Unit 1/Week 2 at a Glance

TM

LiteracyB e n c h m a r k

Teacher’s Guide Grade 5 • Unit 1 2Unit 1/Week 2 at a Glance

Day Mini-Lessons

ONE • Build Genre Background

• Introduce the Genre: Informational Text

• Focus on Genre Features: Informational Text

TWO • Model Metacognitive Strategies: Ask Questions

• Introduce Stated and Unstated Main Idea and Supporting Details

• Focus on Genre Features: Informational Text

THREE • Ask Questions to Identify Unstated Main Idea and Supporting Details

FOUR • Build Comprehension: Draw Conclusions

• Build Tier Two Vocabulary: Heterographs

FIVE • Synthesize and Assess Genre Understanding

• Make Connections Across Texts

Week

Ask Questions/Identify Main Idea and Supporting Details

® B e n c h m a r k e d u c a t i o n c o m p a n y

Day One

Benchmark Literacy • Grade 5 • Unit 1/Week 2 ©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC2

Read-Aloud (10 minutes)

Select a favorite fiction read-aloud from your classroom or school library with which to model the metacognitive strategy “Ask Questions.” Use the sample read-aloud lessons and suggested titles in the Benchmark Literacy Overview.

Mini-Lessons (20 minutes)

Build Genre Background

Write the word genre on chart paper. Ask: Who recalls what the word genre means? Allow students to tell you as much as they can without prompting. If necessary, prompt students with the following questions:

• What kinds of fiction do you like to read? What are some categories?• What music do you like the best?• Is a science fiction movie different from an action adventure? How?

Say: As readers, we pay attention to the literary genre to help us understand what we are reading. When we recognize the genre, we can predict what will happen or what we will learn. As writers, we use our knowledge of genre to help us develop and organize our ideas.

Ask: Who can name literary genres you have read or studied? Allow students enough time to generate their own ideas, and record their ideas on the list. Post the list on the classroom wall as an anchor chart.

Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Review the concept of genre and previously studied genres.

• Create an Informational Text anchor chart to demonstrate their prior knowledge.

• Build academic oral language and vocabulary as they engage in partner and whole-group discussion.

Related Resources

• Genre Workshop Whiteboard CD-ROM

• Informational Text Poster 1 (BLM 1)

Informational Text Poster 1

©2011 Benchmark Education Company, LLC Benchmark Literacy • Grade 5 • Unit 1/Week 2 3

Day One

Make Content Comprehensible for ELLs

Beginning and Intermediate Show various informational texts from your classroom or school library, such as magazines or nonfiction books. Flip through the informational texts with students. Use simple language to explain that an informational text is nonfiction that explains facts or ideas. For example, say: An informational text gives facts. An informational text explains. Look at this informational text. This informational text tells about .

All Levels If you have students whose first language is Spanish, share the English/Spanish cognate informational text/el texto informativo.

Model the academic sentence frames provided in this guide to help ELLs contribute their ideas to the discussion of informational text.

Introduce the Genre: Informational Text

Display Genre Workshop Poster 1 and distribute BLM 1.

Say: This week we are going to focus on the informational text genre. You will read informational texts in our small reading groups, and you can select other titles from this genre to read independently, too. Let’s spend some time thinking about this genre and create our own Informational Text anchor chart to record what we already know about informational texts. Later in the week, we can come back to our chart and reflect on how our understanding of the genre has changed and expanded.

Display Poster 1 on an easel or using the Whiteboard CD-ROM. You may also make a transparency from BLM 1. Show students several informational texts from your classroom or school library and ask students to share any nonfiction informational texts they have read previously. Point out that students’ science and social studies textbooks contain informational texts.

Read each question on Poster 1 and encourage volunteers to share ideas they have related to the question. Based on students’ prior knowledge, provide additional genre background information as needed to fill in the answers to each question. This poster can serve as an anchor chart that you and students can refer to throughout the week as you read and analyze informational texts.

