LESSON TOPIC: Nonfiction Texts

OBJECTIVE: Students will read nonfiction text and utilize the supplied
information to synthesize a logical, coherent action project.
COMMON CORE STANDARD:
RI. Grade 6. 10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary
nonfiction in the grades 68 text complexity band proficiently, with
scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
MOTIVATION OR ANTICIPATORY SET:
The teacher will hang a poster of a wrapped gift on the board in
the front of the class. Once students are situated, the teacher will lift
the gift and under it the question will be posed: What are you most
grateful for? (List 5 or more ideas). Then students will do a two-minute
turn and talk with their neighbor to share their thoughts.
Transformations Addressed:
Moral/Ethical: Students will be challenged to reflect on their own
lives and what they are fortunate to have. This moral transformation
brings about awareness of the world around the student. Frequently
students are only aware of their lives that they experience daily.
Social: Students will share thoughts with a neighboring student. This
allows students to gain information from their peers and they become
comfortable with each other.
Neural: This warm-up is short in duration, which benefits students
with short attention spans. Middle age students are impulsive due to
the development of frontal lobes.
Emotional: Students are focusing on what they are grateful for, which
often times students take for granted. They are relating to others.
During this time period of turmoil students need to be reminded how
fortunate they are.
PROCEDURE:
The class will be given a copy of Time for Kids.
The teacher will point two articles that the students will be
reading, Cleaning Up After Isaac and Strong, Fast, and Brave.
The teacher will read the first article, Cleaning Up After Isaac
aloud to the class to model fluency. Students will follow along.
Then, students will partner using their partner clock.
Students will reread the text with a partner.

Students will note at least three key ideas from the article on an
index card.
Once students have finished, the teacher will read the second
article, Strong, Fast, and Brave aloud to the class.
Students will reread the second article with their partners.
Students will note on the opposite side of the index card at least
three key ideas from the second article.
Pairs will then decide together which article interested them
more.
Students will use the article they chose to devise an action plan
to help the people in the article. The teacher will supply samples
such as a poster advertising a car wash that precedes go to
those affected by the storm or a speech rallying support for the
Paralympics.
Students will be given an outline to fill out (What they plan to
accomplish/How they plan to accomplish it/What the plan consist
of/What they need to accomplish it/Who their target audience is)
Students will be given the choice to then create a poster
advertisement, a speech, or an audio (radio) commercial to
present to the class for their project.

Transformations Addressed:
Emotional: The teacher reads the text first to help students recognize
difficult words and model how fluent reading sounds. This introduces
the text to the students and reduces anxiety from reading a text with a
partner for the first time. The chosen texts stress individuals who face
difficult challenges in their lives. The purpose is to remind students
how fortunate their lives are. At this time in the students lives they
are undergoing many changes that they likely do not fully understand.
This transformation might also be intellectual since the students
frontal lobes in their brains are not fully developed.
Social: The Partner Clock lets students know who they are working
with and helps them form new relationships. Students must work with
their partner to arrive at a decision which article to use and which
project to select. At the middle level a huge fear for students is their
peers opinions of them.
Moral/Ethical: Students will analyze information from outside of their
everyday lives. Students will develop plans to help those going
through hardship or individuals who are disabled. Students
sympathize with those less fortunate than themselves. Students are
developing awareness of the world around them.
Intellectual: Students are challenged to think critically to devise a
logical plan for the individuals in their article. Students are given
choices for their project. They are developing metacognition skills,

even if it is subconsciously, by deciding which type of project utilizes

their strengths.
Neural: Students are provided with an outline to assist in their
organization of the project. Students are also given choices for their
project. Often students are disorganized and lose objects and the
teacher does not understand why. There is scientific proof as to why
this is occurring.

CLOSURE:
Students will share their projects with the class.
On a post-it note students will write one positive thought about
the partner they were working with. Students will exchange
post-its.
Students will fill out an exit slip describing one action plan that
another pair formulated that they really liked.
Transformations:
Emotional/Social: The post-it is good for students self-esteems. It
benefits students to hear positive thoughts from their peers. This
activity is also social because it connects students with other students.
Often students misjudge other students, or assume they are disliked.
This activity helps students realize their peers likely do not dislike
them.
MATERIALS USED:
Time for Kids magazine
Index cards
Project outline
Posters
Markers
ASSESSMENT OF OBJECTIVE(S):
Appropriate creation of poster with samples of text features.
Accurate completion of exit ticket.