Overview

Lesson Procedure

55-65 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "It is 5:00, the time your family always walks the dog. The dog is sitting by the front door with its leash in its mouth, looking back at you. Write one thing you know because you can see it, and one thing you figure out. Which clue helped you figure it out?"

   Take three or four answers and sort them on the board into two columns: I can see it (the leash in its mouth, sitting by the door, the clock says 5:00) and I figured it out (the dog wants its walk, the dog knows what time it is). For each answer in the second column, ask which clue led to it. Tell the class that nonfiction works the same way: some facts are written right there, and some ideas a reader has to put together from clues. Today they will learn to prove both kinds with the author's own words.

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   Teach six words before reading, and leave them on the board:

   • Informational text: nonfiction that gives facts or explains something real, such as an article, a science book or a letter.
   • Textual evidence: words from the text that back up what you say about it.
   • Cite: to show where your evidence comes from. In this lesson, copy the exact words in quotation marks and add the passage and paragraph number, like this: (Passage 1, paragraph 2).
   • Explicit: stated directly in the words of the text. You can put your finger on it.
   • Inference: a conclusion the text supports but does not state. You make it by joining clues from the text with what you already know.
   • Claim: a sentence that says what you think is true about the text. Evidence supports a claim.

   Introduce the text: Jean-Henri Fabre (1823-1915) was a French scientist who spent his life watching insects near his home in the south of France. This book, translated into English in 1916, describes the pine processionary caterpillar, a hairy caterpillar that lives in silk nests in pine trees. (Real ones should never be touched: their hairs can cause an itchy rash.) A procession is a group moving forward in a line, like a parade. Words to know: vagaries (wandering, unplanned moves), the van (the front of a line), theoria and Eleusinian festivals (in ancient Greece, groups of people walked in orderly lines to religious festivals at Eleusis), fickle (changing often, for no clear reason), trebles (triples), spinnerets (the body parts that make silk), sumptuous (rich and costly) and macadamizing (paving a road with layers of crushed stone). Read the passage aloud while students follow the numbered paragraphs.

   1The Pine Caterpillar is even more sheep-like, not from foolishness, but from necessity: where the first goes all the others go, in a regular string, with not an empty space between them.

   2They proceed in single file, in a continuous row, each touching with its head the rear of the one in front of it. The complex twists and turns described in his vagaries by the caterpillar leading the van are scrupulously described by all the others. No Greek theoria winding its way to the Eleusinian festivals was ever more orderly. Hence the name of Processionary given to the gnawer of the pine.

   3His character is complete when we add that he is a rope-dancer all his life long: he walks only on the tight-rope, a silken rail placed in position as he advances. The caterpillar who chances to be at the head of the procession dribbles his thread without ceasing and fixes it on the path which his fickle preferences cause him to take. The thread is so tiny that the eye, though armed with a magnifying-glass, suspects it rather than sees it.

   4But a second caterpillar steps on the slender footboard and doubles it with his thread; a third trebles it; and all the others, however many there be, add the sticky spray from their spinnerets, so much so that, when the procession has marched by, there remains, as a record of its passing, a narrow white ribbon whose dazzling whiteness shimmers in the sun. Very much more sumptuous than ours, their system of road-making consists in upholstering with silk instead of macadamizing. We sprinkle our roads with broken stones and level them by the pressure of a heavy steam-roller; they lay over their paths a soft satin rail, a work of general interest to which each contributes his thread.

   • Explicit: the words are in the text

     How do the caterpillars line up when they travel?

     Result: The text states it: "They proceed in single file, in a continuous row, each touching with its head the rear of the one in front of it" (Passage 1, paragraph 2). The answer is in the author's words, so one exact quotation with its paragraph number proves it.

   • Explicit: a fact in your own words

     How easy is it to see the thread of a single caterpillar?

     Result: Very hard. Fabre writes that "the eye, though armed with a magnifying-glass, suspects it rather than sees it" (paragraph 3). Students may put this in their own words (you can barely see it, even with a magnifying glass), but they still cite the words it comes from.

