Learning Experience One

Unit Title/
Grade Level: Close Read - Kindergarten

Lesson Title: Analyzing Non-Fiction Through Pictures

Central Focus What are the components of a non-fiction text?
of the Learning How do we decide if a book is fiction or non-fiction?
Segment: How can we learn from the pictures within a non-fiction book?


Standards:
RI.K.7 With prompting and support, describe the relationship between
illustrations and the texts in which they appear (e.g., what person, place,
thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts).


Learning Students will be able to:
Objectives/ 1. Recognize characteristics of non-fiction texts.
Function- 2. Compare and contrast non-fiction vs. fiction books.
Academic 3. Analyze pictures and explain information from those pictures.
Language: 4. Categorize pictures based on fiction or non-fiction characteristics.


Vocabulary:
Non-fiction Not fake
Fiction Fake
Table of Contents Part in the beginning of a non-fiction book that labels the
title and page number of a given topic.
Glossary - Part at the end of a non-fiction book in which defines difficult
vocabulary word.
Index Part at the end of a non-fiction book that labels words within the book
and the page number where you can find that word.
Photographs Actual/Real pictures
AND
Discourse:
Students will use the academic language to respond to the question,
What makes a picture is fiction or non-fiction? Student will include
supporting details as to why they believe a picture is fiction or non-fiction.

Prior
Knowledge: Students have been exposed to non-fiction texts during Presidents week. I
will be able to refer back to these books to help the students create
connections and further engage the students with their understanding of the
topic. Students have also been exposed to many fiction books. Throughout
the week prior, students have dissected fiction books and learned to explain
what is in a fiction book to get them started thinking about the different
types/genres of books. Students have dictated teacher in identifying
components of a fiction book for the fiction and non-fiction T-chart.


Context for The class is made up of 18 students, 10 girls and 8 boys.
Learning: Five students within the class are pulled out for RTI reading. Being that I
have a student with an IEP regarding small motor skills it is important to
incorporate motor skill practices within the lesson. This student is pulled out
twice a week to meet with an occupational therapist for 30 minutes.


Anticipated Some students may have difficulty understanding that non-fiction is real.
Difficulties/ Students may be confused and think non-fiction means not real however
Common teacher will stress the idea and mnemonic device that Fiction is Fake and
Misconceptions: Non-Fiction is Not Fake.


Materials: SMART Board, Wild Animals by SnapShot, Baby Animals by Eyeopener,
Baby Animal Pop! By National Geographic Kids, How Airplanes Fly by Fred
and Jeanne Biddulph, chart paper, fiction and non-fiction picture sort
worksheet, fiction and non-fiction pictures, scissors, glue stick, SMART
Notebook file (picture sort)

MOTIVATION: Today we are going to talk about the difference between fiction and
nonfiction. Fiction books are most of the books we have been reading
(Obj.#1,2,3) this year. An example of a non-fiction book that we have read would
( 10 min.) include the books we read during presidents week about Abraham Lincoln
and George Washington.
- We are going to talk about using close-up pictures in illustrations that
help readers understand a topic. Sometimes when a writer wants to
explain something from their writing, they might use a close-up picture in
their illustration to help the reader understand what they are talking
about.
- Fiction books have a story they have characters, setting,
problem/solution, and an ending. Think of the book Cat in the Hat. What
makes this book fiction?
- Teacher will further discuss fiction vs. non-fiction books.
- Nonfiction books teach us something. They are true books with true
facts.
- Teacher will have the class say the words Fiction, Fake, and Non-
fiction, Not Fake. Teacher will have students repeat the words three
times to make them more comfortable using the correct academic
language. This will also help them remember that fiction is fake and non-
fiction is not fake.
- Lets look at this book here. Teacher will show the students the book
Wild Animals by SnapShot.
- This is a nonfiction book. It is true, it will teach us something. Lets look
inside and see what a nonfiction book looks like inside.
- Teacher will lead the class through a picture walk of this book.
- Lets take a picture walk to examine the images and components within a
non-fiction book. We will examine the pictures in our non-fiction book to
see what they can teach us.
- Hmm, these pictures are different from pictures in a fiction book. What
makes these pictures different? These are called photographs. Teacher
will identify and explain key text features that categorize a book as non-
fiction.
- Teacher will repeat the picture walk for the books: Baby Animals, Baby
Animal Pop!, and How Airplanes Fly. This will allow students to see how
these specific text features are displayed in different non-fiction books.
- During the picture walks, teacher will further ask students questions to
start getting them thinking about the components of a non-fiction book
and what makes it different from a fiction book.
- Teacher will explain the components of the non-fiction book and have
students repeat the academic language to allow them to allow the
students to become more comfortable with using the language.
Focus: Today we are going to begin learning about non-fiction books.
Planned Questions to elicit student interest:
What makes a picture fiction or non-fiction?
Look at the title and the illustrations on the cover of the book.
What are some of your predictions about what this book might be about?
What do you notice when about the picture within this non-fiction book?
What does this teach us about the topic?
What is this in the beginning of the book? How does this help us as
readers?
What is this at the end of the book? How does this help us as readers?


