ALEX Classroom Resources

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ELA2015] (0) 10 :

10 ) With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. [RI.K.1]

[ELA2015] (0) 19 :

19 ) Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. [RI.K.10]

[ELA2015] (0) 31 :

31 ) Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups. [SL.K.1]

a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion). [SL.K.1a]

b. Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges. [SL.K.1b]

[ELA2015] (1) 41 :

41 ) Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships (e.g., because). [L.1.6]

[ELA2015] (2) 10 :

10 ) Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. [RI.2.1]

[ELA2015] (2) 14 :

14 ) Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently. [RI.2.5]

[ELA2015] (2) 28 :

28 ) Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. [W.2.8]

[SC2015] (0) 5 :

5 ) Construct a model of a natural habitat (e.g., terrarium, ant farm, diorama) conducive to meeting the needs of plants and animals native to Alabama.

Foregrounding scientific vocabulary, these integrated lesson plans invite students to research worms in order to create a classroom habitat. Students are first introduced to inquiry notebooks and then use them to record what they already know about worms. Next, students observe the cover of a fiction book about worms and make a hypothesis on whether the book is fact or fiction, and then check their hypotheses after the book is read aloud. Next, after an introduction to related scientific words such as hypothesis, habitat, attribute, predator, and prey, students conduct and record research and findings in their inquiry notebooks. Once they have gathered the necessary information, students plan and build a worm habitat, which becomes the springboard for further scientific exploration, observation, and experimentation.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ELA2015] (0) 9 :

9 ) Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. [RL.K.10]

[ELA2015] (0) 10 :

10 ) With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. [RI.K.1]

[ELA2015] (0) 25 :

25 ) Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative or explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic. [W.K.2]

[ELA2015] (0) 30 :

30 ) With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. [W.K.8]

[ELA2015] (0) 41 :

41 ) Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts. [L.K.6]

[ELA2015] (2) 18 :

18 ) Compare and contrast the most important points presented by two texts on the same topic. [RI.2.9]

This lesson describes how to use selected fiction and nonfiction literature and careful questioning techniques to help students identify factual information about animals. Children first identify possible factual information from works of fiction which are read aloud, then they listen to read-alouds of nonfiction texts to identify and confirm factual information. This information is then recorded on charts and graphic organizers. Finally, students use the Internet to gather additional information about the animal and then share their findings with the class. The lesson can be used as presented to find information about ants or can be easily adapted to focus on any animal of interest to students. Resources are included for ants, black bears, fish, frogs and toads, penguins, and polar bears.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ELA2015] (0) 10 :

10 ) With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. [RI.K.1]

[ELA2015] (0) 16 :

16 ) With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts). [RI.K.7]

[ELA2015] (0) 19 :

19 ) Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. [RI.K.10]

[SC2015] (0) 4 :

4 ) Gather evidence to support how plants and animals provide for their needs by altering their environment (e.g., tree roots breaking a sidewalk to provide space, red fox burrowing to create a den to raise young, humans growing gardens for food and building roads for transportation).

This lesson uses a book called It's Our Garden: From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden by George Ancona. This book introduces students to a particular school garden that is described in the book. In this book, Ancona shares his fascination with a school garden near his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Over the course of a year, he photographed the students, their friends, teachers, and families as they tended to the garden from seed to harvest. The book itself chronicles how the students planned, carried out, observed, and recorded their work in the garden. Ancona's photo essay is graced with the students' drawings of the plants, the insects that keep the garden thriving, and the wildlife that calls the garden home. The format of this book lends itself nicely to the sequencing activity in this lesson.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ELA2015] (0) 10 :

10 ) With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. [RI.K.1]

[ELA2015] (0) 16 :

16 ) With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts). [RI.K.7]

[SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

[SC2015] (0) 4 :

4 ) Gather evidence to support how plants and animals provide for their needs by altering their environment (e.g., tree roots breaking a sidewalk to provide space, red fox burrowing to create a den to raise young, humans growing gardens for food and building roads for transportation).

This lesson uses a book called Grow! Raise! Catch! How We Get Our Food by Shelley Rotner. This book describes, in general terms, where food comes from. It helps students make connections between people and their environment. After reading the book, students will explore how some plants grow and discover the steps between where food comes from and how it ultimately arrives in the supermarket and on our tables.