A look at two elephants that were at the Detroit Zoo. The elephants were moved to a reserve out in California. The Roadmap discusses the idea of keeping animals in captivity, especially elephants. At the end students will create a PSA.

In this unit students explore the Taliban influence on the Middle East through the eyes of multiple young women. In the core text, The Breadwinner, students experience how the Taliban presence in Afghanistan drastically altered Parvana and her family’s life. Students will be challenged to think about what constitutes basic human rights and the way in which the Taliban violated the human rights of many Afghanistan citizens. Students will also be challenged to think about women’s rights, especially in regard to education and freedom, and how both were constantly at risk under Taliban rule. Finally, students will realize that a positive attitude, dedication to family, and drive to be self-reliant can help people survive, and thrive, in the worst of situations. In the second part of the unit, students read about the experiences of real children living in Afghanistan after the Taliban left. Through those experiences, students explore how education and women’s rights are still restricted in Afghanistan and grapple with what it will take to create a society where women have access to the same basic freedoms as men. In the last part of the unit, students meet Malala Yousafzai and analyze how her positive attitude and drive help her fight for women’s rights in Pakistan despite facing incredible challenges and threats. Over the course of the entire unit, it is our hope that students will build a deeper understanding of the importance of women’s rights and access to education around the world, particularly in the Middle East.

As readers, this unit builds onto unit one by pushing students to compare and contrast characters and analyze character point of view at an even deeper level. Students will be challenged to close read the text, make accurate annotations, and quote accurately in order to develop theories about key characters in and across texts. In this unit, students will also begin to use informational texts, particularly memories and first-person accounts, to help build a deeper understanding of fiction texts. The focus for informational reading is similar to the focus for fiction, and students will analyze how the point of view influences the way in which events are described.

Through a series of picture book read-alouds, students engage in critical discussion of complex issues of race, class, and gender.

A new instructional model, called Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI), is introduced to elementary teachers in this article. The author shows how school librarians and classroom teachers can collaborate to help students construct and communicate evidence, or arguments. Evidence buckets, a collaborative activity, and related online resources are presented. The article appears in the free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which is structured around the seven essential principles of climate literacy.

In Unit 2, students will build their ability to read and understand informational text and begin to build their knowledge of frogs through closely reading excerpts of the informational text Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures. Students will use the information gained in reading these excerpts to help them write answers to the questions generated in Unit 1 after reading poems and narratives about frogs. For a mid-unit assessment, students will demonstrate their reading skills through reading a new text about reptiles and amphibians, and they will gather information to answer a research question.
In the second half of the unit, students will continue with the same central text and build their knowledge by studying three "freaky frogs" that have specific adaptations according to where they live: the glass frog, the Amazon horned frog, and the water-holding frog. They will read about these frogs to answer this question in an informative paragraph: How does where a frog lives affect how it looks and/or acts? In the End of Unit 2 Assessment, students read another excerpt of text about the poison dart frog, gather information to answer a research question, and write an on-demand informative paragraph to answer the question.
RI.3.1, RI.3.3, RI.3.4, RI.3.5, RI.3.7, RI.3.8, W.3.2, W.3.7, W.3.8, L.3.1d,e, L.3.4

In Unit 1, students read carefully selected pages of the anchor text, One Well: The Story of Water on Earth to build background knowledge about where freshwater comes from and about the three issues that the book describes: access to water, demands on water, and water pollution. Students begin by hearing pages of the book read aloud to determine the main ideas and supporting details of a read-aloud. They also reread the pages to analyze the illustrations and answer vocabulary and text-dependent questions.
For the mid-unit assessment, students listen to new pages of One Well read aloud to determine the main idea and supporting details before rereading the text to answer text-dependent questions. In the second half of the unit, students read pages of One Well paired with additional complex informational texts to compare the main ideas and supporting details of both texts. For the end of unit assessment, students read a new informational text to determine the main ideas and supporting details before comparing it to pages of One Well.
RI.3.1, RI.3.2, RI.3.3, RI.3.4, RI.3.7, RI.3.9, SL.3.2, L.3.1a, and L.3.4.

Students learn how to annotate texts through the process of C.A.T.C.H. Then, they will use their annotations to make meaning by inferring/interpreting and evaluating/making judgments. Through this 10 1/2 minute video instruction and three handouts students will learn and practice an easy to remember 3-step process to critical thinking that will make their learning visible and help them discover how and why they can make meaning out of everything they read, see, and hear. Now they will have ready answers for discussions, questions, essay-writing, and quizzes.

