Age: 9-10 years

Duration: 60 min

Objectives

• Apply a simple reliability checklist to websites and short print samples.
• Record key facts on a research grid with source title and date fields.
• Practice basic citation language: According to ___ , ...

Vocab

• source / reliable: "A reliable source has clear author and recent date."
• fact / website: "Facts can be checked in more than one place."
• cite: "Cite means tell where your fact came from."

Warm-up (5min)

Two headlines on board — one from kid blog, one from encyclopedia-style card. Ask: "Which would you trust for a school report?" — list 3 reasons.

Main Activity (45min): "Research Skills"

"Source Detective Lab" — Mini-lesson: CRAAP-lite for G4 — Currency, Author, Purpose (3 checks only). Station 1: evaluate 3 sample sources on same animal topic — rank most to least reliable; justify in pairs. Station 2: research grid — Source name / Author / Date / One fact — complete for best source. Station 3: red flag hunt — spot ads, missing author, ALL CAPS claims in mock pages. Station 4: citation frames — rewrite 4 facts as "According to [source], ..." — oral then written. Team challenge: given unreliable source, explain two problems without naming student who wrote it. Homework preview: find one reliable fact about class research topic with parent help. Collect grids — research unit folder start.

Wrap-up (5min)

Exit: "A reliable source has ___ and ___ . One fact I recorded is ___ ."

Teacher Tips

• First of four research units (05, 09, 13, 16) — use one class topic all month (e.g., honeybees, recycling).
• Use printed mock pages, not live web search, to control content and safety.
• Bridge G3 nonfiction note-taking — now adds source evaluation for B1 academic entry.