3rd Grade Writer’s Workshop Unit 9 Research The heart of the CSISD Writers Workshop Units of Study stem directly from Lucy Calkins Units of Study for Primary Writing and Units of Study for Teaching Writing 3-5. Based on the needs of students and teachers in CSISD as well as the demands of the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) at each grade level, additional suggestions for mini-lessons and resources have been added.

These are things you should think about as you prepare to launch the Research Unit in your own classroom: • • • • • • • • • • • • •

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Familiarize yourself with the 3rd Grade research TEKS (see At a Glance Unit 9) Ask yourself, “What is most important to you in regards to Research?” Determine your comfort level in regards to how your students choose their research topic. Be prepared to choose a topic of your own to model the TEKS. It is most helpful to read through the entire Unit before planning for appropriate preparation. Conferring with your students is going to be extremely important during this unit. Use your teacher judgement on how much time to spend with each session based on the needs of your students. Look at the online resources for Session 7 in advance. Allow students time to check out books on their topics. Prepare for this well in advance with the librarian. Visit with your computer teacher to seek support with Session 7. Prepare guest “experts” based on your student’s topics for Session 7. Ask yourself, “What choices will I offer for the students to publish their final research?” This may impact some of the sessions. Ask yourself, “How will I set the mood for successful writers in this unit?”

Session 1: Introducing Research Writing Teaching Point: Writers can use a T-chart to create a list of topics, then record facts on that topic. Materials: mentor texts showing a wide range of possible expert topics, Writer’s Notebooks, chart paper and markers Mentor Texts: mentor texts showing a wide range of possible expert topics: Possible Examples: Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons Tornadoes by Gail Gibbons (any of Gibbon’s work is great for non-fiction text features) A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonders by Walter Wick Just the Facts: Writing Your Own Research Report by Nancy Loewen Atlantic by G. Brian Karas Connect: “We have practiced many genres of writing this year. We’ve written personal narratives, essays, and even poetry! We have learned different ways to come up with ideas for each of those genres of writing. We will now begin a new genre of nonfiction writing. We will be writing an informational piece to teach your reader about something you are an expert on. Today I will teach you that you can use a T-Chart to create a list of topics you know a lot about. On this T-Chart you will also make a list of the facts that you can teach your reader about each of those topics.” Teach/Model: Walk children through Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons (any of Gail Gibbons’ books should work for this lesson). Tell students that the purpose of research is to share expert knowledge about a topic. Briefly discuss what Gail Gibbons would have to know to write this book. Now, model for students using a T-chart a list of topics that you know a lot about and facts that you may know about that topic. (See example below) Using this process helps determine the best topic that can be used for research. Active Engagement/Guided Practice: “Now it’s your turn. You are going to think about a topic you know a lot about and think about some facts that you can teach your reader about that topic. Turn to a partner and share a few topics that you could be an expert at and share some facts that you could teach them about your topic.”

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Link: “Today and every day, when you are getting ready to write a report about something you are an expert on, I want you to remember that using a T-chart can help you generate ideas of topics that you know a lot about and facts to teach your reader about that topic.” Try/Independent Practice: Remind the children that they must first list things that they could teach people to do and choose one of them. They can then use their Writer’s Notebook to create their own T-chart to help get them started with a topic. Share: Admire the fact that many children were able to list a few things that they could be experts at. Have students share how they chose the one topic that they could do their research report about. Additional Resources: Topics I Know A Lot About:

Feeding Birds

Gardening

Butterflies

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Facts I Can Teach About My Topic:  Different birds eat different kinds of food  Different kinds of food go in different kinds of feeders  Birds need water all year  Certain birds eat from certain kinds of feeders  Some birds only eat on the ground  The more kinds of food I put out, the bigger the variety of birds that come • Some flowers come up every year (perennials), but other flowers have to be planted every summer (annuals) • Certain flowers only come in certain colors • My favorite flower is the BlackEyed Susan (an opinion, not a fact) • There are flowers that grow best in shade and flowers that grow best in sun  I like pink flowers best. (an opinion, not a fact) • Butterflies migrate in the winter • They have a life cycle • Butterflies are beautiful • Many types of butterflies • They help pollinate flowers • They have many parts

