Teacher: Miss Jessica Stolfi

Lesson number: Day 1 of Letter Writing (Listed as 7 on Unit Plan)

Lesson Title: What Is Important Information?
Grade/Subject: Second Grade, English Language Arts
Learning Segment Essential Question:
What are the important facts in this article?
(If this is a literacy-based lesson, please complete this box):
Central focus: Composition
Essential literacy strategy: Using graphic organizers for prewriting.
Requisite skills: Organization, Language Conventions, Sentence Fluency
Reading and Writing connections: Writing letters to the school principal and community leaders.
Content/Common Core Standard(s):
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.2
Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop
points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8
Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.1
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding
of key details in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1.A
Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with
care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.2
Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through
other media.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.6
Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or
clarification.
Learning Objectives associated with the content standards:
-

Students will be able to identify important information from an article.

Students will be able to organize information into specified classification areas.

Students will be able to create a graphic organizer of specific and important information on air
pollution.

Academic Language Demands:

Academic Language Supports:

Vocabulary: air pollution, identify, notes, list

Vocabulary: Word wall will be placed in class with

new vocabulary words that are introduced to the
students.

Language function: Classifying

Discourse or Syntax: Students will create a graphic
organizer of important information about air pollution.
Students will discuss what information they found in
their articles. Students will take notes of the
information found in the article.

Language function: Modeling how to take

information and write it in the appropriate box by
using an article.
Discourse or Syntax: Modeling how to take
information and summarize by using an article.
There will be an example of a graphic organizer
and sentence structures displayed on the board.
There will be sentence structures placed on the
board to guide the students writing their sentences.
Guidelines will also be placed on the board to show
students how to effectively convey what they want
to discuss what they have found.

Student Friendly Daily Learning Targets:

-

I can participate in class discussions on air pollution.

I can provide the information I know about air pollution.
I can create a graphic organizer.
I can take notes on important information.

Monitoring Student Learning: Formal and Informal Assessments prior to, during & after
learning segment
Prior To: Students will be instructed to explain an activity they enjoy to their turn and talk partner. The
partner will then be instructed to repeat the important information from the discussion to the rest of the
class in a few sentences. Students will be asked if they have ever read a newspaper article before. They
will then be asked to discuss what information they received from the article.
During: While students are working on gathering information the teacher will be observing their progress.
Students will also be asked what type of information they have found in their article and where it belongs in
their graphic organizer. Student conversations during the turn and talk portion will also be observed.
After: When the students hand in their exit cards the teacher will assess which students need extra
attention and more help on summarizing and pulling out important information and which students are
prepared to move on in the unit. The students will also hand in their graphic organizers that will be
reviewed upon to make sure each student has successfully organized and summarized their information.

Description of formal/ informal assessments:

Informal: Students will be observed throughout the lesson as they find information from the article and
place the information in their graphic organizers. In parts of the lesson students will be performing a turn
and talk method of learning with a partner and the teacher will walk around and listen in to the students
conversations with each other. Prior to this lesson, as a class, we will have a constructed rubric that
students can look back to for any assignment to self assess how they are doing throughout the lesson.
Formal: At the end of the lesson the students will hand in their graphic organizers to the teacher, which will
contain their information about the article they read. They will also hand in an exit slip that shows what they
have learned in the lesson.
What is being assessed: Students will be assessed on their ability to take important information from an
article and organize it. Students will also be assessed on their ability to take the information and summarize
it.
Assessment accommodations: Struggling readers will be given graphic organizers that clearly shows
the different parts of information needed in each box. They will also receive articles with larger font and a
smaller vocabulary. The use of the word wall and chalk talk posters from each group will also
accommodate the students throughout the unit.
Type of feedback that will be given to students: Students will be given feedback on their graphic
organizers. If certain pieces of information are placed in the incorrect box or it does not belong in the
graphic organizer it will be noted for the student to try and find where the information goes or find out why it
does not belong, by the use of highlighting important words in the students notes.
What students will do with the feedback: Students will be able to review their information from the
article and find where the pieces of information belong. They will be given the opportunity to add or
eliminate information from there graphic organizers when they review it later on and make sure that all of
their information is listed in the correct areas of the graphic organizer.
Instructional Resources and Materials:
- SmartBoard
- National Geographic Article on Air Pollution
- Who, What, When, Where, Why Graphic Organizer Worksheet
- Highlighters
- Pencils
Connection to prior academic learning and prerequisite skills:
Prior to this lesson students will have worked with reading articles and finding information from the article to
explain the article. These skills will be built upon as the students will take the information from the article
and organize it into the who, what, when, where and why components these facts fit into. Students will
also be taking prior information on air pollution and have the opportunity to create a who, what, when,
where and why chart from previous lessons in this unit.

