Kindergarten - ELA
1: Letters
Unit 1: A - A Is for Musk Ox
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are shown the front cover and asked to point to the title and told that the title often indicates what a book is about. Students are asked to point to the author and illustrator and to state the roles of each. Students listen to the book being read and answer questions about characters and story details, demonstrating interaction with a storybook.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students read and watch informational web content about musk oxen and discuss that information. Students also compare the factual information with what the musk ox in the story says about his species, which places a narrative (story) alongside informational sources.
Unit 2: H - Hondo and Fabian
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are shown the cover of the book Hondo and Fabian and asked to name the two characters, which has them identify and interact with a storybook. Students learn and sing the song "Bingo," and are shown a Bingo page with letters and a dog picture, giving them experience with a song text and a printed song page. Students also point to letters and images on pages, linking print and content in different materials.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students read the book Hondo and Fabian and are prompted to retell the story in their own words, using pictures to guide their retelling and prompts about beginning, middle, and end. Students look at the cover of the book when reviewing the letter H, and they locate words within the pages (e.g., the sight word "he"). The activities require students to engage with a narrative text (counting characters, describing characters) which provides repeated experience with a storybook format.
Unit 3: I - The Little Island
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover of the book, find the title, and predict what the book will be about, which engages them with a storybook format. Students are asked to find the names of the author and illustrator and to note the Caldecott seal, which highlights features of a picture storybook. An optional extension labels another text as a "rhyming picture book," providing an incidental example of a poetic/textual form.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The plan directs an adult to reread the book The Little Island and to read the title together, pointing to each word. It asks the child to tell the story of the island in her own words and to use illustrations to guide her retelling. The activities include repeated engagement with a single storybook (title, cover word, and rereading).
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to look at The Little Island and identify what they see on the front cover (title, author and illustrator names, illustration, Caldecott medal). Students are asked to locate the back cover, flip through the book, open to the title page, and discuss the purpose and contents of the title page. Students spend several minutes independently looking at the book and expressing an opinion about it.
Unit 4: T - What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Skills list explicitly names "Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems)." The Reading and Questions section directs students to preview the book, noting the title and authors/illustrators, predict what the book will be about, and listen as the book is read aloud. Students are then asked to recall information from the book and refer back to the pictures during discussion.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are introduced to the words "fiction" and "nonfiction" and are told this book is nonfiction, with its purpose described as sharing information rather than telling a story. Students are asked directly whether the book was make-believe or true and to compare it to a previously read book (Hondo and Fabian) that was make-believe. Students are prompted to identify what kind of information they learned from the book.
Unit 5: L - We're Going on a Leaf Hunt
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover of the book, read the title and the names of the author and illustrator, and then read the book, which engages them with a storybook text. The skills list includes having students retell familiar stories with prompting and support, which has students practice narrative comprehension and features of storybooks.
Lesson 5
Day 5
The Reading Workshop directs the child to spend time alone with "the book," practice pre-reading behaviors (reading left to right and using a finger to guide), and to look for describing words in the story. The guidance asks the child to think about whether she enjoyed the book and whether she would recommend it to a friend, referring explicitly to the storybook experience. The text repeatedly references interacting with a book and the book's adjectives and fonts, which orients students to a printed story format.
Unit 6: F - Fireflies
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover and describe what they see and what the characters are doing, which engages them in examining a storybook. The Questions to Explore include "How do books use both pictures and words to tell a story?" and the reading prompts direct an adult to read the book aloud and discuss pictures and text. A listed skill states that with prompting and support students should "describe the relationship between illustrations and the story," which targets understanding of picture-storybook conventions.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 directs the child to review the illustrations in the book and then tell the story in his own words, which has students engage with and reproduce a narrative from a storybook. The discussion prompts ask students to reflect on parts of the book (likes, funny or surprising parts, feelings about catching and letting go of fireflies), which has students attend to story elements and events. Activity 3 asks students to draw and write about a favorite summertime memory, reinforcing narrative thinking and connection to the book's storytelling form.
Unit 7: E - But No Elephants
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover and decide whether the book will give information about elephants or tell a story, prompting them to distinguish informational text from a story. Students read the book and answer questions about beginning vs. end and changes in the character, which requires recognizing narrative structure. Students put the visiting animals in order from left to right and use ordinal words, reinforcing that the text presents events in a sequence typical of storybooks.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to look back at the first page of the story and answer questions about what Grandma Tildy is doing, showing direct interaction with a book/story. Students make stick puppets and use them to retell or dramatize the narrative, holding up each animal as it is introduced. Students are prompted to tell the rest of the story or create a new ending and to listen to a dramatic reading, reinforcing engagement with a narrative text.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students learn and recite an "Elephant Rhyme," practicing a rhythmic poem with motions. Students are read the first pages of a book while tracking left-to-right, then allowed to "read" independently, retell the story in their own words, and discuss favorite parts and alternative endings. Students draw and write about characters related to the story (Grandma Tildy's animals), engaging with narrative content.