Support the academic language development of ELLs and struggling readers by providing the following sentence frames to use as they discuss the genre:

An informational text is .The purpose of an informational text is to .When you read an informational text, pay attention to .People who write informational texts are .

Day One


Focus on Genre Features: Informational Text

Point to the “Features of an Informational Text” web on the right side of the poster.

Say: As we’ve discussed, every genre has certain consistent features. Based on our discussions so far, and your own experiences with this genre, what do you think are the consistent features of all, or most, informational texts? Let’s work together to identify them.

Invite volunteers to name features of informational texts. As students generate suggested features, encourage other students to think about them and decide whether to add them to the web on Poster 1. As necessary, prompt students with the following questions and statements:

• How does a magazine article begin? How about a chapter in a science book? How do the authors make you want to read on?

• Where do most of the details in informational text usually come from? From the author’s imaginations? From research?

• What graphic features do you find in informational text? • How are informational texts organized? How might an author use

headings or subheadings to organize the text?

Connect and transfer. Say: This week we will read some informational texts. We will look for these features in the books we read.

Support Special Needs Learners Throughout the week, use these strategies to help students who have learning disabilities access the content and focus on genre studies and comprehension strategies.

Support students by projecting the posters on a whiteboard. Allow students to come to the whiteboard and circle, underline, or highlight features of informational texts. Invite them to label what they see on the posters.

Provide opportunities for active involvement. For example, to emphasize that informational texts present facts, not fiction, have students choose a favorite informational text and identify several facts in it.

Provide repeated opportunities for students to analyze the features of informational texts. Have students find features of informational texts in text examples from read-alouds, small-group, and independent reading. Chart the features on graphic organizers and post them in your classroom as examples.

Find high-interest informational texts that students can relate to. Use the recommended read-aloud titles provided in the Teacher’s Guide, as well as other examples from your school library.

Informational Text Poster 1, sample annotations


Day One

Comprehension Quick-CheckNote which students do or don’t actively participate in the discussion of the informational text genre. Ask some questions at the end of the lesson to confirm students’ understanding. For example:

• Canyoutellmeinyourownwordswhat a genre is?

• Whatdoyoualreadyknowabouttheinformational text genre?

Home/School Connection Ask students to name a topic about which they would like to learn more. Ask them to write four questions they would like to see answered in an informational text about their topic.

Small-Group Reading Instruction (60 minutes)

Based on students’ instructional reading levels, select titles that provide opportunities for students to focus on informational texts or to practice identifying stated and unstated main idea and supporting details. See the list provided on the Small-Group Reading Instructional Planner.

Use the instruction provided in the Teacher’s Guide for each title to introduce the text.

Individual Student Conferences (10 minutes)

Confer with individual students to discuss their understanding of the genre. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.

Word Study Workshop (20 minutes)

Use the Day 1 instruction provided in Grade 5 Word Study Skill Bag 2.



Select a favorite fiction read-aloud from your classroom or school library with which to model the metacognitive strategy “Ask Questions.” Use the sample read-aloud lessons and suggested titles in the Benchmark Literacy Overview.


Model Metacognitive Strategies: Ask Questions

Display Genre Workshop Poster 2 with the genre annotations concealed. Also distribute copies of BLM 2.

Explain: We’ve learned that good readers ask themselves questions before, during, and after they read. Asking questions helps them understand what they are reading and clarifies words or information that is confusing. How do you ask questions when you are reading an informational text? Let me show you how I ask questions before reading an informational text passage.

Think aloud: The title of this passage is “The Great White Shark.” I wonder about this title. I wonder what the text will tell me about a Great White Shark. Why is it interesting? What facts will I learn about this type of shark? I try to answer these questions by looking at the illustrations, and they make me think the Great White Shark is big and deadly. How big is the Great White Shark? Where does it live? These questions help me focus my thoughts to start reading the passage.

Ask students to generate other questions they have before reading. Write the questions on chart paper. Tell students you would like them to formulate other questions during and after a reading of the text, too. Encourage ELLs to use these sentence frames:

Before reading I wonder .As I read the text, I wonder .After reading the text, I wonder .