INSTRUCTIONAL Now that we have been exposed to several non-fiction books, we are
ACTIVITY: going to create a T-chart regarding fiction vs. non-fiction. We have already
(Obj. #1,2,3,4) completed writing the components of a fiction book, but now we are going
(20min.) to mainly focus on non-fiction books.
- Teacher will first review the components of a fiction book. Teacher will
have students identify key components of a non-fiction book such as table
of content, glossary, index, labels, etc.
- How do these components help us when reading a non-fiction book?
- While still seated at the carpet, teacher will verbalize all the pictures the
students are going to examine. Teacher will further model one example
by asking students weather they think the horse picture is fiction or non-
fiction. Students will respond by saying horses are real so it is non-fiction.
Teacher will tell students that they are to cut the pictures out and paste
them in the appropriate column. Therefore they will cut out the horse
picture and put it in the non-fiction column.
- Teacher will then instruct student to go back to their seats. Teacher will
hand out two worksheets, one where they will have two column labeled
fiction and non-fiction and another worksheet that contains the non-fiction
and fiction pictures.
- Students will independently cut, paste and sort the pictures according to if
the picture displays fiction and non-fiction characteristics. Once students
seem to be finishing up, teacher will then have students stop working and
transition back to the carpet.
- Teacher will have students direct their attention to the SMART Board.
- I have all a couple pictures that I would like to share with you to help you
start thinking about fiction vs. non-fiction pictures. I have all the pictures
from your picture sort as well as some that I included.
- Teacher will model for the students with the example she model prior to
the independent activity. Teacher will model as well as verbalize
dragging the horse picture into the non-fiction column. Teacher will have
students recall if the horse should go in the fiction or non-fiction column.
- Where did we say the horse should go, fiction or non-fiction?
- Teacher will go picture by picture and have students decide if the picture
is fiction or non-fiction. Who thinks that they can come up to the SMART
Board and drag one picture to either the fiction or non-fiction column?
- Students will have to support their choice with an explanation as to why
the picture they chose is a fiction or non-fiction.
- Teacher will further ask the class, What might I learn if this image was in
a book?

Planned Questions to elicit student interest:
What makes a picture fiction or non-fiction?
What might I learn if I found this picture in a non-fiction book?
What might the main topic of a book with this picture?
What might be the title of a book if I found this picture in a non-fiction
book?
Differentiation:
For the student with an IEP regarding his fine motor skills, teacher will
pre-cut most of the pictures in order for him to focus his attention on the
central focus of the lesson, rather than focusing on cutting the pictures.


ASSESSMENT The teacher will use a rubric to evaluate how well the students met the
and CRITERIA: objectives of the lesson. This will be recorded on a student roster.
(Obj.#1,2,3,4) Students will be assessed on the following criteria: Did student actively
(10 min.) participate during class discussion and the picture walk through the non-
fiction books? Was student able to independently sort fiction and non-fiction
pictures? Did student actively participate in SMART Board additional picture
sort activity? Was student able to orally explain a fact from a picture he/she
analyzed? Was student able to explain the difference between fiction and
non-fiction pictures?

Through these assessment criteria, teacher will be able to check students
understanding of the concepts and skills targeted in this lesson. The
independent activity and class participation will be graded on a check
minus to a check plus checklist. I will use a rubric to assess the students
understanding of the material of the lesson. The grade will be recorded
on a class roster to track student learning and progress. (Rubric and
Checklist can be found in Assessments)


Learning Experience Two

Unit Title/
Grade Level: Close Read - Kindergarten

Lesson Title: Exploration of Non-Fiction Through Text

Central Focus How can we decide if a statement is fiction or non-fiction?
of the Learning How can we learn about a main topic through the text of a non-fiction book?
Segment:


Standards:
RI.K.8 With prompting and support, identify the reasons an author gives
to support points in a text.
W.K.2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose
informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing
about and supply some information about the topic.
W.K.8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from
experienced or gathered from provided sources to answer a question.