Unit 8: C - Millions of Cats
Lesson 4
Day 4
The lesson explicitly directs an adult to "Read the following poem with your child," providing a distinct poem for students to hear and work with. It also refers to a previously read story (the book) and instructs students to "Talk about how the poem relates to the book" and to consider whether the poem would describe the scene from the book. Students are asked to create motions, practice, and perform the poem, and an optional extension has them memorize and recite the poem, reinforcing attention to the poem as a text type.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students read and hear sentence strips that begin "Once upon a time...," exposing them to a traditional story opening and narrative language. Students place pennies between words and point to words as they read sentences, and they are encouraged to follow lines left to right in a book, practicing how to read a storybook. Students draw and write or dictate a story about a cat, producing narrative text themselves.
Unit 9: G - The Real Mother Goose
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are directed to look at the cover and are told the book is a collection of poems and songs, explicitly naming the texts as poems and nursery rhymes. Students read and/or listen to multiple poems, discuss features of the poems (what makes them fun, rhyming pairs), and practice producing rhyming words. Students act out and memorize a specific poem, moving through its lines and supplying missing end words, which foregrounds poem structure and form.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students read and practice poems: they are instructed to practice the poem "The Little Bird" together and to read the poem "The Year" (pg. 100) with the child. Students also engage with a physical book by looking at the front cover to find the uppercase letter G, providing exposure to a book as a text. The activities include reciting and singing the months using the poem/song text.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students read and listen to multiple poems (e.g., "Wee Willie Winkie," "Little Jack Horner," "The Cat and the Fiddle") and practice a poem together. Students are asked to identify rhyming pairs as they read and to name their favorite poem and explain why. Students write their own rhyming poem by changing lines of an existing poem and print/share their work.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students practice and recite poems ("The Little Bird" and "The Year") and read and sing several nursery rhymes, including discussion about how these poems have circulated and changed. Students create a physical "Months of the Year" book by adding pages, pictures, and a title page, and bind it with a metal ring. These activities require students to read, reread, and perform poetic texts and to produce a book-format text.
Lesson 5
Day 5
The lesson has students read and listen to multiple poems (e.g., ‘‘Wee Willie Winkie,'' ‘‘Come Out to Play,'' ‘‘To Market,'' ‘‘Jack Sprat,'' ‘‘Little Jack Horner'') and follow along by moving a finger left to right as they listen. Students read poems together in Activity 1 and are asked to identify spherical objects described in those poems, using the poems as a text to extract information. Students dictate and write their own poem or nursery rhyme and create an illustration, producing a text in the poetic/nursery-rhyme form.
Unit 10: O - Owl Babies
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to look at a book cover and predict whether it will teach facts or tell an imaginary story. After reading, students answer direct questions asking whether the book told a story or taught facts and explain why (e.g., characters named and acted like people). The lesson explicitly defines fiction and non-fiction and asks students to name true facts in the book and then decide that, because its purpose was to tell a story, the book is fiction.
Lesson 2
Day 2
In Activity 1 students examine the book Baby Owl, discuss the difference between photographs and drawings, predict whether the book is fiction or non-fiction, and then confirm and record facts from the non-fiction book. In Activity 3 students are explicitly presented with a short text labeled as a poem, read it multiple times, learn motions, practice reciting it, and are encouraged to memorize and perform it for others.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson has the child recite the poem Wide-Eyed Owl together, giving direct exposure to a poem as a text type. The lesson directs an adult to read the storybook Owl Babies and has the child read a line, providing direct experience with a storybook. The lesson asks the child if he remembers what fiction and non-fiction mean and asks him to retell the story in his own words, prompting recognition and discussion of text type and story structure.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students recite the poem "The Wide-Eyed Owl," giving them direct experience with a poem. Students discuss the book Owl Babies and answer questions about how the owls are given human attributes, showing engagement with a storybook. Students practice and perform a Reader's Theatre script with labeled character lines, providing experience with a play/script format.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 2, students are asked to compare two owl books and decide which is fiction and which is non-fiction, citing clues such as talking owls and painted illustrations versus factual text and photographs. In Activity 3, students draw and then produce two pieces of writing side-by-side: factual (non-fiction) information about owls and a brief fictional story about a baby owl, practicing creation of both text types.
Unit 11: S - Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students read The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree (a storybook), locate the sight word "some" in the book, and hear the book read twice. Students also read the poem "The Seasons" from The Real Mother Goose and respond to its language by naming seasons from the poem's adjectives.
Unit 12: D - Dinosaurs Big and Small
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to look at the cover and predict what the book will be about and whether it is fiction or non-fiction. QUESTION #1 explicitly asks students to identify the book as fiction or non-fiction and to explain how they know (noting that non-fiction offers facts rather than characters). The Reading and Questions prompts also ask students to name the author and illustrator and to discuss features that indicate the book's type.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students read Dinosaurs Big and Small aloud and are asked to look back at specific pages, point to words, and practice reading the text; the plan also directs an adult to read and point to the book while having the child read occurrences of the word "big." Students are also taught and recite a short poem "The Dinosaurs," join in the recitation with motions, and identify rhyming pairs and descriptive words in the poem. The lesson therefore engages students with both a storybook/informational book and a poem and has them practice features of the poem (rhyme, repeated lines, motions).
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students read page 13 of Dinosaurs Big and Small and look through supplemental books, which gives them exposure to different book texts. Students are asked to find adjectives in the text or think about words that describe pictures, engaging with content within books. Students are prompted to dictate or write factual sentences "like those that would be found in a nonfiction book about dinosaurs," explicitly referencing a nonfiction text type.
