Animals in Winter {Close Reading Lesson Aligned to Common Core}

Learning Objective: The goal of this 4-5 day lesson is to give students the opportunity to use the reading and writing strategies they’ve acquired to tackle a complex text about how animals adapt to survive in the winter. By reading and rereading the passage closely and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussion about the text, students will answer the question “What do animals do in winter to survive?” Students will draw pictures and use words to describe the concepts of migrate, hibernate, store food, and hunt for food.

Text Selection: This informational text from Henrietta Bancroft & Richard G. Van Gelder has a Lexile of 380, but is rich in information appropriate for a kindergarten read aloud. While the sentence length is short, the concepts of hibernation, migration, storing food for the winter and hunting for food are clearly compared and contrasted and offers Kindergarteners an opportunity for rich understanding of these scientific term.

Outline of Lesson Plan: This lesson can be delivered in 4-5 days of instruction and reflection on the part of students and their teacher. Reasons for extending the discussion of Animals in Winter to more than 4 whole group lessons include taking more time to unpack the complex scientific understandings by taking more time to look closely at academic vocabulary, or even working at greater length with the writing prompt for opportunities to revise and edit student writing.

Learning Goals:
RI.K.1 – With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key ideas in a text.
RI.K.3 – With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
RI.K.4 – With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
RI.K.7 – With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, things, or idea in the text an illustration depicts).
RI.K.8 - With prompting and support, identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text.
W.K.2 – Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.
W.K.8 – With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
SL.K.1 – Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
SL.K.2 – Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.
L.K.2 – Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.
L.K.4 – Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on kindergarten reading and content.
L.K.6 – Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.