English Language Arts & Reading
It's All About Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening!
4th Six Weeks Unit Overviews and Key Understandings
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If you have questions about the information presented here or if you want to know how to be more involved in your child's school please contact me.
Marta L. Salazar
Director of English Language Arts & Reading
Dyslexia Coordinator
Parent Involvement Coordinator
361-664-0981
Reach Out and Read National Center
Reading Tips from “Reach Out and Read National Center”
Parents can make reading with their children part of the daily routine. Reading together in the evening can become an important part of the bed time ritual. Here are some additional suggestions for making reading together a pleasurable experience.
Make Reading Part of Every Day
- Read at bedtime or on the bus.
Have Fun
- Children who love books learn to read. Books can be part of special time with your child.
A Few Minutes is OK
- Young children can only sit for a few minutes for a story, but as they grow, they will sit longer.
Talk About the Pictures
- You do not have to read the book to tell a story.
Let Your Child Turn the Pages
- Babies need board books and help to turn pages, but your three year-old can do it alone.
Show Your Child the Cover Page
- Explain what the story is about.
Show Your Child the Words
- Run your finger along the words as you read them.
Make the Story Come Alive
- Create voices for the story characters and use your body to tell the story.
Ask Questions about the Story
- What do think will happen next? What is this?
Let Your Child Ask Questions about the Story
- Use the story as an opportunity to engage in conversation and to talk about familiar activities and objects.
Let your Child Tell the Story
- Children as young as three years old can memorize a story and many children love an opportunity to express their creativity.
- Reach Out and Read National Center 29 Mystic Ave., Somerville, MA 02145
WHAT CHILDREN LIKE IN BOOKS
INFANTS 6-12 MONTHS LIKE
- Board books with photos of babies
- Brightly colored board books to touch and taste
- Books with pictures of familiar objects—balls, bottles
- Small books sized for small hands
YOUNGER TODDLERS 12-24 MONTHS LIKE
- Sturdy board books they can handle and carry
- Books with photos and pictures of children doing familiar things— sleeping, eating, playing
- Goodnight books for bedtime
- Books about saying goodbye and hello
- Books with only a few words on the page
- Books with simple rhymes or predictable text
OLDER TODDLERS 24-36 MONTHS LIKE
- Books with board pages—but also books with paper pages
- Silly books and funny books
- Rhymes, rhythms, repetitious text—books they can learn by heart
- Books about children and families
- Books about making friends
- Books about food
- Books about animals
- Books about trucks
- Word books
PRESCHOOLERS 3-5 YEARS LIKE
- Books that tell stories
- Books about kids that look like them and live like them—but also books about different places and different ways of living
- Books about going to school, books about making friends
- Books with simple text they can memorize
- Counting books, alphabet books, vocabulary books
Read to answer the question: Why do babies need books?
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/developing-reading-skills/why-babies-need-books
Pre Kindergarten Classrooms 4th Six Weeks
Unit 5 From Jungle to Desert
Week 1- What is a jungle?
PA: Words in a sentence, with manipulatives / Alliteration
Letter: Pp
Week 2- What are jungle animals?
PA: Words in a sentence, with manipulatives /Alliteration
Letter: Qq
Week 3- What is a desert?
PA: Words in a sentence, without manipulatives /Alliteration
Letter: Rr
Week 4- What are desert animals like?
PA: Words in a sentence, without manipulatives/Alliteration
Letter: Ss
Unit 6 Earth and Sky
Week 5- What happens when day changes to night?
PA: Syllabication/ Compound words
Letter: Tt
Week 6- What happens when the weather changes?
PA: Review words in a sentence and syllabication/ Compound words
Letter: Uu
For more information click on the following links:
Kindergarten Classrooms
Unit 04: Growing Readers and Writers through Informational Text
This unit teaches students to gather information to learn new things by using expository and procedural text. Patterns in phonological awareness, phonics, conventions, and print awareness continue to be practiced in order to reinforce literacy learning and comprehension.