Unit 13: P - Harold and the Purple Crayon
Lesson 2
Day 2
The vocabulary review explicitly defines "fiction (an imaginary or made-up story) and non-fiction (something true and factual)," giving students terminology for text types. Students interact with a specific storybook (Harold and the Purple Crayon) by looking at its front cover and discussing elements of the book. The activities ask students to locate letters and features on the book cover, which engages them with a storybook as an example of a text type.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The lesson explicitly references the picture book Harold and the Purple Crayon and asks the child questions about Harold's imagination and neighborhood, indicating students engage with a storybook. Students are prompted to respond to the book by describing the neighborhood and then create a neighborhood map using images and cut-outs related to the story.
Unit 14: B - Blueberries for Sal
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover of Blueberries for Sal, predict what the book will be about, and locate the name of the illustrator, which directs them to attend to the book as a storybook with an author/illustrator. Students are prompted to flip through the book and note illustration features (color choices) and then listen as the book is read, followed by questions about characters, setting, events, and how the story ends. The listed reading skill explicitly asks students, with prompting and support, to identify characters, settings, and major events in a story, which engages them in recognizing narrative text features.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students read the story Blueberries for Sal and use a two-column chart to list elements of fiction and elements of non-fiction about bears. Students are directed to read non-fiction material about bears (National Geographic Kids) and list scientifically accurate facts in the "Non-Fiction" column. Students learn and perform the song "The Bear Went Over the Mountain," adding motions and varying verses, which engages them with a poem/song form of text.
Unit 15: R - Rain
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students look at the cover and identify the title Rain and notice small words on the cover. Students listen to and follow along as the book is read, pointing to words and discussing what will happen next. Students retell and sequence the story by placing die-cut pieces on a sky mat to recreate the story progression.
Unit 16: N - Night in the Country
Lesson 2
Day 2
The vocabulary review explicitly defines "fiction" and "non-fiction" and asks the child to explain words in her own words, giving students a direct label for two text types. Activity 2 has the child look at the front cover of a book to find the uppercase letter N, which exposes students to handling a physical book. The handwriting and reading activities reference a book cover and a letter card, reinforcing exposure to print materials.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are read the book Night in the Country and are asked to turn to the first page and read the sentence, demonstrating direct interaction with a storybook. Students listen to the book a second time and are asked to look for a specific word and read it when they see it, reinforcing reading within a narrative text. Students are asked to tell the story in their own words using the pictures as a guide, which has them engage with story structure and retelling.
Unit 17: M - Marshmallow
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover of Marshmallow and predict what the book will be about. An adult tells the child that this is a true story and then asks the child to recall the difference between fiction and non-fiction and to decide whether this book is fiction or non-fiction. The child reads the book and answers comprehension questions about its content, reinforcing that it is a non-fiction story.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students read and discuss parts of a storybook (references to Oliver and Marshmallow) and look at the front cover of Marshmallow, engaging with a narrative text. Students reread and practice a poem from the very last page of the book and are asked to supply omitted words and memorize the poem. Students engage with both a storybook and a poem through reading, discussion, and performance.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students practice a "memory poem," providing direct exposure to a poem form. Students are read a book (the text beginning "As Oliver never went out..."), practice reading a sight word from that story, and are asked to retell the story in their own words using pictures as prompts. Multiple activities reference the book Marshmallow (measuring animals from the story, constructing a marshmallow bunny), reinforcing engagement with a storybook.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to "Practice the memory poem" in the Review, which has them engage with a poem. Students watch/read story materials (videos titled Owen and Mzee and references to Oliver and Marshmallow) and talk about similarities and differences between the two narratives, including an optional Venn diagram comparing the two. Students also examine illustrations from a story and experiment with drawing like the book's illustrator, engaging with storybook features.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 asks the child to identify poems in the book Marshmallow, explains visual cues (indented lines and short verses), and has the adult read poems aloud while asking how they differ from a story (beat, rhyme). The activity gives the child a set of story books and poetry/nursery rhyme books and directs the child to look through and classify each book as a storybook or a poetry book. Activity 3 has the child create and fill in a short poem and a short story on a two-page journal spread, giving practice producing both text types.
Unit 18: U - Umbrella
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to look at the front cover and predict what the book will be about, engaging them with the book as an object. An adult is instructed to explain that "this book tells a story about a little girl," explicitly framing the text as a narrative. Students read the book and are asked to recall events, which focuses their attention on features of a storybook.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson instructs an adult to read the story Umbrella to the child and then asks the child to tell the story in his own words, using the pictures to prompt retelling. The lesson also has the child look for a specific word in the story sentence on page 14 and to read that word back. These activities require students to engage with a storybook format and practice narrative recall.
