Acquisition Lesson Plan

Nam 4th Grade TDA

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Subje
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Text sets

Date

Essential Question
Lesson EQs:
Activating Strategy
Teaching Strategies
DAY 1-Whole Group
Step One:
Answer this question: How might floods affect someones life?
Students have 3 minutes to write at least 4 lines about the prompt. There is no
right/wrong answer.
Discuss student answers. Why do students think that?
Step Two:
Show a picture of the front cover of the A-Z Reader, Floods
Students must examine the picture and write their ideas about floods on a post-it. They
must use evidence from the picture to support their claims.
Students share their observations with a small group, and then with the class.
Step Three:
Read the poem Floods by: BHUPENDRA SWARNAKAR as a class.
Students re-read the poem and identify one line that strikes them. Students must write
about why that line stood out as important. *This can also be done as a class
DAY 1- Independent Time
-Have students independently read from Floods pages 4-7 and answer the 1st set of questions
listed in their text sets passage
DAY 2- Whole Group
Step Four "I Do":
Model to students how to read the text Floods. While reading students must determine heading
by heading how the author constructs his argument and how the author provides evidence to
support his claim.
Discuss Fiction/Nonfiction, Author's Purpose
Tell students that they will be taking notes and constructing their information on a TChart. Discuss T-Chart on Text Sets paper. One side should be "Author's Claims" the
other should be "Evidence".
Discuss that the text is set up with headings and that we are going to use the headings
as part of the author's claims- The author makes one claim per heading.
Begin Think/Read aloudo p. 4- We are not going to use "Introduction" as a heading, we are just going to use
it to get the feel for the book. Read the introduction to students and have them
say the word, "flood" or "flooding" every time we come to it in the text.
o Identify the main idea, have students underline in the text, "but floods happen
around the world every day, usually with much less impact".
o Have students read the caption of the picture to themselves. Ask: Is what you see
in the picture harmful or helpful?
o p. 5- I see that we have a heading there, "Overbank flooding". On our claim side,
we are going to write "Overbank flooding" so that we know what we are talking
about. Now we are going to read about overbank flooding, but I have an idea that
the picture above might be really handy in what we want to read. I am going to
read this caption and see what the author is trying to tell us here. I need to think

to myself, "Why might the author have included this map?".

Read the section to the students. I need to think about what the author is telling
me here. There are two claims that I can see in this section that the author is
making. Write on the T-Chart, have students write on the t-chart as well. It is the
most common type of flood- Rain or snow make a river so full it floods its banks.
AND There are different kinds of overbank floods. I now need to look at my
evidence, so I will go back into the text. The author says hundreds of floods occur
every year. And the author provides us picture evidence.
Now we are going to move on. Is "Lingering Lakes" a heading? But look! It is in
different font. Maybe it is just additional information. Begin reading "Lingering
Lakes". Oh, this is still talking about lingering lakes, this is part of the text that
tells us that this can last for years. I am glad that we noticed the type face is
different. Look at the next page and tell me what you think. Heading or not? Talk
to your partner.
p. 6- Is "Sand-less Sandbags" a heading? Look how it is different font. I think it is
just giving us more information. Read it with your partner. Circulate throughout
the room as students read to each other. What was that section telling us about?
What do you think this has to do with floods? I think they are putting a little
commercial in there! Model reading the rest of the page and adding to the T-Chart
if necessary.
p. 7- We are on flash floods. That looks like a heading! I think we need to write
this down! Model reading that section with the students. Highlight: Why do you
think the author chose "extensive" instead of "a lot"? Because this is another
heading, we need to fill out our T-Chart! The author claims that flash floods cause
extensive damage and are unpredictable. Highlight in text. we can see that
because he gives examples of the rapid increase in speed and height of the water.
He also gives us a picture that shows the damage. He even says that flash floods
can move boulders!

DAY 3- Whole Group

"We Do"
With students, read the text Floods. While reading students must determine heading by
heading how author constructs his argument and how the author provides evidence to support
his claim.
Pull in reminders and discuss the book from the day previous.
Begin "We Do" portion for pages 8-12:
o I would like you to look at the next two pages. There are some illustrations and
diagrams on the bottom. I want you to look at them first and we are going to look
at and think about why the author chose to include those illustrations and what
they add to the story. Discuss
o That is a weird word at the top. What word do you think it is? I think we might
have to use our knowledge of vowel teams. Direct students to below where in the
text it gives suggestions on how to pronounce the word.
o I also think that this is a heading. So what do we need to do when we come to a
heading? We need to put it into our T-Chart! Go ahead and do that. So as we
read, we are looking for the author's claim in this section. I am guessing it is about
another type of flood. Have students partner read that section. This is another
type of flood. It is called a seiche, where an earthquake or wind pushes the water.
Just like you are in a bath tub. If you rock back and forth, you slosh the water,
causing it to go over the edge. That is just like what a Seiche is! Have students
find words in the text that help them to explain this flood. Have students underline
"The winds. overflow the banks".
o Ask, how does that illustration help you? What does it do and how does it help you
to understand?
o Look on page 9. Another heading! What do we do with the heading? How do you

think that the author uses the illustrations? Read with students page 9. What
should we underline to help us explain a storm surge? I found that the word,
"surge" is interesting. Why use the word, surge?
o Guide students in filling out the T-chart for seiche and storm surge: Claim- Seiche> cause flooding near lakes by sloshing water. Evidence- Causes waves 12-16 ft
high. Photograph and drawing. Claim Storm Surges-> The damage can be
considerable. Evidence- Water can continue to flood onto land for up to eight
hours. Entire coastlines can be wiped away.
o What is the relationship here between storm surges and seiches?
o On page 10 we should look at the heading. Is it just additional information or is it
part of the original text? That 's right! It is just additional information. Read the
text with students.
o p. 11 We are at another heading. Talk to your neighbor about what we need to do
with that heading. Students should write "the Good in Floods" on their T-Chart.
Read the caption to students as they are writing the claim: Storms are essential to
ecosystems. I would like you as you read this page, to put a circle around any
words that you find that are interesting. Discuss some of the vocabulary in this
section. Now that we have read it. I would like you to go back into the story and
find evidence for the claim that floods are essential to the ecosystem. Let's add
these to our T-Chart.
DAY 3- Independent Time
"You Do"
Give students the assignment of reading the end of the book. Tell students that they need to
add to their T-chart information about the last heading "People and Floods".
Day 4- Whole Group
Step Five:
WRITING TASK TDA: The passage discusses both the benefits and hazards of floods to
living things in flood zones. Write an essay analyzing the importance of floods to living
things in those areas. Use evidence from the passage to support your response.
Display the TDA question, and show students how the T-chart that they filled out when
reading will help them to answer the question because it gives them the examples and
information that they need to know.
Show students the graphic organizer and explain the different parts. Make sure to
highlight the word, "thesis", discuss and demonstrate how to form the thesis. "Floods
are important to living things through both their hazards and how people adapt to them
as well as their benefits."
Demonstrate filling out the G.O. "We Do" for the first section (Topic: hazards) as well as
the details. And "We do" for the Topic: How people adapt, but not the details for the
second section.
Students must independently finish filling out a graphic organizer for writing a TDA and
then transfer that information into an informational essay.
Summarizing/Assessment:
Graphic organizers
Essay