English SOL Institute Elementary Research (Grades 4 & 5) Strand

1. English SOL Institute • Elementary Research (Grades 4 & 5) Strand Organizing Information into Short Reports Christin D. Funderburk

2. Research (Grades 4 & 5) Key Points in Research • Strand should be integrated into content area lessons • Collection, evaluation, and organization of information emphasized • Research “product” does not have to be a paper

3. Research (Grades 4 & 5) Key Points in Research • Frame, analyze, and synthesize information to solve problems, answer questions, and generate new knowledge • Effectively use a variety of resources • Critically evaluate the accuracy, quality, and validity of the information

4. Synopsis • In this lesson you will see students using one of the most valuable sources they have in the classroom…themselves! • Students will create open-ended questions to ask one another in order to produce an authentic report.

5. Correlation to English SOL • This lesson correlates with the following SOLs: • 3.11 a & c • The student will write a short report. • a)  Construct questions about the topic. • c)  Collect and organize information about the topic into a short report. • 4.9 a,b,c,&d • The student will demonstrate comprehension of information resources to research a topic. • a)  Construct questions about a topic. • b)  Collect information from multiple resources including online, print, and media. • c)  Use technology as a tool to organize, evaluate, and communicate information. • d)  Give credit to sources used in research.

6. Correlation to English SOL • 5.9 a,b,&c • The student will find, evaluate, and select appropriate resources for a research product. • a)  Construct questions about a topic. • b)  Collect information from multiple resources including online, print, and media. • c)  Use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate, and communicate information. • .

7. Lesson Objectives • Students will be able to write open-ended questions that will produce lengthy answers. • Students will conduct research using the questions he/she created. • Students will present the information they gathered in a short report.

8. What did the students do? • The were asked to write an interview question on a sticky note and place the it in a large circle drawn on the board. Students were told that they should be writing questions that produce more than a simple “yes” or “no” answer. • At this point in the year the students were familiar with the breakout circle drawn on the board. They knew that their goal was to have their question break out of the circle.

9. Breakout Circle • This method has been adapted and used in many different ways. • Regardless of the topic, the goal is to have your idea break out of the circle. • The students decide what ideas break out by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down. They can also choose a sideways thumb which means the idea almost broke out and the student is on the right track. • The teacher should always give guidelines to how ideas breakout of the circle. • Joaquin, Kathleen. "The Lightning Thief-Rick Riordan Lesson Plans." Http://www.rickriordan.com. Gray Digital Group, n.d. Web. 20 June 2012. <http://www.rickriordan.com/Files/Documents/Complete_Lightning_Thief_Unit.pdf>

10. What happened next? • The teacher reviewed each question the students created and the class decided if they broke out of the circle or not. • Then the students were asked to write five questions for a partner of their choice. • The students broke into partnerships and interviewed their partners, recording answers on paper. • The teacher video taped the students interviewing.

11. Where could the lesson have gone from there? • Original Lesson • Write a report about the partner using the information gained from the interview. • Switch reports with a partner not in the original partnership peer edit using a checklist to check for grammatical errors. • Write final drafts of reports after editing and revising. • Present the report to the class.

12. Ideas for change… • Students create a PowerPoint about their partner using the information gained in the interview. The PowerPoint could be a simple one slide to get the students used to using the program. Students could also create a seven-slide PowerPoint with an introduction slide, five question/answer slides, and a conclusion slide. The students could insert clipart and create a product to present to the class.

13. Ideas for change continued…. • Students still write the report, but instead • of just presenting to the class, have them use • video cameras and become newscasters. • The 21st century learner expects more and as teachers we need to provide more opportunities.

14. Works Cited • Joaquin, Kathleen. "The Lightning Thief-Rick Riordan Lesson Plans." Http://www.rickriordan.com. Gray Digital Group, n.d. Web. 20 June 2012. <http://www.rickriordan.com/Files/Documents/Complete_Lightning_Thief_Unit.pdf>.

15. Contact Information • Christin D. Funderburk • cfunderbu@culpeperschools.org

16. Disclaimer Reference within this presentation to any specific commercial or non-commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise does not constitute or imply an endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Virginia Department of Education.