First Grade - ELA
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 1
My Environment
Students are asked to identify and label rooms and items in the house (Activity 2, Options 1 and 2) and to circle items that relate to the basic needs of water, food, or shelter. Students are asked to explain what each room is used for and why each room is an important part of the environment (Activity 2 discussion prompts). In Activity 3, students record which room they think is most important and write or dictate reasons for that choice on the "The Most Important Room" page.
Lesson 2
What Is a Map?
Students read Me On the Map and are asked to locate the continent (North America), the United States, and their state on maps, which connects pieces of geographic information. Students answer explicit questions about relationships on a map (e.g., "What is beside the refrigerator?" "What is in front of the couch?"), requiring them to describe how two items relate spatially. Students create their own room maps and place or label important objects, practicing how one piece of information (an object) is connected to another (its location).
Lesson 3
Guide to Animal Habitats
Students are asked to identify plants and animals in each habitat as they listen to the story (Activity 1) and to sequence the habitats Crinkleroot visits (Activity 1/Option 1 and Option 2). The introduction and Activity 4 explicitly state relationships: students are told that "habitats provide animals with everything they need to live and grow" and that "many animals need the plants, insects, and other animals in the habitat for food," which links ideas about habitats and organism needs. Activity 5 prompts students to examine habitat pages and explain what they would see and which animals they would be interested in, encouraging verbal responses about habitat features and inhabitants.
Lesson 4
Animals Live and Grow
Students are asked in Activity 2 to analyze organisms recorded for each habitat and identify one organism that provides food for another, then label the consumer and the energy source on the 'Food for Survival and Energy' pages. Day 2 reading includes comprehension questions (e.g., Q2 asks why people waited to plant seeds) that require students to connect events and reasons in the text. Question #7 and the wrapping-up prompts ask students to explain how animals help plants and how animals depend on plants, requiring students to describe connections between individuals and ideas found in the book.
Lesson 5
Discovering Animal Habitats
Students are asked to look at pictures and words and "identify and describe the animals found in the habitats" (Activity 1), which requires linking animals to their habitats. Activity 3 asks students to explain how animals' needs are met (what they eat and where they get water) and to label animals and their food and water sources, prompting students to describe connections between animals and habitat features. The lesson also directs students to use books and websites for information and to read habitat names and label pictures (Option 2 and Day 2 activities), encouraging them to draw connections between information found in those texts/pictures.
Lesson 6
Exploring Animal Habitats
The Skills list explicitly includes "Make connections through the use of oral language," and Activity 1 asks students to compare their predictions to their observations, which requires linking two pieces of information. Activity 2 directs students to locate information in a book or online about an animal and then tell a story that connects what the animal eats, where it gets water, and other animals it might encounter. The Wrapping Up questions ask students to explain how animals, plants, and insects live together, prompting description of relationships among ideas or individuals.
Lesson 7
Tools in My Environment
Students are asked for each tool, "What is the tool used for?" and "How does the tool work?", which requires linking a tool to its purpose. Activity 1 prompts students to consider consequences (e.g., "What if we didn't have pens or pencils?"), encouraging connections between tools and effects on daily life. Students sort tools by use (everyday vs. once in awhile) and size, which has them compare and relate pieces of information about tools.
Lesson 8
Animal Care
Students listen to the story The Salamander Room and answer questions such as "What kind of environment did the salamander need?" and "Could the boy give the salamander the kind of habitat it lived in when it was in the forest? Why or why not?" Students are asked "What would happen if we didn't provide a healthy environment for our pets?" and are directed to design a salamander home, identifying water and food needs and placing a clay salamander in the habitat. Students also draw and discuss a domestic animal and a non-domesticated animal and compare how each would feel living in different habitats.
Lesson 9
Animal Designs
Students read short captions and analyze each animal in its habitat (Activity 1), identifying how the animal moves and circling the body parts that help movement. In Activity 2 students examine illustrated habitat scenes, decide which animals do not belong, and explain why each animal would not live in that habitat. Activity 3 prompts students to state sentences linking an animal to its correct habitat (e.g., "A zebra can't live in the ocean. A zebra lives in the savanna."), and Option 2 asks students to write habitat names and match movement words to animals.
Lesson 10
Amazing Animals
Students read informational descriptions of four animals and analyze how each animal changes to live and grow in its habitat (Activity 1 and the Student Activity Page). In Activity 2 students respond to scenarios that ask them to explain causal relationships (what will happen to the starfish's arm; how lizards hide using color change). The Skills list and Wrapping Up prompt require students to listen to text, respond to critical questions, and tell about animals they learned, reinforcing describing connections between an animal (individual/idea) and an event or outcome in the text.
Lesson 11
Amazing Me
Students are asked in Activity 1 to explain how they would change to fit an environment (e.g., put on clothes, shiver, tan, wear glasses), which requires linking an environmental condition to a bodily change. In Activity 2 students circle faces for how pictured environmental items make them feel and draw things that make them happy, sad, scared, or surprised, linking environmental items to emotional responses. In Activity 3 students are prompted to think of a time they changed because of something in their environment, record that example, and read it aloud, which asks them to state a connection between an event/condition and a personal change.
Final Project
Animal Research / My Environment
Students are prompted to describe what habitats provide (food, water, shelter) through guided questions and review of hand motions, which asks them to connect the idea of habitat to animal needs. Page 5 in Option 1 asks students to draw a way they have changed to fit their environment or how their environment has changed them, eliciting a connection between the student and their environment. Option 2 asks students to research an animal and complete pages linking where it is found, what it eats and drinks, and its habitat, and students are asked to explain each page of their book aloud.
Unit 2: Weather
Lesson 1
Reading the Skies
Students read the book Whatever the Weather and are asked questions that link weather (an idea) to activities and feelings (e.g., "What type of weather is best for playing outside?" and "How does it make you feel when it rains?"). The introduction asks students to observe weather and decide how to dress and what activities to do, explicitly connecting weather observations to actions and choices. The Weather Calendar activity has students record daily weather and temperatures over several weeks, prompting them to connect pieces of information across days and seasons.
