Using Text Evidence to 
Support Claims in Fourth 
Grade Writing 
 

By: Sadie Jensen 

June 18, 2018 

   

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 Table of Contents: 
 

Introduction and Overview Page 2 

Lesson 1 Page 6 

Lesson 2 Page 10  

Lesson 3 Page 14  

Lesson 4 Page 20   

Lesson 5 Page 23  

Lesson 6 Page 26  

Lesson 7 Page 29  

Appendices Page 31  

References Page 47   

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 Overview 
This unit is a seven-day unit on recognizing, identifying, and writing claims and then 

supporting those claims with relevant text evidence. The unit is designed for fourth 

grade students as a part of their English Language Arts curriculum. The following 

sections provide details about the unit. 

Performance Objectives 

The following is a list of the task analysis, descriptions of lessons, and the performance 

objectives used in this unit plan:  

1. Students explore artwork to define the meaning of the term “claim” and make a 

claim 

a. Performance Objective: Using observations of pictures, students will make 

a claim that identifies a relevant mood on the picture that is shown.   

b. Description: Through exploration and collaboration with peers, students 

create a definition of the meaning of a “claim” by exploring artwork and 

making a statement about the mood that the artwork displays.   

2. Students recognize claims in writing samples 

a. Performance Objective: Using the given text examples, students will 

identify the claim/thesis written 100% of the time. 

b. Description: Students again work collaboratively to differentiate the 

difference between a claim and the evidence that supports it using a 

variety of sample paragraphs.   

3. Students analyze evidence provided in sample texts for relevancy 

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 a. Performance Objective: Using the given moods, students will determine 3 

pieces of text evidence that are relevant in supporting the claimed mood. 

b. Description: Students learn the core direct instruction outside of the 

classroom using a flipped classroom model and Today’s Meet as a 

backchannel chat for that video lesson. Then, in the classroom, students 

work will work to identify evidence that supports a claim using 

photography of themselves in various poses in which an obvious mood is 

portrayed and through poetry in which an obvious mood is portrayed. 

4. Students identify relevant text evidence to support a given claim 

a. Performance Objective: Students will identify 3 pieces of text evidence by 

analyzing words and phrases used in the book ​The Terrible Things by Eve 

Bunting​ to show the mood is depressing. 

b. Description: In this lesson, students work to analyze text evidence to 

determine which evidence is the most relevant through a scavenger hunt 

styled activity where students must collaborate, evaluate, and choose the 

top three pieces of evidence to use to support the provided claim. Then, 

students will continue to practice identifying relevant evidence through a 

read aloud text and whole group discussion. 

5. Students write a claim 

a. Performance Objective: Students will write a claim that uses the title of the 

story, the author’s name, and the claimed mood in a statement form. 

b. Description: In this lesson, students work to write a claim using a given 

format. The lesson begins with writing a claim about how they feel in 

certain scenarios using the claim template, then moves on to a classroom 

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 collaborative discussion on creating a claim for a read aloud text, and 

finally gives students an opportunity to work with peers on their own to 

create a claim using the provided format. 

6. Students learn organizational strategies for supporting their claim in writing 

a. Performance Objective: Using a box and bullets outline, students will 

create a claim and support that claim with 3 pieces of relevant text 

evidence. 

b. Description: Students learn the importance of organizing their writing in a 

meaningful way through a fun warm-up activity, then move onto 

organizing their claims and evidence in a box and bullets outline organizer 

with a provided mentor text. 

7. Students read a story, make a claim, and support that claim using relevant text 

evidence 

a. Performance Objective: Students will read the story ​The Lily Cupboard, by 

Shulamith Oppenheim​, identify a relevant mood, and support that mood 

with 3 pieces of relevant text evidence. 

b. Description: Students provide the teacher with a demonstration of their 

knowledge by writing a short paragraph that has a claim, evidence, and is 

organized well independently. This lesson serves as the final assessment 

for the students. 

  
 

5   
  

Instructional Sequence 

This unit is very progressive and comprehensive; each lesson sets another layer of 

foundation so that the final assessment can be completed with ease. The lessons really 

draw out the concepts of claims and evidence in many lessons so that the content can be 

deeply understood, and because of this, retained.   

The unit begins by laying the foundation of the definition of a claim. Once that 

has been mastered, students move on to identifying claims in writing, and then creating 

those claims themselves. 

After the concept of what a claim is, what it looks like in writing, and how to 

create a claim has been taught and is understood well, then the class moves on to 

supporting those claims with evidence. First, the students must find evidence in general 

that supports the claim; students are looking to gather as many pieces of evidence as they 

can. Then the lessons get more detailed, asking the students to evaluate the types of 

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evidence that have been found and to differentiate between which is truly relevant and 

useful and which pieces of evidence can be discarded. 

Lastly, after students have a solid understanding of what a claims and relevant 

text evidence, then students begin to think about writing. First, they organize their 

thoughts using a Box and Bullets organizer, and then they progress again from that 

organizer to paragraph format. 