Session 2: Generating a Topic (possibly a continuation of Session 1) Teaching Point: Nonfiction writers use specific questions, or criteria, to choose the one topic that is the BEST topic for their report. Materials: mentor texts showing a wide range of possible expert topics, Writer’s Notebooks, chart paper and markers Connect: “Yesterday, we talked about why we write research reports. We also created a T-chart in our Writer’s Notebook about possible topics we could write about. On that T-chart, we recorded facts on that topic. Today, we will ask questions to determine the best topic to write about.” Teach/Model: “Watch me as I show you how I use specific criteria, or questions, to decide which of my topics is the best topic to write about in my report. These are the questions I will ask myself about each topic I have listed in my T-Chart: • Do I really know a lot of facts about this topic? • Can I teach someone else about this topic? • Can I spend my writing time for the next week writing facts about this topic?  Can I easily find information about my topic? If my answer is yes for a question, I will make a check mark next to that topic. After I have finished one section of my T-chart, I ask these three questions about every section in my T-Chart. I will see which topic or section has the most checks. That topic is probably the best topic for me to write about. “ (Refer to your previous T-Chart in Session 1.) Active Engagement/Guided Practice: “Now it’s your turn. Please open your Writer’s Notebooks to your T-Chart from yesterday. You are going to ask yourself the first question, “Do I really know a lot of facts about this topic?” for ALL the topics or sections in your T-Chart. Make a check mark by the topics that you really do know a lot of facts about.” Continue with the other three questions about choosing a topic to help students determine the best topic to write about. Link: “Today and every day, when you are choosing a topic to write about, I want you to remember to ask yourself specific criteria questions to decide if that one topic is the best topic for you.”

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Try/Independent Practice: Remind the children that they should use the criteria questions to help them choose the best topic for their research. Share: “Let’s do a quick share around our circle and name the topic you think will be your topic for your report because you know the most about it and you were able to write a lot about it today.” Additional Resources:

Criteria for Choosing My Topic:  Do I really know a lot of facts about this topic?  Can I teach someone else about this topic?  Can I spend my writing time for the next week writing facts about this topic?  Can I easily find information about my topic?

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Topics I Know A Lot About:

Feeding Birds

Gardening

Butterflies

Facts I Can Teach About My Topic:  Different birds eat different kinds of food  Different kinds of food go in different kinds of feeders  Birds need water all year  Certain birds eat from certain kinds of feeders  Some birds only eat on the ground  The more kinds of food I put out, the bigger the variety of birds that come • Some flowers come up every year (perennials), but other flowers have to be planted every summer (annuals) • Certain flowers only come in certain colors • My favorite flower is the Black-Eyed Susan (an opinion, not a fact) • There are flowers that grow best in shade and flowers that grow best in sun  I like pink flowers best. (an opinion, not a fact) • Butterflies migrate in the winter • They have a life cycle • Butterflies are beautiful • Many types of butterflies •

They help pollinate flowers

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They have many parts

Session 3: Asking Questions About Your Topic Teaching Point: Students will begin asking questions about their topic to have a starting point for their research.

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Materials: non fiction books available for students to use with their topics, Writer’s Notebooks, chart paper and markers Connect: “Yesterday, we chose a topic. Today, we will begin brainstorming questions to answer during our research. This will be the heart of your writing.” Teach/Model: (You may want to choose your own topic based on Sessions 1-2 to use throughout this unit to model the writing.)

Use a book to read aloud about your topic. As you are reading, use the strategy of “think aloud” to model questions that will come up about your topic. Begin a chart with the questions you want to answer during your research report. Note: Depending on your students, you may need to narrow topics and/or questions. However, allowing choice in both areas will allow the writing to be more successful. Active Engagement/Guided Practice: Have students work with a partner to discuss possible questions they might be able to answer about their topic. Link: “Today and every day, I want you to remember how important it is to develop questions to guide your research.” Try/Independent Practice: Writers use their topic from their T-Chart and their Writer’s Notebook to begin asking questions that could be answered about their topic. *Another way this could be done is to have the students write questions they have on sticky notes. These can be used in the following session to help group questions to determine categories for their writing.* Share: Allow each student to share one question they may have about their topic.

