First Grade Sample Module Unit 3 Sample 2

1
First Grade Sample Module Unit 3 Sample 2
Big Idea: Change is inevitable.
Enduring Understandings of the module:
Changes have many causes and consequences.
-
People, plants, and animals change over time.
Matter changes.
Elements of nature cause changes in weather.
Past events change the way we live and work today.
Possible Module 1:
Considerations:
 People, plants, and
animals change over time.
 There are many factors
that cause people, plants,
and animals to change
over time.
Possible Text Set
See sample below +
Additional Texts to Extend Module 1
An Egg is an Egg
The Egg: From Hen to Omelet
A Line of Adorable Ducklings
The Surprise Family
Moving Day
Hermit Crabs
Pearl’s First Prize Plant
Life Cycle of an Apple
Jasper’s Beanstalk
Watch Them Grow
The Pumpkin in a Jar
A Nursery for Salmon
Tree Friends
Possible Module 2:
 Matter changes
 Seasons change
 The effects of our
changing
environment.
Possible Module 3:
 Elements of nature
cause changes in
weather.
 Nature adapts
 Change affects
people, plants, and
animals.
Possible Module 4:
 Past events and
important people
have changed the
way we live and
work today.
Possible Text Set
Possible Text Set
Possible Text Set
Seasons
Sensing the Seasons
A Year in a Four-Season Forest
Weather and Seasons
Seasons and Weather
---------------------------------------How Can Matter Change?
What can we observe about
Solids?
What can we observe about
Liquids?
What can we observe about
gases?
What are other changes to
matter?
A Matter of change
Weather and Seasons
Cleaning Up Oil
How Does Weather change from
Day to Day?
How Does Weather Change
from Each Season?
How Does the Sun Cause
Weather?
Weather and Water
Johnny Appleseed
Inventions Now and Then
Places Change (Vistas, p.
154)
A Plan for our Country
Changing Every Day
What was life like in the
past?
Going to School
Work Long Ago
The First Americans
Transportation Then and
Now
Possible essential questions addressed in Module 1:
 How do things change?
 What are the effects of changing seasons?
 What happens in nature?
Anchor Text
First Grade, ELA Sample Module, Unit 3 Module 2
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Module Text Set
Text Title
Resource
“Four Seasons”
California Vistas, pages 42-43
“Seasons and Weather”
Harcourt Science, online e-reader
“Seasons”
HM Theme 3
“Sensing the Seasons”
HM, Curious About Words, pages 28-29
A Year in a Four-Season Forest
HM, Curious About Words, Vol. 2, pages
26-27
Purpose/Commentary
Scope & Sequence Anchor Text
This text will be used to springboard conversations
regarding the many effects of change through the
concept of seasons. The text and pictures on the
page will be utilized to facilitate conversations
regarding the changing of seasons and how those
changes affect other aspects of life and the
environment. Students will specifically explore how
the changes in seasons affect peoples’ behaviors,
the way they dress, how the weather changes with
the seasons and how the seasons and weather
affect the plants and animals.
Scope & Sequence Suggested Related Text
This is a non-fiction text that supports the
considerations that seasons change and those
changes in seasons affect people, plants, animals,
and the environment.
Scope & Sequence Suggested Related Text
This is a non-fiction text that supports the
considerations that seasons change and those
changes in seasons affect people, plants, animals,
and the environment. This text will be utilized as a
shared reading text.
Scope & Sequence Suggested Related Text
This is a read aloud poem that uses the five senses
along with the seasons to give examples of some of
the many changes that occur as a result of the
changing seasons.
Scope & Sequence Suggested Related Text
This text can be used as a bridge between this
module and a module on weather. This text uses
the changing seasons to illustrate how changes
occur within the forest, not only changes in weather
but also the changes that the trees experience as a
result of the changing seasons and weather.
