Kelley Wier

CEP 804A Spring 2015

Inquiry Unit- Ocean Life
Section I: Student Information
I taught this unit to eleven of my students in the Resource classroom. The students were in 2nd-5th grade
and have diverse learning strengths and challenges. The students were wonderful to work with and enthusiastic
throughout the each stage in the unit.
I worked with one 2nd grader, five 3rd graders, two 4th graders, and three 5th graders. There were six
girls and seven boys in this group. Most of the students are in different general education classrooms. These
students represent a diverse range of disabilities. Seven of the students have learning disabilities, one has ASD,
and two have ADHD. Two of the students have cerebral palsy and are nonverbal. Both students use high-tech
AAC communication devices and one student uses a wheelchair. Each student has unique learning strengths
and needs. These students are achieving below grade level and are working towards individual IEP goals and
objectives to help them access the general education curriculum. All of the students receive 1-2 hours of
resource room instruction every day. The students receive mathematics, writing, and reading instruction
throughout the day in the resource room in 30-minute sessions. Many of these students receive additional
services including; occupational therapy, physical therapy, social work, and speech/language services. One of
my students is also an English language learner.
My students all come from diverse backgrounds. Many receive free or reduced lunch and come from
low socioeconomic communities. Many of the students come from culturally and religiously diverse families.
One of my students speaks Spanish at home. Many of these students come from divorced families, live with
relatives, or have siblings with disabilities. Each students unique experiences and background play a role in
their education and upbringing.
The diverse characteristics, personalities, and interests of the students were able to shine throughout this
unit. Each student was able to add to the group in a positive way. Students were motivated as individual
learners and also as supportive peers. They collaborated and discussed effectively with guidance and modeling.
They were inquisitive and open-minded. This group embraced the process of research and writing, even though
it felt laborious at times. Each student was motivated, hard working, and helpful towards peers. Overall, the
students were able to create their own success within this unit.
Section II: Planning My Unit:
In designing this unit, I wanted to make sure I had a plan that would ensure each students success. I
wanted to design a unit that would be motivating and authentic for each student. During previous reading
lessons, I had noticed that my students were very intrigued by animals and ocean life. Through previous
discussion, observation, and instruction I had also gained an understanding that each of my students has very
unique interests. The fifth grade students that I work with were assigned to complete a research project in their
general education classroom. Additionally, many of the students IEP reading goals, practice problems for the
M-Step standardized test, and relevant Common Core State Standards involved skills related to navigating
informational text. All of these factors ultimately helped me decide on the topic and design of my unit. This
inquiry unit would allow for students to choose a topic of interest (an ocean animal) to research. The unit
would consist of both independent and group work. It would combine reading and writing instruction in a
seamless, meaningful way. The unit would culminate in an authentic publication of their best work.
I met with my mentor teacher to discuss the possible topics and plan for the project. She agreed that
ocean life would be a motivating topic and that the students could benefit from the reading and writing
instruction related to completing a research report. She suggested that I differentiate some of the instruction
based on grade level to accommodate the needs of the different age groups. She gave me some ideas for how to
scaffold instruction for the younger students, and ways to expand upon the project for the older students. She
thought that the visual representation of POWER+P would be a powerful way to help students see writing as a
process. Additionally, she suggested that I collaborate with the fifth grade teachers to gain insights into how I

