1. Unit 2: Nonfiction/Pennsylvania
The lessons in this Unit focus on gaining a deeper understanding of nonfiction text. There are mentor texts in this unit, as well as use of the PA social studies text. The text selections in this unit are only suggestions. You may use any text or part of a text that fits your class and topics of study.
You may also find that you want to repeat lessons with other sections of text in the PA textbook. These lesson seeds serve as an introduction to the standards and nonfiction text skills, but are not intended to be the only exposure and practice students need to become proficient navigating nonfiction text.
Mentor Texts:
Houghton Mifflin PA Textbook
Nonfiction Text Structures Set: Chinstrap Penguins
Nonfiction Text set (for teaching text features and text structure)

2. Unit 2
I can
My Goals
I can do this with help
I can do this by myself
I can do this with a hard text
I can use details to explain answers explicitly found in text (right there answers).
I can draw inferences in a text using what the author tells me and my schema.
I can provide evidence to support the inferences.
I can draw inferences from a text and refer to details and examples in the text when explaining my inferences.
I can determine the main idea of a text.
I can identify key details in the text and explain how they support the main idea.
I can write a summary stating the key points of a text.
I can explain what happened (events, concepts, procedures, & ideas) in a scientific, historical, or technical text.
I can explain the why (connection between events/cause & effect) in a scientific, historical, or technical text using evidence from the text.
I can describe the events of a moment in history after reading about it.
I can explain events, ideas, or procedures from an informational text and use the text to support my explanation.

3. I can provide evidence to support the inferences.
I can use details to explain answers explicitly found in text (right there answers).
I can draw inferences in a text using what the author tells me and my schema.
I can provide evidence to support the inferences.
I can draw inferences from a text and refer to details and examples in the text when explaining my inferences.
I can determine the main idea of a text.
I can identify key details in the text and explain how they support the main idea.

4. I can write a summary stating the key points of a text.
I can explain what happened (events, concepts, procedures, & ideas) in a scientific, historical, or technical text.
I can explain the why (connection between events/cause & effect) in a scientific, historical, or technical text using evidence from the text.
I can describe the events of a moment in history after reading about it.
I can explain events, ideas, or procedures from an informational text and use the text to support my explanation.

5. Unit 2 Standard Suggested Mini-Lessons
RI 4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Using details from the text to make inferences
Identify details and examples
Using details and examples to explain what the text explicitly says
Citing specific examples and details to support inferences.
RI 4.2 Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.
Identifying the main ideas and the supporting details in a text
Organizing and categorizing new information in order to remember it
Identifying the unifying idea that connects details
Using the big ideas of narrative nonfiction to identify important details
Determining which details are key in a text
Explaining how the main idea is supporting by the details.
Using key details and the main idea to summarize a text.
RI 4.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.
Teaching a partner about our new learning
Growing ideas by talking about the information with a partner
Understanding the difference between events, procedures, ideas, and concepts
How can I read and understand a history/social science text?
Explaining what happened and why it happened based on information in the text
Supporting Standard Mini Lessons
RI 4.5
RI 4.7
RL 4.5
Informational text can be written in order, written to compare, written to tell cause and effects, or written to tell about problems
Using expository text structure to understand and retain the information in a text
Using text structure to understand narrative nonfiction
Using the meaning of the text to figure out tricky words
Information can be presented in various forms, including media and poetry.

6. Management Mini-Lesson
1: Informational Text vs. Fiction Text
Management Mini-Lesson
Review classroom routines and procedures as needed for the class. What routines are the students lacking?
Reading Mini-Lesson
Objective: Students will determine the difference between fiction and nonfiction text.
Refer back to the anchor chart made during Unit 1: Fiction vs. Nonfiction.
Students will:
Observe the differences between a nonfiction book and a fiction book
Discover the 11 features found in many nonfiction books
Evaluate whether a book is fiction or nonfiction
The following is a list of all the features and their purposes. You can decide the number and order in which you will teach them each day.
Labels help the reader understand the small parts of a picture.
Photographs help the reader see what the real topic looks like.
Captions help the reader understand what they are looking at in a picture.
Comparisons help the reader compare the item to something they are already familiar with.
Cross Sections help the reader see what something looks like from the inside.
Maps help the reader know where something is located in the world.
Types of Print help the reader know that the word or words are important.
Close-Ups help the reader see what something looks like from up close.
Tables of Contents help the reader know how the book is organized.
Indexes help the reader find specific information in a book.
Glossaries help the reader understand the definitions of important words in the book.
Procedure:
Introduce the name of the feature.
Show many different examples of the features in nonfiction books. (The use of real literature helps students understand the importance of each one.) You may also choose to use the nonfiction article set. This set will be very helpful to teach not only text features, but text structures as well. Note that you do not need to use ALL of the articles. These may be copies and handed out to students.
Discuss and record on the class chart what the class thinks is the purpose of each feature.
Have students write the name and purpose of the feature in their notebooks.
Then have them hunt through nonfiction books to find their own example of the feature and record it in their notebook.
Take time at the end of each day to share some examples that they found.
Each feature should be taught individually even if you are teaching more than one a day.  The same applies to making the chart and sharing notebook findings. Make sure the students really have a grasp on the vocabulary of the different features.
How do these text features help us better understand a nonfiction text?
Guided Practice: On the final day of features, hand out the Nonfiction Feature Find (PDF).  Tell the students that now that they are experts, they must find all the different conventions and record their findings on the worksheet. (This is a great opportunity to show students where to find nonfiction books in your classroom library. Students should explore the library and the books found there to do their feature find).
Thinking Stems/Anchor Charts:
Nonfiction text features chart
Formative Assessment Opportunities:
Have students find and list text features in their readers notebook. Can they note the purpose of each? EXIT SLIP