Then read aloud the poster passage with students. Write students’ during- and after-reading questions on chart paper and reread them together. Ask students to compare and contrast their before-, during-, and after-reading questions. How did each type of question help them? What purpose did each type of question serve?

Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Ask questions about an informational text.

• Identify stated and unstated main ideas and supporting details using a graphic organizer.

• Use academic sentence frames to discuss strategies and features of an informational text.

Related Resources



Day Two




Beginning and IntermediatePoint to an image of a Great White Shark as you say its name.

Say: The Great White Shark is a predator. It hunts other animals. Some other predators are .

Say: The animals it hunts are called prey. Some of its prey are .

Intermediate and AdvancedModel the academic sentence frames provided in this guide to help ELLs contribute their ideas to the discussion of main ideas and details.

All Levels Display images of various sharks to build a visual context for the poster.

Display a map of the world and point out the range of the Great White Shark throughout coastal waters. Note that in North America the Great White Shark has been seen from Newfoundland to Florida and from Alaska to Mexico.

Introduce Stated and Unstated Main Idea and Supporting Details

Explain: Every informational text covers certain main ideas about its topic. These main ideas may be stated directly in the text. Sometimes, though, the main idea is unstated. That is, the author expresses the main idea indirectly through supporting details, usually in the form of facts. Asking questions can help you figure out the main ideas and supporting details in an informational text. Identifying the main ideas and supporting details in a passage will help you better understand what you read.

Reread “The Great White Shark.” Ask students to identify the stated main idea in the first paragraph. Provide the following academic sentence frames to support ELLs and struggling students:

The stated main idea is that .Two details that support the main idea are and .

Now ask students to look at the passage as a whole, to focus on its unstated main idea, and to share at least two details (in the form of facts) that support their main idea. Provide the following academic sentence frames to support ELLs and struggling students:

The unstated main idea is that .Two details that support this unstated main idea are and

.

Record students’ main idea and supporting details on a graphic organizer like the one shown below.

Day Two

Sample Main Idea and Supporting Details Annotations (Note: Your class graphic organizer may differ.)

Main Idea

Although the Great White Shark does not target

humans, is it is still one of the oceans’ deadliest predators.

Detail 1

• It can be 14 to 18 feet long and can weigh up to 4,000 pounds.

Detail 2

• Wide jaws allow it to overpower most prey.

Detail 3

• It can overpower most people who enter its path.


Day Two

Focus on Genre Features: Informational Text

Ask students to name some of the features of an informational text that you discussed yesterday.

Say: Now let’s reexamine “The Great White Shark” and look for features of an informational text. What do you notice?

Work with students to identify the following genre features embedded in this passage:

• a strong hook that makes you want to read• a logical organization using a main idea and supporting details for the

entire text, plus a main idea and supporting details for each paragraph• accurate facts and details based on research• graphics that support the text• a strong ending that introduces another perspective and leaves readers

thinking

Reveal the poster annotations so that students can confirm or revise their ideas. Reread them as a group.

Connect and transfer. Say: As you read informational texts, look for these features. The features of the text can be details that support the main ideas in the text. As you read, remember to ask yourself questions to clarify information.


Continue small-group reading instruction from the previous day. Use the instruction provided in the Teacher’s Guide for each text.


Confer with individual students to discuss their understanding of genre and comprehension strategies. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.



Comprehension Quick-CheckNote which students are or are not able to discuss main ideas and supporting details. If necessary, use the following strategy to provide additional explicit instruction.

Write the sentence Great White Sharks are deadly. Say: This is a main idea sentence based on the poster. This sentence doesn’t appear in the passage. It is unstated. Still, we can support this main idea with details from the text. Let’s find the details to support this unstated main idea. Work with students to find details such as:

There are about 300 triangular-shaped teeth in rows inside a shark’s mouth.

Bottom teeth hold prey in place.

It has a powerful sense of smell, which allows it to detect even one drop of blood in the water.

