Title of Text: Desert Food Webs
Author/Illustrator: Paul Fleisher GRL: N Series: Early Bird Genre: Nonfiction, Science Standard: Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text. Lesson Objectives: To determine key ideas of the text; to use text features to help with comprehension; to understand scientific vocabulary; to use questioning to go deeper in comprehension. Comprehension Strategy: Questioning Skill: Using Text Features Fluency: Appropriate Speed Academic Vocabulary: explain or research the meanings of the words below. Discuss the morphology of the words: suffixes, taking a root word and adding to it to change the meaning of the word. Have students talk about the meaning of each word, using antonyms, synonyms and situations where each word can be used correctly. a. carnivores b. consumers c. decay d. herbivores e. omnivores f. producers Before Reading: ENGAGE! THINK! 1. Build Background Knowledge a. Let’s look at the front and back cover. What do you know about this topic? b. What would you like to learn about desert food webs? c. What kinds of food chains do you expect to read about in this book? d. Go to the glossary and review the vocabulary. e. Table of Contents: where would you go to find out about herbivores? What makes you think this? f. Index – why do you think there are so many pages listed for cactuses? 2. Skill Introduction: a. Text Features – look at page 4 – how does this diagram help you? What have you learned by looking at it? 3. Strategy Introduction: a. Questioning – as we read today, I would like for you to consider questions like how come this happens? What causes this? What are some effects of this happening, or not happening? 4. Fluency: Appropriate Speed ‐ We will be working on reading at an appropriate speed with this book. Going too fast will cause you to lose the meaning of the content. 5.
Standard – As we read today, I would like for you to consider one or two main key ideas and some supporting details that help you remember the main ideas. Copyright © 2012 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. Lerner Digital™ and Lerner eSource™ are trademarks of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.lernerbooks.com During Reading: Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late! Check for Understanding (Stop Midway through the Book) 1.
2.
Tell me about a part you didn’t understand? Turn and Talk: how is using the strategy of questioning helpful in your reading? 3.
Standard: What is the main idea of Chapter 1? Is it: deserts are very dry, a food chain shows how energy moves or a desert is an important environment where many plants and animals live? (last) Standard: Determine the meaning of general academic and domain specific words and phrases in a text relevant 4. to a grade 5 topic
or subject area. In Chapter 1 review word: chemicals. How do chemicals affect desert relationships?
After Reading: EVALUATE! 1. What is the most important thing to remember from this book? What are the details that can help you remember this? 2. What did you learn? What more do you want to learn about this topic? 3.
Standard: To help us start to identify the main idea and details of this book, let’s first identify the categories of consumers. If we make an outline or diagram, that might help too. Standard: Let’s review some questions: Where does energy come from in the desert? How does that play into the 4. entire food web?
Standard: Why did the author include a chapter on people and protecting the desert? 5.
6. Academic Vocabulary: On a piece of paper, divide it into the 3 kinds of consumers found in a desert and illustrate your knowledge of consumers in a desert. Then draw a desert food web.
Writing Standard: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. a. Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations. c. Use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and clauses to manage the sequence of events. d. Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. e. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events. Task: Using information you learned from the book, write a narrative about an animal that lives in the desert. Use the points above to help you.
IF/THEN: Using Text Features – have the student go thru the book, only reading text features. At the end, ask the student what they learned only from the text features. Those students struggling may need direction to first only read the text features, then go back and read the content. Copyright © 2012 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. Lerner Digital™ and Lerner eSource™ are trademarks of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.lernerbooks.com