4X4UnitScience

Presented to Dr. Jill Kerper Mora
CLAD Credential Program
San Diego State University

Congratulations go to Shauna Howard, author of this excellent thematic unit for science/language arts based on the 4X4 thematic planning model. Shauna gave me permission to post this unit as a model for my PLC 914 students and for all of the visitors to my CLAD website. I have linked the content of the thematic unit to instructional modules (MoraModules) that explain the principles of sound curriculum design and lesson planning for English language learners that are applied here. As time allows, I will add commentary about the features of the unit to assist other educators in improving instruction in CLAD classrooms.

I have added discussion of the theoretical basis for ELD/SDAIE and description of planning principles and explanations of Shauna's teaching strategies within her narrative about instruction and guided practice. Consequently, this unit is more elaborated than the units my PLC 914 students are required to submit. So, don't panic! Use this unit as a model to guide your thinking process and as a source of examples of what can be included in your unit.

I send a sincere thank you to Shauna Howard and to all the teacher candidates who work very hard to prepare themselves for the challenges of cultural and linguistic diversity in our public schools. As your professor, I am proud to be a part of that process.

The demographics of my third grade sheltered classroom are eleven females and nine males. Of these twenty Mexican American students, their primary language is Spanish and they are all learning English as their second language. While this classroom is conducted in only English, my students are at various levels of English and therefore need different levels of support to guide their learning. Three students are at Level 1, the Pre-Production Stage of English. Six students are at Level 2, the Early Production Stage of English. Five students are at Level 3, the Speech Emergence Stage of English. Six students are at Level 4, SDAIE, with an Intermediate Fluency Stage of English.

The overall theme of this unit is oceans. This theme was chosen for two reasons. One, I consulted the performance standards required by the school district and found that in the San Diego City Schools adopted third grade standards, understanding oceans is part of Grade 3 Science: Performance Standard 3. 1. 1. "The students can identify geographical features in San Diego county area, for example oceans." In planning this unit I also consulted the district standards and state standards for cross-referencing for Science and Reading/Language Arts. The state science standard for physical science Grade 3-1.d and for earth science Grade 3-3. b & c were related to concepts of ocean movements. Click here for a link to the CDE Science Standards.Click here to link to the California Department of Education Website for the grade level Language Arts Standards.

Secondly, I thought that oceans are important for students in San Diego to learn about since San Diego is located on the Pacific Ocean. Since the students here are so close, this unit opens the doors to exciting learning experiences in which they can go see most of what they learn about, such as the waves and tides in this unit. In addition, students living near the ocean have the opportunity to see how oceans effect our environment, our sea life, our land forms, the food chain, water transportation as well as a number of other things.

There are five overall goals for the entire unit on oceans. These goals include learning about the ocean movements, sea life, in particular whales, the food chain within the ocean, the ocean floor, and pollution that occurs in the ocean and its detrimental effects on our quality of life. In my section of the unit following this rationale, the students will specifically learn about ocean movements. The goals for this section of the unit is for the students to learn about the two forms of ocean movements, waves and tides, how they occur, and what effects they have on our beaches. For the students in levels three and four, the goal is to deepen their level of understanding of the notion of ocean movements and take it one step further by learning about the effects that oceans movements have on other aspects of life, such as sea life. At each level, the critical thinking tasks become progressively more complex and demanding, so that students are challenged to grow in their ability to comprehend, analyze, synthesize, make evaluative judgments and to transform and apply the content in new and creative ways.

Since I am teaching this unit to a "sheltered" class of English language learners, I also included specific language learning goals in planning for each level of English proficiency. Consequently, I have integrated the four language arts: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students will develop their language skills by expanding their vocabulary, using increasingly complex syntax and grammar, and applying these skills in meaningful reading and writing tasks. For level one, the focus is on developing listening skills to identify words and associate these with visual images and concepts. For my level two learners, the goal is to increase their speaking abilities by forming sentences to express their ideas. Level three learners are capable of reading simplified text and extracting meaning when prepared for the task in pre-reading activities. Level four learners are "reading to learn" and are expanding their content area vocabulary and comprehension of more abstract concepts, but still need structure and "scaffolding" in order to handle the linguistic demands of the textbook.

In order to accomplish these goals, while teaching each of my four level groups with varying degrees of complexity from easy (level one) to most difficult --level four), I had to strategically set up the classroom to fit my students needs. Since my students are very familiar with centers, I continued to use centers for this unit. I incorporated five centers that rotated in a clockwise manner around the classroom. The students rotated in the centers in their level groups. I chose to do grouping by levels of language proficiency because the tasks at the teacher and writing center need to be done with peers in the same grouping level. In this way I am also focusing on students' second-language learning as well as on academic content. Alternatively, the students can be grouped heterogeneously across levels for some projects that are less language-dependent. A variety of grouping patterns are used throughout the unit.