Each lesson builds upon the previous lesson so that deep understanding and 

mastery might occur. 

Learning Theories 
 
The learning theory that is most prevalent throughout this unit are the cognitive 

and constructivist theories. The use of organizational tools, such as the box and bullets 

organizer and the basic skill direct instruction, fits within the cognitive approach 

because it assumes that the knowledge is outside of the learner and provides 

opportunities for information retainment to occur. However, there are also 

constructivist learning opportunities present as well. The exploration to construct 

knowledge of what it means to make a claim and how to support those claims are very 

student-centered and hands-on approaches that lead to deeper understanding of what it 

means to identify and support a claim using relevant textual evidence. Using the 

combination of the two theories will help the students as they work through each of the 

performance tasks of the unit. The memorization and organization of specific concepts, 

such as what a claim looks like in writing, how to write a claim, and how to organize a 

claim and text evidence, as taught in lessons 5 and 6 , are taught in the style of the 

cognitive approach. This teacher centered delivery of content and instruction will 

provide the groundwork necessary to perform the universal skills in the expected format 

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to meet the criterion of the writing rubric. The constructivist lessons, lessons 1, 2, 3, 4, 

and 7, allow students to construct their own knowledge through exploration of various 

texts and demonstrate their understanding using that constructed knowledge. This 

exploration and self-constructed learning deepens understanding and helps foster 

retention for long-term mastery.  

Instructional Strategies 

The general format of instructional strategies varies day by day depending on the 

purpose of the lesson. There are a variety of demonstrations, expository learning, 

cognitive, and constructivist instructional strategies all present in the unit. The flipped 

classroom model is also used throughout the unit. Long lectures are rarely used at this 

level, as students in this classroom often fail to have an attention span that supports this 

type of instructional strategy. The students are active learners and are in need of 

interactive, involved lessons.  

Materials and Resources 

In order to complete the unit, there are some materials that will be needed. To 

begin the unit, the teacher will need to have gathered a variety of photographs that 

portray an obvious mood. Additionally, the teacher will also need to gather several 

mentor text options, including ​The Terrible Things by Eve Bunting, as well as many 

writing samples that have a stated claim and evidence. In Lesson 3, students will be 

asked to watch a video lesson prior to coming to class, so a chromebook will be 

necessary. The teacher will also need to create pages on Padlet and Today’s Meet for the 

students to use for collaboration. A box and bullet outline will need to be available for 

the students as well. At the end of the unit, the teacher will need a copy of the final 

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assessment on ​The Lily Cupboard, as well as a copy of the book ​The Lily Cupboard by 

Shulamith Oppenheim.  

   

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 Lesson 1 
OBJECTIVES 
Using observations of pictures, students will make a claim that identifies a relevant mood on the

picture that is shown.  

MATERIALS NEEDED 
Sad image ​(See Appendix A)​, joyful image (See Appendix B), whiteboard, method of

displaying image to whole group 

TIME 

1 hour

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN: 
Step 1: Pre-Instructional Activities: ​Tell the students that the mood of a story is the feeling we

get when we read the story. This isn’t always something stated in the text. Instead, we need to

use context clues to help us recognize and comprehend the the mood the author is trying to

convey. This unit will be focused around the goal of being able to identify a mood in our

literature and then proving that the mood is really what we claim it to be by providing text

evidence. Today, our goal is to practice making a claim, or a statement that we will prove. You

will have to support your claim with evidence.

Step 2: Content Presentation: ​Display the Sad image ​("Sad Picture", 2018). Tell students:

“Talk about every single detail of the picture with a group. What do you notice about the

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picture? Try to continue the conversation until the timer goes off.” The teacher should then set a

timer for five minutes. The teacher’s role during this conversation and discussion is to facilitate.

He/she should be available to answer questions, offer insight, and provide prompting to guide

students to recognize, but not to directly tell them, that the image is reflecting a mood of sadness.

After five minutes, bring students back together in the whole group. Ask students to

share their observations. The teacher should write these observations down on the whiteboard.

Try to fill up the whiteboard with observations made by the students.

After writing down all of the observations, begin to introduce the topic of making a

claim. Say: “When we are watching something on t.v., or we are doing something in life, or we

are reading a book, we often feel a certain way based on what we’re seeing, doing, or reading

about. The feeling that we get when we see, do, or read something is called the mood. For

example, on Christmas Eve, the suspense of waiting for Santa, the desire to open presents, and

my family being home for the holidays might make me feel the mood of excitement. You might

know I’m excited because of the way I behave, even if I don’t just come out and say that I’m

excited. Today, you made lots of observations on a picture of a person. I want you to now work

with your group to use all of the evidence that we’ve gathered together (point to whiteboard) to

create a claim, or a statement that can be proved with evidence, about the mood of this picture.”

The teacher should listen in on conversations, providing feedback and answering any questions.