   • Inference: join two clues

     Fabre never says that a long procession leaves a wider road than a short one. Can a reader infer it?

     Result: Yes. Clue 1: one thread is so thin that the eye "suspects it rather than sees it" (paragraph 3). Clue 2: every caterpillar adds silk, "all the others, however many there be, add the sticky spray from their spinnerets" (paragraph 4). If each caterpillar adds a thread, more caterpillars mean more threads, so a long line leaves a wider ribbon than a short one.

   • Strong or weak evidence?

     Claim: every caterpillar in the line helps build the road. Which quotation supports it better, "The caterpillar who chances to be at the head of the procession dribbles his thread without ceasing" (paragraph 3) or "a work of general interest to which each contributes his thread" (paragraph 4)?

     Result: Paragraph 4 is stronger, because "each contributes" covers every caterpillar in the line. The paragraph 3 quotation is about only one caterpillar, the one at the head, so it supports a claim about the leader, not about the whole group.

   Claim, quote, explain. Show Diagram 1 and model the three moves with the third example: claim (a long line leaves a wider road), quote (the exact words in quotation marks, with the paragraph number), explain (one sentence on how the words prove the claim). Give two sentence frames: "The text states that ___ (paragraph __)." for explicit claims, and "The details ___ and ___ suggest that ___ because ___." for inferences.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Read Passage 2 aloud. It continues directly from Passage 1, and paragraph numbers start again at 1. Fabre asks why the caterpillars need their silk road at all, then tests each of their senses. Words to know: sally forth (set out), browse (feed on leaves), bough (a large branch), denuded (stripped bare), storeys (British spelling of stories, the levels of a building), ocular specks (tiny eye spots), infinitesimal (extremely small), olfactory powers (the ability to smell) and ravenous (very hungry).

   1What is the use of all this luxury? Could they not, like other caterpillars, walk about without these costly preparations? I see two reasons for their mode of progression. It is night when the Processionaries sally forth to browse upon the pine-leaves. They leave their nest, situated at the top of a bough, in profound darkness; they go down the denuded pole till they come to the nearest branch that has not yet been gnawed, a branch which becomes lower and lower by degrees as the consumers finish stripping the upper storeys; they climb up this untouched branch and spread over the green needles.

   2When they have had their suppers and begin to feel the keen night air, the next thing is to return to the shelter of the house. Measured in a straight line, the distance is not great, hardly an arm’s length; but it cannot be covered in this way on foot. The caterpillars have to climb down from one crossing to the next, from the needle to the twig, from the twig to the branch, from the branch to the bough and from the bough, by a no less angular path, to go back home. It is useless to rely upon sight as a guide on this long and erratic journey. The Processionary, it is true, has five ocular specks on either side of his head, but they are so infinitesimal, so difficult to make out through the magnifying-glass, that we cannot attribute to them any great power of vision. Besides, what good would those short-sighted lenses be in the absence of light, in black darkness?

   3It is equally useless to think of the sense of smell. Has the Processional any olfactory powers or has he not? I do not know. Without giving a positive answer to the question, I can at least declare that his sense of smell is exceedingly dull and in no way suited to help him find his way. This is proved, in my experiments, by a number of hungry caterpillars that, after a long fast, pass close beside a pine-branch without betraying any eagerness or showing a sign of stopping. It is the sense of touch that tells them where they are. So long as their lips do not chance to light upon the pasture-land, not one of them settles there, though he be ravenous. They do not hasten to food which they have scented from afar; they stop at a branch which they encounter on their way.

