Cluster 3: Research to Build and Present KnowledgeArchived

Students will examine the effect of exotic species on an ecosystem by role-playing both a healthy food chain and one that has been impacted by Mayan cichlids.

Type: Lesson Plan

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that addresses how different types of precipitation are formed. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Options to extend the lesson are also included.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this MEA, students will create a procedure to rank five mini-refrigerators to determine which one should be purchased for the school by the PTA based on size, type, features, energy usage, and cost.  In the process, students will solve real-world problems involving the multiplication of multi-digit numbers with decimals to the hundredths, including using money.  Students will also determine the volume of a rectangular prism using a formula.

Type: Lesson Plan

On this MEA activity, students will create a procedure to rank five lunch bags as to which one is the best in keeping food and drinks at a safe temperature and appealing to the taste, while keeping design and price on target.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

The Tiger Rising, written by the award winning author Kate DiCamillo, is an engaging story of two children whose lives are thrown together in a small town in Florida. Even though their personalities are in sharp contrast, they become friends who support each other through life's challenges of grief, pain, acceptance and their adventures with the tiger. Kate DiCamillo works her magic through her skilled use of figurative language to develop the characters in a way that engages readers in her character's adventures. Short chapters make this a perfect choice for literature circles. In this lesson, students will answer text-dependent questions as they analyze the two main characters in the story.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson consists of students reading a challenging text, "Civil Rights on a City Bus," about Rosa Parks. This text requires students to determine the claims made in the article by the author and the reasons and evidence used to support them. Students will also have a chance to use context clues to define vocabulary words within the text and answer text-dependent questions. Upon completion of the reading activities, students will write a short response that provides evidence to prove each claim made by the author.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will complete a close reading of "Animal Farm," a nonfiction article found online at National Geographic that describes the incredible work one man accomplished as he turned a cattle ranch in Costa Rica into a national wildlife refuge. The students will conduct three close readings of the article, each time for a different purpose. The students will create vocabulary charts and find evidence in the article to answer a set of text-dependent questions. Students will then write an informative essay where they explain how the work of Jack Ewing changed this land. Sample responses are provided along with a writing response rubric.

Type: Lesson Plan

This close reading lesson will engage students in discussions that involve how two authors in different genres describe the same event. These short texts, the poem "The Great Chicago Fire" and the informational text "Chicago," will require students to analyze text, make inferences based on text evidence, and defend their understandings through discussion and close reads. Students will use context clues to determine word meaning and unfamiliar phrasing in both texts. Students will participate in partner and small group work throughout the lesson. For the summative assessment, students will write an explanatory essay about the main ideas and key details of each text, as well as analyze the similarities in how each author describes the Chicago fire. 

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will be read the non-fiction article, "A Well-Kept Secret." The students will work to determine the meaning of selected vocabulary from the article and find evidence in the passage to answer a set of text-dependent questions. Students will also explain how the relevant details support the central ideas and summarize the article.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn all about bridges and become "engineers" as they read, comprehend, and infer text to determine the kinds of bridges that need to be built for a variety of scenarios.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will begin to learn about discrimination by analyzing how a narrator's or speaker's point of view can influence the way events are described in a story. Students will create a KWL chart, Venn diagram, and Character web, and then write an essay, all while working collaboratively to explore this important cultural issue.

Type: Lesson Plan

Inventive minds have persisted throughout history. Inventors have improved our lives with inventions created out of a desire to solve a problem or make the quality of peoples' lives better. Our president is concerned that we are not keeping up with other countries in the area of engineering and inventive thinking. Why is this? As students explore famous inventions from around the world throughout history, they will decide what the best inventions of all time are and support their opinion with strong reasons.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will research various natural disasters. They will then create a family preparedness plan and identify key items to include in a survival kit in the event of a natural disaster. Students will specifically study tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires and severe thunderstorms in this lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

Have you ever wondered why animals and plants possess adaptations that allow them to survive in their unique environment? This lesson allows students to build on their knowledge of habitats and learn about different animal adaptations and physical characteristics while conducting a short research project.