It is able to overpower most people who enter its path.

Oral Language ExtensionDisplay Poster 1 (your class Informational Text anchor chart) during independent workstation time. Have pairs of students work together to analyze a short informational text such as a magazine article or textbook excerpt. Partners identify as many features of an informational text (as listed on the anchor chart) as possible. Tell students they will share the features they identified during independent conference time. Encourage them to take notes as necessary.

Home/School ConnectionHave students turn in their homework from the night before. If time allows, invite them to briefly share the subjects they would like to have more information about.

Have students take home BLM 2, reread the text, and highlight and label the features of an informational text present in the passage.


Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Review features of the informational text genre.

• Ask questions about a text.

• Use their understanding of genre features to identify details.

• Develop a main idea statement about an unstated main idea.

• Build oral language and vocabulary through whole-group and partner discussion.

Related Resources



• Main Idea and Supporting Details (BLM 4)


Select a favorite nonfiction read-aloud from your classroom or school library with which to model the metacognitive strategy “Ask Questions.” Use the sample read-aloud lessons and suggested titles in the Benchmark Literacy Overview.


Ask Questions to Identify Unstated Main Idea and Supporting Details

Display Genre Workshop Poster 3 and distribute BLM 3.

Read aloud the passage with students. Say: We are going to identify the unstated main idea of another informational text. To do that, we’re going to ask questions about the text. I will ask the first question, and then I want you to ask questions of your own. Here is my question: How does the author feel about real pirates?

Say: Now you ask some additional questions. Allow responses. If students are unable to generate questions, prompt them to think about the following:

• What do the details tells us about pirates off the coast of Somalia?• What can we infer about real pirates from the description of the Somali

pirates today and Blackbeard in the 1700s?

Say: Asking these questions helped us focus on the details of the text. Let’s write these details on a graphic organizer. Even though the author doesn’t directly state the main idea of the article, we can use these details to develop a main idea statement about this article.

Work with students to identify details about pirates from the passage. Reinforce how the details in an informational text are related to the specific features of the genre. For example, many of the details are facts that come from research or eyewitness accounts. Record the details on a graphic organizer like the one shown on page 10.

Work with students to develop a statement of the unstated main idea based on the details on your graphic organizer. Make sure that all of the details support the main idea. If one or more details do not support the main idea, remove it from your graphic organizer, or reassess your main idea statement.

Day Three



Remind students that the main ideas may not be directly stated in the text of an article or other informational text. It is often up to readers to infer the main ideas based on the information provided.

Connect and transfer. Say: The next time you read an informational text, ask questions and look for the stated and unstated main ideas about the subjects.




Confer with individual students to discuss their developing understanding of genre and comprehension strategies. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.




BeginningPoint to and name an example of a pirate on the poster.

Intermediate and AdvancedClarify the meaning of difficult words and phrases in the text, such as high-seas, ransom, and held hostage.

Explain the idiom cast in a different light by using additional sentences. For example, “The deeds of real pirates cast them in a different light than the pirates of recent films. Recent films give a positive image of pirates. Historical records give a negative image of pirates.”

All LevelsIf you have students whose first language is Spanish, share the English/Spanish cognate pirate/el pirata.

Comprehension Quick-CheckNote whether students can generate details based on the passage. If they need additional support, review the features of an informational text using Poster 1. Then highlight or underline specific details about pirates on Poster 3 using a write-on/wipe-off marker. Say: In an article like “Pirates,” the details are the facts that support the article’s unstated main idea. Have students underline or highlight additional details on the poster with you.

Home/School ConnectionHave students take home the Main Idea and Supporting Details graphic organizer (BLM 4) and write details that support a main idea statement about movie pirates (or another topic of their choice).

Day Three

Sample Main Idea and Supporting Details Annotations

Main Idea

Unlike movie pirates, real pirates are dangerous to ships

and their passengers.

Detail 3

Pirates capture

people and products.

Detail 4

Somali pirates have

sometimes killed their hostages.