   Pairs fill in the elimination chart (Diagram 2) one row at a time. For each step, ask pairs for the exact words first, then share the teacher note:

   1. Sight. Which words show that eyes cannot guide the caterpillars home? Teacher note: the eye spots are "so infinitesimal" that "we cannot attribute to them any great power of vision," and the trip home happens "in black darkness" (paragraph 2). Two separate reasons, both explicit.
   2. Smell. What test does Fabre describe? Teacher note: "hungry caterpillars that, after a long fast, pass close beside a pine-branch without betraying any eagerness or showing a sign of stopping" (paragraph 3). A hungry animal that could smell food would turn toward it, so the test supports his claim that their smell is "exceedingly dull."
   3. Touch. What does touch do for them? Teacher note: "It is the sense of touch that tells them where they are" (paragraph 3), and they settle on food only when their lips touch it. Inference: touch finds food that is right there, but it cannot find a nest they are not touching.
   4. What is left? Passage 2 ends before Fabre names the guide. Pairs write an inference with two clues. Teacher note: the silk ribbon guides them home. Clue 1: sight and smell are ruled out (the chart). Clue 2: when a procession has passed, "there remains, as a record of its passing, a narrow white ribbon" (Passage 1, paragraph 4). The only thing left behind on the path is the silk.
4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read Passage 3 on their own. It comes from later in the same chapter, when Fabre sets up an experiment on the rim of a large pot, which he calls a vase or a tub, in his greenhouse. Words to know: cornice and moulding (the raised rim around the top of the vase), circuit (a closed loop), hair-pencil (a small paintbrush), surplus (extra), abolished (done away with) and deceptive (misleading).

   1On the 30th of January, 1896, a little before twelve o’clock in the day, I discover a numerous troop making their way up and gradually reaching the popular cornice. Slowly, in single file, the caterpillars climb the great vase, mount the ledge and advance in regular procession, while others are constantly arriving and continuing the series. I wait for the string to close up, that is to say, for the leader, who keeps following the circular moulding, to return to the point from which he started. My object is achieved in a quarter of an hour. The closed circuit is realized magnificently, in something very nearly approaching a circle.

   2The next thing is to get rid of the rest of the ascending column, which would disturb the fine order of the procession by an excess of newcomers; it is also important that we should do away with all the silken paths, both new and old, that can put the cornice into communication with the ground. With a thick hair-pencil I sweep away the surplus climbers; with a big brush, one that leaves no smell behind it—for this might afterwards prove confusing—I carefully rub down the vase and get rid of every thread which the caterpillars have laid on the march. When these preparations are finished, a curious sight awaits us.

   3In the uninterrupted circular procession there is no longer a leader. Each caterpillar is preceded by another on whose heels he follows, guided by the silk track, the work of the whole party; he again has a companion close behind him, following him in the same orderly way. And this is repeated without variation throughout the length of the chain. None commands, or rather none modifies the trail according to his fancy; all obey, trusting in the guide who ought normally to lead the march and who in reality has been abolished by my trickery.

   4From the first circuit of the edge of the tub the rail of silk has been laid in position and is soon turned into a narrow ribbon by the procession, which never ceases dribbling its thread as it goes. The rail is simply doubled and has no branches anywhere, for my brush has destroyed them all. What will the caterpillars do on this deceptive, closed path? Will they walk endlessly round and round until their strength gives out entirely?

   On the handout, students (1) write one explicit detail about how Fabre prepared the vase, with a quotation and a paragraph number; (2) write one inference about Fabre as a scientist, supported by two clues from different paragraphs; (3) find one word that shows Fabre's feelings about the experiment rather than a fact about it, and explain what it shows. The quiz uses Passages 1-3.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) In one sentence, explain how you support an explicit claim and how you support an inference. (2) Write one inference about the caterpillars on the vase and the quotation from Passage 3 that best supports it, with its paragraph number.

   Teacher note on language: Fabre wrote as a scientist of the 1890s who often used strong, judging words for animals. In the homework passage he writes about "the abysmal stupidity of insects" and their "benighted minds" (without understanding). Keep his words as published, and point out that they are his opinion. Scientists today describe what an animal's behavior can and cannot do rather than calling it stupid. The translation uses British spellings (centimetres, metres, endeavour) and the metric units Fabre measured in. Remind students that real processionary caterpillars should be watched, never handled. Science update: two of Fabre's facts are dated. Most caterpillars have six tiny simple eyes on each side of the head, not five, and later researchers found that processionary caterpillars also mark their trail with a chemical that they sense by touch, so the silk thread is not the whole story. The reading answers on this page are about what Fabre's text says, not about current science.

