Connecting Theory to Practice, Task 4

Planning for Academic Language

Summer 2018

Ari Venteicher
Advance Organizer Lesson Plan from EDUC 670
Grade: 5th Grade
Model of Teaching: ​Advanced Organizer

Standard:​ 5-LS2-1 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics (NGSS)

Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the
environment. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the idea that matter that is not food (air,
water, decomposed materials in soil) is changed by plants into matter that is food. Examples of
systems could include organisms, ecosystems, and the Earth.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment
does not include molecular explanations.]
https://www.nextgenscience.org/pe/5-ls2-1-ecosystems-interactions-energy-and-dynamics

Objective:​ Students will be able to prove with evidence (T/S) parts of a system are interdependent (big
idea) by using an ecosystem video (resource(s)) to present a dramatic play (product) where students
represent parts of the system.

Syntax Activity Script

Introduce A poster will be on the board that Can I get a volunteer to read the sentence on
the Advance clearly states the Big Idea:​ Parts of the board. This sentence is a big idea that we
Organizer systems are interdependent upon are going to attempt to prove today. Now let's
*Make sure one another. all read the big idea aloud as a class.
your AO is a
big idea not A student will read the big idea.The Parts of systems are interdependent upon one
just a entire class will read the big idea in another.
graphic unison.
organizer Before we go any further, what do you think
Define interdependent to clarify the interdependent means? We have been talking
big idea. about latin prefixes and suffixes lately. Another
one we can add to our list is "inter." Everyone
Gather examples of systems from take out your dictionaries and look up that
students to clarify the big idea with prefix.
prior knowledge.
Inter means between, among, or together. With
Introduce the big organizer- a flow that in mind, how would you define
chart with arrows leading from one interdependent?
section to another. (Figure A.)
We are going to work today to prove that small
parts of a system rely on other parts in the
system.

Practice Students will receive a paper with
with the the water cycle on the top and space
Advance on the bottom for them to create a
Organizer cyclical chart.
The teacher will use a document
camera so students can see her
create the chart as they create it
together.
Students will practice proving that
parts of systems are independent
on one another by creating a
cyclical chart about the water cycle.
Students will work in pairs to
critically think if this cycle proves
the big idea. They must provide
evidence from the chart to prove
why.
Regroup as a class to discuss what
the students talked about in their
pairs.
(See Figure B.)
Before we dive into the activity it is important
that everyone understands the big idea we will
be working with today.
What comes to your mind when you think of
systems? What examples do you have of
systems with interdependent parts that you can
share with the class to help clarify the meaning
of our big idea.
I have an example that you may remember
using the Water cycle.
We are going to spend a lot of time today
creating a chart like the one we worked on at
the beginning of class. So we need to practice
working with it because practice makes
______. (Students will complete the teacher’s
sentence and say “perfect.”)
Who remembers learning the water cycle? The
water cycle is a system of how water cycles
through different states of matter to produce
rain.
How can we fit the water process onto our
cyclical chart?
What do you think should be the first piece of
my water SYSTEM that I place on this chart?
Now I will draw and arrow and create a space
for the next part of my system which should be
condensation, right? What will I draw next?
Correct, an arrow leading to what? Then that
piece must be connected to the first piece with
an arrow? What is being processed in this
system? Yes, it is water! Notice how it took
different forms as it went from a liquid as it
accumulated in the ocean to a gas as it went
through evaporation. Would there still be rain
if one of the processes were removed from the
system? Think about where we live here in
California. If we removed the process of

