Students will generate questions regarding a given topic and then research that topic using a kid-friendly search engine. Students will utilize information obtained during their search, in order to create a shared presentation.

Labs component for Grade K: Module 3 of the EL Education K-8 Language Arts Curriculum. Labs provide students with an hour of engaging, hands-on play to build habits of character, literacy skills, and module-related content understanding. Labs are directly connected to the content of this language arts module, Trees Are Alive, and should be implemented alongside the module lessons. For more information on Labs, please visit https://curriculum.eleducation.org/about-k-2-labs-and-ALL-block.

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Second grade students in Boston, MA created a professional-quality music video as a culmination of an interdisciplinary study of snakes. Their song, based on Lady Gaga’s hit “Born This Way,” was written by students, and the video became a viral phenomenon. This film features the video and gives the backstory of the video through an interview with the teacher. It focuses on two themes: how students overcome their fears, and how standards can be joined to discovery, joy, and beautiful work. Illuminates CCSS ELA standards W.2.7, W.2.1, W.2.2, W.2.3, W.2.5, W.2.8, W.2.6, (All of CCSS for Writing for second grade).

This lesson shifts the focus of this unit from reading literature to reading informational texts. As students continue to explore the topic of fossils and paleontologists, they begin to study paleontologists and their tools using excerpts from the text Curious about Fossils. This work builds on the study of real-life paleontologist Mary Anning in Lessons 2-7.
The pages of Curious about Fossils by Kate Waters are not numbered. For instructional purposes, the page that begins with "Can you see a shape ..." should be considered page 1 and all pages thereafter numbered accordingly.
During Work Time B, students begin to co-create the Tools Paleontologists Use anchor chart using information gathered from an excerpt of the text. This anchor chart will serve as a resource for students as they discuss and write about the work that paleontologists do.
During Work Time B, students are also introduced to the Paleontologist's notebook, a resource in which they will record information about paleontologists. Consider providing an opportunity for students to illustrate the cover when time permits.

As in Lesson 10, students continue to learn about paleontologists and the work they do. Students participate in a focused read-aloud of the text Paleontology: The Study of Prehistoric Life by Susan H. Gray during Work Time A. Students then continue to co-create the Tools Paleontologists Use anchor chart as a resource for their writing during Work Time B.
Similar to Lesson 10, students collaborate to write a paragraph about the tools paleontologists use to study fossils during Work Time B.

Don’t be S-s-scared: The Truth About Snakes was a six-month long learning expedition, during which second grade students became scientists, musicians, authors, and artists. They experienced the joys of the natural world and the pride of creating high-quality work about a topic that mattered deeply to them. From the start of the expedition, students aspired to be young herpetologists, scientists who study snakes and other reptiles.The expedition was written by teacher Jenna Gampel and published by EL Education.

The students will work with a partner on a "scavenger hunt" for fairy tales.  They will use their personal Raz Kids account to look for fairy tales to read.  They will use a graphic organizer to review the stories and find/list the different components of fairy tales.  After learning the key characteristics of a fairy tale, the students will write their own fairy tale. This fairy tale will include at least four out of the seven key characteristics found in fairy tales.  According to the writing goals of the Common Core state standards, the students should be able to write narratives that include a sequence of events, characters' thoughts and feelings as well as details to describe actions.  This lesson will occur over a course of several days. I will spend time during each Writer's Workshop block to check in with each student to ensure that they are using their graphic organizer and knowledge of fairy tales to compose their own story.

In this activity, students write an informational piece of writing and read it to their audience on SeeSaw.