could support these students in completing the general education classroom research projects.
I reviewed the Common Core State Standards in order to determine what specifically needs to be taught
about research writing in elementary grades. I conducted some online research and looked through my CEP
804 materials in order to prepare for the different stages in the unit. I gathered the materials I needed for the
project, created research writing packets for each student, displayed the POWER+P visual in our classroom, and
created the classroom web page that would be used to publish our work. I also met with the fifth grade teachers
of my students to discuss how I could best support the students in their class to complete the research project in
the general education setting. We discussed deadlines, expectations for the students, and project rubrics. This
helped me to adjust my plan for these students and create materials to help support my fifth grade students in
completing their research projects. Although these students werent going to be researching ocean animals, the
reading and writing strategies taught throughout this unit could help any student complete a research report on
any topic.
Finally, I visited the local library to collect inspiring materials for the project. I collected a wide variety
of written works to display in the classroom throughout the unit. All of the books and magazines were
informational texts about ocean life and specific ocean animals. I checked out multiple books on each students
research topic that were at the students reading levels. This part of the project was very exciting for the
students. They enjoyed exploring all of the different materials.
Section III: Planning, Activating and Building Background Knowledge:
Day One: Planning, Activating and Building Background Knowledge
Brainstorm what a researcher is. Write down student ideas on the board.
Present the I Wonder PowerPoint presentation to introduce the topic of ocean life (Presentation
uploaded with project).
Pre-reading strategy: Use KWL chart and write down what students know about ocean life and what
they wonder about ocean life.
Give each student their research writing folder and packet. Elicit discussion allowing each student to
choose a topic that they wonder about (an ocean animal that they want to research).
Section IV: Teaching Strategies for Gathering, Recording, and Organizing Information
Day Two: Planning for Research
Discuss what a good research is and does. Record student ideas on the board.
Present the POWER+P writing framework. Have each student put their clothespin on the P for Plan.
Pass out research writing folders. Model filling out a writing plan for my own topic. Have each student
fill out a research plan for their project (located in their writing packet). Have students answer the
following questions: Who am I writing for? Why am I writing this? What do I know?
Day Three: Teaching Strategies for Gathering Information
Provide each student with a guided reading packet following the POSSE framework.
Pre-reading strategies: pre-teach vocabulary (reef, mammal, mammal, fish, etc.), preview the pictures,
think about what I know about ocean life, predict what the book is going to teach us about.
Review the KWL chart filled out previously and add any additional ideas.
Day Four: Gathering Information
Review pre-reading strategies: vocabulary and predictions made previously.
Read leveled books aloud in the different reading groups: The Deep Sea, Ocean Life, and Mammals of
the Sea. Model and think aloud strategies.
During and after reading strategies: Search for the main ideas and details, map main ideas and details by
adding them to the graphic organizer.
Other group(s) will be reading independently or working on word work activities while I am leading
small guided reading groups with these texts. Word work activities will use the pre-taught vocabulary
and challenging words from these texts. Some examples of word work activities include: stamping
words, making words with beads, looking up definitions, drawing pictures to represent words, or making

words with magnetic letters.

Day Five: Organizing Information
Present the POWER+P Plan checklist (last page in their research writing packet). Allow students to
review the steps needed in order to move from one step to the next. Have students use the checklist and
move their clothespin to O for Organize. They will be organizing the information they have collected
to plan for future research and writing.
Meet with small guided reading groups to summarize and evaluate the information read and learned on
previous days.
During and after reading strategies: Summarize the text, evaluate what was learned, and plan for future
learning.
Section V: Building Additional Background Knowledge
Day Six: Teaching Strategies for Gathering Additional Information
Pre-reading strategies: Pre-teach vocabulary (appearance, diet, enemies, defense, behavior,
characteristics).
During and after reading strategies: Clarification (what to do when come across unclear word and ideas),
search for main ideas, map main ideas, Mark-it (with post-its).
Model and think aloud strategies using my topic. Demonstrate how to mark information with post its,
search for main ideas in an informational text, and record important ideas on the Ocean Animal
Research Notes graphic organizer using the document camera.
Day Seven: Gathering Additional Information
Allow each student to explore the texts I have collected about their animal. Students will research their
topic independently and engage in discussion with peers/teachers when clarification is needed.
Students will use post-it notes to mark pages that they want to come back to, need clarification on, or
find interesting.
Students will fill out the Ocean Animal Research Notes page in their writing packet in order to gather
information on their animal for their research report.
Day Eight: Organizing Additional Information
I will model organizing my research into categories using the graphic organizer.
Students will use the graphic organizer (located in research writing packet) to organize their research
into categories that they can write about.
Section VI: Drafting, Editing, and Revising Final Product(s)
Day Nine-Ten: Writing Draft
Ask students to review their POWER+P checklist in order to assess where they are in the writing
process. Allow students to move their clothespin to W for Write when they are ready.
I will demonstrate how to use the information from my graphic organizer to write a rough draft.
Students will work independently to write their rough draft using the information they have gathered and
the rough draft writing template found in their research writing packet.
Day Eleven-Twelve: Edit and Revise Draft
Students may move their clothespin to E for Edit, after they have completed their rough draft and
completed all of the steps on the POWER+P checklist.
Students will use the editing checklists to edit and revise their work. I will model independent editing of
my work using the document camera, my rough draft, and the editing checklist. Each student has both
an independent and peer editing checklist in their writing packet.
Students will first complete their independent editing by re-reading their rough draft, looking for errors,
and planning for revisions.
I will then pair students up as they complete their independent editing to peer edit. Each student will
read his or her rough draft aloud to a partner. The partner will provide feedback using the peer editing
guidelines sheet. I will be conferencing with pairs of students during this stage to help guide productive

partnerships.
After all steps are completed, students may move their clothespin to R for Revise. Students will
record planned revisions based on independent, peer, and teacher feedback.

