UWP Lesson Plan Template
Teacher Name: Samantha Hoff
Target Content/Lesson Topic: Science/Literacy
This lesson is for a(n) __X___ whole class _____ small group
Essential Question
- What is the essential question that
this lesson addresses?
- What is the core purpose of the
lesson that includes the strategies
and skills necessary to accomplish
the deeper learning in the standard?
Sequencing
- How does this lesson fit into the
larger unit of study?
- Focus on a logical/hierarchical
sequencing of skills (e.g., main ideas
before details, similarities before
differences).
State Learning Standards
List the complete, relevant
grade-level standard(s).
September 2021
Grade Level: 3rd-5th
Date: 3/27/2024
_____ individual
Planning
How does a species become endangered?
What can you do to help protect endangered species?
What strategies can we use to figure out unknown words in a text?
Students have already learned about other strategies to help them figure out unknown words in a text. They will
now be introduced to an additional strategy to help them further understand how to look for clues in a text to
assist them in learning unknown words that they come across while reading.
SCI.SEP 8.3-5 Students evaluate the merit and accuracy of ideas and methods. This includes the following:
a. Read and comprehend grade-appropriate complex texts and other reliable media to summarize
and obtain scientific and technical ideas, and describe how they are supported by evidence.
b. Compare and/or combine information across complex texts and other reliable media to support the
engagement in scientific and engineering practices.
RF.5.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
a. Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
b. Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
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 R.5.4 Determine the meaning of words, phrases, figurative language, academic and content-specific words, and
analyze their effect on meaning, tone, and mood within a text (RI&RL).
Learning Target(s) and Learning
Objective(s) LT: I can figure out the meaning of words within a text.
- Choose your learning target(s) and LT: I can comprehend a text and share what I learned.
objective(s) based on the relevant
state learning standard(s). LO: Students will use the “It’s Right There in the Sentence!” strategy to help them find the meaning of
- Write focused targets and unknown words in a digit text.
objectives that describe the specific LO: Students will show comprehension of the given text and share what assisted them in understanding the key
learning outcome (what students ideas of the text. Students will find evidence in the text to support their understanding of ideas shared in the
should be able to do as a result of text.
the lesson).
- Be sure they are stated in
observable and measurable terms
(e.g., ABCD+T).
Grouping Students will be working alone or with a seat partner for this lesson activity. Students are seated in a random
Describe how and why students are order with differing abilities to help with assisting each other while filling out their graphic organizers.
grouped based on
- homogeneous, heterogeneous,
randomized
- ability, interest, IEP goals, social or
social-emotional, behavioral,
language acquisition
Co-Teaching Strategy N/A
Does this lesson involve
co-teaching? If not, state N/A. If
yes, identify the co-teaching model
and what role each teacher will play.
-One Teach, One Observe; One
Teach, One Assist; Station Teaching;
Parallel Teaching; Supplemental;
Alternative; Team Teaching

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September 2021
 Differentiation
Describe how you will meet
individual students’ needs by
adjusting the content, process,
product, and environment based on
their readiness, interests, and learning
preferences.
Content
All students will have the same digital text for this assignment. Students with a lower reading level may be given
a back up digital text to complete, as well as those who are more excelled in the reading abilities.
Process
Students will have the opportunity to ask questions and receive extra support if they require it. Students will
also be given extra time if needed to complete their graphic organizers. Students will either work individually if
they wish or with a partner for extra support. ELL students can be paired up with an native English speaking
peer to help walk through the activity together and have extra help in filling out their graphic organizer.
Strategy posters will be posted for students to refer to when working.

Product
All students will fill out and produce similar graphic organizers. Any ELL students will be provided with a
graphic organizer in the native language as well as in English in order to fill out the graphic organizer to the
best of their ability.

Environment
Students may work anywhere in the room that they please for the lesson activity. Soft music can be played in
the background to help students focus and remain on task. Lights may be dimmed if students wish for a calmer
work environment.

IEP Goals Relevant to Lesson (Add rows as necessary.)

Student IEP Goal

Accommodations and/or Modifications Required for Students in Special Education (Add rows as necessary.)

Student(s) Required Accommodation/Modification

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Supports for English Language Learners (Add rows as necessary.)
Student
Formative Assessment
- How will you monitor student
learning throughout the lesson?
- Be specific about how your practice
assessments connect directly with
the lesson objective.
September 2021
Necessary Supports (e.g., Sheltered English strategies, grouping strategies)
Assessment
Fill out the reading strategy chart as students are working to track their progress towards meeting the goal of
the lesson. This chart includes the goal, name of the strategy, date, students name, and if they showed no
growth, progress, or mastery of the lesson objective. Students will be assessed based on the rubric shown
below.
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 Formative Evaluation Criteria
- What material(s) will you use to
evaluate learning?
- Attach a copy of your checklist,
rubric, observation criteria, or other
measure.