Lesson 2
Types of Precipitation
Students reread specified pages in the books and discuss different types of precipitation, identifying rain, snow, sleet, and hail (Activity 2). Students perform the 'Making Rain' experiment and are asked to describe what is happening to cause the rain, linking warm, damp air meeting cooler air to the formation of precipitation (Activity 4). Students are asked to explain why precipitation is important to the environment and where the water we use comes from, connecting the idea of precipitation to water supply (Wrapping Up).
Lesson 3
Measuring and Charting Weather
Students are asked to describe how temperature and rainfall affect plants and animals (e.g., "Ask your child what she thinks would happen if an animal's habitat got too warm or cold" and "Discuss the idea that rain fills the rivers and lakes; this rain provides the water that plants and animals need to live and grow"). Students also use an informational book (Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing Animal Habitats) and are prompted to describe what the weather can be like in different habitats and how animals' features allow them to survive those conditions. The wrap-up asks students to give examples of how weather can be measured and how weather helps provide plants and animals with what they need to live and grow, prompting students to connect pieces of information from the text and activities.
Lesson 4
Simulating Weather
Students are asked to explain cause-and-effect in multiple places: they are prompted to explain what happens when they squeeze and release the bottle (linking pressure change to cloud formation) and to answer "what happens in the sky to cause it to rain" (linking cool air meeting warm damp air to rain). Students are asked to name three things the wind can move and discuss what those things have in common, which requires describing a relationship between wind and object characteristics. The wrapping-up prompt connects rain to the needs of plants, animals, insects, and people, asking students to relate two pieces of information (rain occurs and living things need water).
Lesson 5
Fall
Students are asked to compare the picture to their own outside environment and state how they are similar and different (Activity 1), write sentences using words from the picture, and copy or dictate those sentences. In Activity 2 students create and read a bar graph of leaf colors, then answer questions that require them to describe relationships among pieces of information (which color has the most/fewest leaves, and whether counts are the same). The Wrapping Up section asks students to explain what happens to the weather in fall and reviews using graphs to find patterns and to compare and contrast information.
Lesson 6
Winter
In Activity 1 students are asked to find winter pages in the book Whatever the Weather and describe how the pictures are similar to or different from the winter environment where they live, prompting comparison of information from the text with their own observations. In Activity 3 students are asked to compare winter and summer weather (cooler vs. warmer, shorter days vs. longer nights) and to use a picture of the Earth and Sun to explain that the Earth leaning away from or toward the Sun causes those seasonal differences. The Facts and Definitions section explicitly states the cause (Earth leans toward/away from the Sun) that students are asked to connect to weather differences.
Lesson 7
Spring
Students are asked after each poem to say what the poem was about and to draw a line from the poem to the picture that best tells the story, which requires connecting text content to an illustration. The Blowing in the Wind activity asks students to explain why a feather moved or did not move, prompting them to describe the connection between the idea of wind and the event of movement. The Facts and Wrapping Up sections ask students what a seed needs to become a plant, having students state how pieces of information (dirt, water, sunlight) relate to the event of a seed growing.
Lesson 8
Summer
In the "Changes in Weather" activity students complete sentences such as "Spring is warmer than ___" and "Fall is cooler than ___," requiring them to state relationships between seasons. The prompt "Could these activities happen in the winter? Why or why not?" asks students to explain how an event (an activity) is connected to a season. In "A Summer Story" students fill blanks that reveal a cause-effect sequence (the sun was so hot → went back to the hotel → the pool cooled her), prompting them to identify connections between events and information in the text.
Final Project
Weather Games
Students are asked to reread specific pages (pages 8–15) and discuss how people have tried to predict the weather, connecting the idea of prediction with weather instruments. In Activity 3 students compare a page in a weather book to the actual weather outside and answer questions linking text illustration/description to observed conditions. Activities 1 and 2 require students to match seasons with appropriate clothing and pictures, which has them link information about seasons to related items or activities.
Unit 3: Community
Lesson 1
On the Town
After reading On the Town, students are asked which places Charlie visited and why Charlie wrote down the places and names of people who worked there, prompting them to connect Charlie's actions to information in the text. The teacher prompt to "discuss the idea that in a healthy community environment, people work and live together, helping each other" asks students to link the idea of a healthy environment to the outcome of a healthy community. Activity 3 asks students to compare how Charlie's journey around town is similar to and different from their own community, requiring them to relate events and ideas from the text to their own experiences.
Lesson 2
My Community Environment
Students read Me on the Map and are asked to identify buildings on a community map and discuss the purpose of each place and the people who work there. Students trace paths between buildings and answer questions about which buildings are nearer or farther, linking location information. Students create a poster labeling places and write or dictate a brief description of how each place serves the community, and they examine multiple books to describe and compare different communities.
Lesson 3
Jobs in the Community
Activity 1 asks children to read names/labels and to say what each community worker does and how his/her job makes the community better, and to draw a line from the worker to the place where he/she works. Activity 5 has students record one simple sentence about how each worker helps citizens, encouraging them to say and attempt to write those connections. Activity 6 and Activity 3 involve reading books or observing a worker and then describing what they saw and whom the worker helps, which requires linking information from text or observation to the worker's role.
Lesson 4
Goods and Services in the Community
Students read place and item labels and are asked to explain how each place helps people, prompting them to connect a building to the goods or services it provides. In Activity 1 students cut out cards and match buildings to the goods or services those buildings provide, physically pairing two related pieces of information. Wrapping up and Activity 2 ask students to explain why people have jobs and how people use money to buy goods and services, connecting the ideas of jobs, earning money, and spending.
Lesson 5
Resources
Students are asked to explain how each gathered resource is used and where it is found (Activity 3), which requires relating a resource to its source or purpose. The wrapping-up prompt asks students to explain the difference between resources found in nature and resources made by humans, prompting them to relate two ideas. In the counting activity students label items as "N" or "M" and order boxes from least to greatest, which has students connect the category (natural vs manmade) with quantitative information on the page.