Possible Multi-Media resources or extensions
The following resources can be utilized to supplement and extend the module
Everything Spring
(Online database) National Geographic for Kids
Password: fres99060
Seasons
Brainpop Jr: http://www.brainpopjr.com/science/weather/seasons/
Charlie Needs a Cloak
Discovery Ed
“Ready for cold Winter”
Readworks.org
“Staying Dry in the Snow”
Readworks.org
“Seasons”
“Why do we have seasons?”
Science Up Close:
http://www.harcourtschool.com/menus/science/up_close1_ca.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmJCXNp0gW4
First Grade, ELA Sample Module, Unit 3 Module 2
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Module Culminating Task
Standards Clusters:
Big Idea: Change is inevitable.
Enduring Understanding:
Changes have many causes and consequences.
Considerations:
 Seasons change
 The effects of our changing environment.
Writing Prompt:
As the seasons change, what changes occur in the environment? After reading Seasons and Weather and “A Year in a
Four-Season Forest”, write to explain how the changes in the seasons affect people, plants, animals, and the
environment. Use what you know from the texts to write your response.
Resources: Prompt and writing materials.
Instructional Notes (complex text, talk & task)
 Teacher may need to quickly review the texts in the text set prior to the culminating task.
 Students should be completing task independently.
 Teacher should provide students with a copy of rubric along with the task.
Rubrics should be decided upon by Accountable Communities.
 Students should be given a criteria of success for self-evaluation. Criteria of success may be developed by
Accountable Communities or by teachers along with their students.
Task Scoring:
Writing can be scored with rubrics.
First Grade, ELA Sample Module, Unit 3 Module 2
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Possible Launching the Module Tasks
Purpose: Activating students’ background knowledge, building schema, and preparing students to enter into content
through complex text.
Launching the module could include activities that address the following concepts:
 Getting Ready to Read
 Exploring Key Concepts
 Making Predictions and Asking Questions
 Understanding Vocabulary
*Note: Tasks 1 and 2 are “new” strategies that have not been used in previous sample modules.
Teachers may also choose to utilize strategies from previous sample modules to activate prior knowledge, build
background, and motivate students for the upcoming learning. A list of strategies from previous sample modules
has been included after Task 2.
Task 1
Launching the unit
Purposes:
Activator/Motivator
 Activate students’ prior
knowledge, set the stage for the
Strategy:
Standards
introduction of the topic.
Clusters:
Write Five Words
 To increase complex talk through
SL.1.1a-b, SL.1.6
collaborative conversations with
peers and adults, in small and
large groups.
Resources:
Picture collage attached or visual of teacher’s choice
Instructional Notes (complex text, talk & task)
 Students are given a picture or multiple pictures regarding the upcoming topic.
 Students are asked to “write five words” that they think of when they look at the pictures.
 Students then share their five words and the reasons for those five words with a partner. Discussion may
then be expanded to a whole class discussion.
Task 2
Strategy:
K-W-H-L CHART
(Know)- W (Want to Know)-H (How will I
learn)-L (Learned)
Launching the unit
Activator/Motivator
Standards
Clusters:
SL.1.1a-c, W.2.8
Purposes:
 Activate students’ prior knowledge,
set goals for learning, and discuss
what was learned.
 To increase complex talk through
collaborative conversations with
peers and adults, in small and large
groups.
Instructional Notes (complex text, talk & task)
Prompt:
“What do you know about seasons? How do the changes of the seasons affect people/animals/the environment?”
 Discuss with students what they know about seasons. Ask: In what ways are people, animals, and the
environment affected by the changes in seasons?
 Complete the chart with students. Components K-W-H will be completed prior to embarking on the learning
of the module. L will be completed either along the way or at the end of the module. Explain to students that
they are going to be gathering information over the next few days to help them write a report explaining how
the changes in seasons cause changes with people, animals, and elements of nature, such as the weather and
forest.
 Teacher may also choose to have students record their notes on their own copy of a K-W-H-L note taking tool.
First Grade, ELA Sample Module, Unit 3 Module 2
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Assessment of Task:
Through the discussion with students, assess students’ prior knowledge and experience with the content. Use
information gained about students’ background knowledge for planning instructional next steps.
