ELA Lesson: Healthy Rivers
Lesson Plan
1 hour 45 minutesGrades6, 7, 8English Language Arts
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Written by Pamela Fellner
About this lesson
Students learn about riparian buffer zones and the ways they contribute to the health of a river.
Inquire: Students interpret a riparian buffer zone photograph and develop a question.
Investigate: Students read how riparian buffers contribute to stream health, identify supporting details, interpret a graph, and write CER statements.
Inspire: Students choose an option to demonstrate their learning.
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Suggestions
- This lesson can be taught in all middle school English grade levels, focusing on skills related to nonfiction texts.
- Texts can be read as a whole class, or used as guided reading, independent reading, or small group reading.
- All activities and discussions can be completed independently, in pairs, or small groups.
- This lesson highlights interdisciplinary science CER skills in an English lesson.
- This lesson can be taught with a companion science simulation lesson.
Prerequisites
- Students should have previous practice with composing claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER) statements.
- This lesson highlights a river in New Jersey, but the content of the lesson can be applied to classrooms anywhere in the world.
Differentiation
- Students can underline or highlight the main ideas in text links instead of writing them on their Student Document.
- Students can choose to do both options in the Inspire section.
- Students can further research Indigenous practices and perspectives related to river health.
- Students can conduct further research, particularly related to the types of trees that are most effective in providing riparian buffer structures.
- Students can research how they can become a part of riparian buffer stewardship by exploring their nearest watershed association.
From the scientist review
This lesson emphasizes how crucial riparian forests are to combating climate change because they stabilize stream banks, store atmospheric CO2, keep pollution out of rivers, preserve forest biodiversity, and improve the health of aquatic ecosystems. Students will get knowledge on how to write educational materials stressing the value of preserving riparian forests from human exploitation. After an evaluation of the lesson materials, we can say that this lesson passed our reliability procedures for science.
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About the teacher writer
Pamela Fellner
Pamela has been teaching 5th and 6th grade Science and Math for twelve years in Warren County, NJ. She enjoys spending quality time with her family, whether exploring nature trails or engaging in DIY science experiments at home, and is passionate about rehabilitating orphaned squirrel babies.
