Integrated Lang Arts and Astronomy Unit

Integrated Thematic Unit

Astronomy in Language Arts

Christie Cutshall

Unit Overview: This unit is a language arts unit centered around the topic of astronomy. We will be covering text features in non-fiction texts and biographies. I have chosen to create this unit about astronomy because it is a very high interest topic among my students. Including cross-curricular ties in my instruction allows me to teach more content and kill two birds with one stone. Getting students interested in something is an important first step in getting them to really love learning. The unit is designed for third and fourth graders, but could be differentiated up or down a few grade levels.

Reading Pre-Assessment: Conference with all the students individually to assess them on their reading ability with non-fictions astronomy texts. Have them read aloud and answer questions about what they read to assess their current reading ability and skill-set. Determine student and whole class needs. Take anecdotal notes that can be referenced throughout the unit and during the post-assessment.

Lesson 1- Copernicus
Content Area: Science/History		Grade: 3-4	Duration: 1 hour
Standards and Benchmarks:	Common Core SL.3.2 Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud. Colorado Model Content Standards in Science: Earth Science Systems: Fourth Grade: Earth is part of the solar system, which includes the Sun, Moon, and other bodies that orbit the Sun in predictable patterns that lead to observable paths of objects in the sky as seen from Earth.
Objectives:	Can I demonstrate the difference between heliocentric and geocentric solar systems using my model?
Resources and Materials:	Nicholas Copernicus and the Founding of Modern Astronomy by Todd Goble Various materials for students to use to create their models www.wordle.net
Teaching the Lesson:	1.     Anticipatory set: Activating astronomy background knowledge: Have students write down a list of words that they already associate with astronomy. Compile a class list of words. Take this list of words and create a Wordle word cloud with it. This will show the class what they already know about astronomy as a whole. This is what the wordle might look like. The bigger the word, the more kids put that word in their list. 2.     Discuss the learning objective so students know why we are learning what we are learning. Discuss what they already know about the topic to activate background knowledge.  3.     Read aloud Nicholas Copernicus and the Founding of Modern Astronomy by Todd Goble. Discuss the book throughout the read aloud. Emphasize that Copernicus is the father of modern astronomy and what we study in astronomy today is largely thanks to him. It only makes sense to start our unit with him. 4.     Using the book, explain the difference between heliocentric and geocentric solar system models. 5.     Heliocentric- Sun centered solar system model adopted by     Copernicus. 6.     Geocentric- Earth centered solar system model believed to be true in Copernicus’ time. 7.     Assign one student to be the sun, one to be the earth, and several others to be planets. Guide them through acting out both solar system models. 8.     Allow students to select any materials they want to create their own models of the solar system. They can act it out with kids, draw it on paper, use shoes or books or other inanimate objects. This is a creative demonstration of understating. 9.     Allow students to present their solar systems to the class. 10. Re-visit and discuss the learning objective.
Differentiation:	Place students that need extra help into small groups with other students that can help them. Encourage talented and gifted students to select a less traditional way of creating their solar systems.
Assessment:	Assess the models student created for accurate response and creativity.

Lesson 2- Non-Fiction Text Features
Content Area: Reading		Grade: 3-4	Duration: 45 minutes
Standards and Benchmarks:	Common Core RI.3.5 Use text features and search tools to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently. Common Core RI.3.7 Use information gained from illustrations and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text.
Objectives:	Can I identify different text features and locate specific information in non-fiction books using those text features? Can I list facts about the planets in our solar system using my book?
Resources and Materials:	The Solar System by Rosalind Mist  Assorted other astronomy non-fiction books
Teaching the Lesson:	1.     Anticipatory Set- 2.     Discuss the learning objective so students know why we are learning what we are learning. Discuss what they already know about the topic to activate background knowledge.  3.     Show students The Solar System by Rosalind Mist Explain that you do not read non-fiction books like this from cover to cover. You are usually skimming or looking for specific information. 4.     Walk through this book and show students all the different kids of text features: Table of contents Headings and sub headings Pictures and picture captions Bold vocabulary words Glossary Index 5.     Pass out assorted astronomy non-fiction books, one for each student. Direct them to explore and find each of the text features in their own book, since these can look different in different books. 6.     Have students share aloud what they learned about space while they were looking at text features. 7.     Re-visit and discuss the learning objective.
Differentiation:	Adjust the reading level of the non-fiction books to match the students. Lower for students who struggle and higher for students that need to be challenged.
Assessment:	Have students answer the learning objective question on a piece of paper to be turned in. What are different types of text features and what do they help me find in a non-fiction book? They need to answer and explain to show their understanding.