7. Management Mini-Lesson
2: Informational Text MAIN IDEA/DETAILS
Management Mini-Lesson
Review classroom routines and procedures as needed for the class. What routines are the students lacking?
Reading Mini-Lesson
Objective: Students will determine the main idea of an informational text and explain how the main idea is supported by key details.
Learning Target:
I can determine the main idea of a text and key supporting details. (RI.4.2)
RI.4.2 asks students to not only look at main idea and supporting details, but also to summarize informational texts. This seed will focus on determining main idea and supporting details. This seed introduces the “box-and-bullets” strategy of organizing the main idea and supporting details of an informational text.
Pick a reading article from the nonfiction text set. Any article that is broken into sections will work well. Read the passage aloud once to students. After reading the text once aloud, explain to students that today you are going to show them how readers determine the main idea of a text and which details support the main idea. Explain that the main idea is what the passage or text is mostly about. Supporting details are the specific details located in the text that connect to and support the main idea.
Revisit the first paragraph, stopping to think aloud about the main.
As you determine the main idea of the first paragraph, record it on a post-it note. Put a box around it. This is the “box” of the “box-and-bullets” strategy. You should project the post-it note using the document camera so students can see. You may choose to record the information on a chart instead to ensure access to all students. Create the anchor chart to be two-columned (see below) so that you can use the chart again for the next seed.
Point out the text features. They provide a clue to where the reader may find supporting key details. List these on the post-it notes as the “bullets” on the “box-and-bullets” chart.
Guided practice: (may occur during the next mini-lesson) Provide students with another short informational text, or pages of the PA textbook (Explorers and Early Settlers). Students can work in pairs to read the article and determine the main idea and key supporting details. Provide students with chart paper so they can create a “box-and-bullets” organizer. As students work, rotate through the pairs and support as needed. You may support their thinking by asking “What is the one big thing (main idea) that this text is teaching and which details in the text connect with the main idea?” Make note of students who are having difficulty. These students will need additional practice in a small group setting.
Work Time: Remind students that today as they read informational text independently, they should practice the “box-and-bullets” strategy for determining main idea and supporting key details. They can record the “box-and-bullets” in their reader’s notebooks. Students should also have the opportunity to read literary text on their independent reading level.
While students are working, circulate the room listening to their reading, or pull small groups of students to provide focus group instruction for students who need additional support. This is also the time to pull a guided reading group.
Share: Bring students back together and allow them to discuss the following questions: How do you feel about the “box-and-bullets” strategy? What did you have difficulty with today?
Formative Assessment Opportunities:
During guided practice, as students work together to create a box-and bullet organizer, are students identifying the main idea and supporting details?
Analyze reader’s notebooks. Do responses reflect understanding of main idea and supporting details?
Exit Slip: Explain how you determined the main idea of [pick any text] (or other informational text you used during guided practice).
Thinking Stems/Anchor Charts:
What is the one big thing (main idea) this text is teaching and which details in the text connect with the main idea?
What is this text mostly about?
What details in the text support the main idea?

8. 3: Informational Text MAIN IDEA DETAILS
Lesson
3: Informational Text MAIN IDEA DETAILS
Management Mini-Lesson
Review classroom routines and procedures as needed for the class. What routines are
Reading Mini-Lesson
Learning Target:
I can explain how key details support the main idea of an informational text. (RI.4.2)
Mini-Lesson(s): (RI.4.2, RI.4.1, 4.10; SL.4.1b; W.4.9, 4.10; L.4.6) Explain that you are going to continue working with the article “_____________________.” The focus for this mini-lesson will be to think about how the details support the main idea of the article.
Revisit the anchor chart you made in the previous seed. Be sure to provide access to the article for students. Focus your think aloud on how the details listed support the main idea. Students will need to hear your thinking. For example, talk about how the details support the main idea. Record your thinking on the chart.
Continue to think aloud for the remainder of the supporting details. Emphasize how the ideas support the main idea. Remember, the standard asks readers to explain how the main idea is supported by key details.
Guided practice: (which may occur during the next mini-lesson) Students will revisit the article they worked on in the previous seed. You may have chosen another article from the pack for them to read and determine the main idea and supporting details, or pages of the PA Text. Students will follow the same process you modeled with their article. You may support their thinking by asking, “How do all these details connect with the main idea you determined?” Make note of pairs having difficulty with the process.
Work Time: Send students off to work time with a directive to revisit the “box-and-bullets” they have from their previous work time. Encourage students to work today to explain how the details support the main idea. Students should keep track of their thinking in their reader’s notebooks. Students should also have the opportunity during this time to read texts on their independent reading level.
While students are working, circulate the room listening to their reading, or pull small groups of students to provide focus group instruction for students who need additional support. This is also the time to pull a guided reading group.
Share: Bring students back together. How do the details support the main idea you previously determined?
Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart:
How do all of these details connect with the main idea you determined?
Formative Assessment Opportunities:
Analyze students’ charts from guided practice, as well as reader’s notebook responses from their work time. Make decisions for instructional next steps based on how well students were able to explain how supporting details support main idea. You may need to repeat this process with the whole class using different informational texts. You may find that you need to address this in small groups.

