In this culminating lesson of the OTC Medicine Safety program, students will strengthen their textual analysis skills while also learning about medicine safety. This lesson can also be used as a condensed, standalone version of the program.
Grades
3–5, 6–8
Duration
40 MINUTES
Students will:
Step 1: Tell students that they will be reading an article about medicine safety. Ask them what they already know about the topic of medicine, such as the purposes of medicines, types of medicines, medicine safety, etc. Create a word splash on the board to record students’ ideas.
Step 2: After students brainstorm their ideas, be sure to inform students that they should only take medicine with the supervision of a parent or trusted adult.
Step 3: Explain that students are going to read an article that includes a lot of information about medicine safety, but that the article is missing many text features that would help the reader understand the text.
Step 4: Review the relevant text features (title, section heading, pull-out quote, diagram, and glossary). Refer to the Over-the-Counter Medicine Safety Classroom Poster printable to review some of the text features while also previewing the content of the article. Alternatively, refer to an informational article the class has read recently, or a free sample issue from Junior Scholastic magazine. If needed, project or distribute the Informational Text Features printable and review the relevant text features. Encourage students to share their ideas about the uses for each text feature before revealing each row.
Step 5: Distribute the Fill-in-the-Blank Medicine Safety printable article printable with blank gaps in place of text features. Students should imagine that they are editors who are preparing the article to be published, and they want to make sure that all of the text features will help readers understand the key ideas in the article.
Step 6: After students have finished reading the Know the Facts: Over-the-Counter vs. Prescription Medicines printable and adding their text features, ask them to complete the accompanying worksheet. They will need to explain their choices for the text features they filled in, as well as answer a series of critical-thinking questions on the content of the article.
If necessary, provide students who need more support with options for the text features using the Chart of Text Feature Options printable.
Explain to students that they will now have a chance to create a public service announcement (PSA) or poster to share the key information from the article and worksheet printable with the rest of the school community. If desired, provide examples and templates from the “Spread the Word” section of the OTC Medicine Safety community page.
Explain that some PSAs or posters will be selected to hang in the nurse’s office, main office, or hallway. For students who find competition invigorating, this activity could culminate in a class vote for the top entry, or top five entries, to be showcased (especially if wall space is at a premium). Alternately, a new group of posters could be showcased each week until all entries have had a chance to be in the spotlight.