Lesson 6
A Good Community Citizen
The Questions to Explore prompt students to explain "How and why does a healthy environment lead to a healthy community?," asking them to describe a cause-effect connection between two ideas. In Activity 1 students read short scenario texts (Frank, Maria, Caleb, etc.) and are asked to decide whether each person is being a good citizen and to explain how they made that decision, connecting an individual's action to the idea of good citizenship. In Activity 3 students identify family members and write or dictate examples of how each person has exhibited good citizenship, linking individuals to actions and outcomes.
Lesson 7
A Citizen with Character
Activity 6 asks students to read books, record characters' actions in a left column, and draw arrows to record the consequences in a right column, which has students identify and connect events and outcomes. The Skills section lists "Discover relationships in stories (LA)," and Activity 4 (A Lesson in Honesty) and Activity 5 (The Boy Who Cried Wolf) prompt students to predict outcomes and discuss the moral, prompting connections between actions and consequences or ideas.
Lesson 8
Rules and Laws
In Activity 3 students listen to and discuss the story The House with No Rules and answer questions about what happens in the house and why they would or would not stay, which asks them to link the event of "no rules" to its consequences. Activity 2 has students sort statements into Laws, Rules, or Both and use connecting lines between the two webs, which asks students to identify and show relationships between the two ideas. The wrapping-up questions ask students to explain why homes have rules and communities have laws, prompting students to state how those ideas are connected to safety and happiness.
Lesson 9
Caring for Our Communities
Students read the story "When One Person Cares" and are asked "Does Katy help the people in her community? How?", prompting them to link Katy's action (planting seeds) to the community's response (flowers grow, people are happier). Activity 2 has students compare two pictures and mark problems versus positives, asking them to connect community behaviors/conditions to whether a place is good to live. Activity 4 role-plays community helpers and asks students to state a need and connect that need to the helper, linking individuals and events.
Final Project
I Can Make A Difference
Students complete a planning sheet with sentence starters that prompt them to state an action and its steps ("I am planning to... 1. The first thing I will do is... 2. Next I will... 3. Finally I will...") and a reflection section that asks them to connect their action to an outcome ("I helped __ with __... I made my community a better place because __"). Day 2 reflection questions ask students to explain effects of their actions ("How did you affect the person/people you helped? Did your plan help make your community better? How?") and the unit asks students to consider roles in the community ("What is my role in the community and what are others' roles?").
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 1: Amazing Attributes
Lesson 2
Animal Attributes
Students are asked to describe how they know which objects are living versus nonliving and to write or sort items into Living and Nonliving columns, which requires linking object examples to characteristics of living things. Students are prompted to identify animals' body parts and to discuss how those parts help animals move (wings → fly, legs → walk/run, fins → swim), explicitly connecting a body part to its function. Students sort animals by body coverings (feathers, scales, fur, other) and may add additional examples, linking each animal to a piece of information about coverings.
Lesson 3
Size, Shape, and Color
Students are asked to explain color relationships from the facts list (e.g., "Ask your child what makes purple (red and blue), what makes green (blue and yellow), and what makes orange (yellow and red)"), which has them describe how two pieces of information (primary colors) connect to form another color. Students compare two objects directly when prompted to describe how a metal spoon and a wooden spoon are similar and different. Students organize toys by size and match real objects to named shapes on the activity page, making explicit connections between object properties and shape/size categories.
Lesson 5
How Old?
Students put family pictures in order from oldest to youngest and discuss differences in age and size (Activity 1). Students match ages (numbers) to pictured people and draw lines or paste ages beside the oldest and youngest people (Activity 2 Option 1/2). Students write questions for people based on age, attempt to read question sentences, and order animals by lifespan from shortest to longest (Activity 2 and 3).
Lesson 8
Amazing Attributes
Students are asked to watch a video that explains why objects sink or float and to "relate this information to the items your child chose for his experiment," explicitly connecting the idea of density to observed sinking/ floating results. Students predict whether items are magnetic or will sink/float, record those predictions, perform tests, and "compare the way the objects are sorted to his prediction," which requires comparing two pieces of information (prediction vs. result). The Facts and Definitions section states that density determines sinking or floating, giving a piece of informational text that students are prompted to connect to their experimental observations.
Lesson 9
Solids and Liquids
Students are asked to explain differences between solids and liquids and to write definitions for each, which requires linking the idea that solids keep their shape while liquids take the shape of their container. In Activity 2 students observe an ice cube melting and are asked what caused the change, prompting them to describe the connection between heat (one piece of information) and change of state (another piece). In Activity 3 students discuss how sugar can be poured even though individual grains keep their shape, linking the idea of particle size/behavior to the observable property of pouring.
Lesson 10
Earth Materials: Rocks, Soil, and Water
Students are asked to compare two texts and their covers (Day 2) and to explain how the writing in the two books is similar (e.g., the author alternates opposites — up/down and over/under). Students are prompted to describe how the characters are similar and different (Day 2, Q5). In Activities 1 and 3 students compare two soil samples, describe similarities and differences in attributes, and explain which soil might support plant growth, connecting pieces of information about soil properties to outcomes for plants.
Lesson 11
Using Earth Materials
Activity 3 instructs students to discuss the properties of soil that make it good or not ideal for plant growth, linking soil attributes to plant development. Activity 1 has students keep a water log and reflect on how essential water is to daily life, connecting water use to life needs. Activity 2 asks students to think about how rocks are used and why they are important and to list or photograph examples, connecting rocks to human uses and animal shelter.
Final Project
Presenting Attributes
Students choose at least five attributes and decide how each attribute can be used to find similarities and differences among objects. Students plan and create either a demonstration or a poster that requires them to explain and label how attributes show likenesses and differences. Students practice presenting by describing each part of the poster or demonstration and what it teaches, using words and sentences to explain connections between attributes and objects.
Unit 2: Senses
Lesson 1
My Five Senses
After reading My Five Senses, students answer questions that connect ideas in the text (e.g., which body part is used for each sense; what sense finds color; what senses recognize shape). In the Senses Web activities students cut or sort pictures/words of objects and place them on the web for the sense most useful for exploring each item, linking objects to the relevant sense. In Activity 3 (Option 2) students dictate four sentences describing a sensing experience and identify the primary sense and sense organ used, connecting an event/experience to an idea from the text.