Apply the Prove or disprove the big idea using
Advance the ecosystem and how matter and
Organizer energy is transferred through
different processes.
Students will discuss with a partner
the definition of an ecosystem.
Together as a class they will define
ecosystem and write it on the top of
the second page of their worksheet.
They can see the teacher do the
same on the document camera.
“An ecosystem is a community of
organisms together with their
physical environment.”
Students will write a second fact
about ecosystems.
Matter and energy (heat) is
transferred in ecosystems.
Students will watch the following
video and create a cyclical chart
with their partners.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t
ime_continue=2&v=TitrRpMUt0I
(10:25)
Keywords to include in your cyclical
chart are:
accumulation, would we get to the process of
rain? If we removed the processes of rain,
would we get to the process of evaporation?
Does this prove our big idea?
Do you have any questions about the big idea
or our cyclical chart?
We have practiced using our cyclical chart, and
we know that the purpose of the chart is to help
us prove or disprove that parts of a system are
interdependent upon one another. Now it is
time to apply our mastery of the cyclical chart
to understand this new information about how
matter and energy moves among plants,
animals, decomposers, and the environment.
First let’s refresh our memory from the last
lesson about what is an ecosystem.
Today class we will learn how matter and
energy is recycled in ecosystems from system
to system similar to how water is in the water
cycle we just observed. Please write down this
next fact on your paper: Matter and energy
(heat) is transferred in ecosystems.
Watch this video with your partner and
complete the cyclical chart at the bottom of the
paper. Think about where energy and matter
start and what systems/organisms it goes
through as it is transferred from system to
system?
 Primary Producers/ Plants,
Herbivores, Carnivores,
Decomposers

Share/ Students will share their findings You all did a great job working in pairs to
Summarize and together we will create a create these charts. Now let’s regroup as a class
cyclical chart as a class. and share our findings.

How did our chart prove or
disprove that parts of a system are
interdependent upon one another?
Now that we have watched this
video, do you think this chart is like
the other chart we have created
earlier in the lesson? Why are why
not?
Students will understand the
complexities of the system. It is not
like the previous models because
the energy does not return to the
sun directly.
Does this still prove our big idea
that parts of systems are
interdependent upon one another?
Does it disprove our big idea just
because the energy or matter is not
returned to the sun. Discuss with
your partner. Then we will share as
a class.
What did you start your chart off with? Where
does the energy come from? Did you write the
sun? Then what piece of the system did you
add next? I am going to write primary
producers next? What are examples of primary
producers? Yes, plants! Why are they called
primary producers? What gets the energy from
the plants-the primary producers? Excellent,
herbivores? Why are these particular animals
called herbivores? Who has seen the word herb
before? What does it mean? Herb comes from a
Latin word “herba” meaning green or grass.
Remember how we are talking about English
words that got its meaning Greek and Latin?
Great! Where does the energy go after
Herbivores? It goes to carnivores? Give me
some examples of carnivores. What Spanish
word does carni look like? Yes, it looks like
carne! What does carne mean in English?? It
means meat! How would you define carnivore?
Excellent! From there what is the next part of
the system? Decomposers! What is their role?
If we removed, any piece of this system would
the matter and energy still return to the top of
the cycle?

Integrate How did this chart help you This system is all around us recycling energy
Advance understand the way that energy and that came from the sun constantly.
Organizer matter flows through ecosystems?
*Make sure This is a complex system that we will dive into
you have all What similarities and differences more in the next three lessons. We look look at
three parts did you see in the first cyclical each piece in the system closer to get a better
here charts we did and this one? understanding of the role it plays in the
 What are other systems you can ECOSYSTEM and how it uses and transfers
think of to prove or disprove our energy and matter.
big idea of today?

Figure A.

Figure B.

The Academic Language Bank

Tier One Tier Two Tier Three

Prove, evidence, rely System, inter-, interdependent, Ecosystem, organisms, matter,

energy, movement, cycle, decomposers, environment,
cyclical primary producers, herbivores,
carnivores

