Lesson MINI

LESSON MINI

Note-Taking and Organizing Information

Grade:

3-5

Topic:

Research

Unit:

Foundations of Research

Overview

In this lesson mini, students learn note-taking and information-organization skills for a research project. They practice recording, sorting, paraphrasing, and synthesizing information to improve their research abilities.

Ideas for Implementation

Science or Social Studies

Literacy

Library media

Learning centers

Intervention or enrichment

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Key Vocabulary & Definitions

fact (noun): something that is true and can be proven with evidence or information

graphic organizer (noun): a visual tool that helps someone organize and make sense of information

notes (noun): short pieces of information written down to help you remember something

paraphrase (verb): to rewrite something in your own words

synthesis (noun): the combination of information that can lead to a better understanding of a topic

Authentic Learning Extensions

Authentic learning opportunities for note-taking and organizing information involve real-world experiences and practical applications that help students understand research concepts. Examples include:

Expert Testimony: Encourage students to find interviews with experts on the topics that they are researching. This can be done online by finding videos with experts from reliable organizations.

Meteorologist and Weather Report: Invite students to work in groups to investigate different types of extreme weather events. Each group will take on the role of a team of meteorologists at a local news station. Their task is to prepare and deliver an emergency weather report to inform and protect their community. To provide a realistic context, students should watch real news reports from different areas, each representing various types of extreme weather, to use as models for their own broadcasts. These examples will help them understand the format and style of professional emergency weather reports.

Scavenger Hunt: Create a list of questions for students to find the answers to by identifying and using reliable sources, taking notes, and synthesizing information from their sources in their own words. Remind students that they must record their information sources and evaluate their reliability. If your class is using the weather-related examples listed above, some questions could include the following: Why do hurricanes form? What is the difference between a tornado watch and warning? How do meteorologists know when extreme weather is coming? What is the tornado (or hurricane) rating scale? What is the difference between a flood and a flash flood?

Choose Activity

LESSON MINI

Note-Taking and Organizing Information

Activity

1:

Identifying Key Information for Note-Taking

By the end of the activity, students will be able to identify and record key information from a text using a structured note-taking method.

30-40

Minutes

Materials and Resources

Materials

Whiteboard and display

Resources

Implementation

Tell students that during today’s lesson they will identify and record key information from texts using a note-taking graphic organizer.

Display the Space Exploration article on the board or projector. Model the process of reading through the text and identifying key information for the “Introduction” and “Astronauts” sections. As you read, underline, circle, or highlight key facts, main ideas, and keywords.

Tell students they will continue reading the remainder of the Space Exploration article and will use a Note-Taking graphic organizer to record Key Facts, Main Ideas, and Keywords as they read.

Distribute a Note-Taking graphic organizer to each student, and display one for the whole class. Provide a brief explanation of the key terms on the organizer:

Key Facts: important details or specific information that stands out

Main Ideas: overall message or main points of the passage

Keywords: important words or terms related to the topic and their significance

Working together as a class, guide students through the process of recording information that was identified in the “Introduction” and “Astronauts” sections. Model how to write bullet points or short phrases under each section based on the identified key information.

Encourage students to continue this process for the remainder of the article, taking notes using the provided organizer. Remind them to focus on the most essential information and to use their own words.

Monitor student progress, and provide feedback as needed to reinforce effective note-taking practices.

Facilitate a class discussion in which students share their identified key facts, main ideas, and keywords from the text, exploring their importance to the topic while providing constructive feedback on note-taking skills. Conclude by summarizing the importance of identifying key information and taking effective notes, encouraging students to apply these skills in future reading and research activities.

Differentiation and Variations

Guided Summarization: Provide an anchor chart with sentence starters and select shorter, more accessible texts. Highlight key information within the text to guide students’ focus. This approach reduces cognitive load, offers clear starting points for summary construction, and explicitly identifies essential content, building students’ confidence in their summarization skills.

Multi-Source Critical Summarization: Introduce longer and more complex texts, challenging students to create their own summary frameworks. Encourage critical analysis and synthesis of information from multiple sources. Ask students to present summaries in various formats, including oral and visual presentations. Assign tasks requiring summaries of different lengths for various purposes. This approach supports advanced learners by promoting higher-order thinking skills, creativity, and adaptability in processing and communicating information across different contexts.

Collaborative Jigsaw Summarization: Implement a collaborative jigsaw summarization approach. Divide the class into groups, and ask each group to summarize a specific text section. Regroup students so that new teams include representatives from each original group. Encourage students to share their summaries to reconstruct the entire text, and then facilitate a discussion on how the summaries interconnect. Conclude by having students write a comprehensive summary based on the shared information.

