Lesson
2
:
Learning Understanding from a Nonfiction Text
Grade
Grade 5
UNIT
8
•
Understanding
In Unit 8, Lesson 2, “Learning Understanding from a Nonfiction Text,” students will learn examples of understanding from the life of a real person. By independently reading a nonfiction text, students will develop their reading comprehension skills. Finally, students will create their own sentences that demonstrate their reading comprehension and share their sentences with a partner.
.webp)
SUGGESTED TIME:
- 10 minutes — Introduce the subject and play the videos:
- Multiple periods of in-class readings or homework for each chapter of the book, The Story of George Washington Carver by Eva Moore (19 chapters total; the book is a total of 96 pages).
RELATED SUBJECT:
English Language Arts
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
- Read a nonfiction text independently to develop reading comprehension skills
- Demonstrate understanding of the main ideas of a nonfiction text
- Compose sentences that demonstrate comprehension of the text
- Demonstrate comprehension of the word understanding
- Demonstrate understanding of standard English sentence structure and grammar
- Practice reading and conversation skills by sharing sentences with classmates
REQUIRED MATERIALS:
- Video: George Washington Carver - Comments by Daryl Davis (~1 min)
- Video: George Washington Carver "The Plant Doctor" Revolutionized Farming Industry by Biography (~4 min)
- Book: The Story of George Washington Carver by Eva Moore
- Prohuman Grade 5 Unit 8 Worksheet 2: Learning Understanding from a Nonfiction Text
VOCABULARY:.
- Jim Crow: A term for laws that tried to keep African Americans separate from whites in the southern United States. These laws required whites and blacks to attend separate schools and to sit in different areas on public transportation. Blacks and whites had to use different drinking fountains, waiting rooms, housing, and shops. Jim Crow laws were in place from the late 1870s until the civil rights movement began in the 1950s.
- Understanding: I seek knowledge and try to learn the truth. I think about other people’s views that might be different from mine.
ELA COMMON CORE STANDARDS MET
CHARACTER AND SOCIAL EMOTIONAL (CSED) NATIONAL STANDARDS MET
LESSON PROCEDURE
- Tell students that we will be learning about an important American who developed the character strength of understanding.
- Ask students what understanding means.
- Give them the definition: I seek knowledge and try to learn the truth. I think about other people’s views that might be different from mine.
- Play the video: George Washington Carver "The Plant Doctor" Revolutionized Farming Industry by Biography (~4 min)
- Have students complete the book, The Story of George Washington Carver by Eva Moore, either through multiple in-class independent readings or as homework over numerous days (19 chapters total; the book is a total of 96 pages).
- When students have completed the book, have them answer the questions on the worksheet.
- Have students share their answers with a partner.
GRADE 5 UNIT 7 WORKSHEET 2: LEARNING FAIRNESS FROM A NONFICTION TEXT
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER AFTER READING THE BOOK by Eva Moore:
- In Chapter 3, what was the law about schools in Missouri and why was this unfair?
- In Chapter 6, what act of hate made George leave Ft. Scott?
- In Chapter 8, what was the Jim Crow car?
- How did George experience discrimination during his journey to seek a college education?
- In Chapter 11, what were some of George’s accomplishments at Iowa State College?
- What did Booker T. Washington invite George to do?
- In Chapter 12, what did George try to understand with his Experiment Station?
- In Chapter 14, how did George help promote farmers’ understanding of improving their crops?
- In Chapters 16 and 17, what did George use his understanding to learn about, and accomplish with, sweet potatoes and peanuts?
- At the end of Chapter 17, when he experienced the impact of Jim Crow laws, George said, “They don’t understand.” What do you think George meant by this? What did they not understand? What do you think they needed to understand?
Prohuman K-12 Curriculum © 2025 by Prohuman Foundation is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.