Integrated Language Arts Unit
Proposal
RDG 589
Allison Vicino
2/24/09
I.
II.
Title: Rocks and Minerals
Intended Audience: This unit is intended for third grade students in a small suburban school.
The classroom and school follow the inclusion model for special needs students, so the
materials are differentiated to meet the needs of all students. The unit is designed so that
students of all levels are able to meet the science GLE objectives and CMT correlations
from the Connecticut Science Standard 3.3 as well as several reading, writing, and social
studies standards.
III.
Goals and Objectives:
Teachers at the third grade level are responsible for all areas of the curriculum. All
classes are self-contained, so an integrated unit helps teachers to address several of the
standards they are responsible for at one time. It also helps the students to see the
connections between all academic areas instead of seeing them as separate entities.
Big Ideas
Academic Literacy
Science/ Social Studies
-Non-fiction texts provide a way to find answers -Rocks and Minerals can be found around the
to unknown questions.
United States and vary depending on the
conditions present in that location
-Writing in a variety of formats not only helps
with communication of information, but also
assists in the learning process
Essential Questions
Academic Literacy
Science/ Social Studies
I. How can we find answers to questions we
I. What is the difference between rocks and
may have about science and social studies
minerals?
topics?
II. How are rocks and minerals classified?
II. What reading strategies can be used to help
with understanding non-fiction texts?
III. How can we find out what type of rock or
mineral something is?
III. What writing strategies can be used to help
with understanding non-fiction texts?
IV. How are rocks and minerals formed?
IV. What oral communication skills are
important when sharing information with
others?
V. Are different types of rocks and minerals
found in different places around the United
States?
Enduring Understandings
Academic Literacy
Science/ Social Studies
I. Text features including: titles, indexes,
I. Minerals are the building blocks of rocks.
tables of contents, summary pages, and
All rocks are made up of one or more
book flaps can help in deciding if a text is
minerals. Minerals are inorganic, naturally
appropriate for the intended purpose.
occurring, have specific repeating patterns of
Non-fiction text features such as a table of
atoms of elements, and have the same
contents, index, diagrams, tables and
chemical makeup wherever they are found.
charts are all helpful ways to find answers II. Minerals are classified into specific types.
to questions. Internet resources and
22 are elements, and the others are
search engines are also helpful places to
combinations of elements. Rocks are
look for answers to questions through the
use of key words and phrases.
II. Reading strategies essential to
understanding non-fiction text are:
determining what is important,
synthesizing new information with old,
making connections, and drawing
inferences.
III. Writing strategies that are helpful in
understanding non-fiction text are
journals, learning logs, quick writes, note
taking, micro themes, bio poems, ABC
lists, graphic organizers, word maps, and
sentence synthesis
IV. Effective oral communicators are able to
paraphrase information shared by others;
express main ideas and supporting details
clearly; as well as present ideas with
clarity, voice, and fluency.
IV.
classified by the way they are formed:
Igneous, Sedimentary, Metamorphic.
III. Scientists have tests for minerals that
include: hardness, luster, magnetic
properties, color, cleavage, crystal shape,
whether or not it glows under an ultra violet
light, and specific gravity.
Scientists can find out what type of rock a
specimen is through how it is formed and
what minerals make it up.
IV. 22 minerals are elements found naturally on
the earth’s surface. Rocks can be formed by
heat and pressure (metamorphic), cooling
magma (igneous), and the layering of
sediments (sedimentary).
V. The regions of the United States have
different physical features that are made of
different rocks and minerals. Locations
where there are active or recently active
volcanoes are rich in igneous rocks,
locations with a lot of water nearby may
have a lot of sedimentary rocks,
metamorphic rocks are formed below the
earth’s surface so they can be found where
uplift and erosion have occurred.
Relevance:
a. Professional Development Needs/Teaching In this ever-changing field with student and teacher demands constantly
increasing, it is imperative that teachers are able to create and teach integrated units of
study. These units of study help teachers to cover standards in multiple subjects while
engaging the students in their classroom. Integrated units also help the teacher to
differentiate instruction so that all students are able to achieve the standards at their own
level.
The creation of this rocks and minerals integrated unit is an excellent
professional development opportunity because it allows for expansion of the current
science curriculum to include reading, writing and social studies standards. This unit
also allows for student exploration not only through hands on inquiries, but also through
reading and writing inquires. Exposure to multiple types of inquiry experiences helps to
prepare students for later on in life. It helps them to foster their own natural curiosities
while helping teachers to explore and discover the different ways that students can learn.
This unit is also a great professional development opportunity for me as a Math
Science Partnership grand instructional coach. Currently I am coaching teachers of all
grade levels in Deep River about science and the inquiry teaching process. This unit
effectively answers the question I get so often about finding time to teach all of the
science Grade Level Expectations while also meeting the increasing reading and writing
demands. If teachers are able to experience a fully integrated unit and see for
themselves the ways that they can address multiple standards while increasing student
motivation, then they are more likely to persue teaching other integrated units, or
developing some of their own.
b. Curriculum Frameworks- This unit addresses many language arts standards as well as
standards in science and social studies.
i. Language Arts: Throughout this unit students will be reading and writing about
rocks and minerals through non-fiction texts and in turn sharing the information
they learned with the class.
