CONTENT AREA LITERACY UNIT
Content area lesson plan with literacy strategy
LESSON TOPIC: Reciprocal teaching with states of matter informational text
RATIONALE: In the past, students have been introduced to the vocabulary that this unit focuses
on. Currently, the students are learning a reading strategy that will help them question,
summarize, predict, and clarify when reading an informational text. This strategy helps students
learn to be actively involved and monitor their comprehension as they read. Reciprocal teaching
will be used on a text that focuses on the different forms of matter. In the future, students will be
able to apply this strategy to other texts and be encouraged to think about their own thought
process while reading.
COMMON CORE STANDARD (S):
Reading: Informational Text (RI. 2.1) Key Ideas and Details
Reading: Informational Text (RI. 2.2) Key Ideas and Details
Reading: Informational Text (RI. 2.4) Craft and Structure
Reading: Informational Text (RI.2.5) Craft and Structure
Writing: (W.2.8) Research to Build and Present Knowledge
Speaking & Listening: (SL. 2.1) Comprehension and Collaboration
Speaking & Listening (SL. 2.2) Comprehension and Collaboration
Language: (L. 2.3) Knowledge of Language
OBJECTIVE: The students will be able to participate in a small group reading activity and learn
to be actively involved and monitor their comprehension as they read. The students will be able
to practice the different roles of reciprocal teaching while reading an informational text on the
forms of matter.
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE:
reciprocal teaching (strategy)
questioner, predictor, summarizer, clarifier (roles)
matter, solid, liquid, gas (content area language)
MOTIVATION OR ANTICIPATORY SET:
To engage the students and activate background knowledge, the teacher will show a short video
clip that introduces the reciprocal teaching strategy. The video summarizes the four different
roles that reciprocal teaching focuses on. After the video, the teacher will introduce a reference
guide that helps the students understand each role. This reference guide familiarizes the students
with the concepts and becomes a resource that they can refer to during the lesson. This will be
displayed on the smartboard for all students to view.
BRIEF PROCEDURE:
After watching the video and reviewing the reciprocal teaching reference guide, the
teacher will put the students into groups of 4. To model the strategy, the teacher will
display a paragraph on the smartboard. The students will listen while the teacher reads it
aloud. The teacher will model each of the parts of reciprocal teaching from this
paragraph. Students will have the time to practice and collaborate with their classmates.
The teacher is going to give an index card to each student in the group. Each student in
the group will get an index card that states questioner, summarizer, predictor, or clarifier.
The students will keep this card in the corner of their desk to remember their first role.
After the strategy is modeled, the students will be given the informational text, Forms of
Matter. The teacher will guide the students through the first paragraph to ensure that the
students know what is expected. Students will be asked to write the answers for their role
in the correct space of the graphic organizer. Students will read the first paragraph and
complete their role. They will have 5 minutes to identify an answer to their role. After the
5 minutes, the students will each share their responses with the group.
Examples for paragraph one:
Paragraph 1:
Summarizer- Matter is all around us. There are three forms of matter, solid, liquid, and
gas.
Questioner- What is the difference between liquid and gas?
Predictor- I predict that the next paragraph will tell us about the different types of matter.
Clarifier- Matter is grouped by what an object looks like or how it acts. That's how
the different types of matter are grouped.
Once the students have shared their responses, they will switch index cards with their
group members to try a different role for the next paragraph. Students will continue this
cycle until the end of the text. Each student will get a chance to practice each role. The
teacher will be watching and guiding the students as needed as they use the strategy
within the small group.
After the text, students will get to answer comprehension questions independently. This
will serve as an assessment to see how well the students comprehended the content with
the use of reciprocal teaching.
MATERIALS USED:
Walkte, R. (2014, March 14) Reciprocal Teaching- An Introduction for Students.
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsfzZKMickI (video)
Reciprocal Teaching Reference Guide
Index cards with the names of each role
Forms of Matter informational text
Graphic organizer
Comprehension assessment
TECHNOLOGY COMPONENT (IF APPLICABLE):
Smartboard
Youtube video (cited above)
ASSESSMENT OF COMMON CORE STANDARD (S)
Formal: The students will be formally assessed on the reciprocal teaching strategy
through the graphic organizer. The teacher will assess how well the students interpreted
each role from their recorded responses on the sheet. A comprehension question
assessment will be given at the end of the lesson to assess students understanding of the
content material. The teacher will assess comprehension to see if the reciprocal teaching
strategy helped the students understand the informational text more successfully. The
comprehension questions will be completed independently.