Unit 19: J - Jump Frog Jump
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students examine the cover of Jump, Frog, Jump! and are asked to identify characters and predict setting before the book is read aloud. Students read the book and answer comprehension questions about characters and events. Students cut out and order story sequence pictures and complete multiple activity pages that practice ordering events from the narrative, engaging directly with the structure of a storybook.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students sing and create motions for the finger-play song "Five Little Speckled Frogs," engaging with a poem/song form through repeated lines and rhyme. Students are directed to look at the front cover of a book and locate the uppercase letter J, providing direct exposure to a physical book format. The activity includes a linked video of the song, which reinforces hearing and performing a poetic text type. Tracing and handwriting of the letter J occurs on a page titled "Uppercase J" that accompanies a labeled picture of a jar, reinforcing print features of a book or worksheet.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The lesson asks the child to "read a nonfiction book about a frog, or read on a website" and to talk about the life cycle, providing exposure to an informational (nonfiction) text. The lesson also has the child sing "Five Little Speckled Frogs," which exposes the child to a song/rhyme form of text. The lesson refers to "animals from the story" and includes acting out those animals, which implies interaction with a storybook narrative.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students look through a book during Reading Workshop, practice reading the book to themselves and to an adult, and reorder the story sequence cards, which engages them with a narrative text. The activities ask the child to attend to sentence features (question marks) within the book and to ask and answer questions based on the text. The Writing Workshop has students write a question about an animal and draw a picture, reinforcing engagement with the book's subject.
Unit 20: K - Kindness
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students reread Harry the Happy Mouse and are asked to find and read sentences in the story, demonstrating engagement with a storybook. The "Animals in Fiction" discussion explicitly tells students that in children's stories authors often use animal characters that act like humans and asks students to name actions that are animal-like versus human-like, recording responses on a three-column chart. Students locate examples in the text (pages where the frog, mole, and bat thank others) and categorize actions from those pages as part of the activity.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 has students spend time with a book, look carefully at the pictures, and practice retelling the story through illustrations. Activity 3 asks students to choose a favorite book and write or dictate a brief description and opinion (a book report), and to draw a favorite scene. Activity 1 references "the story" and discusses how acts in the story led to one another, reinforcing engagement with storybooks.
Unit 21: V - Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson has the student listen to Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin and follow along as the reader, including looking for a specific word and placing instrument pictures in the order they appear in the book. Students handle and use the physical book to sequence events and details from the text. These activities show direct engagement with a storybook format.
Unit 22: Y - Little Blue and Little Yellow
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the front cover of Little Blue and Little Yellow and make observations and predictions, and the book is read aloud to them. Students answer detailed comprehension questions about characters, events, and pages, and are prompted to confirm understanding of an orally presented text. The materials repeatedly refer to the item as a book and direct students to turn back to pages to re-read sections for answers.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to recall and discuss events and traits from named stories (Marshmallow, Harry the Happy Mouse, Little Blue and Little Yellow) and to look back at pictures in the story to answer comprehension questions. Students examine a physical book in Activity 2 by looking at the front cover and the title page and noting author/publisher print and letter forms, which requires handling and observing a storybook's parts.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to read and listen to Little Blue and Little Yellow: the teacher reads the story aloud, the child reads the word "they" in the story, and the child retells and acts out the story using Play-doh balls and the book's pictures. The reading and retelling activities give students practice engaging with a storybook's text, characters, and events.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students examine a specific storybook (Little Blue and Little Yellow) and discuss how the author represents characters, settings, and emotions using torn paper and color changes. Students retell or create their own narrative using torn paper characters and select a scene to glue and write or dictate what is happening. Students hear and discuss the author's origin of the story and look back through the story to analyze narrative elements.
Unit 23: W - George Washington's Birthday
Lesson 1
Day 1
The text prompts the child to decide whether George Washington's Birthday is fiction or nonfiction and to review the terms "fiction" and "non-fiction." It instructs the reader to read sidebars that give factual information and to talk about the word "myth," distinguishing true facts from invented stories. It explicitly labels the book as "historical fiction" and asks the child to explain that classification and give an opinion.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are shown and read a picture book about George Washington; the adult points to each word and has the child read the word "went." Students are asked to page back through the book and recap each story about George Washington. Students are asked to identify whether each recapped episode is a myth or a fact.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to spend time independently with the text and to look for all the different places text can be found on the pages (regular text, text in boxes, words in illustrations). Students are prompted to note labels such as "FACT" and "MYTH" and to think about the purpose for different placements of words. Students are asked whether they enjoyed the book and whether they would recommend it to friends, which has them interacting with a storybook as a type of text.
Unit 24: Q - The Quilt Story
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover of The Quilt Story and to read the book with an adult, providing direct exposure to a storybook format. The reading prompts ask students to make observations about the book (for example, how they knew the story took place a long time ago) and to talk about vocabulary in the story, which engages them with features of the narrative. The skills list also includes describing the relationship between illustrations and the story, which has students interact with elements typical of storybooks.
Unit 25: X - An Extraordinary Egg
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to identify whether An Extraordinary Egg is fiction or non-fiction and to explain their reasoning (Activity 2). Students page back through the book to find examples where frogs act like real animals versus where they are given human qualities and then sort those examples under "Facts About Frogs" and "Fictional Frogs." The Reading and Questions section has students look at the book cover and discuss what they see and that it is a book (a story).
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are shown and read the book An Extraordinary Egg and are asked to read a sentence from it and retell the story in their own words using the pictures. Students practice reading the sight word "look" in the context of the book and participate in oral retelling of events after the read-aloud. These activities place students in an interaction with a storybook format.
