Part 1: Sessions 5-7 Expository Text Structure

Standard:
RI5.5 Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of
events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts.
5.H.1.3 Analyze the impact of major conflicts, battles and wars on the development of our nation through
Reconstruction.
Materials: DAY THREE:
DAY ONE:  Baskets of expository texts (books, magazines, articles) for students
 PPT to review text structures with to use in Guided Practice and Independent Practice.
students
 Text Structure Organizer Chart Discovery Education Text Set
 Letter
 Guided Practice – within powerpoint or
 First Hand Account
you can use handout to display or for
additional small group work  Video Clip
 Image
DAY TWO:
 Shared reading selection - http://app.discoveryeducation.com/player/view/assetGuid/F9070CE2-
The Proclamation of 1763 F802-4C16-AB03-D8B525C71FA5

Connection We have learned how to analyze a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas in a story, drama,
(connecting to and/or poem to explain how they fit together to provide the overall structure of the text.
previous learning) Understanding this structure helped us to interpret a theme in the text when reading fictional
text.
Possible Series of Teaching Point - Today, I will teach you how to look for ‘signal’ words to help identify how an
Minilesson Teaching informational text can be organized.
Points
Teaching Point - Today, based on the overall structure of an informational text, I will teach you
how compare and contrast events and ideas in more than one text.

Day 7 – Continued exploration of information text. Possible small group strategy lessons based
on student need.
Teaching Point Teaching Point - Today, I will teach you how to look for ‘signal’ words to help identify how an
informational text can be organized.
Teaching Let’s look at the different ways that informational text can be structured. Have students follow
Explicitly along with the Text Structure Organizer handout. (Review structures with PPT- chronology,
Telling/Showing cause/effect, problem/solution, comparison, description.)
Guided Practice Using Text Structures from the Revolutionary War –
(3-5 minutes) CHOICE:
 Display each section having students practice identification of structure OR
Have students practice
 Students have partner copy of text to practice identification of structure OR
the strategy that has
been demonstrated.  Students have individual copies to practice identification of structure

Link As you read expository texts, think about the structure of the text. How did the author organize
the information? What was the author’s purpose for doing so . . . what did he/she want me to
learn or understand?
Share Time Have students share their findings with the class and support their thinking about possible
themes identified.

Text Structure Organizer

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1. Preview the text features.
2. List the headings and subheadings from the text.
3. List any other information you see from photos, charts, diagrams, or captions that help you
predict what the author will tell you.
4. Underline, or take note of, any signal words that are obvious in the text

Text Structure The information in Signal words that What the author
the text might answer might be clues as to might tell you about
these questions how the information this topic
is organized.

Description What are you for example, as in , in

describing? What are fact, also,
the qualities? characteristics, most
important, such as, for
instance, another

Chronology What happened? first, next, later, finally,

(Sequence) What is the sequence before, after, then,
of events? second, as soon as,
What are the stages in while, during,
the process? meanwhile,
immediately

Compare/Contrast How are these alike? alike, as well as,

How are these although, on the other
different? hand, different, both,
What are the similar, compared to,
similarities? instead, despite,
What are the however
differences?

Cause/Effect What are the causes of because, as a result,

this event? if . . . then, since,
What might happen consequently, due to,
next? therefore, so that, this
What are the effects of led to
this action?

Problem/Solution What is the problem? the problem is, the

What are the possible dilemma, solved,
solutions? resolved, so that, if . . .
How can this solution then, this led to,
be implemented? nevertheless
Guided Practice: Text Structures and the Revolutionary War
 

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Directions:  Read each paragraph carefully and identify the text structure the author used to organize the text.
Write the selected text structure beside the title, and don’t forget to underline key words that helped to identify
the structure of the text.
Chronological Sequence Cause and Effect Problem and Solution Compare and Contrast
     

 
1.  Divisions
The Revolutionary War was a time of great division.  Americans were split into two groups: Patriots and Loyalists.
Patriots were Americans who supported the struggle for independence.  They believed that Americans should be free
from the control of an English king.  They fought against the English to establish a new government in America.
Loyalists were Americans who remained loyal to the crown.  Some of them were happy under English rule.  Others
believed that they might be rewarded after the Americans lost the war.  Though both Patriots and Loyalists lived
in America, a deep division ran between them.
 
2.  The Turning Point
Though the Americans suffered many losses early on in the war, the momentum began to shift after the Battles of
Saratoga.  During the Battles of Saratoga, the Americans captured British General Burgoyne's army.  This victory
convinced other countries, especially France, that the Americans could win the war.  Because of this, not only
did France declare war on England, but other nations also began openly supporting the American fight for
independence.  The Battles of Saratoga will be remembered as a pivotal moment in this fight.  
 
3.  Guerilla Warfare
In most cases American soldiers could not stand toe-to-toe against British soldiers.  The British were better trained,
better armed, and more experienced.  When the American soldiers attempted to match the British, they suffered
heavy losses.  The Americans had to use what advantages they had, so they developed what are now known as
Guerilla Warfare tactics.  Guerrilla warfare is a form of fighting where small groups of fighters use ambushes,
sabotages, and the elements of surprise to harass a larger, less mobile army.  By using Guerilla Warfare tactics,
American soldiers were able to equalize some of the British's advantages on the battlefield.
 
4.  Fire Cake
American soldiers during the Revolutionary War suffered horrible conditions to win independence.  You can
experience some of these conditions by eating the same food that soldiers ate at Valley Forge: fire cake.  Fire cake is
a horrible tasting blob of burnt gluten.  To make some first mix flour with water until you get thick, damp dough.
Then, form it into a cake and in your palms.  Put this doughy lump on a greased cookie sheet and bake it until it is
brown.  This will be very similar to the awful fire cakes that American soldiers ate at Valley Forge.  Enjoy!  
 
5.  Allies
During the Revolutionary War, Americans learned just how important friends can be.  When the Americans declared
independence on July 4th, 1776, they had virtually no allies.  But on February 6th, 1778, after the American victory
at Saratoga, the French assisted the American cause.  The French went into deep debt helping the Americans.  The
Americans would receive additional help in June of 1779, when the Spanish joined the fight against the British.
They would secure Southern ports and supply lines.  Without the help of these allies, many more Americans would
have died in the fight for independence.      

The Proclamation of 1763 Information Sheet

Wake County Public Schools 2013

 After the French and Indian War was over, British soldiers stayed in the Ohio
River Valley to keep order. Most of the American Indians wanted the soldiers to
leave the area. An Ottawa chief named Pontiac led the Indians in a war against the
British called Pontiac’s Rebellion.
After much bloodshed, the British
defeated the Indians but tensions
remained high. In an effort to avoid
more conflict and tension with
American Indians, King George III
issued the Proclamation of 1763. It
recognized the Indians’ right to the
land and it did not allow colonists to
settle west of the Appalachian
Mountains. This made colonists very
angry because they wanted to settle
on the land and they did not want British soldiers to live among them. Because the
Proclamation was difficult to enforce, many colonists disregarded it, which showed
their unhappiness with British attempts to control them.

Wake County Public Schools 2013