During this unit, students continue to explore phonological awareness, phonics, and print awareness for the purpose of decoding and encoding language. Letter/sound associations are examined as students read and write VC and CVC, words. Students identify topics and details heard or read in expository texts by utilizing their knowledge of words and illustrations. They discuss ways in which information is grouped and make predictions based on titles and illustrations. They dictate or write lists, captions, and invitations for the purpose of communicating information. Students identify the meaning of environmental print by reading familiar signs and follow pictorial directions in order to complete a task. Vocabulary continues to develop through connections and experiences as students explore informational text.
Unit Vocabulary
- Expository text – a type of informational text that clarifies or explains something
- Procedural text – a type of informational text that is written with the intent to explain the steps in the procedure, as in a recipe
- Topic – what the author is writing about, the subject (e.g., polar bears)
- Details – support the main idea by telling how, when, what, where, why, how much, and how many
Listed below is a small sampling of what your child is learning:
STUDENTS ARE LEARNING TO: BLEND SPOKEN PHONEMES
- Phoneme – the smallest unit of sound in speech (e.g. the /s/ /a/ /d/ of sad; in Spanish, /l/ /a/ and /d/ /a/)
- Syllable – a word or part of a word pronounced with one uninterrupted sound (e.g., cat has one syllable, lion has two syllables- li/on)
- Two phonemes: /a/…/m/ says am
- Three phoneme: /m/…/a/…/n/ says man
- Four phoneme: /s/…/t/…/o/…/p/ says stop
Possible example of teacher prompt:
- What would the word be if I said /m/… / ā/… /d/? (made)
STUDENTS ARE LEARNING TO RECOGNIZE THAT NEW WORDS ARE CREATED WHEN LETTERS ARE CHANGED, ADDED, OR DELETED
Including, but not limited to:
- Beginning letters: add, change, and/or delete the beginning letter(s) in a word to make new words
- Ending letters: add, change, and/or delete the ending letter(s) in a word to make new words
- Middle letter: add and/or change the middle sound in a word to make new words
First Grade Classrooms
Unit 04: Growing Readers and Writers Using Informational Text
This unit focuses on expository and procedural text for the purpose of building comprehension for informational purposes. Patterns in phonological awareness, phonics, conventions, and print awareness continue to be introduced and practiced in order to reinforce literacy learning and comprehension during independent reading, shared reading, and writing.
During this unit, students continue to explore phonological awareness, phonics, and print awareness for the purpose of decoding and encoding language with appropriate fluency. The importance of spelling and syllable patterns is critical in helping students enhance the automaticity that will come from recognizing and practicing phonetic patterns in language. Automaticity supports student’s reading comprehension of text. Students continue to build on their automaticity when rules for dividing syllables facilitate a students’ ability to read and spell more complex words. As students begin to create and understand informational text, they identify topics, purpose, and details with an emphasis on the main ideas and order of events. They utilize text features (e.g., title, table of contents, illustrations, bold print, italicized print, charts, graphs) to locate specific information and use words and illustrations to make predictions to retell events. Students write brief compositions about topics of interest and write short letters using appropriate conventions (e.g., salutations, closing, date). Students continue to increase vocabulary by exploring compound words and use knowledge of the meaning of their individual component words. As they explore informational text, word meanings are determined from how they are used in a sentence.
Unit Vocabulary
- Expository text – a type of informational text that clarifies or explains something
- Text features – features in text to help locate information (e.g., title, table of contents, illustrations, photographs, bold text, italicized texts, charts, graphs)
- Procedural text – a type of informational text that is written with the intent to explain the steps in the procedure, as in a recipe
STUDENTS ARE LEARING TO DECODE WORDS WITH COMMON SPELLING PATTERNS
Focus on CVCe patterns.
- Decode – apply knowledge of letter-sound relationships in order to sound out a word. In reading practice, the term is used primarily to refer to word identification rather than word comprehension.
