| COURSE |
DESCRIPTION |
TEXTBOOKS |
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Include a description here: What will students be learning (key concepts, etc.)? What is an overview that parents would understand? |
EL Education |
| Grade K |
Each module in EL's Grade K curriculum consists of content-based literacy instruction. This component of the curriculum formally assess all strands of the Language Arts standards for the grade level. The focus is on the deeper challenge of students gathering evidence on a compelling topic over several weeks, analyzing and synthesizing it, and then presenting it, often in writing, to answer a compelling question or serve a meaningful purpose. The following modules are designed to strategically scaffold this work by building background knowledge in Unit 1, reading and researching to go deeper on the topic in Unit 2, and then extended writing of the performance task in Unit 3.
Module 1: Learning to Play with Others
In Unit 1 students practice norms and behaviors for sharing and caring for classroom toys and interacting with peers. Students consider the unit guiding question, “What can we do to make playing together fun?”, as they explore classroom toys, engage in structured conversations, and read about playing together. In unit 2 students deepen their expertise about toys and play by reading, writing, talking, and singing about what makes toys fun. They develop language to describe the physical attributes of toys, what they do, and the specific classroom toys they prefer. In unit 3 students continue to build their understanding of perspective through the lens of toys and play. The students demonstrate their growing confidence and competence as speakers and writers as they work on the module performance task. This task invites students to interview a classmate about a preferred classroom toy. Then, students write and draw to show the information gleaned from the peer interview. During a module culmination and celebration, students share their writing and drawing with the school principal and other guests.
Module 2: Learning Through Science and Story: Weather Wonders
In this module, students build their literacy and science skills as they engage in a study of the weather. The module begins with a story about a young girl named Sofia who is curious about the weather. Sofia wants to learn more about how she can be prepared for any type of weather, and she asks the kindergarten students to help her in this quest. In Unit 1 students study the science of weather through various informational texts. They create a class weather journal and track their individual learning in a meteorologist’s notebook. In unit 2 students broaden their study as they think about how weather affects people in different places around the world and characters in a variety of narrative texts. Students engage in close read-alouds of: On the Same Day in March: A Tour of the World's Weather by Marilyn Singer and Come on, Rain! by Karen Hesse. Students also read and retell several narrative texts about the experiences of children in different types of weather, including Brave Irene by William Steig, Umbrella by Taro Yashima, and One Hot Summer Day by Nina Crews. Students continue to observe the local weather as they write daily entries in individual weather journals. In unit 3 students listen to The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats read aloud and continue to think about how the weather affects the choices people make about what to wear and what to do each day. They then use this book as a mentor text for their performance task, in which they plan and write an imaginary narrative about how the weather on a particular day affected what a person wore and did. They revise, edit, and practice reading their original narratives in preparation for sharing them with families and friends at an end of module Weather Expo.
Module 3: Researching To Build Knowledge and Teach others: Trees Are Alive
In this module, students, explore the big ideas that all living things in the natural world have needs in order to survive and grow and that, through observation, we can discern patterns in the ways that living things meet their needs. Through a close study of trees and the living things that depend on them, students take on the roles of researcher and scientist to make observations of the natural world. From those observations, they determine patterns that explain how living things live and grow. In Unit 1 students learn what makes something living or nonliving, about different types of living things, and the common needs of all living things. They develop this understanding through research reading of the text What's Alive. Students also plan and conduct investigations (during module lessons and Labs) such as closely viewing various living things, caring for seedlings and observing what happens over time, and recording their observations in a Living Things research notebook. In unit 2 students focus on the needs of animals as living things and how trees help to meet those needs. Through a close study of the text Be a Friend to Trees, students engage in whole group and small group research on how trees provide food for animals. In unit 3 students build on their understanding of the needs of living things and further develop their research skills by researching a specific tree in small groups. During their small group research, students learn about the tree, its needs, and how it supports other living things' need for food. This learning culminates in a series of Science Talks designed for them to share their research findings. They then use their learning to create an informational tree collage, which includes a collage, informative writing, and an animal puppet. They revise their writing and collage and practice presenting their work in preparation for sharing it with families and friends at the end of module celebration.
