In this critical reading lesson, students will evaluate “Abraham’s Artifacts,” written by Brenna Maloney, through an “I Wonder…” Roundtable to develop and engage in an evidence-based claim organizer. This lesson uses the WICOR® (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, Reading) methodology and strategies from AVID’s curriculum library and is designed for a variety of learning environments.
AVID and National Geographic are partnering for the 2021–2022 school year to develop critical reading lessons. This partnership allows AVID to provide highly engaging and rigorous content through disciplinary literacy—an emphasis on the shared ways of reading, writing, speaking, and thinking within a particular content area or academic field.
Learning Objectives
- Students will engage in activities to evaluate how artifacts from the past help us to learn about historical time frames.
- Students will engage in collaborative conversations with peers to deepen their understanding of the past through an interactive text about artifacts.
What You’ll Need
- National Geographic interactive content:
- AVID Elementary Weekly lesson
- Additional resources can be found on the AVID Elementary Weekly website by subscription only.
Activate
Establish a purpose for reading, build background knowledge, and set students up for success.
Plan for reading by thinking through or having students respond to the following questions and identify how the chosen text fits within the broader context of your instructional unit so that students are making connections to their prior knowledge.
- What academic tasks are associated with reading the text?
- What previously taught content and/or prior knowledge is connected to the new text?
This text meets the following features of an ideal text:
- The length of this text lends itself to modeling how to identify and read an excerpt of a text to accomplish the reading purpose.
- Engagement with this text fosters inquiry and curiosity.
Allow students an opportunity to set up their notes and record the Essential Question before engaging in the learning. Students will be making connections through language in this lesson.
Engage
Build vocabulary and engage in purposeful rereads. Vocabulary development can happen at any point in the reading process.
Students will build vocabulary using three-column notes for looking at both academic and content-area words. They will process information in a first and second read of the text and engage in a purposeful reread using an “I Wonder…” Roundtable strategy.
Extend
Reading tasks should be directly connected to what students will do with the text after they have read and understand it.
Students will use the text to develop the Evaluate academic thinking skill. They will extend beyond the text by using an evidence-based claim organizer.
*Explore the sample lesson and contact AVID Care by phone at (833) 284-3227 or by email at [email protected] for more information about AVID Weekly® and AVID Elementary Weekly.