Including, but not limited to:
- Common word families (e.g., -ink, -onk, -ick)
- Other possible examples of common spelling patterns (word families):
- -ack, -ail, -ain, -ake, -ale, -ame-, -an, -ank, -ap, -ash, -at, -ate, -aw, -ay, -eat, -ell, -est, -ice, -ide, -ight, -ill, -in, -ine,-ing, -ip, -it, -ock, -oke, -op, -ore, -ot, -uck, -ug, -ump, -unk
STUDENTS ARE LEARNING TO USE THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE MEANING OF BASE WORDS
- Base word – a word that stands alone and has its own meaning
To identify and read
- COMMON COMPOUND WORDS
- Compound word – a word made when two words are joined to form a new word
Possible examples of common compound words:
- Airplane, anyone, backpack, backyard, baseball, basketball, bathroom, bedroom, birthday, bookcase, campfire, classroom, cowboy, cupcake, daydream, daylight, football, haircut, inside, lunchroom, mailbox, notebook, pancake, playground, popcorn, sunshine, toothbrush, upstairs.
2nd Grade Classrooms
Unit 4: Preparing Readers and Writers through Informational Text
This unit includes student expectations that emphasize expository text, procedural text, and media for the purpose of building comprehension for informational purposes. Patterns in phonics and conventions continue to be introduced and practiced in order to reinforce fluent reading and writing.
During this unit, students examine more closely informational text and distinguish the main idea from the topic. They continue to use text features with the addition of the use of a glossary, index, headings and subheadings to locate specific information. They write brief compositions about topics of interest and write short letters using appropriate conventions (e.g., salutations, closing, date). Students become purposeful in their use of processes and strategies and continue to communicate and monitor comprehension as vocabulary increases by continued word study.
Unit Understandings:
- Comprehension skills and processes support the understanding of expository text.
- Text features contribute to the main idea and details in informational text.
- Comprehension skills and processes support the understanding of expository text.
- Text features contribute to the main idea and details in informational text.
- Knowledge of a topic is demonstrated in a variety of forms.
- Readers make connections in order to understand
- Awareness of word patterns supports the development of word reading, fluency, and spelling
- Authors utilize the conventions of letter writing to communicate clearly and effectively.
Unit Vocabulary
- Expository text – a type of informational text that clarifies or explains something
- Procedural text – a type of informational text that is written with the intent to explain the steps in the procedure, as in a recipe. Procedural text could house data that requires reader interpretation.
- Main idea – the overall message of a text or section of a text (e.g., Polar bears are becoming endangered.)
- Topic – the subject of the text (e.g., polar bears)
- Vowel digraph or vowel pair – two vowels that together represent one phoneme or sound (e.g., ea, ai, oa)
- Diphthong – a combination of two vowel sounds in one syllable to form a new phoneme
STUDENTS ARE LEARNING TO IDENTIFY AND READ ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviation – a shortened form of a word used to save time, space, and energy when writing
- Including, but not limited to:
Abbreviations for titles: Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr.
Abbreviations for road or street types: Ave., St., Rd.
- Other possible examples of abbreviations:
Days of the week
Months of the year
STUDENTS ARE LEARNING TO MAKE CONNECTIONS TO
- Including, but not limited to:
Own experiences – things done or seen
Ideas in other text – concepts that connect one text with another text
Larger community – a group of people that have the same interest or live in the same area
Third Grade Classrooms
Unit 4A: Discovering Procedural Text
This unit bundles student expectations that address the understanding and use of procedural text and documents in order to support reading for understanding and writing to inform. Procedural text makes it possible for students to make inferences, summarize, and provide textual evidence during reading.
Graphic features such as charts, tables, graphic organizers, captions, illustrations, keys, graphs, and diagrams are used to follow directions and solve problems. Students compose letters for specific audiences and purposes by using appropriate conventions (e.g., date, salutation, closing).
Unit Understandings
- Readers interpret written directions in order to learn how to do new things.
- Text structure helps the reader organize information and construct meaning.
- An extensive vocabulary supports the development of oral and written communication.
- Authors choose form for audience and purpose.
- Readers use strategies to support understanding of text.
- Readers create connections to make text personally relevant and useful.
- An extensive vocabulary supports the development of oral and written communication
- Readers use strategies to identify the intended meaning of words and phrases in text.
Unit Vocabulary
- Salutation – greeting in a letter
- Palindrome – a word or phrase that reads the same backward as forward (e.g., wow)
- Homograph – a word that is spelled the same as another word, but that has a different meaning, (e.g., read [present tense] and read [past tense])
- Homophone – a word that is pronounced the same, but not spelled the same, as another word and that has a different meaning (e.g., bear andbare, week and weak)
- Base word – words that can stand alone and has its own meaning
- Root – the basic part of a word that carries meaning
Unit 4B: Establishing a Position
This unit introduces students to persuasive texts with the intent that they understand that authors write to influence, convince, express, justify, and promote a point of view.
During this unit, students continue to explore informational texts through the examination of persuasive purpose. Students make inferences and draw conclusions in order to determine the author’s point of view and/or message conveyed. Students learn to take a stand on an issue and provide supporting details to compose persuasive essays using the fundamentals of the writing process and specific language to influence and convince readers by justifying their position. Students continue to explore language while building on the principles that vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, and grammar are critical to effective comprehension and communication. Word study is inclusive of genre specific vocabulary, literary terms, and appropriate vocabulary from the text and is experienced before, during, and after reading.
Fourth Grade Classrooms
Unit 4A: Understanding Research
During this unit, students continue to summarize informational text by locating and using specific information utilizing relevant sources and they learn to apply those skills to research. Students generate an idea, develop a plan, and gather information from experts, reference texts, and online searches. Information is collected using skimming and scanning techniques. Students take notes to gather information relevant to their research question(s). Students organize data and write brief explanations differentiating between paraphrasing and plagiarism while using the writing process to communicate their own understanding. Students continue to communicate understanding of text through oral and written expression and make important personal and world connections within and across different contexts and genres.
Students explore language while building on the principles that vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, and grammar are critical to the ability to comprehend and communicate effectively.
Unit Understandings:
- Researchers ask questions and develop a plan for answering them to gain knowledge and experience new discoveries.
- Researches gather information and systematically record the information they gather to gain knowledge and experience new discoveries.
- Researchers gather and present findings from different sources for specific purposes.
- Authors choose structure to organize information to construct meaning.
Unit Vocabulary
- Works-cited page – a reference to a source that is published or unpublished
- Bibliographic information – the locating information about a source (i.e., book, journal, periodical, or Web site)- For example, a book’s bibliographic information consists of author, title, place of publication, publisher, and date of publication
Unit 4B: Understanding Connections Across Literary Texts
This unit bundles student expectations that focus on the relationships across and between literary works in order for students to make connections. Students examine a variety of forms of literary text representing a wide range of themes and compare and contrast features specific to different literary genres.
During this unit, students use previously learned skills to examine a variety of literary genres presenting similar ideas while recognizing features specific to each genre. Students examine thematic links and logical relationships within and across texts. The exploration of a variety of genres supports the development of personal reading preferences and provides a foundation for participation in discussions. Students continue to compose original text using the fundamentals of the writing process to communicate their own understanding and ideas. Students explore language while continuing to build on the principles that vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, and grammar are critical to the ability to comprehend and communicate effectively.
Unit Understandings:
- Readers create connections to make text personally relevant and useful.
- Authors use writer’s craft to engage and sustain the reader’s interest.
- Authors establish a purpose and plan for the development of a story.
- Readers use strategies to support understanding of text.
- Readers create connections to make text personally relevant and useful.
