Integrating Several Texts on a Topic

1. Read the three sources aloud (written out in the Teach section).
2. Ask: what is the one big question the sources disagree on? Expected: whether there are more foxes in Calder than there used to be.
3. Pairs state both positions in one sentence each without deciding: A and B say numbers have risen; C says they have stayed the same.

1. Display Source A, Calder Wildlife Group: "In 2005 and again in 2025 we asked householders to report foxes seen in their gardens. Reports rose from 240 to 610. Calder's fox population has more than doubled. Most sightings were at dusk, near trash cans."
2. Display Source B, a newspaper: "'They're everywhere,' says Carol Pike of Mill Road, who has seen foxes in her yard in broad daylight. Complaints to the council about foxes rose by a third last year."
3. Display Source C, a university study: "Researchers set 40 motion-triggered cameras across Calder each spring from 2012 to 2024 and identified individual foxes by their markings. The count stayed between 55 and 65 every year. However, the share of photos taken in daylight rose from 10 percent to 25 percent. Calder's foxes feed largely on food waste from trash cans and bird feeders."
4. Build the idea grid. Row 1, what foxes eat: A ("near trash cans"), C ("food waste from trash cans and bird feeders"); B silent. Row 2, how many: A rising, B rising, C stable. Row 3, when they are seen: B ("broad daylight"), C (daylight photos up from 10 to 25 percent).
5. Write the easy agreement sentence: Calder's foxes feed mostly on food waste from trash cans (Sources A and C).
6. Write the disagreement: The Calder Wildlife Group says the population has "more than doubled," based on garden sightings rising from 240 to 610 (Source A), and complaints have risen too (Source B). However, a camera study counted between 55 and 65 foxes every year from 2012 to 2024 (Source C).
7. Write the judgment: The camera study is better supported because it counted individual foxes rather than sightings, and its finding that foxes are now out in daylight far more often could explain why people report seeing more of them.
8. Show the two wrong moves: quietly writing "Calder has twice as many foxes" (picking A silently), and writing "The sources disagree, so we cannot know" (stopping).

“Do not pick one side quietly, and do not stop at "they disagree." Say who says what, then say which has the better evidence and why.”

1. Pairs write two short paragraphs from the grid: one on when foxes are seen (B and C agree on daylight), one on how many foxes there are.
2. The disagreement paragraph must name both sides with a source label and end with a judgment and a reason.
3. Pairs swap and check with three questions: Is every source named? Is it organized by idea? Is there a judgment with a reason?
4. Share one strong judgment. The reason to fish for: sightings and complaints count how often foxes are noticed, not how many foxes there are.

“Count what each source actually counted. Sightings, complaints and foxes are three different things.”

1. Students complete the printable integration page alone. All three passages are on the sheet.
2. They build the idea grid before writing.

1. Ask for the disagreement in one sentence with both sources named, and the better-supported side with one reason.