Level one began the rotation grouped with me for instruction and guided practice at the rug. Level two was at the library looking at and reading assigned level books about waves and tides. Level three started at the computers. They were given specific internet sites to took up and research to help them gain some background information about ocean movements. Level four began at the art center were they begun painting the mural. The fifth center was the writing center, which was left open during the first rotation. The rotation was set up so that in the second rotation, the group that just left the teacher would always move to the writing center where they would complete their independent practice. No group was at the writing center for the first rotation because none of the groups had met with the teacher yet. In the interest of time, each group only went to one of these centers a day, therefore taking five days for the students to get through all five of the centers.

In an effort to stage the concept of ocean movements and assess my student's prior knowledge, I took one day at the beginning of the unit to do a KWL with the students. On a large chart I wrote Ocean Movements. Then I headed the three columns on the chart to state, "What We Know, What We Want to Learn, and What We Have Learned." Then, with all twenty of the students, we discussed what we know and wanted to learn and recorded all of the information on the chart. I then hung the poster in the classroom, where it was visible to all of the students, and left it there until the unit was complete.

After the KWL is completed, I introduced the theme of ocean movements to the students by showing them a short video of the ocean. I chose to run a video without the audio the first time since I did not want any of my students to get lost with the vocabulary in the video. Besides, the purpose of the video was to introduce ocean movements and show the students what the ocean looked like. This was especially important since not all of my students had seen an ocean before. Throughout the video as I pointed out scenes of the ocean, I was able to capture my students interest and then further engage them by telling them that after we learned all about the ocean movements, we were going to make our own ocean in the classroom through a mural and then take a field trip to visit the ocean.

For this unit, I chose specific vocabulary and concepts. Among this list of words placed in the word bank, I divided them among the four levels based on level of difficulty of the concept and level of abstraction of each word or term. Each level, starting with level one, builds off one another and progresses according to my students varying level of English language proficiency. For example, in level one the concept being taught, waves, is the easiest and least abstract. Therefore the vocabulary chosen for this level is less difficult and more concrete. The vocabulary came specifically from the paraphrased paragraph about waves that I read to the students. In level two, the concept grows in difficulty and abstraction. The student's new vocabulary builds on the concept of waves to include words about tides, a more abstract and complex concept. The vocabulary for this lesson also comes from the paraphrased paragraphs that I extracted from a science textbook. However, I include not only the paragraph on waves, but also the paragraph on tides.

In these early levels one and two, there is more of a focus on learning new vocabulary. The reason is because the students at these stages have limited vocabulary and need to be taught the key terms and vocabulary in order to understand the content of the lesson. These vocabulary words are listed in the Word Bank. As a result these lessons were designed to give the students some basic understanding of the most concrete and widely used terms regarding ocean movements, but in a meaningful context that they will understand.

Some strategies that are used in these lessons include science experiments so that the students can actually see waves and the difference between a high and low tide. Pictures are used to give students a visual representation of the words they are leaning. A graphic organizer is created with the students so that they can organize this new information in a clear, specific manner. And finally, the paraphrased paragraphs are used which uses the information the students are learning in a meaningful context.

In levels three and four, the students are slightly more challenged. There is no direct vocabulary instruction of isolated words, but rather the students learn progressively more difficult words and concepts through the context of the narratives in level three and the news stories in level four. Similar to levels one and two, the students all practice these new concepts and vocabulary orally with the teacher by discussing the context of the text, and by writing independently using frameworks for narratives and news stories.

The reading selection about waves and tides that I chose to paraphrase for my students came from a third grade science textbook titled The New Exploring Science Textbook, by Blecha, Gega, and Green. I chose to paraphrase this particular section from this textbook because I felt that it presented the information is an extremely clear manner. In my process of modifying the information and language of the text, I had to first decide what I wanted my students to learn from the paraphrased passage. I only wanted to include what I through was essential for their understanding, as I did not want to overload them with unnecessary information and language that was too complex for their level of comprehension. I then needed to spend time on lowering the level of language used in the paragraphs so that I did not overload the students with unnecessary difficult vocabulary.

The third task was making sure that I clearly defined all new vocabulary and concepts through the context of the text. For example, I could not just use the word energy without stating that it gives the waves more power. The final step of the paraphrasing process was to re-read and edit it a number of times to make sure that it was clear for my students.

In addition to the paraphrased paragraphs on waves and tides, I also made up my own modified narratives and news stories to used with the level three and four students. The purpose of this was to provide these students with reading material at their level that that they could read and comprehend, but was also high interest material that would teach the concepts and content selected. Using an informal reading inventory and running records of students' reading performance, I have determined their independent, instructional and frustration levels for matching their reading skills with the demands of the text.

To help guide all four levels of my students through the various readings, I used a variety of reading strategies. I read the paragraph first so that the students heard it once through before reading it themselves. I used echo and choral reading to help the students read the passages. For the levels, one and two, I used repetition of words and phases with the words in large print to read along. In some instances when the students were working on their independent work, I allowed them to work with partners or in cooperative groups so that they could help one another.