Lesson 2
Senses and Body Parts
Students listen to the read-aloud "Jackie's Day at the Pet Store" and pick up and glue the body part when Jackie uses a sense, linking events in the story to specific sense organs. Option 2 has students tell or invent a story about Jackie and pause to glue a sense organ when Jackie uses a sense, reinforcing connections between story events and sensory information. Activity 2 asks students to read situations and point to the sense organ they would use, connecting real-world events or scenarios to pieces of information about the senses.
Lesson 3
Smelling and Tasting
Students are asked to explain how their sense of smell helped them decide whether to taste a food and to evaluate whether foods that smelled good always tasted good, which asks them to describe the connection between the ideas of smell and taste. In Activity 2 students record survey responses (Y/N) for bitter, sweet, salty, and sour, total the answers, and answer which flavor people liked most and least, which requires connecting pieces of information to draw conclusions. Activity 3 has students sort and label foods into the four taste categories, linking specific foods (pieces of information) to taste ideas.
Lesson 4
Hearing and Seeing
In Activity 3 students draw a line representing light rays through the cornea to the retina and along the optic nerve to a taped-on brain, showing how visual information travels from one part to another. In Activity 6 students label ear parts and follow the described sequence of sound waves to the cochlea and along the auditory nerve to the brain, linking parts and processes. Activities 7 and the wrap-up ask students to compare lists of sounds and sights and to describe when they would use each sense, prompting students to relate ideas about senses to understanding their environment.
Lesson 6
Experimenting With Our Senses
Students taste colored drinks, record descriptions before and after being blindfolded, and compare their answers to explain why the descriptions differed, directly addressing how sight can influence taste. Students make scratch 'n sniff spice cards, label and smell them, then identify which spice matches each card and discuss whether smell predicts taste. During wrap-up students are asked to explain how their senses help them make decisions and to identify similarities and differences, prompting them to describe relationships among sensory ideas.
Final Project
A Sensible Party
The Party Planner includes a specific Game 1 titled "Similarities and Differences" that asks students to compare their own party plan with the sample and find similarities and differences. Part 1 instructs students to plan games that "utilize senses to find similarities and differences," prompting them to generate and compare two sets of information (their plan and the sample). The Wrap-Up asks students explicitly how guests used their senses to find similarities and differences, which prompts students to articulate relationships between two pieces of information drawn from the activity.
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 1
You're Special
In Activity 2 students record personal numerical information (house number, shoe size, birth year, etc.) and are asked to compare how their numbers are similar to and different from an adult's or sibling's answers. Activity 1 has students complete a personalized paragraph and read/share it, using pieces of information from their page as a short text about themselves. The Wrapping Up prompts students to discuss ways people are alike and different, prompting them to state relationships between two individuals' characteristics.
Lesson 2
Physical Characteristics
Students listen to and retell the story "Different Friends" and answer guided questions about the characters (e.g., "Are the caterpillar and the ladybug friends? How do you know?" and "At the beginning, did Susan want to play with Casey? Why or why not?"). Students cut apart event boxes and put story events in order, then discuss what happened at the beginning, middle, and end. Students also compare the two characters' physical characteristics and discuss how those differences related to their interactions.
Lesson 3
Different Personalities
Activity 2 asks students to write their name and a friend's name, list personality words for each, circle the words they have in common, count them, and describe how they are alike and different. Activity 1 and the extension of Activity 1 ask students to pick words that describe family members and select words for others, supporting direct comparison of two individuals. Activity 3 has students record main characters and name two words that describe each character's personality, which could be used to compare characters.
Lesson 5
Shapesville
Students identify the shape of each character as they listen to the story, count sides and angles, and describe each shape's physical characteristics and personality. Students are asked to compare how the shapes look on the outside and how their personalities and interests differ. In Activities 2 and 3, students pick a shape that matches themselves or a family member and explain why, drawing and writing descriptions that link a person to shape-based ideas.
Lesson 6
Different Families
Students are asked to look through A Life Like Mine, identify pictures of families, and describe clothing, activities, and interactions (Activity 2). Students complete prompts such as "My family is similar to a family from _______ because we both _______" and "My family is different from a family from _______ because we _______, but they _______" (Option 1) or fill a Venn diagram comparing "My Family" and "A _______ Family" (Option 2). The Skills list explicitly includes "Connect information in text to personal experience" and "Compare and contrast customs and traditions of families in communities around the world."
Lesson 7
Different Homes
Students read pages 26–35 and are asked to identify and describe different homes and to explain why people have homes, linking the idea of homes to shelter and family gathering. Students are prompted to look at the materials used to build homes and to explain that natural resources in the environment (stones, mud, wood) are used, which connects the idea of homes to environmental resources. Activities ask students to find countries where certain home types are found and to record country names, connecting pieces of information (home type ↔ location). The Skills list explicitly includes "Connect information in text to personal experience," supporting practice in linking information from the text to other ideas.
Lesson 8
Different Holidays and Traditions
Students are asked to read about holidays in encyclopedias or on websites and then explain the importance of each holiday and discuss why families celebrate (Activity 1). Students look online for pictures and descriptions of holidays around the world and discuss similarities and differences with their home celebrations (Activity 2). Students write sentences about a holiday (e.g., "is important because…") and place holiday pages in chronological order connecting dates and events (Activity 5 and Activity 4).
Lesson 9
Different Modes of Transportation
Students choose and justify modes of transportation for paired locations in Activity 2 (e.g., deciding between car, boat, or train to go from one island to another) and number scenarios from closest to farthest, linking distance information to transportation choice. In Activity 1 students label modes of transportation and draw a box around modes they have taken and then talk about where they went, connecting personal-experience information with vehicle types. In Activity 3 students draw a trip and tell a story about it, which asks them to relate a mode of transportation to a destination and sequence of events.