Strategies from previous sample modules that may be utilized to build background knowledge, make connections, and motivate
students for the upcoming content.
Strategies from Unit 1:
Strategies from Unit 2:
Strategies from Unit 3, Module 1:
1. Word Splash
1. Word Splash
1. Total Physical Response
2. Vocabulary Acquisition
2. Sorting Cards/Pictures
2. Vocabulary Acquisition
3. Brainstorm
3. Prediction
3. Brainstorm
4. Compare/Contrast
4. Categorize/Classify
Entering the Text Set
Purpose: To engage students in complex text through integrated reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
Task 3
(may be broken down into
multiple tasks)
Standards Cluster:
RI1.1, RI.1.5, RI.1.6, RI.1.7, RI.1.10,
SL.1.1a-c, SL.1.2, SL.1.6
Purpose:
 Closely reading a non-fiction text to
gain an in-depth understanding of the
text.
 Making connections with the big idea
and enduring understandings.
 Reading with a purpose and to make
meaning.
Strategies:
Reading for meaning
Oral Comprehension
Close reading
Text Dependent Questions
Active Listening
Collaborative Discussion
Resources:
“Four Seasons”, California Vistas, pages 42-43
Instructional Notes (complex text, talk & task)
Possible Before-Reading Tasks:
1. Set the context for reading by connecting students back to the Big Idea of change. Discuss with students that
they will be learning how the changing of the seasons affects them and the world around them.
2. Preview the text for text features such as headings, labels, and the organization of the photographs. Discuss how
authors use text features to organize the information in the text.
Possible During Reading Tasks:
 First Read=Have students read text to themselves.
 Second Read= Chorally read text with students.
 Ask some general understanding text dependent questions to assess students’ level of comprehension of the
text.
Possible general understanding questions:
a. What is this text about? How do you know?
b. What are the names of the seasons?
c. What happens when the seasons change?
First Grade, ELA Sample Module, Unit 3 Module 2
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
Third Read = Re-read the text with students for the purpose of being able to retell key details from the
text. Stop along the way to pose questions and allow time for collaborative conversations with diverse
partners as well as in small and large groups.
**Note: Teachers will need to ensure routines and procedures are in place to engage students in complex talk, both with
partners and whole class.
Possible Text Dependent Questions for Key Details include:
**NOTE: Encourage students to utilize the text features to support their responses. (E.g. headings, illustrations, text, etc.)
1. Look at the photograph labeled “winter”, what types of clothing is the little boy wearing?
2. What are some things that happen in the spring time?
3. Look at the photograph labeled “fall”, what clues help you to know it is fall?
After Reading:
 Conduct a class discussion, connecting the reading back to the big idea using the prompt: What changes occur
when the seasons change?
Task Scoring: Monitor students’ discussions and check for understanding of the text read as well as relevant and accurate
connections made to the big idea.
Task 4
(May be broken into multiple
tasks.)
Standards Cluster:
RI.1.1, RI.1.2, RI.1.3,
RI.1.5, RI.1.6, RI.1.7,
RI.1.9, RI.1.10,
W.1.1, W.1.2,
W.1.3, W.1.8,
SL.1.1a-c, SL.1.6,
L.1.1a-h, L.1.1b-e,
L.1.6
Purpose:
 Closely reading a non-fiction text to gain an indepth understanding of the text.
 Identifying the basic similarities in and
differences between two texts on the same
topic.
 Making connections with the big idea and
enduring understandings.
 Engage in group reading activities with purpose
and understanding.
Strategies:
Oral Comprehension
Comprehension: Prediction
Comprehension: Compare/Contrast
Text Dependent Questions
Active Listening
Close reading
Writing to synthesize learning
Writing to text to make meaning
Resources: “Seasons and Weather”, Harcourt Science e-reader
Instructional Notes (complex text, talk, & task)
Possible Pre-Reading Tasks:


Set the stage by discussing with students how this task connects back to the big idea of “Change”.
