Informational Text Reading with Graphic Organizers

Here's a great new free item for your science classroom:  

DNA Informational Text Reading with Graphic Organizers

I teach in a Common Core state, and in a school that is really pushing the implementation of the Common Core State Standards.  We have to show evidence of this implementation in our classroom.  I obviously have to do what is required of me by my admin, but at the same time, I do not want to lose valuable classroom teaching time and get behind on the vast amount of course content that I am also required to teach.

I recently developed this lesson for my students.  In our unit on DNA, RNA, and Protein Synthesis, I love to tell the history of Watson and Crick and their discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule.  In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick rocked the scientific world with their discovery, and with the publication of their one-page paper in Science magazine describing the DNA molecule.  This one-page paper is a marvelous bit of history, and it is a fascinating read.  It is also a perfect piece of informational text that can be used to teach the Common Core State Standards.

The one-page article can be printed and used in your science classroom.  I developed a 4-page set of graphic organizers to go along with this article.  As students read the article they are required to complete the graphic organizers. You can have your students complete all four organizers (I usually do!) or each graphic organizer can be used alone. The printable lesson is perfect for traditional classroom settings, and the paperless, digital Google Apps version is perfect for distance learning and 1:1 classrooms.

You can, of course, use class time for this activity, but I usually assign this as a homework assignment.  I assign this at the beginning of my unit on DNA, and usually give a week to complete the assignment. The article and the graphic organizers provide great review on the topics I am teaching in class, as well as a lesson in the reading of informational text.  It's a win-win!  (Pssst...This is also a great activity to leave in your sub folder in the event of your unexpected absence from school!)

Here is a look at each of the graphic organizers:

(They look best if printed in color, but print perfectly fine in grayscale.)

This is a free download, and will always remain a free download.  Enjoy!

Related products include:

DNA, RNA, and Protein Synthesis Complete Unit Plan Bundle

Genetics Complete Unit Plan Bundle

FREE DNA Extraction Lab

Common Core Science Informational Text Task Cards

These task cards can be used with ANY science reading passage.

In my school, every teacher is required to teach subject area lessons that emphasize or reinforce Common Core standards.  One day each week, we run a special schedule in order to accomplish this.  During this time, I meet with a small group of my students to apply the Common Core standards to a science-related lesson.  It is my responsibility to provide my students with a science reading passage and to use this passage to practice one or more of the Common Core standards.  I have used the following:

• Students read a passage from the textbook on a topic we are currently studying. 
• Students read science-related current events articles.
• I write my own passages that describe a particular lab experiment.  I include charts and graphs and tables that require analyzing.
• Students read science-reasoning passages from ACT Prep books.
• Students read chapters from science-themed books, such as The Double Helix, The Hot Zone, Your Inner Fish, etc.

As a result, I developed a set of “Common Core Science Task Cards” to use with my students each week.  Different task cards are used each week depending on the type of informational text I present to them.  

This has very much simplified my weekly lesson planning.  All I have to do is choose a reading passage, and select the task cards to use with it.  Not every card is used every time, and not all cards will be applicable to every reading passage.  Certain task cards are more applicable to a particular passage than others.  I try to vary the passages each week so that different Common Core standards are being reinforced.

These common core science task cards are incredibly easy to use!  Print them out, laminate them, cut them apart, and you are ready to go.  

I like to punch a hole in the corner and place all of the cards on a ring.  I found the rings at my local Wal Mart. They were very cheap and they came in a package containing quite a few rings.

I have correlated each task card with the appropriate CCSS standards from:

1.  English Language Arts Standards >> Science & Technical Subjects (Grades 6 – 12)

2.  English Language Arts Standards >> Reading: Informational Text (Grades 6 – 12)

Now that I have the set fully developed, I am looking forward to school starting back.  My weekly Common Core lesson planning is going to be a snap!

Have fun teaching!

Common Core Science Informational Text Task Cards

Microscope Task Cards

Scientific Method Task Cards

Informational Text in the High School Biology Class

Changes in Education? ..... Always!

In my 29 years of teaching, I have learned many, many things.  What lessons do I learn over and over, year after year?

• There is always something new in education!  
• The old tried and true ways are no longer acceptable.  
• Out with the old trends, and in with the new trends.
• Every 2-3 years brings in a new curriculum.

Don't misunderstand.  I am not one who opposes change.  Change is good. Our world is in a constant state of change:  There are changes in societal issues, there are changes in technologies , and there are changes in the students we teach.  The good news is that classroom teachers are the most adaptable people I know!  Each year brings us a new set of students with different ability levels, with different personalities, and with different needs. We adapt every year and we adapt to the teaching of these new students accordingly.

So what is new?  Everyone involved in education knows about the new Common Core Reading Standards and the push to teach critical reading through the use of informational text. Our world today is packed with information, and I agree that we must insure that our students are being taught to read, understand and comprehend informational passages. We must teach our science students to read critically, to answer questions of a problem solving nature, to read charts, data tables, and graphs, and to form accurate conclusions.

My question is:  Haven't we science teachers been doing this all along?

What is a science book, if not a huge selection of informational text readings?  

Our high school is being very proactive in addressing the new Common Core standards.  We have been directed by our administration to incorporate informational text and critical reading into all subject areas.   We have even worked a special time into our weekly schedule for this.  One day each week, 45 minutes is set aside to address the Common Core standards.  (Clarification: Each teacher is addressing Common Core standards in every class, every day. The 45-minute, weekly time is devoted to "extra" informational text reading practice.)  Each and every teacher in our school meets with a group of students and teaches a lesson that involves information text, writing, and critical reading.  Teachers have been charged with writing materials related to their subject area that can be used during this time. Each week I meet with a different group of students and provide them with a lesson on reading informational text in science.  Students meet with a different teacher each week in order to be exposed to texts of varying subject areas.

At this point, I have developed two exercises that I have used with these groups of students.

The first involves the predator/prey relationship.  It does contain an informational text passage, but I just could not help myself. I included a graphing activity along with it!

The second is a rather lengthy reading about lichens.  It includes facts about the mutualistic nature of lichens, structure of lichens, and the important role that lichens play in the environment.  Pictures are included to enhance the text.   I thought it would be nice to have the students read about an organism that they might not know a lot about.

The days of Common Core are upon us.  Let us embrace it as we have with all of the trends of the past.  There is good news..... If we don't like this, all we have to do is wait for a year or two, and we will be challenged with something new!  ;)

Have fun teaching!