DRAFTConnecting Literacy and Content

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ConneCt to LIteRACY

ConneCt to SCienCe

Discuss the TextNGSS.MS-PS2-1, NGSS.MS-PS2-2, NGSS.MS-PS2-4Have students focus on these questions about the text:• Prove What proof can you think of that inertia acts upon

objects in motion? (Accept reasonable responses. For example, a student may describe a plane trip in which the student experienced being pushed back in the seat on take-off.)

• Create Create an experiment that demonstrates one of the forces described in the text. (The experiment may use ordinary objects to demonstrate the concept. For example, students may create a track with marbles to demonstrate the effect of friction on moving objects.)

• Apply Concepts How does centripetal force act upon the passengers in a car as it drives around a corner? (The car is moving in a rotating path around the corner. Centripetal force causes the passengers to be pushed toward the outside of the curve.)

Provide Prompts for Response Offer prompts that allow students to explore the text:• Create a diagram that shows Newton’s third law acting on a

rocket taking off.• Describe how centripetal force acts on satellites orbiting

earth.• Tell which ideas were new to you. What questions do you

still have about life processes?• Review the book. Give it a rating between one and four stars

and explain why it earned that rating.

Connect with Writing: Personal NarrativeCCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.3, W.4.3a, W.4.3b, W.4.3c, W.4.3d, W.4.3eIntroduce the Text Type and Assignment Say: A personal narrative is a narrative about a real event in the life of the writer. A personal narrative can tell about one brief moment in a person’s life, like falling off a bicycle, or an event lasting several days, like a family trip. In our daily lives, we have all experienced the forces Max described in the text. When I was reading about the roller coaster ride, I was reminded of an event that happened recently when I almost had an accident in my car. Today, we will each write a personal narrative about an event involving one or more of the forces described in the text.

Review Features Review the features of a personal narrative and be sure to display these features for students’ reference: • has a beginning, middle, and end• uses signal words to tell the order of events • uses vivid verbs to describe actions or movements• has a narrator who explains what is happening• has an ending that concludes the story

Model the Writing Model the writing process as you begin a personal narrative: I chose to tell about an experience I had in my car. Watch as I use interesting and exciting verbs to bring the action to life.

Suddenly, a black and white soccer ball streaked in front of my windshield. Less then a second later, a small child darted into the street behind it, just a few yards in front of my bumper. I slammed on the brakes, jerking the car to a halt. My body was thrown forward against my seat belt.

Notice that I used plenty of verbs to describe the action and give the reader a feel for what I felt and observed. Model one more paragraph of the text, describing the next group of events in the sequence.

Support Writers Display your model as students begin writing. Remind them that their writing should include temporal words and phrases that signal event order, colorful descriptions and strong verbs to help readers see and feel the action that took place.

Revise and Edit Show students how to revise and edit for specific points, such as:• Dialogue punctuation• Sentence variety• Sensory details to help readers experience the events• Logical transitions from one event to the next

Share and Reflect Allow time for students to share their work with an authentic audience. Then ask questions to guide self-reflection:• For what purpose do we write personal narrative?• How did you help the reader experience your story?• What descriptions did you include? Was your language

creative, vivid, and powerful?• What tips would you give a friend for narrative writing?

A Crash Course in Forces and Motion with Max Axiom, Super Scientist

Level VPhysical ScienceContent: An introduction to the forces that act upon matter and their effects on the motion of objects

ObjectivesStudents will:• describe Newton’s laws of motion and how they act on

objects. • interpret a text feature: text box. • explain cause and effect as it applies to forces and motion. • do a close reading to answer questions about content. • define and use academic vocabulary related to forces

and motion. • use roots to determine meanings of words. • read grade-level prose with expression.• write a personal narrative about an experience involving

one of Newton’s laws.

Build Content BackgroundEngage Students Show students two objects of similar size, but different weights—for example, a tennis ball and a rock. Have students pass the objects around so they can feel the difference in weight. Explain that you will drop both objects from the same height. Ask if both objects will hit the floor at the same time, or if not, which one will hit first. Have students turn and talk to their partners about their predictions. After volunteers share their predictions, carry out the experiment. Explain that, excluding other factors, such as air resistance, all objects fall to earth at the same time regardless of their weight.