After groups seem to agree on a claim, bring the group back together once more. Allow

each group to share their claim and the evidence that supports why they claimed what they did.

This should be a student led discussion in which the learners ask questions or for clarification on

their own without prompting.

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 Following the discussion, the group should create one final claim with the three most

compelling observations as evidence pieces. Allow the group to discuss respectfully which

observations they believe best support their claim and why. In the end, students should have one

claim and the three strongest pieces of evidence to support their claim. At this time, the teacher

should offer feedback.

Step 3: Learner Participation: ​The learners are active participants in this lesson, collaborating

with peers to share observations, decide a claim, and support their claim with evidence from the

picture.

Step 4: Assessment:​ Students will be informally assessed using the format of pass/fail on

whether or not they claimed that the mood of the image was sad/depressed/lonely. Evidence

responses may vary.

Step 5: Follow-Through Activities: ​Students should be shown the image of “Happy Scene 2”

(Pie, 2018). Using what knowledge they’ve just constructed, students should create a claim that

is supported with three pieces of evidence. The teacher should offer support as students work

independently.

Lesson Plan Summary:​ In this constructivist lesson, the teacher allows students to explore

what it means to find a claim and support that claim with evidence from the text. The teacher

serves as a facilitator while he/she listens to the student-led discussion and offers insight and

feedback when necessary. By doing so, the teacher allows students to collaborate with peers on

their thought processes as they make observations and decide a claim, fostering an opportunity

for students to construct their own knowledge on how to create a claim. The end goal is for

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students to have constructed a deep understanding of how to create a claim based on evidence

from their discussion during the activities.   

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 Lesson 2 
OBJECTIVES 
Using the given text examples, students will identify the claim/thesis written 100% of the time.  

MATERIALS NEEDED 
Sample introductions (See Appendix C), lined paper, writing journals, assessment rubric (See

Appendix D) 

TIME 

1 hour

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN: 
Step 1: Pre-Instructional Activities: ​Say: “Yesterday, you worked on creating a claim based

on evidence that you collected while observing a picture. Today, your job will be to recognize

the difference between a claim and the evidence that supports it. Let’s start with a warm up.”

Step 2: Content Presentation: ​The teacher should write the following four sentences on the

whiteboard in this order:

● Cats have sharp teeth and claws that help them rip meat apart.

● Cats are predatory animals.

● Cats hunt, stalk, and kill between 1 billion and 4 billion birds each year.

● Cats are carnivores, meaning that they have a diet that consists of mostly meat.

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Ask students to debate: “Which of the following statements are evidence to support the one

statement that is a claim?“ Provide students with an opportunity to discuss together with a

shoulder partner. After a few minutes, bring the group back together to have a whole group

discussion about what was discussed with their shoulder partners. Allow students to self-lead the

discussion; the teacher should be there to offer insight and feedback, but not to lead. After

students have concluded that “Cats are predatory animals” is the claim, reiterate the reasons that

they’ve mentioned, explaining further why the other three statements would be evidence to

support the claim.

Break students up into groups of four. Pass out a different sample introduction (Edwards,

2009) to each group. Direct groups to read the entire introduction paragraph and then try to

determine which statement is the claim/thesis statement. Say: “Discuss with the group members

why/how you knew that statement was the claim/thesis and the others were evidence. After 5

minutes, we will share our findings.” Set the timer for five minutes. During this time, the

teacher should move from group to group, participating in, but not leading, the discussions that

are occurring.

As groups begin to finish up their discussions, ask them to share their findings with

another group. At this time, the groups should each take turns discussing the process that they

went through to determine what was the claim. Both groups should agree on the claim statement

for each provided passage. As a group, discuss what a claim looks like in writing, based on the

constructed knowledge made today. Have students individually journal their idea of what a

claim is and how it looks in their writing notebooks.

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Step 3: Learner Participation: ​The learners will be actively discussing and defending what

they believe are the claims in the provided texts with group members. All learners should be

participating within their small group discussions.

Step 4: Assessment: ​Provide a universal sample introduction (Edwards, 2009) to the group,

along with lined paper. Ask students to write down what they believe the claim is for the

passage and to justify their answer. Students will be graded as pass/fail based on the rubric (See

Appendix D)

Step 5: Follow-Through Activities: ​Ask students to think about strategies that they use to help

them identify the claim in a writing sample. Suggest this prompt: “If you were to create a lesson

to teach on how to differentiate a claim from the evidence, what steps would you include?

Explain your thinking and reasoning.” Allow students time to create responses to the prompt in

a format that best fits their learning styles, such as an educational video, a Google Slides

presentation with screencastify, an educational podcast, or a written journal entry. Create a

padlet for students to post their responses on the topic, then post the padlet publicly in Google

Classroom so students may reference the material later.

