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English lesson plan · 3rd grade (Year 4 in England) · 45 minutes

Finding and retrieving information

Reading Comprehension

CCSS RI.3.1CCSS RL.3.1England: Y3/4 Reading (retrieval)England: KS2 SATs Reading

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Finding and retrieving information.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Key details

Leads to: Fact and opinion; Citing textual evidence; Which sentence from the text best supports the answer?

Materials: A short text or extract (one copy each), Highlighters, Question cards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 5 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Key details). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Squirrels bury nuts in autumn. In winter, they dig them up to eat. When do squirrels dig up the nuts? (in winter / at night / in spring / in summer) → in winterPrompt: Find the part of the text that talks about this.
  2. Rosa's class went to the zoo. They saw a tall giraffe eating leaves. What was the giraffe eating? (grass / leaves / fish / bananas) → leavesPrompt: Find the part of the text that talks about this.
  3. Ducks have webbed feet. The skin between their toes helps them paddle. What helps ducks paddle? (the skin between their toes / their feathers / their tails / their beaks) → the skin between their toesPrompt: Find the part of the text that talks about this.

Hook · 5 min

  • Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
  • Share the objective: Finding and retrieving information. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 10 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: Hedgehogs are covered in about 5,000 spines. When they are scared, they curl into a tight ball so that only the spines show. What do hedgehogs do when they are scared?
  • Step 1: The answer is stated directly in the text.
  • Step 2: So the answer is: curl into a ball
  • Answer: curl into a ball
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 10 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. To make a paper boat, fold a sheet of paper in half. Fold the corners down to make a triangle. Then fold up the bottom edges and open out the middle. What shape do you make after folding the corners? (a star / a circle / a triangle / a square) → a trianglePrompt: Find the part of the text that talks about this.
  2. The blue whale is the largest animal that has ever lived. It can grow longer than two buses and eats tiny shrimp-like animals called krill. What do blue whales eat? (fish / seaweed / sharks / krill) → krillPrompt: Find the part of the text that talks about this.

You do: independent practice · 10 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 5 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

Watch out for

  • Answering from memory or opinion instead of evidence in the text.
  • Copying a long quote without explaining what it shows.

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Key details.
  • Use concrete materials: a short text or extract (one copy each).
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Move on to: Fact and opinion; Citing textual evidence; Which sentence from the text best supports the answer?.
  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-3.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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Finding and retrieving information

Name

Date

Score/ 8

The Fennec Fox

The fennec fox is the smallest fox in the world. It weighs about as much as a bag of sugar. It lives in the Sahara Desert in North Africa, one of the hottest places on Earth. The first thing most people notice about the fennec fox is its enormous ears. They can be as long as 15 centimetres, which is huge for such a small animal. The ears do two important jobs. First, they let heat escape from the fox's body, helping it to stay cool. Second, they are so sensitive that the fox can hear insects moving under the sand. The fennec fox has other ways to survive in the desert, too. Thick fur on the bottoms of its feet protects it from the burning sand. During the hottest part of the day, it rests in a cool burrow underground. It comes out to hunt at night, when the air is cooler. Water is hard to find in the desert, but the fennec fox can go a long time without drinking. It gets most of the water it needs from the food it eats, such as insects, plants and small animals.

  1. Question 1

    Read "The Fennec Fox". What are the TWO jobs of the fox's ears?

    • A. keeping it cool and hearing prey
    • B. scaring enemies and climbing
    • C. keeping it warm and smelling food
    • D. digging and swimming

Why Do Leaves Change in Autumn?

In many parts of the world, autumn turns forests into blazes of yellow, orange and red. But where do these bright shades come from? The answer is hidden inside every leaf. During spring and summer, leaves are busy making food for the tree. To do this, they use sunlight, water and air. A green substance called chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight. There is so much chlorophyll in a leaf that it hides all the other shades. As autumn arrives, the days grow shorter and there is less sunlight. Trees such as maples and oaks begin to get ready for winter. They stop making chlorophyll. As the green fades away, the yellows and oranges that were in the leaf all along begin to show. Some trees, such as certain maples, also make a brand-new red substance in autumn. This is why some leaves turn bright red or purple. Finally, the tree seals off each leaf where it joins the branch. The leaf dries out and falls. Without leaves, the tree uses less water during the cold winter months. In spring, new green leaves will grow, and the cycle will begin again.

