Standards Correlations

R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.7, W.2, SL.1, L.4, L.6

Learning Objective

Students will identify cause-and-effect relationships  in a text about Navajo students who grow their own food.

Key Skills

cause and effect, text features, vocabulary, central idea and details, key details, inference, critical thinking, informational writing

Complexity Factors

Purpose: The text highlights the impact of a school garden on a community and discusses the challenges of living in a food desert.

 

Structure: The article is written from the third-person point of view.

 

Language: The language is conversational.

 

Knowledge Demands: No prior knowledge is needed.

Levels

Lexile: 600L-700L 

Guided Reading Level: S 

DRA Level: 40

SEL Connection

This article and lesson promote social awareness and self-awareness skills.

Lesson Plan: They Grew This!

Essential Questions

  • Where does the food we eat come from?
  • What can individuals do to help solve problems in a community?

Literature Connection

  • Novel: The Vegetable Museum by Michelle Mulder
  • Nonfiction: Veggie Power by Annette Roeder

1. Preparing to Read 

Preview Text Features (10 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article in their magazines or at Action Online. Then preview the text features by asking the following questions

  • Read the article’s title and subtitle (the text beneath the title). Why do you think Hannah and Nariyah wanted to grow food in their school garden? Make a prediction. Sample answer: Hannah and Nariyah probably wanted to grow food in their school garden because they wanted people in their community to have access to fresh, healthy food. It sounds like some people in their community might not have been able to get the food they needed.
  • Find the map included in the story. What does it tell you about food deserts in the United States? It appears that food deserts are not uncommon in the U.S. They seem to exist throughout the country. Some states (such as Alaska, Arizona, and New Mexico) seem to be made up largely of food deserts. 

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

  • Point out the vocabulary box. Read the terms (reservation, Indigenous people, sacred, resources, affordable, elders) aloud and discuss their definitions.
  • Play the Vocabulary Slideshow. 

Make a Plan for Reading

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

  • Set a purpose for reading: Tell students that after reading, they’ll analyze cause-and-effect relationships in the story. Point out the activity at the end of the story. 
  • Encourage students to pause at the end of each section so they can monitor their comprehension. Prompt them to take note of sentences they think tell them important ideas in each section, as well as any words or sentences they don’t understand.

2. Reading and Unpacking the Text

Read the article. (Higher- and lower-Lexile versions are available on the Story page at Action Online. Click Presentation View to access an audio read-aloud.) Then discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (20 minutes)

  • How did Hannah and Nariyah help their community have access to better food through the school garden? (key details) The food Hannah and Nariyah helped grow in the school garden ended up feeding the students at the school, providing healthy meals for breakfast and lunch. The girls also helped 10 local families plant their own gardens and taught them how to cook meals from their harvests.
  • Based on the article, what events in the history of the Navajo Nation are (at least partly) to blame for the area becoming a food desert? (cause and effect) The violent history of the United States waging war against the Navajo, burning their fields, and killing their farm animals led to fewer Navajo people having resources for growing their own food. As a result, less fresh food is grown in the area.
  • How did working in the school garden affect Hannah and Nariyah beyond growing food? (inference) Working in the garden connected Hannah and Nariyah with their ancestors. It also taught them to value teamwork and patience, and it gave them a way to help others.

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

  • How might the school garden project at STAR School inspire leaders at other schools? (critical thinking) Answers will vary. Students might suggest that the success of the school garden project might encourage leaders at other schools to develop similar programs. Leaders might like the idea of teaching students to grow food, as well as the thought of having more fresh, affordable food to offer to students, staff, and community members.
  • The article says that working in the garden helped Hannah and Nariyah develop the skills of teamwork and patience. How might these skills help the girls in other areas of their lives? (critical thinking) Answers will vary. Students might say that being good at teamwork could help the girls succeed at group projects and on sports teams, while patience might help them succeed at tasks that take a long time, such as creating a very detailed piece of art.

3. Skill Building and Writing

  • Assign students to work in small groups to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Cause and Effect activity.
  • Go further: Use our Central Idea and Details Skill Builder, available in higher and lower level versions.  (Click here to view all your Skill Builders.)
  • Writing prompt: Imagine that your school is planning a garden. Think of one fruit or vegetable that you would like to include. Look up information on how the plant grows, and write a paragraph explaining how students can grow and care for the plant.

Learn Anywhere Activity

An enrichment activity to extend the learning journey at home or in the classroom

Project the task below on your whiteboard or share it with students in your LMS.

Brainstorm Ways to Support Your Community

Hannah and Nariyah learned to grow food at STAR School, and they used what they had learned to help others. They cooked a monthly meal for their community’s elders, and they taught local families how to grow their own food. 

What are some ways you and your classmates can use your skills to do good in your community? Form a group with three or four classmates and discuss the following questions:

  • What are some skills that students learn at your school? (Think about things you learn in class, like languages, as well as skills you learn from after-school activities, like acting and soccer.)
  • What are some places in your community where help might be needed? (For instance, is there a center for senior citizens where you could play chess or help solve computer problems? Is there an animal shelter that might need donations?)
  • How can you use your skills to help others? (Examples: Can school athletes play a game and sell tickets to raise money? Can actors put on a show to raise money? Can students who speak two languages translate for people who are new at speaking English?)

Talk over your ideas, thinking about how you might get the supplies, space, or whatever else you would need to make each idea work. Try to agree on one idea (though it’s OK to have more than one). Once you’ve come up with a plan, a member of your group can present the idea to the class. After hearing every group’s ideas,  the class can decide on a few to put into action. Then, just like Hannah and Nariyah, you’ll be using what you know to make your community better.

Language-Acquisition Springboard

Review the sound of tion to improve fluency.

After reading the article, direct students’ attention back to the vocabulary box. Point out the first word in the box: reservation. Remind students that the last four letters of the word, tion, are pronounced shun.

Let students know that many words end with tion and that this combination of letters is nearly always pronounced shun. Challenge them to scan the article for another example (for instance, the word nation in the phrase “Navajo Nation”).

Now ask students to look through some reading material and find three more words that end with tion. If they need help, have them look at the table of contents on page 2 of this magazine. They’ll find the magazine’s title, Action, as well as the words fiction and nonfiction. Other examples include:

  • caption
  • caution
  • emotion
  • fraction
  • invention
  • mention
  • motion
  • portion
  • potion
  • vacation

Looking for more ELL support? Download our full lesson plan and scroll to p. 5 to find questions that will help your ELLs respond to the text at the level that’s right for them.

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