Have students look at the photograph on the cover and have them predict what they think the text is going to
be about. Teacher may record students’ predictions so that predictions can be confirmed or rejected during and
after reading.
 Read the title. Give students an opportunity to revise their predictions.
 Preview vocabulary as needed. Some possible words for vocabulary instruction and discussion include:
season, pattern, daylight
o Teacher may wish to provide visuals/realia to support some of the vocabulary words.
Possible During Reading Tasks:
 First Read=Have students read text to themselves.
 Second Read= Chorally read text with students.
First Grade, ELA Sample Module, Unit 3 Module 2
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Ask some general understanding text dependent questions to assess students’ level of comprehension of the
text.
Possible general understanding questions:
a. What is this text about? How do you know?
b. What is a season?
c. How many seasons are there in a year?
d. What is the order of the seasons?
e. What do you notice about the order in which the seasons occur?
 Third Read = Re-read the text with students for the purpose of being able to retell key details from the
text. Stop along the way to pose questions and allow time for collaborative conversations with diverse
partners and in small and large groups.
**Note: Teachers will need to ensure routines and procedures are in place to engage students in complex talk, both with
partners and whole class.
Possible Text Dependent Questions
Teachers will need to make instructional decisions on how to utilize text dependent questions and engage students. The
use of text dependent questions should include time for students to discuss. Some Possible Talk formats to facilitate
discussion include: think-pair-share and then share out with whole class, whole class discussion, individual
response with random selection, or ordered share with talking stick, numbered heads, etc.
Possible Text Dependent Questions for Key Details include:
1. What is the weather like in spring?
2. How is spring different from fall?
3. What is one of the warmest months of the year in California?
4. How is the weather in summer different from the weather in the spring?
5. How does the text describe the winter season?
6. What changes over the seasons?
Follow up the above questions with guiding questions that will cause students to provide text based evidence for their
answers and reasoning.
Sample Guiding Questions to guide students to cite textual evidence:
a. How do you know?
b. What in the text supports your answer/thinking?
c. What examples from the text can you give?
Possible After Reading Tasks:
 Students work in partners to orally summarize and retell the events of the text in their own words.
 Using a graphic organizer, conduct a classroom discussion to identify basic similarities and differences between
the text in Tasks 4 and 5.
 Students create a sequence of events graphic organizer and write to explain the key details in the text including
the weather in each season, examples from the text that describe the different activities that people may do in
each season, and how people’s clothing for each season changes.
 Facilitate a class discussion on how the changing of the seasons affects people.
(Informative/Explanatory) Students write a letter to a family member describing the four seasons and the types of
activities they could do in each season.
 Criteria for success:
Using a letter format:
a. Students name the topic.
b. Students supply some facts about each season.
c. Students provide a sense of closure
(Opinion) Students write an opinion piece about their favorite season.
 Criteria for success:
First Grade, ELA Sample Module, Unit 3 Module 2
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a. Students introduce the topic
b. Use text facts and examples, students supply a reason for their opinion.
c. Students provide a sense of closure.
(Personal Narrative) Students choose a season and write a story about something they have done with their families or
friends during that season.
 Criteria for success:
a. Students choose a season for the setting of their story.
b. Students recount two or more appropriately sequenced events.
c. Students include details of what happened.
d. Students use time words to signal event order.
e. Students provide some sense of closure.
Task Scoring: Check for students’ understanding of text during discussions.
Score students’ graphic organizers and writing with appropriate criteria for success or rubric.
Task 5
(May be divided into
multiple tasks over
multiple days.)
Standards Cluster:
RL.1.10 (Poetry Link)
RI.1.1, RI.1.2, RI.1.3, RI.1.5,
RI.1.6, RI.1.7, RI.1.9, RI.1.10,
W.1.3, W.1.8, SL.1.1a-c,
SL.1.4, SL.1.6, L.1.1a-f, L.1.2ae, L.1.5c, L.1.6
Purpose:
 Closely reading a non-fiction text to gain an indepth understanding of the text.
