Download academic Language lesson

Stephanie Graham
EDST641/ Reading
July 14, 2013
Vocabulary/ Academic Language Assignment
The content-area text I chose was Whales and Dolphins by Caroline Bingham (2003).
This is an informational text describing characteristics of different cetaceans. I would use this
text in a 4th grade classroom, addressing “Structure and Function: Living and non-living things
can be classified by their characteristics and properties.” This could be used during an entire
unit on cetaceans, which would address that standard.
Part 1
Words that may be Unfamiliar:
Glide
Richer (ex: richer in fat)
Jostling
Warm-blooded
Blubber
“cutting through water”
Mammal
Swift
Species
Lungs
cruising
Fused
Gills
Dorsal fin
Adaptation
Surface
School (of fish/dolphins)
Pectoral fins (not in
Draw (to draw in air)
Collision
reading)
Blowhole
Frothy
Streamlined
Suckle
Wake
Sentence Structures that may be Unfamiliar:
In these few pages, I am noticing a lot of complex sentences. Here are a few:
1) “They have lungs, not gills, and must come to the surface to breathe air.”
2) “Under the skin, a thick, oily fat called blubber protects from the cold.”
3) “Dolphins have lots of fun riding the bow waves of boats and ships, or swimming in the
frothy wake, jostling for position.”
Other than the complexity of the sentences and vocabulary within, I do not think the language
structures in this reading would be too challenging for students. Additionally, there is not a
particular language structure that is repeated throughout the text.
Part 2
Analysis of my list:
I would consider these words to be Tier Two words:
Glide
suckle
cruising
wake
adaptation
surface
richer (in fat)
collision
jostling
streamlined
draw (in air)
swift
frothy
fused
I think I would consider the rest of the words to be Tier 3, as they are mostly specific to this
content-area, describing characteristics of only cetaceans or words mostly only used in science.
I think that the Tier Two words most necessary for comprehending the text are:
Glide
Surface
Draw (in air)
Swift
Cruising
Collision
Frothy
Adapt(ation)
From what I have seen, a lot of the language structures for this age group are fairly versatile. I
feel like in 4th grade, students are really learning to form different sorts of sentences, some
more complex and some more basic. In the grade level texts, a lot of the language structures
seem to be similar to this:
It has ______, _____, and ______ to ________.
______ use(s) ______ in order to ________.
The ______ is important because _______.
______ has ______, which helps it to ______ because ______.
(The) _____ is/are ______because_____.
Part 3
What I would explicitly teach:
The tier 2 words that I would choose to explicitly teach are swift, frothy, and glide. I feel
like these words not only relate to each other, but also can be found in any area outside of
science. They are words that students can use to replace more common, Tier 1 words. For
example, swift can be a synonym for fast, quick, speedy, etc. Frothy can replace foamy, bubbly
or soapy. Glide can be a good descriptive word to replace slide, drift, coast, or move smoothly.
Each of these words are used fairly often (frothy, maybe a little less often) and are much more
descriptive than some of their synonyms.
The general sentence structure I would teach is: _____(s) have/use _______ for _____.
I think this structure is very important for students because they need to explain not only what
is being used, but why it is being used or how it is important. For a cetaceans unit, it is great
because it allows the students to phrase the ways in which different cetacean’s characteristics
or adaptations help them to survive.
Part 4
Have You Ever…?
I would use the “have you ever…” prompt to elicit student responses around the three
words I chose, and relate the words to their own lives. Here are my examples:
1) Tell me about a time something moved swiftly.
2) Explain something frothy you have seen.
3) Tell of a time you saw something glide.
I could also use a variation, possibly before giving the prompts, in which students would
list different things that can move swiftly, can glide, or can look frothy. For example:
Swift
River moves swiftly
He is swift on a bike
………
Frothy
Boiling milk is frothy
Toothpaste after brushing
……..
Glide
Snakes can slither and glide
The plane glides in the air
……..
Part 5
Activity to Teach Target Language Structure
I would use a word web to teach and reinforce language structures. I would use the
structure: ______(s) have/use _______ for _______. I think, by using this format, kids could
really analyze the different anatomy of cetaceans, and the purposes for their adaptations. This
could be used in pretty much any context, distinguishing the different parts of something and
each parts purpose. I would then have students write the different sentences they come up
with. Here are some examples:
Whales use their fins for gliding through the water.
Whales have smooth skin for moving swiftly.
Whales have a blowhole for breathing in fresh air.
Whales have blubber for keeping them warm in cold water.
Whales have strong tails for helping them to move swiftly.
for
for
for
Whales
Use/have
for
for
for
for
for
Another activity that might work to teach this structure is to have pre-made cards with
different parts of a whale or cetacean, and then purposes of those parts. Then students could
have the sentence frame in front of them and physically move the words and phrases around to
form accurate sentences.