- Readers use writing to communicate deeper understanding of texts.
Unit Vocabulary
- Analogy – a vocabulary exercise in which an association between a concept and its attribute is present (e.g., hot:cold as north:_____)
- Affix – a word element, such as a prefix or suffix, that occurs before or after a root or base word to modify its meaning (e.g., the prefix un- and the suffix -able in unbelievable)
- Literary text – written works that are generally recognized as having artistic value - Basic forms of literary text are prose fiction, drama, poetry, and literary nonfiction.
Fifth Grade Classrooms
Unit 4A: Making Connections Across Literary Genres
This unit bundles student expectations that focus on the relationships across and between literary works in order for students to make connections and synthesize information. Students examine a variety of forms of literary text representing a wide range of themes and compare and contrast features specific to each genre. Students continue to use processes to make inferences, summarize, and provide textual evidence during their reading.
Students analyze texts by making comparisons in purpose, perspective, and themes. Students examine thematic links and logical relationships within and across texts. The exploration of a variety of genres develops personal reading preferences and provides a foundation for participation in discussions. Students continue to compose original text using the fundamentals of the writing process to communicate their own understanding and ideas. Students explore language while continuing to build on the principles that vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, and grammar are critical to the ability to comprehend and communicate effectively.
Unit 4B: Making Connections Across Information Genres
This unit bundles student expectations that focus on the relationships across and between informational genres in order for students to make connections and synthesize information.
Students analyze texts by making comparisons in purpose, perspective, and topics. Students examine logical relationships within and across texts. The exploration of a variety of informational texts develops personal reading preferences and provides a foundation for participation in discussions. Using the writing process, students continue to compose original text to communicate their own understanding and ideas. Students explore language while continuing to build on the principles that vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, and grammar are critical to the ability to comprehend and communicate effectively.
6th Grade Classrooms
4A: Exploring Persuasive Text and Media
This unit bundles student expectations that support and advance the understanding of structure, elements, and techniques in persuasive text and media literacy. Persuasive techniques in both print and media formats are examined for the purpose of awareness that the truth is sometimes manipulated in order to achieve a specific response and/or reach a certain audience. Persuasive text and media (e.g., advertisements, newspapers, magazines, web pages, commercials, product labels) provide the avenue for students to make inferences, summarize, synthesize, and provide textual evidence during reading. Students examine teacher-selected and self-selected literature and media based on individual interests and abilities, providing opportunities to make important personal and world connections within and across different contexts and genres. An emphasis on the integration of reading and writing skills along with word study allow the continued development of the processes necessary for comprehension and written communication.
During this unit, students examine persuasive text and media by comparing and contrasting the structure and viewpoint of two different authors writing for the same purpose, noting the stated claims, and supporting evidence. Students identify and critique the role of persuasive techniques such as faulty reasoning, false factual claims, bandwagon approach, and false authority in influencing readers’ and viewers’ emotions. Students communicate their beliefs and opinions by writing persuasive essays that establish a position and include sound reasoning and relevant evidence. Vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar are studied throughout the unit to support comprehension and oral and written communication.
Unit 4B: Generating Connections – Literary Text
During this unit, students use previously learned skills to examine a variety of literary genres presenting similar ideas while recognizing features specific to each genre. Students analyze literary texts and media by making comparisons in purpose and perspective. Students compare and contrast historical and cultural settings in literary texts. The exploration of a variety of genres will continue to develop personal reading preference and provide a foundation for participation in discussions. Students continue to compose original text using the fundamentals of the writing process to communicate their own understanding. Students explore language while continuing to build on the principles that vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, and grammar are critical to the ability to comprehend and communicate effectively.
Information on the unit overviews is taken from the TEKS Resource System
Marta L. Salazar - Director of English Language Arts/Reading; Dyslexia Coordinator; Parental Involvement Coordinator
Email: marta.salazar@aliceisd.net
Phone: 3616640981