Through the guided practice, I guided and facilitated my students into learning the skills that they need to apply to the independent practice and ultimately use to learn the new concepts and vocabulary. This strategy is referred to as scaffolding. In my effort to do this effectively, I made sure that what I instructed them with and what I guided them through, was what the students did on their own in the independent practice. I made sure that when I was teaching I altered my language based on the i+1 concept, in which the language used with the students was only slightly harder that the students' level of proficiency. For example, if students were using one or two words to respond, I encouraged them to use complete sentences. If they could form rudimentary sentences, I helped them elaborate, using more complex sentence formation.

In the instruction, I used kinesthetic activities and TPR (Total Physical Response) to help my level one and two students who may not be ready to do a lot of speaking, yet I still want to know they are listening. I used small groups with teacher directed activities to make sure that all four levels of students were receiving the attention and instruction appropriate for their needs, while also challenging them to perform at a higher level. I made sure that when the students do go to work on their independent work to apply and practice the concepts that they learned, that they are sitting at a center with the other members of their groups. This is so that they can assist each other if there are questions or problems. Finally, I made sure that the library center and computer center, in which the students would work at with their groups, was structured to reinforce the concepts and vocabulary that they were learning with me during direct instruction.

At the conclusion of the unit, the students will be evaluated as individuals and as a class to see what they have learned and on the products they have produced. The students will be formally assessed individually based on their independent work that they did at the writing center, after they worked with me for the instruction and guided practice. For example, the level three students will be looked at whether they met the objectives and were able to write an ending to a narrative. The students will also be individually assessed on their individual contribution to the class mural, which was the overall objective for each lesson. For example, level three students will also be assessed on their letter that they had to write to the other classrooms inviting them to come and see our mural on ocean movements.

The whole class assessment will be conducted through the completion of the KWL that the students will do at the end of the unit. This KWL will informally reveal to me how much the class learned about ocean movements as compared to how much they started out knowing. Finally the whole class will be assessed as a group based on the overall presentation of the mural and how they talk about it to the other classes who come to view it. Based on these four evaluation areas, I will be able to determine if there is anything that I need to re-teach or review with my students and if any of my students are ready to go on to even more complex levels of understanding.

After the students work together to complete the class mural and then show the mural to other classrooms who come to view the mural and learn about ocean movements, I will reward and recognize my students efforts to learn by taking them to the beach where they can see all of the things that they learned about. We will then turn this experience into an introduction for the next phase of our study of the oceans. In this way, I make connections between the important concepts and skills my students are learning at each point in the curriculum as I follow the school districts performance and content standards.

Students who are learning English as a second language need development of key terms and vocabulary in order to understand the content of the lesson. This lesson is designed to give the students some basic understanding of the most concrete and widely used terms regarding ocean movements. The instruction of this new vocabulary will be accomplished through a science experiment as well as a variety of listening and speaking strategies in which the students will be engaged into. A beginning knowledge and understanding of these terms, will aid these second language learners in the transition from a pre-production stage of English to the point where they can speak and/or understand some of the English involved in this unit of ocean movements.

Oceans, and in particular ocean movements, are important for students in San Diego to learn about because San Diego lies on the Pacific Ocean. Since students are so close, it opens the doors to exciting learning experiences in which they can go see most of what they learn about, such as the waves in this lesson. In addition, students living near the ocean have the opportunity to see how our oceans affect our environment, and ultimately how our environment impacts our sea life.

I. After learning the key terms and vocabulary, the students will be able to listen and signify recognition of vocabulary words related to ocean movements by raising their hand when they hear the words read.

2. After listening and practicing speaking with the teacher as she models the new key terms and their definitions on waves, the students will be able to use the terms by filling in the missing word in a definition sentence.

3. After practicing reading the key terms and vocabulary words orally, the students will be able to recognize and/or sight read the words related to ocean movements from their word bank individually.

4. After practicing matching the key terms and vocabulary to the pictures with the entire class, the students will individually be able to complete a handout in which they write a short descriptive sentence using the correct key terms related to ocean movements next to a picture.

5. Overall, the students will be able to use the graphic organizer and what they learned about ocean movement to write three short sentences in narrative form to explain the ocean movements of waves.

To motivate the students about ocean movements and especially waves, engage them in a discussion about the water at the beach. Ask the students if they have ever been to the beach and seen the ocean. If they went, did they see the water moving? Have they seen surfers riding the waves in the water? Have they seen a boat that bounces up and down in the water? Ask them if they know why these things occur. Then explain to the students that today they will be learning the words that will teach them why the water/ocean moves. Also, further motivate the students by reminding them that when the unit is over they will be visiting the ocean and looking at the movements that they are going to be learning about.

1. To begin to introduce the students to the important terms regarding waves, do an experiment demonstrating waves. Use a large rectangular aluminum foil backing tin. Tell the students to pretend that the water in the tin is the ocean. Place a cork in the water in the center of the pan and wait till the water is still. Then gently hit the top of the water at the end of the pan with a spoon until the waves are made. Then ask the students, "What do they see happening with the cork? It is rising and falling? What do they see happening with the water? It is also rising and falling? Explain that the movement in the water/ocean is waves. "Waves are the rise and fall of the water. We made the waves in the pan by hitting the pan with a spoon, but in the real ocean the waves by made by the wind blowing on the water."