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Additional Resources:

Questions About Monarch Butterflies            

What is the life cycle of a Monarch Butterfly? Where do Monarch Butterflies lay eggs? How does a caterpillar turn into a butterfly? What is a chrysalis and a pupae? What does a Monarch butterfly look like? What colors are Monarch Butterflies? What are the body parts of the Monarch Butterfly? How big do Monarch Butterflies get? How does a Monarch Butterfly stay safe? Who are the predators of a Butterfly? Where do Monarch Butterflies go in the winter? How far do Monarch Butterflies fly?

Session 4: Using Questions to Guide the Research Plan Teaching Point: Students will use their questions to help narrow the research plan into about 3 main points, or categories. (This may vary depending on your students’ abilities.) Connect: “Yesterday, we wrote questions that we could answer about our topic. Today, we will use those questions to help us narrow our research into three main points, or categories.” Teach/Model: Use the questions from Session 3. Model reading aloud the questions. Begin to group the questions that are alike together. *Color coding is a good strategy for this task.* If you choose to do so ahead of time, you could have your anchor chart questions prewritten on sticky notes. Then, you could move those questions around into categories. It usually works well to move the questions first into “alike groups”, then determine a heading for the group. The heading would be the category title. Active Engagement/Guided Practice: Allow the students to help guide you into moving your questions around, or color coding your questions depending on the type of information the question is seeking. Link: “Writers, I want you to remember that once you have chosen a topic, and invested in that topic, it’s time to brainstorm questions just like we have done. Once those questions are determined, it’s time to take the research one step further- categorizing those questions into thinking that is alike.”

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Try/Independent Practice: “Now I want you to take your list of questions that you created yesterday and begin to categorize those questions . What questions are asking the same type of information? Move those questions together. Or, color code those questions into color categories.” Share: Ask 2-3 students to share how they categorized their questions into categories. Praise all the students for their efforts in categorizing, which is a difficult skill.

Additional Resources:

Creating Categories

Characteristics  What does a Monarch butterfly look like?  What colors are Monarch Butterflies?  What are the body parts of the Monarch Butterfly?  How big do Monarch Butterflies get?  How does a Monarch Butterfly stay safe?

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Life Cycle  What is the life cycle of a Monarch Butterfly?  Where do Monarch Butterflies lay eggs?  How does a caterpillar turn into a butterfly?  What is a chrysalis and a pupae?

Migration  Who are the predators of a Butterfly?  Where do Monarch Butterflies go in the winter?  How far do Monarch Butterflies fly?

Session 5: Finding Answers in Books Teaching Point: Students will use skimming and scanning techniques to find facts and information to answer their questions. Materials: Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons (or other book on your topic), books on student topics, sticky notes, Writer’s Notebook Connect: “Yesterday, we developed our main areas of focus for our research. We called these our categories of focus. Today, we will begin looking through books to help us find the answers to those questions. We will learn to scan and skim the pages until we find the right information that we need that answers our questions.” Teach/Model: Use Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons (or another book on the topic you are writing about). Model looking at the questions you are trying to answer and then use a sticky note to mark the pages you find that information/answer for later. At this point, it would be helpful to teach your students organizational skills such as writing the questions on sticky notes or numbering them based on the question to make the next session easier to gather the facts. Active Engagement/Guided Practice: Have the book projected on the screen for all to see. Have sticky notes with your questions prepared. Pass out to groups of students. As you skim and scan, have the students stop to show where they could put a sticky note based on the question they have.

Link: “Today and every day, I want you to be able to use the technique of skimming and scanning for information that could answer your research questions.” Try/Independent Practice: Students will use their own questions and book to skim and scan to locate answers needed for their research. They will use sticky notes, or other form of recording to locate information. Share: After conferring with students, choose a few students to share their findings.

