Grade 3 ELA - Module 2A
Researching to Build Knowledge and Teaching Others: Adaptations and the Wide World of Frogs
In this module, students will use literacy skills to become experts— people who use reading, writing, listening and speaking to build and share deep knowledge about a topic. (This focus on research intentionally builds Module 1, in which students explored the superpowers of reading.)
The module will begin with a class study of the bullfrog, an example of a “true frog,” that exhibit quintessentially froggy characteristics. In Unit 2, students will form research groups to become experts on various “freaky” frogs—frogs that push the boundaries of “froginess” with unusual adaptations that help them to survive in extreme environments throughout the world. Students will build their reading, research, writing and collaborative discussion skills through studying their expert frog. Throughout the module, students will consistently reflect on the role of literacy in building and sharing expertise. Students will demonstrate their expertise through a “freaky frog trading card”—a research-based narrative that highlights their research and educates others about the amazing diversity of frogs with a focus on how their freaky frog survives. This task will center on NYSP12 ELA Standards W.3.2, W.3.3 and L.3.3.
The module will begin with a class study of the bullfrog, an example of a “true frog,” that exhibit quintessentially froggy characteristics. In Unit 2, students will form research groups to become experts on various “freaky” frogs—frogs that push the boundaries of “froginess” with unusual adaptations that help them to survive in extreme environments throughout the world. Students will build their reading, research, writing and collaborative discussion skills through studying their expert frog. Throughout the module, students will consistently reflect on the role of literacy in building and sharing expertise. Students will demonstrate their expertise through a “freaky frog trading card”—a research-based narrative that highlights their research and educates others about the amazing diversity of frogs with a focus on how their freaky frog survives. This task will center on NYSP12 ELA Standards W.3.2, W.3.3 and L.3.3.
Unit 1: 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).
Unit 2: In Unit 2, students will continue to develop their skills through careful reading of informational texts. Class members will extend their expertise beyond the bullfrog and begin studying “freaky frogs”: frogs with unusual behavioral and physical adaptations. Students will build their ability to read and understand informational text.
Unit 3: In this final unit, students will continue to explore the question: “How do we build expertise about a topic?” as they share their growing expertise about frogs and their adaptations and continue to build expertise as writers of a research-based narrative. The specific literacy focus of this unit is on writing first-person narratives using vivid and precise language, as well as continuing to learn to revise and critique. Each student will create a Freaky Frog Trading Card to amaze their readers about the unique, sometimes freaky, adaptations of frogs. This writing serves as a synthesis of the research students did in Units 1 and 2, and students will incorporate many of the rich words about frogs and adaptations they have learned throughout the module.