Tina Cartaino ELD 308 Dr. McKool Lesson Plan: Writing Mini-Lesson Grade: 4 Time: 20 mins Standard: W.4.9.

Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Apply grade 4 Reading standards to informational texts (e.g., Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text). Objective: The students will draw evidence from informational text to support research and will apply this to their own biographical writing. Materials: Sacagawea by Lise Erdrich

Lesson Sequence Lesson Introduction/Anticipatory Set (Engagement) Boys and girls, do you remember when we read Sacagawea the other day? We were trying to pick out all of the important events and the order in which they occurred. These events gave us a better understanding of Sacagaweas life. State Objective and Purpose Today, we are going to explain how an author uses evidence to support particular points in the text. Then, we will incorporate this into our biography drafts that we are going to start working on. Teach and Model I am going to be writing my biography report on Sacajawea. In order to do this, I need to pick out a variety of informational texts to learn about her. I am going to use the book Sacagawea to aid me in gathering facts to use. I want to include all the major events, accomplishments and contributions that my person has made to society. I know that we began pulling out important events during Reading Workshop yesterday. I finished making my post-its for the book yesterday after class.

I am going to use my organizer to take notes on one of my events. I am going to call it meeting Lewis and Clark. Why is this an important event? This is the beginning of the expedition down the Missouri and into the Mississippi River. What were her accomplishments? She became an important helper because she interpreted for them. Also, this was the beginning of the journey to discover new parts of the country. These are all things that I would want to include on my biography report on her life. Strong writers use nonfiction text to find facts and support their claims with evidence from their research. Guided Practice Another event that was important in Sacajaweas life was the birth of her son. Can you recall why this was important? Fill out the organizer at your seats: Event name, why it was important and what she accomplished by this. (the organizer will literally just be three columns with these headings) What did you write down? Sacagawea gives birth to Pomp, her son. Why is this an important event? Captain Clark forms a strong bond with her son. What did this accomplish? The birth of her son was a motivating factor in her journey. Great job! It is important to develop good research habits to make our writing more informative and to support our claims with evidence. Independent Practice Take out your informational text on your specific biography individual. Look through this and fill out the organizer for your book. Remember to fill in an event name, why it was important and what was accomplished. Please support any of your claims with evidence from your book. Closure Why do we use informational text as a research tool? Why is it important to support our claims in our writing? How will this change the way you write? How will you know students have been successful? You will know students have been successful if they draw evidence from informational text to support research and apply this to their own biographical writing.