Lesson Plan Summary: ​This lesson again follows a constructivist approach with the intent that

the learners are create a definition of what it means to make a claim and how to make a claim

based on their exploration activities. By allowing students to explore, collaborate, and construct

their own knowledge of what a claim looks like and how to find it, retention and a deeper

understanding are more likely.

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 Lesson 3 
OBJECTIVES 
Using the given moods, students will determine 3 pieces of text evidence that are relevant in

supporting the claimed mood. 

MATERIALS NEEDED
Chromebook, ​Dear Mom poem (See Appendix E) for each student, ​Does Heaven Have a Phone

Number Assessment (See Appendix F) for each student. 

TIME 

1 hour

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN: 
Prior to attending the lesson for the day, the students should watch the Youtube video “Finding

Evidence to Support a Claim” (Cufaude, 2013). While they watch the video, either at home or at

a study hall, students should write down any questions or thoughts they have about the content

using Today’s Meet. This backchannel chat can be used to give the teacher insight as to what

kinds of questions students may be having and which students to focus on helping during

independent work time.

When students enter the classroom for the day, ask them to discuss with a partner the

video and what they took away from it. Then, quickly ask the students to write down the name

of the text being analyzed, and if needed provide multiple choice answers: a) ​The Giving Tree

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by Shel Silversteen, B)​Weird-Bird by Shel Silversteen, C) ​Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, D)

Backward Bill by Shel Silversteen. Check answers for any student who may not have watched

the video. Any who do not pass should watch the video again during the next pre-instructional

activity.

Next, ask students to partner up. Ask one student to make strike an angry pose and

freeze. The partner should take a picture using the chromebook. Then, switch roles. This time,

the other partner should strike an excited pose and freeze. The other partner should take a

picture on the chromebook.

Now it’s time to analyze and prepare for our objective. Our goal is to be able to tell

which pieces of evidence in a text are relevant, or helpful, in supporting our claim and which

pieces of evidence are irrelevant, or don’t support, our claim. This activity will get you thinking

along those lines.

Look at the picture of the partner striking the angry pose. If we are claiming that our

partner is angry, what evidence supports that? We could start by looking at our partner’s face

and try to determine how we know that they are angry. Are their eyebrows scrunched together?

Are their eyes squinting? Do they have a scowl on their face? Are they frowning? We could

also look at their body language. Are their arms crossed? All of these things are relevant pieces

of evidence. They lead me to believe that the person is angry. Name three relevant pieces of

evidence with your partner now. (Allow student discussion).

Now let’s look at the other picture of our partner who was excited. Irrelevant evidence

does ​not​ support our claim. If we are claiming that our partner is excited, what about their face

might ​not​ prove that claim? Perhaps their ears are not excited looking. Maybe their nose

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doesn’t show excitement either. This type of evidence would not be helpful in proving our claim

that our partner is excited. When we are trying to prove something to be true, we don’t want to

include the irrelevant evidence in our argument. Go ahead and talk with your partner about 3

pieces of evidence ​would not​ include to support your claim that your partner is excited. (Allow

student discussion).

Step 2: Content Presentation: ​Gather students in a circle and distribute ​Dear Mom (Bayer,

2006) to students. Ask them to read the poem one time silently. Then, read the poem as a group.

After reading the poem, tell the group: “The mood I feel from the author is anger. I know that

she is angry with her mom, and I can tell that as I read because of some of the words that she

used. Let’s reread the two stanzas:

“Dear Mom,

You said you'd always be there

But you're nowhere to be found

I can't believe you left me

I feel so low beneath the ground

There's nothing I can do now

I trusted you with all my heart

But now you're gone

You're the one who tore my life apart”

(Bayer, 2006)

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The author uses some pretty powerful language here to let you know that she is angry with her

mother and is upset by her leaving. Direct the student’s attention to the phrases “I can’t believe

you left me, I feel so low beneath the ground”, “You’re the one who tore my life apart”, “I

trusted you with all my heart but now you’re gone”. Say: “This part of the poem would be

relevant​ text evidence to support the claim that the author is angry with her mom for leaving her.

Talk with a shoulder partner about how these parts of the poem show that the author is angry”.

Allow a few minutes for students to discuss, then, come back to the whole group setting.

Continue reading through the poem again, looking for relevant text evidence to support your

claim. Then, as a group, decide which three pieces of evidence best support the claim that the

author is angry with her mom for leaving her.

Say: “Now that we have the relevant text evidence, let’s look for some parts of the poem

that might not really support our claim that well. Look at the last stanza:

“In a way I want to thank you

Because of you I'm strong

I just wanted you to know

I didn't turn out wrong”

(Bayer, 2006)

While this stanza is a wonderful detail to the poem, it doesn’t really prove the overall claim that

the mood of the poem is angry and that the author is angry with her mom. This is an example of

irrelevant text evidence. We would not want to include this as evidence to support our claim

because it doesn’t prove what we are claiming and it doesn’t help our argument. Therefore, we

simply just don’t include this evidence. We only want to include evidence that will help support

21   
our claim. Talk with your shoulder partner about why we wouldn’t want to include the last

stanza as evidence.” Allow a few minutes for discussion.