2. To reinforce what the students just saw and to develop their vocabulary of the key terms and concepts just introduced, continue the instruction by showing students a large picture of waves in the ocean.

3 . As the card is held up, allow the students to use their prior knowledge of oceans and the experiment that they just saw to guess what the picture is.

4. Then describe what the picture shows to the students. Since it is a picture of waves, explain to the students that waves are the movement they see in the ocean water. Also show waves with your hands and arms and say that "waves go up and down or rise and fall."

5. Then show the students how the word "wave" looks and how it is spelled by using sentence strips.

6. Place the picture of the waves beside the word in the pocket chart in front of the classroom.

7. Have the students repeat after you "wave" three times so that they get some listening and speaking practice of the word.

8. Continue this process of teaching these key terms and vocabulary for the rest of the words related to waves (ocean, water, rise and fall, wind, energy, big, tall).

9. Build on the students listening skills and vocabulary by reading the short paraphrased paragraph on waves to the students. Tell the students to listen carefully for the key words that they just discussed. When they hear one of the key words have them raise their hand to signal that the word was heard. Remind the students that if they need help remembering the key words, they can look on the pocket chart.

1. Pull the words off the pocket chart and place them on the table. Remove and scramble up the pictures and then place them back on the pocket chart.

2. Hold up the first word on the sentence strip and ask the students to try and recognize the word. Provide the students with a sentence that gives the meaning of the word in context. Have them chorally sight read it aloud. Allow them to shout out the word and then again model the correct pronunciation by repeating the word after them by saying, "Yes, the word is wave." Then have the students repeat back the sentence with the word in it.

3. Then ask the students, "Who can come up to the pocket chart and place the word wave next to the correct picture?" Calling on individual students, allow them to come up and place the word in the appropriate place.

4. Continue holding up terms, saying them, and matching them to the correct picture by placing the word next to the correct picture on the pocket chart.

5. Further work to reinforce the definitions of these words by placing them in a graphic organizer, which the students will then use these to make sentences. Have the students do this by eliciting the words through context questions.

Movement	Waves
Cause	Wind
Effects "What we see"	Rise and fall of the waves
Changes	More wind produces more energy to make waves bigger

6. Informally assess the students during this entire process. If they are not pronouncing and reading the words correctly, them continue to model and have them repeat after you. If they are having trouble remembering what picture matches what word and placing them in the graphic organizer, then they need more instruction about what the words means and give them more practice matching the right pictures and words. I don't continue on to independent practice until I am confident that the students are successful with the language and processes covered in the guided practice.

1. Pass out to students the handout, with the pictures of the vocabulary they just learned and with the word bank filled with these words. Have the students draw lines to connect the correct picture to the word.

2. Finally, using the graphic organizer that the students made together on the board and their new knowledge of these important terms have the students write three sentences on sentence strips that explain waves. They should use seven of the nine words. (ocean, waves, water, wind, rise and fall, and energy, tall, big) These sentence strips are going to be place on the final mural to explain waves.

As a final assessment of the students, look at whether or not they were able to meet the reading and writing objectives. If the students were successful and they met your goal then they should have been able to read all of the new words given to them in the word bank and then write all 9 of those words in their science journal under the appropriate cut out picture. Using this new vocabulary, they should also have been able to write three short sentences in narrative form. Together, these two assignments should demonstrate the student's new understanding of waves.

Bring the lesson to a close by allowing the students a chance to share what they have learned. Allow each student each an opportunity to read aloud the narrative that them made. Finally bring the lesson to a full circle by asking them what they will look for next time they visit the beach.

Students who are learning English as a second language need development of key terms and vocabulary in order to understand the content of the lesson. This lesson is designed to build upon the basic understanding of some of the most concrete and widely used terms regarding ocean movements. Students at this stage still have a restricted vocabulary, so developing a more concrete understanding of the previous lessons terms as well as some added new terms in this lesson is necessary in order to help them speak and construct sentences. The students all do this by building on the terms related to waves from the level one lesson to more difficult words regarding tides in this lesson. The instruction of this new vocabulary will be accomplished through a science experiment as well as a variety of listening and speaking strategies in which the students will be engaged into. By gaining more control of the vocabulary used in discussing ocean movements, these second language learners will be able to make the transition from limited speaking control to the point where they have enough for communicating about ocean movements.

Oceans, and in particular ocean movements, are important for students in San Diego to learn about because San Diego lies on the Pacific Ocean. Since students are so close, it opens the doors to exciting learning experiences in which they can go see most of what they learn about, such as the waves and tides in this lesson. In addition, students living near the ocean have the opportunity to see how our oceans affect our environment, and ultimately how our environment impacts our sea life.

1. After learning the key terms and vocabulary, the students will be able to listen and recognize at least 12 of the 18 definition sentences related to ocean movements by raising their hand when they hear the words read.

2. After listening to the teacher modeling and using the key terms in definition sentences and practice saying the key words, the students will be able to restate all of the definition sentences with the key words given.

3. After the whole class chorally practices sight-reading the key terms in the context of definition sentences related to waves and tides, the students will be able to recognize and/or sight read chorally at least 75% of these same words.

4. After practicing sight-reading definitions of the key words regarding both waves and tides, the students will individually be able to correctly sight word spell at least 12 of the 18 of the key terms given and place them with the correct definition in a modified cloze activity.

5. Overall, the students will be able to use a graphic organizer (organized by ocean movement, cause, effect and changes) and what they learned about ocean movement to write five sentences in a short narrative form, which include at least 12 of the 18 key words, to explain the ocean movements of waves and tides.

To motivate the students about ocean movement and especially tides, engage them in another discussion about the water at the beach. Ask the students if they have ever been to the beach and seen the ocean water extremely far away from the end of the beach? Have they ever seen the ocean water up so high on the beach that it is covering most of the sand? Ask them if they know why or how the ocean does this? Then explain to the students that today they will be learning the words that will teach them why the water/ocean moves in this manner. Also, to further motivate the students, remind them that when the unit is over they will be visiting the ocean and looking at the movements that they are going to be learning about in this lesson.

1. To begin to introduce the students to the important terms regarding tides, do an experiment demonstrating tides. Use two large rectangular aluminum foil-baking tins. Tell the students to pretend that the water in the tins is the ocean. Mark the front and the back of the two tins so that one is the beach side and one is the ocean. Have the students observe the water in one pan when it is lying flat. With the second pan slightly tipped back, also have the students observe the water. Ask the students, "what is different about the water in the in the two pans?" Have them notice that in the first pan the water covers the whole pan up to the beach, but in the second pan the water does not come all the way up on to the beach.

2. Connect this experiment with a short language experience discussion in which the students talk about their experiences seeing tides or movements in the ocean water at the beach.

3. Then connect this experiment to the pictures of the high and low tides. Explain that the first pan, in which the water goes all the way up the beach, is like picture 1. Tell them that, "when the water goes up the beach and cover most of the sand, we call that high tide." Then show picture 2 of the low tide and make that same the same connection.

4. To reinforce what the students just saw, to develop their vocabulary of the key terms and concepts just introduced, and to help them make the connection of the word discussed to the written word, continue the instruction by showing the students the picture of the high tide. Since it is a picture of a high tide, explain to the students that when the water level is high along the beach then it is called a high tide. Then show the students how the word "high tide" looks and how it is spelled by using sentence strips.

5. Place the picture of the high tide beside the word in the pocket chart in front of the classroom. (Note that the pictures and words about waves from the prior day are on the top half of the pocket chart and today the new words will be added to the bottom half of the chart.)

6. Have the students repeat after you "high tide" three times so that they get some listening and speaking practice of the new word.

7. Continue this process of teaching these key terms and vocabulary through pictures, discussion and sentence strips for the rest of the words related to tides (high tide, low tide, earth, moon, gravity).

1. To reinforce what the students just saw and to further develop their vocabulary of the key terms and concepts introduced in lesson I and in the lesson today, continue the instruction by reading the paraphrased paragraphs on waves and tides.

2. Tell the students that you want them to be listening carefully for key words defined through the context of the paragraph and for them to raise their hand when they hear one.

3. After reading the two short paragraphs through one at a time, tell the students that now they are going to retell, in their own words, the key words and their meaning through the context in which they just heard it. For example, "Waves are caused by wind."

4. As the students are practicing speaking by retelling the key word through their meaning, write their sentences that they say on sentence strips. Place them one at a time in the pocket chart.

5. With the sentences in the pocket chart have the students practice decoding/reading the short sentence and in particular the key words in that sentence.

7. Then as a quick sight word reading assessment, point to the key words one at a time and have the students orally decode them. To meet the assessment goal, they should be able to decode at least 75% of the key words.

8. Reinforce the definitions of these words by placing them in a graphic organizer, which the students will then use to guide them in making sentences in the form of a narrative.

9. Informally assess the students during this entire process. If they are not pronouncing and reading the key words correctly 75% of the time, them continue to model and have them repeat the word and the definition sentences after you, If they are having trouble restating all of the definition sentences after listening to them, then they need more speaking practice with the ocean movement vocabulary.

Movement	Waves	Tides
Cause	wind	gravity from the moon pulling on the ocean water
Effect (What we see)	rise and fall of the waves	rise and fall of the water onto or away from the beach
Changes	More wind produces more energy to make bigger waves	High tide is when the moon is facing the ocean. Low tide is when the moon is facing away from the oeacn.

1. To individually practice and to gain better control of the vocabulary discussed in the lesson, provide the students with a modified cloze activity in which they will practice sight word spelling the key words in the pharaphsed paragraph that they heard and retold during the guided practice.

2. Finally, using the graphic organizer that the class made together on the board and their new knowledge of the important terms, have the students write five sentences in a short narrative form. They should include at least 12 of the I 8 key words to explain the ocean movements of waves and tides. These short narratives should be written, corrected, and then rewritten. The final draft should be written nicely on lined paper since it is going to be placed on the final mural to explain waves and tides.