Module 4: Contributing to Community: Enjoying and Appreciating Trees
In this module, students continue to build on their scientific knowledge of trees from Module 3 by exploring the importance of trees to people and their communities. Students learn how different people, both real and imaginary, enjoy and appreciate trees, and they consider how real people and characters have used trees to fill a need in their community. In Unit 1 students learn about the different ways people enjoy trees through reading and analyzing the texts A Tree for Emmy by Mary Ann Rodman and Oliver's Tree by Kit Chase and considering how the characters in these texts enjoy and appreciate trees. They write about the different ways trees can be enjoyed in their Enjoying Trees Journal, Part I. In unit 2 students read about the ways planting trees can contribute to a community. By studying the informational text A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry, they learn to name an author's opinion or point and identify the reasons, within a text, that the author gives to support that point. They read Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya by Donna Jo Napoli and explore different places in a community where trees might be planted through observation of pictures in order to continue gathering information about why and where people plant trees. They then use these skills and information to form and write opinions about where they would choose to plant a tree. In unit 3 students deepen their understanding of the importance of trees as they read We Planted a Tree by Diane Muldrow. Students apply their new knowledge of the importance of trees to people by advocating for the appreciation of trees in their own community. Students use information and skills gained throughout all three units to create their performance task: a Tree Appreciation card, including an opinion statement, that invites others to pause and appreciate trees around them
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EL Education |
| 1st Grade |
Each module in EL's Grade 1 curriculum consists of content-based literacy instruction. This component of the curriculum formally assess all strands of the Language Arts standards for the grade level. The focus is on the deeper challenge of students gathering evidence on a compelling topic over several weeks, analyzing and synthesizing it, and then presenting it, often in writing, to answer a compelling question or serve a meaningful purpose. The following modules are designed to strategically scaffold this work by building background knowledge in Unit 1, reading and researching to go deeper on the topic in Unit 2, and then extended writing of the performance task in Unit 3.
Module 1: Tools and Work
In this module, students build their literacy and citizenship skills as they engage in a study of tools and work. Students first learn about how tools help to do a job. They then extend their understanding of what it takes to do a job when they learn how the "habits of character" of initiative, collaboration, perseverance, and responsibility help them do work. In Unit 1 students are introduced to hand tools through a series of "tool challenges." In each challenge, students are presented with a dilemma and the question, "Which tool is best for the job?" Students discuss by asking and responding to questions, and ultimately experiencing tools for themselves as they engage in each tool challenge. Following these experiences, students engage in a series of focused read-alouds, featuring people from around the world who use specific tools for certain tasks. Students reflect on their own experiences with tools from earlier in the unit, as well as those they have read about, to construct a definition of tools. In unit 2 students engage in close read-alouds, which focus on the study of characters in new literary texts. Through these texts, students will consider the habits of character that help them make work easier and solve dilemmas. To support their understanding of these habits of character, students experience a new set of challenges. In Unit 3, students use their classroom tools and habits of character to collaboratively create a "magnificent thing" for their classroom. At the end of the module, students take all they have learned about tools and work to create a "magnificent thing" that fulfills an authentic classroom need (e.g., pencil holder for classroom use). Students share, discuss, and reflect on their creation.