Say: “Today we worked on differentiating between relevant and irrelevant text evidence

to support our claims. Now, you’re going to get a chance to show me what you’ve learned.”

Step 3: Learner Participation: ​In this lesson, students are participants in discussion and

collaboration opportunities, but they are not the leaders of the instruction. Learners should be

participating through active listening, responding to questions asked, and collaborating with their

peers when prompted to do so.

Step 4: Assessment: ​Give each of the students a copy of the poem ​Does Heaven Have a Phone

Number? by Sherrie Girard. Ask students to read the poem, then find 3 pieces of text evidence

to support the claim that the mood of the poem is sad. Students should justify their choices in

evidence in the format of a paragraph. Students will be graded as pass/fail based on the rubric.

Step 5: Follow-Through Activities: ​ Students should be encouraged to try to make claims about

the moods in the books that they are reading currently for independent reading and journal about

the mood and the evidence that supports that mood.

Lesson Plan Summary:​ Because of the common, universal knowledge needed to be taught, this

lesson was written using the cognitive learning theory. The teacher-led lesson involves the

teacher asking questions and guiding the students to understand how to differentiate between

relevant and irrelevant text evidence to support a claim, all while modeling and demonstrating

how to do so. The goal of this lesson is to make sure that all students are aware of what it means

to be a relevant piece of text evidence versus what it means to be an irrelevant piece of text

22   
evidence. These instructional strategies help to explicitly teach the content and help students to

organize and process the new information that they’ve been provided.  

23   
 Lesson 4 
OBJECTIVES 
Students will identify 3 pieces of text evidence by analyzing words and phrases used in the book

The Terrible Things by Eve Bunting​ to show the mood is depressing. 

MATERIALS NEEDED
The Terrible Things by Eve Bunting, Evidence Notecards (See Appendix G), Box and Bullets

Outline (Appendix H) 

TIME 

1 hour

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN: 
Step 1: Pre-Instructional Activities: ​While students are out of the room, hide evidence

notecards (see Appendix G) throughout the room in fairly obvious places. Then, post the

following claim so that all students can see it: This fourth grade class is one of the most

good-mannered students in the entire school.

Tell the students that they will be detectives on a mission to find evidence to support the

claim. First, they must gather all of the evidence so that it can be evaluated. At this point, tell

students to search the room to find the pieces of evidence.

After all of the evidence has been selected, host a class discussion on which pieces are

relevant to supporting the claim.

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Step 2: Content Presentation: ​State that today’s goal will use that same skill of identifying

relevant text evidence to support a claim. Share the performance task: Students will identify 3

pieces of text evidence by analyzing words and phrases used in the book ​The Terrible Things by

Eve Bunting​ to show the mood is depressing.

Provide some background to World War II in a fourth grade friendly manner prior to

beginning the read-aloud of ​The Terrible Things. Tell the students that it was a really horrible

time in our history and that is part of the reason that we learn about it in school, so that it never

happens again. Continue: “Eve Bunting wrote a book to help us understand what happened

during WWII and what she thinks should have been done so that so many people didn’t die. The

book that we are going to read today sets a depressing mood. It makes us feel sad in some parts.

As I read, I want you to listen and try to find the evidence that supports my claim that the mood

of the story is depressing. You’ll be able to read the page numbers as I go, so when you think

you hear something that supports the claim, write down the page number so you can come back

to it later when we evaluate the evidence.”

Read the story out loud to the students. As you read, students should write down any

pages that might make them think that the story is making us feel sad/depressed.

If possible, provide copies of the book to each student. If not, host the group discussion

in a place where the book can be projected. Allow students to share the page numbers that they

felt sad/depressed. If other students also noted that page, allow them to share as well. Evaluate

the evidence shared as a group and decide if it is relevant evidence that supports the claim. If it

is relevant, add it to the Box and Bullets Outline (Appendix H) to begin to familiarize students

with this format.

25   
Step 3: Learner Participation: ​The learners will active members of the read aloud through

their notetaking, and they will be active members of the classroom discussion. Learners should

be participating through active listening, responding to questions asked, and collaborating with

their peers when prompted to do so.

Step 4: Assessment: ​Students will be informally assessed on their ability to provide relevant

text evidence, their participation in the discussion, and their thoughts on other’s evidence

presentation.

Step 5: Follow-Through Activities: ​Students should be encouraged to try to continue to make

claims about the moods in the books that they are reading currently for independent reading and

journal about the mood and the evidence that supports that mood.

   

26   
 Lesson 5 
OBJECTIVES 
Students will write a claim that uses the title of the story, the author’s name, and the claimed

mood in a statement form. 