1. Readinga. Reading and Responding 1.3
15. Use glossary, dictionary to find and confirm word meanings
16. Use prior knowledge, context, pictures, illustrations and diagrams to
predict, clarify and/or expand word meaning, including multiple meaning
words.
17. Use new vocabulary from informational/expository text and
literary/narrative text, including text from a variety of cultures and
communities in oral and written communication
18. Define words and concepts necessary for understanding math, science,
social studies, literature and other content area text.
b. Before Reading: Reading and Responding 1.1, 1.2
19. Choose the appropriate text for a specific purpose
c. During Reading: Reading and Responding 1.2, 1.2 Exploring and responding
2.1, 2.2, 2.3
25. Identify specific words or phrases that cause comprehension
difficulties and self-monitor
27. Interpret graphical information, e.g., charts, tables, diagrams
d. After Reading: Reading and Responding 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, Exploring and
Responding to Literature 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4
General Understanding32. State the main idea with supporting details in informational text
Developing an Interpretation37. Interpret meaning based on charts, graphs, maps, illustrations, photos
in text.
38. Identify and explain text structures, e.g., sequence, main idea/details,
compare/contrast, cause and effect
Content and Structure40. Select, synthesize, and use relevant information from a text to include
an extension or response to the text, e.g., journal response, questions to
ask the author, points to include in a speech.
2. Writing
a. Expository
39. Write a report to explain a topic, citing one source.
40. Write three or more paragraphs, maintaining focus on a specific topic
and using a variey of sentence beginnings.
41. Describe procedures sequentially, e.g., steps in a scientific
experiment, mathematical problem, recipe
42. Summarize through the sue of charts and graphs
b. Persuasive
43. Write two or more paragraphs, stating an opinion and supporting that
opinion with details.
c. Poetic
V.
46. Write a free verse poem, e.g., repeated sentence beginnings: If I were
to change the world
Reading CMT Strand Focus: This unit of study will engage students in strands A,
B, C, and D of the reading strands. Because strands C and D are typically lower
in our districts as with districts around Connecticut, they will be the primary
focus including:
Strand C1: Make Connections between the text and outside experiences
and knowledge and
Strand D2: Select, synthesize and/or use relevant information within
the texts to extend or evaluate the texts.
ii. Science: This unit fully covers all of the Grade Level Expectations of science
standard 3.3 The Changing Earth- Earth materials have different physical and
chemical properties. State framework 3.3.a. states: Rocks and minerals have
properties that may be identified through observation and testing; these
properties determine how earth materials are used.
Science CMT Strand FocusStrand B5. Describe the physical properties of rocks and relate them to
their potential uses.
Strand B6. Relate the properties of rocks to the possible environmental
conditions during their formation.
iii. Social Studies: Our current social studies curriculum for third grade is Regions
of the United States. We do not have a formal curriculum for this topic, so it is
up to the teachers to decide how and what should be taught. Integrating regions
into this unit will help students to synthesize all the knowledge they have gained
about the United States’ regions to investigate and draw conclusions about earth
materials.
1. Historical/Social Studies Literacy- competence in literacy, inquiry, and
research skills necessary to analyze, interpret, and present history and
social studies information
a. Explain grade appropriate content area vocabulary
b. Answer questions about grade level content, texts, charts, and
graphs
c. Use maps, charts, and internet sources to gather information.
Rationale based on current research:
Rocks and minerals can seem like a daunting subject for many teachers. This is because so
frequently, the teachers themselves do not understand the relationship between the two. There
definitions of the two are not finite, but are rather full of exceptions. For example, rocks are usually
described as consisting of one or more minerals, but there are some rocks that contain only one
mineral. Minerals are described as having a uniform pattern, however some minerals can look very
different and still be the same mineral. Teachers often fear kids will ask too many questions and
they will not know the answers. I believe it is important that the teachers have some background
knowledge before engaging students in learning experience, but also that they are able to say “I
don’t know, let’s research that together.” When students realize that teachers don’t know
everything all the time, they are able to learn from that experience. Students not only see teachers
as real people, but are also able to form connections through a shared learning experience.
An article on rocks and minerals from 2005 from Geology: The Active Earth outlines the
general criteria for rocks and minerals. The criteria is listed in terms that are easily understood for
teachers of all levels of scientific understanding and would be helpful background knowledge for
anyone embarking on the task of teaching this unit.
Using writing as a learning and assessment tool is a major focus of this integrated unit. One
article entitle, “Writing to learn across the curriculum: Tools for comprehension in content area
classes” focuses on a range of writing strategies that can be used to help students better understand
content area texts. Knipper and Duggan state that, “Writing to learn is an opportunity for students
to recall, clarify, and question what they know about a subject and what they still wonder about
with regard to that subject matter.” (462) This is a key point because it is imperative that students
learn that they are never done learning. There is always more to wonder, always more to
investigate. When students understand that they will never know all the answers and that their
teachers don’t necessarily know all the answers, they are becoming life long learners. As teachers,
it is important to teach the key aspects of finding the answers to new wonders, not just memorizing
facts. The authors discuss the role of assessment in the article referring to rubrics and checklists
that can be created in order to, “guide student writers toward successful completion of a specific
writing task… [while also encouraging] writers to be more self-directed in their mastery of content
learning.”(464) These strategies help students to not only understand what their expectations are,
but also helps them to maintain responsibility over them.
Scientific experimenting, reading and writing will be the basis for this inquiry unit. This unit
will constantly require students to record in their science notebooks. These notebooks will not only
contain procedures and hypotheses, but also writing tasks including guided writing, learning logs,
quick writes, structured note taking, micro themes, framed paragraphs (for those students in need of
that type of structure), sentence synthesis, word maps, bio poems, and ABC lists. These pieces of
writing help students to make sense and think metacognitively about what they understand from
both their experimentations as well as their reading. It will also help them to recognize what they
are still confused on or wondering about. Because they are a part of a science notebook, they can
also constantly evolve as the student’s learning evolves.
Writing can also be an engaging assessment tool as described in the Science and Children
article entitled Scientific Journals: A Creative Assessment Tool. In this article students write
articles for a class scientific journal. Students love creating pieces of writing that will be published
in a class book. Using content area texts and creative writing strategies help students to share all of
their learning with other students. In order to effectively communicate learning students will need
to share data and use proper vocabulary terms to describe their work. This unit will end in a formal
assessment that requires students to share their learning through writing meeting criteria that the
class decides on. The class will create their own rubric of expectations that they must follow when
creating a scientific journal.
VI.
Overview of Unit Materials:
Research Articles:
Beckstead, L., (Nov. 2008) Scientific Journals: A creative assessment tool. Science and Children.
22-26.
Duggan, T., & Knipper K., ( 2006) Writing to learn across the curriculum: Tools for comprehension
in content area classes. The Reading Teacher. 462-470.
Ebert, J. & Elliott, N. (2002) Mr. Chalkentalk’s Cupbord- Practical Lessons for Preservice Teachers
in Rock and Mineral Identification and the Management of Teaching Collections. Journal of
Geoscience Education. 182-185.
Rocks and Minerals (2005) Geology: The Active Earth. 17-19.
Cyber Lesson Focus Text:
Phelan, G. (2004) Earth Science: Rocks and Minerals. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic
Supporting Texts:
Bell, P., & Wright, D. (1985) Macmillan Field Guides: Rocks and Minerals. New York:
Macmillan.
Cefrey, H. (2003) Gems. New York: PowerKids Press.
Cefrey, H. (2003) Igneous Rocks. New York: PowerKids Press.
Cefrey, H. (2003) Metamorphic Rocks. New York: PowerKids Press.
Cefrey, H. (2003) Sedimentary Rocks. New York: PowerKids Press.
Cole, J. (1987) Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth. New York: Scholastic.
Firestone, M. ( 2005) Rock. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press.
Gans. R. (1997) Let’s Go Rock Collecting. New York: Harper Collins.
Graham., I. (2005) Rocks: A Resource Our World Depends On. Chicago, IL: Heinemann.
Kittinger, J.S. (1997) A Look at Rocks From Coal to Kimberlite. New York: Franklin Watts.
Olson, D. (1996) Exploring Earth’s Treasures. Chicago, IL: Kidsbooks Inc.
Ostopowich, M. (2005) Science Matters: Rocks. New York: Weigl Publishers Inc.
Parsons, J. (2001) Red-Hot Rocks!. Barrington, IL: Rigby.
Whyman, K. (2005) Rocks & Minerals and The Enviornment. Mankato, MN: Stargazer.
Student Websites to be used in the Cyberlesson as well as other inquiries:
Quarryville- Exploring Rocks and Minerals:
http://www.tarmac.co.uk/quarryville/rockQuarry/index.html
Rocks for Kids:
http://www.rocksforkids.com/
Rock Hounds- Discover How Rocks are Formed:
http://sln.fi.edu/fellows/payton/rocks/create/index.html
Fast Facts about Rocks and Fossils:
http://www.childrensmuseum.org/geomysteries/faq1_alt.html
Geology for Kids:
http://www.kidsgeo.com/index.php
Worlds Most Impressive Rocks:
http://www.scienceray.com/Earth-Sciences/Geology/Worlds-Most-Impressive-RockFormations.139316
Mineralogy for Kids:
http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/K12/K_12.html
How to Identify Minerals:
http://www.sdnhm.org/kids/minerals/how-to.html