Module 2: What’s Up In The Sky: A Study of the Sun, Moon, and Stars
In this module, students build their literacy and science skills as they engage in a study of the sun, moon, and stars. The module begins with a story about a young boy named Elvin who is curious about the sun, moon, and stars. Elvin wants to learn more about the sun, moon, and stars and shares his wonderings and artifacts he receives along his journey with the first-grade students. In Unit 1 students study the sun, moon, and stars through various narrative texts and begin to understand how and why the sun, moon, and stars inspire authors. Students respond to texts through role-play and written response. In unit 2 students focus their study on the science concepts of observable patterns in the sky as they relate to the sun, moon, and stars. Students engage in a close read-aloud of What Makes Day and Night by Franklyn Branley and a focused read-aloud of Does the Sun Sleep? Noticing Sun, Moon, and Star Patterns by Martha E.H. Rustand. Students track their observations of the sun, moon, and stars in pictures and videos in a Sky notebook. In unit 3 students engage in a focused read-aloud of What the Sun Sees, What the Moon Sees by Nancy Tafuri, first to understand the content of the position of the sun and moon at different times of day and descriptions of the sun and moon. They then use the text again as a mentor text to study the author's craft of writing a narrative poem. Students use their growing understanding of descriptive language, author's craft, and patterns of the sun and moon to compose a narrative poem titled What the Sun Sees. After completing a first draft of this poem for the Unit 3 Assessment, students give feedback to one another and revise and edit their poems as part of the performance task.
Module 3: Growing As Researchers: Bird’s Amazing Bodies
In this module, students build their literacy skills as they engage in an in-depth study of birds' bodies. The module focuses on big ideas derived from the Next Generation Science Standards: Animals have physical features that help them survive; animals behave in ways that help them survive. In Unit 1 students listen to the texts Just Ducks by Nicola Davies and Birds (Scholastic Discover More) by Penelope Arlon and Tory Gordon-Harris as they answer the unit guiding question, "What makes a bird a bird?" As students build background knowledge about birds through the texts, they participate in a cycle of reading, talking, and representing (through scientific drawing, writing, role-play, music, and movement). In unit 2 students participate in both whole group and small group research to learn more about the form and function of key bird parts: beaks and feathers. Students research using two key anchor texts: Feathers, Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart and Beaks! by Sneed B. Collard III. This cycle of research is anchored by the unit guiding question, "How do birds use their body parts to survive?" Students also continue to refine the scientific drawing skills established in Unit 1. For the Unit 2 Assessment, students show their learning by writing an informational paragraph that describes how beaks or feathers help birds survive. In unit 3 students participate in another research cycle to learn about how a specific bird's key parts help them to survive in their habitat. Students' class and small group research is anchored by the National Geographic Kids text Little Kids First Big Book of Birds by Catherine D. Hughes. For the Unit 3 Assessment, students participate in a Science Talk focused on the question: "How do specific birds use their body parts to survive?" For the performance task, students create Expert Bird Riddle cards and Expert Bird Scientific Drawing cards for a riddle matching game using facts from their research.
Module 4: Caring for Birds
In this module, students continue to build on their scientific knowledge of trees from Module 3 by exploring the importance of trees to people and their communities. Students learn how different people, both real and imaginary, enjoy and appreciate trees, and they consider how real people and characters have used trees to fill a need in their community. In Unit 1 students begin to think about this question by reading a variety of literature with characters who care for birds. These texts include The Lion and the Bird by Marianne Dubuc, Pierre the Penguin by Jean Marzollo, and Maggie the One-Eyed Peregrine Falcon by Christie Gove-Berg. Students participate in a close read-aloud, role-play, structured discussions, and response to text through writing as they compare and contrast the characters' experiences in these stories. Also central to this unit is students' work with the habits of character of compassion and respect. In unit 2 students learn about writing opinions as they investigate a specific bird, Pale Male, who built his nest in the heart of New York City. Students read about people's differing opinions about this nest and then write their own opinions in response to the evidence they gather. The two texts that anchor students' learning are City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male by Meghan McCarthy and "What's Best? The Debate about Pale Male's Nest" by EL Education. Students extend their learning of habits of character from Unit 1 to include an additional ones--empathy --which is central to respectfully listening to, responding to, and sharing opinions. In unit 3 students learn about some of the problems birds face more generally and what humans can do to help them live and grow through the text A Place for Birds by Melissa Stewart. They also learn about the myriad ways birds are helpful to plants, other animals, and people. For the performance task, students create a piece of artwork and writing that serves an authentic need in their school or local community: a Feathered Friends Saver! This performance task includes a high-quality scientific drawing of a local bird that is formatted to attach to a window. When displayed in a window, the portrait helps to prevent birds from flying into the window. Students also individually create a short piece of writing to teach the recipient of the Feathered Friends Saver facts about birds.