Unit 26: Z - Greedy Zebra
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover and told the title of the book, prompting them to identify the work as a book/story. The text directs an adult to read the book aloud and then asks the child to explain the zebra's actions and consequences, engaging students in story comprehension. The lesson explicitly instructs to "Explain that this kind of story is called a folktale," and gives examples of folktales that explain why things are the way they are.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are read the book Greedy Zebra and are encouraged to read a sight word in the context of the story. Students retell the story using illustrations and answer prediction questions about what would have happened if the zebra had not been greedy. These activities engage students with a narrative text and its elements.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students hear and discuss an informational passage about five African savannah animals and use that information to color and place cut-outs, showing engagement with an informational text. Students also listen to and act out the story Greedy Zebra, responding to action-packed verbs and dramatizing events from the narrative. The lesson therefore exposes students to at least two different text types (informational writing and a storybook).
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to gather books from the year's curriculum, look through them, and compare how the books are similar and different (for example, some were about animals and some took place in different places). Students are asked to identify which books had animal characters and which had outdoor settings, supporting recognition of narrative story elements. Students are specifically asked to identify which three books were non-fiction and to remember the subject each factual book was about.
2: Holidays
Unit 27: Halloween
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson directs the adult and child to read Goodnight Moon and asks the child why they think it was written, explicitly framing it as a bedtime story. The child is then asked to compare Goodnight Moon with Goodnight Goon by observing similarities and differences in covers and content, which has them engage with two storybooks. The skills list also asks students to compare and contrast adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories, reinforcing identifying story-type features.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are read Goodnight Goon and are encouraged to join in on repeated lines and to choose and explain a favorite page, providing direct experience with a storybook. Students make a Halloween greeting card, trace the words "Boo!" and "Happy Halloween!" and write a message to a family member, giving practice producing a greeting text.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 explicitly tells the child that "this book was written a lot like a poem" and directs the child to notice pairs of rhyming words at the ends of lines (for example, "claws" and "jaws", "bat" and "hat"). The child is asked to look independently through Goodnight Goon to find pairs of words that rhyme and to share any pairs found. The activity also suggests comparing Goodnight Goon with a copy of Goodnight Moon to look for rhyming word pairs in both books.
Unit 28: Thanksgiving
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are presented with a labeled narrative: the lesson states "Here is a story that is told about Abraham Lincoln," so students read or hear a story about Abraham Lincoln. Students follow a clearly labeled set of procedural directions on the "LINCOLN CRAFT INSTRUCTIONS" page, so they read and use instructional text. Students create a Thanksgiving card and write or dictate a note inside it, providing exposure to a card/note text type.
Unit 29: Christmas
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are given the book The Christmas Wish to explore independently and are asked to predict what the book will be about and to consider its illustrations. They are prompted to discuss whether the illustrations are pictures and are told that Lori Evert wrote a story while Per Breihagen took photographs to illustrate it, highlighting author/illustrator roles. Students listen as the book is read aloud, reinforcing that they are engaging with a storybook text.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Activity 1 directs the child to look again at The Christmas Wish and to tell about her favorite part, explicitly referring to the text as "the story" and discussing its setting in Norway. Students are asked to recall and discuss narrative elements (favorite part, setting) of a storybook. The lesson repeatedly engages the child with a story-format text.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to look at and discuss The Christmas Wish (a storybook) and to page through it noting animals, which gives experience with a narrative book. Students chant and perform the finger play "Five Little Bells," which presents a short poem/chant they recite and act out. Students listen and sing along to the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" song and read a linked informational article about reindeer, providing exposure to song and informational text forms.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students look at and read The Christmas Wish, a book, in Activity 1 and Activity 2, engaging with its opening pages and reading the story aloud. Students are asked to notice quotation marks and speak character dialogue, which involves interacting with features of a narrative text. The activities require students to draw or write about parts of the celebration, connecting to the story format.
Unit 30: February Celebrations
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson has students hear and discuss a storybook: Read the book The Biggest Valentine Ever and ask six comprehension questions about the characters and events. Students are also directed to listen to the song "Skidamarink," which exposes them to a musical/poetic text and encourages singing or creating motions. Students create valentines and discuss ways of working together, which involves engaging with a concrete communicative product (a card).
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are prompted to "watch this online storybook" about Booker T. Washington (Activity 1), giving direct exposure to the storybook text type. Students are asked to create a "special dream book" (Activity 3) by writing or tracing a title, dictating or writing 3–5 pages, and stapling them together, which has them produce and handle a book format. The activities therefore involve both experiencing a storybook and making a book.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to write a letter to the President: they dictate ideas, have those ideas recorded, and practice addressing and mailing the letter, which engages them in producing a letter as a text type. Students also create and decorate Valentine cards, cutting, folding, writing TO: and LOVE:, and writing names, which has them produce a greeting card as another text form. These activities involve students composing and handling two recognizable forms of texts (letters and cards).
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 2
What Is a Map?
Students are read the book Me On the Map, giving them exposure to a storybook format. The introduction asks an adult to show the child examples of maps in books, atlases, travel brochures, or online, so students view multiple sources and formats that present similar content. The activities include reading pages of the book aloud and rereading the book's sections about maps of rooms and homes.
Lesson 3
Guide to Animal Habitats
The lesson asks students to look at the cover of Crinkleroot's Guide to Animal Habitats and to point to the title and the author's name, and the skills list explicitly includes "Identify the title, author's name, and illustrator's name on a book." The teacher script and Activity 1 repeatedly refer to the text as a "story" and directs adults to read the story aloud while asking comprehension and sequence questions. The skills also include listening to and answering questions about text read orally, which gives students guided exposure to a storybook format.