Lesson 3- Determining Important Information
Content Area: Reading		Grade: 3-4	Duration: 1 hour
Standards and Benchmarks:	Common Core RI.3.5 Use text features and search tools to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
Objectives:	Can I determine what information is most important in a non-fiction book using text features? Can I explain facts about space that I found interesting using my book?
Resources and Materials:	Smart Words Readers about space by Scholastic Walnut shell Smart Words Readers pages photocopied Scissors Plastic bottle caps
Teaching the Lesson:	1.     Anticipatory Set- Show the students a walnut shell. Ask if any of them have heard of the idiom “in a nutshell.” Read aloud a whole page of text from one of the astronomy Smart Words Readers. Ask the students if they were to write down all of those words how many would fit inside this nutshell. Answer- only a few. When we say “in a nutshell” we are giving just the main idea: the most important big concept. Not all of the details, dates and facts. 2.     Discuss the learning objective so students know why we are learning what we are learning. Discuss what they already know about the topic to activate background knowledge.  3.     When you are determining the most important information in a piece of text you can’t include everything. Here are some questions to help you determine the most important information. Are you looking for a specific answer? If you had to tell me about what you read in one sentence what would it be? What is the main idea and what are the details? 4.     As a class, determine the most important information of the page you already read aloud. 5.     Give every student a photocopied page of a smart reader, a pair of scissors, and a plastic water bottle cap. Tell them that they are going to read this page, cut out the words, determine what is most important, and see if it fits in their “nutshell” (bottle cap.) If it doesn’t fit, they need to cut out more. Have students share when they are done. 6.     Have students share aloud what they learned about space while they were looking for the most important information. 7.     Re-visit and discuss the learning objective.
Differentiation:	Give students different levels of text to work with.
Assessment:	Have students answer the learning objective question on a piece of paper to be turned in. How do I determine what information is most important in a non-fiction book using text features? They need to answer and explain to show their understanding.

Lesson 4- Note Taking
Content Area: Writing		Grade: 3-4	Duration: 1 hour
Standards and Benchmarks:	Common Core W.3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. Common Core W.3.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
Objectives:	Can I create a graphic organizer to arrange the information I learn about space in a way that makes sense to me? Can I give important information about space using my graphic organizer?
Resources and Materials:	Smart Words Readers about space by Scholastic Big pieces of paper Markers
Teaching the Lesson:	1.     Anticipatory Set- Re-visit determining important information from the last lesson. Explain that when you take notes, you only need to write down important information. 2.     Discuss the learning objective so students know why we are learning what we are learning. Discuss what they already know about the topic to activate background knowledge.  3.     Brainstorm as a class how we could collect our notes. Draw several graphic organizers on the whiteboard. 4.     Model taking notes of NOT important information. 5.     Model taking notes on every single fact: too much information. 6.     Model what the right amount of notes looks like. 7.     Put students in groups to read a book and take notes together on a large piece of paper. They need to create their own graphic organizer or use one of the organizers you created as a class. 8.     Have students share their findings. 9.     Re-visit and discuss the learning objective.
Differentiation:	Place students in mixed ability groups so that the gifted students can be teachers and help the struggling students.
Assessment:	Have students complete a self-assessment of how they think they did working with their group. Also have them assess each of their group members (anonymously.)  Assess their posters and presentations.