Quiz Bowl: After students take notes on the article, hold a short quiz bowl in which students use only the information in their notes to answer questions focused on main ideas and key facts.

Collaborative Teaching

Team Teaching: For collaborative teaching and learning environments, this learning activity is well suited to a Team Teaching strategy. In this model, both teachers deliver instruction together, often alternating or integrating their teaching styles seamlessly, sometimes referred to as “tag team teaching.” This collaborative approach provides students with multiple perspectives and teaching styles, enriching their learning experience. By modeling effective teamwork and communication, this approach demonstrates how different viewpoints can enhance understanding and create a dynamic and interactive classroom environment. Evidence indicates that team teaching can enhance student engagement and provide a richer, more diverse educational experience.

Introduction to Note-Taking: The first teacher introduces the activity and models filling out the graphic organizer. The other teacher circulates the room, adding to the discussion when they can and maintaining student attention.

Note-Taking Time: Both teachers circulate, helping students fill out the graphic organizer correctly. As students have issues, teachers help support their work. Consider having one teacher work specifically with a small group, giving extra support to students who need it.

Class Discussion: Teachers co-lead the discussion about note-taking, providing multiple perspectives and strategies that can be used when practicing this skill.

Lesson Wrap-Up: The teacher who assisted with the introduction now leads the wrap-up discussion. The other teacher circulates the room, adding to the discussion when they can and maintaining student attention.

Note-Taking and Organizing Information

Activity

2:

Note-Taking with K-W-H-L Organizers

By the end of the activity, students will be able to apply effective note-taking strategies using a K-W-H-L graphic organizer and a note catcher to conduct and organize research.

30-40

Minutes

Materials and Resources

Materials

Whiteboard or display

Resources

Implementation

Tell students that during today’s lesson they will gather, write down, and organize information in graphic organizers to practice note-taking skills while investigating and answering research questions.

Begin with a class discussion about the importance of note-taking. Ask students the following question, and guide the discussion to cover key points, such as how notes help us remember information, organize our thoughts, and make it easier to study and review later.

Why do you think taking notes is important?

Explain to students that this lesson will focus on learning and practicing note-taking skills specifically for a research project. Emphasize that effective note-taking helps them organize and summarize information. To guide them in practicing this skill, they will be exploring tropical cyclones.

Distribute a K-W-H-L graphic organizer to each student, and display one for the class, using it as a model. Explain that this organizer will help them take notes, organize thoughts, and track new knowledge.

Ask students to independently list facts they already know about tropical cyclones in the K column of their graphic organizers. Remind them that a fact is something that is true and can be proven with evidence or information. Emphasize that it is not an opinion or belief but rather something that can be verified.

Have students share their facts with a partner and afterward with the whole class. Scribe some of the students’ responses, which may include the following:

Tropical cyclones are large.

Tropical cyclones are swirling storms with strong winds.

Tropical cyclones form over warm ocean waters.

Tropical cyclones can cause damage to buildings, trees, and other structures.

Tropical cyclones are also known as hurricanes, which are given names.

Have students work with their partners to create a list of questions about what they want to learn about tropical cyclones and record their questions in the W column of their organizers. Invite students to share these questions with the class, and write these three questions on the whole-class organizer:

When and where do tropical cyclones form?

How can people stay safe in a tropical cyclone?

How are tropical cyclones named?

Tell students that they are going to investigate the questions using a reliable source: the Tropical Cyclone article in Britannica Library. Write this resource in the H column of the displayed K-W-H-L graphic organizer, and have students fill out their own copies of the organizer with the same information.

Distribute a Tropical Cyclone Note Catcher to each student, and display one for the whole class. Tell students that they will read the Tropical Cyclone article, focusing on taking notes using keywords and short phrases that will help them collect important details from the article to help answer the questions.

Model the note-taking process for the class by taking notes on the “Introduction” and “When and Where Tropical Cyclones Form” sections of the article, scribing key ideas in the appropriate spaces on the displayed Tropical Cyclone Note Catcher. While modeling, emphasize to students that it is important to take notes that include the following:

Key Facts: Write down important facts or details that answer your research questions.

Main Ideas: Capture the main points or topics discussed.

Keywords: Note important words or terms related to your topic.

Dates and Numbers: Record specific dates, statistics, or other numerical information.

Questions: Write down any questions you have while reading for further investigation.

Have students work with a partner to read the article and take notes in their own note catchers. After taking notes, have partners discuss what they learned and formulate a sentence or two to answer each question, filling out the L column of their graphic organizers.

Invite volunteers to share what they learned, scribing responses in the L column of the displayed K-W-H-L graphic organizer.

Wrap up the activity by asking students to reflect on the question below, inviting them to discuss their responses, and reinforcing the importance of good note-taking skills in their research process.

How can we use a K-W-H-L graphic organizer and a note catcher to guide and organize a research project?

Differentiation and Variations

Sentence Starters: Consider adding sentence starters to the K-W-H-L graphic organizer for younger or struggling students. This can help remind students what each column is for and guide them while they work.

Expanding the Graphic Organizer: For older or more advanced students, consider adding another column to the graphic organizer called “Connect,” where they connect their existing knowledge with new facts that they learned. This is a guided way of engaging students with the process of synthesis, an important research skill to practice.

Weather Research: If students excel at this skill, consider allowing the groups to work on a weather-related topic of their choice, such as tornadoes, blizzards, heat waves, floods, droughts, or dust storms. The group will decide on a topic, generate two or three questions they would like to answer, and investigate until they answer them. Then they can share their findings with the class. This additional activity helps students explore the concept using topics that interest them.

Collaborative Teaching

Introduction: The first teacher introduces the topic and leads the discussion about the importance of note-taking. The second teacher distributes, displays, and explains the K-W-H-L graphic organizer.

K-W-H-L Brainstorming and Class Discussions: Both teachers circulate the room as students work independently and with their partners, providing support as needed and maintaining student engagement with the activity. During whole-class discussions, one teacher leads the discussion and the other teacher scribes students’ responses and the questions on the displayed K-W-H-L graphic organizer.

Taking Notes Activity: One teacher distributes and displays the Tropical Cyclone Note Catcher, while the other teacher introduces the importance of using keywords and short phrases to help collect important information. The first teacher models the note-taking process for the “Introduction” and the second teacher models it for the “When and Where Tropical Cyclones Form” sections of the article. Both teachers circulate to provide support and maintain student engagement while students work with their partners to take notes.

Wrap-Up: One teacher invites students to share what they learned, and the other teacher scribes their responses in the L column of the displayed K-W-H-L graphic organizer. Teachers co-lead the wrap-up discussion, reinforcing the concepts discussed in the activity.

Note-Taking and Organizing Information

Activity

3:

Paraphrasing Practice

By the end of the activity, students will be able to identify and paraphrase key information from a digital resource.

30-40

Minutes

Materials and Resources

Materials

Whiteboard and display

Resources

Implementation

Tell students that during today’s lesson they will practice paraphrasing through the use of a paraphrasing graphic organizer and a digital resource. Emphasize that an important part of learning how to paraphrase is highlighting the main ideas and significant facts. Consider using a simple analogy, such as this:

Paraphrasing is like telling a friend about a movie you’ve seen but in your own words.

Define paraphrasing for the students, explaining it as the act of rewriting someone else’s words in their own words, often using simpler language. On the board, write “paraphrase” along with the simple definition of “to write in your own words.” Give the example of how the words of the “Pledge of Allegiance” can be paraphrased as “I promise to be loyal to the United States.”

Ask students to practice paraphrasing a simple paragraph that you read aloud or display on the board using the examples below. Then discuss students’ responses as a class.

It was a beautiful sunny day, and the fox was trying to get the dog to play. The quick fox jumped back and forth and over and around the lazy dog. But the dog had no energy at all after a busy morning of chasing bunnies. The dog was exhausted and just wanted to sleep and dream of chasing even more bunnies. After a few minutes of jumping around, the fox had to agree with the dog. It was a lovely afternoon for a nap.

A sample paraphrase might include something like the following: The fox tried to get the dog to play by leaping around, but the dog was too tired. He’d been chasing rabbits all morning. Now, he wanted to nap and dream of chasing rabbits. The fox got tired from all of that jumping, and he decided to take a nap, too.

Tell students that paraphrasing is a good note-taking strategy when gathering information for a research project. They will practice paraphrasing key information by reading a Weather article and putting the main ideas and key details in their own words. This will prepare them for taking notes in their own research project.

Familiarize yourself with the Paraphrasing instructional strategy and graphic organizer procedure. Display the accompanying graphic organizer and distribute a Paraphrasing graphic organizer to each student. Engage the class in using the strategy with the Weather article to support developing paraphrasing skills. Follow steps 3–5 of the strategy to guide students through paraphrasing information, reading the article section by section or paragraph by paragraph instead of in its entirety all at once. Complete the following for the first two sections of the article:

Model the process using a think-aloud technique, identifying and highlighting main ideas and key details, perhaps in different colors.

