Should Elementary Students Have PE Everyday?

Adapted from a framework developed by National Writing Project i3 College Ready Writers Program

(January 2015) by Stephanie Wilson

 

A Mini-Unit on Teaching Argument: Claims and Text-Based Evidence

2

Writing Reading Argument MINI-UNITEmphasis

# of Lessons

ARGUMENT SKILLS PRODUCT ELEMENTS OF

ARGUMENT CLOSE READING STRATEGIES

RESPONSE TO READINGS TOPICS

Draft, Feedback, Revise, Reflect Close reading strategies

Writing & talking to develop knowledge on

topic or issue

Integrate evidence from multiple sources to support a claim

4 Lessons

Entering Skills:• Annotating text• Identifying

evidence (quotations, facts, and statistics) to support the claim

• Citing sources

Foundational Skills: • Integrate

evidence from several sources to support a claim

Product: Draft with revision to integrate facts

Peer Review

ClaimEvidence

Coding text Partner share

Should elementary students have PE everyday?

1 print text2 video texts

Mini-Unit Overview

Grades 3-5 Writing Standards Emphasized in the Mini-Unit

W.3.1. Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons. W.3.1.b. Provide reasons that support the opinion.

W.4.1./5.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

W.4.1.b. Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details. W.5.1.b. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4

View video 1.

Take observational notes; record facts and key words. 

View video 2.

Record facts and key words. 

Partner Talk

Read short article.

Take notes.

Partner talk.

Write a claim.Write: Should ________ ?

Read longer article.

Annotate the article by marking compelling facts and key words.

Respond in writing.

Peer Review: Where could we add facts from Day 1 videos and text?

Revise to add additional evidence.

Mini-Unit Sequence

Text #1

View this video: 

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/8x6nAmywrac (Marshall Parker via YouTube)

• Published on Sep 22, 2014• Ilalko Elementary School, Auburn School District,

Auburn WA. Program for PE Everyday for grades K-3. Many schools cut PE years ago when funding was cut. This program re-introduces what used to be standard in a re-imagined way.

Writing #1

Record what you observed. List facts and key words that would make good evidence in argumentative writing. Be sure to note the source!

FACTS KEY WORDS

Source: PE Everyday, Marshall Parker, Sept. 22, 2014

Text #2 / Writing #2

View this video about physical activity and obesity in children.

"Move Me"- The importance of physical activity and healthy eating 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhe0Ku4UFH0

We’ll watch it twice, recording facts and key words as we view. Add to your chart, but note the new source.  

  FACTS KEY WORDS

Source: NAHPERD via YouTube

Text #3

• Read Text #3 on the next two slides. Be prepared to write and share your thoughts.

Read Text #3

from Exercise & Memory by Jada and Maurna--DragonflyTV

We heard that exercise can make our brain work better, but we wanted to know if that was true. Maybe it could be the answer to getting good grades at school. For our DragonflyTV investigation, we asked: Can exercise improve a person's memory?

What did we do? To make a memory test, we grabbed 25 different things from around the house and covered them up with a towel. Next, we asked eight of our friends to take a test. We removed the towel and gave them one minute to stare at the items. When the minute was up, we covered the objects again and asked them to write down as many objects as they could remember. Then we split our friends into two groups. One group played board games (Team Slack Attack); the other group ran an exercise obstacle course (Team Jumping Jacks). Meanwhile, we put new items in the memory test. After 10 minutes, both teams took a second memory test with the new items.

Text #3, cont.

from Exercise and Memory cont.

What did we find out? We graded all the tests, giving one point for each correct answer. Then we made a chart that showed how each team's score changed. The Slack Attack's average score decreased by 2 points. The Jumping Jacks' average increased by 4 points. The improvement wasn't huge, but the team that exercised increased their memory test scores, while the group that sat still actually did worse on the second test. We thought that you'd have to exercise for a long time in order to really see the effects.

What can you do? What's your favorite sport or exercise? Does long term exercise help you remember things better? Chart your physical activity over a few months and compare it to a memory test that you take every few weeks. Do your scores increase over time?

Writing #3

• Spend five minutes responding to what you just read.

• Pairs to Squares—share with a partner; partners find another set of partners and the four of you share your thoughts.

• Discuss as a class

Partner Talk

In pairs, share what you thought was important from the videos and the text. Add to your notes after sharing.

Then discuss this question: Should elementary students have PE everyday?

CLAIM

Based on the information you’ve learned so far, form a working claim.

A good claim often has these components:

[WHO] should (or should not] do [WHAT] because [WHY].

Peer Review

Does your partner’s claim meet our criteria?

Compelling, debatable, defensible Takes a stance (position) Clear and specific Avoids “I think” or “I feel” Avoids listing all the evidence

Switch papers and revise as needed.

Text #4

Read “Today’s kids run a lot slower, a study says” by Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff on 12.03.13.

Annotate the article. Mark compelling facts and key words.

Writing #4

What do you think? Should ____________? (Write about a page.)

Use evidence from the article to support your claim. Remember to cite the source. • In Newsela’s article, “Today’s kids run a lot slower, a study says,”

___________• According to…

You may want to skip a line between each row as you write because we’ll be adding to our writing.

Integrating Research

Should ____________________________________?

• Re-read your Writing #4. Underline your claim.• Re-read your notes from the videos. • What evidence from the two videos and texts #3 and #4 is

RELEVANT (applicable) to your claim? Find 2-3 places in your writing to add specific facts and key words from these texts as evidence to support the reasons you have given.

• OR add new reasons/evidence from the videos that you did not use in your first draft.

• Remember to cite the source of the information.

Peer Review/Revision

• Read your partner’s draft.

• Put a star each time they used evidence from the article to support their ideas.

• Put a question mark each time you recognize a fact from the article or video that does not include the source.

• Suggest 1-2 additional relevant facts that they could add.

• Trade papers back and use your partner’s feedback to improve your draft.