Materials Needed:

• Paper (plain or lined)
• Pencil
• Crayons or markers
• Age-appropriate books or websites about Komodo dragons (e.g., National Geographic Kids, library books)
• Optional: Sentence starter strips (e.g., "Komodo dragons can...", "A Komodo dragon lives...", "Did you know that Komodo dragons...?")

Lesson Activities:

1. Introduction (5-10 minutes):
   • Ask the student: "What do you already know about Komodo dragons? What makes them interesting to you?"
   • Briefly introduce Komodo dragons as the world's largest lizards and mention they live on specific islands.
   • Explain that today, they will become a Komodo dragon expert and write down some amazing facts!
2. Fact Finding Fun (15-20 minutes):
   • Explore the provided books or websites together. Read aloud interesting facts or guide the student in reading semplici passages.
   • Focus on facts like: what they eat, how big they get, where they live, special features (like their tongue or venomous bite), how they hunt, etc.
   • Encourage the student to pick out 3-5 facts they find the most fascinating. Help them jot down keywords for each chosen fact on scratch paper if needed.
3. Super Sentence Writing (15-20 minutes):
   • Model writing a complete sentence using one fact. For example: "Komodo dragons live on islands in Indonesia." Emphasize starting with a capital letter and ending with punctuation.
   • Review what makes a sentence complete (a subject/who or what, and a predicate/does what).
   • Provide the student with paper. Have them write at least three complete sentences, each describing one of their chosen facts.
   • Offer sentence starters if the student needs help structuring their thoughts.
   • Encourage sounding out words and using best-guess spelling. The focus is on conveying the fact in a sentence structure.
4. Komodo Creator (10-15 minutes):
   • Once the sentences are written (or while taking a writing break), have the student draw a picture of a Komodo dragon or its habitat to go with their fact file.
5. Sharing & Wrap-up (5 minutes):
   • Ask the student to read their sentences aloud and share their drawing.
   • Praise their effort in finding facts and writing complete sentences.
   • Ask: "What was the most surprising thing you learned about Komodo dragons today?"

Assessment:

• Observe student engagement during fact-finding.
• Review the written sentences for: capitalization at the beginning, punctuation at the end, effort towards forming a complete thought, and factual accuracy based on the resources used.
• Listen to the student share their facts during the wrap-up.

Differentiation/Support:

• Support: Provide sentence starters; reduce the required number of sentences to one or two; scribe sentences as the student dictates them; focus on drawing and verbally sharing facts.
• Challenge: Encourage writing more complex sentences; ask the student to combine two facts into one sentence; have the student write a short paragraph instead of individual sentences; research a specific aspect (e.g., diet, life cycle) in more detail.