Learning Students will be able to:
Objectives/ 1. Identify non-fiction text features and how they help the reader
Function- 2. Sort fiction and non-fiction characteristics.
Academic 3. Analyze sentences and explain information from those sentences.
Language: 4. Categorize sentences based on fiction or non-fiction characteristics.
5. Generate his or her own non-fiction sentence according to the
non-fiction picture he or she chooses.



Vocabulary:
Non-fiction Not fake
Fiction Fake
Table of Contents Part in the beginning of a non-fiction book that labels the
title and page number of a given topic.
Glossary - Part at the end of a non-fiction book in which defines difficult
vocabulary word.
Index Part at the end of a non-fiction book that labels words within the book
and the page number where you can find that word.
AND
Discourse:
Students will use the academic language to respond to the question,
Why is this sentence fiction or non-fiction? Student will include
supporting details as to why they believe a sentence is fiction or non-
fiction. Students will create a sentence following the non-fiction criteria.


Prior
Knowledge: Students have been introduced to non-fiction books but have mainly focused
on how the pictures help us learn about a topic. Students also have identified
key elements of a non-fiction book.


Context for The class is made up of 18 students, 10 girls and 8 boys.
Learning: Five students within the class are pulled out for RTI reading. Being that I
have a student with an IEP regarding small motor skills it is important to
incorporate motor skill practices within the lesson. This student is pulled out
twice a week to meet with an occupational therapist for 30 minutes.


Anticipated Students may not be able to read the sentences in the SMART board
Difficulties/ activity so the teacher will read them aloud to the class. Students may still
Common display confusion and think non-fiction means not real however teacher will
Misconceptions: continue to stress the idea and mnemonic device that Fiction is Fake and
Common Non-Fiction is Not Fake.
Misconceptions:


Materials: SMART Board, Wild Animals by SnapShot, Baby Animals by Eyeopener,
Baby Animal Pop! By National Geographic Kids, How Airplanes Fly by Fred
and Jeanne Biddulph, chart paper, Fiction and Non-fiction T-chart, non-fiction
sentence worksheet, picture sort worksheets (completed from previous
lesson), SMART Notebook file (sentence sort)

MOTIVATION: Teacher will collect the students to the carpet for a class discussion and
reading.
(Obj.#1,2) Yesterday we only took a picture walk through non-fiction books. Who can
( 10-15 min.) tell me where else we can learn information from within a non-fiction
books?
- Today we are going to read the books we analyzed yesterday and see
what more information we can learn from the text.
- Teacher will read part the book Wild Animals aloud to the class. Teacher
will to ask key questions after reading a portion to ensure students are
attentive and noticing the text throughout the book.
- Teacher will repeat for books: Baby Animals, Baby Animal Pop!, and How
Airplanes Fly.
- At the completion of the reading, teacher will write facts on the chart
paper about what the students learned from the text within the book.
- Teacher will have students focus their attention to the SMART Board.
- To refresh our memory of the different characteristics of fiction and non-
fiction, I have a t-chart just like the one we create yesterday. I need your
help deciding which characteristic goes into which column.
- Students will be shown a fiction and non-fiction t-chart where they have to
sort characteristics of fiction and non-fiction texts.
- Teacher will read the characteristic aloud to the class and have students
come up to the SMART Board and drag the characteristic into the
appropriate column.


Focus: Yesterday, we began discussing non-fiction books and focused solely on
the pictures within the book. Who can tell me where else we can get
information from the book? Today we will be focusing on the text within
the book to help us understand the main topic or purpose of this book.
Planned Questions to elicit student interest:
Look at the title on the cover of the book.
What are some of your predictions about what we might learn in this
book?
What do you notice about the bigger and bolder print?
How can we use the text to learn new information?
What are table of contents for?
What did we learn through the text of this book?


