Grade: 3 Subject: Language Arts
Unit: Term 2 People of Nova Scotia
Lesson Focus: Non-fiction writing: Peoples of Nova Scotia
The students will work as a group to create a graphic organizer, generate questions and research the answers about an assigned topic (Mi’kmaq, Acadian, African Nova Scotian, Gaelic). They will use effective, safe internet searches to conduct their research. The students will then independently create a non-fiction text about their assigned topic.
Timeframe: six 45 minute periods
"I can" statements
I can generate relevant questions about a given topic to guide my research.
I can create an appropriate graphic organizer to organize my information.
I can conduct effective and safe internet searches.
I can write a non-fiction text, containing appropriate text features.
Outcomes:
Students examine the origins of diverse peoples in their province and their expression of culture inclusive of Acadians, African Nova Scotians, Gaels, Mi’kmaq including Treaty Education, and diverse cultures.
· formulate questions and generate ideas for research, and inquiry about diverse people and cultures in the province.
· deduct ideas and synthesize facts from sources about peoples and cultures in the province.
Students will communicate effectively and clearly and respond personally and critically.
· demonstrate effective active listening habits in multiple cultural contexts
· ask and respond to questions to seek clarification of others’ ideas to consolidate information
· respond to and give directions that are multi-step with increased complexity
· express and explain opinions, and respond to questions and reactions of others
Students will interact with sensitivity and respect, considering audience, purpose, and situation.
· use social conventions such as turn-taking, politeness*, when to speak and when to listen, in a range of conversations and cooperative play situations in multiple cultural contexts
· choose when and where to use intonation, tone and expression to communicate ideas and feelings in selected small and whole group situations
· use established courtesies and conventions of conversation in group work and co-operative play situations with consideration for audience and purpose
· use thoughtful, respectful and non-hurtful vocabulary, considering audience and purpose, and begin to make vocabulary choices that affirm sensitivity to the personal ideas and experiences of others
· use established courtesies and conventions of conversation in group work and co-operative play situations with consideration for audience and purpose
Students will demonstrate print and digital texts.a variety of ways to comprehend and select from a range of culturally diverse.
· use text features to gather information and support comprehension
· explain orally and/or in writing their understanding of and reactions to fiction, non-fiction, and poetry texts they are reading
· demonstrate comprehension—thinking within, thinking about, and thinking beyond the text
· infer meaning within and beyond a variety of texts
· complete reading graphic organizers about their understanding of culturally relevant texts
Students will respond personally and critically to a range of culturally diverse texts.
· identify and use text features of fiction and non-fiction texts that support comprehension
Students will convey meaning by creating print and digital texts collaboratively and independently using imagination, personal experiences, and feelings.
· express ideas in complete thoughts using simple, compound, and complex sentences
· understand and apply readers’/listeners’ comments to clarify meaning
Students will be expected to use writing and other forms of representation including digital to explore, clarify and reflect on their thoughts feeling and experiences and learnings.
· write with attention to descriptive detail and word choice
Students will be expected to create text including digital collaboratively and independently using a variety of forms for a range of audiences and purposes.
· choose forms of writing that are appropriate to specific purposes and audiences
· include information that is relevant and purposeful for an intended audience
· work with a partner, in small groups, and independently, to create writing
Students will use a range of strategies to develop effective writing and media products to enhance their clarity, precision and effectiveness.
· Prewriting: talk about the ideas they plan to write about, draw pictures to develop ideas for writing, choose, use, and create
simple graphic organizers (such as the five finger plan, story map, web, list, five Ws, graphic organizers for specific forms of writing.) Create jot notes for research writing.
· Drafting: Writing is connected to pre-writing, Write on a single topic, with a beginning, middle and end, some elaboration and organization
· Re-read: re-read their writing to monitor meaning and message and include information that is relevant and purposeful for an
intended audience
· Revision: make changes to writing to clarify meaning through strategies such as, crossing out words, inserting words using a
caret, adding details, replacing overused words (e.g. said, good, like), begin to use a thesaurus
· Editing: use the word wall and personal spelling references to check high frequency words, use self-editing checklists to edit
for grade level conventions
· Proofreading: use co-created anchor chart of proofreading strategies, conduct a final reread of draft before publishing
· Publishing/information sharing: publish student-selected final pieces of writing that demonstrate grade level traits
and conventions
Resources:
Brainpop video: how to conduct an internet search
Slide Show: “Peoples of Nova Scotia”.
