“Oh, I heard some of you naming different parts of a plant. That’s an important category scientists think about—different parts of their topic. I’ll add it to our concept map and connect plants to different parts with a line and a few words about how these two ideas connect. On the connecting line, I think I’ll write have since all plants have different parts. “What else do you remember about different parts of plants? Tell your partner some parts plants have.” As students talk, jot ideas on sticky notes to add to the concept map. “I heard you say that plants have leaves , stems , and roots . Some of you mentioned plants can have trunks or plants can have flowers . I added all those parts to our concept map. “Readers, do you see how we started by jotting what we already know about a topic? Then, we thought about how those notes fit together, and we added labels to show some con- nections. We could keep going from here! Some of you know even more about leaves, like how some leaves change color in the fall. We can use lines and arrows and labels to connect the information we are adding to the rest of the concept map.” ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT Explain that another important category scientists think about is life cycle. Invite students to continue adding information to the concept map. “Keep adding to the concept map. Some of you mentioned that plants grow. That’s another important category scientists think about— life cycle , or how something grows and changes across its life. Let’s add life cycle to the chart. Talk with your partner about what you already know about plant life cycles. I’ll listen and jot notes.” Add a few of your students’ suggestions to the chart on sticky notes. LINK Send research groups off, with their topic, channeling them to recall and organize their prior knowledge by creating a shared concept map. Each group can choose a meeting spot. “Today, you’ve learned that to start researching a topic, it helps to bring to the front of your mind everything you already know about the topic.Then you can see how things you learn fit with things you already know—and you might change what you thought you knew!” Begin an anchor chart titled “Nonfiction Readers Research New Topics” and add the first point. “For this first part of our unit, I’ve made Botanist Research Groups and have given each group an amazing topic related to plants. One group will investigate how and why plants change across the year. Another group will study plants that live in rainforests. “I’ll give each group a big sheet of paper with a topic jotted in the middle and a bunch of sticky notes. Before you read, talk with the other kids in your research group about what you already know that is in some way related to your topic. Then write whatever anyone knows onto a sticky note and, as a group, make a concept map of your topic. You can add lines and arrows to show how one cluster of knowledge connects with another. “When you hear your research group, gather together in the meeting area. Your first job will be to decide where your group’s meeting spot will be. Think of it as your treehouse meeting spot, and talk together about what sign you can make that names it as your treehouse. Gather the markers and paper you need to signal this is your treehouse, and then make a concept map of what you already know related to your topic.”
Vanides et al. (2005) emphasize that when engaging students in concept map activities, open- ended activities are best. They write that “mapping activities with very few constraints and no pre-defined, fill-in-the-blank map structure are considered the gold standard for learning more about connections students are making between important con- cepts.”
Nonfiction Readers Research New Topics
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Session 1 • Access Prior Knowledge About Your Topic Before Reading
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