INSTRUCTIONAL Now that we have been exposed to non-fiction writing, we can use the
pictures
ACTIVITY: and the text to determine the central focus of this book. Teacher will then
(Obj. #1,3,4,5) have students direct their attention to the SMART Board where they will
(25 min.) categorize sentences as fiction or non-fiction.
- I have a couple sentences here. Some are fiction and some are non-
fiction but I need your help determining which is fake and what is not
fake.
- Lets review what is fiction and what is non-fiction. Teacher will refer to
the chart created from the first lesson. Teacher will have students
repeat, Fiction, fake, and Non-fiction, not fake.
- Students will be chosen to come up to the SMART Board and drag a
sentence to the correct column.
- Students will have to support their choice with an explanation as to why
the sentence is a fact or fiction.
- Students will then be sent back to their seats. Teacher will hand out a
worksheet where the students have to generate their own non-fiction
sentence.
- Now you are going to create your own non-fiction sentence. You will
refer to the worksheet we did yesterday and create a sentence to support
the non-fiction image of your choice.
- Think about something you know is true about your picture because we
know that non-fiction writing is something that is real.
Planned Questions to elicit student interest:
Do we think this sentence is fiction or non-fiction?
If I found this sentence in a book, what might the topic of the book be?
What might I learn?
If I found this sentence in a non-fiction book, what might be the title of
that book?

Differentiation:
Teacher incorporated students prior knowledge into the fiction and non-
fiction sentence sort therefore struggling students had the opportunity to
come up to the board and participate.
For the independent activity, students that need assistance creating their
sentence will receive teacher support through guided discussion and
prompting. Teacher might offer a word bank for specific students, if
needed. Teacher might also draw lines for a student to help plan their
sentence.


ASSESSMENT The teacher will use a rubric to evaluate how well the students met the
and CRITERIA: objectives of the lesson. This will be recorded on a student roster.
(Obj.#2,3,4,5) Students will be assessed on the following criteria: Did student actively
(10-15 min.) participate during class discussion and reading of the non-fiction books? Did
student actively participate in the fiction and non-fiction characteristics sort
SMART Board activity? Did student actively participate in the fiction and non-
fiction sentence sort SMART Board activity? Was student able to orally
explain a fact from a sentence he/she analyzed? Was student able to orally
explain the difference between fiction and non-fiction sentences? Was
student able to create a non-fiction sentence by analyzing a non-fiction
picture?

Through these assessment criteria, teacher will be able to check students
understanding of the concepts and skills targeted in this lesson. The
independent activity and class participation will be graded on a check
minus to a check plus checklist. I will use a rubric to assess the students
understanding of the material of the lesson. The grade will be recorded
on a class roster to track student learning and progress. (Rubric and
Checklist can be found in Assessments)












Learning Experience Three

Unit Title/
Grade Level: Close Read - Kindergarten

Lesson Title: Non-fiction Book Report

Central Focus How can we be reporters and research a non-fiction text to determine a main
of the Learning topic with supporting evidence?
Segment:

Standards:
RI.K.2 With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key
details of a text.
RI.K.10 Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and
understanding.

RI.K.7 With prompting and support, describe the relationship between
illustrations and the texts in which they appear (e.g., what person, place,
thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts).
W.K.2 Use a combination of dictating and writing to compose
informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing
about and supply some information about the topic.


Learning Students will be able to:
Objectives/ 1. Identify how the text and pictures within a non-fiction book teaches
Function- us something.
Academic 2. Research a non-fiction topic.
Language: 3. Identify a main purpose of a non-fiction text.
4. Support their main topic with three supporting facts/evidence.
5. Report what they learned from their book by acting like
reporters.

Vocabulary:
Non-fiction Not fake
Reporter One who researches a topic in depth to become an expert on that
topic.
Research Finding information on a given topic.
Analyze Looking deeper into a book, perhaps by the pictures or the text.
AND
Discourse:
Students will use the academic language to respond during the review of
the first two learning experiences. Students will further apply their
knowledge from the previous learning experiences to analyze a non-
fiction book to develop a main topic as well as provide evidence/facts
supporting their main topic. This will be in the form of a book report.

Prior
Knowledge: Students have been introduced to non-fiction books by focusing on how the
pictures and text both help us learn information about a topic. Students also
have identified key elements of a non-fiction book.


Context for The class is made up of 18 students, 10 girls and 8 boys.
Learning: Five students within the class are pulled out for RTI reading. Being that I
have a student with an IEP regarding small motor skills it is important to
incorporate motor skill practices within the lesson. This student is pulled out
twice a week to meet with an occupational therapist for 30 minutes.


Anticipated Some students may have trouble completing the book report however,
Difficulties/ I planned to partner high learners with low learners therefore the higher
Common students can assist the low learners in understanding and completing
Misconceptions: assignment.