  1. Question 2

    Read "Why Do Leaves Change in Autumn?". Why can't we see yellow and orange in leaves during summer?

    • A. The sun bleaches them.
    • B. The green chlorophyll hides them.
    • C. Rain washes them away.
    • D. They are not made until autumn.

The Fennec Fox

The fennec fox is the smallest fox in the world. It weighs about as much as a bag of sugar. It lives in the Sahara Desert in North Africa, one of the hottest places on Earth. The first thing most people notice about the fennec fox is its enormous ears. They can be as long as 15 centimetres, which is huge for such a small animal. The ears do two important jobs. First, they let heat escape from the fox's body, helping it to stay cool. Second, they are so sensitive that the fox can hear insects moving under the sand. The fennec fox has other ways to survive in the desert, too. Thick fur on the bottoms of its feet protects it from the burning sand. During the hottest part of the day, it rests in a cool burrow underground. It comes out to hunt at night, when the air is cooler. Water is hard to find in the desert, but the fennec fox can go a long time without drinking. It gets most of the water it needs from the food it eats, such as insects, plants and small animals.

  1. Question 3

    Read "The Fennec Fox". Where does the fennec fox live?

    • A. a rainforest
    • B. the Arctic
    • C. a city park
    • D. the Sahara Desert

The Drone at the Marsh (a play)

CAST: NIA, a young volunteer · AMIR, her older cousin · MRS HOLT, the nature reserve warden SCENE: A wooden bird hide at the edge of a marsh. Early morning. (NIA peers through binoculars. AMIR carries a small drone and a controller.) AMIR: (cheerfully) Watch this, Nia. I'll fly it over the reeds and film the whole marsh. NIA: (lowering the binoculars) Wait! The terns are nesting out there. AMIR: It's only a little drone. They won't even notice. (MRS HOLT enters, holding a clipboard.) MRS HOLT: Morning, both. Is that a drone? AMIR: (proudly) It has a 4K camera. MRS HOLT: (gently) Birds may think a drone is a hawk. If the parents fly off their nests, the eggs can get cold. NIA: So filming them could hurt them. (AMIR looks at the drone, then at the marsh. A pause.) AMIR: (quietly) I didn't know that. Could I film the car park instead, and show people where the hide is? MRS HOLT: (smiling) That would be very helpful.

  1. Question 4

    Read "The Drone at the Marsh (a play)". Why does Nia want Amir to wait?

    • A. It is about to rain.
    • B. The drone's battery is flat.
    • C. The terns are nesting on the marsh.
    • D. Mrs Holt is calling them.

The Long Wall

The Great Wall of China is not one wall at all. It is a network of walls, trenches and watchtowers built and rebuilt over more than two thousand years by different dynasties. If all its sections were laid end to end, they would stretch over 21,000 kilometres – more than half the distance around the Earth. The earliest walls were built from packed earth around the seventh century BCE, when rival Chinese states defended their borders from one another. In about 220 BCE, the first emperor of a united China, Qin Shi Huang, ordered many of these separate walls to be joined together to protect the north from raiding groups. The sections that most visitors see today are far younger. They were built during the Ming dynasty, between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Ming builders used bricks and stone, which is why these sections have survived so well. Watchtowers were placed close enough together for soldiers to send signals using smoke by day and fire by night. The wall came at a terrible cost. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, prisoners and farmers were forced to work on it, often in freezing mountains or burning deserts. Many died, and stories and songs about their suffering are still told. Did the wall work? Historians disagree. It slowed down small raids and helped control trade and travel, but determined armies could still break through or simply go around it. Today, its greatest power may be as a symbol – of human effort, of history and of a nation's identity.

  1. Question 5

    Read "The Long Wall". Why have the Ming sections survived so well?

    • A. They were rebuilt last year.
    • B. They were built in the desert.
    • C. They were built with bricks and stone.
    • D. They are the oldest sections.