Lesson 5- Summaries
Content Area: Writing		Grade: 3-4	Duration: 1 ½ hours
Standards and Benchmarks:	Common Core W.3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. Common Core W.3.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
Objectives:	Can I construct a summary paragraph using my note taking and determining important information skills? Can I explain how astronauts live in space using the book Floating in Space?
Resources and Materials:	Floating in Space by Franklyn M Branley Other assorted books about astronauts Graphic organizer worksheets
Teaching the Lesson:	1.     Anticipatory Set- revisit the “in a nutshell” idiom. Explain that sometimes the “nutshells” are different sizes. Most of the time they are tiny, like our plastic water bottle caps. Sometimes they are the size of a bicycle helmet. You can fit more information in this nutshell, but still not all the information. 2.     Discuss the learning objective so students know why we are learning what we are learning. Discuss what they already know about the topic to activate background knowledge.  3.     Tell the kids that everything we have been learning is building on top. So today we are going to read a non-fiction book, Floating in Space by Franklyn M Branley, determine important information, take notes on it, and then write a summary paragraph. 4.     Hand out already created graphic organizers to the students. Release them to read and take notes in partners. Then bring everyone back together and write the summary paragraph as a class. 5.     Writing on demand assessment- Now give every pair of students a new book on astronauts and have them read, take notes, and write a summary paragraph to be turned in and graded. 6.     Re-visit and discuss the learning objective.
Differentiation:	Require gifted students to do more than one paragraph. Pull struggling students to the back table and write the paragraph all together for extra modeling and scaffolding.
Assessment:	Assess students’ summary paragraphs for content accuracy and correct construction of the summary.

Lesson 6- Biographies
Content Area: Reading		Grade: 3-4	Duration: 1 ½ hours
Standards and Benchmarks:	Common Core RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text, recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea. Common Core W.3.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
Objectives:	Can I find and describe the different parts of a biography book? Can I explain why different astronauts were important using biographies about them?
Resources and Materials:	Mae Jemison: a Space Biography by Della A. Yannuzzi Assorted biographies about important people in space sciences All About Me worksheet Paper and art supplies
Teaching the Lesson:	1.     Anticipatory Set- Pass out the All About Me worksheet to students and have them fill it out. (Contains information such as name, age, hair color, number of siblings, favorites, etc.) Students get to color and create art on these sheets. Tell students if they wrote a book with this kind of information they would be writing a biography. (Well, an autobiography)                A biography is a book about a person’s life. 2.     Discuss the learning objective so students know why we are learning what we are learning. Discuss what they already know about the topic to activate background knowledge.  3.     Biographies contain information about people’s lives. 4.     Read aloud the biography of Mae Jemison. Discuss important parts of biographies like important facts about that person. As a class create an All About Me poster for Mae. 5.     Put students in groups and assign each group an important space scientist. Have groups make an All About Me poster for their scientist. Have students present their posters. 6.     Re-visit and discuss the learning objective.
Differentiation:	Place students in mixed ability groups so that the gifted students can be teachers and help the struggling students.
Assessment:	Have students complete a self-assessment of how they think they did working with their group. Also have them assess each of their group members (anonymously.)  Assess their posters and presentations.

Lesson 7- Point of View
Content Area: Writing		Grade: 3-4	Duration:
Standards and Benchmarks:	Common Core RI.3.6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.
Objectives:	Can I write about one real event from two different points of view? Can I explain what it was like when Apollo 11 landed on the moon?
Resources and Materials:	Moonshot by Brian Floca The Moon Over Star by Diana Hutts Aston
Teaching the Lesson:	1.     Anticipatory Set- Watch the Brain Pop video on Apollo 11. 2.     Discuss the learning objective so students know why we are learning what we are learning. Discuss what they already know about the topic to activate background knowledge.  3.     Read aloud both books about Apollo 11. Discuss how both books are about the same event: Apollo 11 going to the moon. But both books are written from different points of view. One is written from the point of view of a little girl (Mae Jemison) and the other is written from the point of view of the astronauts. 4.     There are different ways to write information text about the same event. We are going to practice writing from different points of view using silly stories. 5.     Have students write a story about walking their dog. Let students share. 6.     Now have students write a story about walking their dog from their dog’s perspective. Are both stories about the same event? Yes! But they ended up being very different stories. 7.     Re-visit and discuss the learning objective.
Differentiation:	Challenge students to write a story from two different points of view, or more, about something space themed.
Assessment:	Have students answer the learning objective question on a piece of paper to be turned in. Can I write about one real event from two different points of view? They need to answer and explain to show their understanding.

End of Language Arts Unit Assessment: Individually conference with students on non-fictions astronomy texts. Have them read aloud and answer questions about what they read to assess their reading growth from the beginning of the unit.

End of Science Unit Assessment: Have students create a list of words they now associate with astronomy. Assess student demonstration of mastery in coming up with relevant astronomy words. Then compile a class list. Put that class list into a Wordle word cloud. Show they class both words clouds, beginning and end of unit, to show them how much they have learned in these units. Hopefully there are many more words that are more scientific. Here is what it might look like: