First Grade - ELA
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 1
My Environment
Students perform actions that connect words to real-life items: in Activity 1 they use motions for the words water, food, and shelter and answer questions about what they drink, what food is in their home, and what their shelter is. In Activity 2 (Option 2) students label rooms and circle items that relate to meeting the basic needs of water, food, or shelter, directly linking those words to pictured objects. In Activity 3 students state which room is most important and explain how the room is used, using descriptive language in context. The materials also instruct students to describe vocabulary words and use them correctly in a sentence during daily review.
Lesson 2
What Is a Map?
Students label and identify household items on a printed floor plan (Activity 2) by filling in scrambled words or writing labels, and answer questions about item relationships (e.g., what is beside the refrigerator). Students create a map of their own room (Activity 3) by selecting or drawing important objects and placing them in the correct locations. Students practice handwriting of relevant words (map, mom, home, house) and are asked to describe the environment in which they live during the wrap-up.
Lesson 3
Guide to Animal Habitats
The introduction asks students to review the definition of "environment" and to describe the environment in which they live, directly linking the word to their home. The text explicitly compares habitats to a child's home environment by stating habitats provide animals with everything they need to live and grow, asking students to make that connection. Activity 5 asks students to examine habitat illustrations and describe what they see and would feel there, prompting use of vocabulary in real-life sensory and situational contexts.
Lesson 4
Animals Live and Grow
Students use real foods (sunflower seeds, spinach, celery, carrots, broccoli) to identify and arrange plant parts, linking the words seed, leaf, stem, root, and flower to tangible items. Students match animals to pictured shelters by cutting out animal images and placing them in locations that provide the best shelter, linking the word "shelter" to real-world examples. Students identify and label organisms as "consumer" and "energy source" for each habitat, finding actual examples from the book or online and pasting them on the "Food for Survival and Energy" pages.
Lesson 5
Discovering Animal Habitats
Students are asked to relate an animal's "habitat" to the child's own home in the Introduction, directly connecting the vocabulary to a real-life environment. Activity prompts (Activity 2 and the Life Application) ask students to identify the habitat for familiar objects (stuffed animals) and to match animals to habitats using pictures, animal crackers, and cut-and-paste or drawing tasks. Activity instructions also introduce a synonym (ocean/aquatic) and have students label and describe habitats, reinforcing how habitat words are used in real contexts.
Lesson 6
Exploring Animal Habitats
Students draw and label items they observe in a real habitat (Activity 1), naming plants, animals, water, and rocks and answering questions about what they see and what animals do. In Activity 2 students complete sentences such as "I am a ___. I live in the ___" and locate information about an animal, connecting the animal name and habitat words to real-world contexts. Students also role-play animal actions and use oral language to describe and tell actions, practicing the use of vocabulary in observable situations.
Lesson 7
Tools in My Environment
Students go on a scavenger hunt to collect tools from around the home and are asked whether each object helps them do a task, prompting them to link the word (e.g., comb, fork, screwdriver) to its real-life use. In the sorting activity students answer "What is the tool used for?" and "How does the tool work?", requiring them to explain word meaning in context. In the measuring and handwriting activities students use the word "inch," read and write tool names, and use a ruler to measure objects, connecting the vocabulary to real measurement tasks.
Lesson 8
Animal Care
Students are asked to explain and give examples of the term "domestic animals" (cats, dogs, sheep, cows, horses) and to describe what families do to take care of pets. Students practice real-life actions (feeding, brushing, walking, bathing) and then answer questions such as "What do pets need?" and "What would happen if we didn't provide a healthy environment for our pets?" Students design a salamander home from collected materials and discuss the salamander's habitat needs, and are prompted to consider whether they could create the correct environment at home.
Lesson 9
Animal Designs
Students are asked to read movement words printed with habitats (e.g., "swims in the __", "flies in the __") and name or write the corresponding habitat and animal (Option 2). Students act out movement words and match animals to real habitats (Activity 1 and Option 2), and they explain why specific animals do or do not belong in pictured habitats (Activity 2). In Activity 3 students produce spoken sentences that link words to contexts ("A zebra can't live in the ocean. A zebra lives in the savanna."), reinforcing real-life word use.
Lesson 10
Amazing Animals
Students read explanatory text and examples (e.g., dogs shedding hair with seasonal change) that link vocabulary such as shed, camouflage, and grow back to real animal situations. In Activity 1 students analyze pictures and read descriptions of starfish, snakes, lizards, and sharks, connecting those words to observable animal behaviors. In Activity 2 students role-play scenarios and answer questions (e.g., What can lizards do to hide themselves?), using target words in contextual situations. The math and drawing tasks ask students to count or draw missing body parts, reinforcing word meanings in concrete contexts.
Lesson 11
Amazing Me
Students read the emotion words printed beneath faces and then circle the face that matches how pictured environmental items (a snake, a flower, a hurt animal) would make them feel. Students label four boxes with emotion words (happy, sad, scared, surprised or more advanced synonyms) and draw pictures of real things in their environment that cause those feelings. Students are prompted to record a personal example of a time they changed because of something in their environment and then read or illustrate that example aloud.
Final Project
Animal Research / My Environment
Students are asked to draw and label pages such as "My Home Environment," "What I Eat and Drink," and "Things I Do in My Environment," which requires them to attach words to real-life objects, places, and actions. The introduction prompts students to describe their environment and to explain what tools they have at home and how they use them, asking them to connect words (e.g., names of tools, places) to real uses. In the animal option, students label the animal, shade where it is found on a map, and describe what it eats and its habitat, directly linking vocabulary to real-world locations and uses.
Unit 2: Weather
Lesson 1
Reading the Skies
Students draw lines from weather words to pictures and dictate or write sentences using each vocabulary word (Activity 2), demonstrating use of words in context. Students describe how different weather makes them feel and what activities are appropriate (Activity 1 and Activity 3), linking vocabulary to real activities. Students record daily weather on a calendar and decide what to wear and which activities to do based on observations (Weather Calendar and Life Application), applying words to real-life choices.
Lesson 2
Types of Precipitation
Students read and discuss real pictures and scenes of rain, snow, sleet, and hail and then label those pictures with the correct precipitation word (Activity 2, Options 1 & 2). Students perform the 'Making Rain' experiment and describe how the word rain relates to what they observe and to water we use at home (Activity 4 and Wrapping Up). Students explore symmetry in their home and draw symmetrical objects, connecting the word symmetry to real-life items (Life Application and Activity 3). The handwriting page pairs the words 'rain' and 'round' with corresponding images, asking students to write and connect the printed words to concrete examples (Activity 6).
Lesson 3
Measuring and Charting Weather
The Rain Acrostic activity asks students to think of a word or phrase for each letter that is related to rain, prompting them to connect vocabulary to the real phenomenon of rain (e.g., "Rain jacket," "Needed for plants to grow"). The activities ask students to describe what weather can be like in different habitats and to discuss how weather helps provide plants and animals with what they need, which requires using weather-related words in real-world contexts. The measuring activities require students to record temperature readings on a labeled thermometer sheet, connecting the word "temperature" and numeric degrees to an observed measurement.
Lesson 4
Simulating Weather
Students are asked to name three things the wind can move and then go outside to identify things the wind is moving, directly connecting the word "wind" to real-world objects and situations. Students perform a bottle cloud experiment and are asked to explain what happens when they squeeze or release the bottle, linking the word "cloud" to an observable real-life phenomenon. Students follow and point to words in the Weather Song and are asked to find the words "clouds" and "rain," tying printed words to the real weather concepts they sing about.
Lesson 5
Fall
Students are asked to circle three favorite items in an autumn picture, write the names of those items, and use each word in a sentence. Students compare the pictured fall environment to their own environment by answering how they are similar and different and by answering questions about what the weather feels like and whether they like fall. Students practice the words "fall" and "fun" in handwriting activities and are prompted to use those words in sentences and in discussions about real fall activities (e.g., raking leaves, playing football).
Lesson 6
Winter
Students are asked to describe the outside environment in the winter where they live and to compare pictures of winter to their own environment, which requires linking vocabulary to real situations. In Activity 1 students dictate a personal story about something they like to do in winter and are encouraged to use the vocabulary words cold, snow, and freeze in that story. Handwriting and sentence-copy practice asks students to write words like wind and winter and to attempt to read their own story aloud, reinforcing word use in real contexts. The wrapping-up prompt asks students to describe how winter can differ in different places, further connecting words to real-life settings.
Lesson 7
Spring
Students are asked in the Introduction to say what the weather is like in spring, linking the word "spring" and weather vocabulary to their own experience. Activity 3 prompts students to describe what it feels like to stand outside on a windy day and to test objects, tying the word "wind"/"windy" to real sensations and observations. The Life Application asks students to plant seeds and discuss what seeds need to grow, connecting words like "seed," "soil," "water," and "sunlight" to real-life actions. Activity 1 asks students to explain what each poem is about and to draw illustrations that help tell the poem's story, linking poetic language to pictured, real-world meaning.
Lesson 8
Summer
The introduction prompts students to say what activities they enjoy in summer and to describe the weather in their own environment, asking them to relate the vocabulary to their lives. Activity 1 asks students to describe the pictured environment, explain what is happening, and decide whether those activities could happen in winter and why, requiring students to connect season words to real-world situations. Activity 3 has students place season names along a temperature continuum and complete sentences comparing seasons, which asks students to link season words to real-life temperature experiences.
Final Project
Weather Games
Students cut out pictures of children, label each with a season, and glue on appropriate clothing items in Activity 1, directly linking season words to real-life clothing choices. In Activity 2 students match season and weather words with pictures in the Weather Memory game, reinforcing word-to-item connections. In Activity 4 students answer questions on the Weather Forecast page (e.g., "How should people dress for this weather?") and prepare morning forecasts that connect weather vocabulary to real-life dressing and activities.
Unit 3: Community
Lesson 1
On the Town
Students complete fill-in-the-blank sentences using community vocabulary (Activity 2), selecting words like restaurant, park, library, and grocery store to describe real places. Students draw a new page for the book and write or dictate a sentence about a unique place in their own community (Activity 3), directly linking a vocabulary word to a local place. Students answer questions comparing Charlie's visits to places they visit and are encouraged to keep a notebook of real visits, reinforcing word use in real-life settings.
Lesson 2
My Community Environment
Students label and describe places on a community poster, writing or dictating a brief description of how each place serves the community. Students discuss the purpose of buildings (court, police, fire station, library, museum, grocery) and trace routes between them on a map, connecting place names to real-world locations and jobs. Students prepare and ask interview questions of community workers and answer prompts such as "Why would a person come here?" which links words for places and occupations to their real-life uses.
Lesson 3
Jobs in the Community
Students read and name community helper labels and draw lines from each worker to the place where that worker would work (Activity 1), directly linking word labels to real-world locations. Students take lists into the community and record tally marks each time they see a helper, then total and compare sightings (Activity 2), applying words to real-life observations. Students observe a chosen worker, describe what they saw, and write or dictate sentences about how each worker helps citizens (Activities 3, 4, and 5), using the words in authentic contexts.
Lesson 4
Goods and Services in the Community
Students are asked to name important places in their community and explain how each place helps people, directly linking place words to real-world functions. Students read labels for buildings, goods, and services on an activity sheet, circle beginning letters, cut out cards, and match each building to the goods or services it provides. Students role-play buying with play money, count costs, and discuss bartering, applying vocabulary such as "goods," "services," "money," and "trade" to everyday situations.
Lesson 5
Resources
Students sort pictured items into columns labeled "Natural (from the earth)" and "Manmade (from people)" on the Natural or Manmade Resources activity. Students gather three natural and three manmade resources from home or outside and explain where each is found and how it is used or write a sentence about each. Students look through the kitchen to identify real household examples of natural and manmade resources and label/count them in the Counting on Resources activity.
Lesson 6
A Good Community Citizen
Students sort illustrated scenarios into two labeled houses, "Good Home Environment" and "Not a Good Home Environment," linking the vocabulary (good home environment / not good) to real-life behaviors. In Option 2, students draw and label three things family members might do in a good or not-good environment, explicitly connecting words to home contexts. In Activity 3, students identify specific examples of good citizenship for each family member and write or dictate descriptions beneath names, tying the concept to real people and situations. The Life Application badge asks students to earn the badge by demonstrating named behaviors in real-life settings.
Lesson 7
A Citizen with Character
Students read and evaluate everyday scenarios on the Respect activity page, marking each as respectful or disrespectful and completing the prompt "I am respectful when I __." Students plan and complete three real household jobs on the Acting Responsibly chart, check off completion, and rate whether jobs were "Done" or "Done Well." Students score pictured situations for kindness and explain why they assigned points, and they discuss honesty by answering prediction and consequence questions after reading "A Lesson in Honesty" and "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." The Life Application chart asks students to record and explain real instances at home when they demonstrate respect, responsibility, kindness, and honesty over several weeks.
Lesson 8
Rules and Laws
Students generate and record six rules from their own home (Activity 1) and read those rule-sentences aloud, directly tying the word 'rule' to their home life. Students sort example statements (e.g., "Share your toys," "Stop at a red light," "Wear your seatbelt") into 'Rules' or 'Laws' categories (Activity 2), making real-life connections between those words and community/home use. Students discuss consequences in a hypothetical "House with No Rules," make a new list of 3–5 home rules, and explain why homes need rules (Activity 3 and Wrapping Up).
Lesson 9
Caring for Our Communities
Students practice handwriting and vocabulary with the words "care" and "citizen," copying sentences that use those words. Students role-play community helpers and respond as people who need help (for example, hearing the word "librarian" and saying they need a book), connecting the job word to a real-life use. Students identify good and bad features in pictured communities, take or draw photos of three things that make their community healthy, and explain why they chose them, linking vocabulary about community life to real situations.
Final Project
I Can Make A Difference
Students are asked to "use words that name and words that tell action" and complete sentence starters (e.g., "I am planning to __," "The first thing I will do is __") when planning their community project. Students list and act in real community places (nursing home, park, soup kitchen) and write reflections describing what they did and how they felt. Reflection prompts ask students to describe enjoyment and effects ("The thing I enjoyed the most was __. I felt __ when doing this project."), which requires them to choose words to describe real experiences.
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 1: Amazing Attributes
Lesson 1
Describe It
Activity 1 asks students to describe objects from a bag using attributes and includes the sample clue "washcloth -- soft, cloth, comes in different colors, something you use in the bathtub," which links descriptive words to real-life use. The Life Application directs students to go into a familiar setting (backyard or home) and describe objects and explain how pairs of objects are similar and different. Activities 2 and 3 use everyday items (banana/apple; milk, tree, lollipop) and ask students to choose or write describing words for those real objects, tying vocabulary to familiar referents.
Lesson 2
Animal Attributes
Students are asked to circle and name living and nonliving items (e.g., lizard, tree, dog, box) and explain how they know which objects are living, connecting the words to real objects. In Activity 2 students identify body parts (wings, fins, legs) and discuss how those parts help animals move (fly, swim, walk), linking the vocabulary to real-world functions. In Activity 3 students sort animals by body coverings (feathers, scales, fur) and are prompted to add additional examples, which connects word categories to real-life animals.
Lesson 3
Size, Shape, and Color
Students are asked to take 5–8 favorite toys, compare their sizes, and organize them on a blanket (Activity 1), directly connecting the word-size to objects in their environment. Students walk around the house to find real objects that match named shapes and draw them, and use the provided activity page to link shape words to real-life examples (Activity 2 and Student Activity Page). The Life Application asks students to organize a row of clothing in the closet by color and to talk during the week about properties of color, shape, and size in relation to objects at home, prompting real-life use of those words.
Lesson 4
How Does It Feel?
Students handle and describe real objects (rock, tissue, aluminum foil; cotton ball, soap, ice cube, blanket, etc.) and record the texture words they use during the blindfold and object-description activities. Students match texture adjectives from a provided word box to pictures of familiar items and write sentences of the form "______ feels ________," practicing the words in context. The Life Application directs students to go to their room or the backyard to select objects and describe their textures, explicitly connecting vocabulary to home and everyday settings.
Lesson 5
How Old?
Students sort family pictures from oldest to youngest and are asked what they look at to determine a person's age, directly linking the words old/young/age to real people. Students go outside to examine trees and use trunk thickness and rings to judge whether a tree is old or young, connecting the word old to a real-life object. Students research animal life spans, draw and label animals with average life spans, and order them from shortest to longest, applying life-span vocabulary to real animals. Students practice writing and using the words "old" and "order" and compose age-related questions, reinforcing how those words are used in real contexts.
Lesson 6
The Measure of Things
Students are asked to discuss what a doctor measures and to give examples of different things that can be measured, linking the words height and weight to real-life contexts. Activity prompts ask students to consider when capacity matters (e.g., how much a product can fit in a box, how much water an aquarium or pool can hold, how much food fits in a baggie). Students choose which glass to use if they were very thirsty and discuss which item they would pack to limit shipping weight, directly connecting measurement vocabulary to everyday choices. The Life Application directs families to discuss times they are measuring things at home and why, reinforcing word use in real-life contexts.
Lesson 7
More Attributes
Students sort and label real objects (attribute blocks and toys) by spoken and written words such as "yellow," "triangle," "soft parts," and "hard parts," and place items into Venn diagram regions accordingly. Students are asked to describe similarities and differences among family members and to name attributes of their toys, connecting descriptive words to real items in their home. The Student Activity Page has students trace and write the word "Venn," reinforcing the vocabulary used to organize real-world attributes.
Lesson 8
Amazing Attributes
Students select 10–15 real objects (many from home or nature), predict whether each will sink or float, and then sort and label them on a sheet as "sink" or "float." Students use a magnet to test everyday items (paper clip, spoon, nail, etc.), recording predictions and results on the "Magnetic or Not?" activity page. The Skills section explicitly directs students to develop and use vocabulary associated with properties of materials and to use descriptive words in speech and writing.
Lesson 9
Solids and Liquids
Students write down explicit definitions for "solid" and "liquid," brainstorm real-world examples, and cut/paste pictures from magazines or the activity page into columns labeled Solid or Liquid. Students examine household items (ice, water, sugar, snacks) and perform home baking to decide whether batter or cookies are solids or liquids. Students sort images on construction paper and on the activity page to connect the vocabulary to real-life objects and situations.
Lesson 10
Earth Materials: Rocks, Soil, and Water
Students complete targeted preposition exercises using pages from Over and Under the Pond and Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, filling blanks (e.g., "The frog jumps ______ the lily pad") and experimenting with different prepositions that work in each sentence. Students brainstorm and record real-world places where water can be found (oceans, lakes, pipes, fountains, sprinklers, etc.), directly linking the word "water" to everyday locations. Students collect and compare two soil samples, describe how the dirt looks/feels/smells using descriptive vocabulary (e.g., moist, sandy, loam), and record those property words in an Earth Materials book, connecting those words to real soil contexts.
Lesson 11
Using Earth Materials
Students keep a Water Log, recording every time they and family members use water (and may take photos), which links the word "water" to concrete uses at home. Students go on a rock scavenger hunt inside and outside the house, listing or photographing rocks and rock-derived items (countertops, landscaping), which connects the words "rock" and "mineral" to everyday objects. Students garden or examine soil properties and discuss how soil supports plant growth and provides oxygen through plants, tying the words "soil" and "plants" to real-life functions.
Final Project
Presenting Attributes
Students review a list of attributes and select real Earth materials to illustrate each attribute (e.g., using a magnet with steel/iron, or rock, cotton ball, and sand to show different textures). Students create posters that label pictures with descriptive words such as "rough," "soft," and "gritty" and write or dictate sentences explaining those labels. Students decide how they will explain each attribute to show similarities and differences and then practice and present their explanations aloud to an audience.
Unit 2: Senses
Lesson 1
My Five Senses
Students use the Senses Word List (tongue/taste, ear/hear, nose/smell, finger/touch, eye/see) and copy the words, creating direct links between vocabulary and sensory use. In Activity 2 students cut out pictures or words (rainbow, pizza, skunk, radio, etc.) and place each item on a web for the sense they would use to experience it. In Activity 3 students think of a real sensing experience, dictate or write four sentences describing how they used a particular sense and label the sense and sense organ. The Life Application prompt asks students to notice during the week which senses they use in real situations.
Lesson 2
Senses and Body Parts
Students listen to "Jackie's Day at the Pet Store" and, as Jackie uses a sense (saw, heard, smelled, touched, tasted), pick up and glue the matching body part on the picture, directly linking sensory words to real-life actions. Students read situational prompts in Activity 2 (smell dinner, see dog sad, pet dog, hear mom calling, taste dinner) and point to the sense organ on their body that they would use, practicing word-to-context mapping. Students create or tell stories in Option 2 and pause to glue sense organs when a sense is used, reinforcing the connection between words and real-life use through expressive practice.
Lesson 3
Smelling and Tasting
Activity 2 has students choose real foods and identify them as sweet, salty, bitter, or sour, then conduct a survey and record Y/N responses and totals, directly linking taste words to real foods and other people's preferences. Activity 3 asks students to label four columns (sweet, bitter, sour, salty) and go through the refrigerator and pantry to illustrate or record which foods fit each category, applying taste words to real-life items. Activity 1 has students describe smells as good or bad and decide whether to taste, connecting descriptive words (good/bad; tastes) to actual sensory experiences.
Lesson 4
Hearing and Seeing
Students close their eyes and listen to sounds and then identify which object or place is being described (Activities 1, 5). Students choose a noisy place, describe it using sound-related words, record their descriptions, and read them aloud for others to guess (Activity 5 extension). Students take a blindfolded listening walk and then an unblindfolded visual walk, record and compare lists of sounds and sights, and describe situations or places where they would use sight or hearing (Activity 7 and Wrapping Up).
Lesson 5
Touch
Students are asked to choose or generate adjectives that describe pictured objects (Activity 1, Options 1 & 2), directly linking descriptive words to concrete items. In Activity 2 (Touch Chart, Option 2) students add two adjectives, draw and label two of their own objects, and check which tactile adjectives apply, explicitly connecting words to things from their environment. In Activity 3 students handle Jell-O ingredients and describe how each ingredient feels, naming sensory words as they experience them.
Lesson 6
Experimenting With Our Senses
Activity 3 asks students to name a favorite flavor, list foods that have that flavor, and tell a story about a time they ate something with that flavor, linking the word "flavor" to real foods and experiences. Activity 2 has students read spice labels, write the spice names (or first letters), create scratch-and-sniff cards, and identify which spice is on each card, linking word labels to smells and culinary use. The Life Application asks students to cook with spices and discuss the smell and taste of the foods, reinforcing real-world uses of sensory vocabulary.
Lesson 7
Using All of Our Senses
Students identify and circle senses used in pictured real-life situations (Activity 1) and tally how many senses each situation uses. On a Nature Walk (Activity 2) students record what they hear, see, smell, and feel and are prompted to notice new things and report what they found. Students look through books to identify ways characters use their senses (Activity 3) and write a sentence about a real observation from their walk (Activity 4). The Wrapping Up prompt asks students what words they can use to communicate what they learn about their environment.
Lesson 8
Writing About Our Senses
Students are prompted to describe real objects (an apple and an ice cube) using sensory adjectives, linking words to real items and sensations. In Activity 2, students examine unpopped and popped popcorn and complete fill-in-the-blank sentences about how the popcorn felt, sounded, smelled, and tasted, directly connecting words to a real-life experience. In Activity 3, students draw a memorable real event and write one sensing word, phrase, or sentence for each of the five senses, explicitly identifying word use in personal, real-life contexts.
Final Project
A Sensible Party
The skills list tells students to "develop and use vocabulary associated with properties of materials (color, size, shape, and texture)" and to "describe how objects look, smell, taste, and sound using your senses," which requires applying words to real items. The Party Planner activity has students write Ideas and Supplies for each sense (touch, see, taste, hear, smell), prompting them to name sensory words tied to real party objects (e.g., cookies = sweet, napkins = soft). The wrap-up questions ask students to explain how guests used their senses and what they have learned about their senses, prompting students to connect sensory words to real experiences at the party.
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 1
You're Special
Students are explicitly taught the word "unique" when asked questions like "What makes you special?" and told "when something is different and special we can call it unique." Students describe themselves and use the vocabulary in sentences and handwriting practice (tracing Uu and the word "unique") and complete a personalized fill-in paragraph that requires applying the word to their own story. Students connect the word to real-life examples by identifying "unique numbers associated with our lives" (house number, shoe size, birth year) and comparing their numbers with others.
Lesson 2
Physical Characteristics
Students are asked to describe how they look and to describe physical characteristics of family members, connecting descriptive words to real people. In Activity 1 and Option 2 students draw or paste eyes, hair, and other features on two figures and then answer questions comparing those traits. Activity 2 and 3 have students retell a story about a ladybug and a caterpillar and discuss the characters' physical characteristics, and Activity 4 asks students to write a sentence, "I have _________," applying descriptive vocabulary to themselves.
Lesson 3
Different Personalities
Students select vocabulary words that describe their own personalities (Activity 1) and circle the words that fit them, explaining meanings when prompted. Students apply those same words to real people by creating personality webs for themselves and a friend/sibling, pasting or writing trait words and circling words they share (Activity 2). Students also describe personalities of characters from movies or books (Activity 3), practice the word "quiet" in handwriting and use personality words in a song, all of which require linking words to real people, characters, and contexts.
Lesson 4
Interests and Hobbies
Students are asked to describe a hobby in writing and to share that hobby with someone else, which requires using words to explain real activities. The Hobby Survey prompts students to ask and record real people's responses about their hobbies (What is your hobby? How often do you do your hobby?), connecting words to real-life behaviors. The handwriting activity asks students to use the words you and yes in a sentence, which has students practice using words in context.
Lesson 5
Shapesville
Students are prompted to name and describe physical characteristics, personality traits, hobbies, and interests on the "What Is Your Shape?" worksheet (color, "funny," "play soccer," "space"). Students select a shape that represents themselves and explain why they chose it (Activity 2) and select shapes to represent each family member and explain those choices (Activity 3). Students draw or paste their face on the shape, dictate or write short descriptions, and share their shape design and description with family members.
Lesson 6
Different Families
Students are asked to draw illustrations for labeled boxes titled Water, Food, Shelter, and Health, linking those words to real-life examples. Students are given a definition and example for the word responsibility and asked to name their own responsibilities in the family. Students compare their family to families in the book using sentence prompts and a Venn diagram that require them to use and write the word different and to connect descriptions in the text to their own family experience.
Lesson 7
Different Homes
Students read and identify different homes and are asked to name the materials used to build their own home, connecting material words (stones, mud, wood) to real examples. In Activity 1 students read and match comparative vocabulary (big, bigger, biggest; small, smaller, smallest; tall, taller, tallest; long, longer, longest) to pictures of real objects and either color or write the correct word beneath each picture. In the Life Application and Build a Home activities students look for homes in their town or online and record country names and details, discussing materials and features while labeling or drawing homes.
Lesson 8
Different Holidays and Traditions
Students are asked to name holidays their family celebrates and explain what they enjoy, directly linking the word 'holiday' to their real-life experience. In Activity 1 students match traditions with specific holidays and discuss why their family celebrates (or does not), connecting the vocabulary term 'tradition' to real practices. In Activities 4 and 5 students place holiday graphics on calendar dates and create a Book of Holidays with sentences describing how each holiday is celebrated, tying holiday words to real dates and actions.
Lesson 9
Different Modes of Transportation
Students are asked to draw a box around each mode of transportation they have taken and talk about where they went, directly linking transportation words to their real experiences. In the "Getting from Point A to Point B" activity, students choose or write the best mode of transportation for specific real-world scenarios, connecting word labels to practical use. In Activity 3 students draw themselves using a chosen mode to an appropriate destination and tell a story about the trip, reinforcing real-life connections between the transportation words and situations; the handwriting prompt has students write sentences using vehicle words and objects.
Lesson 10
Wants and Needs
Students sort pictured words (car, home, water, meal, computer, bike, basketball, etc.) as wants or needs (Activity 1). In Activity 4 students survey four people, record two wants and two needs for each person, and then discuss and rearrange items that may have been miscategorized. Activity 5 asks students to draw real sources of water, shelter, food, clothing, education, love and care, and health for a boy, and Activity 2 has students find, sort, and donate clothes and toys to connect words to real actions.
Lesson 11
Being Part of a Group
Students sort attribute blocks and cut out/organize pictures of children into groups, applying the words "group" and "member" to concrete items and people. In Activity 2 students draw members of a group and complete prompted sentences (e.g., "One group I belong to is ___; The group does ___"), linking those words directly to their own lives. In Activity 3 students brainstorm real community groups and discuss each group's purpose, connecting the vocabulary about groups to real-life examples.
Final Project
Differences Make the World Go 'Round
The activity pages prompt students to complete sentences that link words to real contexts (e.g., "I like to eat _______ from _______," "I wear _______") and to illustrate those words. Students create comparisons for foods, clothing, homes, transportation, and holidays between themselves and a child from another country, explicitly connecting vocabulary items to people and places. Students are encouraged to share the book and meet someone from the chosen country, which supports using those words in real-life interactions.
3: Patterns
Unit 1: Identifying and Creating Visual Patterns
Lesson 1
What Is a Pattern?
Students are asked directly, "Have you ever seen a pattern? Where? What are some places where patterns can be found?" and prompted to identify patterns in the story Busy Bugs (e.g., spider webs) and in nature. Students describe and explain patterns aloud (e.g., "butterfly, ant, butterfly, ant...") and are asked to use sequencing language such as "First, there is ___. Next, there is ___." in both oral descriptions and handwriting practice. Multiple activities require students to locate, name, and explain patterns found in real contexts (home/nature/objects) and to color or group items to match those real-life instances.
Lesson 3
What Comes Next?
Activity 2 explicitly asks students to review the concept of "thick" and "thin" by examining the thickness of a variety of books, and then to describe lines in pictured shapes as thick or thin. Students are asked whether a pencil or a marker would be better to draw a new outer shape, linking choice of drawing tool to the word meaning. The introduction defines "extend" and asks students to explain what it means and how to extend a pattern, connecting the word to the action of making a pattern longer.
Lesson 4
Extending a Pattern
Students read written patterns that use everyday object words (e.g., fork, spoon, crayon, marker, penny, paper clip) and gather those real objects to recreate and extend patterns. Students complete prompts that require naming the first, second, or third object in a sequence, and Option 2 explicitly asks students to write the names of the objects they used on a separate sheet. Activities ask students to select objects from home (e.g., forks, pennies, Legos) and use their names while building and describing patterns.
Lesson 5
Making Color Patterns
Students are asked to use color words (or the first letter) to show patterns in writing (e.g., Y, R, Y, R) and to describe the patterns they create with stickers and beads. The skills list explicitly includes using words that describe color, size, and location, and activities have students demonstrate color patterns using blocks, counting bears, and colored shapes. Students also write or copy a sentence describing something they created, linking vocabulary to concrete objects they made.
Lesson 6
Shapes and Patterns
Students are asked to gather a variety of same-shaped household objects and create patterns, explicitly linking shape words (e.g., circle, rectangle) to real items like clocks, plates, and remotes. Students are prompted to describe patterns aloud using shape and attribute words and to label shapes with letters (A, B, C), reinforcing use of shape vocabulary in real contexts. Students practice writing the words shape, color, and size on handwriting paper, connecting the written words to their use when identifying object attributes.
Lesson 8
Creating and Writing About Patterns
Students use a provided word list of real objects (eye, apple, worm, nose, etc.) to write the first letter or full word for pattern creation and to illustrate those objects in the AABB, ABAB, and ABC activity sections. Activity 4 asks students to collect a variety of objects (blocks, paper clips, pencils, stuffed animals) — potentially from home — and then create and describe patterns with those real items. Activity 5 and the Describe the Pattern page prompt students to name the items in a pattern and write sentences such as "This pattern is made up of __________, __________, and __________," and to state which item comes before/after another.
Final Project
Patterns Poster or Patterns Presentation
Students are prompted to name and label seven types of patterns (color pattern, shape pattern, object pattern, etc.) and to record the materials they will use beside each pattern name. Students write scripted descriptions for each pattern (e.g., lines beginning with "colors" and blanks such as "The third pattern I will show is a _____") and then demonstrate those patterns with real materials on a poster or in a presentation. Students choose and place physical objects (beads, buttons, construction paper, number stickers) to represent the words that name each pattern.
Unit 2: Patterns in Sounds, Words, and Actions
Lesson 1
Word Patterns
In Activity 4, students copy or dictate the names of animals from the Bear Hugs text and identify the habitat where each animal lives, then cut out the animal names and sort them into habitat groups. The extension asks students to make habitat pictures and draw the animals in the appropriate setting, reinforcing the link between the word (animal name) and its real-life place. The Life Application also prompts students to identify patterns and rhyming words as they read stories, which encourages noticing word use in context.
Lesson 4
Sentence Patterns
Students make and read sentences using familiar nouns and verbs drawn from home and family (e.g., mom, dad, dog, plant; runs, eats, types) in the Making Sentences activity. Students act out and describe real-life actions (e.g., "Mom is folding the clothes," "Mom is typing on her computer," "Mom is opening the door") and then form and record sentences about those actions. Students pick nouns and verbs from lists and combine them (Activity 5) and identify nouns and verbs in simple picture-book sentences, connecting words to real people, places, and actions.
Lesson 5
Story Patterns
The lesson asks students to describe and write or illustrate their morning routine, listing steps like getting out of bed, getting dressed, eating breakfast, and brushing teeth, which connects the concept of a pattern to real-life events. Activities prompt students to create their own stories and to describe the beginning, middle, and end, encouraging them to link story vocabulary (beginning/middle/end, before/after) to real events they experience or invent. The Life Application directs students to describe story patterns as they read and tell stories, reinforcing connections between sequencing words and everyday storytelling.
Lesson 6
Sound Patterns
Students listen to sound sequences and name the sounds used (e.g., clap, stomp) and identify the pattern type (ABAB, AABB). They record sound patterns on the "Listen Carefully" page and write about a sound pattern they heard using handwriting practice. Students connect the vocabulary for sounds and the term "rhythm/pattern" to real-life music and movement by identifying patterns in songs like the Chicken Dance and Hokey Pokey and by discussing sound patterns heard in music.
Lesson 7
Making Sound and Action Patterns
Students cut out labeled sound words paired with pictures (smack, stomp, slap, clap, tap) and place them to form patterns, then perform or listen to the sounds those words represent. Students take turns making and imitating action patterns (e.g., pat head, tap shoulders) that tie action words to physical motions. Students write or copy a sentence describing a pattern they made, using the words in a real-action context, and are prompted to make or use instruments from household items to produce the sounds.
Unit 3: Patterns in Your World
Lesson 1
Patterns in Nature
Activity 1 asks students to identify and describe the pattern in each picture and to say which patterns they have seen before, prompting them to link the word "pattern" to real-world examples. Activity 2 has students cut out and paste labeled pattern samples onto the animals where those patterns occur or create patterns by looking in books/online, linking pattern vocabulary (e.g., stripes, polka dots, scales) to real objects. Activity 3 asks students to find images of nature patterns, draw and label 3–5 favorite patterns, and color them to match real examples, reinforcing word-to-world connections.
Lesson 2
Patterns of Growth
Students label parts of a plant using the Word Box (root, stem, leaf, petal) and are asked to identify initial letters or sound out the words. Students go outdoors to find and pull up plants to observe roots and other parts, then draw examples, directly connecting vocabulary to real plants. Students draw their planted seed over time and write sentences describing how the plant is changing, and they organize personal photos from baby to present while describing stages using words like baby, child, and adult.
Lesson 3
Night and Day
Students are asked to think about activities associated with day and night and to draw a picture and write sentences about something they do "During the Day" and "At Night" (Activity 3). The Life Application prompts students to point out activities they participate in during the day versus at night, connecting the words "day" and "night" to real-life routines. The globe/flashlight experiment and follow-up questions ask students to describe when it is daytime and nighttime where they live, reinforcing the use of the words in real contexts.
Lesson 4
Daily Routines
Students label and sequence pictured morning activities (e.g., get dressed, eat breakfast) and add a personal activity in the blank space, connecting words to their own morning actions. Students dictate or write sentences describing each step of another routine and can choose an object or gesture to represent each step, linking words to real-life actions. Students record times and activities in the daily schedule using words or simple symbols, pairing vocabulary with real-world contexts (e.g., 7:00 am — wake up).
Lesson 5
Calendar Patterns
Students fill in day names and record their scheduled daily activities (Activity 1), directly linking the words for days to real-life routines. Students record family activities on a monthly calendar and are asked to find events that occur weekly, biweekly, or monthly (Activity 4), connecting time-related words to recurring real events. Students practice writing dates with the day of week, month, and year (Activity 3) and order and review day and month words on a poster (Activity 5), using those words in everyday contexts.
Lesson 6
Seasonal Weather Patterns
Students are asked to select the weather that describes the day and circle it on a laminated calendar, connecting the word for the weather to the real situation. Students record weather words (cold, warm, cool, hot) beneath the season that they describe on the "Weather Patterns" page, matching vocabulary to months and seasons. Students discuss weather in their state and how places like Florida have different weather, connecting weather words to real geographic contexts.
Lesson 7
Patterns at Home
Students identify and describe specific pattern types from a book (checkerboard, repeating, circular, tread) during a pattern scavenger hunt. Students go to closets and other rooms to find and name patterns on clothing, dishes, pillows, quilts and fabric. Students name shapes, count sides and angles on quilt pieces, and color according to directions. Students write or dictate a sentence that describes a pattern found in their closet.
Lesson 8
Symmetrical Patterns
Students are asked to look closely at a butterfly and describe the pattern in its wings, connecting the word "symmetrical" to a real-life example. The Life Application directs students to look for symmetry in objects around the house and outside, prompting them to identify where the word applies in their environment. Wrapping up questions ask students to describe examples of shapes, letters, or objects that are symmetrical or not, and a handwriting task has students write a sentence using the term and noting lines of symmetry.
Lesson 10
Tracing Patterns
The lesson asks students to identify the holiday associated with each pattern (Activity 2) and to count and recreate holiday shapes (heart, Christmas tree, egg). The Skills section explicitly lists "Identify customs and symbols associated with holidays (SS)," and activities ask students to use attribute blocks to recreate and tell stories about objects, linking symbols to real-world referents.
Lesson 11
Patterns in Graphs
Students are asked to recall graphs they have seen in previous lessons, books, or on the computer and to discuss what information could be found on those graphs, connecting the term "graph" to real examples. Students are introduced to the word "data" and asked to point out examples of data in graphs and to explain what titles and axis labels mean, practicing vocabulary use in context. Students conduct a sink-or-float experiment, record results as "sink" or "float" (or S/F), and write a sentence describing whether an object sank or floated, using those words in a real activity.
Final Project
Patterns All Around Lapbook
The lesson prompts students to identify where patterns are found in their environment and asks them to name different types of patterns they have found. Students label and create mini-books with words tied to real-world examples (e.g., writing "Pattern in Nature" and pasting a nature photo, labeling the four seasons and ordering them, writing days of the week on fan blades). Students also label stages of growth (baby, child, adult or seed, plant, flower) and match those labels with drawings or cut-out pictures.
4: Change
Unit 1: Changes on Planet Earth
Lesson 1
What Causes Change?
Students are asked to observe changes at home and identify examples of cause and effect (Activity 1 and Life Application). Students classify pictured scenarios as "fast" or "slow" and are prompted to record and illustrate their own fast and slow changes (Activity 2). Students draw a before-and-after and complete sentences about a change they saw, including why it changed and how long it took (Activity 3). The skills list also notes that students will use naming words and action words, supporting application of vocabulary in context.
Lesson 2
What Changed?
The lesson defines the word "location" and asks the child to state their current location (e.g., in the kitchen, in the house), directly linking the word to a real-life context. In Activity 2 students examine picture pairs and decide which attributes changed (weight, color, size, amount, location), using those vocabulary words to describe real images. In Activity 3 students perform real actions (change amount, change color, change size, change location, change weight), applying the target words to concrete situations.
Lesson 3
Changing Position
Students are prompted in the Introduction to name actions (picking up a spoon, throwing or rolling a ball) and to label those actions as pulls or pushes, connecting the words to immediate real-life actions. Activity 2 has students cut out and sort pictures into actions that require pushing or pulling, directly linking the words to everyday behaviors. Day 2 Activity 4 asks students to examine toys in their room, place each toy on a Push / Pull / Push and Pull page, and demonstrate the motions, making explicit connections between vocabulary and students' real-life objects. Activity 5 has students observe their neighborhood and list examples (wind moving leaves, animals moving objects) that tie the words for forces to real-world occurrences.
Lesson 4
Changes in the Environment
Activity 1 asks students to name types of weather (hot, cold, rainy, windy) and to read real situations (e.g., heavy rain during a soccer game, snow and icy roads) and say how the weather word describes a real-life change that causes them to change activities. Activity 3 has students practice quantifier words (none, some, more, most, couple, few) with physical objects in cups and put the cups in order, applying those words to real items. Activity 2 has students label and color trees for each season and spin a seasonal wheel, linking the season words to observable changes in the environment.
Lesson 5
Changes in Location
Students move a stuffed animal and describe its new position (e.g., under the table) and complete preposition blanks on the "Where Did He Go?" wheel, using a word box or writing prepositional phrases. In "Mouse in the House," students physically place a cut-out mouse in locations named in sentences (in front of the TV, under the coffee table, between the pillows, etc.) and are prompted to write simple sentences describing those positions. The "Nature Relations" and Wrapping Up activities require students to go outside or around the house and write or follow directions that describe real objects in real places (e.g., "The bush is beside the tree," "Stand behind the door").
Lesson 6
Changes in the Sky
Students are asked to list adjectives and phrases to describe the Sun and the Moon (Activity 1), allowing them to attach words to real celestial objects. Students go outside to observe the Moon and discuss where the Sun is at different points in the day (Life Application), connecting descriptive words like "shining" and "sunlight" to real-life observations. Students discuss why the Sun is important to plants and how sunlight affects food and oxygen, linking the word "sunlight" to concrete real-world effects.
Lesson 7
Living Things Change
Students are asked to identify and circle words that describe changes (number, size, shape, place) for pictured examples, directly linking those vocabulary words to real-world pictures. Students are given and apply the term "camouflage," being asked to explain how and why a lizard or snowshoe hare changes color to match its environment. Students are prompted to go to the zoo, park, or backyard and talk about observed changes, which encourages using change-related words in real-world contexts.
Lesson 8
Plants and Change
Students are asked directly "What are some things plants are used for?" and expected to answer with real-life uses (food, clothing, homes for animals). Activity 7 directs students to go into the yard and the kitchen to find flowers and seeds and to discuss ways we use seeds and flowers in everyday life. Activity 1 and the experiment (Activity 6) have students make predictions and describe outcomes tied to common contexts (windowsill vs. closet, watering vs. not watering), reinforcing practical word-use connections about plant needs.
Lesson 9
Heat Causes Change
Students are given a word box containing the words "ice," "steam," and "water" and are asked to draw, label, and order these states of matter from cold to hot, directly connecting those words to real-life observations (Activity 1). The Life Application prompt asks students to identify ways that their family uses heat and to explain how heat can cause changes, prompting students to link the word "heat" to home contexts. Activity 2 has students measure and record candle height using labels like "paper clips" and "inches," connecting measurement vocabulary to real measurements.
Lesson 10
Chemical Changes
Students engage in hands-on activities (breaking and cooking eggs; mixing baking soda and vinegar) that use everyday objects to illustrate the meaning of the terms "physical change" and "chemical change." Students complete a worksheet that asks them to categorize paired real-life items (new/rusty bicycle, apple/chopped apple, balloon/blown-up balloon, cupcake batter/cupcake, bottle/shattered bottle, bread/toast) as either physical or chemical and are prompted to explain their choices. The wrap-up asks students to describe the difference between the two terms and give an example of each from everyday life.
Lesson 11
People Change the Environment
The lesson gives explicit definitions for reduce, reuse, and recycle and provides real-life examples (e.g., using a reusable water bottle, taking shorter showers) that connect those words to everyday actions. Activity 2 has students discuss which materials can be recycled and sort pictured items into a recycling bin or trash can, directly linking the vocabulary to concrete objects. The Life Application asks students to check family recycling practices or set up a home recycling plan and to point out ways people change the environment on a walk, prompting students to apply the words in real household and community contexts.
Final Project
Mobile of Change
Students write and label a central title "CHANGES" and use vocabulary in speech and writing as part of the mobile project. Students draw or paste real examples in before/after boxes for labeled categories (Animal Change, Plant Change, Physical Change, Chemical Change), connecting those category words to real-world examples. Students explain their mobile to family members, verbally linking the category words to concrete instances (e.g., Moon vs. Sun for day/night).
Unit 2: Characters Change
Lesson 1
What's in a Name
Students listen for target words in the story and guess their meanings from context during the Vocabulary activity, then match their guesses to the correct definitions. The teacher has students identify and underline the suffixes "-less" and "-ful," and students are given example words (fearless, careless, beautiful, helpful) to see how those endings change word meaning. In the Feeling Phrases activity, students read descriptive phrases and identify what those phrases tell the reader about Chrysanthemum's feelings, linking words/phrases to emotional states.
Lesson 2
Why Worry?
The introduction asks students to share things they worry about, prompting them to connect the word worried to their own experiences. Activity 1 has students combine everyday sentences (e.g., I had bacon for breakfast. I had eggs for breakfast.) using conjunctions, so students practice using words in familiar, real-life contexts. The Life Application prompt asks students to apply Wemberly as a reminder next time they worry, reinforcing a real-life connection for the concept of worrying.
Lesson 3
Is It a Problem?
The lesson explicitly teaches idioms and personification (Activity 1), explaining phrases like "tackle the problem" and giving examples such as "under the weather" and "I'm all ears," connecting those phrases to their real-world meanings. Students are asked to look through the book and illustrate how the problem changes (linking the figurative depiction to real events in the story). Activity 2 has students brainstorm real problems they are facing and identify what is within their control and steps to tackle the problem, linking the word "problem" and related actions to their own lives.
Lesson 5
The Raft
Students complete a vocabulary matching activity where they read sentences from the story and select definitions (e.g., 'cluttered,' 'mumbled,' 'drift'), showing attention to how words are used in context. Students discuss idiomatic phrases in Activity 6 (e.g., "She had eyes in the back of her head," "finding presents under a Christmas tree") and are asked to interpret what the phrases really mean. The introduction asks students to share memories of time spent with grandparents, providing an opportunity to connect story language to personal experience.
Lesson 6
Positive and Negative Change
Students cut apart short cause-and-effect statements (e.g., "you don't brush your teeth" -> "you get a cavity") and match them, glue them with an arrow, and label each as a positive or negative effect, linking the words in the statements to everyday situations. In Activity 3 students recall a personal change, illustrate the cause and effect, and write or dictate sentences describing the change and the choices they made, applying words to their own real-life experience. The lesson also models more expressive word choices (e.g., alternatives for "sad" and "happy") to show nuances in how feelings can be described.
Unit 3: A First Look at History - Change Over Time
Lesson 1
People and Families Change
Students create and discuss a growth chart and answer questions using comparative words (e.g., "When were you the shortest?", "When were you the tallest?", "Between which two years did you grow the most?"). Students write a sentence about one way they have changed (Activity 3) and dictate/write responses on the "Writing About Change" page using prompts such as "My family used to..." and "Then ___ changed." Students label names and ages and describe future family changes (Activity 6), placing words about age, size, and change into real-life family contexts.
Lesson 2
Understanding Time
The skills list and activities prompt students to connect time vocabulary to their own lives (skill: "Connect information and events in text to own experience"). Activity 1 asks students to record the date for yesterday, today, and tomorrow and to write/draw things they did or will do in those time frames. Activity 2 asks targeted questions (e.g., "Were you born in the past, present, or future?", "Did dinosaurs live in the past?") and has students sort units of time and place events in chronological order.
Lesson 3
Communities Change
Students are taught the term "chronological order," say the phrase three times, and then put events from The House on Maple Street into chronological order (Activities 2/Option 1 & 2). Students are given the definition of "artifact," identify artifacts in the story, draw artifacts, and are asked to think of an object to bury for someone in the future to find (Activity 6). In Activity 3 students compare transportation, clothing, and homes across time, linking vocabulary for community features to concrete pictures and pasted examples.
Lesson 4
Past and Present
Students are asked to "use vocabulary related to time and chronology ('first,' 'before,' 'after,' 'next,' and 'last')" and to "connect information and events in text to own experience." Students cut out and place time-period labels on a timeline, order images of homes/transportation/clothing from earliest to most recent, and answer questions about how people dressed, lived, and traveled in the past versus today. Students also draw themselves in a historical time period and write or dictate sentences describing how life in the past was different.
Lesson 6
Predicting Future Change
The lesson explicitly defines vocabulary: "Positive means something is good. Negative means something is not good." Students read multiple real-life scenarios (moving to a new town, brushing teeth, sharing toys, changing friends) and are asked to decide whether predicted outcomes are positive or negative. In Activity 2 students label each change with a "P" or "N" and write sentences describing one positive change and one negative change and their results, using the vocabulary in real contexts.
Final Project
My Past, Present and Future
The lesson explicitly lists using vocabulary related to time and chronology ("first," "before," "after," "next," and "last") and has students place events in chronological order. Multiple student pages ask students to write and illustrate "In the past...", "Now...", and "In the future...", and an "My Home" page asks students to describe their home in past, present, and future. Option 2 asks students to write "In the past __________" and "Today __________" for cultural elements, which requires applying those time words to real-life contexts.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 1
Letter Sounds Review I
Students are asked to identify objects from a video that begin with the short /a/ sound (apple, ant, ambulance) and to distinguish that 'angry' names a feeling rather than a tangible object (Activity 1.2). The Life Application explicitly asks students to look for objects that begin with reviewed letter sounds around the home, neighborhood, or grocery store, prompting real-world connections. Multiple activities have students build and read words that name real objects (cat, map, cap, sap) and use a reader (Tap and Pat) to practice using words in simple, everyday actions.
Lesson 2
Letter Sounds Review II
The Life Application asks students to create a Word Wall in their home and add index-card words they want to spell, connecting words to real places in the house. Activity 2.2 explicitly defines "bin" as something we put things in like a box, linking a word to a real object. Activity 5.3 asks students to read The Pig Can and answer "Do you think the pig and the cat can fit in the box?" requiring students to apply word meanings to a real-world scenario. Several picture-to-word tasks (Writing Words, Beginning/Ending Letters) have students identify objects and write the corresponding words, linking words to concrete items.
Lesson 3
Letter Sounds Review III
Students are invited in the Life Application to look for words they know in their environment (picture books, signs, billboards). Across activities students identify pictures and write the matching words (Day 5 Writing Words) and sort pictures by vowel sounds (Activity 2.2), linking written words to real objects. The reader activity (The Bug) has students read about concrete actions (hop, jog, nap) and answer questions connecting words to events in the story.
Lesson 4
Letter Sounds Review IV
The Life Application section asks the child to look for objects that begin with known sounds (e.g., find things that start with /f/) and to play an "I Spy" game during real-world activities like grocery shopping. The guidance gives concrete examples of grocery items (beans, bread, bananas, bar soap, bags of fruit) that the child should identify by name and initial sound. The lesson also suggests finding items by color (things that are yellow) as another way to connect words to real-world objects.
Lesson 5
Adding s, More Word Families, Ending with ck
Students match written words to pictures and count objects in Activity 3.2, writing plural forms (e.g., labeling pictures of dogs, pigs, mugs, hens). Students read and discuss word meanings as directed in multiple word-family activities (e.g., "Explain the meanings of the words as needed" in Activities 2.2, 3.3, and 4.2). The Life Application asks students to read the Word Wall and add words they are interested in knowing how to spell, prompting connection to words they encounter outside the lesson.
Lesson 6
Open Syllables and Digraph th
Students name and identify pictured objects (coat, ham, house, etc.) and place them under t, h, or th columns (Activity 4.1), which connects written words to real-world objects. Students read and answer comprehension prompts about the reader (This Is...) including which animal they would prefer as a pet, linking word meanings to personal experience (Activity 5.2). The Life Application asks families to play a rhyming game at home, encouraging students to use words in a home context.
Lesson 7
Consonant Digraphs ch, sh, wh, ph
Students name and match pictures to digraph words during picture-sorting and Fill-in-the-Blanks activities (e.g., cheese, phone, shell) and glue them into columns, linking words to pictured real objects. Students use sight words in sentences (for example, 'I root for the ___' and 'They are my favorite team') and answer reader comprehension questions (e.g., where the ship is, why characters are wet), connecting words to story contexts. Students hear adult explanations and examples of word meanings (for example, an adult models the meaning of 'whim' with 'I bought the toy on a whim') and are prompted to create silly sentences that place words in everyday situations.
Lesson 8
Blends with s
The Life Application section asks students to look for objects that start with the blends at home and suggests collecting objects or making a collage, directly prompting real-life word-object connections. Activity 4.3 asks students to answer why characters stop for a snack and what snack they would want, prompting students to relate story vocabulary to their own experiences. Multiple activities require students to name pictured real-world items and sort or glue those pictures into columns by their beginning blends, reinforcing the connection between words and real objects.
Lesson 9
Blends with l
Students answer reader questions that ask them to relate the text to their own experience (e.g., "If you were in the club, what fun things would you want to do?"). Students create and complete sentences that refer to real-world items and places (e.g., "The fox sat by the _____", "The _____ have a sled", sentences about a dock, sled, ducks) and are asked to use and explain temporal words like "have" and "had" with "today" and "yesterday." Students participate in a life-application activity naming words that start with a blend, connecting blends to familiar objects.
Lesson 10
Blends with r
Students are asked to explain meanings of words and to spell words that refer to real objects or places (e.g., "bricks" as things you might build a house with; "track" as a place you might run a race). The reader comprehension questions ask students to identify real locations in the story (the dock, the track) and to relate personally by answering which activity they are best at (hopping, swimming, running). Several activities prompt students to name pictured items (bread, frog, truck, crab) and to match those words to categories, linking words to real-world referents.
Lesson 11
Ending Blends
Students read the reader At Camp and answer comprehension questions that ask them to identify what kids do at camp and to state which camp activity would be their favorite, linking words in the text to real camp activities. Students name pictures (lamp, tent, hand, stump, etc.) and cut/sort those pictures into columns labeled by ending blends, connecting written words to pictured real-world objects. Multiple activities ask students to read words and explain their meanings as needed, which involves matching word forms to real-life referents.
Lesson 12
Double ll, ss, ff, zz (FLOSS)
Students name pictures and then write the corresponding words (Activity 3.2), connecting words to real-world objects like grass, dress, and a sniffing dog. Students are asked to "spell the word for" real things (boss, glass, well) and to spell words that refer to everyday places and items (mall, dress, doll) in dictation and word-building activities. Students use sight words in contextual sentences (They were all doing what they wanted; The kids shop at the mall) and practice distinguishing tense with real-time examples (Yesterday we were... Today we are...).
Lesson 13
Glued Sounds ng and nk
Students make sentences using word cards that include real-world nouns and places (pond, camp, tent, truck, etc.), requiring them to place words in contextual situations. The Life Application activity asks students to roll a die and say a real word that ends with a given blend, with examples such as "lamp" that tie words to household objects. Reader comprehension questions (e.g., where the king and his friends sleep; what color drinks they drink) require students to connect words in the text to real-life contexts.
Lesson 14
Three-Letter Beginning Blends
Students are asked to name actions from the reader and relate them to the story (e.g., answer "What do the kids do at the track?" and "What do the kids do at the pond?"). The lesson prompts students to explain word meanings and to match words to pictures in the Fill-in-the-Blanks and activity pages (e.g., identifying shrimp, string, splash from images). The teacher models real-use meaning for a sight word by telling the child that "there" is used like "over there," and the Life Application asks students to describe things they like to do in spring or make up sentences that place words in contexts (e.g., "The shrimp shrank in the shrub").
Lesson 15
More Ending Blends
Students are given explicit, real-world explanations for some words (for example, they are told that a "pact" is an agreement and shown an example of making a pact with a friend). Students are taught the usage difference between "a" and "an" and asked to watch a video and look for the sight word "use," which connects word form to its use in context. Students write and read dictated sentences that place words in everyday situations (e.g., "An elk slept on the bed," "The rafts drift on the pond"), and students answer comprehension questions about a short reader that evokes real experiences (a raft trip).
Lesson 16
R-Controlled Vowels (ar)
Students answer real-world comprehension questions after reading the reader (e.g., "What else might you find in a barn on a farm?"; "What else might you do when it's dark?"), linking words to everyday contexts. Students are prompted to spell words by identifying their real-world referents (e.g., "Spell the word for the sound a dog might make (bark)"; "Spell the word for something you might wear around your neck on a cold day (scarf)"). Students generate and use question words in personal contexts (Activity 1.3 asks students to come up with questions using which/what/when and the Student Activity Page asks about favorite color, lunch time, cookie preference, etc.).
Lesson 17
Semester Review
Students read and underline "there" and "their" in sentences that name real places and possessions (e.g., "There is my friend's house," "The library is over there," "Their house is down the street"), requiring them to connect word meaning to place and ownership. Students spell and read words from real-life prompts (e.g., rink, milk, barn, king), linking vocabulary to everyday objects and locations. Students identify articles "a" or "an" for pictured items (banana, apple, dog, ant), saying each word aloud so they match word form to real-world referents, and are encouraged to find books at home or the library as a life application activity.
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 1
Long Vowels a and i with Silent e
Students are asked to distinguish the homophones "there" and "their," hear explanations that "there" refers to a place and "their" shows possession, and point to the correct word in sentences (Activity 1.3). Students name pictured real-world objects before writing the corresponding word (multiple activity pages) and build/read words that label familiar items like kite, bike, tape, and cake (Activities 2.1, 3.3, 5.1). Students are asked to identify activities characters do in the story (sprint, hike, fly kites, bake cakes) and to point to real-word examples in the weekly message, linking words to real activities and places (Activity 5.1; Wrapping Up).