MATERIALS NEEDED
Writing notebooks, ​The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco, ​Night Tree by Eve Bunting (one copy for

every student, if possible, or an online version) 

TIME 
​1 hour 

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN: 
Step 1: Pre-Instructional Activities: ​Provide students with the following prompt:

“In ______________________, ____________________ makes me feel

______________________.”

(place) (a noun) (a mood)

Tell the students to get with a partner. Tell them they will be playing a little game with

you to help them get into the mindset of how to write their own claims.

27   
 Say: “I will be giving you a few different scenarios. You and your partner will take

turns filling in the blanks using the information I give you for the scenario. Make sure your

mood fits with the information I give you.

“First one: You’re at the donut shop (remind students that they need to listen for the

place!) and a lady walks in and tells you she is going to buy you a giant spinach filled donut

(remind students that this is your noun!). How do you feel?” Allow students a chance to share.

Continue with the following scenarios:

Scenario 2: You are the batter who is hitting in the ninth inning of the baseball game.

There are runners on third and first and there are two outs. Your team needs two runs to win; the

game depends on you. The pitch comes, you swing with all your might, and -smack- it hits the

catcher’s glove. Your strikeout (noun) has ended the game, and your team has lost. How do you

feel?

Scenario 3: You are walking into McDonalds when Ronald McDonald jumps out and

tells you you have just won Big Macs for life! How do you feel?

Step 2: Content Presentation:​ Say: “Today, we are working hard to make a claim. Our goal

for today is to be able to write a claim that uses the title of the story, the author’s name, and the

claimed mood in a statement form. You just made some claims with the little game we played to

start off the lesson. Now, we’re going to do that same type of thing with a book we read.

Create an anchor chart with the students that states the meaning of a claim and the format

that will be used for writing one:

In ______________________ (book title), _______________________ (the author’s name)

creates a mood that is _______________________________________.

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 Read together ​The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco. As a class, create a claim that supports

the mood of the story (In ​The Butterfly, Patricia Polacco creates a mood that is hopeful). Discuss

the evidence that they can use to support that claim, but don’t write it down.

Next, ask students to partner read together ​Night Tree by Eve Bunting. Ask students to

work with their partner to create a claim about the mood of the story using the given format.

Step 3: Learner Participation: ​The learners will be active listeners throughout the

demonstration, taking notes in their Writing notebooks on the format for writing claims. They

will be active participants as they read and collaborate with their peers on the claim that they will

write to describe the mood of the story.

Step 4: Assessment:​ Students should turn in their claim to be evaluated on whether or not it

used the book title, author’s name, and mood.

Step 5: Follow-Through Activities: ​Students can practice writing claims about the moods of

the books they are currently reading independently and blog about them on the classroom

webpage or a Padlet set up for discussion.  

   

29   
 Lesson 6 
OBJECTIVES 
Using a box and bullets outline, students will create a claim and support that claim with 3 pieces

of relevant text evidence. 

MATERIALS NEEDED
Box and Bullets Outline (Appendix H) for each student, ​The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco, ​Night

Tree by Eve Bunting (one copy for every student, if possible, or an online version) 

TIME 
1 hour 

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN: 
Step 1: Pre-Instructional Activities:​ Prior to beginning the lesson, find four books from one

author, four books by another author, and four books from another author. Mix them all

randomly and spread them out all over a table.

Tell the students: “In five seconds, I want you to be able to give me all of the books from

(name one of the authors). Go!”

The students will scramble to try to get them all to you, but will struggle with all of the

disorganization.

Tell students: “I will give you a few minutes to work together as a class to come up with

a strategy that will help you be more successful when I ask you to do something like this again in

30   
five minutes. Go ahead.” The students will hopefully recognize the patterns in the authors and

will organize the books in three different piles on the table.

Say: “Ok, let’s try again. In five seconds, I want you to be able to give me all of the

books from (name a different one of the authors). Go!”

This time should go more smoothly and should be accomplished.

Ask the students to reflect: What made it go better the second time? Why didn’t it go

well the first time? Direct students to talk about organization and what makes organization so

important.

Step 2: Content Presentation: ​Say: Yesterday, we read together ​The Butterfly by Patricia

Polacco and we determined that the mood of the story was hopeful. Together, we created the

claim that stated, “In ​The Butterfly, Patricia Polacco creates a mood that is hopeful” and we

discussed why we thought it was that way. As writers, we have to be able to do more than just

speak out loud our claim and why we think what we think. Sometimes, the only way we can

share our thinking is through writing, and we need our readers to know exactly what we are

claiming and why we are claiming what we are claiming. We need to take them into our shoes

and help them see the way we see by providing evidence that makes them see our claim as being

accurate.

“In order to effectively write, we need to organize our thoughts. Today, our goal is to be

able to use something called a box and bullets outline to help us organize our information.

You’ve already seen me use this before! Let me show you what it looks like.” The teacher

should project a copy of the outline for the students. The students should recognize the outline

from a previous lesson.

