Stage 1- Desired Results Lesson 1 Content Standard (s): R.CCR.

4 - Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. RI.2.4 - Students find unknown words in texts and use dictionaries to locate meanings. Students record the words and meanings in vocabulary journals. RI.2.10 - Read and comprehend informational texts, including history, science, and technical texts. 2.L.1 - Understand animal life cycles and be able to describe it and the animal. 2.H.1- Identify contributions of historical figures (community, state, nation, and world) through various genres. RL.4.9-Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures.

Understanding(s)/Goals: - Students will understand that there are different types of text and what each one is used for. For example fiction and non-fiction. - Students will understand why learning vocabulary is important when reading a text. They will know why we should look for certain keywords such as animals life cycle, ecosystem, environment, adaptations, and interesting facts about the animal. -Students will learn about where the animal is located.

Essential Question (s): - What is the difference between nonfiction and fiction? - What are some key words needed to know when learning about an _________ animal? - How can research help me learn more about a topic?

Student Objectives (outcomes): - Students will be able to tell the difference between fiction and nonfiction text. They will be able to gather prior knowledge of the animal we are studying and learn key vocabulary that will be helpful when reading the text. -Through modeling students will be able to understand how to perform research on a topic. In this case an animal. - Students will understand how the culture of China made an impact on its people.

Stage 2- Assessment Evidence

Performance Task (s): - Students will copy down new vocabulary words and definitions in their animal dictionaries. As a class they will create a KWL chart, stating things they already know about the animal, and things they want to learned so far about the animal.

Other Evidence: -Student and teacher discussion about Pandas and China.

Stage 3- Learning Plan Learning Activities: - Introduce animal of study. For this lesson the whole class will be studying the same animal. The animal that we chose to do is a panda.Have students look at the animal and come up with words that describe the animal. (black and white, furry, has teeth, has claws, etc.) -Discuss facts they think they already know about the animal. Create a KWL chart with students. Introduce a nonfiction book about the animal, also introduce a fiction book that has that animal in it. (Nonfiction- Giant Pandas by Gail Gibbons and Fiction Pi-Shu the Little Panda by John Butler) - Discuss the things we notice that are different about the two text. Then teach students vocabulary that they will need to know about the animal that will be helpful when reading the non-fiction text. Have students copy the vocabulary and definitions in their animal dictionaries that were pre-made for them. For the Panda books you may want to include words such as bamboo, forest, and adulthood) -After reading the books to the students show students on a map where the animal is located. For our animal we will show the students a map of China. The class will then watch a video from Learn360 about China. The video is title The Peoples Republic of China and discusses Chinas history, religion, and culture. Discuss with the students what they learned about the culture of China. -After completing the video we will close the lesson by coming back to the KWL chart. Students will write on a sticky note one thing that they learned about Pandas and add it to the chart.