9. ADDITIONAL MAIN IDEA/DETAILS LESSONS
Informational Text
ADDITIONAL MAIN IDEA/DETAILS LESSONS
Many students will need more practice with main idea and supporting details. Below are additional lessons to help scaffold this idea for students.
Lesson and Ideas taken from Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis
Coding Important Information on Unfamiliar as Well as Familiar Topics (page 165)
Purpose: Noticing and selecting new information on familiar and unfamiliar topics
Resource: Article from The UnHuggables, published by the National Wildlife Federation, and a variety of animal books for independent practice (can use animal articles from the Text Set) **Some of the articles from The Unhuggables were turned into PDFs for display on the doc camera or over the projector. Please do NOT make a class set to send home with students!
Responses: Sticky notes coded L for learned something new about a familiar topic, or * for important new information about an unfamiliar topic.
When kids are reading about topics they know a lot about, encourage them to notice when they’ve learned something new and code the text L for learned. That new information means a lot to students with considerable background knowledge about a topic. When kids read about a little-known topic, however, coding the text L for learned is useless because the tet would likely disappear under a sea of Ls. Encourage students, instead, to code parts of the text they deep important with a *, a kind of universal code for importance.
2. Finding Important Information Rather Than Just One Main Idea (page 166)
Purpose: Understanding that there are often several important ideas in a piece of text rather than a single main idea.
Responses: Three sticky notes for each student, each one coded * to mark three important ideas in the text.
When we are trying to wean kids from the one and only main idea mentality, we give them three sticky notes and ask them to draw a big asterisk on each one. The point is to show students that there is more than one important idea in anything they read. Ask them to place sticky notes at three different points in the text that they deem important. Model this, too, and when you come back together to discuss the reading, each child and the teacher shares what he or she has deemed important in the text. Naturally, you will not all be in agreement. Ask kids to defend their stance, cite evidence, and explain the thinking behind their decision. This contributes to the students’ capacities to speak out about what they think, and it reminds them that the text includes many important concepts and issues, not just a single main idea.
3. Sifting the Topic from the Details (page 167)
Purpose: Discriminating between key topics and supporting details
Resource: Nonfiction Article
Responses: Two-Column note form headed Topic/Details; three-column note form headed Topic/Details/Responses
Pick a nonfiction article from the set or children’s magazine that is structured by headings. Explain that the headings represent the topics and the text is full of details that give information about the topic. Introduce the two-column note-taking form. Read the first section, title first. (IF you can’t infer the topic from the heading, the first few sentences are usually helpful). Explore each heading and text to discover the topics and details.
As students gain automaticity with this, begin picking articles where it is difficult to sort out the topics and details. Show students that not all nonfiction text is as accessible as others. Students can begin doing this in small groups, partners, and individually for practice. Be sure to always bring students back to share and discuss their thinking.
Extension: three-column note form to include response
As students gain facility with the two-column form, introduce the three-column form. This form is helpful for listing essential information and allows kids to interact with the text personally to ensure they have a place to record their thoughts, feelings, and questions. It is impractical to place three columns on one page of notebook paper, so have students use their two-column note-taking as before, and use the back for their response.