31   
 Say: “Let me show you how this outline works. In the box, I’m going to write my claim.

This is where I’m going to write “In ​The Butterfly, Patricia Polacco creates a mood that is

hopeful”. The bullet points provide us with a way to organize our evidence, or our reasons, that

support our claim. This is where you have to be detectives again to find the evidence, and then

you have to really evaluate it to decide which three pieces of evidence are the best to support

what you want to say. Let’s practice with ​The Butterfly”. As a class, fill out the box and bullets

organizer with information from ​The Butterfly.

Say: “Now, it’s your turn! You will be working with the same book you read yesterday,

Night Tree by Eve Bunting. With a partner, I’d like you to work to fill out the box and bullets

outline to help you organize your information. You already wrote a claim yesterday, so now

today you just need to find the three most relevant pieces of text evidence to support that claim.”

Step 3: Learner Participation: ​The learners will be active listeners throughout the

demonstration. They will be active participants as they read and collaborate with their peers on

which pieces of evidence are the most relevant to support the claim that they made regarding the

mood of the story.

Step 4: Assessment:​ The teacher should informally assess the accuracy of the box and bullets

outline and whether or not students are using it effectively.

Step 5: Follow-Through Activities: ​Create a blog post on the classroom webpage or Padlet to

allow students to discuss why organization is important while writing.

Lesson 7 
32   
OBJECTIVES 
Students will read the story ​The Lily Cupboard, by ​Shulamith Oppenheim​, identify a relevant

mood, and support that mood with 3 pieces of relevant text evidence. 

MATERIALS NEEDED
The Lily Cupboard by ​Shulamith Oppenheim, one copy per student 

TIME 
1 hour 

Step 1: Pre-Instructional Activities:​ Say: “Today’s the day that you get to show me

everything you’ve learned so far in our unit. We’re going to do an independent work activity so

that I can evaluate where you’re at so far and then use that information to help you if you still

need some extra practice on this skill. I’m so excited to see how much you’ve learned and how

far you’ve come as writers who can support their claims with relevant text evidence! Before we

get started, let’s review the things we need to do in order to be successful writers in stating a

claim.” Allow the students to share ideas, but be sure to discuss the following:

● A claim must be stated

● The claim must include the author’s name, book title, and mood (in this case)

● The claim should have 3 relevant pieces of text evidence to support it

● A box and bullets should be used to help us organize our information

Step 2: Content Presentation: ​Read aloud to the students ​The Lily Cupboard by ​Shulamith

Oppenheim. Encourage students to take notes as they listen. Then, ask students to

33   
independently work on the final assessment. Circulate the room as the students work,

responding to any questions as they arise.

Step 3: Learner Participation: ​Students will be actively working to demonstrate their

knowledge on this assessment. They will be independently working throughout this task so that

an accurate portrayal of their knowledge can be measured.

Step 4: Assessment: ​The activity for the day will be turned into the teacher and used as a final

assessment on the unit. ​This assessment measures the following performance objective: Using

the given moods, students will determine three pieces of text evidence are relevant to support the

claimed mood.

Step 5: Follow-Through Activities: ​Create a Today’s Meet backchannel chat. Ask students to

respond to the questions: Why is it important to support our claims with relevant evidence from

the text? When will this skill be used outside of school?

 
   

34   
  
 
 
 
Appendices 
 

   

35   
 Appendix A

(“Sad Picture”, 2018)

36   
 Appendix B

(“Happy Scene 2”, Pie, 2018)

37   
 Appendix C

(Edwards, 2009)

(Edwards, 2009)

38   
 (Edwards, 2009)

39   
 Appendix D

Pass Fail

Students correctly identified the claim ​and Students identified a detail rather than the
discussed the steps that he/she used to identify claim.
it.
-or-
Students identified the claim correctly, but
they did not discuss the steps that he/she used
to identify it.

40   
 Appendix E
Dear Mom

© Krystal A. Bayer 

Published: February 2006 

Dear Mom, 

You said you'd always be there 

But you're nowhere to be found 

I can't believe you left me 

I feel so low beneath the ground 

There's nothing I can do now 

I trusted you with all my heart 

But now you're gone 

You're the one who tore my life apart 

I've learned not to trust 

There's nothing more to say 

You've lost someone special 

You can't get back each day 

Now you're the one left in the dark 

And all of a sudden you feel my pain 

You expect me to take you back 

41   
But you still feel you're not to blame 

I could never forgive you 

Even if I tried 

You can never make up 

For the lonely nights I've cried 

You will never know the feeling 

Of losing the person you need the most 

To laugh and cry and love you 

Instead of making you feel like a ghost 

I've moved on with my life 

Without you by my side 

My pain has kept so long 

I'm telling you how I feel inside 

In a way I want to thank you 

Because of you I'm strong 

I just wanted you to know 

I didn't turn out wrong 

42   
(Bayer, 2006)   

43   
 Appendix F

Does Heaven Have A Phone Number?