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Session 6: Paraphrasing Answers in Books Teaching Point: Students will locate facts to answer their questions and practice paraphrasing – putting the facts in their own words. Connect: “Yesterday, we used skimming and scanning to locate places in our book where we could look more closely to answer the questions we had about our research. Today, we will begin looking through multiple books to help us find the answers to those questions. We will learn to paraphrase the right information that we need that answers our questions. Paraphrasing means putting information from an author into our own words.” Teach/Model: Use Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons (or another book on the topic you are writing about). Model looking at the questions you are trying to answer. Read a section of the book….. (page 13 from Monarch Butterfly): “The butterfly flutters up towards the sky. Monarchs have a bad taste and will make a bird or animal sick if they are eaten, so most of them are left alone.”

After reading the fact that interests you, model how to write that fact in your own words. (This is a great time to stop and discuss plagiarism and copyright laws.) Model the paraphrased fact asking if the words are the exact same or different, but still including the factual information needed to answer the question. ‘Birds do not eat Monarch Butterflies because they taste bad and will make them sick.’

If necessary, you could begin an anchor chart of “What the Text Says/ My Own Words or Paraphrased” for a reference if your students need that. Continue this process finding answers to one of your questions. Active Engagement/Guided Practice: Pass out other questions needing an answer and have groups of students practice paraphrasing the answers they find. Allow them to write their paraphrased answer on white boards, sticky notes, or scratch paper. Link: “Today and every day, you should put facts in your own words which is called paraphrasing to avoid plagarism.”

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Try/Independent Practice: Students will use their own books and questions to locate facts and paraphrase for their research. Share: Ask students to share good examples of paraphrasing. Additional Resources: Recording Sheet:

Notes from a Book Research Question

What Book is It? Title: Author: Title: Author: Title: Author:

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What is the fact? Paraphrase: Use your own words.

What the Book Says

“The butterfly flutters up towards the sky. Monarchs have a bad taste and will make a bird or animal sick if they are eaten, so most of them are left alone.”

Paraphrase: My own words

‘Birds do not eat Monarch Butterflies because they taste bad and will make them sick.’

Session 7: Finding Answers from Websites This would be a great thing to share with your Computer teacher ahead of time so the students could possibly use that resource to help with their research!

Teaching Point: Students will learn how to use the internet as part of their research and continue to paraphrase their findings. Materials: appropriate search tools, recording sheet, Writer’s Notebook Connect: “Yesterday, we used a book with text to help us find answers to our questions and paraphrase. Today, we will learn how to use another source to find answers to our questions on the internet and paraphrase the information we learn.” Teach/Model: (This is a great time to show the different resources we have in CSISD to research!) Use an appropriate website to find facts about your topic. This example is from Pebble Go.

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Read the facts and record on the recording sheet like you did yesterday. Then, model paraphrasing the facts. You will also need to model how to record the website for documentation. It’s important to reemphasize how important it is to give credit for information learned for research. Active Engagement/Guided Practice: Pass out other questions and have groups of students practice paraphrasing the answers they find from the internet. Link: “Today and every day, I want you to know that there are multiple sources to use to find the answers to your research questions. Today, we learned that we can use the internet to search for facts.” Try/Independent Practice: Students use appropriate websites to find answers to their questions and write them on their recording sheet or Writer’s Notebook using paraphrasing. *You might want to allow for multiple days for this researching session. Share: Have a few students share one fact they found and how they put it in their own words. Additional Resources: Link for Pebble Go – Monarch Butterflies: http://www.pebblego.com/content/animals/article.html?a=128&previous=21

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Notes from the Internet Research Question Where is the article? Website

What is the fact? Paraphrase: Use your own words

http://www.pebblego.com/content/animals/article.html?a=128&previous=21

“Butterflies have a life cycle that includes eggs, larvae, chrysalises, pupae and adults.”

Session 8: Expert Interviews (Depending on the topic you are researching, you may want to plan an expert in advance to come to your class to model this process, however there are great online resources you could also use.)

