Which Evidence Supports Which Point

1. Show only paragraph 1: "Our school should turn the empty patch behind the gym into a food garden. A garden would help us learn, help us eat better, and cost the school very little."
2. Ask pairs to list the points and number them. Expected: (1) it would help us learn; (2) it would help us eat better; (3) it would cost very little.
3. Write them down the side of the mapping sheet. Say: the author has promised three points. Now we check whether each one gets paid for.

1. Display the rest. (2) First, a garden is a science lesson that lasts all year. In a study of 300 students, those at schools with gardens scored higher on questions about how plants grow than students at schools without them. (3) Second, children who grow vegetables eat more of them. Teachers at Hill Road School reported that students who had grown carrots and peas were twice as likely to try them at lunch. Tomatoes, which many of us love, were first grown in South America. (4) Third, a garden would give students a quiet place to sit at recess time. (5) Finally, the garden would be cheap. We are sure parents would help, and it would be worth every penny.
2. Map the study of 300 students to point 1. Ask: what does it prove? That garden schools did better on plant questions — that is learning.
3. Map the Hill Road report to point 2: "twice as likely to try them at lunch" is about eating better.
4. Take the tomato sentence. Ask which point it supports. Many will say 2 because it is about vegetables. Ask: does knowing where tomatoes came from show a garden helps us eat better? No. It goes in "supports none." Ask why it is there — it makes the paragraph sound knowledgeable.
5. Take paragraph 4. A quiet place is a new reason the opening never promised, and nothing proves it. Note it as an extra, unsupported point.
6. Take point 3. "We are sure parents would help" and "worth every penny" are hopes, not evidence — no cost, no number, no example. The row is empty.
7. Say the finding: the map shows point 1 and point 2 are supported once each, and point 3 — the one the principal would care most about — has nothing behind it.

“That tomato fact is interesting and it supports nothing. Why is it here? Interesting is not the same as evidence.”

1. Display a short argument: (1) Our town should open the library on Sundays: families are free then, and it would be used. (2) A survey of 120 parents found 70 would visit on a Sunday. (3) The library was built in 1902 and has a beautiful clock. (4) Libraries in two nearby towns that open on Sundays report it is their busiest day.
2. Pairs list the points (families are free on Sundays; it would be used) and map each piece of evidence.
3. Expected: the survey supports "it would be used"; the nearby towns support "it would be used"; the 1902 clock supports none; "families are free" has no evidence — an empty row.
4. Each pair writes one sentence judging the argument: Point ___ is well supported because ___, but point ___ has no evidence.

“Your job is not to agree or disagree. Your job is to check the map. A point you agree with can still have an empty row.”

1. Students complete the printable argument page alone. The passage is on the sheet.
2. They must use the "supports none" row at least once or write why nothing belongs there.

1. Ask: what evidence would fill the empty cost row in the garden argument? Fish for a real number — a price for seeds and tools, or a parent volunteer list.