Lesson 10
Wants and Needs
Students read specified pages about education, play, and love and are asked to discuss why children need those things, which connects ideas presented in text. Students make lists of wants and needs, compare which list is longer, and explain which is more important, linking two ideas (wants vs. needs). In the Wants and Needs Survey, students collect responses from four people and then place those items on two webs (wants and needs), comparing and rearranging items when responses conflict.
Lesson 11
Being Part of a Group
Students read pages 98–113 of A Life Like Mine and discuss what identity, nationality, and religion mean, explicitly comparing their own nationality or religion to those of the children in the book. Students cut out and sort illustrations of children and are asked to think of ways the kids are alike and different, then answer comparative questions (which group has the most people; which group is tallest/shortest). Students draw a group, complete the prompt "The members in the group are alike because ___," and brainstorm community groups and their purposes, describing connections among members and group ideas.
Final Project
Differences Make the World Go 'Round
Students are instructed to read informational text about a child in another country and gather details about location, food, hobbies, homes, clothing, transportation, and holidays. Student activity pages prompt paired sentences such as "I live in... / (name) lives in..." and "One way that we are the same is...", asking students to state relationships between two individuals. Multiple worksheets (food, hobbies, homes, clothing, transportation, holidays, similarities) require students to compare and contrast specific pieces of information about themselves and the other child.
3: Patterns
Unit 2: Patterns in Sounds, Words, and Actions
Lesson 1
Word Patterns
Students are asked to copy or dictate the names of animals from the Bear Hugs text and then identify the habitat where each animal lives (Activity 4). Students cut out the animal names and sort them into groups according to habitats, which requires linking each animal (one piece of information) to its habitat (another piece of information). The Skills section also lists sorting and classifying objects, which supports students in making these connections.
Lesson 2
Making Word Patterns
Students are asked to identify and sort words that follow the same sound/spelling pattern (Activity 2: cut-and-sort word families) and to complete sentences with rhyming words (Activity 1). Activity 3 asks students to find and record words from picture books that have the same sound pattern and to identify groups that follow the same or different spelling patterns. The wrapping up prompt asks students to explain how groups of words can follow a pattern, requiring them to state relationships among words.
Lesson 5
Story Patterns
Students identify and label the beginning, middle, and end of stories and answer questions about what happened in each part. Students use temporal words such as "before" and "after," predict what happens next, and retell or dictate sentences describing events from the text. Students create story boxes by ordering illustrations and writing or dictating a sentence for each event, and they produce their own short stories with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Final Project
Patterns Video
Students read words from a book or poem and are asked to "explain the pattern," which requires them to interpret information from text. Students complete a story-pattern script that prompts them to sequence events using "First comes... Then... Then...". Students record the parts of a pattern and "how the parts create each pattern" on video script sheets, requiring them to link pieces of information into an explanation.
Unit 3: Patterns in Your World
Lesson 1
Patterns in Nature
Students read pages 1-11 of Pattern and are asked to identify and describe the pattern in each picture, which requires linking a visual example to the idea of a pattern. In Option 1 students cut out pattern samples and paste them on the appropriate animal, which asks them to connect a pattern sample with a labeled animal. In Activity 3 students select 3-5 favorite patterns from images and draw and label them, reinforcing connections between pictured patterns and their labels or sources.
Lesson 2
Patterns of Growth
Students cut apart pictures from the "Growth Patterns" sheet and glue them in order from a plant's first stage to its last, practicing sequencing of life-cycle events. Students discuss that offspring follow the same growth pattern as their parents and are asked to explain what makes butterfly and frog life cycles unique, linking ideas across organisms. Students draw and write sentences on the "A Plant's Pattern of Growth" pages and organize personal photos from youngest to oldest to describe stages of growth over time.
Lesson 3
Night and Day
Students spin a globe and use a flashlight to observe and explain how the Earth's rotation makes the United States face the Sun (day) and then turn away (night), explicitly describing the connection between the rotation and the day/night pattern. Students are asked to explain that the Moon reflects the Sun's light so we can see it at night, linking two ideas about celestial bodies. Students draw and write sentences about activities done During the Day and At Night, describing the connection between the day/night cycle and everyday events.
Lesson 4
Daily Routines
Students sequence morning events by cutting apart labeled pictures and gluing them in order (Activity 1). Students break a routine into four steps and write or dictate a sentence for each step, organizing events sequentially (Activity 2). Students record times and pair activities in chronological order across a day, placing events in temporal relation to one another (Activity 3). The introduction reviews that Earth's position relative to the Sun creates day and night, presenting a connection between an idea and an event.
Lesson 5
Calendar Patterns
Students record family and personal activities on a calendar and are asked to look across months to find events that occur weekly, biweekly, or monthly and to "record each pattern she finds" (Activity 4). Students fill a chart linking numbers, number words, and tally marks for days/weeks/months (Activity 2), connecting different pieces of information and representations. Students put ten recorded dates on index cards and are asked to put them in order (Activity 3), practicing relationships among events in time.
Lesson 6
Seasonal Weather Patterns
Students match months to seasons and paste each month beneath the season and weather pattern that fits (Activity 3). Students record a weather word beneath the season it describes and fill in missing seasons on the "Seasons and Months" page, linking illustrations to season names. Students discuss the types of weather associated with each season and answer questions that require naming which month or season comes before or after another, explicitly connecting pieces of information (months, seasons, weather).
Lesson 7
Patterns at Home
Students read a Pattern book aloud and then go on a pattern scavenger hunt where they are asked to identify and describe each pattern they find in the book (Activity 1). Students name shapes and state the number of sides and angles when coloring the quilt pattern, linking shape names to their properties (Activity 3). Students write or dictate a sentence that describes a pattern found on something in their closet (Activity 5).
Lesson 9
Counting Patterns
In Activity 3 students listen to a short story about clowns getting into a car and keep track of how many clowns are in the car as each event happens, filling in blanks in the story with the updated totals. The skills list includes "Listen to a story read aloud," "Answer questions about a story read aloud," and "Act out a story," indicating students practice following events in a text and responding to them. Students are also asked to record the number sequence created by the events and "identify the pattern of the numbers you recorded," linking events (clowns entering) to changes in the numeric information.