   For homework: students read Passage 4, printed below, which tells how the vase experiment ended. Before it begins, the caterpillars have circled the rim for days, through several freezing nights. Words to know: pioneers (the first ones to try something new), perfidious (untrustworthy, betraying), laggards (the slowest ones), aggregate (total), circumference and perimeter (the distance around), m. (meters), descent (the climb down) and ascent (the climb up).

   1One of the pioneers decides to take the plunge. He slips under the ledge. Four follow him. The others, still confiding in the perfidious silken path, dare not copy him and continue to go along the old road.

   2The short string detached from the general chain gropes about a great deal, hesitates long on the side of the vase; it goes half-way down, then climbs up again slantwise, rejoins and takes its place in the procession. This time the attempt has failed, though at the foot of the vase, not nine inches away, there lay a bunch of pine-needles which I had placed there with the object of enticing the hungry ones. Smell and sight told them nothing. Near as they were to the goal, they went up again.

   3No matter, the endeavour has its uses. Threads were laid on the way and will serve as a lure to further enterprise. The road of deliverance has its first landmarks. And two days later, on the eighth day of the experiment, the caterpillars—now singly, anon in small groups, then again in strings of some length—come down from the ledge by following the staked-out path. At sunset the last of the laggards is back in the nest.

   4Now for a little arithmetic. For seven times twenty-four hours the caterpillars have remained on the ledge of the vase. To make an ample allowance for stops due to the weariness of this one or that and above all for the rest taken during the colder hours of the night, we will deduct one-half of the time. This leaves eighty-four hours’ walking. The average pace is nine centimetres a minute. The aggregate distance covered, therefore, is 453 metres, a good deal more than a quarter of a mile, which is a great walk for these little crawlers. The circumference of the vase, the perimeter of the track, is exactly 1 m. 35. Therefore the circle covered, always in the same direction and always without result, was described three hundred and thirty-five times.

   5These figures surprise me, though I am already familiar with the abysmal stupidity of insects as a class whenever the least accident occurs. I feel inclined to ask myself whether the Processionaries were not kept up there so long by the difficulties and dangers of the descent rather than by the lack of any gleam of intelligence in their benighted minds. The facts, however, reply that the descent is as easy as the ascent.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A student reads a nonfiction article about honeybees. Which statement is an inference, not an explicit detail?

   AThe article states that a worker bee lives about six weeks in summer. BThe article lists three different jobs that worker bees do inside the hive. CThe article's details suggest the hive needs its workers to survive. DThe article says that bees make their honey from the nectar of flowers.

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   An article about a lighthouse says the keeper climbed "one hundred and twelve steps" every night (paragraph 3). Which answer cites this evidence the way this lesson teaches?

   AThe keeper climbed "one hundred and twelve steps" every night (paragraph 3). BThe keeper climbed a lot of steps every night, I think about a hundred. CThe keeper climbed one hundred and twelve steps every night, which is amazing. D"One hundred and twelve steps" (the article about the lighthouse).

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Passage 2, where is the caterpillars' nest?

   AIn the sand under the tree BAt the top of a bough CInside a hollow in the trunk DUnder the lowest branch

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Passage 2, how far is the nest from the feeding branch, measured in a straight line?

   AAbout a quarter of a mile BAbout the height of the tree CHardly an arm's length DA long night's walk away

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Passage 2, what does a pine processionary have on its head for seeing?

   AOne large, round eye on each side of its head BTwo long feelers on its head that sense the light CNo eyes of any kind anywhere on its head DFive tiny eye specks on each side of its head

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   About smell, Fabre writes, "Has the Processional any olfactory powers or has he not? I do not know" (Passage 2, paragraph 3). What can a reader infer about Fabre as a scientist?

