Subject: ELA (English Language Arts)

Lesson Length: 30 - 45 mins

Topic: Informational Text, Determining Central Ideas in Science

Grade Level: 6, 7, 8

Standards / Framework:

Brief Description: Students will use the "See, Think, Wonder" strategy to help them better understand scientific information or text. They’ll demonstrate their understanding in a comic.

Know Before You Start: This lesson uses the thinking protocol "See, Think, Wonder." Students will read a text (or observe an image) and pose questions about the content. You’ll need to provide a selected scientific text, diagram, chart or image.

Hook:

  • Introduce a selected text, diagram, chart or image.
  • Display the sample comic. 
  • Model how to analyze the material presented by using the "See, Think, Wonder" strategy. 
    • See: Discuss the key ideas students see within the text.
    • Think: Discuss the ideas and thoughts generated by the content.
    • Wonder: Ask students what questions they have or things they wonder about now that they have read the content.

Activity:

  • Provide students with another science-related text, diagram, chart or image on the same topic.
  • After independently reading and/or observing the provided content, have students create a three-panel comic to demonstrate their understanding using the "See, Think, Wonder" strategy.

Closure:

  • Allow students an opportunity to share their comics with the class or in groups.
  • Discuss how using the "See, Think, Wonder" strategy can be used with all types of materials to better understand the content.

Differentiation:

  • Adjust selected text based on a student’s reading level.
  • Provide sentence frames "I see____." "I think ____." "I wonder ____."
  • Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
  • Allow students to work in pairs or groups as needed.
  • Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.

Resources:

  • Comic to print or display
  • Science article, diagram, chart, or image