Page 46 - CMS Grade 1 Field Test Sampler

Birds’ Amazing Bodies
Unit 2: Building Research Skills: Birds’ Bodies
During Unit 2, students engage in a variety of experiences as they answer the unit guiding question, “How do birds use their body parts to survive?” Throughout the unit, students read, write, talk, draw, experiment, and sing about two key bird body
parts: feathers and beaks. In the rst part of the unit, students continue to build their skills as researchers through whole group research anchored by the text Feathers: Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart. This whole class research process involves listening to the text read aloud, generating group notes and creating a shared writing piece in response to the research question: “How do birds use their feathers to survive?” In addition to the research about feathers, students continue to hone their scienti c drawing skills through the process of close viewing. Students further build their content knowledge and speaking and listening skills through a Science Talk.
In the second part of the unit, students engage in small group research using the text Beaks by Sneed B. Collard III. Again, students read, write, and talk about the text as they answer the research question: “How do birds use their beaks to survive?” Students continue close viewing and scienti c drawing, and they engage in series of “beak challenges.” Their learning from this portion of the unit culminates in a heavily supported individual writing piece about bird beaks, which is a sca old toward the Unit 2 Assessment. For the Unit 2 Assessment, students show their learning by writing an informational paragraph about a speci c body part and how that feature helps birds survive (W.1.2, W.1.7).
Guiding Questions and Big Ideas
How do birds use their body parts to survive?
■ Birds have specially designed body parts that help them survive.
How do we become researchers and share learning?
■ To write informative texts, writers must read, collect evidence, and discuss their knowledge.
The 4 T’s
TOPIC
Birds’ Bodies
(CCSS explicitly taught and assessed): W.1.2, W.1.7
Integrating Writing: Informational Writing Task
Feathers: Not Just for Flying; Beaks!
TARGETS
TASK
TEXT
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Unit 2: Overview