Pennsylvania Assessment Anchors and Eligible Content eBook to assist educators in preparing student for the Keystone Exams.

In Unit 3, students use the research they have gathered throughout Units 1-2 about three water issues--access to water, demands on water, and water pollution--to create a video public service announcement (PSA). In the first half of the unit, they analyze an authentic model PSA to generate criteria for an effective PSA before choosing one of the water issues as their PSA topic. In pairs, they then write a script and create a storyboard outlining their PSA.
Students launch their PSAs for a live audience for the performance task in Lesson 13, so they write an invitational letter to a potential guest for the mid-unit assessment. Students pay particular attention to using capital letters and commas appropriately in the letter's mailing address. In the second half of the unit, students plan and create their video PSAs using technology tools for the end of unit assessment. They then prepare presentations to precede their PSAs for the PSA live launch during Lesson 13.
RI.3.1, W.3.2, W.3.4, SL.3.4, SL.3.6, L.3.1c, and L.3.2b.

This lesson introduces the Arts, A/V Technology, and Communications career cluster to middle school students. It incorporates literacy, Michigan career readiness model, speaking & listening, and writing. It also makes a great sketchnote activity.

In this lesson various quotes that are stated by characters in Hidden FIgures are written on chart paper. Students will use the chalk talk protocol to write explaing their thoughts, connections, and questions about the quote first and then respond to what their classmates have written. Students will move in small groups from paper to paper guided by a timer. After they have finished, students will discuss big ideas on the chart paper and then discuss and share out how this quote teaches us about the person based on inferences we have made with this activity. Do we think this what the author intended us to think? This protocol can be used for any book or topic in many subject areas. There will also be reflection as an informative assessment.

Students hone their teamwork skills and play off each other's writing strengths as they participate in prewriting activities for a story to be written collaboratively by the whole class.

This article discusses how creating Readers Theater scripts from informational text can improve fluency and build comprehension.

Week 6, Day 3---Day 5
You will need access to the Tale of a Tadpole by Karen Wallace (DK Readers L1) or something similar.
A. Introduction to Descriptive Writing
Utilize memberships to news articles that you have available to you at your school, use free news sites online, or gather informative texts from your classroom library.
Students will work in partners or small groups around the room with small sets of text. There can be pre-selected groupings of texts or students may be permitted to work with one book at a time, coming up to get a new one once they have finished. Students should have sticky notes or some kind of note-taking document to write down the similarities among the descriptions.
Text features to notice are headings, subheadings, photographs, table of contents and glossaries.
B. Learning About Descriptions
Practice putting sentences from a text in order, using the descriptive elements list: introduce the topic, definition or facts about the topic, linking words, conclusion.
C. Evaluating for Descriptive Writing:
Chart: Descriptive Checklist Sample
Read different texts to decide whether the text is a descriptive piece or if it is some other type of writing.

In Unit 2, students build on their knowledge of the three water issues begun in Unit 1--access to water, demands on water, and water pollution--to develop an opinion on the importance of conserving water. In the first half of the unit, they read new texts and compare the point of view of the authors to their own point of view about water. In the second half of the unit, students research actions to help solve the water issues and consider the importance of solving these issues. Then, with teacher guidance, students write an opinion essay using the Painted Essay(r) structure about the importance of conserving water through the lens of water pollution, drawing from their research throughout the module so far. For the End of Unit 2 Assessment, students plan and write a new opinion essay about the importance of conserving water through the lens of demand for water.
RI.3.1, RI.3.6, W.3.1, W.3.4, L.3.1b, L.3.5a

Hyperdoc playlist of activities for digital literacy lesson. Teacher will need to populate the "Guided Practice" section with updated links to current events. Check out The Sift from the News Literacy Project to get ides.

Students will learn the potential costs and benefits of social media, digital consumption, and our relationship with technology as a society in the three-week lesson. This inquiry based unit of study will answer the following questions:

Essential Question: How can we use science fiction’s ability to predict the future to help humanity?

Supportive Questions 1: What predictions of future development has science fiction accurately made in the past? This can include technology, privacy, medicine, social justice, political, environmental, education, and economic.

Supportive Question 2: What predictions for future development in contemporary science fiction are positive for the future of humanity? What factors need to begin in your lifetime to make these predictions reality?

Supportive Question 3: What predictions for future development in contemporary science fiction are negative for the future of humanity? What factors need to begin in your lifetime to stop these negative outcomes?