Literacy Module: Animal Defense Mechanisms

​Big Ideas and Guiding Questions:
How do animals' bodies and behaviors help them survive?
How can writers use knowledge from their research to inform and entertain?

Unit 1: Building Background Knowledge: Animal Defense and the Research Process

• Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Reading and Researching Animal Defense Mechanisms: Students watch a video about animal defense mechanisms and paraphrase the video. And read a short text about how some animals protect themselves and answer questions about citing evidence, main idea, supporting details, and meanings of unknown words. 

• End of Unit 1 Assessment: Answering Questions and Summarizing Texts about Animal Defense Mechanisms: Students read a new text and answer questions to define words in the passage and interpret information presented in diagrams. ​Students will also write a brief summary identifying the main idea and supporting details.

Unit 2: Using Writing to Inform 

• Mid-Unit 2 Assessment: Reading and Researching the Defense Mechanisms of the Pufferfish:  Students read two new texts about the pufferfish and answer questions about citing evidence, main idea, summarizing, and organizing research. 

• End of Unit 2 Assessment: Informative Paragraph about Pufferfish Defense Mechanisms:  Students answer language and writing questions. Students will also plan and draft an informative writing piece on the pufferfish and its defense mechanisms. 

 Unit 3:  Using Writing to Entertain

• Mid-Unit 3 Assessment: Planning for and Drafting a Narrative Introduction: Students answer language and writing questions. Students plan and write a first draft beginning to their choose-your-own-adventure narrative.  

• End of Unit 3 Assessment: Writing Choice #2 of the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Narrative: Students answer language and writing questions. Students write Choice #2 for their choose-your-own-adventure narrative.

​Module Performance Task: Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Animal Defense Mechanisms Narrative

• Students use their research about a specific animal as the basis for a choose-your-own-adventure story.