Detail 5

Pirates, including

Blackbeard, have a long history of violence.

Detail 2

Pirates use weapons and force

to take over ships.

Detail 1

Pirates are high-seas thieves.



Select a favorite nonfiction read-aloud from your classroom or school library with which to model the metacognitive strategy “Ask Questions.” Use the sample read-aloud lessons and suggested titles in the Benchmark Literacy Overview.


Build Comprehension: Draw Conclusions

Say: When you read an article or other informational text, you often draw conclusions about the topic. The author gives you details and, based on these facts, you can come to a conclusion. What do you think a conclusion is? How do you draw a conclusion? (Allow responses.) Let’s focus on drawing a conclusion about pirates based on the information on this poster.

Reread Poster 3 with students.

Say: We are going to make a facts-and-conclusions chart. We will put facts on our chart and then draw conclusions from them. This will help deepen our understanding of the main idea of the “Pirates” article. What kinds of information will you look for about real pirates? Allow responses.

Engage students in a discussion to ensure they understand how to formulate conclusions. Informational texts present many facts. As we read, we think about these facts and we make inferences about them. After reading a passage—or after reading a section of a longer text—we can stop and use of the facts we learned and the inferences we made to draw some conclusions based on the text. We can draw many different conclusions from a text, but we need to support all of them with facts, clues, and evidence.

Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Draw conclusions based on facts in a text.

• Extend Tier Two Vocabulary by focusing on heterographs.

• Build oral language and vocabulary through whole-group and partner discussion.

Related Resources



Day Four



On chart paper, draw a three-column chart like the one shown below.

Think/Pair/Write/Share. Tell students they will complete this chart. Say: When we read an informational text, we should think about what inferences we can make based on the facts and clues in the text. Work with a partner to identify facts and clues and make inferences. Then draw some conclusions based on all of your thinking. Make a chart like the one I just drew, and fill in your ideas. Then we will share them as a group.

As partners share facts and conclusions drawn from the text, add them to the chart.

Connect and transfer. Say: Remember, when you read an informational text, you should ask questions and draw conclusions about what you read. Looking for facts and clues in the text will help you.


Beginning As you identify facts in the text, make sure that ELLs understand the meaning of key words on your chart (deeds, ransom, hostages, etc.)

Beginning and IntermediateHeterographs are particularly challenging for ELLs. Write the words waist and waste on the board. Then point to your waist and use additional sentences to convey the concept. For example, say: My waist is here. Where is your waist? Then walk quickly across the room and say: I am walking fast. When I walk fast, I don’t waste any time.

Intermediate and AdvancedProvide opportunities for students come up with their own sentences using heterographs based on those you generate during the lesson. Have students point to the written word they are using as they say their sentences to ensure they associate the correct meaning with each word.

All LevelsPair ELLs with fluent English speakers during partner discussions and activities.

Comprehension Quick-CheckTake note of students who may need more support to identify an unstated main idea based on details in the passage. Provide additional modeling during small-group reading, and have them practice during independent workstation time by identifying the unstated main idea in another informational text that you assign.

Day Four

PARAGRAPH FACTS/CLUES INFERENCES CONCLUSIONS

paragraphs 1 and 2

• high-seas thieves

• Deeds cast them in a different light than film pirates.

• capture people and products and demand a ransom for their safe return.

Unlike movie pirates, real pirates are dangerous thieves.

People should avoid pirates.

Pirates are not good people.

Movies do not always reflect real life.

paragraphs 3 and 4

• Somali pirates held the captain of a U.S. ship hostage.

• Somali pirates have sometimes killed their hostages.

Somali pirates are a particular threat to today’s ships and their crews.

paragraphs 5 and 6

• Pirates have a long history of violence.

• Blackbeard was history’s most violent pirate.

Pirates have threatened ships for hundreds of years.


Oral Language ExtensionDuring independent workstation time, pair students to construct an oral main idea and supporting details related to a science topic they have studied. Partners work together to state a main idea and two or more details that support the main idea. Encourage them to use their science textbook to check their work. Tell students to be ready to report on their main idea and details during individual conference time.

