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Main Idea and Details
5th and 6th Grade Unit
Language Arts
By Stephanie Gothro, Jessica Kalvig and Lisa
Sobieniak
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Our Purpose
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Discuss the foundational pieces of our units
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Connect to the three shifts in the ELA standards
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Give an example of vertical collaboration and shared
resources
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Discuss using literature in units
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Unit Description
This unit focused on:
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students identifying main idea and
details
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developing a summary of a text
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answering and writing textdependent questions
+ ILF Overarching Understandings and
Essential Questions

Individual Realm- Creating
Balance
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Historical Realm- Unipkaat,
Quliaqtuat, and Uqaluktuat
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Community Realm- Elders
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Topical OU and EQ
 OU: Fluent
readers and writers use
appropriate strategies to construct
meaning for themselves and facilitate
meaning for an audience.
 EQ: What’s my strategy for reading this
text?
 EQ: How do I identify the main idea and
supporting details?
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NEW ELA STANDARDS
Goal- Embrace the shifts!

The first shift was to a focus on more
non-fiction text.
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The second was to include more
complex texts.
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The third shift was to focus on
text-dependent questions.
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Create Vertical Alignment
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Units were made in consecutive grades
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Focus: build on skills from previous
grades.

The difficulty of each skill increased by
using more complex-text.

Created common graphic organizers,
rubrics, and materials.
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Working Vertically
SAME

ILF OU’s and EQ’s
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Standard Strand
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DIFFERENT

Skills and Knowledge
(because of the text)
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Performance task (similar)

Learning experiences
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Literature
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Resources
Content area OU’s and EQ’s
Evaluative criteria (rubric)
Resources
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Using Common Organizers
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Working Vertically cont.
ADVANTAGES
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Collaborating- not alone
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Bounce ideas off of someone
who knows what your unit is
about
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Think and discuss vertical
connections
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Share resources, graphic
organizers, rubrics, and other
materials
DISADVANTAGES
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Would not be able to co-teach
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Text-Dependent Questions
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Students created and answered text-dependent
questions
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Unit culminated with the students taking on the
role of a teacher and creating their own text
dependent questions
Name _______________________________________________________
Date _________________________
Developing Text Dependent Questions
Question
#1
Main Idea and Details
Clearly focused on the Main idea and details
5-6 points
References the main idea and details
3-4 points
No clear connection to main ideas and details
0-2 points
Clearly Focused on the Main idea and details
#2
5-6 points
References the main idea and details
3-4 points
No clear connection to main ideas and details
Text-dependent
The answer to the
question depends
completely on the
text
3-4 points
The question could be
answered without
referencing the text
Mechanics
Grade level
accuracy on
grammar, spelling,
and punctuation.
2 points
0-2 points
The answer to the
question depends
completely on the
text
3-4 points
The question could be
answered without
referencing the text
Grade level
accuracy on
grammar, spelling,
and punctuation.
2 points
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Examples:
Answering Text-Dependent Questions for Rex Rock Sr.’s
Autobiography
 How
did Rex Rock Sr. learn Inupiaq when
he was growing up?
 How does Rex Rock Sr. describe respect
for the whale? What examples does he
give?
 How does Rex Rock Sr. describe the
feeling of “we” and not “I?”
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LITERATURE
 Heart
of the LA units
 The
context for which the
content is delivered
 Key to lining the standards with
the Inupiaq Learning
Framework (ILF)
 Piques
student interest
+ Literature Cont.
•
•
•
•
•
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Explores the lives of
eight native children of
Alaska.
A short history of each
culture is included
along with everyday
activities, interests, and
traditions.
Every child is linked to
his or her ancestry
through grandparents
or other elders who
pass on their way of
life.
RL 5.9 IL 3-6
Short 3-4 page
chapters
Excellent for teaching
nonfiction reading
strategies
High Interest Nonfiction
• Trapped, 15 p., RL, IL all ages
• Problem Solution
• Rich Text
Connections!
• Twenty-seven Alaska Natives talk
about their lives and their futures.
Their experiences reflect the impact of
the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act passed thirty years ago.
• Roll Models
• Published 2001
• Short Nonfiction text written in a
narrative style.
• Lots of possibilities for self reflective
Eqs
• RL 6.2 IL 6-12
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In the words of Maya Angelou…
“When I look back, I am so impressed
again with the life-giving power of
literature. If I were a young person
today, trying to gain a sense of myself
in the world, I would do that again by
reading, just as I did when I was
young.”