaning of key words such as details or evidence to
answer questions from the text.

FIRST READ: Teacher reads aloud to students (Students read independently

in 2nd-3rd grades) Set a purpose: Inform students of the purpose for reading the text
for the first time that references your learning goal. Tell students the first read is to get
the flow and the gist of the text.
COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITY: Give your students a chance to talk about their
first read with each other. Students can discuss in partners or groups of 4. Tell them to
think about what the text was mainly about and discuss. Include an academic response
frame to provide scaffolding for all students, especially English Learners.
READ:
Students
andwith
annotate
(For K-1st grade it could be a
Get SECOND
students to
discuss
their firstread
reading
a partner
shared
reading
and
shared
annotation)
Set
a
Inform students of
Have them discuss the main ideas and interesting factspurpose:
they learned.
their
purposeready
for reading
the text
(with Such
you) for
second
and with
that they
will
Have
questions
for students
to ask.
as, the
What
is thetime
problem
having
be
annotating.
Agree
on
what
marks
the
students
will
be
using
to
annotate
the
text.
orcas in a tank?
could
be modeled
at first through
a teacher
Who(This
will be
checking
if the whales
are happy
in their thinktanks?aloud.)
How much bigger will they make the tanks?
Have students use the 4 Ls
1. Look at partner.
Teacher
will Text
ask
students,
What
is the article mainly about?
2.
LeanRead:
toward
partner.
Third
Dependent
Questions
How
do
you
know?
3. Lower
your voice.
Inform
students
that they will be asked some questions and to answer them they
Students
will
give
from
text teaching
(Chart, oral,
4.
Listen
attentively
to
your
partner.
will have to read theexamples
text
again.
Before
the modeled)
lesson, create a series of text
Have
students
number
paragraphs
dependent questions structured to bring the reader to an understanding of the key
Underline
and
highlight
words the student to cite evidence
Circle
powerful
or
phrases.
ideas
of
thekey
textwords
ensuring
that
each unknown
question requires
Underline
words
or questions
phrases you
understand.
from
the text.
Ask
onedoatnot
a time
and give students the opportunity to go
Write
important
thoughts
in
the
margin.
back to the text for the answers.
Who is against having whales living in tanks?
How many people visit SeaWorld each year?
Where do you think the orcas should live?
When do you think SeaWorld will finish building the new tanks?
Where do you think SeaWorld is located?
For visuals I would use pictures of Orcas at SeaWorld and pictures of Orcas in the
wild.
I would ask students to use sentence frames such as, according to the text
And the author states
Do you think the author is for or against putting Orcas in tanks or is he neutral?
Do you think the author has more information about the treatment of Orcas at
SeaWorld?

COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITY: Give your students a chance to talk about their

second read with each other. Students can discuss in partners or groups of 4. Tell
them to think about what the text was mainly about and discuss. Include an academic
response frame to provide scaffolding for all students, especially English Learners.
While reading along with students Ask them to underline any key words they find in the article.
Model the vocabulary words so they know how to pronounce them properly.
Model underlining key words on the projector and highlight any key phrases using different colors

using scaffolding strategies.

Also have students write down the definitions to the vocabulary words they do not know using a
dictionary.

CULMINATING WRITING TASK: Design a writing prompt that will give students an
opportunity to respond in writing (visuals for younger students) to something they
haveCOLLABORATION
learned through this
close reading process
thatstudents
ties in with
the learning
OPPORTUNITY:
Give your
a chance
to talk goal.
about their
responses to the text dependent questions with each other. Provide teacher thinkalouds for those questions that the students have difficulty with. Students can
Whatdiscuss
do youin
think
is theorright
thing
let the
orcas goresponse
free or keep
them
partners
groups
of to
4. do,
Include
academic
frames
toat
provide
SeaWorld?
scaffolding for all students, especially English Learners
Use evidence from the text to explain your answer.
Have students get into groups to help each other answer questions.
Help students answer questions by asking them questions that are directed to answering the
questions from the third reading.

Identify Standards Addressed:

Look through your grade level standards and identify which standards your lesson
incorporates. Ensure the rigor is at grade level.

Informational Text:
________________________________________________________________________________________
______
Literature: ______Not
Aplicable_______________________________________________________________________________
____________
Writing:
_______W2.1___________________________________________________________________________
____
Language:
_____________L2________________________________________________________________________
__
Speaking and Listening: _________________SL
2_____________________________________________________