The Process of Creating the Academic Language Bank

Girad (2007) presented that academic English must be structured in order to help students
acquire and use language to demonstrate their learning proficiently. I organized an academic
language bank for a 5th grade Science lesson on ecosystems in three tiers. The goal is to develop my
student’s academic language in order to support their participation in complex academic tasks. I will
discuss in this fourth connecting theory to practice task how I would develop an academic language
bank, how I could incorporate the language bank into the lesson, and the importance of supporting
students’ academic language development.
“Your curriculum materials and your district’s academic standards will guide your choice of
words you teach” (Peregoy, 2017, p.257). I began creating my academic language bank with that point
in mind and started building my tier one academic language bank from my lesson objective. Tier one
academic vocabulary words are generic academic words that are not in discipline-specific categories,
but are used frequently in academic settings. These will be words that my students will encounter
from grade-level to grade-level in a variety of different subjects and content-areas (Peregoy, 2017). I
chose the words: prove, evidence, parts, and rely because comprehension of these words is imperative
in order for students to participate meaningfully in the lesson and engage receptively and
productively. Throughout the lesson I am asking the students to use evidence to prove that parts of a
system rely on each other. In order for them to perform the thinking skill, they first must be able to
understand what is being asked of them.
The words I intentionally selected in the tier two and three categories are progressively more
discipline specific. The words will be presented on the board as a visual representation of spelling
with corresponding photos assigned to the words, the video the students will watch will provide visual
and listening exposure, my academic instruction will add an emphasis on the new words, and
students will get chances to use the word in writing and speaking in practice activities. After exposure
to the academic words, the students will be expected to produce them in their creation of a dramatic
play where they represent the transfer of energy and matter in an ecosystem. The students’
performance in the dramatic play will also serve as an assessment on their vocabulary learning in
addition to the content knowledge.
When I was an undergraduate student learning Arabic, my professor would always encourage
my class to practice speaking more because we needed to “activate the vocabulary.” This was his
frequent class mantra to get us to practice using our new words. I have experienced the value of
repetition and exposure in my learning of Spanish in high-school, Arabic in college, and Georgian in
the Peace Corps. From my language acquisition journey, I have also realized my love of cognates!
Several of the words in the academic language bank for this lesson can be taught to my
predominantly Spanish-speaking class through cognates: ecosistema, herbívoro, carnívoro,
descomponedor, and organismo. However, my students might not know what those academic words
mean in Spanish even though they are cognates. Carnivore is a easy one to teach. My students would
know that carne means meat, so they can connect that prior knowledge with the new vocabulary word
carnivore and understand that a carnivore is an animal that only eats meat.
Interdependent and cycle are two words that I could expand on further so that my students can
learn words syntactically, as well as semantically. “Deconstructing language helps students construct
academic language. It promotes increasing levels of fluency for all,” says Girard (2007, p. 3). I plan on
having a little section in my students’ writing notebooks for prefixes and suffixes, similar to a
vocabulary journal explained by Peregoy (2017). The word interdependent introduces the prefix
“inter” which provides the opportunity to explain the latin prefix and allow students to associate that
word with other words that begin with the same prefix. “Teaching students high-frequency affixes
helps them unlock the meaning of unfamiliar words” (Peregoy, 2017, p.279).
The introduction of the words cycle and cyclical at the beginning and throughout the lesson
provide a great opportunity for students to explore word forms. It will give students an opportunity to
practice their knowledge of nouns and adjectives within the lesson and further their understanding of
word relationships. However, this activity might be better suited for my students who have
intermediate and advanced levels of English proficiency (Girard, 2007).
Further support for developing my students academic language in this lesson can be planned
through group work and sentence frames. When my students practice using the advanced organizer in
the second stage of the lesson I can pair them in intention groups based on their language proficiency.
This will help differentiate my instruction (Peregoy, 2017). While in pairs, students can use sentence
frames projected on the board to create their water system cycle chart and interact with the class
using the academic language during the regroup.
In conclusion, it is very unlikely for students to acquire general academic words and
discipline-specific academic words through conversational, playground language. Students need
well-planned and explicit academic language instruction in order to develop competency in reading,
listening, writing, and speaking. Creating and incorporating an academic language bank is just as
important as lesson planning because it supports students comprehension of lesson content. The
Confucius’ quote at the bottom of the title page for chapter 7 in the Peregoy (2017) reading sums up
the importance of students’ vocabulary development best; “without knowing the force of words, it is
impossible to know more.”  

Works Cited
Girard, V., & Spycher, P. (2007). Deconstructing language for English learners. ​Aiming
High/Aspirando a lo mejor.S ​ anta Rosa, CA: Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE).

Kinsella, K. (2005). Series Part 1 – Preparing for effective vocabulary instruction & Part 2 – Teaching
academic vocabulary. In ​Aiming High/ Aspirando a lo mejor.​

Peregoy, S., & Boyle, O. (2017). Words and meanings: English learners’ vocabulary development. In
Reading, writing, and learning in ESL (​ pp. 250–284).