Lesson Plan 1: close reading
cover story pages 12-15
Lexile level: 1215L
The Sixth
Extinction?
Many scientists fear that within this century,
20 to 50 percent of all living species could be
wiped out. Our story examines the causes of
this “Sixth Extinction” and spotlights ways
people are trying to combat it.
Additional
Resources
www.upfrontmagazine.com
Before Reading
1
List Vocabulary: Share with students
the challenging general and domain-specific
vocabulary in this article. Encourage them to use
context clues to infer meanings as they read and to
later verify those inferences by consulting a dictionary.
Distribute or project the activity Word Watch to guide
students through this process, if desired.
2
Engage: Ask students to list some
endangered species they’ve heard about. Play
ballast
demise
facsimile
invasive
oblivion
Print or project:
• Word Watch (vocabulary)
• Article Quiz (also on p. 8 of this
Teacher’s Guide)
• Analyze the Graph (also on p. 11 of
this Teacher’s Guide)
• Up Close: The Sixth Extinction
(close reading)
Video:
Elephant poachers in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo
the video on elephant poaching to illustrate one threat
animals face.
Analyze the Article
3
4
Read: Have students read the article, marking the text to note key ideas or questions.
Discuss: Distribute or project the close-reading activity Up Close: The Sixth Extinction
for students to work on in small groups. (Note: The questions on the PDF also appear on the facing
page with possible responses.) Follow up with a class discussion. If you’re short on time, have each
group tackle one or two of the questions. Collect students’ work or have each group report its findings
to the class.
Find all activity sheets and other support materials at www.upfrontmagazine.com
2 •
Upfront • upfrontmagazine.com
u Analyze the author’s purpose in the first six
paragraphs of the article.
uCite evidence from the text that supports the claim
that scientists are trying to reverse the trend toward
extinctions.
Author’s purpose, analyze text structure
(The author’s purpose in this section of the text is to use
Cause & effect, cite text evidence
a concrete example—a wave of amphibian extinctions in
(The author discusses a conservation center in Panama
Central America that was first noticed in the early 1990s—
where endangered frogs are bred in an effort to bring them
to introduce the central idea that a “Sixth Extinction” may
back from the brink of extinction. She notes that the U.S.
be occurring on Earth because of human activities.)
protects animals under the 1974 Endangered Species Act
and that people are taking huge steps to help endangered
u Identify the causes of the “new mass extinction,”
based on the text.
animals, from donating money to groups like the World
Wildlife Fund to flying ultralight aircraft “to teach
[whooping crane] chicks raised in captivity how to migrate
Cite text evidence
(The author writes that “By inhabiting every corner of the
from Wisconsin to Florida for the winter.”)
planet, razing forests, and, burning fossil fuels, people are
changing the world so fast that many other species can’t
cope.” She later goes into detail about two main causes—
uEvaluate the author’s point of view on extinctions.
Make inferences, point of view, cite text evidence
the spread of invasive species around the world, which
(The author makes it clear that she believes a mass
often results in the extinction of native species; and the
extinction is occurring and that she is highly concerned.
burning of fossil fuels, which heats up the Earth.)
She writes, “What matters the most is that people are
changing the world—and, with it, the biodiversity we
u Use the text to compare and contrast the current
depend on.” She points out that only select species will
extinction phenomenon with the last of the “Big Five”
survive the current mass extinction and that “it’s not
mass extinctions.
taken for granted that we will be among them.”)
Analyze text structure
(The last of the “Big Five” extinctions was caused by a
uStudy the timeline (pp. 14-15 of the magazine) that
single natural event, an asteroid striking Earth. Debris
accompanies the article. What information does it add
spread around the globe and caused temperatures to
to the text?
decrease. The current wave of extinctions is believed to
Integrate multiple sources
be caused by a slew of human activities, including the
(The timeline gives a chronology of five mass extinctions
burning of fossil fuels, which causes temperatures to
that scientists believe have already occurred on the planet.
increase. Both extinction events are responsible for large
This provides historical context for the current mass
numbers of species dying out.)
extinction discussed in the main text.)
Extend & Assess
5
Writing Prompt
Is it possible to curb Earth’s
6
Classroom Debate
Take a stand: The sidebar
7
Quiz & Graph
Photocopy, print, or project the
soaring extinction rates and stop the
“Raising the Dead?” notes that some
quiz (p. 8 of this Teacher’s Guide) and
graph (p. 11 of this Teacher’s Guide).
“Sixth Extinction”? Why or why not?
scientists are looking for ways to
If so, what will it take? Write a brief
use DNA samples to bring extinct
essay, using evidence from the article
species back to life. Is this idea worth
to support your response.
exploring? Why or why not?
8
Video
If you didn’t view the video before
reading, play it now and have students
discuss the issue of animal poaching,
as it relates to extinctions.
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