Lesson 2
Long Vowels o, u, and e with Silent e
Students name pictured real-world objects (bed, desk, hose, cube, mop, boat, etc.) and sort them into columns for short vs. long vowel sounds, connecting words to tangible items. Students read and answer comprehension questions about a story (They Chose To Doze), identifying what the family did on their trip (rode in a car, ate snacks, slept, rode mules, used a hose). Students write and read dictated sentences that describe real actions or uses ("They use the hose on the grass." "I can stack these cubes."). The Life Application activity asks students to produce long-vowel words they know and generate rhymes, linking vocabulary to words they recognize and use.
Lesson 3
Hard and Soft c and g
The lesson's Life Application asks students to look for words in their environment (food labels, street signs, billboards) and decide whether the letters c and g have soft or hard sounds, prompting real-world word identification. Multiple activities (sorting pages, highlighting the letter after c or g, and reading the reader) require students to find and judge words and their pronunciations, which students are asked to apply beyond the worksheet. Activity prompts also ask students to name words that begin with c and g and to read words in the Weekly Message, connecting classroom practice with words they might encounter outside school.
Lesson 4
More R-Controlled Vowels (er, ir, or, ur)
The Life Application activity asks students to lay out a line of real objects (e.g., stuffed animals or shoes), turn over ordinal-word index cards (first, second, third, fourth) and point to the object in that position, directly linking ordinal words to physical, real-life items. Activity 1.3 asks students which sight words they use most often to read or write and has them read and use new sight words in sentences, prompting reflection on real-world usage. The Fill-in-the-Blanks and picture-based worksheets require students to name pictured real-world objects (barn, fork, bird, shirt, worm) and fill in vowel combinations, connecting printed words to everyday items and contexts.
Lesson 5
Long a Spellings ai, ay
Students read and use target words in real-life sentences (Activity 2.3 Fill in the Blanks) such as "Dad will spray us with a hose" and "The dogs stay in the yard," connecting word meaning to everyday situations. Adults prompt students to explain word meanings (Activity 1.2 explains "male" vs. "tale"; Activity 3.1 explains "maid") so students relate spellings to real-world referents. The reader discussion (Activity 5.1) asks students to answer questions about story events and to reflect on rainy days, prompting personal connections between words and students' experiences.
Lesson 6
Long e Spellings ee, ey, ea
Students play an explicit life-application game ('I Spy' using long vowel sounds) that asks them to find real objects (e.g., pole, hose) matching vowel sounds. Students read and compare words with different meanings in real life (e.g., read 'see' vs. 'sea' and are told 'sea' means ocean) and then read sentences that use those words in context. Students answer reader comprehension questions about what worms and birds eat and discuss foods they like, connecting vocabulary (eat, meal, beans) to everyday experiences. Students build and read sentences from word cards, applying words to meaningful sentence contexts.
Lesson 7
Long i Spellings y, igh, ie
Students use words in contextual, real-life sentences (e.g., "Turn right to get home," "We might go swim in the lake," "The kite was high in the sky") and answer comprehension questions about what characters see and dream in a story. Students are asked to explain word meanings as needed, to read and use sight words in a word search, and to tell a family member what they know about ways to spell long i and give examples. Activities also prompt students to select words that match real-world prompts (e.g., spell the word that is the opposite of wet: dry; spell the word that birds and planes do in the air: fly).
Lesson 8
Long o Spellings ow, oa, oe
Students name and write words that correspond to pictures (Activity 3.1: Writing oa Words) — e.g., boat, coat, road, toast, soap — connecting written words to pictured real objects. Students answer a comprehension prompt about real experience (Activity 5.1): "If you were on a boat, would you want it to go fast or slow?" which asks them to relate a word/object to a personal real-life preference. In word-building and spelling tasks (Day 2 Group 1 and Word Scramble), students are asked to spell words tied to everyday actions or items (e.g., "throw" for something you might do with a ball, "bowl" for the dish you eat cereal from), requiring them to link words with real-world objects or actions.
Lesson 9
Long u Spellings ue, ew, ou
Students read and respond to sight-word sentences that place words in real contexts (Activity 1.3: "Who has been to camp?" and "Who has been in the water at camp?"). Students complete fill-in-the-blank sentences that refer to real-world objects and settings (Activity 2.2: sky, paint/hue, girls make art with glue). Students answer and generate personal, real-life responses about objects and actions (Activity 5.1: reading Would You Eat It? and answering "If you were going to make a funny stew, what would you put in it?").
Lesson 10
Other Long Vowel Patterns
Students are given word meanings with real-life examples (e.g., "'Mild' means gentle or calm. We might say a food is mild because it's not spicy, or we might say that a warm, clear day is mild"). Students are prompted to use sight words in contextual sentences (e.g., "Bobby has the most stickers," "Caitlyn has two stickers"). Students are asked to identify and perform real-life actions linked to words (e.g., spell the word that describes what you might do with laundry: "fold"). The Life Application asks students to review their Word Wall and add or remove words they know, connecting word knowledge to their own experiences at home.
Lesson 11
Long Vowel Sounds Review
Students fill in words from a word bank to complete a short story about a day at the park, pond, and home (Day 5 Fill in the Blanks), requiring them to choose words that make sense in real-life contexts. In multiple reader-review activities (Days 2–5) students locate and read words that name real-world objects and places (e.g., home, park, boat, pond, tree, skate, pies). Activity 3.1 has students write words into sentences describing real experiences (The joke made me smile; The stars came out at night), which requires mapping words to everyday situations.
Lesson 12
Other Vowel Sounds oi, oy
Students are asked to answer comprehension questions about Reader #12 that explicitly connect words to their lives (e.g., "What is your favorite toy? Why?" and "What do you think Dan's new toy is?"). In Making Sentences (Activity 4.1) students use everyday words (boy, toys, night, light, rope, soup, etc.) and sentence starters that place words into real situations. The Life Application asks students to create silly sentences using rhyming words with examples that reference real items and routines (e.g., toy, foil), and adults are directed to explain word meanings as needed.
Lesson 13
Other Vowel Sounds ou, ow
Students identify and write words from pictures in Activity 1.2 (e.g., cat, goat, hose) which connects pictured real objects to their written words. In Activity 2.1 and related sorting activities, students read words aloud, hear meanings as needed, and explain their grouping choices, linking words to meanings. The Life Application explicitly asks students to look for ou/ow words in their environment (e.g., see "pound" in the grocery store or "found" on a flyer), prompting real-world word spotting.
Lesson 14
Other Vowel Sounds aw, au
Students are prompted to explain word meanings as they read and sort words (Activity 2.1 asks them to read each word, explain meanings as needed, and justify their sorting). Students answer comprehension questions that link words to real situations in the story (Activity 5.1 asks, "Where do the pups sleep?" with the expected answer "on a bed of straw"). The Life Application section asks students to use the words in everyday conversations and to teach others how to spell them, encouraging application of words to real-life use.
Lesson 15
These Make More Than One Sound: oo and ea
Students name pictures of real objects (spoon, book, boot, foot, etc.) and match those words to images in Activities 1.2 and 3.1. Students are asked to use sight words in sentences (Activity 1.3, Activity 3.3) and to answer/complete question-word sentences that reference real contexts (e.g., Where is the beach? How do you bake bread?). Students read The Bad Bear and answer questions about the bear's real-life actions (playing in the pool, eating bread, cleaning up).
Lesson 16
Silent Starts: kn, wr, gn
Students view an image of a garden gnome, read the word "gnome," and discuss that gnomes are decorations for a garden or yard, directly linking the word to a real object. Students read and explain meanings for words such as gnat, gnaw, gnu, and gnash and answer comprehension questions about what gnats do in real-life situations in the reader. Students write and read contextual sentences (e.g., "They wrap many gifts." "The knife is sharp."), sort words by vowel sound and silent beginning, and are asked to find words they can read in real books as a life-application activity.
Lesson 17
Year-End Review
Students match compound words to pictures (Activity 4.2) by creating words such as cupcake, starfish, rainbow, shipwreck, cowboy, and toothbrush, linking word forms to pictured objects. Students write one or two sentences about pictured scenes (Activity 2.2), using words they have learned and practicing how sentences begin and end. The Life Application asks families to encourage children to read words in the environment around them, prompting students to notice words in real settings.