Teaching Point: Students will complete research through interviews. Connect: “The last few days, we have been talking about how to gather research for our reports. Today, we will discuss a different way to gain information through interviews with an expert.” Teach/Model: “How many of you have ever used the internet to answer a question or learn more about something? Books and the internet are both great places to get answers to research questions. But answers can come from people too. How many of you have ever asked an adult to help you understand something or to answer a question you have? It is important for writers to get answers from more than one place. We call the places you get answers sources. Our research writing will use more than one source. Today we will interview an expert on our topic.” For modeling purposes we have found an online interview on YouTube regarding Monarch Butterflies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx54YQiq2uw Listen and record as the interview is taking place.

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Active Engagement/Guided Practice: Have students work with a partner to watch the rest of the video of a topic and take notes. They can then paraphrase their facts or even quote the expert to record on an interview sheet. If there are volunteer experts available, that would also be a great way to accomplish this task. Link: “Today and every day, you can use experts in the community to help gather facts to support your research.” Try/Independent Practice: When available and appropriate, students will use online resources or personal interviews with experts on their topic. Students will formulate questions and record answers on the planning sheet. Share: Choose a child to share any facts they learned from their interview. This would also be a good time to discuss how the interviews went and advice on how to make them even more successful. Additional Resources: See the following websites for online recordings and interviews: http://storycorps.org/ (there is also an app to go with this and can be found at) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/storycorps/id359071069?mt=8 http://www.scholastic.com/teacher/videos/teachervideos.htm#3194413933001/2312893098001 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tell-about-this-free/id781847911?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/write-about-this-free/id601382666?mt=8

Notes from an Interview Research Question Who are you interviewing?

What is their answer?

Karen Oberhauser: Monarch Butterfly Expert

“They have this incredible migration that intrigues how an insect that weighs as much as a paperclip can migrate all the way from Des Moines to Central Mexico.”

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Session 9: Organizing Research (This session may take a few days to model and complete.) Teaching Point: Students will organize their research question and answers prior to drafting. Materials: sentence strips, sticky notes, Writer’s Notebook, recording sheets, previous anchor charts for topic sentence and main ideas Connect: “For the last several days, we have been working on gathering research for our Research report. Today, we will learn how to organize that information in order to begin drafting. “ Teach/Model: Students will collect and gather all of their facts from the place where they have been storing and recording. For the topic you have been modeling, it may be a good idea to have your facts on sentence strips or sticky notes to help with the modeling piece of this. Reread the facts that you are using to model. Make sure they are categorized under each question that was asked in Session 3. Model how it is not enough to simply copy those facts into sentences, but to craft interesting paragraphs from the key ideas. Remind students of the essay writing unit and how to create a topic sentence using the question they are answering with their research. (At this point, this could be a “back and forth lesson” where you model the topic sentence then let the students use their own questions to create their topic sentence. This can be a decision made based on the needs of your students.) Model supporting details. Look at the supporting details. Discuss how some are written as sentences and some are just fragments. Use one of the facts that is a fragment and model making it a sentence. Elicit answers from students and chart them on the board or paper. Continue this process discussing what the reader will need in order to get a sense of the meaning. You will also need to model how some facts may be complete sentences but may need more information for them to be meaningful and to flow with the writing. Continue until you and your students have drafted a paragraph. Active Engagement/Guided Practice: Students will write a paragraph about another one of the teacher questions. Work collaboratively as a partnership or even table group to take the question, turn it into a topic sentence, and then add the detail sentences to support the topic sentence. Allow for time to take fragments and turn them into complete sentences. Link: “Today and every day, you can use this same process to create paragraphs to answer questions about your research topic.”

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Try/Independent Practice: Have students use their note taking sheets to add detail sentences to the topic sentences to develop paragraphs. This is a process that may require more modeling, depending on the needs of your students. Share: Students can pair share paragraphs. Additional Resources: Question 1: • Topic Sentence • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail Question 2: • Topic Sentence • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail Question 3: • Topic Sentence • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail

Session 10: Introductory Paragraphs Teaching Point: Students will draft an introductory paragraph for those writing in a report form. Materials: anchor charts from previous units, chart paper, markers, Writer’s Notebook, I-chart graphic organizer Connect: “The last few days we have been using our research to create paragraphs to answer the questions about our topics. Now, we need to add the other parts of an article, the introduction and conclusion.” Teach/Model: Discuss how sensory details can be used to set a scene. You may also add that to the anchor chart for leads. Model how to make the topic very clear in the introductory paragraph. It is important to make sure that the students understand that this paragraph will set the scene and make the topic clear for the reader immediately. Use your modeling topic from the other sessions to model an example of an introduction.