The Climbing Wall

The climbing wall at the leisure centre was twelve metres high, and from the bottom it looked like a mountain covered in brightly coloured sweets. Jaya had watched her older cousin, Ravi, scramble to the top of it a dozen times. Today was her first turn. The instructor clipped the rope to her harness and checked the knot twice. "Remember," she said, "use your legs, not just your arms. And don't look down until you're ready." The first few holds were easy. Jaya climbed quickly, buoyed by Ravi's cheers. But halfway up, the holds grew smaller and farther apart. Her arms began to burn. She looked down – and immediately wished she hadn't. The floor seemed impossibly far away, and her legs began to tremble. "I want to come down," she called. "You can," the instructor answered calmly. "Or you can rest. Lean back into the harness. The rope's got you." Jaya didn't believe her. But slowly, she let her weight sink back. The rope held. Her breathing steadied. She looked at the wall in front of her, not at the floor, and noticed a small yellow hold to her right that she hadn't seen before. Ten minutes later, she slapped the top of the wall. The leisure centre erupted in cheers – or at least Ravi did, which felt like the same thing.

  1. Question 6

    Read "The Climbing Wall". What advice does the instructor give at the start?

    • A. Look down every few metres.
    • B. Use your legs and don't look down until you're ready.
    • C. Only use your arms.
    • D. Climb as fast as possible.

Lady Montagu and the Smallpox Gamble

In the early eighteenth century, smallpox was one of the most feared diseases in Europe. It killed around three in every ten people it infected and left many survivors scarred or blind. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu knew its cruelty personally: the disease had killed her brother and marked her own face. In 1717, while living in Constantinople (now Istanbul), where her husband was the British ambassador, she observed a remarkable practice. Local women would take a small amount of material from a mild smallpox sore and scratch it into the skin of a healthy person. The person usually developed a mild illness and was then protected for life. This process was called variolation. Montagu was so impressed that she had her young son variolated. When she returned to England, she campaigned to spread the practice, despite fierce opposition. Some doctors resented being taught by a woman; others distrusted a practice from abroad. To win public confidence, Montagu had her daughter variolated in front of physicians from the royal court. Variolation was not without risk: a small number of patients developed severe smallpox, and they could infect others. Decades later, in 1796, Edward Jenner developed a safer method using cowpox, a related but much milder disease. His method, called vaccination after the Latin word for cow, gradually replaced variolation. Smallpox was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980. Jenner is often called the father of vaccination, but the story began with the courage of a woman who noticed what others had overlooked.

  1. Question 7

    Read "Lady Montagu and the Smallpox Gamble". Where did Montagu first observe variolation?

    • A. at the royal court
    • B. in Jenner's laboratory
    • C. in London
    • D. in Constantinople

The Mapmaker's Apprentice

Ines had worked in Master Corvo's shop for three years, and in all that time he had never let her draw a single line on a real map. She ground his inks, stretched his parchment and swept up the shavings from his quills. When she asked why she could not draw, he only said, "A mapmaker must first learn to see." So Ines watched. She watched sailors come in, sunburnt and impatient, to buy charts of the southern coast. She watched merchants argue over which mountain pass was fastest. Most of all, she watched Master Corvo, who spent far longer listening to travellers than he did holding his pen. One winter morning, a fisherman stumbled into the shop, soaked and shaking. A storm had pushed his boat far north, past the edge of every chart in the city. He had found a narrow channel between two islands that no map showed, and it had saved his life. Master Corvo was in bed with a fever. The fisherman was leaving on the evening tide. Ines hesitated only for a moment. Then she sat the fisherman by the fire and asked him questions — not just where the channel was, but how the water changed colour near the rocks, where the gulls gathered, how long it took to row from one island to the other. She wrote down every answer. Only when she had heard everything did she pick up a pen. When Master Corvo recovered, she laid the new chart in front of him. He studied it for a long time without speaking. Then he took his own pen, signed his name in the corner, and beneath it, for the first time, he wrote hers.

  1. Question 8

    Read "The Mapmaker's Apprentice". What jobs did Ines do in the shop for three years?

    • A. She sold charts to merchants.
    • B. She prepared materials and cleaned up.
    • C. She sailed with the fishermen.
    • D. She drew maps of the coast.

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Answer key: Finding and retrieving information

  1. 1. A. keeping it cool and hearing prey

  2. 2. B. The green chlorophyll hides them.

  3. 3. D. the Sahara Desert

  4. 4. C. The terns are nesting on the marsh.

  5. 5. C. They were built with bricks and stone.

  6. 6. B. Use your legs and don't look down until you're ready.

  7. 7. D. in Constantinople

  8. 8. B. She prepared materials and cleaned up.