Section VII: Presenting or Publishing Final Product(s)/Assessment and Accountability for Learning
Day Thirteen-Fifteen: Presenting or Publishing Final Product(s)/Assessment and Accountability for Learning
I will present how we will publish our work. We will be creating a classroom website to display all of
our hard work and research. The website will be created through Weebly and I will be creating a page
for each student where I will upload their research report, pictures, and sources.
Students will move their clothespin to +P for Publish. Students will use their edited rough draft,
editing feedback sheets (independent and peer), and planned revisions to type up the final draft of their
report.
Students will also look up 3-4 pictures of their animal on the computer that they would like to include in
their report website page.
I will then input all of the information onto each students web page on our classroom website.
The website can be viewed at:
http://underthesearoom202.weebly.com
On the final day of our project, I will allow for students to explore the website during our project
celebration day. I will congratulate each student on their hard work and present students with a
Researcher Excellence Award. They will be able to read each others research reports as well as view
their final published work on the website. I will allow for them to discuss with each other and express
their excitement towards finishing the project. We will complete an under the sea craft to display in our
classroom with each students animal on an ocean life poster.
A newsletter with a copy of the website link will go home (both in paper form and via email) with each
student so that they can show the website to their families. I will also be sending the website link and a
description of the project to be included into the school wide newsletter.
Section VIII: Reflection and Critique of Unit (narrative of strengths, weaknesses, and next steps)
This unit had many strengths and challenges. Overall, I thought it went very well and I enjoyed every
minute of it. The students were motivated by their independent research and collaborated well throughout the
project. Each student chose a topic that was interesting to them and this helped to maintain engagement
throughout the entire unit. The research materials I had collected from the library were exciting for the
students. The research writing packets and writing folders helped students to stay organized throughout each
stage in the process. The POWER+P visual display and checklist helped each student to stay on track and also
work at their own pace. The students were able to support each other throughout the different stages of the unit,
from clarifying research materials, reading aloud, discussing texts, and peer editing. The project was
individualized to meet the needs of each learner. Each student was able to complete the project that they were
proud of and that demonstrated learning in both reading and writing strategies.
One of the major challenges that I encountered was the amount of time that this process takes. Each step
is extremely important in the process, but at times I felt that the students were anxious to get to the final
product. I hope that my students learned the value of each of these steps as it helped them to create an amazing
final product. Another challenge that I faced was within the Write stage of the project in which the students
used the information gathered to write a rough draft of their research report. Many of the students struggled to
form the details and facts gathered from their research into sentences and paragraphs that made sense.
Ultimately, I ended up scaffolding some of my struggling students rough drafts more than just the rough draft
graphic organizer that I had provided. I took facts and turned them into fill-in-the-blank style sentences so that
students were able to see how their information fit into sentence structures. I gave students topic sentence
starters to help them form coherent paragraphs. I took extra steps to make sure my students could see the
connection between the research they had collected and the strategies for forming independent writing using
research. From these challenges, I learned an incredible amount about supporting all students throughout the
reading and writing processes.

One of my next steps for the project is to get the website URL and project description into the school
wide newsletter. I think this would be an amazing way for my students to feel like experts in our school. Not
many students have conducted research that they then turned into a website! My students were incredibly
excited by the final product and I am excited to share their hard work. Additionally, I would like to continue
this project into future learning. Some ideas that I have include; fiction story writing incorporating the animal
they researched, oral presentation of research they collected, compare/contrast animals, and incorporating the
POSSE and POWER+P frameworks throughout other prompts and topics. I thoroughly enjoyed participating in
this learning process with my students. I learned a lot about how to teach these types of topics and strategies. It
takes a lot of hard work and careful planning, and sometimes things dont always go as planned! My students
were motivated and learned an incredible amount. I am proud of what we accomplished.