Lesson 4
Animals Live and Grow
Students hear a storybook read aloud on Day 2: Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt and answer specific comprehension questions about its content. Students are asked to look through Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing Animal Habits to identify plants, animals, and examples of shelter and energy relationships from the book. Students use the books and activity pages as sources for listing and matching organisms in habitats.
Lesson 9
Animal Designs
Activity 4 asks the child to tell a creative story about an animal in the wrong habitat, to have that story recorded on paper, and to read the story aloud. The activity has the child draw pictures of the animal in both its correct and wrong habitats and then listen back to the recorded story, reinforcing the narrative form.
Lesson 11
Amazing Me
Students are asked to "Read or attempt to read own story" and to "Illustrate a story," and Activity 3 has students tell a personal example, have their ideas recorded, and then read those ideas aloud. The skills list and Activity 3 explicitly involve creating, reading, and sharing narrative-type text (personal story) as student actions.
Final Project
Animal Research / My Environment
Students create physical books in both options by filling titled pages (e.g., "Me," "What I Eat and Drink," "The ___") and stapling pages together to make a book, so they practice producing and handling a book format. In Option 2 students label pages (name of animal, "Where in the World?", "Interesting Facts about ___") and draw/write content, practicing features of book pages and organization. The project extension asks students to create song lyrics and sing (using tunes like "Twinkle, Twinkle"), which exposes students to a poetic/song form as an alternative text form.
Unit 2: Weather
Lesson 4
Simulating Weather
Students sing the Weather Song from a printed "Weather Song" page and are asked to read the words aloud and follow along by pointing to each word as they sing. The Student Activity Page description explicitly identifies the song page as including a poem about weather elements. Students are encouraged to make up their own song about the weather as an extension activity.
Lesson 7
Spring
The lesson explicitly defines poems ("Explain that poems are words put together to describe something...") and provides three short poems for the child to read. Students are asked to attempt to read each poem, say what each poem was about, draw or match an illustration to each poem, and identify and underline rhyming words. The extension asks students to compose or dictate their own spring poem, reinforcing identification and production of poetry as a text type.
Lesson 8
Summer
Students read or read-along with the two "A Summer Story" activity pages and fill in blanks using picture-word prompts, and advanced students are encouraged to write their own summer story. Students learn and sing the Season Song (to the tune of "London Bridge"), exposing them to a short song/poem form of text. Students also illustrate the story in Option 2, which engages them with a narrative text and a musical/poetic text.
Final Project
Weather Games
Students are asked to look through and read aloud the book Whatever the Weather (Activity 3), and to reread pages 8–15 in Oh Say Can You Say What's the Weather Today? (Activity 4). The materials also note that students should have listened to or watched weather forecasts on TV or radio and then prepare and present their own weather forecast to the family. The Weather Memory activity uses a student activity page with words and pictures from books and seasonal terms, giving students exposure to printed text and illustrations.
Unit 3: Community
Lesson 3
Jobs in the Community
Students are asked to "read or attempt to read own story" and to "understand letters, words, and story," which engages them with story-format text. In Activity 4 students produce a "When I Grow Up" paragraph and are encouraged to attempt to read it aloud, practicing story writing and reading. Activity 6 directs students to "look for books about community workers" at the library and read about the nature of their jobs, exposing them to books as a text form.
Lesson 9
Caring for Our Communities
Students are asked to listen to and study the story "When One Person Cares," engaging directly with a storybook text. An extension activity tells students to "look through a variety of picture books" and discusses story setting, which involves examining different picture books. The lesson also connects literature to prior knowledge in the Skills list, indicating work with literary texts.
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 1: Amazing Attributes
Lesson 10
Earth Materials: Rocks, Soil, and Water
Students read and compare two picture books (Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt; Over and Under the Pond) and answer questions about covers, illustrations, and how the writing is similar. Students are shown the glossary in Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, and are told that a glossary is found at the back of a book and is usually in a nonfiction book. The skills list explicitly includes knowing and using text features (headings, tables of contents, glossaries) to locate information.
Unit 2: Senses
Lesson 1
My Five Senses
The lesson has students examine and attempt to read a specific book (My Five Senses), asking them to find the title and author and to talk about what the story might be about. Activity prompts ask students to identify the book cover, read or attempt to read the text, and answer comprehension questions about the story. The materials repeatedly refer to the resource as a "book" and a "story," and students copy words from a "Senses Word List" to find in the text.
Lesson 2
Senses and Body Parts
Students listen to an explicitly named story, "Jackie's Day at the Pet Store," which is read aloud and used for a follow-up activity where students pick up and glue sense organs when Jackie uses a sense. Students are asked to make up a story about Jackie with a beginning, middle, and end (Option 2), practicing story development orally. The skills list also includes identifying the title and author and determining a purpose for listening to text read aloud, which frames attention to a book as a text to be attended to.
Lesson 6
Experimenting With Our Senses
Activity 3 asks the child to tell a story about a time they ate or drank something, records the child's story as told, and encourages the child to read it aloud. Activity 4 has the child write or dictate and copy a sentence about something they smelled or tasted, giving practice producing and reading simple written text. The activities require students to generate and read a narrative-like text (a personal story).