Lesson 10
Tracing Patterns
In Activity 2, students are asked to identify the holiday associated with each shape and to "review the idea" that an original pattern was used to create multiple same-shaped objects, which connects a shape to its associated meaning and origin. Activity 3 asks students to explain why stencils help keep designs the same size and spaced equally, which has students describe the relationship between a tool (stencil) and its effect on designs. The wrapping up prompt asks students how a pattern can be used in art, prompting them to state the connection between the idea of a pattern and its use in artistic projects.
Lesson 11
Patterns in Graphs
Students are asked to read a bar graph showing days of the week and number of books read and to describe any patterns and predict how many books John would read on a following Tuesday, linking days to counts. In the chart activity students color-code names by gender and shirt colors and answer questions such as "What does this chart tell us?" and "How many types of people are on the chart?", connecting each individual's name to a shirt color. Activity instructions ask students to color matching parts of graphs to make patterns visible and to describe patterns (ABAB, AABB, ABC), which requires describing how pieces of information relate to one another.
4: Change
Unit 1: Changes on Planet Earth
Lesson 1
What Causes Change?
The facts/definitions section defines cause and effect and gives an explicit example (push → fall). In Activity 1, students match before-and-after picture cards and decide what changed and identify causes and effects. In Activity 3, students draw before/after pictures and complete the sentence "________ changed because __________," tying an event to its cause; Activity 2 has students label changes as fast or slow, connecting temporal information to events.
Lesson 2
What Changed?
Students compare paired images in the "How Did It Change?" activity and determine how attributes (weight, color, size, amount, location) changed between the two pictures, circling applicable changes. Students read "Part 1: Things Change" and answer questions that connect examples in the text (e.g., crushed cookie, ripening banana) to the ideas of physical versus chemical change. The wrapping-up prompts ask students to explain different ways change can happen and give examples, requiring students to relate examples to change concepts presented in the text.
Lesson 3
Changing Position
Students are asked to read or be read the informational book Zoom! Zip! Whoosh! and answer targeted questions such as "How do we get objects to start moving?" and "What force keeps us on Earth?", which requires them to identify ideas in the text. Students use the index to locate the words "gravity" and "inertia" in the book and copy the sentences that contain those words, directly engaging with pieces of information from the text. Students also explain why objects tossed up come back down (linking the idea of gravity to the event of falling) and sort actions into push or pull categories, connecting forces (ideas) to observable events.
Lesson 4
Changes in the Environment
Students read Part 2: Seasons Change and answer specific questions linking examples in the text (pages 28, 32, 36, 40, 41) to types of changes, showing they connect pieces of information within the book. In Activity 1, students read weather situations and describe how the change in weather would cause them to change activities, then illustrate or write two sentences about a personal example. The Wrap-up asks students to describe changes in the natural environment, explain what causes the changes, and explain how those changes can cause people to change what they are doing.
Lesson 5
Changes in Location
Students complete pictures and sentences that state one object's position relative to another (e.g., filling blanks on the "Where Did He Go?" wheel with prepositions such as "beside," "under," and "on top"). Students move a cut-out mouse to locations described in sentences (e.g., "The mouse is in front of the TV") and can write simple sentences describing those relations. Students go outside or look around a room and record three or four sentences that describe the relationship of one object to another (e.g., "The bush is beside the tree").
Lesson 6
Changes in the Sky
Students list adjectives and phrases to describe the Sun and the Moon and discuss why the Sun is important to plants, food, and oxygen, connecting the Sun to life on Earth. Students are asked to explain that the Moon does not produce its own light and that the Sun illuminates the Moon, linking two pieces of information. Students act out and model rotation and revolution and are prompted to describe how the Earth revolves around the Sun and how the Moon revolves around the Earth.
Lesson 7
Living Things Change
Students are asked to explain how and why the lizard changed color and are taught the term camouflage, connecting the animal's color change to its environment and protection from predators. The snowshoe hare example explicitly links seasons (summer vs. winter) to coat color and students are asked whether that change happens quickly or slowly. In Activity 2 students examine paired images (e.g., apples falling from a tree) and identify what changed (number, place, size, shape) and whether the change was fast or slow, prompting them to relate one event or condition to another.
Lesson 8
Plants and Change
Students read National Geographic Readers: Seed to Plant and answer QUESTION #2 asking how plants are similar to and different from animals, requiring them to describe a connection between two ideas/entities from the text. In Activity 4 students cut out and glue pictures in order to show how a plant changes over its life cycle, which has them describe connections between sequential events. Activity 6 asks students to predict outcomes for cups with/without water and sunlight and then compare observations to those predictions, which has them connect experimental conditions (ideas/events) to plant growth.
Lesson 9
Heat Causes Change
Students review specific pages in the informational book (pages 14-15 and 18-19) and are asked to explain how heat causes change. Students draw and label the three states (ice, water, steam) and describe the transformation from ice to water to steam, explicitly linking the heating event to the change. Students measure and record the candle before and after burning and answer directed questions such as "What caused the candle to change?" and "Was it a physical or chemical change?" Students help make a cake and then describe how the heat of the oven caused the batter to become a different substance.
Lesson 10
Chemical Changes
Activity 3 asks students to identify each paired scenario as chemical or physical and then to explain how they made each decision, requiring them to connect examples to the concepts. The Student Activity Page presents six paired items (e.g., cupcake batter/cupcake, bread/toast) for students to categorize, prompting them to link specific instances to the ideas of chemical vs. physical change. The Wrapping Up prompt asks students to describe the difference between a physical and a chemical change and to give an example of each, which has students articulate the relationship between two ideas.
Lesson 11
People Change the Environment
In Activity 3, students are asked to describe what is happening in each illustration, explain how it is changing the environment, and decide if the change is positive, negative, or neutral, which requires linking an event or action to an environmental outcome. In Activity 2, students discuss how reducing, reusing, and recycling help the environment, connecting the idea of recycling to the effect of less waste. In Activity 1, students brainstorm and sort human actions into "Positive Change" and "Negative Change," which has them connect specific human behaviors to their environmental impacts.
