Nonfiction+-+Rachon+Miller

**Lucy Calkins Unit of Study: Nonfiction Readers Learn About the World ** **ELA CCSS: R.I. 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 ** **I can identify and use a variety of text features to locate key facts or information in a text. ** **I can use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas. ** **Teacher prompts: ** “What does the picture teach you about the topic?” “What have we learned so far?” “What was this part about?” “What is happening in the text?” “What is the BIG idea here?” **Mentor Texts: ** Berger, G. & M. (2013). //Why Do Zebras Have Stripes?// New York: Scholastic. ISBN: 978-0-545-56323-9 *This text has a question and answer format that provides 20 answers about mammals. Carney, E. (2009). //Frogs!// Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. ISBN: 978-1-4263-0392-0 *Frogs has eight chapters of information, photographs, and a picture glossary for level one readers. Dussling, J. (1998). //Bugs Bugs Bugs!// New York: DK Publishing. ISBN: 978-0-7566-7205-8 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">*This text is full of fact boxes about bad bugs, clever bugs, and mean bugs. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Gambrell, L. B. (2012). //Monkeys//. New York: DK Publishing. ISBN: 978-0-7566-9276-6 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">*Monkeys is a pre-level one text with 14 simple chapters (each two pages) and a picture glossary. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Gibbons, G. (1999). //The Pumpkin Book.// New York: Holiday House. ISBN: 978-0-8234-1636-3 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">*The author provides details including types of pumpkins, the growth of a pumpkin, the history of the pumpkin, and holidays related to pumpkins. The last page is a summary of the key facts about pumpkins. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Gibbons, G. (2007). //The Vegetables We Eat.// New York: Holiday House. ISBN: 978-0-8234-2153-4 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">*The text is about eight groups of vegetables with sections throughout the book that highlight important categories to study. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Marsh, L. (2012). //Caterpillar to Butterfly.// Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. ISBN: 978-1-4263-0920-5 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">*The text has nine chapters about the life cycle of the butterfly with text features and photographs to guide explicit learning of the topic. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Simon, S. (2006). //Giant Snakes.// San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. ISBN: 978-0-8118-5411-5 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">*This text is written at level two with photographs and lengthy paragraphs about the different types of snakes. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Simon, S. (2002). //Trains.// New York: HarperCollins. ISBN: 978-0-06-446223-5 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">*The author wrote this descriptive text about the types of trains with photographs and headings to guide the reader. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Simon, S. (2000). //Trucks.// New York: HarperCollins. ISBN: 978-0-06-446224-2 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">*The author describes the different types of trucks through paragraphs and pictures. **<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Websites: ** <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">A wonder a day with a video and related article. Students can compare and contrast the information given in the video and the article <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Listen and Read Books – online free resource <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Resource for graphic organizers <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">videos, photos, polls, articles, quizzes, and games <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Author Websites: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">[] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16px;">These books enriched my nonfiction unit, because they provided a range of text features, text structures, and topics. One of the goals in this unit is to introduce and expand the knowledge level of our first grade readers by learning about the world around them. The Seymour Simon and Gail Gibbons’ books often lack a table of contents, so students must warm up to read these texts in a specific way. They are written at a higher reading level and will be used as whole class mentor texts or with higher leveled readers in the classroom. On the other hand, DK Readers and National Geographic for Kids often provide a table of contents, specific headings, and a range of presentation styles within a two-page format and throughout the text. Students need exposure to all types of nonfiction texts and strategies for making meaning from what the author is trying to teach them. The //Monkeys, Caterpillar to Butterfly, Frogs, Bugs Bugs Bugs!, Giant Snakes,// and //Why Do Zebras Have Stripes// are all labeled as levels 1-3. This will provide the perfect range for emergent readers and transitional readers. The mentor texts from this reading unit will also be perfect texts for our writing unit. In the writing unit we are learning about an author’s craft moves and how we can write in a way that teaches someone about a topic. It is not a research project, but rather a way for students to share and teach about something from their own expertise.
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18.66px;">1st grade: **