   AHe never tested whether the caterpillars could smell their food. BHe believes smell is the sense the caterpillars use most of all. CHe thinks the question about smell is not worth asking at all. DHe admits what he cannot answer and claims only what he tested.

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Fabre writes, "I see two reasons for their mode of progression" (Passage 2, paragraph 1). Which statement about Passage 2 is accurate?

   AIt describes the trip home at night; the second reason is not in this passage. BIt states both reasons in the next sentence of paragraph 1, one after the other. CIt gives the two reasons as sight and smell, which guide the caterpillars. DIt gives the two reasons as food and cold, the needs of the caterpillars.

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Passage 3, when did the circular procession begin?

   AOn the 30th of January, 1896, a little before noon BOn the 30th of January, 1896, just after darkness fell COn the 4th of February, 1896, a little before noon DOn the 13th of January, 1896, at sunrise

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Passage 3, how long does it take for the line of caterpillars to close into a circle?

   AAbout a whole afternoon BAbout one full hour CAbout fifteen minutes DAbout two whole days

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Passage 3, why does Fabre use "a big brush, one that leaves no smell behind it" (paragraph 2)?

    AThe brush was the only one he had in the greenhouse. BA smell left on the vase could draw birds to the caterpillars. CA soft brush would not hurt the caterpillars on the rim. DA smell left on the vase might cause confusion later on.

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Passage 1, Fabre says the caterpillar is "even more sheep-like" than sheep (paragraph 1). According to him, why do the caterpillars follow one another?

    ABecause they are foolish, like the sheep they resemble BBecause they need to, not because they are foolish CBecause the leader forces them to stay in line DBecause they are afraid of being left behind alone

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Fabre writes that the leader "in reality has been abolished by my trickery" (Passage 3, paragraph 3). What does this suggest?

    AThe leader got tired and left the line on its own that day. BFabre removed the leader from the rim with his brush. CFabre closed the line into a ring, so no one is first. DThe other caterpillars pushed the leader off the vase.

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which quotation from Passage 3 best supports the claim that no caterpillar is in charge once the circle is closed?

    A"With a thick hair-pencil I sweep away the surplus climbers" (paragraph 2) B"Slowly, in single file, the caterpillars climb the great vase, mount the ledge and advance in regular procession" (paragraph 1) C"The closed circuit is realized magnificently" (paragraph 1) D"In the uninterrupted circular procession there is no longer a leader" (paragraph 3)

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Passage 3, why does Fabre sweep away the extra caterpillars that are still climbing the vase (paragraph 2)?

    ANewcomers would crowd the circle and spoil its fine order. BThe extra climbers were eating the palm growing in the vase. CThe extra climbers were a different kind of caterpillar. DHe needed the extra climbers for a second experiment later.

15. Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Fabre calls the caterpillar "a rope-dancer all his life long" (Passage 1, paragraph 3). What does he mean?

    AIt dances around on the pine branches whenever the weather is warm. BIt walks only on a silk thread, as an acrobat walks on a tightrope. CIt swings from branch to branch on long ropes of silk. DIt ties the other caterpillars together with a rope of silk.

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Quote the words in Passage 3, paragraph 1 that tell what Fabre waited for before he cleared away the extra climbers. Then explain them in your own words.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    What can you infer about how carefully Fabre set up his experiment? Support your inference with two clues from different paragraphs of Passage 3, and explain how they fit together.

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18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Passage 2, the caterpillars "go down the denuded pole till they come to the nearest branch that has not yet been gnawed" (paragraph 1). "Denuded" means stripped bare. Using the rest of the paragraph, what can you infer about why the pole is bare? Quote your clue.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Predict what the caterpillars on the vase will do next. Support your prediction with one quotation from Passage 3 and one from Passage 1, with paragraph numbers.

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    A classmate writes: "The caterpillars died on the vase. The text says, 'Will they walk endlessly round and round until their strength gives out entirely?' (Passage 3, paragraph 4)." Explain what is wrong with this use of evidence.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RI.6.1: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.