As a final assessment of the students, look at whether or not they were able to meet the writing objectives. If the students were successful and they met your goal then they should have been able to sight word spell at least 7 of the 10 key words and place them in the correct cloze definition sentence. They should also have been able to write three short sentences on tides and waves using at least six of the key words.

Bring the lesson to a close by giving the students a chance to share what they learned. Allow the students an opportunity to read aloud their sentences in the form of a narrative. Finally bring the lesson to a full circle by asking them what they will look for next time they visit the beach. When they respond with ocean movements or waves and tides, tell them that when they see these different ocean movements at the beach, they should think about what is causing what they are seeing.

Students who are learning English as a second language at Level 3 still need a lot of sheltering and modification to understand abstract concepts. At this stage, they speak and understand enough English for communication, but they still have difficulty with everyday class work in English. In particular, they are limited with their reading and writing abilities. In this lesson, the students will build on their English listening and speaking skills, but the focus will be mainly on improving their reading and writing. They will be engaged in reading short, modified narratives on ocean movements and then working with meaning by learning to write the main idea and as well as new endings for these narratives.

Each narrative that the students will work with will help to deepen their level of understanding of ocean movements as they each describe higher levels of content such as how ocean movements affect sea life, tide pools, or pollution. To accomplish this task, the students will be engaged in a short mini-lesson on finding the main idea. The concept of paragraph structure will also be reinforced to help them with these narratives. Finally, they will put to use all of their new knowledge on ocean movements, paragraph writing, and their prior knowledge of a letter format to complete their final writing task, a letter to other students in the school inviting them to see their mural. With continuous sheltering and practice of these skills, these second language learners will eventually be able to make the transition from enough English so they can communicate to the point where they attain full native-like fluency.

Oceans, and in particular ocean movements, are important for students in San Diego to learn about because San Diego lies on the Pacific Ocean. Since students are so close, it opens the doors to exciting learning experiences in which they can go see most of what they learn about, such as the waves and tides in this lesson. In addition, students living near the ocean have the opportunity to see how our oceans affect our environment, and ultimately how our environment impacts our sea life.

1. Prior to the start of the lesson, the students will be able to work on their speaking skills by orally sharing at least one thing about their experiences with the ocean.

2. After listening to modified narratives on ocean movements, the students will be show that they have listened for meaning by orally describing at least one main idea or a possible ending that would make sense.

3. After listening to modified narratives on ocean movements, the students will be able to orally explain at least two reasons why they have chosen a particular main idea or possible ending for the narratives.

4. After practicing echo reading of short narratives about ocean movements, the students will be able to read the final passage independently for comprehension with 75% accuracy.

5. After reviewing and discussing the meaning of several different narratives as examples, the students will be about to write an ending to a narrative that includes at least eight sentences.

6. Overall, the students will be able to apply what they learned about ocean movement through the narratives, and their knowledge of paragraphs and the letter format, to write a letter of at least eight sentences to other classrooms in the school explaining why they should come to see our class mural on ocean movements and what they will learn by coming.

Before the lesson begins, I motivate the students to be interested in learning about ocean movement by engaging them in a conversation in which they all have the opportunity to share about their experiences at the beach and with the ocean. I structure the conversation so that I am guiding them to talk about the ocean movements, in particular the waves and the tides. Use prompting questing to guide them thought the thought process. Some questions may include: Have you ever seen the ocean water extremely far away from the end of the beach? Have you seen the ocean water up so high on the beach that it is covering most of the sand? Why or how does the ocean do this? These questions begin the critical thinking process that I continue throughout the lesson. The students' responses also allow me to assess their level of prior knowledge and experiences, and their facility with vocabulary related to the topic.

After all of the students have had an opportunity to share their experiences, explain to the students that today they will be learning more about the ocean movements and why the ocean water moves. Finally, to further motivate the students, remind them that when the unit is over they will be visiting the ocean and looking at the movements that they are going to be learning about.

I . Teach the students the critical thinking skill of finding the main idea or what the narrative is about. Use modified narratives about ocean movements to teach the students how to listen for the main idea.

2. Once the passage is read once by the teacher, have the students echo read the same narrative.

4. Then model for the students how to create an ending for the narrative. Explain why that ending would make sense. Provide the students with a different ending that would not make sense and explain why.

5. Lead the students in a discussion of the paragraph structure. Use the narrative from above that the students are now familiar with, to describe the paragraph structure and illustrate that the main idea is what the paragraph is about.

I . Let the students now that now it is their turn to find the main idea of the narrative and to create an ending.

2. First read the passage to the students and have them listen for the main idea.

3. Then echo read the same narrative by giving each student a copy of the narrative to read from.

4. Engage in a discussion of the main idea. Have the students explain why it is the main idea. Can they find evidence from the narrative that supports their main idea?

5. Continue on by discussing possible endings for the narrative. Again the students must explain why that ending could make sense.

