LISBON SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
UNIT DESIGN OUTLINE
Unit Title:
Unit 4: Informational Text
Unit Designers:
Maggie Bouthot, Audrey Corporon, Kendra O’ Connell & Ryan Patrie July 28,2010
Level(s):
Kindergarten
Time Span:
8-9 Weeks
Content Area:
Career Prep
English Language Arts
Health/PE
Mathematics
M&C Languages
Science & Tech
Social Studies
Visual & Perf. Arts
Summary of Unit:
Within the Workshop framework, students read, listen to, and discuss informational texts to help
them to think and learn about the natural world. This unit provides a more focused study of
nonfiction genre and its unique features. During reading instruction (read aloud, shared reading,
guided reading, and independent reading) students read, discuss, and share informational text.
Students recognize and use written language to get and share information about the world of
nature. With guided support, students are able to select appropriate texts to help them research a
specific topic (e.g. “growth” or “change”). In this unit, students will think critically about the
concepts of growth and change. (Teachers are encouraged to select appropriate science content
for integration into this unit.) Students will make observations, investigate and record their
learning. They will consider what they already know and build new learning about the world
through a wide variety of informational text, experiences and interactions. Students will include
new words from reading experiences in their writing. They will write (journal entries, brief
descriptions, labels, diagrams) to inform their teacher and peers (target audience) on real-life
topics connected to growth and change. Continued emphasis on word study and guided reading
will further promote increased reading, writing and speaking skills.
Content Standards/Performance Indicators:
MLR
Reading
A.1. Interconnected Elements: Students read texts, within a grade appropriate span of text
complexity, and apply their knowledge and strategies of comprehension, vocabulary, alphabetics,
and fluency
a. Use comprehension strategies to understand texts within a grade appropriate span of
text complexity.
b. Students develop vocabulary using knowledge of word parts and relationships.
c. Students demonstrate phonemic awareness and use phonics to decode new words.
Notices relationship between known letters and sounds as they relate to special, key
words. (L.Dorn, 2001)
A.2. Literary Texts: Students read fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry, within a grade
appropriate span of text complexity.
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b. Retell the sequence of events and include essential details.
Sequences events such as life cycles, seasons, day/night, etc.
A.3. Informational Texts: Students read informational texts, within a grade appropriate span of
text complexity, for different purposes
a. Ask and answer relevant questions.
b. Restate facts from text.
Common Core Reading Standards
RL.K.4: Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
RL.K.9: With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of
characters in familiar stories.
RF.K.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
a. Demonstrate basic knowledge of letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary
or most frequent sound for each consonant.
b. Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five
major vowels.
c. Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do,
does).
d. Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that
differ.
RF.K.4: Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.
RI.K.1: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
RI.K.2: With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of 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.5: Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.
RI.K.6: Name the author and illustrator of a text and define the role of each in presenting the
ideas or information 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, thing, 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.
RI.K 9: With prompting and support, identify basic similarities in and differences between two
texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).
RI.K.10: Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
MLR
Writing
B.1. Interconnected Elements: Students use the writing process to communicate their ideas.
a. Select a focus for writing and develop an idea, including a beginning, middle, and end.
B.2. Narrative: Students write stories that describe an experience.
a. Include descriptive details that enable the reader to create mental images..
B.3. Argument/Analysis Expository: Students write to inform on a specific topic.
a. Students write brief descriptions of objects, people, places, or events.
b. Students record, in writing, and share information gathered.
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Common Core Writing Standards
W.K.1: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in
which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an
opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is...).
W.K.2: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose
informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some
information about the topic.
W.K.3: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several
loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a
reaction to what happened.
W.K.6: With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and
publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
W.K.8: With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather
information from provided sources to answer a question.
MLR
Language
D.1. Grammar and Usage: Students demonstrate an understanding of the parts of speech and
simple sentence structures to communicate.
a. Identify and use nouns and verbs correctly.
b. Use simple sentences.
D.2. Mechanics: Students apply the rules of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling to
communicate.
b. Capitalize proper nouns and words at the beginning of sentences.
c. Use periods, question marks, and exclamation points.
d. Spell high frequency grade-level words.
e. Use phonic patterns to aid spelling .
Common Core Language Standards
L.K.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when
writing or speaking.
a. Print many upper- and lowercase letters.
b. Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs.
c. Form regular plural nouns orally by adding /s/ or /es/ (e.g., dog, dogs; wish, wishes).
d. Understand and use question words (interrogatives) (e.g., who, what, where, when, why,
how).
e. Use the most frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by,
with).
f. Produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities.
L.K.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling when writing.
a. Capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I.
b. Recognize and name end punctuation.
c. Write a letter or letters for most consonant and short-vowel sounds (phonemes).
d. Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships.
