Informational Writing and Amazon Rainforest

Learning Activities

• Log on to Raz-Kids on your device and read the assigned book.
• Share a summary of what you read.
• Review and practice key elements of informational writing for the exam.
• Identify the main idea and write supporting paragraphs.
• Organize ideas and write clear, structured responses.
• Develop informational essays with detailed examples and logical flow.

Explore: Writing Process

• Identify the most important steps in the writing process.
• Use a KWL chart to document what you already know, want to know, and have learned.

Guided Practice: Amazon Rainforest

• The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world.
• It covers over 5 million square kilometers and stretches across nine South American countries.
• It is home to over 400 billion individual trees and 16,000 different tree species.
• The rainforest provides oxygen and regulates the planet's climate.
• It houses diverse wildlife, including jaguars, sloths, and toucans.
• Deforestation and climate change are serious threats to the ecosystem.

Informational Checklist

• Assess introductions for interesting hooks and clear main ideas.
• Evaluate supporting facts within the essay.
• Determine if the writer effectively supports the main idea.
• Analyze the presence of at least three body paragraphs.
• Assess the conclusion for summarizing main points.
• Evaluate use of capitalization and periods.
• Check the use of transition words.
• Analyze sentence structure (simple, compound, complex).

Vocabulary List

• The list includes vocabulary terms like earthquake, fault, landslide, mudslide, tectonic plate, Richter Scale, volcano.

Real-life Connection and Cross-Curricular

• Ask yourself how revising your writing helps prepare for exams and improves communication skills.

Text-Based Activities: Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis

• Explore essential questions and learn new vocabulary words related to earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis.
• Match vocabulary words to meanings.
• Use vocabulary words in sentences and connect them to main ideas.
• Perform text-based activities like identifying cause and effect relationships in earthquakes.

Cause and Effect of Natural Disasters

• Match causes and effects of volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis.
• Create flowcharts to illustrate cause and effect relationships.

Real-life Connection: Technology and Natural Disasters in Saudi Arabia

• Discuss how Saudi Arabia can use technology and innovation to prepare for natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis.
• Explain how this aligns with Vision 2030.

Greek and Latin Roots

• Explore Greek and Latin roots to understand unfamiliar words.
• Identify Greek and Latin roots in words with teacher support.
• Independently use Greek and Latin roots to determine word meanings.
• Analyze how Greek and Latin roots shape the meanings of related words.
• Explore roots such as geo (meaning "earth").
• Examples include Geography.

Independent Group Work

• Work together to determine the meaning of given words that utilize Greek and Latin roots.
• Write definitions, and create sentences with the words.
• Create new words by combining Greek and Latin roots.

Logical Sequence

• Examine the logical order of specific terms.
• Examples include terms related to life, such as bio; and terms related to science, such as thermodynamics, meteorology, and biology.