Type: Lesson Plan

This activity allows students to determine the types of items that should be in a hurricane survival kit, use a budget and calculations to determine the items to include in the kit and gain an understanding of hurricanes and the need to prepare for them.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will explore the solar system using an online interactive tool to understand the vastness of the universe and the objects in it.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students learn about the American Revolution. Students will be required to use two or more texts to summarize information some aspect of the American Revolution as well as create a timeline of important events leading up to the Revolutionary War.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will apply their knowledge of plant and animal adaptations to create an opinion writing piece. Students will write to convince a fictional nature show producer to film plants and animals in a habitat of the student’s choosing. Students will be assessed on elements of persuasive writing including: strong introduction/conclusion, logical sequencing, strong word choice, and supporting evidence.

Type: Lesson Plan

Paraphrasing helps students make connections with prior knowledge, demonstrate comprehension, and remember what they have read. Through careful explanation and thorough modeling by the teacher in this lesson, students learn to use paraphrasing to monitor their comprehension and acquire new information. They also realize that if they cannot paraphrase after reading, they need to go back and reread to clarify information. In pairs, students engage in guided practice so that they can learn to use the strategy independently. Students will need prompting and encouragement to use this strategy after the initial instruction is completed. The lesson can be extended to help students prepare to write reports about particular topics.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will complete a short research project on famous historical figures from the Old West. In lieu of a traditional research paper, however, students will present the findings of their research by creating a driver's license for that individual.

Type: Lesson Plan

Anita Balance is a tightrope walker who is deciding to determine the location of her first big tightrope walk. Students must use their knowledge about climate to determine where the best/safest location (climate) will be to do her walk. This lesson provides opportunities for students to discuss how factors such as: precipitation, elevation and distance from the ocean affect climate.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

The goal of this two to three day exemplar is to give students the opportunity to use the reading and writing habits they've been practicing on a regular basis to absorb deep lessons from Richard Feynman's recollections of interactions with his father. By reading and rereading the passage closely, and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussion about the text, students will identify how and why Feynman started to look at the world through the eyes of a scientist. When combined with writing about the passage, students will discover how much they can learn from a memoir.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will compare and contrast literary elements of two literary texts "The Enchanted Sticks" and "The Story of Wang Li." They will use the literary elements of each text to determine the development of each theme. Students will then research stories that have similar themes to the ones they’ve discussed in the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students explore friction using ramps, matchbox cars, books, and a beach towel. The beach towels are used to increase the friction between the cars and the surface. The books are used to increase the speed in which the car travels, and later changing the number of text books allows the students to explore the effect of mass on friction.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is an instructional routine for informational text in which teachers provide guided practice and students practice mapping details from multiple texts. Mapped details are used to analyze relationships and points of view from texts on the same topic.

Culminating activity options for this lesson include having students work in teams to create detailed geographical maps or write interactive dialogue to be performed for the class using props.

Type: Lesson Plan

This two-lesson study of American History examines the different tribes and geographic regions that Native Americans inhabited in the United States. Students will learn briefly about each tribe and region during direct instruction and then, in small groups, conduct research on one tribe in depth. Part II of the lesson requires students to present their research to the class and compare their Native American tribe with one from another group presentation.

Type: Lesson Plan

This two-lesson study of American History examines the different tribes and geographic regions that Native Americans inhabited in the United States. In Part II of the lesson, students will present their research to the class and compare their Native American tribe with one from another group presentation.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will engage students in discussions that involve conceptual understanding of vocabulary, theme, and summarizing. After reading a short fable, "The North Wind and the Sun" by Aesop, students will complete activities that require them to think deeply, make inferences based on textual evidence, and defend their interpretation during discussions. Students will use context clues, word relationships, and/or figurative language to determine word meaning and unfamiliar phrasing. Students will participate in a class discussion evaluating conceptual understandings, examining themes, and making inferences. Students will engage in student-to-student discourse and partner work throughout the lesson. For the summative assessment, students will write a summary to convey understandings presented in the text and the discussions with their peers.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a five day lesson integrating Science, Reading and Writing. It is developed on a Reading lesson plan format using Shared Reading, Core Reading, Guided Reading and centers but can easily be transferred on to a Science 5E lesson format. The versatility of the lesson and the integration between subjects lends itself to it being widely used among teachers for different reasons; whether the teacher's need be in Science, Reading or Writing the lesson provides opportunities for all areas to be addressed. Most importantly, it offers the busy teacher an opportunity to implement one lesson to cover three subjects.