Graphic Organizer template
Digital device
Search engines:
21Century Skills
· Communicate and Collaborate · Analyze and Syncthesize
· Apply and Interconnect · Find & Validate
· Citizenship · Create& Publish
Connection: This lesson follows the lessons: Who are the Peoples of Nova Scotia? Part 1 and Part 2.
Mini-lesson:
Explicit Teaching (I Do)
As a whole class watch Brainpop video on how to conduct an internet search. This will help the students with their research. Tell students: Somethings that we find on the internet are untrue. To make sure that you have the facts you should check another website to see if they give you the same information. Provide the students with the links to some good search engines that are age appropriate. It is often helpful when you do your search to add “for kids” at the end of your search topic.
Tell students that each group will be assigned a topic. (Mi’kmaq, Acadian, African Nova Scotian, Gaelic) At the Social Studies center you will watch the slide show, “Peoples of Nova Scotia”. As a group you will decide what questions you have about your assigned peoples of Nova Scotia. You will then conduct research to answer your questions. (Hint: Divide up the questions amongst the members of your group and work in pairs.)
As a group, using your questions, create your own graphic organizer. A blank template is provided.
*As you conduct your research you may choose to add more questions and/or parts to your template.
Groups (You do)
At the Social Studies center the group watches the slide show, Peoples of Nova Scotia. They will then brainstorm some questions that they would like to research on their given topic and create a graphic organizer, using their questions and the template provided. The students will then divide their group up into smaller groups and divide up the work, filling in the graphic organizer.
Teacher will conference with each group.
Independent (You do)
Each person will create their own non-fiction book, which includes a variety of non-fiction text features.
Teacher will conference with individual students.
Time to Share
At the end of each day the students have the opportunity to share something they have learned, during circle time.
When the non-fiction books are completed they will share them with their classmates.
Differentiation:
Teacher designs groups to support students. They students are able to read the text with the help of their peers.
Students who are on an adaptation for writing are able to use an Assistive Tech program such as Kurzweil.
Enrichment: When the groups have completed the graphic organizers some students may choose to do some further research before beginning their writing.
Assessment:
Make observational notes during conferences.
Graphic organizer
Non-fiction book
Unit: Term 2 People of Nova Scotia
Lesson Focus: Non-fiction writing: Peoples of Nova Scotia
The students will work as a group to create a graphic organizer, generate questions and research the answers about an assigned topic (Mi’kmaq, Acadian, African Nova Scotian, Gaelic). They will use effective, safe internet searches to conduct their research. The students will then independently create a non-fiction text about their assigned topic.
Timeframe: six 45 minute periods
"I can" statements
I can generate relevant questions about a given topic to guide my research.
I can create an appropriate graphic organizer to organize my information.
I can conduct effective and safe internet searches.
I can write a non-fiction text, containing appropriate text features.
Outcomes:
Students examine the origins of diverse peoples in their province and their expression of culture inclusive of Acadians, African Nova Scotians, Gaels, Mi’kmaq including Treaty Education, and diverse cultures.
· formulate questions and generate ideas for research, and inquiry about diverse people and cultures in the province.
· deduct ideas and synthesize facts from sources about peoples and cultures in the province.
Students will communicate effectively and clearly and respond personally and critically.
· demonstrate effective active listening habits in multiple cultural contexts
· ask and respond to questions to seek clarification of others’ ideas to consolidate information
· respond to and give directions that are multi-step with increased complexity
· express and explain opinions, and respond to questions and reactions of others
Students will interact with sensitivity and respect, considering audience, purpose, and situation.
· use social conventions such as turn-taking, politeness*, when to speak and when to listen, in a range of conversations and cooperative play situations in multiple cultural contexts
· choose when and where to use intonation, tone and expression to communicate ideas and feelings in selected small and whole group situations
· use established courtesies and conventions of conversation in group work and co-operative play situations with consideration for audience and purpose
· use thoughtful, respectful and non-hurtful vocabulary, considering audience and purpose, and begin to make vocabulary choices that affirm sensitivity to the personal ideas and experiences of others
· use established courtesies and conventions of conversation in group work and co-operative play situations with consideration for audience and purpose
Students will demonstrate print and digital texts.a variety of ways to comprehend and select from a range of culturally diverse.
· use text features to gather information and support comprehension
· explain orally and/or in writing their understanding of and reactions to fiction, non-fiction, and poetry texts they are reading
· demonstrate comprehension—thinking within, thinking about, and thinking beyond the text
· infer meaning within and beyond a variety of texts
· complete reading graphic organizers about their understanding of culturally relevant texts
Students will respond personally and critically to a range of culturally diverse texts.