Materials: Baby Animals by Eyeopener, Fiction and Non-fiction T-chart, Book report
worksheet, non-fiction leveled books (Up, Up and Away by Susan Canizares,
Animal Moms and Dads by Ellen Tarlow, Watch Me Plant a Garden by Jack
Otten, Bicycles by Sara Nicolas, Working With Clay by Susan Greenebaum,
The Pilots by Mario Fuentes, Wax to Crayons by Inez Snyder, Signs by
Scholastic, and Plants Grow by Kathleen Hayes)

MOTIVATION: Teacher will collect the students to the carpet for a class discussion and
(Obj.#1) reading. Lets review the components of a non-fiction book. Teacher will
( 10 min.) refer back to the T-chart created during the first lesson. Teacher will ask
students how can we use these text features to help us when reading a non-
fiction book.
Focus: The past two days, we have been really exploring non-fiction texts in depth.
Today we are going to act as reporters and we are going to research a topic
to teach our fellow classmates! A reporter knows a lot about something. In all
the books we looked at, the authors were experts about that topic. We will be
focusing on the combination of both the text and pictures in a non-fiction
book. Everyone will be broken up into partners. Each partnership will
receive a topic and a book to find evidence. You will have to develop the
main purpose of the book while providing two sources of evidence to support
your topic. We are now experts at examining non-fiction texts and I want you
to share the information you are learning with the class.
Planned Questions to elicit student interest:
What are the specific characteristics of a non-fiction book compared to a
fiction book?
What does it mean to be an expert?
What do reporters do?
What does it mean to research?


INSTRUCTIONAL Now that we have reviewed the components of a non-fiction text, we can
ACTIVITY: now begin our reports on our non-fiction books. We are going to talk about
(Obj.#1,2,3,4,5) how the illustrations and the words work together to make meaning in
( 30 min.) nonfiction expert books. Remember, the illustrations also contain facts
that help you understand the topic.
- Teacher will model the book report on the book we analyzed in class.
Lets look at the book Baby Animals that we have been focusing on in
class. What is the main topic of this book? How do we know this?
Teacher will then model writing the main topic in the appropriate section
of the book report.
- Teacher will then turn to a page in the book and have students analyze a
picture. What information can we learn from this picture? Teacher will
then write the students response in one of the three sections labeled
fact.
- Teacher will continue to read a different page within the book. What is
one fact we learned from reading the words on this page?
- Teacher will then write the students response in another box labeled
fact.
- Teacher will then read another page in the book. What information did
we learn from a combination of the pictures and words on this page?
- Teacher will write students response in the last fact box.
- Students will lead the teacher in completing the book report therefore they
are comfortable with the format and understand how to complete it.
- Once the class has finished leading the teacher in completing the book
report, teacher will demonstrate how students will present their book
report to the class.
- Now that I have completed my book report, I want you to use this as a
model for when you and your partner create your own book report.
- Teacher will assign the students partners for their book report. Teacher
will also allow students to work where they choose throughout the
classroom so they can focus with their partner. Teacher will also assign
each partnership a leveled book to analyze. Students will be told to read
the book aloud together twice without writing anything down so they
become familiar with the book.
- Once students have read the book aloud twice, teacher will distribute the
book report worksheet. Each student will get his or her own worksheet
however; each partnership must contain the same information.
- Once most of the students seem to have finished filling out the worksheet,
teacher will collect the students back to the carpet. Now that you have
become experts on your topic, the whole class and I would love to learn
about the topic you researched! Teacher will have the students come up
to the front of the class and stand in the Student Spotlight and present
their book report.

Planned Questions to elicit student interest:
What can I identify as my main topic?
How did I know that this was the main topic of this non-fiction book?
What supporting evidence can I write that would support this main topic?

Differentiation:
Students that need assistance in reading will read with the teacher as
they follow along by finger pointing and echoing. Teacher will pair the
students according to high, medium, and low learners. Teacher will
further provide prompted questioning to those students who display
difficulty with completing the book report.


ASSESSMENT The teacher will use a rubric to evaluate how well the students met the
and CRITERIA: objectives of the lesson. This will be recorded on a student roster.
(Obj.#1,2,3,4,5) Students will be assessed on the following criteria: Did student actively
(10 min.) participate during class discussion? Was student able to read their non-fiction
book that was assigned? Was student able to identify a main topic from their
non-fiction leveled book? Was student able to write three facts from their non-
fiction book?

Through these assessment criteria, teacher will be able to check students
understanding of the concepts and skills targeted in this lesson. The
independent activity and class participation will be graded on a check
minus to a check plus checklist. I will use a rubric to assess the students
understanding of the material of the lesson. The grade will be recorded
on a class roster to track student learning and progress. (Rubric and
Checklist can be found in Assessments)