Use a Graphic OrganizerDraw a KWL Chart on the board or on chart paper. Say: We don’t always realize how much we learn from reading a new book. A KWL Chart can help us keep track of new learning—it shows what we already know, what we want to find out, and finally, what we have learned about a topic. We already know one new fact about forces and motion—all objects fall at the same speed, regardless of weight. Write this information in the K column. Have students pair up. Give each pair two sticky notes on which to write one item for the K and W columns. They can place their sticky notes on the chart. As new information is learned, return to the chart periodically to fill in the L column.

Introduce the Content Preview Forces and Motion Give each student a copy of the text and have students turn to p. 4. Explain: In this book, superhero Max Axiom demonstrates the forces that move matter. Here, Max is demonstrating the force of gravity, which pulls objects towards Earth. Take a minute to skim through the book. What other forces do you think we will read about? Have students thumb through the book, paying attention to the images. Allow a few moments for students to turn and talk to share their predictions.

Preview Academic Vocabulary CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.4Have students turn to p. 7. Read the center panels with students. Say: Max tells us that something called inertia keeps a stroller rolling until another force stops it. But I’m still having trouble understanding exactly what inertia is. Have students turn to the index on p. 32. Point out the entry for inertia. The index says we can find out more about enzymes on pages 8, 9, 27, and 29. Have students work with partners to find the information on enzymes on those pages, and share their findings with the class.

Topic: Forces and MotionWhat I Know

What I Want to Know

What I Learned

All objects fall at the same speed, regardless of weight.CAPTXTC0108

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DRAFTConneCt to LIteRACYConneCt to SCIenCe

Discuss Text Features CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.7Say: Some text features add to our understanding of a text. The author of this text uses as text boxes, to help us better understand forces and motion. They give us just a little more information about one of the topics on the page. Have students turn to p. 7. On this page, Max mentions Newton’s first law. This might leave us wondering who Newton was. I see there is a text box telling us about him. Notice that the main topic of the page is not Isaac Newton, but about his ideas. The text box just helps fill us in on who this person was. Have students turn to p. 10 and read the text on the page. What is the information on this page mainly about? Then have students review the text box on friction in space. What specific piece of information does the sidebar add to this information?

Focus on the Content NGSS.MS-PS2-1, NGSS.MS-PS2-2, NGSS.MS-PS2-4As you focus on the text, ask questions that require students to use varying depths of knowledge. Model how to determine the answer to a question before you pose additional questions. (A model is shown for the second question.)

• Illustrate (p. 8) Draw a hill on a roller coaster. Label the points on the roller coaster where inertia, gravity, and acceleration come into play. (Accept all accurate diagrams and explanations.)

• Apply Concepts (p. 9) Imagine a person is driving a car on a flat stretch of road. There is a tennis ball on the seat next to the driver. The driver suddenly slams on the brakes, stopping the car. What will happen to the tennis ball? Why? (The tennis ball will keep moving forward, because of inertia.)

• Recognize (p. 12) After a truck is loaded with goods, its motor must work much harder to accelerate up to a certain speed. This is an example of which of Newton’s laws? (Newton’s second law. The amount of acceleration that a force can produce depends on the mass of an object.)

• Interpret (p. 13) Take a look at the illustration of the planets on page 13. If you weighed 100 pounds on earth, how much would you weigh on Venus? (By multiplying 100 times .88, the answer is 88 pounds.)

• Draw Conclusions (p. 13) Why do some planets have a greater gravitational pull than others? (Some planets have greater mass than others. Planets with greater mass have a greater gravitational pull.)

• Hypothesize (p. 15) Two balls are rolled down a hill—a bowling ball and a tennis ball. Which one will reach the bottom of the hill first? Why? (The bowling ball, because it has greater mass than the tennis ball, and it requires more friction to slow down.)

Discuss Concepts Ask:• What is the difference between speed and acceleration?

(Speed is how fast something is moving at a particular time. Acceleration is a moving object’s change in speed.)

• Give an example of friction acting on an object. (One example might be the air slowing an object as it falls through the atmosphere.)

• Why is it important to understand forces and motion? (Answers will vary. Sample response: Scientists and engineers design vehicles to transport people and things; they need to understand the forces at work so that they operate safely.)

