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Lesson Plan - 5 Big Questions About Online Shopping
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Learning Objective
Students will identify why online shopping is booming and why online returns are a growing problem.
Text Structure
Question and Answer
Content-Area Connections
Economics; Current Events
Standards Correlations
CCSS: RI.4.1, RI.4.2, RI.4.3, RI.4.4, RI.4.5, RI.4.6, RI.4.7, RI.4.8, RI.4.10, L.4.4, SL.4.1
NCSS: Production, Distribution, and Consumption
TEKS: Social Studies 4.11
1. Preparing to Read
Watch a Video: The Cost of Free Returns
Discuss: According to the video, what are some of the negative consequences of free returns?
Preview Words to Know
Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.
Set a Purpose for Reading
As students read, have them identify ways online shopping differs from traditional shopping in stores.
2. Close-Reading Questions
1. In the answer to question 1, why does the author put the word trillion in italics? The author puts trillion in italics to call attention to it and emphasize how much is being spent online.
(RI.4.8 AUTHOR’S PURPOSE)
2. What details do you notice in the cartoon? What message do you think the cartoonist is sending? The cartoon shows a worker delivering a huge truckload of packages, then loading the same number of packages back onto the truck as returns. The message is that online returns are rising as online shopping rises.
(RI.4.7 USING VISUALS)
3. Why do online retailers often decide to throw away returned products? Online retailers often throw away returned products because it costs too much to sort the returns and figure out what can be resold.
(RI.4.2 KEY DETAILS)
3. Skill Building
FEATURED SKILL: Nonfiction Reading Strategy
Use the skill builder “Nonfiction Know-How” to have students apply a before-reading and after-reading strategy as they explore the article.
(RI.4.10 READING INFORMATIONAL TEXTS)
Multilingual Learners
Have students underline the first word of each question. Explain that what, how, why, and do are often used to begin questions in English. Help students brainstorm other question starters (when, where, who, etc.).
Striving Readers
Use the Words to Know slideshow to preteach vocabulary for the article.
Research Extension
Have each student poll a parent or other adult to find out if they have ever returned something bought online and if they were aware that many online returns are thrown away. Use the data to make two pie charts.