6. Informally assess the students understanding of the narrative up to this point. Are they reading for meaning? Are they able to express the main idea and possible endings? Do they understand the information about the ocean movements that the narrative is providing in the context of a story? If so, then they can move on to independent practice where they will be given another narrative on ocean movements to do on there own. If not, guide the students with finding the main idea and possible ending through another narrative.

1. Give the students the independent narrative about how ocean movements affect sea life to read on their own. After they read the narrative, they are to use the blank lines that fill the rest of the paper to write at least eight sentences to finish the narrative. These narratives will be posted around the class mural.

2. Using the letter format that they have learned recently, have the students write a letter to the other classrooms in the school inviting them to come to our classroom to see our mural on ocean movements. (Make sure to point out the letter format poster hanging on the wall. Quickly have the students reread the learning poster that they made while learning the letter writing format.) Tell the students that the letter should include at least eight sentences to explain why other classrooms should come and what they will learn. Once the letters are written, edited and rewritten, then the students may distribute them to the other classrooms.

As a final evaluation of the students understanding of ocean movements, read and help the students edit their letters to the other classrooms. What the students understand about ocean movements will be revealed from the letter where they write why the other classrooms should come and what they will learn by coming. Also, evaluate the students understanding of ocean movements by looking at their narrative and their creative ending that they had to make up.

To finally close the lesson, allow the students an opportunity to share their possible endings to the narrative to the rest of the class. Bring the lesson to a full circle by having them describe the ocean movements in their narratives, as well as how it affects our sea life.

Students who are learning English as a second language, with Level 4 language abilities, are at an intermediate fluency level in English. This allows them to develop academic concepts and vocabulary in the content areas. However, they are not completely ready for full instruction in an English mainstream classroom where all students are taught assuming that they are fully proficient in English (Level 5 FSI). These students need specialized strategies of SDAIE as well as some support in their LI. In this lesson on ocean movements, these Level 4 students will learn with the support of some of these SDAIE strategies. They include scaffolded texts, graphic organizers, note taking, and large visuals through chart paper. In addition, they will continue practicing their listening and speaking skills, but the focus will be mainly on improving their reading and writing.

These goals will be accomplished by engaging the students in reading, outlining and writing new stories about various things that have occurred as a result of the ocean movements. Each news story that the students will work with will help to deepen their level of understanding of ocean movements as they each describe higher levels of content such as how ocean movements affects sea life or water transportation. In addition, the final activity will end with the students writing their own news story in which they have to synthesis what they learned to write about the news headline, "The Oceans Stopped Moving Today." With continuous support and use of SDAIE strategies to complete these tasks, these second language learners, within a few years, will eventually be able to make the transition from enough specialized instruction to mainstream English instruction.

Since students are so close, it opens the doors to exciting learning experiences in which they can go see most of what they learn about, such as the waves and tides in this lesson. In addition, students living near the ocean have the opportunity to see how our oceans affect our environment, and ultimately how our environment impacts our sea life.

1. After listening to pretend modified new stories on ocean movements, the students will be show that they have listened for meaning by orally contributing at least three main ideas to the group's notes and graphic organizer.

2. After discussing the important information from the modified new stories on ocean movements, the students will orally present to the class their own creative news story.

3. After practicing echo reading the news stories about ocean movements, the students will be able to read and outline, with 75% accuracy, the final news story with their partner.

4. After modeling how to rewrite news stories, the students will be able to rewrite in at least ten sentences their own news story.

5. Overall, the students will be to use what they learned about ocean movement through the new stories to write, with at least ten sentences, their own creative news story with the headline, "The Oceans Stopped Moving Today" to describe the effects that an nonmoving ocean would have on our beaches, ocean life, and transportation.

Before the lesson begins, motivate the students about ocean movement by engaging them in a conversation in which they all have the opportunity to share about their experiences at the beach and with the ocean. Structure the conversation so that you are guiding them to talk about the ocean movements, in particular the waves and the tides. Use prompting questing to guide them thought the thought process. Some questions may include, have you ever seen the ocean water extremely far away from the end of the beach? Have you seen the ocean water up so high on the beach that it is covering most of the sand? Why or how does the ocean do this? After all of the students have had an opportunity to share their experiences, explain to the students that today they will be learning more about the ocean movements and why the ocean water moves. Finally, to further motivate the students, remind them that when the unit is over they will be visiting the ocean and looking at the movements that they are going to be learning about.

I . Have the students listen to a short, modified news story about ocean movements and how they affect sea life. While the teacher is reading, have the students listen for the main points in the story.

2. Once the passage is read once by the teacher, reread the passage again, this time echo reading with the students.

3. On large chart paper, model for the students how to take notes. Go through each part of the news story and model for the students how to pull out the important information.

4. Once all of the important information is pulled from the story, teach the students how they can further organize the information by placing it into a graphic organizer.

I . Guide the students into reading and organizing another sample news story about how ocean movements affect our water transportation and trading.

2. First read the news story to the students and have them listen for the main points.

3. Then echo read the same news story by giving each student a copy of the new story to read from.

4. On chart paper, engage in a discussion of how they are to organize their notes, Have the students explain what the main idea of the news story is. Reread through each section of the news story. Stop and allow the students to pull out all of the important points to write in their notes.

