Classroom Resource

Investigating Animals: Using Nonfiction for Inquiry-Based Research

Subject Area

English Language Arts

Grade(s)

K, 1, 2

Overview

Young children are fascinated with the world around them, showing intense interest and curiosity about animals and their lives. Through the use of nonfiction, students can be encouraged and challenged to learn more about favorite animals and to document their findings with graphic organizers. Students begin their inquiry by comparing fiction and nonfiction books about animals, using a Venn diagram. They list things they want to know about animals on a chart. As a class, students vote on an animal to research. They revise their question list and then research the animal using prompts from an online graphic organizer. After several sessions of research, students revisit their original questions and evaluate the information they have gathered. Finally, students revise and edit their work and prepare to present their findings to an authentic audience.

English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): KG

ELA21.K.R3

Expand background knowledge and build vocabulary through discussion, reading, and writing.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.K.R3

Vocabulary

  • Background knowledge
  • Vocabulary
  • Discussion

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Relating experiences through discussions, reading, and writing will help build background knowledge and improve vocabulary.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Connect new concepts to prior experiences to increase background knowledge through discussions, reading, and writing.
  • Construct the meaning of words through discussions, reading, and writing.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Background knowledge can increase by relating experiences to new ideas, topics, and words while participating in discussions, reading, and writing.
  • Vocabulary will increase by constructing the meaning of words while participating in discussions, reading, and writing.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): KG

ELA21.K.2

Actively engage in teacher-led reading experiences and collaborative discussions with peers to build background knowledge needed to be successful as they learn to read and, later, read to learn.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.K.2

Vocabulary

  • Actively engage
  • Teacher-led reading experiences
  • Collaborative discussions
  • Background knowledge
  • Peers

Knowledge

Students know:
  • How to engage in teacher-led reading experiences and collaborative discussions with peers to build background knowledge.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Build background knowledge by actively engaging in teacher-led reading experiences and collaborative discussions with peers.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • They need to build background knowledge to be successful as they learn to read and read to learn.
  • They need to actively engage in teacher-led reading experiences and discussions with peers to build their background knowledge.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): KG

ELA21.K.22

Use content knowledge built during read-alouds of informational texts by participating in content-specific discussions with peers and/or through drawing or writing.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.K.22

Vocabulary

  • Content knowledge
  • Read-alouds
  • Informational text
  • Participating
  • Content-specific discussions
  • Peers
  • Drawing
  • Writing

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Content knowledge gained from read-alouds of informational texts.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Use content knowledge built during read-alouds of informational texts by participating in content-specific discussions with peers and/or through drawing or writing.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Their understanding of and appreciation for informational text grows through discussions and active collaboration with others.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): KG

ELA21.K.32

With prompting and support, compare and contrast two texts.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.K.32

Vocabulary

  • Compare
  • Contrast
  • Text
  • Prompting
  • Support

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Techniques to compare (identify similarities) and contrast (identify differences) two texts.

Skills

Students are able to:
With prompting and support,
  • Identify similarities between two texts.
  • Identify differences between two texts.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Good readers make meaning of text by identifying similarities and differences between two texts.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): KG

ELA21.K.37

Actively participate in shared and independent writing experiences, for varied purposes and audiences, across different genres.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.K.37

Vocabulary

  • Actively participate
  • Shared writing experiences
  • Independent writing experiences
  • Varied purposes
  • Varied audiences
  • Difference genres

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Different genres of writing.
  • The purpose and audience for writing can change.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Write for various purposes and audiences across different genres, with teacher assistance and independently.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Writing conveys a message, and the format of writing will change, depending on its purpose, audience, and intended meaning.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): KG

ELA21.K.39

Participate in shared research and writing projects to answer a question or describe a topic.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.K.39

Vocabulary

  • Participate
  • Shared research
  • Shared writing projects
  • Answer a question
  • Describe a topic

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Research and writing can answer questions or describe a topic.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Work collaboratively with peers and adults in research and writing projects.
  • Use research and writing to answer questions about a topic.
  • Use research and writing to describe a topic.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Shared research and writing projects can help answer questions or describe a topic.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 1

ELA21.1.R3

Expand background knowledge and build vocabulary through discussion, reading, and writing.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.1.R3

Vocabulary

  • Background knowledge
  • Vocabulary
  • Discussion

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Relating experiences through discussions, writing, and reading will help build background knowledge and improve vocabulary.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Connect new concepts to prior experiences to increase background knowledge through discussions, reading, and writing.
  • Construct the meaning of words through discussions, reading, and writing.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Background knowledge can increase by relating experiences to new ideas, topics, and words while participating in discussions, reading, and writing.
  • Vocabulary will increase by constructing the meaning of words while participating in discussions, reading, and writing.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 1

ELA21.1.2

Actively participate in shared reading experiences and collaborative discussions to build background knowledge and learn how oral reading should sound.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.1.2

Vocabulary

  • Participate
  • Shared reading
  • Background knowledge
  • Oral reading

Knowledge

Students know:
  • The process of shared reading experiences and collaborative discussions.
  • Shared reading and collaborative discussions can increase their background knowledge.
  • How fluent oral reading sounds.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Participate in shared reading and discussions to build background knowledge and learn new information.
  • Describe how oral reading should sound.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Actively participating in shared reading experiences and collaborative discussions can build their background knowledge.
  • Listening to others read aloud can help improve their oral reading skills.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 1

ELA21.1.17

Use content knowledge built during read-alouds of informational and literary texts by participating in content-specific discussions with peers and/or through drawing and writing.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.1.17