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EL Education |
| 2nd Grade |
Each module in EL's Grade 2 curriculum consists of content-based literacy instruction. This component of the curriculum formally assess all strands of the Language Arts standards for the grade level. The focus is on the deeper challenge of students gathering evidence on a compelling topic over several weeks, analyzing and synthesizing it, and then presenting it, often in writing, to answer a compelling question or serve a meaningful purpose. The following modules are designed to strategically scaffold this work by building background knowledge in Unit 1, reading and researching to go deeper on the topic in Unit 2, and then extended writing of the performance task in Unit 3.
Module 1: Schools and Community
In this module, students build their literacy and citizenship skills as they engage in a study of schools. In Unit 1 students participate in a series of focused read-alouds to explore the module guiding question, "What is school, and why are schools important?" In unit 2 students build on this understanding by engaging in close read-alouds of the text Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools around the World by Susan Hughes. Through this text, students learn about schools around the world and the challenges some communities face in sending their students to school and how they solve these challenges. To support their understanding of this text, students take notes on and write in response to their reading. In Unit 3, students revisit sections from Off to Class as they engage in whole class research to learn about the similarities and differences between their own school and three schools from the text. Students extend their research in small groups by focusing on one school in particular and producing an informational book about it tilted "The Most Important Thing about Schools." Throughout the unit, students participate in collaborative conversations with their peers to process and extend their understandings of the similarities and differences between their own school and the school they have researched.
Module 2: Learning Through Science and Story: Fossils Tell of Earth’s Changes
In this module, students build their literacy and science skills as they engage in a study of fossils. Students begin the module by participating in a close read-aloud of Stone Girl, Bone Girl by Laurence Anholt to explore the Unit 1 guiding questions: "What do paleontologists do?" and "How do characters respond to major events?" Students learn about Mary Anning and her role as a fossil hunter as they engage with key literature standards. Students focus on how Mary Anning responds to major events and challenges, and the overall structure of narratives through structured retells. In Unit students are also introduced to the skill of answering selected response questions. Students also begin to learn about what fossils are and the work that paleontologists do. In unit 2 students make a pivot to informational texts and engage more deeply in the study of fossils. Students' learning is centered around the Unit 2 guiding questions: "What can we learn from studying fossils?" and "How do readers learn more about a topic from informational texts?" Students begin the unit by engaging in a close read-aloud of various excerpts from the text Fossils by Ann O. Squire. Students then make the important transition of closely reading complex texts independently. Students are gradually introduced to close reading strategies as they read a few different nonfiction articles on fossils, such as how fossils can teach us about changes that have happened on Earth. In unit 3 students take on the role of being authors as they work toward completing the performance task: adding detailed illustrations to a narrative produced during unit 3 about discovering a fossil. The unit begins with a focused read-aloud of The Maiasaura Dig: The Story of Dr. Holly Woodward Ballard. Through their analysis of the text, students begin to answer and unpack the Unit 3 guiding question: "How do authors write compelling narratives?" Students then imagine they are a character from this story and practice writing a narrative. The unit culminates as students write, revise, and illustrate their own narratives from the perspective of a paleontologist who has just discovered a fossil.
Module 3: Researching to Build Knowledge and Teach Others: The Secret World of Pollination
In this module, students build their research skills and science knowledge through a study of the secret world of plants and pollinators. In Unit 1 students navigate informational text features, co-create Plant, Seed, Fruit, and Flower Frayer Model anchor charts, create scientific drawings, and participate in a Science Talk, all focused on learning about how plants grow and survive. In unit 2 students home in on a study of the role of insect pollinators in helping plants grow and survive. Using the text What Is Pollination? by Bobbie Kalman, students continue to strengthen their research skills as they conduct whole group and small group research on insect pollinators. Students then use their research notes to write an informative piece about a specific insect pollinator and its role in the pollination process. In unit 3 students extend and apply their understanding of pollination and pollinators through the creation of their performance task. Using the informative writing piece from Unit 2, as well as supplemental texts about specific plants and pollinators, students prepare an oral presentation and create a poster to share their knowledge about a specific insect pollinator and plant.