10. Formative Assessment Opportunities: Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart:
Lesson
4: Informational Text SUMMARIZING
Reading Mini-Lesson
Learning Target: I can summarize informational text. (RI.4.2)
Suggested Text: Pages of SS PA Text: Explorers and Early Settlers
Note: This standard requires readers to not only determine main idea and explain how it is supported by key details, but also to summarize informational texts. This seed will focus on teaching students how to narrow down to the most important facts/details in an informational text and then write a summary of that text. For this seed, you will want to choose any familiar informational text. Using a shorter text might work well the first time with this seed, and it could be repeated with a longer text.
Interactive Read Aloud: (must occur prior to the mini-lesson) During this time you will want to read aloud a variety of informational texts while demonstrating how readers navigate through texts. You can also continue to practice determining main idea, and explaining how the key details support the main idea. Model how to make notes in the margins or on sticky notes about what is important to remember. It will be important to keep the read aloud interactive by inviting students to turn and talk or to stop and jot. You could also ask students to turn and teach each other something they learned or to sketch what you just read adding details as you continue to read.
Mini-Lesson(s): (RI.4.2; RI.4.1; L.4.6; W.4.9b, 4.10) This seed is intended to span more than one mini- lesson. Make text available to all students. You may find it helpful to use the document camera so that students can see as you work. As you read the text, model for students how to write details on post-it notes. Model your thinking as you record on your post-it notes. Continue recording details for the entire passage.
Once you have completed the passage, model for students how to spread out all of the post-it notes, read each post-it note, and think about the importance of each post-it note. Have students turn and talk about what they notice you are doing.
Model how to get rid of the details that are less important, and how to look for details that may say the same thing. Have students turn and talk about what they notice you are doing. Model how to combine some of the post-it notes. Again, have students turn and talk about what they notice you are doing.
Once you have narrowed the post-it notes down to the most important details, arrange them to write a summary. Model writing a summary using the post-it notes.
As a class, create a chart titled “How to Write a Summary.” See the example below. It is important to create this with students after they have seen the process modeled.
Guided practice: (this may occur during the next mini-lesson) Have students work together to scan back through the text and reread the summary. Does the summary make sense? Did we include the most important details?
Work Time: Students should have the opportunity to follow this process with other informational texts (“You Have a Choice”). Students need to practice taking it all the way to a written summary. This may be done during small group instruction, or students can practice independently (work on summarizing texts during guided reading groups. Have students summarize their independent reading texts in their response journals). Make available informational texts of varying reading levels and interest. Students need to also have time to read texts on their independent reading level during this time. While students are working, circulate the room to listen to or confer with them on their reading, or pull small groups to provide focus group instruction for students needing additional support. Guided reading groups are also to be pulled at this time.
Share Time: Bring students back together and provide the opportunity for students to share any summaries they worked on during Work Time.
Formative Assessment Opportunities:
As students turn and talk, listen in to their conversations and support as needed. Are they noticing how you choose the most important details to include in the summary? If not, then you will want to emphasize this through additional mini-lessons.
As students work together to review the summary, are they having meaningful conversations about the details that have been included in the summary?
Performance Task: Using the anchor chart, students will write a written summary about the text they read in their reader’s notebook.
Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart:

11. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart:
Lesson
5: Informational Text
Reading Mini-Lesson
Objective: Students will interpret information presented through texts, photographs, side bars and maps. (Introduction)
Learning Target:
I can interpret information presented quantitatively and visually, and then explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text. (RI.4.7)
Note: To help students understand the value of text features and charts, create a running timeline of PA history to help students understand the order events they will learn.
Mini-Lesson(s): (RI.4.7; RI.4.1, 4.4; L.4.4a, 4.6; W.4.8, 4.10) This seed is intended to span more than one mini-lesson. Explain to students that you are going to teach them how information presented in graphs, charts and other text features help readers understand the text better. Refer back to pages of our social studies text. Read page 23 aloud to students. As I study the map on page 23 I can see it show three clear routes of travel. The legend tells me which explorer took each path. There is also a cutaway map that shows me the bigger picture of where on the US map these explorers traveled. This map helps me better understand just where each explorer traveled and how far their journey was. It also helps show me where geographically each man went. Record your thinking on the 3–column chart. Make sure students are also recording on a 3–column chart in their reader’s notebooks.
Guided Practice: (may occur during the next mini-lesson) Direct students’ attention to the photograph at the bottom of page 22. Ask students to turn and talk about what they see in this photograph. How does this picture support the text on page 23? Have students record their thinking on their 3–column chart. Listen in to see if they are making the connection that the picture shows the type of ships explorers used to travel the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. It can help readers understand that ships which were used hundreds of years ago were unlike ships we have today. If they are, ask a few pairs to share their thinking with the rest of the class. You can also have partners think and share about pictures on pages 24 and 25.
Work Time: For independent practice, students will need to have access to text that includes visual representation and/or quantitative representation. They can add to the three column chart in their notebooks. Students also need to have time to read texts on their independent reading level.
While students are working, you will want to either circulate the room, listening to their reading, or pull small groups of students to provide focus group instruction for students who need additional support. This is also the time you would pull a guided reading group.
Share: Bring students back together and provide the opportunity to share their work from work time.
OPTION: You may also want to use an article form the PDF text set that has great graphics and other text features. (i.e. “Hanging by a Thread”)
Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart:
Information from the Text
Information from the Map
Information from the Photographs
Formative Assessment Opportunities:
Student responses on chart – are students able to connect the information from the picture with the information provided in the text with the information shared in the pie chart?
Look at student work in their reader’s notebooks from work time. Were they able to work independently to see the connections between visual and quantitative information and note how it contributes to the understanding of text?

12. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart:
Lesson
6: Informational Text EXPLAIN CONCEPTS IN HISTORICAL TEXT
Reading Mini-Lesson
Objective: Students will explain concepts in a historical event including what happened and why.
Learning Target: I can explain events in a historical text. (RI.4.3)
Note: It is strongly suggested that students have access to the text being used in this seed (William Penn’s Colony – pages of PA Textbook). RI.4.3 asks for students to explain what happened and why in historical, scientific and technical texts. This is cause and effect. The standard doesn’t use the terminology of cause and effect, but that is what the standard is asking students to do.
Mini-Lesson(s): (RI.4.3; RI.4.1; L.4.6; SL.4.1b; W.4.8, 4.10) This seed is intended to span more than one mini-lesson. Read aloud on pages 26 and 27. Then, ask yourself aloud: I wonder why William Penn wanted land from the King instead of the money he was owed? If I go back and look at the text, it says that William Penn was a Quaker. It also says that the Quakers were not treated well in England. So, that seems to be why Penn wanted the land. If the Quakers moved to the new colony, they would be free to practice their religion without fear of persecution. Record your thinking on the anchor chart.
Guided Practice: (this may occur during the next mini-lesson) Students need to work together to read Pennsylvania’s Government on page 28. What event occurred on this page? Why did this happen? Push students to think about why the Patriots would melt a stature of King George to make bullets. What do they know about the Patriots that help them understand this event? Make sure students are recording their thinking on the anchor chart with post-it notes or on a chart in their own notebooks.
Work Time: Students should practice this process any time they are reading a historical text. They can create an anchor chart similar to the one from this mini-lesson and apply it to their historical text. Students need to also have time to read texts on their independent reading level during this time.
You may also have students apply this skill using the social studies text during social studies. Are students able to explain the events read about in the historical text? This would be ongoing practice.
While students are working, you will want to either circulate the room, listening to their reading, or pull small groups of students to provide focus group instruction for students who need additional support. This is also the time you would pull a guided reading group.
Share: Bring students back together and allow a few students to share the work they completed during work time.
Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart:
I read ….
This happened because
William Penn asked the King of England for land to create a new colony to repay a debt the King owed Admiral Penn.
Penn was a Quaker. Quakers were not treated well in England. If they moved to a new colony, the Quakers could practice their religion without fear of persecution.
Penn created a government where the colonists had a part in decisions made.
Penn lived in England where the King had a lot of the power. In the colony, Penn wanted the colonists to have a say in the law that were made.
In 1682 and 1701 Penn signed treaties with the Native Americans to gain more land for Pennsylvania.
By signing treaties, Penn was able to maintain positive relationships with the Native Americans while gaining the land he wanted for the colony.
Hannah Penn took over leading the colony in 1712.
William Penn became sick and was no longer able to fulfill all of the responsibilities of governing the colony.
Formative Assessment Opportunities:
-Note if students are recording appropriate responses on the anchor chart. Students should be able to note information similar to that in the anchor chart above.
-Collect student notebooks. Are students able to explain the events read about in the historical text?

13. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart: Formative Assessment Opportunities:
Lesson
7: Informational Text Structure
Reading Mini-Lesson
Objective: Students will describe the overall structure of an informational text, as well as the structure of different parts of an informational text.
Learning Target:
I can identify the overall structure of an informational text. (RI.4.5)
Note: RI.4.5 asks students to describe the overall structure of an informational text. The overall structure refers to how the text is organized. First, students need to be able to identify the overall structure of an informational text. This seed is an introductory seed that can be repeated and the anchor chart should be kept visible for students throughout the year.
Mini-Lesson(s): (RI.4.5, RI.4.10; SL.4.1b, 4.2) This seed is intended to span over multiple mini-lessons. Explain to students that today you are going to look at how text is organized, or text structure. With students, prepare an anchor chart with different text structures and a few characteristics of each. Together with students, identify examples of each text structure and post on chart (see first anchor chart on next page). This will be largely teacher-led due to the fact that students will not have had previous instruction on text structure. CQ articles provide an example of each text structure. See list of suggested CQ articles to use.
Work Time: Place text examples out on the tables in your classroom. Be sure to include many different examples of text structures. The classroom library has plenty of informational texts, as well as the PDF set. You may choose to pull some of the articles you used during the first two seeds on main idea (familiar texts). This is the most beneficial strategy as you will have more time to discuss how those text structures helped them understand the text as they read them earlier, making connections to their learning they might now have know they did. See next page for the list of texts and correlating text structures. Have students work together to determine the structure of the text, using the anchor chart to support them.
While students are working, circulate the room listening to their reading, or pull small groups of students to provide focus group instruction for students who need additional support. This is also the time to pull a guided reading group.
Share: Bring students back together to share their ideas and clear up any misunderstandings. As you read informational texts throughout the year, identify the overall structure and post a copy of the article or cover of the book on the chart (see second anchor chart below).
Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart:
Formative Assessment Opportunities:
Listen as students work on identifying text organizations.
Take notes during share time of which students appear to have struggled with identifying the
structures.
Exit Slip: Choose one of the texts and explain why you labeled it as __________ text structure.