Home/School ConnectionHave students take home BLM 3 and read it with a family member to practice fluent reading. Tell students to have their family members sign the page to indicate they have participated in the reading.

Build Tier Two Vocabulary: Heterographs

On chart paper, write these sentences from the passage He wore two swords around his waist. If he needed to use them, he did not waste any time.

Say: Waist and waste are heterographs, words that are pronounced the same but spelled differently and with different meanings. What do you think each word means?

Turn and talk. Ask students to turn and talk with their neighbor for a moment to come up with definitions for both words.

Ask students to share their definitions, and record them on chart paper. Students should understand that a waist is a noun that names a place in the middle of our bodies, while waste is a verb that means “throw away” or “use carelessly.”

Then assign student pairs to write sentences using other common heterographs such as to/two/too and there/they’re/their. Ask students to share their sentences as you record them on chart paper.

Connect and transfer: Say: Recognizing heterographs helps us to understand and spell words correctly. When you edit your own writing, look for the common heterographs we listed, and decide whether you have used them correctly.




Confer with individual students to discuss their developing understanding of genre and word-solving strategies. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.



Day Four



Revisit the week’s read-alouds to make text-to-text connections and provide opportunities for reader response. Use the suggested activities in the Benchmark Literacy Overview, or implement ideas of your own.


Synthesize and Assess Genre Understanding

Synthesize genre understanding. Ask students to work in teams to summarize what they now know about the informational text genre. Tell students that each group member should contribute an idea to the discussion. Each group should appoint one member to be the group’s recorder. Another student should be the group’s spokesperson.

Give students five to seven minutes to discuss and record their ideas.

Have each group’s spokesperson share his or her group’s ideas.

Record key concepts from each group on chart paper.

Self-assessment. Display the class Informational Text anchor chart from Day 1. Ask each group to compare their group’s ideas to the information they recorded on the anchor chart on Day 1.

Ask: How has your understanding of the informational text genre developed? What do you know now that you didn’t know before? Encourage individual students to share their personal insights.

Connect and transfer. Say: How can you use your new understanding of this genre as a reader the next time you read an informational text? How do you think you can use your genre knowledge as a writer?

Make Connections Across Texts

Display Informational Text Poster 4, and distribute copies of BLM 5.

Say: You have analyzed informational texts throughout the week. Sometimes in school and on tests, you will be asked to make connections between different texts. Today we are going to practice making connections between informational texts.

Lesson Objectives

Students will:

• Review and summarize new understanding of the informational text genre.

• Make text-to-text connections.

• Build academic oral language and vocabulary through small-group and whole-group discussions.

Related Resources



Day Five



Day Five

Ask each group to compare and contrast the two informational texts on the posters. Ask them to write their comparisons and contrasts on BLM 5.

Give students about five minutes to record their ideas. Then bring the groups together and have them share their ideas.

Challenge students to express their own opinions on these subjects:• Which subject did you find most interesting? Why?• Which informational text did you like the best? Why?

Connect and transfer. Say: When you compare and contrast two informational texts, think about how each reflects the features of the genre. Did the writer organize the material in an interesting yet logical way? Did the writer make you want to learn more about the topic? Did the writer use pictures, photos, and other graphics to help explain his or her ideas?




Ask students to reflect on what they have learned about the informational text genre. Use the Reading Conference Note-Taking Form to help guide your conference.




BeginningAllow beginning ELLs to participate as active listeners in their groups.

Intermediate and AdvancedProvide sentence frames to help ELLs contribute to their groups’ discussions. For example:

One feature of informational texts is .

The informational texts are alike because .

The informational texts are different because .

People should read these informational texts to .

All LevelsPair ELLs with fluent English speakers during all partner and group activities.

Encourage ELLs to revisit the texts they are comparing and to find and read specific information in the text to help them communicate their ideas.

Unit 1/Week 2 at a Glance

Documents