Apply Concepts Have students return to the KWL chart created at the beginning of this lesson. Pass out a copy of the chart as you left it prior to reading the text. Have students work in pairs to fill in any missing information, especially in the Learn Column. They might add photographs they find from research, diagrams from class, additional examples of forces that act upon matter in our world, and so on. As a class, review what was recorded in the Learn Column.

Determining Cause and Effect CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.5Introduce the Strategy Say: A cause and effect relationship is when one event or action makes another event occur. The result is called the effect. Authors use several signal words to indicate a cause and effect relationship. Examples of these words are since, when, so, because, as a result, and so that.

Model Create a cause and effect graphic organizer on the board. Say: On page 21, I notice this sentence: “The juggler on the right is tired because he is using more force to throw and catch heavier objects.” The word “because” signals a cause and effect relationship. Record using more force to move heavier objects in the Cause box and the juggler is tired in the Effect box.

using more force to move heavier

objects the juggler is tired

Guide Practice Have students work in pairs to create their own Cause and Effect charts and find other cause and effect relationships in the text.

Close Reading CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.2Introduce the Strategy Say: When we are answering a question about the text, it isn’t enough to simply rely on our own knowledge alone. We need to look at the text and do a close reading of the text. That means that we go right back to the author’s words on the page to find proof for our answers.

Model Model with the Draw Conclusions question: This question asks me for an answer that is not expressly stated in the text. Nowhere in the text does it simply tell us why some planets have more gravity than others. We have to look for clues in the text and combine this information to come up with our answer. On page 13, Max explains that on earth, objects weigh more if they have greater mass. But in the text box, the text explains that objects with the same mass have a different weights on different planets. So what is different about each of the planets? I know that Jupiter is much bigger than earth, and Mars is much smaller. That would explain why the gravitational pull is smaller than earth’s, but Jupiter’s is much greater. My conclusion is that a planet’s gravitational pull depends on its mass.

Guide Practice Provide copies of p. 15 along with highlighters. Have students highlight textual evidence to answer the Hypothesize question.

Focus on Fluency CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.4.4bModel Fluent Reading Say: When I read out loud, I want to read with expression. That means I want to read with feeling. In this text, the author uses the dialogue between Max and the other characters to explain the information, so when I read, I want to sound like real people having a conversation. Read p. 4 out loud, in a flat voice, without expression. Then read it again, varying your tone of voice to express Max’s excitement about bungie jumping at the amusement park. Ask partners to discuss what was different about each reading, and decide which reading was more effective.

Guide Practice Choose another passage from the book for students to practice reading with expression. Have students pair up and read the passage to each other, first with and then without expression. Circulate and offer assistance as needed.

Study Words CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.3aIntroduce the Strategy Say: Many words in English come from other languages. Science is especially filled with words that come from Latin or Greek. If we understand the meaning of these root words, we can figure out the meaning of words that are unfamiliar to us.

Practice the Strategy Focus on the words centripetal, inertia, and gravity in the text. Write the words on the board or chart paper, underlining the root word in each: centri, petal, inert, and gravi. Model using these roots to find the meaning of the words: In centripetal, the root word centri comes from a Latin word meaning center or middle. Petal comes from the Latin word petere, meaning go to. If we know these root words, we can figure out that centripetal has something to do with moving towards the center. Model This question is asking me about the concept

of inertia. This concept was explained on page 9. It is asking me to apply this concept to a new situation. On page 9, Max explains that when the roller coaster moves forward, the inertia causes the people within to continue moving forward. When it comes to a sudden stop, the people inside keep moving forward—because of inertia.

Collaborate Partners, think together about how this concept applies to the ball sitting on the seat in the car. How is the ball like the people in the roller coaster car? What will happen when the car suddenly stops? Discuss your predictions with your partner.

Provide independent practice Present students with another hypothetical that demonstrates the effect of friction on a moving object, such as a train car rolling on a level train track, or a skier gliding

along a level stretch of snow. Then have students read p. 10. Have students use the information on p. 10 to predict the outcome of the hypothetical.

Summarize Max demonstrates many concepts in force and motion using examples at the amusement park. Once we understand these concepts, we can apply them to other situations involving other objects. This is what scientists do every day—they apply scientific concepts to what they observe in the natural world.

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