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 2
Physical Characteristics
Students listen to and retell the short narrative in Activity 2 ("Different Friends"), answering questions about beginning, middle, and end and sequencing event boxes. In Activity 3 students dictate and illustrate their own story with a beginning, middle, and end on the "Friendship Story" page, practicing narrative structure. Several activities (retelling, sequencing, creating) require students to work with a story format and its parts.
Lesson 5
Shapesville
Students are shown the cover of the book Shapesville, asked to guess what the story might be about, and asked to point to the title and sound out letters. Students listen as the story is read and identify characters and their shapes, and are encouraged to attempt to read the book aloud to family. The skills list explicitly includes "Read or attempt to read own story or simple text (LA)."
Final Project
Differences Make the World Go 'Round
The introduction directs a library visit to "discuss the difference between the fiction and the nonfiction sections of the children's books," which asks students to compare text categories. Students are asked to "create a book" and pages include "A story about (name) and (name)" and a final page labeled "The End," which places their work in a storybook format. Activity pages prompt students to write and illustrate pages (location, food, hobbies, etc.), practicing production and recognition of book-like pages.
3: Patterns
Unit 1: Identifying and Creating Visual Patterns
Lesson 1
What Is a Pattern?
Students are asked to look at the cover of the story Busy Bugs and identify the title and the author's name, and to read the title aloud and predict what the story is about. Students listen to the story read aloud and follow along, then attempt to read the story aloud themselves. These activities engage students with a storybook and its bibliographic features (title, author) and with reading a narrative text.
Unit 2: Patterns in Sounds, Words, and Actions
Lesson 1
Word Patterns
The skills list explicitly includes becoming familiar with nursery rhymes, story books, and informational books. Activity 2 directs students to discuss the difference between a nursery rhyme and a storybook and to read a variety of nursery rhymes, identify rhyming words, and act out or illustrate a favorite. Activity 3 defines poetry, explains how poems differ from stories, and has students listen to/read the poems in Bear Hugs and match or generate rhyming words.
Lesson 2
Making Word Patterns
Students are given a variety of picture books that rhyme (Activity 3) and are asked to identify and record words from the text that have the same sound pattern. Students are prompted to look for word patterns in books during reading and to add words they find to a poster (Life Application). The activities require students to interact with picture books as sources of rhyming text.
Lesson 3
Poetry Patterns
The lesson gives an explicit definition of a poem in the Facts and Definitions and Introduction sections and states that poems are shorter than stories. Students are prompted to read poems aloud (Activity 1) and to explain what each poem is about, identifying rhyming patterns in the text. The Skills list and multiple activities ask students to discuss or dramatize a story or poem and to compare poems and songs to stories, reinforcing differences between text types.
Lesson 5
Story Patterns
Students are asked to find and read a short storybook (Activity 1) and answer explicit questions about what happened at the beginning, middle, and end. In Activities 2 and 3 students sequence pictures or their own writing into Beginning/Middle/End boxes and dictate or write sentences describing each part. The Skills section also lists "Discuss, illustrate, or dramatize a story or poem," indicating students will practice responding to narrative texts.
Final Project
Patterns Video
The lesson asks students to create a video that includes a "Rhyming" and "Story" pattern and instructs that for the word/rhyming and book patterns, the child "can read the words from a book or poem and explain the pattern." Student Activity Pages are provided titled "Rhyming Pattern" and "Story Pattern" with prompts asking where the pattern was found or made, which could involve selecting examples from books or poems. Students are asked to describe the parts and sequence of the patterns they find in words or stories.
4: Change
Unit 1: Changes on Planet Earth
Lesson 2
What Changed?
Students are asked to read (or be read to) "Part 1: Things Change" from the book Changes Happen All Around You, and the skills list includes "Listen when someone is reading aloud" and "Demonstrate a sense of story." The activities require students to answer comprehension questions about events in the book and to distinguish fantasy from reality. These elements show students engage with a book and practice story-related listening and comprehension skills.
Lesson 3
Changing Position
Students are asked to look at the cover of Zoom! Zip! Whoosh!, read or listen to the book, and answer questions about what is happening and what the book will be about. Students are shown an index and told that many nonfiction books have an index; they use the index to locate words like "gravity" and "inertia" and copy sentences from the indicated pages. The Skills section specifies that students will demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print and know and use various text features (headings, tables of contents, glossaries) to locate information.
Unit 2: Characters Change
Lesson 1
What's in a Name
The introduction explicitly tells the child she is going to listen to a story about a girl who changes and to pay attention to the illustrations as the narrator reads. Students listen to the linked book Chrysanthemum and answer comprehension questions about character feelings, causes of change, and how characters respond. Multiple activities (Characters Change, Feeling Phrases, vocabulary from the book) require students to identify character traits, interpret phrases from the book, and relate features specifically tied to a storybook narrative.
Lesson 2
Why Worry?
Students are told explicitly that they will listen to a story and watch a read-aloud video of Wemberly Worried, which labels the text type as a story. The lesson asks students to compare Wemberly and Chrysanthemum and to say which story they enjoyed more, prompting students to treat the materials as storybooks. The Skills section also directs students to compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories, reinforcing engagement with story-type texts.
Lesson 3
Is It a Problem?
Students read and discuss the story What Do You Do With a Problem? and answer comprehension questions about its events and characters. Students complete a Beginning, Middle, and End activity for three named stories (Chrysanthemum, Wemberly Worried, and What Do You Do With a Problem?) and compare characters across stories. Students practice narrative skills (identifying story parts and character changes) that are tied to working with storybooks as texts.
