Thematic Unit - Lesson 3

Content Area: English & Animals

Grade Level: 4^th-5th

Language Level(s): 1 & 2

Nebraska English Language Proficiency Standards Addressed: LA.4.W.3

LA.4.W.5

Nebraska State Content Standards Addressed: ELP 4-5.3.L2

Topic of the Lesson & Rationale (Why is this important?): Allows students practice being descriptive in writing and prepare for the ELPA test in describing images and stories. 

Assets my MLs bring to the class: 

Students can tell their story in their home language for comprehension or use cognates. 

Materials Needed: 

• Animal photos 

• 5Ws Anchor chart 

• Whiteboard

• Journal 

• Sequence graphic organizer 

• Sequence video 

• Sequence story Activity 

Objectives(s)

Content Objective: SWBAT use the provided animal pictures to organize them into a coherent story, with 90% accuracy. 

Language Objective:  SWBAT write at least 2/4 complete sentences about the story, using correct punctuation and capitalization with 90% accuracy.

Cultural Objective: Students will be able to tie their home language and/or culture to influence their story and find cognates with similar vocabulary.

Vocabulary 

• 5 Ws – Who, what, where, when, why 

• Sequence – events, ideas, or steps in logical order

• Describe 

• Punctuation 

ESL Strategies Used:

• Modeling 

• Close-read Images – analyze written and visual texts by describing the images they see, at least with simple visuals of color and size 

• Think alouds

• Graphic organizers 

• Sentence starters

• Visuals

• Graphic organizer – sequence story

Questions:

For the images, ask:

• What do you see?

• Where are they?

• What's going on?

• What’s in the background?

• Who is there?

• When did this take place?

Looking at sequencing:

• Does this seem in the right order?

• How do you know how to order this?

Anticipatory Set

Animal Habitat Sequencing Activity

In small groups or independently, students will match the sentence with the image cut out in 1 minute. If at level 1, the teacher can read the sentences aloud, and students pair the images after hearing them. 

Review the correct pairs and their order. Tie and explain that it shows a short story with the image and a descriptive sentence describing the image. “We will be doing this today, creating a short story with images, putting them in order from first to last.”

Beginning of Lesson: I Do/We Do

Watch this video: https://youtu.be/aLjcs-m5uGE?si=XfJD5fws_kj-9oeo (time start- 2:39)

1. Explain that this demonstrates what we’ll be doing with story telling and sentence order. They showed pictures in a corresponding order, that’s a sequence, meaning to put something in it’s right order from first to last. It can also be first, second, third, or fourth. 

2. Using my cut-out images, students will put them in order from first to last with their shoulder partner. We will do think-alouds and describe what we see in each photo.

   1. 
   2. 5Ws anchor chart for questions they can ask about the photo

   3. Have question prompts and sentence frames on the board as well. 

   4. What happened to the baby elephant? What is the other elephant doing? 

3. After agreeing on the images and they are sequenced, model and create sentences for two of the images as examples. For the next sentences, they will give me the responses, and I will write them for them. 

   1. 1 – A baby elephant came home dirty. 2 – The mom elephant scrubs the baby with a brush. 3 – The mom elephant rinses the baby with her trunk. 4 – The mom and baby elephant hug. 

Middle of Lesson: You Do It Together 

With the next sequence photo, students will work with their partner to put the images in the right order, gluing them in each box from first to last. They will then create a list of words they see in the photos, using the 5 Ws to ask questions and write 2 sentences together. 

They can tell their story in their home language as an aid and translate it afterward to write.

End of the Lesson: You Do It Alone 

Students will now write the last two sentences for each image in the right order, completing all four.

The teacher will review the story for creativity and punctuation, ensuring it is in complete sentences & descriptive to the image.  

Assessment Statement: 

• Able to describe and provide adjectives for the photo (summative)

• Uses creativity and imagination (formative)

• In complete sentences and proper punctuation (summative)

• Can use the 5 Ws to answer and create observations (formative)

Closure: 

You can have students give a point of what they learned today, asking them what sequencing is.

They can share a short story about themselves, using first, second, and last, and tie it to their culture. 

“Next lesson, we will review compare and contrast through metamorphosis!”