STUDENT GUIDE

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These Ferns May Be First Plants Known to Work Together as Ants Do

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How do eusocial ferns interact with each other and other organisms within their environment?

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Table of Contents

Skills Focus

• Build Your Vocabulary: Frayer Model
• Cornell Notes: Analyzing Connections within Informational Texts

Overview and Connect

• Find Your Purpose for Learning
• Share Your Personal Connection

Read and Check

• Share Your Reflections
• Test Prep Strategy: Prediction (Optional)

Analyze / Engage with the Text

• Highlight and Annotate

Summarize

• Write a Summary

Develop / Build

• Share Your Argument Builder

Draft and Review / Create

• Peer Editing Activity
• Reflect on Your Writing

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Extension Activities

• Activity: The Colors of Leaves
• Inquiry to Research: Asking Questions of the Texts

Vocabulary Word:�

COLONY

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SKILLS FOCUS

Build Your Vocabulary: �Frayer Model — Colony�

The Frayer Model helps you learn vocabulary from different angles.

• Look for the vocabulary word in the center circle of the graphic organizer below.
• In the “examples” box, list examples or synonyms of the word.
• In the “non-examples” box, write non-examples or antonyms.
• Next, add facts and characteristics about the word.
• Finally, write your own definition, or look one up!�

Frayer Model

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SKILLS FOCUS

Cornell Notes: Analyzing Connections within Informational Texts

Instructions: Take notes on the Direct Instruction lesson using the organizer below. Then summarize and reflect on the next page.

Complete the Direct Instruction lesson online at learn.thinkcerca.com

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SKILLS FOCUS

Cornell Notes: Analyzing Connections within Informational Texts

Summarize and Reflect

In your own words and in complete sentences, write a 3–4 sentence summary of this Direct Instruction lesson. An accurate summary will cover the lesson's central ideas and include important details to support those ideas.

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Record your summary here:

OVERVIEW AND CONNECT

Find Your Purpose for Learning

Instructions: When you have finished reading the Overview for this lesson, answer the following questions in the space below:

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What more would you like to learn about eusocial ferns? What would you like to know about why ferns might stop being eusocial if they are planted ornamentally?

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Read the Overview provided at learn.thinkcerca.com

OVERVIEW AND CONNECT

Share Your Personal Connection

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Complete the Connect section for this selection at learn.thinkcerca.com

Instructions:�

• Think: On your own, think about your experiences related to the topic.
• Pair & Share: With a partner, group, or a trusted listener, share the parts of your response that you feel comfortable sharing.
• Reflect: If time permits, reflect on your experience. What ideas did others share that you hadn't considered? How were your ideas alike?

READ

Share Your Reflections

Instructions: During or after you have finished reading, find the questions in the text marked Pause and Reflect. These questions may help you understand the text, or they may help you connect the text to yourself, to other texts, or to the world around you.

Use the space on the left below to answer the reflection questions. Then discuss your answers, noting how they were similar or different.

Record “Pause and Reflect” answers here:

Record discussion reflections here:

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Refer to the Pause and Reflect questions within the Read section of the lesson at learn.thinkcerca.com.

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CHECK

Test Prep Strategy: Prediction

One way to prepare for assessments is to practice looking for the answers in the text before looking at the answer choices. Use prediction strategies as an opportunity to read a text more carefully.

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Read each multiple choice question. In your own words, record your prediction of the correct response in the chart below.

Refer to the multiple choice questions for this lesson at learn.thinkcerca.com.

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ANALYZE / ENGAGE WITH THE TEXT

Highlight and Annotate

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In this step, you will analyze the text closely, then discuss your findings to begin developing reasoning for your argument.

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• Read the text again, highlighting and annotating important details. ��Follow the prompts provided. The highlighting prompts will help you with the final writing task. ��You will find evidence to support your own argument or informational piece, as well as models of excellence that will help you better understand a writer’s craft in narratives and poetry. The evidence you highlight will be available when you begin building your draft in the next step.

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• If time permits, pair and share your highlights and annotations with a classmate. Pay close attention to this conversation! Your thinking is important reasoning that you may include in your final draft.

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Return to learn.thinkcerca.com to complete Analyze / Engage with the Text.

