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Searching Informational Texts: The Frog Beyond the Fairy Tale

A lesson plan where students will examine their prior knowledge about frogs, make predictions, and verify their predictions through research on the Internet. Students initially record their predictions about frogs on a worksheet with true and false columns. They then use the website The Somewhat Amusing World of Frogs to learn more about frogs and check their predictions. To verify their predictions, students click on the internal page links to reach a subheading. The subheading signals to the reader that this section of informational text contains evidence to support or contradict the statement. This lesson could be extended with the use of informational trade books on the subject of frogs.

Weblink address (URL): 
Searching Informational Texts: The Frog Beyond the Fairy Tale

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives: 

Student Objectives:

Students will:

  • Predict the veracity of a statement based on prior knowledge of scientific facts
  • Establish a purpose for reading electronic informational texts to verify predictions and connect new information with prior knowledge
  • Use a keyword strategy adapted for hypertext conventions to locate information in electronic texts
  • Use the conventions of electronic text and acknowledge its unique text-structure clues

NCTE/IRA National Standards For The English Language Arts:

  • Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
  • Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound–letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
  • Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Understanding
Extension suggestions: 

Extensions:

Interested in more frog fun?

  • Students develop additional statements for the worksheet, giving the Web clue as well as the correct response.
  • Students select one of the eight statements to further research using print and other resources. They can be instructed to write a paragraph that expands upon the statement provided on the worksheet.
  • Students color an illustration from the Color Me Frog! website. You may also ask them to write a brief report on that frog.

Helpful Hints

Materials and Technology:

  • One computer with Internet access and projection capability (for instructor)
  • Computers with Internet access (for students)
  • Large paper or poster to record student responses
  • Markers

References

Contributors: 
Kristin Keatts
Originator: 
Ayers Institute for Learning & Innovation