Name: Program:
Carson Hope Early Childhood Special Education (K-3)
Lesson Topic/Title:
Researching Animals for All About Books
Lesson Date: Lesson Length:
March 2, 2020 30 minutes
Learning Objectives
Students will use classroom resources
including books to research the topic they
will be writing about.
Students will fill out all components of a
graphic organizer prior to writing.
Content Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.2 Write
informative/explanatory texts in which they
name a topic, supply some facts about the
topic, and provide some sense of closure.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.7 Participate in
shared research and writing projects (e.g.,
explore a number of "how-to" books on a
given topic and use them to write a sequence
of instructions).
Learning Goal #1: The students will be able
to write “all about” informational text pieces
with at least three facts about a chosen or
assigned topic.
Indicator 1(a): The students will be able to
use resources including nonfiction books to
research their topic prior to writing “all
about” informational pieces.
Indicator 1(b): The students will be able to
divide their “all about” informational pieces
into categorical chapters.
Assessment
This will be formatively assessed. Students
will be assessed by conference to either
continue researching to find more facts for
Course:
ECH 460
Grade:
1st Grade
Instructional Decisions/Reasoning
Students will learn how to find factual
information to include informational texts.
Students will practice planning writing to
ensure they have enough information to
write a factual book.
Instructional Decisions/Reasoning
• Students will prepare and plan their
next informational text – an animal all
about book.
• Students will be researching in order to
write a thorough all about book.
• Students will research and plan their all
about book. They must write facts in
three categories on their planning sheet
before moving into the writing process.
• Students will be using the nonfiction
books set in different areas of the
classroom to research their chosen
topic.
• Students will be identifying information
that is divided out be category and will
be included in three chapters in the
book they will be writing.
Instructional Decisions/Reasoning
Students will meet with Miss Hope to
move on to the next steps of writing.
Students who are not ready will be
provided strategies for further researching
their planning sheet or will be given their all
about book template to begin writing.
Materials, Resources, and/or Technology
• Animal category labels:
- Frogs
- Snakes
- Spiders
- Bats
- Butterflies
• Books for each category (see chart
following lesson plan)
• Research note taking forms (see example
following lesson plan)
Teaching and Learning Sequence
Introduction
1. Miss Hope will reflect on yesterday’s
discussion of the differences between how to
and all about books, referencing the poster
the class developed as a whole group (see
Figure 2 on page 46)
(1 minute)
2. Miss Hope will explain that today students
will be choosing a topic for an animal all
about book and will learn how to find true
information to use.
(1 minute)
Mini-Lesson
3. Miss Hope will continue this conversation
by reading an all about book, Sharks, and will
ask students to think about what the writer
does as she reads it.
(5 minutes)
4. Miss Hope will ask students how they
know this an all about book. (Answers
and students who have ample information
will begin writing their book.
Instructional Decisions/Reasoning
• The animals I chose were those Mrs.
Nichols and I collectively had the most
nonfiction books for.
• Students will be using these books to
research. They are provided so that
students can choose a topic off of the
list and begin researching.
•
Instructional Decisions/Reasoning
• Students will be reminded the new type
of informational text they learned about
yesterday (all about books) and how
they compare to how to books.
• Miss Hope will state the objective.
• Miss Hope will read an example of
another how to book (one was read
yesterday prior to the compare and
contrast discussion).
• Miss Hope will refer back to the two
types of informational texts and
continue introducing all about books.
• Miss Hope will explain what students
are going to be working on today and in
the coming days during writing
workshop and connect it to the
upcoming writing project.
• Miss Hope will share options with the
students and provide further
instructions.
• Books for each animal will be set in
different locations throughout the
room: all students who choose bats will
go to one specific table (etc.). This is so
students have the resources they need
in front of them but can share with
peers who chose the same animal. This
also encourages peer modelling and
collaboration.
include that the diagram illustrations, that • Miss Hope will set expectations and
the information is factual, and that it does instruct students to work. She will
not tell a story). She will ask why it is not a circulate the room so that she can
how to book. provide support to students.
(2 minutes) • Students will transition back to their
5. Miss Hope will show students the seats.
planning sheet that they will be filling out for • Miss Hope will redefine the purpose of
the animal they are going to be writing an all the lesson and connect it to future
about book about. She will explain each writing workshop.
portion (habitat, diet, and interesting facts).
She will explain students want to find as
much information as possible, so that they
can write a whole book about their animal.
She will inform students they are going to
research (and define this vocabulary term)
their animal using books.
(2 minutes)
6. Miss Hope will state the five animals
students have to choose from:
- Frogs
- Snakes
- Spiders
- Bats
- Butterflies
She will share the location that students will
move to for each animal (where books are
located) and will ask students to move to the
table spot for the animal they chose.
(2 minutes)
Workshop Time
7. Once students have chosen their animal,
Miss Hope will pass out planning sheets and
instruct students to begin working. She will
explain that students will most likely not
finish this today and will have more time in
the coming days, but that they must meet
with her when they are done to move on to
next steps. Miss Hope will circulate the room
as students work.
(14 minutes)
Conclusion
8. Students will be asked to neatly pile the
books in the center of the tables, and then
move back to their original seats. They will
be instructed to put their planning sheet in
their writing folder upon arrival to their seat.
(2 minutes)
9. Miss Hope will remind students that they
will have more time to research during
writing workshop in the coming days, and
that they will eventually transition into using
this information to write a book about their
animal.
(1 minute)
Meeting Students’ Needs Instructional Decisions/Reasoning
Students are required to meet with Miss Conferencing is a big part of the Calkins,
Hope to move onto the next step: writing Mraz & Golub (2013) curriculum. I decided
their all about book. By doing so, she can to use this as a progress monitoring tool so
provide support for students who need more I can assess and determine who needs
individualized instruction for research, while more support as well as who needs a
she can also challenge those who are ready to challenge/is ready to move on.
move on and write.