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SUMMARIZE

Write a Summary

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Summaries help you process your thinking about a text and are often a great way to start off an argumentative or informational essay. A good summary shows you have knowledge about a topic.

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Practicing summarizing also helps you prepare for the main idea questions posed on many standardized assessments. In addition, summarizing is a helpful skill for working with others, such as when you need to confirm your understanding of what someone else has said. That's a useful skill for all parts of life.

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• Use the sentence stems provided in the online lesson to summarize the text. Your summary should:
• Be brief
• Include the main idea and key details
• Represent these ideas fairly and accurately �
• If time permits, pair and share with a classmate. Read each other’s summary, and discuss how they are similar or different. What did you say were the main idea and key details? Were your summaries fair and accurate? Why?

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Return to learn.thinkcerca.com to complete Summarize.

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DEVELOP / BUILD

Share your Argument Builder

When you’ve completed the argument building step, share your results with others, and listen to how they responded to the same question. Ask questions, and give feedback to help strengthen your partners’ reasons and evidence.

Complete Develop / Build to begin building your argument at learn.thinkcerca.com

DRAFT AND REVIEW / CREATE

Peer Editing Activity

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• Do a self-assessment of your CERCA. Use the online rubric for the lesson on learn.thinkcerca.com, checking each box where you find evidence that you have achieved the criteria.�
• Next, collaborate with a classmate to read each other’s drafts. Again, use the rubric to evaluate each other’s work.�
• Share insights into what might make your pieces stronger. Find two positive attributes and one area of growth for each draft you review.�
• Revise your piece using what you learned from your self-assessment and the feedback from your peers.

Complete your Draft at learn.thinkcerca.com

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DRAFT AND REVIEW / CREATE

Reflect on Your Writing

Before you submit your final CERCA, write a brief reflection describing your experience.

An area for growth for me on this piece or in my writing in general is…

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The strongest areas of this piece of writing are…

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Through self-assessment and/or peer editing, I learned…

Extension Activities

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The following activities can be used as extensions to this lesson.

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O P T I O N A L E X T E N S I O N : A C T I V I T Y

THE COLORS OF LEAVES

Background

Plants come in a variety of colors. These variations are caused by the different chemical composition of leaves. In this activity, you will explore those different colors. Below is a short description of each of the major leaf colors:

• Chlorophyll: This chemical helps leaves to perform photosynthesis. This is what gives leaves their green color.
• Flavonoids: These help in the pollination process. When chlorophyll decreases, flavonoids, which are always present, show a yellow color.
• Carotenoids: These chemicals are present in many fruits and vegetables. They help plants to grow and often have an orange color.
• Anthocyanins: While only present in some plants, these red-hued chemicals are flavonoids that help produce sugar in plants.

Materials Needed (with adult permission)

• Rubbing Alcohol
• Blender
• Glass Jar
• Safety Goggles (optional)
• 1 inch thick and 9 inches long-strips of paper towel
• Leaves (Examining leaves with lots of different colors is really fun, but you could also use just green leaves and look at the different shades of green from the chlorophyll.)
• Tape (optional)

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Procedure

• Gather different colored leaves from outside.
• Break up the leaves into small pieces. Put the leaves only (no stems) into the glass jar. Use a blender to break up the leaves even more (if needed).
• Carefully pour the rubbing alcohol into the jar so the leaves are just covered.
• Put one end of the paper towel strips into the solution, and hang the other end over the edge of the jar. Do this with 2-3 paper towel strips. Let sit overnight.
• Complete the observation charts on the next page.

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O P T I O N A L E X T E N S I O N : A C T I V I T Y

THE COLORS OF LEAVES

Observation Drawings

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Below, create a drawing immediately following the set-up of the experiment. Then, after the leaves have sat overnight, create a second drawing.

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Reflection Questions

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When you look at the paper towel strips, what do you notice? Make at least three observations:

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What do you think would happen if you had only one color leaf in the jar?

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Why might studying the various chemicals in plants be helpful for scientists?

Set-Up

One Day Later

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : INQUIRY TO RESEARCH

Ask Questions of the Texts

As you engage with texts in any subject, you can actively ask questions about the author’s purpose, intended audience, and occasion to understand the message. The table below provides examples.

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : INQUIRY TO RESEARCH

Ask Questions of the Texts (continued)

Use the table below to record questions about the text you read.

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