 Closely reading a poem to gain an in-depth
understanding of the message.
 Making connections with the big idea and
enduring understandings.
 Engage in group reading activities with purpose
and understanding.
Strategies:
Oral Comprehension
Comprehension: Prediction
Comprehension: Compare/Contrast
Comprehension: Topic, Main Idea, & Details
Text Dependent Questions
Active Listening
Skill: How to read a poem
Close reading
Writing to synthesize learning
Writing to text to make meaning
Resources: “Seasons”, HM Anthology, Theme 3 Pages 17-33
“Poetry Link”, HM Anthology, Theme 3 Pages 36-37
Instructional Notes (complex text, talk, & task)
Possible Pre-Reading Tasks:

Show the cover of the book to the students. Conduct a class discussion and help students connect back to the
two previous texts and the big idea.
Possible During Reading Tasks:
First Read = Independent reading of the text.
Second Read = Utilizing a shared reading strategy, read the text with students.
 Ask the general understanding questions below.
Possible General Understanding Questions include:
 What is the text about?
 What is the order of the seasons in the text?
Follow up the above questions with guiding questions that will cause students to provide text based evidence for their
answers and reasoning.
Sample Guiding Questions to guide students to cite textual evidence:
 How do you know?
First Grade, ELA Sample Module, Unit 3 Module 2
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 What in the text supports your answer/thinking?
 What examples from the text can you give?
Third Read = Re-read the text for the purpose of asking specific text dependent questions that will engage students in
answering questions about key details in the text.
Possible Text Dependent Questions
Teachers will need to make instructional decisions on how to utilize text dependent questions and engage students. The
use of text dependent questions should include time for students to discuss. Some Possible Talk formats to facilitate
discussion include: think-pair-share and then share out with whole class, whole class discussion, individual
response with random selection, or ordered share with talking stick, numbered heads, etc.
 What are some of the activities that children are doing in the text?
 What are some of the animals that were in the text?
 How do animals get ready for different seasons?
Reading Comprehension Application Opportunity
Teachers will need to make instructional decisions regarding students’ needs in relation to the comprehension skill:
Topic, Main Idea, and Details. Depending on students’ needs a direct instruction lesson utilizing the gradual release of
responsibility might be necessary to help students build a foundation and apply the skill. Teacher may also choose to
utilize a graphic organizer as well as language frames to scaffold students’ learning and application of the skill.
A possible gradual release of responsibility with the application of the skill:
a. Re-read pages 18-20. Model for students how to use the title on page 18 to determine the main idea. Then
model how to discern the main idea and supporting details.
b. Re-read pages 21-25. Guide and support students to identify the topic, main idea, and supporting details.
Provide students will collaboration time as well as language frames, if needed.
c. Continue gradually releasing the application to students with pages 26-28 and pages 29-33.
Possible After Reading Tasks:
 Students work in partners to orally identify the topic, main idea, and supporting details for each section.
 Conduct a classroom discussion to identify similarities and differences between texts utilized in this and previous
tasks.
 Return to the K-W-H-L chart from Task 2 above to add students’ new learnings and any additional questions that
may have arisen through the readings.
 Utilize one of the online multi-media resources to solidify learning.
Possible Text Pairing Opportunity
Resources: Poetry Link, HM Theme 3, Anthology pages 36-37
Skill: How to read a poem
 Explain to students that there are different types of poems. Explain that the poems they will be reading are
called “haikus”. A “haiku” is a special kind of Japanese poem that only has three lines and is usually about
something in nature.
 Teacher and students chorally read poem.
 Repeat re-reading 2-3 more times, using various strategies to engage students (e.g. whisper voice, echo read,
those wearing red/blue, etc.)
 Facilitate a discussion of the poem utilizing text dependent questions and asking students to cite evidence from
the text by asking them “How do you know? Where words in the poem helped you to know that?”
Possible text dependent questions:
 What is the poem about?
 Which season does the poem describe? How do you know?