14. Sample Text Structure Chart

15. List of Text by Text Structure
Texts from Teaching Text Structure: A Key to Nonfiction Success by Sue Dymock and Tom Nicholson
Texts from Teaching Students to Read Nonfiction by Alice Boynton and Wiley Blevins
Description
“Lake Living”
“Stair Masters”
“Fueling the Future”
“Animal Homes”
Survival Tactics”
Amazing Animals”
“Animal Messages”
“Our Country’s Landforms”
Chronology (Sequence)
“Making Ice Cream”
“Picking Up Rubbish”
“Toys from the Solomon Islands”
“From Grower to Seller Miles”
“The Fight to Have a Voice”
“Hunting the Horned Lizard”
“The Monroe Family”
“Hatshepsut: Woman Pharaoh”
“ : The Road to Revolution:
Compare and Contrast
N/A
“Return of the Wolves”
“Coming to America”
“Black Blizzard”
“Willo’s Heart of Stone”
“Animals vs. Humans”
“Journey Beneath the Earth”
Question and Answer
“What is Under the Earth’s Surface?”
Problem and Solution
“Going for Green”
“Get Fit”
“Koala Chaos”
“Hanging by a Thread”
“The Fight for Suffrage”
Cause and Effect
“Warming Up”
“Why Do I Blush?”
“Volcanoes: Indonesia’s Deadly 3”

16. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart:
Lesson
8: Informational Text Structure Continued
Reading Mini-Lesson
Learning Target: I can describe the overall structure of a text or part of a text. (RI.4.5)
Note: RI.4.5 asks students to describe not only the overall structure of a text, but also the structure of parts of a text. You will want to choose texts that have different text structures to allow students to practice looking at more than just overall text structure.
Mini-Lesson(s): (RI.4.5, RI.4.1, 4.10; SL.4.1b; W.4.8) This seed is intended to span more than one mini-lesson. You may find that you need to repeat this with different texts of different organizational structures. Using “Coming to America” (4th PDF text set), read aloud the Ellis Island section. After reading, refer to your previously made Text Organizational Structures chart. Think aloud about how the author is giving the reader information about Ellis Island and what it was like as an immigrant to go through there. The author must feel it is important to give a thorough description of Ellis Island to help the reader understand what it was like. Think aloud about why the author chose to organize this writing as description. Record your thinking on an anchor chart.
Direct students’ attention to the next page about Angel Island. Students will read this section with a partner (stopping on page C8 before the last paragraph on the page) and talk about why the author chose to write this as description as well. What was the author’s purpose for describing the process of going through Angel Island? Students will record their thinking in their reader’s notebooks.
** Before moving to the next part, have students create a Venn diagram flip chart (see example below). After making the flip chart, they will need to attach it to a sheet of paper, leaving space at the bottom for their thinking.
Direct students’ attention to the first paragraph of “Coming to America” and read aloud the page. Think aloud about how the author is making a point of telling the reader that immigrants coming to America went through immigration stations called Ellis Island and Angel Island. Pointing out the comparisons that are made between the two immigration stations. Record on a large Venn diagram for students to see. Have students record on their flip chart.
Refer to the previously made anchor chart of different organizational text structures. Look now at Compare/Contrast. Think aloud about how the passage as a whole seems to fit into the Compare/Contrast text structure. There is an introductory paragraph at the beginning that connects the information. There is also the paragraph at the end that connects the information.
For guided practice, which may occur during the next mini-lesson, students will continue to record information on their Venn diagram flip chart, this time working together to take the important information from each section (Ellis Island, Angel Island) to look at the differences between the two. This will help support that the passage fits into Compare/Contrast. Support students as they work to determine the overall text structure as Compare/Contrast. Ask one pair to share their thinking with the class at the end.
Work Time: At the bottom of the flip chart students will craft a written response to this question: “Why did the author choose to organize the information in this passage as compare and contrast?” This can be used as a formative assessment to guide the next day’s instruction.
While students are working, circulate the room listening to their reading, or pull small groups of students to provide focus group instruction for students who need additional support. This is also the time to pull a guided reading group.
Share: Bring students together and allow selected students to share the work they have done in regards to the flip charts and written responses to the question provided.
Formative Assessment Opportunities:
Are students able to write a complete, accurate response to the thinking stem? If not, they may need additional support during small group instruction. If many students had difficulty with this, it may need to be addressed as a whole group.
Are students demonstrating an understanding that texts will have an overall structure, as well as different structures within?
Performance Task (which will be completed during work time): Students will write in response to, “Describe the overall text structure of “Islands of Freedom” as well as the text structures of Ellis Island and Angel Island.”
Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart:
-What is the most likely reason the author chose to organize the text this way?
-How does the way this text is organized help readers understand the information being presented?
-Explain the text structure of this paragraph.
-What other structure could the author use to organize this information?

17. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart:
8: Informational Text Structure Continued
Learning Target: I can describe the overall structure of a text or part of a text. (RI.4.5)
Group/Partner/Individual Activity: Chinstrap Penguins Text Structure Set (**This can also be used as a formative assessment)
Give students the text set on chinstrap penguins. Have them read the articles and decide each text structure by thinking about the way the text is organized. What clues help us as a reader discover the structure? They should create graphic organizers for each article in their response notebook, and record the text structure and thinking on the graphic organizer form.
Digital Connection: Chinstrap Penguin Clip
Before showing: Have students fill in the graphic organizer noting information they learned from all of the articles. (They should be picking out the MOST important information from each article!)
Show the video. While watching, have students write down facts learned from the video.
Compare/Contrast: What did they learn from the articles vs. the video clips. Did the video clip help them understand anything form the articles? Did it enhance their learning? This will serve as an introduction to making connections with digital texts. Encourage students to verbalize what the video did for their comprehension. Use the graphic organizer to model thinking.
Formative Assessment Opportunities:
Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart: -

18. Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart:
Lesson
9: Informational Text and Poetry
Reading Mini-Lesson
Objective: Students will continue to explore poetry by reading poetry with an informational purpose.
Revisit lesson from unit 1: What are the elements of poetry? (rhythm, meter, verse, etc)
Create an anchor chart for the elements of poetry.
Display poems about Penguins for the class. What elements of poetry are evident?
Connection to text: How are the poems and the nonfiction texts on chinstrap penguins alike?
How are they different?
Compare and contrast the poems on penguins. Do they give any similar or different information?
The Chinstrap Penguin
The chinstrap penguin Doesn’t wear a hat. Doesn’t wear a helmet. Doesn’t wear a cap.
Doesn’t wear a busby. Doesn’t wear a coonskin. Doesn’t wear nothin’. Just has a chinstrap.
Chinstrap. Chinstrap. Just has a chinstrap. Why is a penguin Born with a chinstrap?
The emperor is bigger. The king is bigger too. Adelies are more numerous. There’s fairys at the zoo.
The gentoo has a pretty flash That sits above the eye, And penguins all swim very well, Though none of them can fly.
The macaroni has a crest, Magellan, bands across the breast, But chinstraps stand out from the rest. Chinstrap penguins are the best!
© Stephen Whiteside  
Thinking Stems/Anchor Chart:
Formative Assessment Opportunities:

19. important details
RI 4.1
Important Ideas from:
Why I think that:

20. topic and details
RI 4.2
Topic
Details

21. topic-details-summary
RI 4.2
My summary of:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

22. topic-details-responses
RI 4.2
Topic
Details

23. topic-details-responses cont.
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24. chinstrap penguins Article Text Structure How I Know Name: RI 4.5
Raising Young
Living In Antarctica
Counting Penguins
Two Small Penguins

25. chinstrap penguins
Name:
RI 4.7
What I learned from the articles:
What I learned from the video:
The video helped me better understand chinstrap penguins because:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

26. the chinstrap penguin Stephen Whiteside 27.11.1999
The chinstrap penguin Doesn’t wear a hat. Doesn’t wear a helmet. Doesn’t wear a cap.
Doesn’t wear a busby. Doesn’t wear a coonskin. Doesn’t wear nothin’. Just has a chinstrap.
Chinstrap. Chinstrap. Just has a chinstrap. Why is a penguin Born with a chinstrap?
The emperor is bigger. The king is bigger too. Adelies are more numerous. There’s fairies at the zoo.
The gentoo has a pretty flash That sits above the eye, And penguins all swim very well, Though none of them can fly.
The macaroni has a crest, Magellan, bands across the breast, But chinstraps stand out from the rest. Chinstrap penguins are the best!

27. After reading the poem about chinstrap penguins, think about the photos. Did they help you better understand the poem. How? Use specific details from the poem in your response.
RL 4.5
Name:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

28. penguin poetry

29. Penguin poetry Poem What I Learned Name: RL 4.5 Chinstrap Penguins
The Penguin
Lost in the Cold

30. Pick two poems you read. Compare the information you learned in each
Pick two poems you read. Compare the information you learned in each. What was similar? What was different? Cite specific information from each poem in your response.
RL 4.5
Name:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

31. What is a Satellite?
Smarter Balanced CR Assessment Sample

32. Why Are Satellites Important?
Below is a passage about satellites. Read the passage and answer the question that follows.
What is a Satellite?
A satellite is an object that moves around a larger object. Earth is a satellite because it moves around the sun. The moon is a satellite because it moves around Earth. Earth and the moon are called "natural" satellites.
But usually when someone says "satellite," they are talking about a "man-made" satellite. Man-made satellites are machines made by people. These machines are launched into space and orbit Earth or another body in space.
There are thousands of man-made satellites. Some take pictures of our planet. Some take pictures of other planets, the sun and other objects. These pictures help scientists learn about Earth, the solar system and the universe. Other satellites send TV signals and phone calls around the world.
Why Are Satellites Important?
Satellites fly high in the sky, so they can see large areas of Earth at one time. Satellites also have a clear view of space. That's because they fly above Earth's clouds and air.
Before satellites, TV signals didn't go very far. TV signals only travel in straight lines. So they would go off into space instead of following Earth's curve. Sometimes they would be blocked by mountains or tall buildings.
Phone calls to faraway places were also a problem. It costs a lot and it is hard to set up telephone wires over long distances or underwater.
With satellites, TV signals and phone calls can be sent up to a satellite. The satellite can then send them back down to different spots on Earth.