Module 4: Providing for Pollinators
In this module, students continue to build on their knowledge of pollinators from Module 3 as they deepen their literacy skills and build citizenship. Specifically, students explore the module guiding questions: "Why should people help pollinators to survive? How can I take action to help pollinators?" In Unit 1 students explore folktales and fables in which pollinators are the central characters. They engage in a close read-aloud, focused read-alouds, and independent reading and learn to determine the central message of the folktales and fables they read. They then learn to compare and contrast two versions of the same fable. As they analyze each text, students also consider habits of character that help the fictional characters contribute to a better world by responding to challenges. Students are supported in their comprehension with the Role-Play protocol, text-dependent questions, and note-taking. In unit 2 students continue their study of pollinators by reading and writing opinion pieces. Specifically, students learn about the challenges facing bats and butterflies. In the first part of the unit, students read two opinion texts, A Place for Bats and "Bats' Roosts in Danger!" Building on the research skills students learned in Module 3, the class records class notes about these dangers. In the second part of the unit, students read about the dangers facing butterflies and continue to hone their research skills by recording class notes. Students draft an opinion piece about why butterflies are important to plants and animals, using reasons collected on the class notes to support their opinion. In unit 3 students apply their knowledge about plants and pollinators to help one important pollinator: butterflies. Building on knowledge from Modules 3-4, students read about how planting wildflowers helps butterflies. For their performance task, students are invited to take action by creating a wildflower seed packet to then give a visitor at the Celebration of Learning. This performance task includes a high-quality colored pencil drawing of a butterfly and a short opinion piece about why it is important to help butterflies.
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EL Education |
K-2 Skills Block
Overview |
Students in K-2 will be learning structured phonics through the Reading Foundations Skills Block.
What is Structured Phonics?
Structured phonics teaches the letters, sounds, phonological awareness skills*, and spelling patterns* of English in a logical and research-based sequence.
How will I know the student’s reading level?
The Reading Foundations Skills Block places students into phases of reading development, developed by Dr. Linnea Ehri, a leading expert in the science of reading. Schools will administer a benchmark assessment at the beginning, middle, and end of the year to place students into a reading phase. Teachers will provide learning opportunities to meet the needs of students based on their phase.
What will students learn in Kindergarten?
Skills Taught in Quarters 1 & 2:
Names and sounds of upper and lowercase letters in this order:
A, T, H, P, N, C, M, R, V, S, G, I, L, D, F, K, Y, X, Q, U, B, O, W, J, E, Z
Identify syllables (or beats) in words
Identify rhyming words
Identify beginning sounds in spoken words
Identify ending sounds in spoken words
Understand concepts of print (e.g., reading from left to right, top to bottom)
Skills Taught in Quarters 3 & 4
Identify the sounds for digraphs* (ch, sh, th)
Segment* the sounds in a spoken word
Blend* the sounds in a spoken word
Read and spell VC* and CVC* words with short vowel sounds in the middle. Begin with short “a” (easiest) and end with short “e” (most difficult).
Understand the difference between a long vowel (says its name like “o” in “hope”) and short vowel in spoken words (not yet spelling or reading)
What will students learn in 1st Grade?
Skills Taught in Quarters 1 & 2:
Read and spell CVC*, CCVC*, and CVCC* words with short vowel sounds in the middle. Begin with short “a” (easiest) and end with short “e” (most difficult).
Read and spell CVC*, CCVC*, and CVCC* words with the suffix endings: -ed. -ing, -s, -es (e.g., “mixing”, “folded”, “slips”)
Skills Taught Quarters 3 & 4:
Read and spell 2-syllable words with short vowel sounds (e.g., “catnip”, “muffin”)
Read and spell 2-syllable words with short and long vowel sounds (e.g., “relax”, “robot”)
Read and spell compound words (e.g., “sunflower”, “ballpark”)
Read and spell CVCe* words
Read and spell CVCe* words with suffix endings: -ing, -s, -ed (e.g., “taking”, “bites”)
Read and begin to spell 1-syllable words with common vowel teams: ea, oa, ai, ay, ow, ie, igh
Read and begin to spell 1 and 2-syllable words with r-controlled vowels (e.g, “cart”, “mark”), CVCe*, and common vowel patterns
What will students learn in 2nd Grade?