Informal: The students will be informally assessed through teacher observation while the
students are working in their small groups and from the responses to the teacher's
questions throughout the lesson.
ADAPTATIONS:
Student with special needs: An adaptation for students with special needs, could be a
vocabulary sheet reference. This sheet could give the students the important terms and
definitions that need to be understood to best comprehend the text. This could be a
helpful tool that students can refer to while reading.
English Language Learner: An adaptation for ELLs could be a separate group that
focuses on vocabulary, rather than the reciprocal teaching strategy. This group could be
guided by the teacher for maximum learning. Students level of reading comprehension is
determined by their knowledge of words, which allows them to understand a text. The
teacher can work with the ELL students by explicitly teaching word meanings to improve
comprehension. With this strategy, students will work on defining the word, recognizing
the word within the text, and the ability to decode and spell the word. This adaptation
focuses on what ELL students need to understand to comprehend the text.
Struggling Reader: An adaptation for struggling readers could be breaking the text apart
and giving the students each paragraph individually on separate pieces of paper. This
refrains the students from looking at too many words on a page and allows them to focus
on one paragraph at a time.
Lesson Materials
1. Reference Chart
2. Model Paragraph
3. Forms of Matter Text
4. Graphic Organizer
5. Comprehension Assessment
Reference Chart
The reference chart will be reviewed after the students watch the introduction to reciprocal
teaching video. The chart will be displayed on the board while students are working. The
purpose is to remind the students the responsibility of each role.
Summarizer Questioner
Highlight key ideas in the Ask questions about the
paragraph paragraph
What is the main idea? Ask questions about unclear or
confusing parts
Predictor Clarifier
Make predictions about what the Address confusing parts and try
author will tell us next based on to answer the questions asked by
the paragraph read the questioner
Model Paragraph
This paragraph was chosen because students already have background knowledge
and understand the terms. It is easier to implement and model a new strategy with a
known topic. The teacher will read the paragraph and model each of the roles of
reciprocal teaching.
Topic: Seasons
There are four seasons. The seasons are summer, spring, winter, and fall. In
the summer, the temperature can get very hot. People like to go to the beach and
swim in the pool. In the spring, the weather is warm. Rain falls and flowers bloom.
In the fall, the weather is cool. Leaves change colors and fall from the trees. In the
winter, the weather is very cold. People dress in layers of clothing and play in the
snow. The seasons take place at different times.
Name ___________________________ Date __________________
Forms of Matter
Everything around you is made of matter. Scientists group matter based on
its properties, or characteristics: what it looks like and how it acts in different
situations. Mater can take three different forms. There three forms are solid, liquid,
and gas.
Solid matter has a definite shape. It also takes up a definite amount of space.
This means it has a specific volume. If you could look at solid matter under a very
powerful microscope, you would see its tiny particles moving back and forth. The
particles are packed together, so they vibrate in place. Their overall shape does not
change.
Liquid matter takes the shape of its container. When liquid is in a cup, it is
shaped like the cup. When the liquid is in a vase, it is shaped like the vase. The
volume of the liquid stays the same. If you were to look at the liquid matter under
the microscope, you would see its tiny particles sliding past each other. Because of
this unique sliding movement, the liquid is able to change its shape so we can pour
it.
In the form of a gas, matter is usually invisible. The air around us has several
different gases, like the oxygen we breathe in and the carbon dioxide we breathe
out. If you could look at gas matter under the microscope, you would see its tiny
particles floating around with lots of space between them. They spread out to fill
any container the gas is placed in.
Graphic Organizer
Summarizer Questioner
Paragraph #: _____ Paragraph #: _____
_____________________________ _____________________________
_____________________________ _____________________________
_____________________________ _____________________________
_____________________________ _____________________________
_____________________________ _____________________________
Predictor Clarifier
Paragraph #: _____ Paragraph #: _____
_____________________________ _____________________________
_____________________________ _____________________________
_____________________________ _____________________________
_____________________________ _____________________________
_____________________________ _____________________________
Comprehension Assessment
1. How many types of matter are there? What are they?
_________________________________________________________
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2. What is one difference between a solid and a liquid?
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