Connections to cultural/personal/community assets:

This lesson has a direct connection to each student and their community. The school is located within an
area that is surrounded by many major roadways creating a large amount of pollution in the air around
them. It is important that the students not only learn about air pollution, but also understand how pollution is
affecting their lives. At this point in the unit the student will have studied and become familiar with what is in
the air around them and how this can affect them directly. This lesson will help students take their prior
information and gather it together to set up for the upcoming lessons in the unit. This will also help the
students understand how their final service learning project can help in decreasing air pollution and will
assist in getting the word out to others about their project.
Motivation/Hook/Anticipatory Set: (5 min):
Students will be instructed to explain an activity they enjoy to their turn and talk partner. The partner will
then be instructed to repeat the important information from the discussion to the rest of the class in a few
sentences. Students will then be told that being able to pick out important information to summarize what
they know is important when it comes to telling others what they know. Students will then be asked if they
have ever read an article while looking for information before. They will then told that we will be reading an
article all about the air pollution we have been discussing in class. The students will then be told that they
will be looking to ask the questions who did it, why did it happen, what is it/what happened, when did it
occur and where did it occur as we read the article on air pollution.
Procedure:
Time

Teacher Action

Student Action

10 The teacher will introduce the article to the The students will place their name on top of each
minutes class and hand the article out to each
sheet of paper. They will also take this short period
student. During this time the teacher will be of time to begin looking at the pictures in the
instructing the students place their names
article and begin reading the article to become
on top of the article to make sure they do
familiar with it.
not lose it. The teacher will also take this
time to hand out the graphic organizers to
each student.

The teacher will read the article out loud to

the students as the first read of the article.
25 The teacher will then instruct the students
minutes to read the article silently to themselves
and then discuss any information they
have found with their turn and talk
partners.

The teacher will lead a class discussion

about the article with the students,
focusing on the important information the
5
students have found in the article. The
minutes teacher will be highlighting and circling
important facts on the article that is
displayed on the SmartBoard during this
time.

Students will take this time to note any important

information they hear in the article and underline
what they have found. Students will once again
note any new important information found during
their silent read time and discuss what they have
found with their partners. They will be focused on
asking who did it, why did it happen, what is it/what
happened, when did it occur and where did it occur as
they read the article each time.

Students will participate in the class discussion and

in put any information they found in their articles
into the discussion. They will also be marking the
pieces of information that the other students have
found on their own articles.

The teacher will instruct the students to

take out their multicolored highlighters.
She will then instruct the students to
review the facts they have found from the
article and look at what each fact is telling Students will review the information they have
them, is it telling who is causing air
already located in their article and begin to
15 pollution, what is causing air pollution,
organize. They will use their highlighters to identify
minutes where air pollution is coming from, etc. The the different types of information and prepare for
teacher will then instruct the students to
make each highlighter correspond to one putting their graphic organizers together.
of the 5 Ws on their worksheets and
highlight each piece of information to
match. During this time the teacher will be
walking around and monitoring how the
students are doing.
The teacher will instruct the students to

10 take their information and write it into their

minutes graphic organizers. She will also instruct
the students to review their information
once more to be certain it is going in the
correct boxes.

Students will take their highlighted information and place it in

their graphic organizers in their correct boxes. They will also
take a few minutes to review and make sure all information is
being organized correctly.

Closure (5-7 min):

Students will be given an exit card to fill out about what they have learned in this lesson. The exit card will
contain a knowledge-rating chart for the students to fill out about how confident they feel about
summarizing and pulling out important information. They will be prompted with questions such as I can
take important pieces of information and organize it into who, what, when, where and why and I can
summarize the information I have learned or found about air pollution. Students will hand in their exit cards
to the teacher at the end of the lesson.
How students will reflect on their own learning:
Student reflection will occur during the closure of the lesson. As the students are filling out their exit cards
they will be able to assess and reflect on their own learning and knowledge as they will have to report how
well they understood each part of the lesson.
Accommodations/Modifications to requirements in IEPs and 504 plans:
-

Students in the class with ADHD will be seated in an area that is the least distractive to them.
Students will poor vision will be seated near the front of the classroom to see the SmartBoard and
Word Wall better.
Students with extended times for tests and quizzes will be given extra time to work on their exit
cards and filling out their graphic organizers.

Differentiation:
-

Struggling readers will be given shorter versions of the article the other students are reading to
complete the lesson. Their articles will contain all information needed for the lesson, but use larger
fonts and a limited vocabulary.
Students will receive graphic organizers that are color coded to differentiate between the who box,
and the what box, etc. Students highlighters will match the colors of the boxes to assist students in
finding and identifying the pieces of information.
The word wall will be on the board for all students to refer to and work with throughout the unit.
Each groups chalk talk poster will also be hanging in the classroom for the students to refer to and
add to throughout the unit.

Technology Integration to Support Learning:

The SmartBoard will be used to show students examples of lists of notes. It will also be used display the
article the class is reading to review the important facts during the discussion.