Skills Taught in Quarters 1 & 2:
Read and spell 1-syllable words with common vowel teams/ spelling patterns: ay, ai, ee, ea, ee, igh, ie, oa, ow, oi, oy, ou, ow, ou, oo, ui, ue, ew, tion, sion
Read and spell 1 and 2-syllable words with r-controlled vowels (e.g, “cart”, “mark”), CVCe*, and common vowel patterns
Read and spell words with contractions with “not”, “is”, “would”, “will” (e.g., “don’t”, “she’s”, “he’d” “we’ll”
Understand and apply the “doubling rule” when adding a suffix to a word (e.g., run-- running)
Skills Taught in Quarters 3 & 4:
Understand and apply the rule to drop the “e” in a CVCe* word when adding a suffix (e.g. take-- taking)
Read and spell consonant-le* words (e.g. “giggle”)
Read and spell words with suffixes: -ly, -ment, -ness, -er, -est, -ful (e.g., “darkness”, “payment”, “meanest”, “leaner”, “helpful”)
Read and spell words with the prefixes: un- and re- (e.g., “unhappy”, “rebound”)
Understand and apply the “y to i” spelling rule when making a word plural (e.g., cherry-- cherries)
Read and spell words with contractions with “are”, (e.g., “we’re”)
Compare, read, and spell words with endings that sound the same: -ic vs. ck, cal vs. cle, ous vs. us,
Read and spell words with schwa vowels (“amaze”)
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EL Education |
| 3rd Grade |
Each module in EL's Grade 3 curriculum consists of two blocks of content-based literacy instruction. Together, these two blocks of curriculum teach and formally assess all strands of the Language Arts standards for each grade level. The focus is on the deeper challenge of students gathering evidence on a compelling topic over several weeks, analyzing and synthesizing it, and then presenting it, often in writing, to answer a compelling question or serve a meaningful purpose. The following modules are designed to strategically scaffold this work by building background knowledge in Unit 1, reading and researching to go deeper on the topic in Unit 2, and then extended writing of the performance task in Unit 3.
Module 1: Overcoming Learning Challenges Near and Far This module uses literature and informational text to introduce students to the power of literacy and how people around the world overcome learning challenges. It is intentionally designed to encourage students to embrace a love of literacy and reading. As part of the final performance task, they make an eye-catching reading strategies bookmark to help them remember the strategies as they read independently throughout the rest of the year.
Module 2: Researching to Build Knowledge and Teacher Others: Adaptations and the Wide World of Frogs
In this module, students will use literacy skills to become experts--people who use reading, writing, listening, and speaking to build and share deep knowledge about a topic. The module begins with students reading poetry and pourquoi tales about different kinds of frogs to generate "why" questions. Throughout the module, students will consistently reflect on the role of literacy in building and sharing expertise. They will demonstrate their expertise through a Freaky Frog book and trading card to educate students in grades 2 and 3.
Module 3: Exploring Literary Classics
What can we learn from reading literary classics? In this module, students consider the answer to this question through a case study of Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. Students will revise a scene of Peter Pan using some of the reasons students would not recommend the story to a friend. For the performance task, students read aloud their revised scenes to an audience before explaining how and why they revised the scene.
Module 4: Water Around the World
This module focuses on the importance of clean freshwater around the world. For the performance task, students present a live "launch" of the PSA (public service announcement) they created about a water issue. The presentation includes a personal reflection on why this issue is important and a brief description of the process of creating a public service announcement.