Add information to the displayed graphic organizer as you go, encouraging students to fill in their own organizers as you work together, guiding the process of forming short, simple sentences for each main idea and key detail.

Have students work independently to read, identify key ideas and details, and paraphrase the ideas for the last section of the article.

After completing their paraphrasing activity, have students share and compare their paraphrased versions of the final section of the article, discussing similarities and differences.

If time allows, consider completing steps 6–9 of the paraphrasing activity, providing students with another short grade-appropriate Britannica School text on a different topic. Have them practice paraphrasing independently, applying the steps they’ve learned. (Students could complete this in class or as a homework assignment.)

Conclude the lesson mini by summarizing what it means to paraphrase key ideas and details in articles as a class. Consider creating and displaying a class anchor chart listing the steps of paraphrasing for future reference:

Read the text.

Identify key ideas and details in a text.

Write or state the ideas in your own words.

Differentiation and Variations

Sentence Starters: These prompts guide students to identify key details and rephrase them, making it easier to get started with paraphrasing. This support benefits students by reducing the initial anxiety of facing a blank page, boosting their confidence to begin the paraphrasing process.

Chunking Text: Breaking down the text into smaller sections helps students focus on manageable pieces of information, building their paraphrasing skills gradually. This approach benefits students by preventing overwhelm and allowing them to practice paraphrasing more effectively, leading to better comprehension and retention of the material.

Visual Aids: Graphic organizers or pictures help students grasp main ideas and facilitate paraphrasing by providing a visual framework. This support benefits students by catering to visual learners and helping all students organize information more clearly, making it easier to express ideas in their own words.

Sentence Stem Completion: Consider using pre-made sentence stems with key points and allow students to complete sentences in their own words. This method provides a scaffolded approach to paraphrasing, gradually building students’ skills and confidence in expressing ideas independently.

Leveled Text: Using leveled texts can increase rigor and critical thinking by expanding students’ vocabulary and teaching them to adapt paraphrasing for different texts. This activity encourages students to paraphrase texts of varying difficulty on the same topic. Students compare their paraphrases and analyze how the text’s complexity affects their wording and explanation.

Technology Integration: Using online tools and creating multimedia presentations allows students to compare paraphrases and creatively showcase their understanding. This extends learning by making paraphrasing fun and challenging, allowing students to showcase their understanding in different formats.

Color-Coding: Implement a color-coding system to visually organize information from different source types. For example:

Blue: Information from databases

Pink: Content from websites

Yellow: Material from books

Green: Other sources (e.g., interviews, newspapers)

This system helps students quickly identify the origin of each piece of information and ensures a balanced use of various sources in their research.

Collaborative Teaching

One Teaching, One Assisting: For collaborative teaching and learning environments, this learning activity is well suited to a One Teaching, One Assisting strategy. In this model, one teacher leads the lesson while the other circulates, assisting individual students as needed. This ensures that when students encounter difficulties, they receive immediate help in the form of personalized support and answers to their questions. By addressing students’ unique needs and keeping them on track, this approach enhances individual learning experiences and fosters a supportive classroom environment. Studies indicate that immediate feedback and individualized attention can significantly enhance student understanding and retention of material.

Lesson Introduction: During this portion of the lesson, the first teacher presents the information while the other circulates, keeping students on task and engaged.

Paraphrasing Practice: One teacher presents this portion of the instruction using the Weather article, while the assisting teacher circulates to keep students focused and to answer any questions. Afterward, while students work individually or in small groups, both teachers circulate, providing support to struggling students.

Lesson Wrap-Up: The assisting teacher organizes and leads the paraphrase sharing, and the main teacher summarizes the important concepts learned.

Note-Taking and Organizing Information

Activity

4:

Categorizing Information

By the end of the activity, students will be able to effectively gather, organize, and synthesize relevant information from multiple sources for a research project.

<20

Minutes

Materials and Resources

Materials

Colored writing utensils

Index cards (two per student)

Lined paper (one sheet per student)

Whiteboard and display

Resources

Implementation

Tell students that during today’s lesson they will take and organize notes from multiple sources on index cards and then synthesize the information they gather to answer a research question.

Project the Tornado and Thunderstorm Sentence Strips on a board or other display.

Organize students into pairs, and distribute a set of Tornado and Thunderstorm Sentence Strips to each pair.

Ask students to work in pairs to organize the facts on the sentence strips into two categories. Circulate around the room, checking that students are putting each fact into either a tornado or thunderstorm category. Do not present these categories to them ahead of time. See whether they can figure it out on their own, and if they cannot, support them with guiding questions to get to that conclusion.