33. What is a Satellite? Cont.
What Are the Parts of a Satellite?
Satellites come in many shapes and sizes. But most have at least two parts in common -- an antenna and a power source. The antenna is used to send and receive information. The power source can be a solar panel or battery. Solar panels make power by turning sunlight into electricity.
Many NASA satellites carry cameras and scientific sensors. They may gather information about Earth's land, air and water. Or they may collect data from the solar system and universe.
What Were the First Satellites in Space?
The Soviet Union was the first to launch a satellite into space. The satellite was launched in 1957 and was called Sputnik 1.
NASA has launched many satellites into space. The first was Explorer 1 in Explorer was America's first man-made satellite. The first satellite picture of Earth came from NASA's Explorer 6 in 1959.
How Does NASA Use Satellites?
NASA satellites help scientists study all kinds of things.
Satellites provide information about Earth's clouds, oceans, land and air. They also can observe wildfires, volcanoes and smoke. All this information helps scientists predict weather and climate. It helps farmers know what crops to plant. It helps control the spread of disease. And it helps with response to emergencies.
Satellites also tell us a lot about space. Some watch for dangerous rays coming from the sun. Some explore stars, planets, asteroids and comets.

34. What is a Satellite?
Explain how pictures from satellites can help people in their everyday lives. Support your answer using details from the passage.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

35. What is a Satellite?

36. Amelia Earhart

37. This text is about a female pilot
This text is about a female pilot. Read the text and answer the question that follows it.
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas, on July 24, In those days, airplanes were not nearly as common as they are today. Earhart was 12 years old before she ever saw an airplane, and she did not take her first flight until Amelia Earhart was so thrilled by her first airplane ride that she quickly began to take flying lessons. She wrote, "As soon as I left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly."
Earhart excelled as a pilot. Her first instructor was Neta Snook, one of the first women to graduate from the Curtiss School of Aviation. Earhart borrowed money from her mother to buy a two-seat plane. She got her U.S. flying license in December 1921, and by October 1922, she set an altitude record for women of 14,000 feet. In 1923, Earhart received her international pilot's license - only the 16th woman to do so. At the same time, she was becoming famous for her aviation achievements.
Amelia Earhart Flies Across the Atlantic
In 1928, Amelia Earhart received a phone call that would change her life. She was invited to become the first woman passenger to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a plane. “The idea of just going as ‘extra weight’ did not appeal to me at all,” she said, but she accepted the offer nonetheless. On June 17, after several delays due to bad weather, Amelia Earhard flew in a plane named Friendship with co-pilots Wilmer “Bill” Stultz and Louis “Slim” Gordon. The plane landed at Burry Port, South Wales, with just a small amound of fuel left.

38. Amelia Earhart
Write a summary of key events that led to Amelia Earhart becoming a famous pilot. Use details from the passage in your summary to support your answer.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

39. Amelia Earhart
Amelia said, “The idea of just going as ‘extra weight’ did not appeal to me at all.” What does the phrase ‘extra weight’ refer to?
her fame as an international pilot
her role as a passenger on the plane
her understanding of how heavy she was
her awareness of how she was making history.

40. Amelia Earhart Rubric

41. Duke Ellington
Smarter Balanced CR Assessment Sample

42. from Duke Ellington’s Early Years
Below is a passage about a famous musician. Read the passage and answer the question that follows.
from Duke Ellington’s Early Years
Duke Ellington was born in Washington D.C., and from an early age he loved music. When he was four years old, he listened to his mother play a popular piano tune called "The Rosary" and he cried, saying, "It was so pretty. So pretty." Not long after that, at the age of seven, he began to play piano himself. It seems that he knew he was going to go places. He told his next-door neighbor, Mr. Pinn, "One of these days I'm going to be famous." How old do you think Duke Ellington was when he started writing music?
At age 15, Ellington worked at a soda fountain and wrote his first song, "Soda Fountain Rag." By his late teens, he was making enough money to help his parents move into a better house. He earned 75 cents. "It was the most money I had ever seen," he said. "I rushed all the way home to my mother with it.” What do you think was Ellington's next move?
Ellington studied music during the ragtime era. Ragtime was a kind of popular American music consisting of off-beat dance rhythms that began with the honky-tonk pianists along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. By the time he was 20, he and his friends formed a band that would be the foundation for his life's work. From 1923 to 1927, he and his band lived in New York City and made about 60 recordings. Their first big break came on December 4, 1927, at the opening night of what would turn out to be a long engagement at the Cotton Club in New York City's Harlem neighborhood. The Ellington Orchestra often broadcast live on radio from the Cotton Club, so their unique style of jazz became familiar to people across the country.

43. from Duke Ellington’s Early Years
Explain the author’s most likely purpose for writing about Duke Ellington as a child and young man. Use examples from the passage to support your response.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________

44. from Duke Ellington’s Early Years Rubrics