● (shown in separate pdf)

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 Summative Assessment
How will students demonstrate
mastery of the standard?
​Note: This assessment does not have
to occur during/after this lesson but
in upcoming lessons.
Summative Evaluation Criteria
- What material(s) will you use to
evaluate learning?
- Attach a copy of your checklist,
rubric, observation criteria, or other
measure.
Opening: Introduction and
Connection to Previous Learning
● Anticipatory Activity (Hook)
● Activate prior knowledge.
September 2021
Students will complete a vocabulary comprehension presentation for their end of the unit assessment. After
being introduced to the strategies for understanding vocabulary, students will choose one of the strategies
learned and read one of the six texts offered by the teacher, which include the words learned in today's lesson
to further comprehension of these terms. They will put together a slideshow of new vocabulary words they
learned from the text and include which strategy they used to determine the meaning of the unknown words.
The slide shows must contain the written strategy used, the words themselves, visuals, and other details they
find necessary in explaining the meaning of their words. They will present their projects to the class when they
are complete. Students can work alone or with a partner on this project.
Mastered (15- 20 pts) Approaching Mastery (10-15 pts) Not Yet Mastered (< 10 pts)
Students slideshow is well Students slideshow is somewhat Students slideshow is unorganized
organized and includes at least 5 organized and includes at least 3 and includes only one new
new vocabulary words. The new vocabulary words. The vocabulary word. The slideshow
slideshow includes at least 3 slideshow includes 2 visuals to includes at least only one visual to
visuals to help viewers understand help viewers understand the help viewers understand the
the meaning of the words. The meaning of the words. The meaning of the words. The
vocabulary comprehension vocabulary comprehension vocabulary comprehension
strategy is included. Students are strategy is included. Students are strategy is not included. Students
prepared for their presentation somewhat prepared for their are not prepared for their
and all slides are complete with no presentation and all slides are presentation and all slides are
errors. complete with some errors. somewhat complete with more
than 3 errors.
Procedures
Introduction:
● Inform students that today they will be learning about how species become endangered. We will first
do a warm up activity where students activate their prior knowledge, then w will fill out a strategy
poster together as a class before filling out a graphic organizer individually or with a partner.
Hook/Activating Prior knowledge:
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 ● Be sure students understand
procedures and instructions for
the lesson.
● Establish clear expectations.
● Model concept.
The groupings/instruction/lesson
progression may look different in different
parts of the lesson!
● Remind students of the reading comprehension strategies we have learned this far. (Context Clues =
Clarity, Use Part of Speech as Clue)
● Ask students if they have ever heard of the words “extinction”, “endangered”, and “species”. Ask them
to try to define these words if they have ever heard of them. Ask for volunteers to share.
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7ZvodUuXRE
● Ask the following questions after the video has played, “Was there any words shown or said in the
video that you have never heard or seen before?” “After the word was said, were there words that came
after it or before it that gave you an idea of what that word could mean?” This will prepare students for
the new reading comprehension strategy they will be learning today.

Procedures/Instructions:
● Explain to students that the focus for today’s lesson is to read a digital text that gives us information
about endangered species. But, before we do this we are going to learn another new strategy known as
“It’s Right There in the Sentence!” to help us with unknown words that we come across while reading.
(11.19, pg. 318), which will add to our collection of comprehension strategies for reading. Explain to
students that with nonfiction science texts especially, we often come across words that we may not
know and have never seen before, so it’s important to learn useful strategies to help us figure out what
a word means.
● Inform students that most of the time authors of non-fiction texts will put the definition of challenging
words right in the same sentence that the word itself is in, so it is important to look before and after the
word to see if there are context clues or definitions to help you find the meaning of the word. Some
words that could hint to us that the definition may be in the sentence are also, or, and this is called, or
punctuation marks such as commas, dashes. Write these words and punctuation marks on the board for
students to see.
● Put up the example sentences on the overhead to model for students how to figure out the meaning of
unknown words using this specific strategy:
○ “So each year penguins molt - their feathers fall out” (Serravallo, 2015)
○ “Krill are like tiny shrimps” (Seravallo, 2015)
○ “These penguins used to make their nests out of their own poop, called guano!” (Seravallo,
2015).
● We see in the first sentence there is a dash followed by “their feathers fall out”, telling us that the word
molt means when penguins feather fall out. In the second sentence we see the word “like” showing

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 comparison which can help us figure out what “Krill” are, which are a fish similar to shrimp.The third
sentence includes the word “called” which is hinting to us that guano is another word a nest of
penguins poop. In this example the definition comes before the word “called”. All of these examples
contain keywords that help us define unknown words.
● Invite students to come sit on the thinking carpet. On a poster board or on the teaching easel, write the
strategy name at the top of the paper. “It’s Right There in the Sentence!” Design this class poster
(shown below) to hang up in the classroom next to the other reading comprehension strategy posters
made in previous lessons.
It’s Right There in the Sentence!