Final Project
Mobile of Change
Students create paired "before" and "after" pictures for categories such as Animal Change, Plant Change, Physical Change, and Chemical Change, explicitly working with two related pieces of information. Students arrange those paired cards on a mobile and are asked to explain how each mobile part is an example of change (for example, Moon vs. Sun to show day/night).
Unit 2: Characters Change
Lesson 1
What's in a Name
Students are asked to explain cause and effect in Question #2 (Why did Chrysanthemum change her mind about her name when she started going to school?), and to describe how one character's action changed others in Question #4 (How did Mrs. Twinkle change the students' feelings about Chrysanthemum's name?). Activity 5 (Characters Change) requires students to list traits early and later in the story and to write short sentences explaining how Chrysanthemum changed and why. Activity 3 (Feeling Phrases) asks students to connect specific phrases from the text to Chrysanthemum's feelings, linking text details to ideas about emotion.
Lesson 2
Why Worry?
Students are asked to compare Wemberly and Chrysanthemum directly: "Ask your child how Wemberly and Chrysanthemum are similar and how they different." The "Characters Change" activity prompts students to describe how Wemberly changed from the beginning to the end and includes sentence stems: "Before Wemberly was ____, but now she is ____" and "Wemberly changed because..." The guided questions (e.g., "Did she need to be worried? Why or why not?") require students to connect Wemberly's worries to events and outcomes in the story. The conjunction activities teach students to join ideas with words like "and" and "but," supporting explicit linking of ideas and events.
Lesson 3
Is It a Problem?
Students are asked to compare the boy in What Do You Do With a Problem? to Wemberly and to describe how the boy changed (Activity 5: Characters Change), including prompts such as "Before the boy was ___ but now he is ___" and "The boy changed because ___." Students identify the beginning, middle, and end of stories and order events for three texts (Activity 4), which requires linking events across a narrative. The skills section explicitly lists comparing and contrasting the adventures and experiences of characters, and the activities have students combine ideas using conjunctions to state relationships (Activity 3).
Lesson 4
Comparing Characters
Students use Venn diagrams in Activities 1 and 2 to compare and contrast two characters (Chrysanthemum vs. Wemberly; Wemberly vs. the Boy), writing similarities in the overlapping section and differences in each circle. In Activity 3 students dictate three-sentence summaries (beginning, middle, end) and answer direct questions such as "How are the characters' situations similar?" and "What can we learn from both characters?" Day 2's Cause and Effect activity has students match specific causes from the stories with their effects, showing connections between events and results.
Lesson 5
The Raft
Students are asked to explain how the boy changed and what caused the change (Activity 8 and multiple comprehension questions such as "The boy changed because __" and "Do you think the boy is beginning to feel differently…? Why or why not?"). Students match problems and solutions and identify story elements for multiple books (Activity 7 and the Story Elements pages), requiring them to link events and outcomes. Students compare narrators and characters across texts (Activity 1 and the compare/contrast skill) which asks them to describe relationships between individuals in different stories.
Lesson 6
Positive and Negative Change
Students match causes and effects using the "Matching Cause and Effect" activity, cutting apart statements, gluing them with an arrow, and labeling each as positive or negative. Students listen to and reread a short narrative about the rat and then decide and record how the character will change and what causes that change. Students discuss "What If?" scenarios from familiar stories and illustrate and write or dictate sentences describing a personal change (the cause and the effect) and the choices that led to it.
Final Project
My Own Story
Students complete a "Problem and Solution" page that asks them to identify what caused the problem, how the character got to the solution, and how the character changes from beginning to end. Students choose and describe 2–3 characters, indicate which character causes or experiences the problem, and write three traits for each character. Students dictate and write their story, focusing on explaining the problem, the solution, and showing how the character changed.
Unit 3: A First Look at History - Change Over Time
Lesson 1
People and Families Change
Students order pictures from youngest to oldest and answer questions comparing ages and changes, connecting past and present events in their own lives. Students create and read a growth chart marking height at each year and answer questions that compare two years (e.g., between which two years did you grow the most?), linking two pieces of information. Students complete a "Writing About Change" page that prompts them to state what changed and to describe past versus present conditions of their family.
Lesson 2
Understanding Time
Students are asked to "connect information and events in text to own experience" in the Skills list, and Activity 1 requires them to describe something they did yesterday, something happening today, and something they will do tomorrow. Activity 3 has students order years and place events in chronological order, asking them to identify which events happened first by comparing smaller and larger years. Activity 2 asks questions (e.g., Were you born in the past, present, or future? Did dinosaurs live in the past?) that require students to place ideas and events in time and relate text information to time concepts.
Lesson 3
Communities Change
Students put events from The House on Maple Street in chronological order (Activity 2) and sequence nature scenes from past to present (Activity 4), practicing how events relate over time. Students identify the different communities/individuals who lived on the land (Native Americans, pioneers, townspeople) and point out differences in transportation, clothing, homes, and activities (Activity 3). Students identify artifacts tied to people and time periods (Activity 6), connecting pieces of information in the text to specific groups.
Lesson 4
Past and Present
Students read about two named individuals from different time periods (Activity 3: Hori, Caius, Marcus, Robert) and are asked to point out differences in setting, clothing, and activities. Students answer explicit comparison questions such as "How is a school day for this boy different from yours? Are there things that are the same?" and "How are the kids from the two time periods different?" Activity 4 asks students to draw a past person and themselves and complete prompts like "One way the young person is different from me is" and "One way we are the same is."
Lesson 5
Exploring the Past
The lesson asks students to "evaluate how the lives of individuals and families of the past are different from what they are today," which requires comparing information about past and present people. Students complete Culture charts for Homes, Clothes, Food, and Travel by looking through the book and writing or dictating descriptions, which has them gather and relate pieces of information across time periods. Students put pictures of cultures in chronological order on a timeline and then write one sentence about each element of a chosen culture to assemble and present a book, which requires organizing and relating information about those cultures.