Reflection
My students were so exciting about this activity! They were extremely engaged in the
books and using them to research their topic. Some students were very engaged in reading
the books as the information they were reading was extremely exciting and did not get to
writing facts on their planning sheet today. I determined that this was okay, as this
research could extend into writing workshop during the following days. To be able to write
nonfiction text, students need to read examples of it, so although I’d hoped all students
made some progress on their planning sheet today, I recognized the importance of slowing
down and letting them engage with these resources. I decided that since students would
need to conference with me to move on anyway, it was perfectly okay if some students
engaged with the texts longer as others were jumping right into their planning sheet (and
several of these students needed to go back to engage with the books again to find more
prior to writing, anyway) that they could continue to research after my mini-lessons the
next couple of days. They would be given reminders that the planning sheet did need to be
completed so that they could move on to writing, and these reminders for the following
days were effective. Students were not expected to finish researching today but finishing
the following workshop day was anticipated. This reminded me of the flexibility we must
have as educators.
Thinking about future possibilities: If I was doing this activity in a school with 1:1 technology, I
would definitely make this lesson into a mini-unit on learning how to use technology (the
internet) to safely and effectively research something for a project for school. But, because
we do not have 1:1 technology in classrooms at MES and there is very limited availability
in booking the technology lab, I felt this was not appropriate for this lesson, as all students
would not be able to engage with technology as I taught and there is limited time which
would make teaching this in small groups and maintain instruction for the rest of the class
challenging.
Teaching Standards and Rationale
Standard 5 addresses innovative applications of content. The standard states: “the teacher
understands how to connect concepts and use differing perspectives to engage learners in
critical/creative thinking and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and
global issues” (CCTS). In other words, the standard emphasizes cross-curricular lessons
and meaningful lessons that relate to the students and their communities. The standard
also requires educators to engage learners in lessons that foster development of problem
solving skills. This activity meets standard 5 for a number of reasons, one of those being
that it teaches students the real world, cross-curricular skill of research. Students engage in
reading to strengthen their life science-based informational; writing in this specific lesson,
but it also teaches students the lifelong skill of research. Researching is a problem solving
skill, which standard 5 also addresses as important to teach to students. Indicator 5(h)
states the educator “develops and implements supports for learner literacy development
across content areas” (CCTS). As I mentioned, research is a cross-curricular skill that
embeds literacy into any chosen content area. Here, I embedded both reading and writing
(parts of literacy) into life science and furthermore taught students how to use reading to
research any topic of their choice as time passes on. Additionally, indicator 5(s) states the
teacher “values flexible learning environments that encourage learner exploration,
discovery and expression across content areas” (CCTS). I made for a flexible learning
environment in multiple ways: not only did I encourage movement and discovery by setting
up learning stations for each animal, but I also was flexible in my planning. As stated in my
reflection that although I hoped we would move onto writing the books soon, “I
recognized the importance of slowing down and letting them engage with these resources”
and determined that this was okay, as this research could extend into writing workshop
during the following days” (Hope). My students were very engaged with the material and
were discovering new information through their research that I felt it was important to be
flexible and let this continue.
Topic Books Provided

Frogs

Snakes

Spiders
 Bats

Butterflies