Vocabulary

  • Content knowledge
  • Read-alouds
  • Informational text
  • Literary text
  • Participating
  • Content-specific discussions
  • Peers
  • Drawing
  • Writing

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Content knowledge can be learned from read-alouds of informational and literary texts.
  • Content knowledge can be shared with others through discussions, drawing, or writing.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Gain new content knowledge by engaging in read-alouds of informational and literary texts.
  • Participate in discussions with their peers demonstrating their knowledge of content-specific topics.
  • Produce drawings or writing that displays content knowledge learned through read-alouds.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • They can learn new information by engaging in read-alouds of informational and literary texts.
  • They can demonstrate their understanding of content-specific knowledge through discussions, drawing, or writing.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 1

ELA21.1.29

Compare and contrast texts.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.1.29

Vocabulary

  • Compare
  • Contrast
  • Texts

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Techniques to compare (similarities) and contrast (differences) two texts.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Identify the similarities and differences in the text.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • They can improve their comprehension of texts by identifying similarities and differences between two texts.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 1

ELA21.1.35

With prompting and support, write an informative or explanatory text about a topic, using facts from a source and providing a sense of closure.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.1.35

Vocabulary

  • Informative
  • Explanatory
  • Topic
  • Facts
  • Source
  • Sense of closure
  • Prompting
  • Support

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Informative or explanatory texts provide facts about a topic that were gathered from a research source.
  • Informative or explanatory writing should end with a sense of closure.

Skills

Students are able to:
With prompting and support,
  • Write an informative or explanatory text about a topic.
  • Use sources to find facts.
  • End the text by providing a sense of closure.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Informative or explanatory texts require research, provide facts or details about a topic, and end with a sense of closure.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 1

ELA21.1.42

Participate in shared research and writing projects to answer a question or describe a topic.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.1.42

Vocabulary

  • Participate
  • Shared research projects
  • Shared writing projects
  • Question
  • Describe
  • Topic

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Research and writing projects can answer a question or describe a topic.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Participate in shared research and writing projects.
  • Answer questions about a topic in writing.
  • Describe a topic in writing.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Shared research and writing projects can help answer questions or describe a topic.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 2

ELA21.2.R3

Expand background knowledge and build vocabulary through discussion, reading, and writing.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.2.R3

Vocabulary

  • Background knowledge
  • Vocabulary
  • Discussion

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Relating experiences through discussions, writing, and reading will help build background knowledge and improve vocabulary.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Connect new concepts to prior experiences to increase background knowledge through discussions, reading, and writing.
  • Construct the meaning of words through discussions, reading, and writing.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Background knowledge can increase by relating experiences to new ideas, topics, and words while participating in discussions, reading, and writing.
  • Vocabulary will increase by constructing the meaning of words while participating in discussions, reading, and writing.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 2

ELA21.2.22

Use content knowledge built during read-alouds and independent reading of informational and literary texts by participating in content-specific discussions with peers and/or through writing.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.2.22

Vocabulary

  • Content knowledge
  • Read-alouds
  • Independent reading
  • Informational text
  • Literary Text
  • Content-specific discussions
  • Writing

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Content knowledge is information learned about a specific subject.
  • Content knowledge can be learned by listening to read-alouds or independently reading.
  • Informational text is nonfiction text, and literary text is fictional.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Build content knowledge from listening to text read aloud and from independently reading.
  • Use content knowledge learned from read-alouds and independent reading in content-specific discussions with peers.
  • Use content knowledge learned from read-alouds and independent reading in writing.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Content-specific discussions with peers can demonstrate the content knowledge they learned through read-alouds or independent reading.
  • They can produce writings that demonstrate knowledge of content-specific information.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 2

ELA21.2.34

Differentiate between fact and opinion in a text.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.2.34

Vocabulary

  • Differentiate
  • Fact
  • Opinion

Knowledge

Students know:
  • A fact is a statement that can be proven with evidence.
  • An opinion is a personal belief that cannot be proven true in every case.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Differentiate between a fact and an opinion in a text.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • A fact is a thing that is known or proved to be true, and an opinion is a personal view or judgment about something.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 2

ELA21.2.41

Write informative or explanatory texts, introducing the topic, providing facts and relevant details to develop points, and providing a conclusion.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.2.41

Vocabulary

  • Informative text
  • Explanatory text
  • Topic
  • Facts
  • Relevant details
  • Develop
  • Points
  • Conclusion

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Informative or explanatory text is a piece of writing that provides factual information.
  • Informative or explanatory text begins by introducing the topic, provides facts and relevant details, and ends with a conclusion.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Write an informative or explanatory text.
  • Write an informative or explanatory text that begins with introducing the topic, provides facts and details about the topic, and ends with a conclusion.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Informative or explanatory writing follows a predictable text structure that includes introducing the topic, providing facts or additional details about the topic, and ends with a conclusion.
  • Informative or explanatory writing can be used to tell facts about a topic.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 2

ELA21.2.46

Gather and use research to answer questions to complete a research product.

Unpacked Content

UP:ELA21.2.46

Vocabulary

  • Gather
  • Research
  • Questions

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Information must be gathered from a variety of sources, and the information can be used to answer questions.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Gather and use the research to answer questions and create a research product.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • A research product requires gathering information from a variety of sources and using the research to answer questions.
Link to Resource
http://readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/investigating-animal…

Resource Provider

ReadWriteThink
Accessibility
License

License Type

Custom

Custom License Type (URL)

http://www.readwritethink.org/util/legal.html
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