Curriculum Connection
K-5 ELA- December 2021
Kindergarten ELA
Reading Unit 3: Readers Use Super Powers
Readers will focus on becoming better at reading by using everything they know about looking at both the pictures and words. They will learn strong readers always use a combination of strategies, not just one strategy at a time in isolation. Students will learn to attend more closely to print by using their understanding of some of the basic features of print.
Writing Unit 3: Writing for Readers
Writing Unit 3: Student Writing Sample
Sample writing: Playing With My Blocks by Tiana
1st Grade ELA
Reading Unit 3: Learning About the World
Writing Unit 3: Authors as Mentors
This unit begins by having students study the class’s shared mentor author’s writing moves, generate many initial story ideas, and write multiple drafts of stories. The classroom’s selected author of study will help guide student to live, plan, and draft like real published authors- from getting students to notice the rich moments in life that are ripe story ideas, to noticing the way an author sequences story events, to noticing how she provides a sense of closure.
Writing Unit 3: Narrative Writing Checklist
Students will continue to use the Narrative Writing Checklist to work to improve their writing.
2nd Grade ELA
Reading Unit 3: Reading Informational Books
The main focus of this unit is for students to become the kind of reader who learns information about the world from books, and has big ideas about that reading. Students will use text features, ask questions of text, and reflect on new learning. They will also learn to identify main idea and give details in a text.
Writing Unit 3: Lab Reports and Science Books (Bend 3- Writing About a Science Topic in Information Books)
The goal of this part of the unit is for students to show their knowledge about the science topic and to write information books. Students will write an information book that teaches readers all about a topic that the writer knows well and that-here’s the trick- relates in some ways to the research children have just done on the science topic from bends 1 and 2. You’ll help children apply their knowledge to these subjects, and you’ll help them learn from each other’s work.
Writing Unit 3: Lab Reports and Science Books- Student Writing Sample Sample
Students will also use the Informational Writing Checklist to revise and edit their final piece.
Student writing sample of final piece.
3rd Grade ELA
Reading Unit 3: Character Studies (November-December) Continued/ Unit 4: GEM Unit
In Topic 3 (Bend III) Comparing and Contrasting Characters Across Books
In this final bend of the unit, students will learn to think comparatively across books, drawing on the work they’ve done throughout the unit. Children will continue to work in their book clubs, with each club continuing to read from a text set. You will reveal to students that the books they read in Bend II were purposefully chosen based on some shared similarities, and you’ll challenge clubs to consider the ways the characters of these books and their journeys are alike--and different. In particular, students will look closely at character traits, problems, and lessons learned. As mentioned above, you’ll find suggested titles for text sets on the digital resources that accompany this unit.
Unit 4: GEM Unit: Recommitting to Reading
Stamina
Selecting Books
Abandoning Books
Book Talking: The “How” and the “Why”
Responding to Reading
Tracking Reading Growth
Variety and Text Choice
Modeling a Passion for Reading
Writing Unit 2: The Art of Informational Writing (October-December) Continued
Engaging Scenario
Situation: A final celebration to teach all you know about information writing
Challenge: Tell your class that they will be working in pairs to make short presentations to younger children (in small groups) in which they teach them what they’ve learned about information writing.
Specific Roles: Because students are working in partnerships, you will want them to both be doing the planning and writing of their presentation. You will also want both students work to be represented as examples of informational writing. However, you may find that it suits your class best for one student to be the spokesperson while the other is supporting.
Audience: A group of younger students (a first or second grade class would be perfect). If it is possible to find a group of younger students who is also working on informational writing, this scenario would be ideal.
Product/ Performance: In your presentation, be sure to include the following:
● The most important things you’ve learned about information writing, broken down into subtopics.
● Examples to support each subtopic (from your own writing, preferably)
4th Grade ELA
Unit 3 Reading: Reading the Weather, Reading the World (November/January)
Overview of Unit :
During this unit students will be researching extreme weather and natural disasters. The goal of this work is to teach students the backstage work of reading to learn. Students will learn to reason, analyze, weigh evidence, problem solve and communicate effectively. The work is intended to help students become global citizens.