By Sherrie Girard

Mommy went to Heaven, but I need her here today,

My tummy hurts and I fell down, I need her right away.

Operator can you tell me how to find her in this book?

Is heaven in the yellow part, I don't know where to look.

I think my daddy needs her too, at night I hear him cry.

I hear him call her name sometimes, but I really don't know

why.

Maybe if I call her, she will hurry home to me.

Is Heaven very far away, is it across the sea?

She's been gone a long, long time she needs to come home now.

I really need to reach her, but I simply don't know how.

44   
 Help me find the number please, is it listed under "Heaven"?

I can't read these big big words, I am only seven.

I'm sorry operator, I didn't mean to make you cry.

Is your tummy hurting too, or is there something in your eye?

If I call my church maybe they will know.

Mommy said when we need help that's where we should go.

I found the number to my church tacked up on the wall.

Thank you operator, I'll give them a call.

(Girard)

Rubric

Pass Fail

The student identified three pieces of relevant
evidence that supported the claim that the
mood of the poem is sad, and the student
justified his/her evidence choices in paragraph
form.
The student did not identify three pieces of
relevant evidence that supported the claim
that the mood of the poem is sad, or he/she
did not support his/her evidence choices with
justification in paragraph form.

45   
 Appendix G

I am truly impressed by your behaviors these Last week, the cook came to me and told me how

past few days. Not only are you leaders in the polite you are to her in the lunch line. She said that

school, but you are leaders in the community. I am you always say please and thank you everytime you

proud to be your teacher. get your food. This kind of behavior is exactly what

we want to see at our school.

One of our students was spotted playing baseball with A fourth grader in our class was seen butting in front

a first grader at recess. The first grader was so of a third grader at the water fountain.

excited to be playing with him!

Our fourth grade class wrote a letter to thank our Our fourth graders wrote a letter to the principal

janitors for their hard work to keep our school a clean asking for more playground toys so that more kids

and safe place to work at play in. can play with them.

Five fourth grade girls started a friendship group and In gym, a girl from our class refused to shake hands

invited kids to come play at recess when they didn’t with the winning team after her team lost.

have anyone else to play with.

A girl in the class drew a picture with the caption, A boy in our class accidentally ran into another

“Thank you for being my teacher” written on it and student at lunch and knocked her tray over. He

gave it to the teacher. quickly apologized and helped her clean up her food.

46   
 Appendix H

Box-and-Bullet Outline
(Claim or thesis statement)

● ​ Reason 1:

● ​ Reason 2:

● ​ Reason 3:

47   
 Appendix I

Final Assessment

Name:

Read ​Old Crump by Laurie Lawlor. Then, find three pieces of text evidence to prove

that the mood of the story is hopeless. Write your response in paragraph form.

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

__________

48   
 Rubric

Exceeds Benchmark Expectations​ - Student provided more than three pieces of relevant text
evidence to support the mood of “hopeless” and adequately explained each of their reasons.

Benchmark​ - Student provided three pieces of relevant text evidence to support the mood of
“hopeless” and adequately explained each of their reasons.

Approaching Benchmark​ - Student provided at least two pieces of relevant text evidence to
support the mood of “hopeless” and may or may not have adequately explained each of their
reasons.

Significantly Below Benchmark Expectations​ - Student provided no relevant text evidence to

support the mood of “hopeless”, or the student did not explain any of their evidence (relevant or
irrelevant).

   

49   
 References 
Bayer, K. A. (2006, February). Dear Mom. Retrieved May 12, 2018, from

https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/poem-by-child-betrayed-by-his-mother#ixzz3q0

NHstSk

Calkins, L., Hohne, K. B., & Robb, A. K. (2015). ​Writing Pathways: Performance Assessments

and Learning Progressions. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Cufaude, B. (2013, August 21). Finding Evidence to Support a Claim. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3SjOjNgeVw

Edwards, S. (2009, March 16). Persuasive Essay Introductions --OSPI. Retrieved May 11, 2018,

from https://www.slideshare.net/ms_edwards/persuasive-essay-introductions-ospi

Girard, S. (n.d.). Does Heaven Have A Phone Number? Retrieved from

http://www.all-creatures.org/poetry/heavenphone.html

Medford Area Public School District 2016-2017 School Performance Report. (2017). Retrieved

from

http://www.medford.k12.wi.us/district/uploads/2016-17 Performance Report.pdf

Pie, H. (n.d.). Happy Scene 2. Retrieved May 11, 2018, from

http://picssr.com/photos/melinwonderland/interesting/page37?nsid=19283506@N00

[Sad picture]. (n.d.). Retrieved May 8, 2018, from

http://weknowyourdreams.com/images/sad/sad-03.jpg

TodaysMeet. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://todaysmeet.com/

Wallwisher, Inc. (n.d.). Padlet is the easiest way to create and collaborate in the world. Retrieved

50   
 from http://www.padlet.com/

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