Lesson 6
Predicting Future Change
Students read short written scenarios (e.g., "Your dad has gotten a new job in a different town," "You used to ask your friend to play once a week") and are asked to identify what changed and predict how the change will affect others or future events (Activity 1). Students answer prompts about how changes will affect family members, parents, friends, or a child's feelings, directly connecting an event to its impact on individuals. In Activity 2, students label outcomes as positive or negative and write sentences that describe a change and its result, explicitly linking an event/idea to its consequence. In Activity 3, students describe a personal change and explain why it happened, connecting an event or reason to a resulting change.
Lesson 7
People of the Past
Students read simple biographies and answer questions that link a person to what they did (Activity 1: "What did this person do to make a positive change?"). Students match descriptions to pictures and place historical figures in chronological order, which requires connecting each individual with the information about them and with other individuals in time (Activity 2). Students are asked to compare themselves to a historical person and to decide where a newly read biography would fit in relation to the five figures, prompting students to state relationships between people and information.
Final Project
My Past, Present and Future
Students complete multiple pages that ask them to state how they or their family/home/actions were in the past, how they are now, and how they will be in the future (e.g., "I was different because / Now I am / In the future I will be"). Students complete an "Elements of Culture" organizer where they write or dictate sentences labeled "In the past..." and "Today..." for chosen cultural features and may use a reference book (The Usborne Time Traveler) as needed. Students are prompted to collect and organize information and to place information in chronological sections (past vs. today) and to illustrate each side.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 2
Letter Sounds Review II
Students read the decodable reader The Pig Can and are asked to read the title, describe the cover, and say what they think the book is about. After reading, students are asked, "Do you think the pig and the cat can fit in the box?" and to "explain her thinking." The activity models reading questions and asks the student to point to words as she reads the text, supporting answering based on the text.
Lesson 3
Letter Sounds Review III
During Reader #3 — The Bug, students read the book aloud and answer targeted questions: "What is the bug able to do?," "What does the bug want to be able to do?," and "Why can't he do that?". In Activity 5.3 (What's Missing?) students use picture cues to fill missing words and then read the completed sentences aloud, linking pictures with sentence information.
Lesson 4
Letter Sounds Review IV
In Activity 5.2 students read The Cat, the Pig, the Dog, and the Fox and are asked why the dog and the fox are napping and why the cat and the pig are not. Those questions require students to link characters' actions (running vs. sitting) to the event of napping. The Making Sentences and reading-aloud tasks also have students connect words into meaningful sentences, supporting comprehension of relationships between words and actions.
Lesson 7
Consonant Digraphs ch, sh, wh, ph
During Activity 3.1/3.3 students read the reader They Get Wet and answer comprehension questions such as 'Why are the rat and the cat wet at the end?' (a wave hits them) and 'Why do you think the rat and the cat are on the ship?'. These prompts require students to link an event (a wave hitting) to an outcome (being wet) and to relate characters to events in the story. Students are also asked to identify where the ship is at the beginning, which connects setting information to later events.
Lesson 8
Blends with s
Students read the reader "Meg and Dan and the Sled" and are asked targeted comprehension questions such as "Near the end, why are Meg and Dan no longer on the sled?" and "Why do you think they stop for a snack?" These prompts ask students to state reasons and link events (they fell off because they hit a spot and slid; stopping for a snack). Activity 4.3 requires students to point to words as they read and then explain relationships between events in the story.
Lesson 12
Double ll, ss, ff, zz (FLOSS)
Students read the reader Huff and Puff (Activity 4.3) and answer comprehension questions that ask them to identify characters/events ("What insects are shown?") and explain relationships or reasons ("Why do you think the insects are following the kids?" and "Why is everyone huffing and puffing at the end of the book?"). During these questions students must connect an event (running/heat) to its effect (huffing and puffing) and relate insects to the children. The reader task therefore elicits description of connections between events and between characters and events in a single text.
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 1
Long Vowels a and i with Silent e
Students read the reader "In the Fall" and are asked comprehension questions that link two individuals and their actions (e.g., "What are some of the things that Lin and Dev like to do in the fall?" and "What does Lin do while Dev makes cakes?"). Students are prompted to identify activities both characters do and to state the relationship between Lin's and Dev's actions (what one does while the other makes cakes).
Lesson 4
More R-Controlled Vowels (er, ir, or, ur)
Students read The Bird Is Third independently and aloud, then answer targeted comprehension questions: "Who won the race?" and "Which animal came in last?" They are also asked, "Are you surprised that the cat won the race? Who did you think would win? Why?", which prompts them to relate characters to the event outcome and explain their reasoning.
Lesson 7
Long i Spellings y, igh, ie
Students read Reader #7 "The Dark Night" and answer comprehension questions that ask about two characters together (e.g., "What do Tom and Val see in the sky?" and "What do Tom and Val dream about?"). The lesson asks students to read the story on their own and then read it aloud and respond to those questions. The activities therefore require students to identify information about two individuals from the text.
Lesson 10
Other Long Vowel Patterns
Students read The Wild Colt and are asked explicit comprehension questions that require connecting events: "Why is the colt hard to find in the herd?" and "How does the man stop the colt from bolting?". Students write dictated sentences such as "The child is kind." and "The colt is blind.", which require linking an individual to a trait or state. Students also reread the Weekly Message and are prompted to identify related words and answer comprehension-style questions about the text.
Lesson 13
Other Vowel Sounds ou, ow
On Day 5 students read The Hound and the Owl and answer targeted comprehension questions such as "What does the hound do during the day?" and "Why do you think the hound howls at the owl?" which prompt students to relate events and infer reasons. In Activity 2.1 students sort words into groups and are asked to explain their groupings, requiring them to describe connections among pieces of information (sound patterns and spellings).
Lesson 15
These Make More Than One Sound: oo and ea
During Day 5 (Activity 5.1) students read The Bad Bear and answer comprehension questions, including "What happens when the bear's mom finds her?," which asks students to relate the bear's actions to the mom's response. Students are also asked to list the naughty things the bear does, which requires identifying events in the story. The wrap-up asks questions that require students to connect events and consequences in the reader (e.g., what happens after certain actions).