➔ We use text features to help us! (pictures, captions, diagrams, word banks
➔ We read the sentences before and after the word to help us find meaning
➔ Is the word defined in the same sentence that it’s found in? Before the word, after the word?

● Invite students to get their laptops out of the laptop cart on their way back to their seats. They will
need them to read their digital text, “How Does a Species Become Endangered?” for today’s lesson.
● Walk them through, showing them on your computer and the overhead, the following steps to get to
the online text:
○ 1. login and search for the following website,
https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/How-Does-a-Species-Become-Endangered
○ Once students have gotten to the correct text, have them hold a thumbs up in the air to signal
that they are ready to move on.
○ Review the text and review the different features on the site so students are comfortable
maneuvering the website.
● Now hand out 4 graphic organizer worksheets to each student.

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 ●
● Students will be focusing on the following words found in their text, extinction, endangered, restrict,
conservation/conserve. Write the vocabulary words on the board for students to see.
● Have students write down each of the four vocabulary words in the middle of their graphic organizers
where it says “Word:”
● Before they begin reading, go over the components of the graphic organizer so students understand
how they should fill it out. Example, the word goes in the middle, key words go in the top left box,
such as “also, or, this is called, and any other keywords that helped them understand the meaning of
each word. Students will list punctuation marks that gave them a hint that a definition was present, such
as a dash, or commas. Students will identify where the definition was found (if there was one), either in
the same sentence the word could be found, or in the sentence before or after the word. Lastly, the
students will list any previous strategy that we have discussed if a definition or hints were not directly
included in the text.
● Now students can ask any questions they may have, concerns, or comments about the activity before
beginning.

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 During: Lesson Progression ● Students should be working alone or in pairs while filling out their graphic organizers.
In this portion of the lesson, you will ● They should be reading the text and stopping at the chosen words and identifying key words and
be letting go and letting students phrases in the text to help them define that word.
engage in productive struggle; ● Monitor students as they are working to make sure they are completing the activity as they should be,
engaging in gradual release (“I do, volume level low and remaining on task.
we do, you do”), inquiry, guided or ● If students become stuck, ask them questions to get them thinking about the word, “check the punctuation,
independent practice, or other reread words before and after the word, look for keywords in the text that will help you, remember to use context clues
learning methods. Please write what such as any pictures, captions, etc.”
you are looking for in terms of: ● Answer any new questions that may come up while students work.
● Students’ thinking and how ● Students can revisit the strategy poster made in the warm up activity to use for reference as they work.
they will start the lesson. ● Fill out the reading strategy chart as students are working to track their progress towards meeting the
● Provide appropriate support goal of the lesson. This chart includes the goal, name of the strategy, date, students name, and if they
(not explaining how to do it). showed no growth, progress, or mastery of the lesson objective.
● Provide worthwhile
extensions.
● Provide opportunities for
students to engage in using
the academic language.
This is where you will be
suggesting or modeling specific
strategies and helping students
choose which strategy makes sense
to them. However, you must make
sure ideas come from students.

●
Closing: Wrap-Up and Extension ● Invite students to come back together as a whole group.
End the lesson with a final review of ● Ask for a few volunteers to pick one of the words and share what they found with the whole class.
key ideas and knowledge. This is Have four volunteers share, one for each vocabulary word.

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 where you have students talk about ● Ask students if any of the word definitions or meanings were not directly shared in the text. “What
their thinking and share strategies helped you find the meaning then?”
with the whole class. It’s important ● If students didn’t finish, they will have time to do so during morning work time. Have students keep
to name strategies and use academic their graphic organizers in their work folders to save for future use.
vocabulary here, extending the ● Revisit the strategy poster and point out how students used these clues to find the meaning of the
lesson to broader ideas. assigned vocabulary words.
● Promote a community of ● End the lesson by having a group discussion. “Aside from learning a new vocabulary strategy, how did finding out
learners. the meaning of these new words help you comprehend the text? What else did you learn after reading this text?”
● Listen actively and probe
thinking without evaluating
or telling them how you
would do it.
Summarize main ideas and identify
future problems that they would be
able to solve using the thinking you
have discussed. Provide a brief
preview of what the next lesson will
include.

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 Curricular and Instructional
Resources or Materials
- List and provide a brief rationale
for all necessary lesson resources and
materials. If not original, cite the
source.
- Attach/link a copy of all materials
the teacher and students will use
during the lesson; e.g., handouts,
questions to answer, slides,
worksheets, and so on.

●
● smartboard/overhead projector
● Strategy poster made in warm-up:
It’s Right There in the Sentence!

➔ We use text features to help us! (pictures, captions, diagrams, word banks
➔ We read the sentences before and after the word to help us find meaning
➔ Is the word defined in the same sentence that it’s found in? Before the word, after the word?
Website for digital text:
https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/How-Does-a-Species-Become-Endangered

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 Supplies, Equipment and Laptops to read digital text
Technology pencils
- List all other supplies that need to
be available.

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