· identify and use text features of fiction and non-fiction texts that support comprehension
Students will convey meaning by creating print and digital texts collaboratively and independently using imagination, personal experiences, and feelings.
· express ideas in complete thoughts using simple, compound, and complex sentences
· understand and apply readers’/listeners’ comments to clarify meaning
Students will be expected to use writing and other forms of representation including digital to explore, clarify and reflect on their thoughts feeling and experiences and learnings.
· write with attention to descriptive detail and word choice
Students will be expected to create text including digital collaboratively and independently using a variety of forms for a range of audiences and purposes.
· choose forms of writing that are appropriate to specific purposes and audiences
· include information that is relevant and purposeful for an intended audience
· work with a partner, in small groups, and independently, to create writing
Students will use a range of strategies to develop effective writing and media products to enhance their clarity, precision and effectiveness.
· Prewriting: talk about the ideas they plan to write about, draw pictures to develop ideas for writing, choose, use, and create
simple graphic organizers (such as the five finger plan, story map, web, list, five Ws, graphic organizers for specific forms of writing.) Create jot notes for research writing.
· Drafting: Writing is connected to pre-writing, Write on a single topic, with a beginning, middle and end, some elaboration and organization
· Re-read: re-read their writing to monitor meaning and message and include information that is relevant and purposeful for an
intended audience
· Revision: make changes to writing to clarify meaning through strategies such as, crossing out words, inserting words using a
caret, adding details, replacing overused words (e.g. said, good, like), begin to use a thesaurus
· Editing: use the word wall and personal spelling references to check high frequency words, use self-editing checklists to edit
for grade level conventions
· Proofreading: use co-created anchor chart of proofreading strategies, conduct a final reread of draft before publishing
· Publishing/information sharing: publish student-selected final pieces of writing that demonstrate grade level traits
and conventions
Resources:
Brainpop video: how to conduct an internet search
Slide Show: “Peoples of Nova Scotia”.
Graphic Organizer template
Digital device
Search engines:
- Google for Kids (http://www.safesearchkids.com/google-for-kids.html) Great for kids who still need some filters but don’t like the look of other kids search enginges. The look resembles Google’s regular search enginge page.
- Ask
Kids (http://www.askkids.com/
21Century Skills
· Communicate and Collaborate · Analyze and Syncthesize
· Apply and Interconnect · Find & Validate
· Citizenship · Create& Publish
Connection: This lesson follows the lessons: Who are the Peoples of Nova Scotia? Part 1 and Part 2.
Mini-lesson:
Explicit Teaching (I Do)
As a whole class watch Brainpop video on how to conduct an internet search. This will help the students with their research. Tell students: Somethings that we find on the internet are untrue. To make sure that you have the facts you should check another website to see if they give you the same information. Provide the students with the links to some good search engines that are age appropriate. It is often helpful when you do your search to add “for kids” at the end of your search topic.
Tell students that each group will be assigned a topic. (Mi’kmaq, Acadian, African Nova Scotian, Gaelic) At the Social Studies center you will watch the slide show, “Peoples of Nova Scotia”. As a group you will decide what questions you have about your assigned peoples of Nova Scotia. You will then conduct research to answer your questions. (Hint: Divide up the questions amongst the members of your group and work in pairs.)
As a group, using your questions, create your own graphic organizer. A blank template is provided.
*As you conduct your research you may choose to add more questions and/or parts to your template.
Groups (You do)
At the Social Studies center the group watches the slide show, Peoples of Nova Scotia. They will then brainstorm some questions that they would like to research on their given topic and create a graphic organizer, using their questions and the template provided. The students will then divide their group up into smaller groups and divide up the work, filling in the graphic organizer.
Teacher will conference with each group.
Independent (You do)
Each person will create their own non-fiction book, which includes a variety of non-fiction text features.
Teacher will conference with individual students.
Time to Share
At the end of each day the students have the opportunity to share something they have learned, during circle time.
When the non-fiction books are completed they will share them with their classmates.
Differentiation:
Teacher designs groups to support students. They students are able to read the text with the help of their peers.
Students who are on an adaptation for writing are able to use an Assistive Tech program such as Kurzweil.
Enrichment: When the groups have completed the graphic organizers some students may choose to do some further research before beginning their writing.
Assessment:
Make observational notes during conferences.
Graphic organizer
Non-fiction book