Bring the class together, and ask which two categories they organized the information into.

Explain that the facts on the strips were notes taken by a student gathering information for a research project. The notes were just “dumped” on the page, with no organization. Explain that a better way to take notes while researching is to organize the notes as you go. Ask for ways that the student could have taken these notes in a more effective manner. Answers may include the following:

Make one page for thunderstorm facts and another for tornado facts.

Use a graphic organizer such as a Venn diagram or T-chart.

Take notes on one subject before starting another.

Introduce and show examples of ways that researchers organize information:

Use graphic organizers: organize information in webs, Venn diagrams, or T-charts.

Color-code: use a yellow highlighter for one subtopic (e.g., thunderstorms) and a pink one for another subtopic (e.g., tornadoes), or use a black pen for one and a blue for the other.

Use digital tools: use an online document or note-taking application.

Use index cards: write each fact on a separate note card so that the notes can be easily organized at a later time.

Ask students to share their preferred method of organization with their partner and explain why they chose that method above all others.

Explain that effective research doesn’t end at taking notes. Once they have compiled some research, they need to synthesize what they learned. This means taking all the pieces of a puzzle (their notes) and putting the pieces together to make the larger picture. List ways that students can synthesize information, giving examples from the Tornado and Thunderstorm Sentence Strips:

Combine sources to create one comprehensive overview.

Compare and contrast information.

Identify larger themes.

Pose the research question “How do thunderstorms create tornadoes?” Write the question for the whole class to see.

Distribute two index cards and a lined piece of paper to each student. Have students work individually to take relevant notes from the Tornado article and Thunderstorm article, writing their notes from the two articles on different index cards, perhaps using different colors.

After students have taken their notes, ask them to synthesize the information they gathered, writing a few sentences or a short paragraph on their paper to answer the question. Emphasize that they must use their own words. Have volunteers share their responses with the class.

To wrap up, discuss the following questions:

How can we maintain an organized approach throughout our research?

What are effective methods for summarizing and synthesizing information?

Differentiation and Variations

Sentence Sorts: Create a sorting activity using key points from two different articles relevant to a research topic. Students should categorize these points based on similarities, themes, or other criteria, fostering critical thinking and a deeper understanding of the subject matter through active engagement. This hands-on approach aids students, particularly those struggling with information organization, in grasping complex concepts effectively.

Deep Dive: Divide students into three groups, assign them sources, and challenge them to synthesize information by doing one of the following tasks: combine sources to create a comprehensive overview, compare and contrast information, or identify overarching themes. This activity fosters advanced analytical skills, encourages collaborative learning, and promotes a deeper understanding of complex topics by requiring students to engage with multiple sources critically.

Venn Diagram Synthesis: To go further with the Tornado article and Thunderstorm article while practicing note-taking, invite students to fill out a Venn diagram, asking them to synthesize facts for the center of the graphic organizers. Examples that they may write in the overlapping section of the diagram include high winds, stormy conditions with thunder and lightning, heavy rain, and initial formation in the clouds.

Collaborative Teaching

Team Teaching: For collaborative teaching and learning environments, this learning activity is well suited to a Team Teaching strategy. In this model, both teachers deliver instruction together, often alternating or integrating their teaching styles seamlessly, sometimes called “tag team teaching.” This collaborative approach provides students with multiple perspectives and teaching styles, enriching their learning experience. By modeling effective teamwork and communication, this approach demonstrates how different viewpoints can enhance understanding and create a dynamic and interactive classroom environment. Evidence indicates that team teaching can enhance student engagement and provide a richer, more diverse educational experience.

Setup: One teacher displays the sentence strips, while the other divides students into pairs and distributes student copies of the sentence strips.

Sentence Sort: Both teachers circulate the classroom, supporting the students as necessary.

Organizing with Graphic Organizers: Teachers take turns demonstrating note-taking strategies. For example, the first teacher can show general graphic organizers, and the second teacher can demonstrate color-coding notes. Then, the first teacher can demonstrate digital tools, and the second teacher can demonstrate how to use index cards.

Introduction of Synthesizing Information: One teacher introduces the concept of synthesizing information, and then teachers take turns demonstrating examples using the sentence strips.

Note-Taking and Synthesis Practice: One teacher poses the research question, and the other teacher distributes materials to students. Both teachers circulate the classroom, supporting the students as necessary.

Lesson Wrap-Up: Both teachers lead the wrap-up discussion, taking turns asking the concluding questions, clarifying and correcting misunderstandings as necessary, and reinforcing key concepts.

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