Lessons & Units :: Genre 1st Grade Unit

Lesson 3: Identifying Information in Nonfiction

Lesson Plan

Nature's Food Chains: What Polar Animals Eat

Nature's Food Chains: What Polar Animals Eat
Learning Goal
Identify facts learned from a nonfiction text.
Duration
Approximately 50 minutes
Necessary Materials
Provided: Independent Practice Worksheet
Not Provided: Nature’s Food Chains: What Polar Animals Eat, Life Cycle of a Frog, Froggy Goes to School, nonfiction books at each student’s reading level

  • Teacher Modeling

    will review what we have learned about fiction and nonfiction books and how to identify them. I will explain that we read these texts differently. I will explain that nonfiction books give us information in words and pictures. I will also explain that it is very important to look at the pictures and all of the words, even if they are outside the main text. I will also explain that it is very important to stop and think about what you are learning after each page. I will model how to read and think about what I am learning from Nature’s Food Chains: What Polar Animals Eat, stopping on page 11. Note: Be sure to model how to read the labeled diagrams about the food chain.

  • Think Check

    Ask: "How did I identify what I learned from a nonfiction book?" Students should respond that you read the book and thought about the facts that are right there in the text.

  • Guided Practice

    will work together to read and discuss what we are learning from the rest of the book. We will discuss the text, pictures, and diagrams on each page.

  • Independent Practice

    will read a nonfiction book at your level and record one fact you learn from the text and one fact you learn from the pictures or diagrams. (Independent Practice Worksheet is provided.)

Build Student Vocabulary order

Tier 2 Word: order
Contextualize the word as it is used in the story A food chain shows the order of who eats what.
Explain the meaning student-friendly definition) An order is the sequence in which things are placed or chain in which things happen. A food chain shows the chain in which things are eaten.
Students repeat the word Say the word order with me: order.
Teacher gives examples of the word in other contexts Sometimes things are arranged in alphabetical order (beginning with “A”, going on to “B”, etc.). If something is in number order, the lowest numbers come first, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Our class schedule shows the order in which we do things during the day. The order in which we eat our dinner is usually to have the meat and vegetables first and eat dessert last. When we line up in order of our heights, we line up with the shortest person first and the tallest person last.
Students provide examples What is the order in which you get ready for bed? Start by saying, “The order in which I get ready for bed is……..”
Students repeat the word again. What word are we talking about? order
Additional Vocabulary Words connect, formed

Build Student Background Knowledge

Stop at page 16 of Nature's Food Chains. Ask students if they think it is strange to learn that walruses only eat plankton, even though they have large "teeth." Tell students that those "teeth" are tusks, and they are not for eating, but instead for digging into the ice to lift themselves out of the water. Walruses also use their tusks for combing the bottom of sea floor for clams. Their tusks can even be used as defensive weapons against larger animals.

Texts & Materials

Standards Alignment

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User Comments

I love this lesson for my first graders. They really enjoyed the lesson.

Submitted by brecooper on 10/10/16

I love this lesson for my first graders. They really enjoyed the lesson.

Submitted by brecooper on 10/10/16

I love this lesson for my first grade class. I really love the clear graphic organizers helping students identify features of non fiction

Submitted by rokids12_1181511 on 1/18/15