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EL Education |
| 4th Grade |
Each module in EL's Grade 4 curriculum consists of two blocks of content-based literacy instruction. Together, these two blocks of curriculum teach and formally assess all strands of the Language Arts standards for each grade level. The focus is on the deeper challenge of students gathering evidence on a compelling topic over several weeks, analyzing and synthesizing it, and then presenting it, often in writing, to answer a compelling question or serve a meaningful purpose. The following modules are designed to strategically scaffold this work by building background knowledge in Unit 1, reading and researching to go deeper on the topic in Unit 2, and then extended writing of the performance task in Unit 3.
Module 1: Poetry, Poets, and Becoming Writers
This module uses literature and informational text to introduce students to what inspires people to write. It is intentionally designed to encourage students to embrace a love of literacy and writing. For the performance task at the end of the unit, students participate in a poetry presentation in which they read aloud an original poem and then explain to the audience, with the use of visuals and evidence from the poem, why they were inspired to write their original poem.
Module 2: Researching to Build Knowledge and Teach Others: Animal Defense Mechanisms
In this module, students explore animal defense mechanisms. They build proficiency in writing an informative piece, examining the defense mechanisms of one specific animal about which they build expertise. Students also build proficiency in writing a narrative piece about this animal. For their performance task, students plan, draft, and revise the introduction and one choice ending of the narrative with the support of both peer and teacher feedback. The second-choice ending is planned, written, and revised on demand for the end of unit assessment.
Module 3: The American Revolution
How does one's perspective influence his or her opinion? In this module, students consider the answer to this question through the lens of the American Revolution. For the performance task, students consider both sides (Loyalists and Patriots) and discuss whether they would or would not have supported the American Revolution had they lived during colonial times.
Module 4: Responding to Inequality: Ratifying the 19th Amendment
This module uses literature and informational texts to introduce students to gender and racial inequality issues in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, and to recognize how the process of ratifying the 19th Amendment can teach us about how people were responding to gender and racial inequality at that time. For the performance task, students write Public Service Announcements (PSAs) encouraging other students to make a difference, and they write a press release sharing with the local media what the class did to take action and the impact of their work. |
EL Education |
| 5th Grade |
Each module in EL's Grade 5 curriculum consists of two blocks of content-based literacy instruction. Together, these two blocks of curriculum teach and formally assess all strands of the Language Arts standards for each grade level. The focus is on the deeper challenge of students gathering evidence on a compelling topic over several weeks, analyzing and synthesizing it, and then presenting it, often in writing, to answer a compelling question or serve a meaningful purpose. The following modules are designed to strategically scaffold this work by building background knowledge in Unit 1, reading and researching to go deeper on the topic in Unit 2, and then extended writing of the performance task in Unit 3.
Module 1: Stories of Human Rights
What are human rights, and how do real people and fictional characters respond when those rights are threatened? In this module, students develop their ability to read and understand complex text as they consider this question. Students will write a Directors' Note in groups to describe their selected event from Esperanza Rising, explain which specific articles of the UDHR relate to the event, and explain how people today are impacted by this issue. For the performance task, students revise, rehearse, and ultimately perform their group's monologues for the class and/or school or community members.
Module 2: Researching to Build Knowledge and Teach Others: Biodiversity in the Rainforest
In this module, students read to build knowledge about the rainforest and analyze the author's craft in narrative writing to build proficiency in writing first person narratives about the rainforest. For their performance task, students work in pairs to create an eBook containing a front cover, contents page, introduction, and first-person narratives, with pictures selected or created to contribute to the narratives.
Module 3: Athlete Leaders of Social Change
In this module, students consider the factors that contribute to the success of professional athletes as leaders of social change. They read about a number of professional athletes who have been leaders of social change, beginning with Jackie Robinson. For the performance task, students work in groups to create a poster highlighting a personal quality that effective leaders of change need to have for a display titled "Be an Effective Leader of Change."
Module 4: The Impact of Natural Disasters
In this module, students read literary and informational texts to understand the impact of natural disasters on places and people. For the performance task, students present to a live audience about preparing for a natural disaster. They present their Public Service Announcements (PSAs); unpack an emergency preparedness kit, giving the rationale for the items included; and distribute an informational leaflet. |
EL Education |