Students will begin with easy self-selected texts and grow into more challenging texts. Then their work will move to revolve around a class topic of extreme weather and natural disasters. Finally, they will research a second subtopic to compare and contrast what they have learned.
In Topic 1 (Bend I) Students begin with self-selected, easy-to-read nonfiction. Students will learn how readers pay close attention to text structure to learn and take notes. As students begin to gather a nonfiction reading box you will begin to highlight ways nonfiction texts are complex. The goal of this bend is to help readers read increasingly challenging texts. Readers will grow strategies to build word banks, determine main ideas and supporting details and summarize.
Writing Unit 3: Boxes and Bullets (November-January)
Overview of Unit :
This unit, like a number of other units in this series, begins with a quick
intense immersion into the whole process of writing this new kind of text. This unit meets the needs of 4th grade opinion writing. In this unit, students will learn a variety of more sophisticated strategies for introducing their topics, and students will learn to provide reasons to support their opinions, as well as facts and details to elaborate on these reasons. One of the major shifts in opinion writing from fourth to fifth grade is in the area of logic and organization. There is a big step toward teaching some of this critical work now, in fourth grade, showing students different ways they can arrange their reasons and use varied evidence. This unit does not attempt to take on the job of teaching students everything about essay writing, but rather it focuses on teaching a few key qualities of that kind of writing. In this unit, you will teach children to collect varied and specific evidence from research.
Topic 1 (Bend 1): Writing to Learn
The goal for “essay boot camp,” as the opening days of the unit are called, is to help students develop a sense for what it feels like to write a whole essay. The students’ first work together as a class to construct a simple class essay by “writing-in-the-air” together, and then they go off to flash-draft the spoken essay onto paper. Then, students will spend the next few days gathering entries in their notebooks, writing long about ideas about people, objects, events, and so on. To raise the level of this work, students will engage in an inquiry into what makes for strong free writing and will look at mentor examples of this. They will also look back at their previous writing and reflect on ideas lying between the lines and create new writing from this reflection. As the bend ends, students will use what they’ve written in their notebooks to develop thesis statements, and they will build plans for their essays.
5th Grade ELA
Unit 3: Tackling Complexity: Nonfiction (Continued) / GEM Unit
Tackling Complexity: Nonfiction
Topic 2 (Bend Two): Applying Knowledge about Non-Fiction Reading to Personal Inquiry Projects
In Topic 2, students will delve into learning to research a personal inquiry project. Students will use primary sources and learn to write about their nonfiction reading. Students will apply multiple strategies to synthesize information across multiple resources. You will teach students to question what they read, moving them to ask higher level questions. You might find that this topic aligns with the timing of the writing Lens of History unit.
GEM Unit: Recommitting to Reading
This unit is a chance for you to reflect on and respond to the needs of the students. It is not intended to be taught in its entirety in a sequential order. These Teaching Points could be a whole group lesson, small group lesson or individual conference.GEM UNIT: Recommitting to Writing
Overview of Unit: Gem Unit: (see pages 91-101 in the If...Then...Curriculum)
The gem writing unit provides an opportunity for you to reflect on and respond to the unique writing needs of your students. It is not intended to be taught in its entirety in a sequential order. Teachers are encouraged to review student work samples to determine patterns of need. Teaching points for each of the eight categories represented on the lotus can be found below. Additionally, you are encouraged to use your grade specific If/Then unit spiral for ideas on ways in which to meet your writers’ needs. Consider whole group, small groups, and/or individual conferences when planning for this unit based on your students’ patterns of need.
Jennifer Wiley- Curriculum Specialist K-2
Email: wileyj@parkhill.k12.mo.us
Website: www.parkhill.k12.mo.us
Location: 7703 Northwest Barry Road, Kansas City, MO, USA
Phone: 816-359-6253
Twitter: @icjenwiley
Kim Fette- Curriculum Specialist- 3-5
Email: fettek@parkhill.k12.mo.us
Website: parkhill.k12.mo.us
Location: 7703 Northwest Barry Road, Kansas City, MO, USA
Phone: 816-359-5750
Twitter: @kimElemCoach