5. Once all of the notes are taken, allow the students an opportunity to organize the information into a graphic organizer. Create this new graphic organizer on chart paper. Each student should be orally contributing at least three ideas to notes and the organizer.

6. As a group, guide the students into rewriting this news story in their own words. Use the same information from the notes and the graphic organizer. As the students are dictating, teacher models writing the story on the large chart paper.

7. Informally assess the students understanding of the reading, writing and understanding of news stories. Do they understand the content of ocean movements that is taught through the context of the new story? Are they able to express the main ideas in the notes and graphic organizer? As a group are they able to write their own news story using this information. If so, then they can move on to independent practice where they will be writing their own new story related to ocean movements. If not, guide the students in reading and organizing another news story.

I . Give the students another news story to read on their own. Using the same outlining and organizing strategies that they just did with the whole group, allow the students to work with partners to do the same with this new news story.

2. Then independently, have the students rewrite that same news story using their notes and graphic organizer. This writing can be modeled directly after the news story that they did as a group.

3 . As the final project that will be posted up around the mural, have the students write a news story of their own. The news story has to answer this news headline, "The Oceans Stopped Moving Today." In their story, have them describe the effects that a nonmoving ocean would have on our beaches, ocean life, and transportation. This news story has to be at least ten sentences.

As a final evaluation of the students understanding of ocean movements, read their notes and new stories given to them during independent practice. Were they able to pull out all of the important information from the news story and then rewrite the story in a way that makes sense? Were they able to create a news story on their own, in which they explained what the affects would be if the ocean stopped moving? What the students understand about ocean movements will be revealed through these new stories.

To finally close the lesson, allow the students an opportunity to orally share their creative news stories with the class. All students should present their stories as a way to practice their speaking skills. Finally bring the lesson to a full circle by having the students tell how essential the ocean movements are.

*Students are expected to master the concepts and vocabulary for their level as well as the easier levels.

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
waves	tides	sea life	shore
ocean	high tide	tide pools	ashore
water	low tide	pollution	Blue Whale
to rise	Earth	oil spill	rescue
to fall	moon	recreation	wash up onto
energy	force	disaster	transportation
big	gravity	harm	trading, to trade
tall	sand	facing (away from)	goods
surfers	beach	mess	to contaminate

Paraphrased Paragraph on Ocean Water Movement: Waves and Tides
Adapted from The New Exploring Science Green Book by Blecha, Gega, and Green.

The water in the ocean is always moving. You may be wondering what makes the water move. Two main types of ocean water movement are waves and tides. Waves are one movement of the ocean water. Waves are the rise and fall of the ocean water. They are caused by the wind. The waves are bigger when there is more wind. The more wind produces more energy. This gives more power to make the waves taller. Surfers ride the waves in the ocean. They need wind to make tall waves to surf on. When there is no wind, there are no waves for the surfers to ride.

The wind causes waves. The moon causes the tides. The moon has a force called gravity. This force pulls on the Earth. When the ocean is facing the moon, the moon pulls on the ocean water. Its pulls on the ocean because the ocean is a very large body of water. This pull is strong enough to make the water rise. When the water rises, it is called a high tide. When the moon is not facing the ocean, there is no gravity pulling the water. The water that had risen before now falls. This is called a low tide. It is easy to tell if it is a high or low tide. When you go to the beach, look at the sand on the beach. It is a high tide when there is almost no sand on the beach, only water. It is a low tide when there is a big beach with a lot of sand.

Last night a large blue whale was washed ashore on the beach in La Jolla. This morning lifeguards on the beach found the blue whale. It was dead on the sand. Lifeguards think that the water from the high tides carried the whale on to the shore. One lifeguard told reporters, "When the tides are high, it can bring dead sea life onto the beach." The animal rescue team is now waiting for the low tides to come. They need the low tides because when the tides are low, the water falls far back off the sand. Then they can drive the rescue trucks on the sand to take away the whale. Unfortunately, the ocean's tides brought in a large mess to pick up.

Abruscato, J., Fossaceca, P.R., Hasard, J., & Peck, S. (1980). Holt Elementary Science. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Publisher

Blecha, M.K., Gega, P.C., & Green, M. (1982). The New Exploring Science Green Book Teacher Edition. River Forest, Il: Laidlaw Brother Publishers.

Sund, R.B., Adams, D.K., & Hackett, J. K. (1985). Accent on Science: A Merrill Science Program. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing.

4X4 Unit Rationale	Unit Goals	Staging the Concept
Vocabulary	Reading Passage	Guided Practice
Evaluation	Level 1 Lesson Plan	Level 2 Lesson Plan
Level 3 Lesson Plan	Level 4 Lesson Plan	Word Bank
Paraphrased Text	Sample News Story	Graphic Organizer 1
Graphic Organizer 2	References	On-line Resourses

Return to Dr. Mora's Home Page	Go to MoraModules Index
Go to PLC 915 Syllabus	Go to ED 516 Syllabus
4X4 Unit Guidelines	Activities for the 4X4