Christine A. Elmore
I am an instructional coach for literacy at Barnard Environmental Studies Magnet School, where the primary theme is environmental studies. The self-contained class of third-grade students to whom I will be teaching this unit are a heterogeneous group with varying abilities in the seven-to-ten age range and are primarily of African-American or Hispanic-American descent. Although I have designed this unit with them in mind, I am confident that it could easily be used by teachers of K-5, if not older.
Part of the third-grade reading curriculum involves immersing students in nonfiction reading and helping them appreciate and use the many features inherent in these texts. There is a natural progression from the teaching of reading nonfiction to that of writing it. I plan to focus on three types of writing in this unit: journal writing, writing descriptive observations and writing an informational text. I have used an excellent and very teacher-friendly resource book entitled
Nonfiction Writing: Procedures and Reports
by Lucy Calkins and Laurie Pessah to help structure my lessons on teaching young students to write informational texts or as they refer to them, 'all-about' books.
Unit Objectives
To learn about the life and work of Jane Goodall.
To use the techniques employed by wildlife scientists (observation, keeping a journal, timing specific animal behaviors) in studying animal behavior.
To learn about the specific features found in informational texts and use them when doing research and writing.
To approach nonfiction writing with the intention of teaching others what you know.
To learn about the various organizational structures to choose from when writing each sub-topic of the 'all-about' book on chimpanzees.
To learn the causes of chimpanzee endangerment.
To develop an ecological conscience and concern for all living things.
Strategies
To read grade-level appropriate biographies and view videos about the life and work of Jane Goodall.
To practice journal writing after reading samples written by Jane Goodall and watching the teacher model the writing of journal entries.
To practice the techniques of observation, timing, and charting animal behavior while viewing a video of chimps in the wild.
To learn how to read a nonfiction text and to use its many features (i.e., table of contexts, index, subheading, diagrams, pictures and captions, etc.) by participating in shared reading experiences using big books.
To work with a partner on gathering information in informational texts on chimpanzees. using a graphic organizer to help organize the information.
To learn about the 4 basic organizational structures (narrative writing, procedural text writing, diagrams and different-kinds-of-something writing) used when writing an 'all-about' book.
To work with a variety of sources (the internet, books, magazines and videos) to learn about chimpanzees and the causes of their endangerment.
Meeting New Haven's Literacy and Science Standards
The New Haven school district's emphasis on literacy is targeted in all aspects of the unit. As students listen to and read about Jane Goodall and chimpanzees, they will be asked to demonstrate strategic reading skills before, during and after reading (Reading/ Literature content standard 1.0). They will also be asked to participate in a wide variety of writing experiences. (Writing content standard 2.0). Not only will they write down their thoughts and observations in a scientific journal, and fill in their observations of chimpanzee behavior on specific charts, but they will also write information books on chimps after researching them. By studying the features that chimps have that help them in their environments, students will be able to describe how they are adapted to obtain air, water, food, and protection in land habitats. I will teach my young students to use scientific inquiry, literacy and numeracy to create and communicate scientific knowledge through the observation studies they do and the 'all-about' books they write and share with others (all of which relates to Science content standard 3.2: Organisms can survive and reproduce only in environments that meet their basic needs).
The lessons in this unit will be introduced two to three times a week for a period of 45-60 minutes over a three-month period. My curriculum unit is divided into six sections:
I.
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Jane Goodall: Wildlife Scientist
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II.
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Using Techniques That Wildlife Scientists Use
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III.
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The Features of Nonfiction
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IV.
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Writing An 'All-About Book
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V.
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Endangered Species: What's It All About?
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VI.
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Jane Goodall: Champion of Chimps
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