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Active Engagement/Guided Practice: Have students work with partners to set the scene and to create sentences that will clearly state the topic. Link: “Today and every day, when you write research papers, you should have an introductory paragraph that sets the scene and clearly states the topic.” Try/Independent Practice: Students will write an introductory paragraph setting the scene and stating the topic. Share: After conferring with students, choose a few students to share introductory paragraphs and have students listen for the topic. Additional Resources:

Question 1: • Topic Sentence • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail Question 2: • Topic Sentence • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail Question 3: • Topic Sentence • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail

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Session 11: Conclusions Teaching Point: Students will write a conclusion for their research. Connect: “We have crafted wonderful paragraphs to answer our questions and we have also developed clear and concise introductions. Today, we will wrap up our writing with conclusion paragraphs.” Teach/Model: Remind students of the conclusion lessons from previous units. Discuss conclusions and how they make the reader end with something to think about. This can be led by wondering and questioning that could have happened during the research process. Model a conclusion for the topic you have been using in the previous sessions. Active Engagement/Guided Practice: Have students share out loud some ideas that they have for their conclusion to help other students come up with an idea. This might help those struggling with their own conclusion.

Link: “Today and every day, when you write research papers, you should have a conclusion paragraph that makes the reader end with something to think about.” Try/Independent Practice: Allow students to write their own conclusion. This may work best with partners to have someone to bounce their ideas off of. Share: Have a child share a written conclusion.

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Additional Resources: Introduction • Set the Scene • Clearly Stated Topic Question 1: • Topic Sentence • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail Question 2: • Topic Sentence • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail Question 3: • Topic Sentence • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail • Supporting Detail Conclusion • Wrap it up • Leave the reader with something to think about

Session 11: Revising: Learning from Each Other’s Writing Teaching Point: Students will revise and edit their research. Materials: Writer’s Notebook, editing checklist Connect: Tell the children that they have worked hard to conduct their research and this is an important step before they are ready to share their findings. Teach/Model: Show children how you look back on what you’ve read and reflect on why it works. Remind students of the revise and edit lessons from previous units. Model with the research you have written with your class thus far.

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Active Engagement/Guided Practice: Set children up to do as you have just done. Read the next bit of writing aloud, and ask partners to discuss what works about the way it is written and if any changes need to be made. Link: “Today and every day, you should spend time revising and editing your work to make sure it is ready for your audience.” Try/Independent Practice: Send children off to revise their Research using their revise and edit checklists from their Writer’s Notebooks. Share: Gather the class and ask students to share their writing with a partner and determine the best way to present their facts and information.

Session 12: Publishing Possibilities Teaching Point: Students will look at different ways to publish their research and possibly use a choice board to publish their research for their intended audience. Materials: examples of ways to publish (research paper, poster, power point, pamphlet, booklet, etc.), materials available for publishing Connect: “Students, we have worked very hard to find a topic, conduct research based on questions that have been asked and now it is time to present our information to our audience! Today, we will look at different ways to publish and determine the best one for our audience.” Teach/Model: Have various examples of how the research can be published. Share and discuss with students the pros and cons of each of the types of ways to publish. Model a few of the ways with the example of the Monarch Butterfly or other topic you have used. Active Engagement/Guided Practice: Ask children to share with partners different ways to publish their writing. As you confer with groups, make sure that they are choosing appropriate products based on topic and need. Link: “Today and every day, remember that there are many ways to share the findings of research.”

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Try/Independent Practice: Allow students to choose the way they will be publishing and complete the process. Share: Students share the way they plan to publish their research.

Session 13: Celebrating Research Writing Teaching Point: Students will celebrate the unit by presenting their writing with their peers as well as others invited to the event. The Celebration:  Gallery Walk  Oral Presentation  Partner Share  Small Group Share  Share with other classes

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