 Re-read the poem on page 36. What do you think “shiny colored tents” are? What clues help you to know what
the author means by “shiny colored tents”?
Writing Opportunity:
a. Shared writing opportunity: Using the frame of the poems on pages 36-37, guide students to help you construct
a couple of “haiku” poems. The following frame may be utilized:
First Grade, ELA Sample Module, Unit 3 Module 2
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Here we are, (name of season),
Just you and I ______________________
__________________________________.
b. Have students work with a partner or on their own to craft a haiku poem utilizing the frame above.
Task Scoring: Monitor and check for students’ understanding of text during discussions.
Monitor and check students’ applications of comprehension skills.
Score students’ writing, graphic organizers, and collaborative conversations with appropriate criteria for success or
rubric.
Task 6
(May be divided into multiple
tasks over multiple days.)
Standards Cluster:
RI.1.1, RI.1.2, RI.1.3, RI.1.5, RI.1.6,
RI.1.7, RI.1.9, RI.1.10, W.1.2,
W.1.8, SL.1.1a-c, SL.1.2, SL.1.4,
SL.1.6, L.1.1a-h, L.1.2a-e, L.1.5a-c,
L.1.6
Purpose:
 Closely reading a text to gain an indepth understanding of the text.
 Making connections with the big idea
and enduring understandings.
 Engage in group reading activities
with purpose and understanding.
Strategies:
Oral Comprehension
Text Dependent Questions
Active Listening
Close reading
Writing to synthesize learning
Writing to text to make meaning
Resources: “Sensing the Seasons”, HM Curious About Words, Vol. 1 Pages 28-29
Instructional Notes (complex text, talk, & task)
Possible Pre-Reading Tasks:



Set the stage by discussing with students how this task connects back to the big idea of “Change”.
Review the five senses and the four seasons. Explain to students that they are going to be hearing a story about
the seasons and how the seasons can be sensed through our five senses: sight, hearing, touching, tasting, and
feeling.
Teacher may choose to utilize a graphic organizer such as a table, tree map, etc. to help guide students to see the
relationship between words used in the text and their categories according to the five senses. See sample
below:
Hear
See
Smell
Taste
Feel
loudness

Vocabulary that may require direct vocabulary instruction or support with visuals and/or realia: freezing,
loudness, senses, and thermometer
Possible During Reading Tasks:
 Teacher reads text aloud to students.
 Teacher re-reads text and pauses after each paragraph to facilitate discussion. Ask students to discuss what
words they heard that represent the five senses. Then move to a whole class discussion to share out. Teacher
may also choose to add to the graphic organizer at this time.
 Teacher re-reads text aloud to students. Teachers pose general understanding text dependent questions such
as:
a. What is this text about?
b. What was the first season discussed in the text? The last season?
First Grade, ELA Sample Module, Unit 3 Module 2
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c. According to the text, what do seasons do?
d. How can your senses help you tell the difference between seasons?
NOTE: Teachers will need to make instructional decisions on how to utilize text dependent questions and engage
students. The use of text dependent questions should include time for students to discuss. Some Possible Talk formats
to facilitate discussion include: think-pair-share and then share out with whole class, whole class discussion,
individual response with random selection, or ordered share with talking stick, numbered heads, etc.
Follow up the above questions with guiding questions that will cause students to provide text based evidence for their
answers and reasoning.
Sample Guiding Questions to guide students to cite textual evidence:
a. How do you know?
b. What in the text supports your answer/thinking?
c. What examples from the text can you give?
Possible After Reading Tasks:
(Informative/Explanatory)
Prompt: Choose a season and use your five senses to describe the season that you chose.
Criteria for success:
a. Choose a season
b. Name the season
c. Using facts from your reading, describe the season using the five senses: see, hear, feel, smell, taste
d. Provide a sense of closure
Task Scoring: Check for students’ understanding of text during discussions.
Score students’ writing and collaborative posters with rubrics or specific criteria for success.