Lesson 5
The Raft
Students are asked to read and compare multiple picture books (The Raft, Wemberly Worried, Chrysanthemum, What Do You Do With a Problem?) and to look through other picture books to find two stories where a character tells his or her own story (Activity 1). Students complete activities that require identifying story titles, characters, settings, problems, and solutions for the four stories in the unit (Activity 7) and are repeatedly prompted to refer to the texts as stories or picture books throughout reading and discussion.
Final Project
My Own Story
Students plan, write, illustrate, and publish a storybook as the Final Project, using the My Storybook online tool. Students are prompted to identify and create story elements (beginning, middle, end; characters; setting; problem and solution) and to write language that shows how a character changes. Students arrange text and images on pages and share the finished digital storybook with others.
Unit 3: A First Look at History - Change Over Time
Lesson 3
Communities Change
Students are shown the cover of The House on Maple Street and are encouraged to read the title and author's name and to read the story aloud, which engages them directly with a storybook. Students answer comprehension questions about where the story happened, who the characters are, and their favorite part, reinforcing familiarity with story elements. Students also write a sentence about The House on Maple Street, further practicing interaction with a storybook text.
Lesson 7
People of the Past
Students are introduced to the term "biographies" in the Facts and Definitions and Introduction, where they are told that biographies are books about real people of the past. In Activity 1 students select and read a simple biography and answer questions that require identifying whether the person lived in the past and describing the book's real-world content. The Skills list explicitly includes "Demonstrate familiarity with a variety of texts (LA)," and the Wrapping Up prompts ask the child to define a biography and describe people from the past.
Final Project
My Past, Present and Future
Students are instructed to create a final project that can be a book of their past, present, and future, and they use multiple activity pages (Picture of Me, My Family, My Home, etc.) to produce pages for that book. Students are asked to read through their book or comparison pages and to present the finished book or pages to their family, which requires them to treat their work as a text and engage in reading aloud and sharing.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 1
Letter Sounds Review I
Students are shown Reader #1 — Tap and Pat and are taught that the front of a book is the cover and that the cover shows the title; they are asked what they see on the cover. Students are modeled reading the first page and then going to the next page until the end, and they are encouraged to point to each word as they read. Students are asked to read the book twice and invited to read the book to family members, reinforcing book-handling and story reading behaviors.
Lesson 2
Letter Sounds Review II
Students handle a printed reader titled The Pig Can: they read the title, describe the cover, predict what the book is about, and read the pages aloud (Activity 5.3). Students are asked to begin reading at the correct place, point to each word as they read, and read the book a second time. The materials also encourage students to read The Pig Can to others to develop fluency and confidence.
Lesson 9
Blends with l
Students read and reread leveled readers: they are asked to re-read the previous lesson's reader (Meg and Dan and the Sled) and to read Reader #9 — The Club on their own and aloud, pointing to each word as they read. Students also read and interact with the Weekly Message by reading along, circling punctuation, underlining sight words, and highlighting digraphs. Multiple activities require students to read printed texts (reader and weekly message) and answer comprehension questions about the reader.
Lesson 13
Glued Sounds ng and nk
Students read Reader #13 — King Hank on their own and aloud, point to each word as they read, and answer comprehension questions about the story. Students are asked to re-read the previous lesson's reader (Huff and Puff) and to revisit Weekly Message #13, pointing to and reading words they know. Students read and work with materials explicitly labeled as readers and messages, giving them repeated experience with narrative text and brief written messages.
Lesson 15
More Ending Blends
Students are asked to read Reader #15, The Raft Trip, on their own and then read it aloud and answer questions about its characters and events. The lesson also asks students to re-read a previous reader (Spring Has Sprung!) and to point to each word as they read, showing repeated exposure to storybooks.
Lesson 17
Semester Review
Students reread named readers (The Club, At Camp, King Hank, Spring Has Sprung!, The Raft Trip), read them aloud, and are asked which is their favorite and why, and to point to or name the characters and describe what they do. Students create their own reader: they plan a title, characters, and pages, write in a stapled book, and are invited to share it with others, including attention to the cover and page structure. Students are prompted to look for books at home or the library and to read predictable, phonics-based texts on their own.
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 4
More R-Controlled Vowels (er, ir, or, ur)
Students are asked to read "Reader #4 — The Bird Is Third" on their own and then read it aloud while answering questions about plot and characters. The lesson also asks students to re-read previous readers and to read the Weekly Message aloud, giving them multiple opportunities to read short narrative texts and messages.
Lesson 13
Other Vowel Sounds ou, ow
Students read Reader #13 — The Hound and the Owl on Day 5 and are asked to read it on their own and then aloud while answering questions about the story. Students also reread the Weekly Message #13 and are asked to point to and read words in that message (Activity 1.1 and Wrapping Up).
Lesson 16
Silent Starts: kn, wr, gn
Students read a story called "The Gnats" independently and aloud and answer comprehension questions about it (Activity 5.2). Students are directed to look in Where the Wild Things Are for the word "gnashed," which exposes them to a published picture book (Activity 1.2). The Life Application asks students to use a variety of books at their level to find words they can read, providing additional exposure to multiple book texts.