Grades 6-8: Earth Science - Water is Life - The Earth's Hydrosphere and Its Impact on Living Systems
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NOTE: This unit is the first of a 3-unit module that addresses Common Core English Language Arts and Literacy standards in Sciences and Technical Subjects and specific content standards drawn from the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). While only the Common Core standards are listed here, all of the other science content standards are listed specifically near the beginning of the unit plan.
Common Core Standards
ELA/Literacy Standards in Science and Technical Subjects
Reading in Science and Technical Subjects
RST.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts.
RST.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
RST.6-8.3 Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.
RST.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6-8 texts and topics.
RST.6-8.5 Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to an understanding of the topic.
RST.6-8.6 Analyze the author's purpose in providing an explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text.
RST.6-8.7 Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).
RST.6-8.9 Compare and contrast the information gained from experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same topic.
Writing in Science and Technical Subjects
WST.6-8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes.
Speaking and Listening
SL.6-8.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
Description of Unit
This unit titled “Water is Life: The Earth's Hydrosphere and Its Impact on Living Systems” developed by Expeditionary Learning in collaboration with Student Achievement Partners is the first unit in a 3-unit module. It is comprised of eight 90-minute sessions of integrated ELA/literacy and science instruction that is designed to build scientific knowledge and vocabulary about a topic as well as to help students develop the content literacy skills needed for College and Career Readiness. Throughout this unit, students examine complex, informational text through a sequence of lessons that includes close reading, vocabulary support, and text dependent questions. The unit also includes specific earth science instruction to help students understand the complex science concepts addressed in the text. Throughout the lessons, students develop the knowledge, skills, and vocabulary necessary to create conceptual models and explanations of the phenomena being studied as a summative assessment.
Cautions
Connecticut teachers should be aware that this curriculum unit includes a higher level of “scripting” for the initial close reading in Lessons 1 through 4 in order to provide support and guidance for teachers about how to implement these types of reading lessons; teachers can draw on the practices modeled in these early lessons as the students continue to read the complex text. Teacher notes and preparation materials are extensive and will require familiarity to be used effectively. In addition, teachers using this unit will need to create a Common Core aligned rubric that provides sufficient guidance for interpreting student performance on the summative assessment.
Rationale for Selection
This unit is an exemplary example of a CCSS-aligned curricular unit that fully integrates science content with literacy. It has been designed with two specific purposes in mind: as a professional development resource and as a curriculum to use, adapt, or build from as districts see fit. The goal of the unit is to help students master content literacy standards while gaining content knowledge and to build teachers’ capacity to apply CCSS-aligned practices in instruction and assessment. The unit includes a progression of learning where concepts and skills advance and deepen over time, providing all students with multiple opportunities to engage with complex texts. The unit provides the appropriate scaffolding for students to build background knowledge about a topic and to advance toward independent reading at the college-and-career readiness (CCR) level. Key teaching protocols, in particular close reading with complex text, are described in enough detail to make it very clear what is required of students, and how to support them in this rigorous work. Specific instructional strategies are described that support students’ reading and writing with evidence. The unit regularly assesses whether students are mastering the targeted Common Core standards. Materials include summative assessments, central texts, key resources and lesson level agendas with sufficient detail to show key instructional moves. Suggestions of activities, text-dependent questions, and daily assessment give teachers clear guidance, while still leaving room for teachers to adapt and make the lessons their own. In some cases, the modules could also be adapted for other grade levels, if the rigor of the text-dependent questions were ratcheted either up or down or alternate materials of greater or lesser complexity were folded in with new questions and tasks developed. The following link provides an example of teaching academic and scientific vocabulary.
http://vimeo.com/61497987 Teaching Academic and Scientific Vocabulary (from Expeditionary Learning) Jessica Kauffman's sixth-grade class at Tapestry Charter School in Buffalo, NY, learns general academic vocabulary and scientific vocabulary in order to conduct a science experiment.