Type: Lesson Plan

Water, Water Everywhere! Research the Water Cycle asks students to conduct their own research on the water cycle (hydrologic cycle). Working collaboratively in small groups, students will research and write about the relationships between stages in the water cycle and the three states of matter relating to water. After completing this lesson, students will be prepared to create a model of the water cycle.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this activity, students will paraphrase text.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will use resources to answer questions about a topic. They will use a graphic organizer to record their research.

Type: Student Center Activity

This teaching idea describes a 5th grade project that started with the guiding question, "What makes a good leader?" After conducting a survey of responses to this question, students researched a historical leader, wrote a speech from the perspective of their chosen leader, and created a conceptual portrait representing their chosen leader.

Type: Teaching Idea

This web resource provides students with support in understanding the importance of having rules (laws) in society, learning how they are addressed in the U.S Constitution, and gaining an understanding of the Bill of Rights.

Type: Teaching Idea

This informational text is intended to support reading in the content area. The text informs readers about how several types of precipitation are formed in the atmosphere, including rain, hail, freezing rain, and snow.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The text details the intriguing relationship between turtles and butterflies in the Amazon rainforest: butterflies drink the turtles' tears to get their sodium fix! The article also explores how both organisms are affected by this relationship.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article and graphics explain the atmospheric conditions needed to form different types of precipitation: snow, freezing rain, and sleet.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This National Geographic article describes the amazing attributes of the human brain, comparing its features to everyday objects like a light bulb or a computer.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how the dwarf seahorse's head shape allows it to be a better predator.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how, through high-speed video, scientists are able to see how bladderworts (carnivorous plants) trap small animals very quickly.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes properties of items as hyrdophobic or hyrdophilic and how they work.

Type: Text Resource

This resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The comet ISON, believed to originate from the frozen Oort cloud, has been studied in order to make predictions about its destiny – will it be destroyed by, or slung around, the sun?

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article walks the reader through the water cycle, from the point of view of a drop of water.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article discusses the steps in the water cycle.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This text explores the possibility of creating a prosthesis (artificial limb) that can feel things.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes the ability of the hornworm caterpillar to defend itself against predators using its food source.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article discusses the study of a population's ability to adapt to the environment. The section of focus is on the cichlid population in Lake Victoria.

Type: Text Resource

The article describes a new kind of solar energy which concentrates light waves from the sun.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. "Secrets of the World's Extreme Divers" explores the reason sea mammals are able to hold their breath for long periods of time.

Type: Text Resource

This is a fifth grade unit on the novel The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The unit explores fantasy fiction, setting, effects of character decisions, plot, conflict, and theme. The student packet that accompanies the unit includes graphic organizers and worksheets to assist with reinforcing the unit concepts.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

This is a fifth grade novel unit on Dogs Don't Tell Jokes by Louis Sachar. A variety of concepts are explored throughout the unit, including genre, characters, relationships, prediction, textual evidence, plot conflict, and theme. The student packet provides graphic organizers and worksheets that can assist with implementing the unit concepts.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

This is a fifth grade book unit on The Story of Jackie Robinson: Bravest Man in Baseball by Margaret Davidson (Lexile 760). The unit features a series of lessons titled: Distinguish Between Biography and Autobiography; Author's Opinion; Retelling a Life; Events and Effects; Text Features. The resource also includes an 18-day pacing guide, student resource packet and answer keys, and a unit assessment and answer keys.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

This is a fifth grade unit on the novel The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson. Several concepts are explored throughout this lesson, including plot, conflict, prediction, characters, theme, and relationships. The student packet and accompanying materials provide practice with these concepts.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

This is a fifth grade unit on the historical fiction novel Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan. Several concepts regarding the novel are explored, including genre, setting, real-world connections, and effects of a character's past. The student packet and accompanying materials provide ample opportunities for practice.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

This is a fifth grade novel unit on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. The unit incorporates instruction relating to the novel's setting, characters, plot, and theme - as well as the basic elements of fantasy fiction. The student packet that accompanies the unit provides some additional structure for the lesson content.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

This is a fifth grade unit on the novel Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. Graphic organizers, charts, comprehension and vocabulary worksheets, and authentic collaborative activities are used to enhance interaction with the novel. Several concepts are pursued, including theme, conflict, relationships, plot, and characters.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

In this novel unit, broken up into seven lessons, students will learn about the genre of realistic fiction, making predictions, identifying plot conflicts, analyzing character relationships, examining gender roles, determining themes, and tracking character changes through reading and discussing the novel Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Lexile 810).

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence