BUILDING BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE: LEARNING TO BECOME AN EXPERT (ABOUT FROGS)
In this first unit, students will begin to learn how experts build knowledge as they consider what makes a frog a frog and how frogs these creatures adapt to their environment. Through a study of Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle (by Deborah Dennard, illustrated by Kristin Kest), students will practice close reading and listening to informational texts, generating questions, building vocabulary, and locating information in text as they learn about the bullfrog (a “true” frog). In the on-demand mid-unit assessment, students will demonstrate their skill in answering and asking questions as they close read a new passage from Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle. Students will communicate their learning through note-taking, Science Talks, and writing. This unit provides the class with initial exposure to key scientific concepts regarding adaptations, habitat, predators and prey, and the physical characteristics of frogs, which students will build on during Unit 2. Students will demonstrate their growing expertise in the end of unit ondemand assessment, in which they write an informational paragraph that synthesizes their learning about the bullfrog.