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MLR
Listening and Speaking
E.2. Speaking: Students use speaking skills to communicate.
b. Make simple presentations using eye contact.
c. Students use voice level appropriate to the situation.
Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards
SL.K.3: Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something
that is not understood. Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
SL.K.5: Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional
detail.
SL.K.6: Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.
MLR
Science
Skills and Traits of Scientific Inquiry and Technological Design
B.1. Skills and Traits of Scientific Inquiry. Students conduct and communicate results of
simple investigations.
a. Ask questions and make observations about objects, organisms, and events in the
environment.
e. Use writing, speaking, and drawing to communicate investigations and explanations.
MLR The Physical Setting
D.2. Earth: Students describe Earth’s weather and surface materials and the different ways they
change.
b. Describe the way in which weather changes over months.
MLR The Living Environment
E.1. Biodiversity: Students describe similarities and differences in the observable behaviors,
feathers, and needs of plants and animals.
a. Describe similarities and differences in the way plants and animals look and the things
that they do.
Key Pre-Requisites:
(Before beginning this unit, students should know/understand/be able to…)
Knowledge:
 Understand the procedures for Readers and Writers Workshops
 Understand basic print concepts
 Increased awareness of rhyming, word patterns, and high frequency words
 Understand the role of author and illustrator
Skills:
 Retell sequence of story events, including details
 Identify beginning, middle and end of story
 Identify setting and character
 Recognize and produce rhyming words
 Read and write appropriate high frequency words
 Apply focus of mini-lessons to reading and writing experiences
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Enduring Understandings:
 Factual information about the natural world can be obtained from printed materials, and
visual aides.
Essential Questions that Guide and Focus This Unit:
 How does informational text help the learner gain knowledge and understanding about
our natural world?
Key Knowledge and Skills students will acquire as a result of this unit:
Knowledge:
 Increase awareness of different strategies to solve unknown words as related to
informational text
 Understand the unique structure of informational text
 Understand the difference between informational (non-fiction) and fiction texts
Skills:
 Add to previous appropriate grade level high frequency words (read and write)
 Apply improved skills from mini-lessons to reading and writing activities as related to
informational text
 Independently read appropriately leveled informational text
 Apply various reading strategies to informational text
How will students provide evidence of their understandings? (Be specific)
(Formal and informal assessments – please be specific)
 Clay’s Observation Survey (all five subtests)
 Fact or Fiction Common Assessment
 Common Writing Assessment Topic: An Animal
 Informal Teacher Observation
Teaching And Learning Experiences Used To Help Students Understand:
(Activities, varied grouping structures, etc.)
 Hook: Take a spring walk on the Lisbon Walking Path. Use observations made on the
walk in stories.
 Whole, small, individual groupings
 Multi-sensory approach to demonstrate the letter/sound connection, letter/word
connection
 Expand oral phonological awareness to written phonological awareness
 Journal Writing
 Morning Message
 Language Experience Stories
 Guided Writing
 Interactive Writing
 Shared Writing
 Story Rewrites
 Author Circle
 Writing Small Moments
 Field Trips
 Writing information books (example: All About Dogs Book)
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

Readers and Writers Workshops - mini-lesson, independent and guided practice, share
Teach reading and writing strategies through modeling and demonstration using readalouds, independent and shared reading, interactive and shared writing, guided and
independent reading, guided and independent writing focusing on informational text
Provisions for Extending Learning:
 Expand scientific vocabulary
 Demonstrate increased word/sentence connection
 Independent research on chosen topic
How will technology be used to increase student achievement? (Be specific)
 Technology will be used to practice and reinforce listening, speaking skills, reading and
writing skills. With guidance and support, students will access learning websites in the
computer lab, such as Starfall.
 Websites, audio and video recordings
Instructional Resources:
 Houghton Mifflin – WOW program non-fiction selections
 Phonics Lessons – Fountas and Pinnell
 Non-fiction Leveled Readers
 Lucy Calkins – Launching the Writers Workshop, Small Moments: Personal Narrative
Writing, The Conferring Handbook
 Fountas, McCarrier, Pinnell – Interactive Writing
 Fountas, Pinnell – Guided Reading
 Informational Text
 Websites (www.kidsnationalgeographic.com; www.pbskids.org; www.kidsplanet.org )
 Audio and video recordings
 Non-fiction Big Books
 Scholastic News / Let’s Find Out Kindergarten Issues
Attach a copy of the unit assessment, including a STANDARDS-BASED rubric or criteria for
evaluation of student achievement.
Clay’s Observation Survey (all five subtests)
Fact or Fiction Common Assessment
Common Writing Assessment Topic: An Animal
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