Task 7
(May be divided into multiple
tasks over multiple days.)
Standards Cluster:
RI.1.1, R.1.3, RI.1.4, RI.1.6, RI.1.10,
W.1.2, W.1.7, W.1.8, SL.1.1a-c,
SL.1.2, SL.1.5, SL.1.6, L.1.1a-h,
L.1.2a-e, L.1.5a-c, L.1.6
Purpose:
 Closely reading a text to gain an indepth understanding of the text.
 Making connections with the big idea
and enduring understandings.
 Engage in group reading activities
with purpose and understanding.
Strategies:
Oral Comprehension
Close reading
Text Dependent Questions
Active Listening
Writing to synthesize learning
Writing to text to make meaning
Resources: “A Year in a Four-Season Forest”, HM Curious About Words, Vol. 2 Pages 26-27
Instructional Notes (complex text, talk, & task)
Possible Pre-Reading Tasks:
*Note: This text is a bridging text between this module and module three.

Explain to students that they have learned about seasons and how seasons change. They have also learned how
seasons affect the weather and how people react to the changes of the seasons and weather, by changing their
activities and the types of clothing they wear. Explain that now they are going to learn about how a forest
changes as the seasons change.
Possible During Reading Tasks:
 First Read = Teacher reads text aloud to students.
 Second Read = Teacher re-reads text and pauses to facilitate discussion.
 Third Read = Teacher re-reads text aloud to students. Teacher poses general understanding text dependent
questions such as:
First Grade, ELA Sample Module, Unit 3 Module 2
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a. What is this text about?
b. How do you know the seasons are changing in the forest?
Comprehension: Categorizing/Classifying and Identifying details
 Begin with the question: In what ways is life in the forest different during each season?
 Using a graphic organizer (E.g. table, four quadrant, tree map, or a series of bubble maps or webs), conduct a
class discussion on describing what changes occur in the forest during each season. See sample below:
Fall
Summer
-warm air
-hot sun
-trees make food
-trees grow taller
-trees grow new leaves
Winter
Forest
Spring
1. Comprehension: Sequence of Events
 Provide students with visuals of a tree in each season. Have students sequence the visuals according to the
order of the seasons.
 Have students label each season and write to explain how they know that particular picture matches with the
season.
Possible After Reading Tasks:
(Informative/Explanatory)
Prompt: Write to explain how the forest lets you know that the seasons are changing. In your writing explain what
changes take place within the forest during each season. Use what you have learned about the changing seasons and
your five senses to help you add facts and details to your writing. You may choose to add drawings and visuals to help
make your thoughts and descriptions clear to your reader.
Criteria for success:
a. Name the topic.
b. Include facts and details from the text.
c. May choose to include drawings or other visual displays to clarify or add to their ideas and thoughts.
d. Provide a sense of closure.
Task Scoring: Check for students’ understanding of text during discussions.
Score students’ writing and collaborative posters with rubrics or specific criteria for success.
First Grade, ELA Sample Module, Unit 3 Module 2
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Module Culminating Task
Standards Clusters:
Big Idea: Change is inevitable.
Enduring Understanding:
Changes have many causes and consequences.
Considerations:
 Seasons change
 The effects of our changing environment.
Writing Prompt:
As the seasons change, what changes occur in the environment? After reading Seasons and Weather and “A Year in a
Four-Season Forest”, write to explain how the changes in the seasons affect people, plants, animals, and the
environment. Use what you know from the texts to write your response.
Resources: Prompt and writing materials.
Instructional Notes (complex text, talk & task)
 Teacher may need to quickly review the texts in the text set prior to the culminating task.
 Students should be completing task independently.
 Teacher should provide students with a copy of rubric along with the task.
Rubrics should be decided upon by Accountable Communities.
 Students should be given a criteria of success for self-evaluation. Criteria of success may be developed by
Accountable Communities or by teachers along with their students.
Task Scoring:
Writing can be scored with rubrics.
First Grade, ELA Sample Module, Unit 3 Module 2