Kindergarten - ELA
1: Letters
Unit 1: A - A Is for Musk Ox
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson introduces the vocabulary word "herd," telling children that musk oxen live in herds and explaining that a herd is a large group of animals that live together. Students are prompted to discuss where musk oxen live, what they eat, how people use them, and to compare information from reading/watching with the musk ox in the story, using the word "herd" in context. Activity 3 asks children to act like a musk ox, which gives an opportunity to use and apply the word in a dramatized context.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked what 'herd' means when the book reaches the H page and are prompted that 'heard/herd' has two meanings. They read the definition of 'herd' (a large group of animals) and discuss why that meaning fits the context of the book about musk oxen. Students are also asked to find the marked-out words and locate the pictured items, linking word meaning to illustrations.
Unit 2: H - Hondo and Fabian
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are introduced to the vocabulary word "character" with an explicit definition (a person or animal in a story) and are asked Question #1: Who are the two characters in the book?, which requires identifying Hondo and Fabian as characters. In Activity 1 students listen to descriptions of actions and identify each as a Hondo or a Fabian activity and are encouraged to act out each activity, applying the vocabulary meaning in context.
Unit 3: I - The Little Island
Lesson 5
Day 5
The lesson asks the child to consider the title The Little Island and to decide whether the island was really "little" and, if so, compared to what, prompting comparisons to continents, the ocean, animals, blades of grass, and drops of water. It directs the child to talk about how size is determined and to use rulers and tape measures to measure and compare lengths (e.g., measuring height, table, sofa, room) to decide which is longest or shortest. The opening also asks the child to tell the definition of an island, reinforcing word meaning and use in context.
Unit 6: F - Fireflies
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson explicitly teaches the meaning of the vocabulary word "flicker," giving the definition "to move back-and-forth or flash on-and-off." Question #1 asks the child whether they know what it means to flicker and prompts the child to think of other things that flicker (for example, lights during a storm or candlelight). The child practices applying the given definition by identifying additional examples that fit the meaning.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson asks the child to supply another word that means the same as "blinking on, blinking off" (flickering) and to explain what "soaring" means, prompting use of surrounding words as clues. It directs the child to consider how the words around "soaring" help give clues about its meaning, which has students infer word meaning from context.
Unit 7: E - But No Elephants
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson introduces the vocabulary word "predicament" and gives its definition as "a difficult, perplexing, or trying situation." Question #3 asks the child to explain that definition and to name predicaments Grandma Tildy faced and how she solved each one, which requires applying the word to story contexts. The child is prompted to use the word meaningfully when identifying examples from the text.
Unit 8: C - Millions of Cats
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson explicitly defines the vocabulary word "quarrel" as "to disagree angrily" in the Facts and Definitions and again in Question #4. Students are asked to explain "Why were the cats quarreling?", which requires them to apply the introduced meaning to the story context.
Unit 13: P - Harold and the Purple Crayon
Lesson 1
Day 1
The 'Questions to Explore' includes the prompt, 'How can the same word mean different things depending on its context?', which asks students to consider multiple meanings of words. The Skills list explicitly names 'Identify new meanings for familiar words and apply them accurately (e.g., knowing a duck is a bird and learning the verb "to duck")', indicating the objective is part of the unit. A vocabulary definition (imagination) and discussion prompts invite students to talk about word meaning in at least one instance.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to interpret the word "trim" in two contexts (a hair trim vs. a "trim little boat") and decide it means "neat in appearance" in the story. Students are asked to interpret the word "drew" in two contexts (drew a picture vs. "drew up" the covers) and determine the appropriate meaning in each sentence. Students are prompted to generate other familiar words with two meanings (duck, mouse, ball, bat) and to think about the different meanings for each.
Unit 14: B - Blueberries for Sal
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to look at a pictured scene and describe what the word "hustle" must mean based on the picture, and the expected meaning is given as moving energetically and rapidly. Students then page through the book, read various movement verbs (hustled, hurried, padded, tramping, etc.), and physically act out those movements to apply the inferred meanings. Students practice connecting contextual picture clues and actions to word meanings through discussion and dramatization.
Unit 15: R - Rain
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson explicitly introduces the vocabulary word downpour with the definition "a time of sudden and heavy rain." Question #4 directs students to "Talk about the different words we use for rain" (sprinkling, raining, drizzling, pouring) and identifies downpour as a label for heavy rain. Students are asked to discuss personal experiences (e.g., "Has she ever been caught in a downpour?"), which requires them to use the new word in context.
Unit 16: N - Night in the Country
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to name and discuss the word country and are prompted to identify one meaning as a nation (using a world map to point out examples like Brazil, China, Italy). Students are then told and asked to explain the other meaning of country as an area far from a city and to describe features that distinguish city, suburbs, and country. Students are asked to relate the word meaning to personal experience (have you been to the country? what do you like about it?).
Lesson 2
Day 2
The Getting Started review explicitly asks the child to "describe two different meanings for the word 'country,'" requiring identification of multiple meanings. Activity 1 has the child dress paper-doll characters as a farm (country) and a city resident and then role-play asking and answering questions based on where each character lives, which asks the child to use the 'country' sense in context. The discussion comparing how families meet needs in the country versus the city reinforces different contexts for the word 'country.'
Unit 17: M - Marshmallow
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson lists the vocabulary word "hesitated -- waited before acting." In Reading Question #4, students are asked whether they know what "hesitated" means and are given the definition "waited," and then asked why Oliver hesitated before pouncing. These prompts require students to identify the word's meaning and apply that meaning to explain a character's action in context.
Lesson 5
Day 5
The lesson explicitly introduces the geometric meaning of the familiar word "faces," explaining that the two flat circles on the top and bottom of a can are called faces because they are flat sides. It directs the child to touch and count the faces on the can and to compare face counts across shapes (sphere, cube, rectangular prism, cylinder). The child is asked to find other examples of cylinders and consider which have flat faces, applying the new meaning to real objects around the house.
Unit 18: U - Umbrella
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked about the meaning of the word "unfortunately" on page 6 and told it means "unluckily" or "unhappily," with the teacher pointing out the prefix "un." Students are asked what the opposite of "unfortunately" would be and prompted to give meanings for examples formed with the prefix (unlucky, unable, unhappy). In Activity 2 students physically practice doing and undoing fasteners while the teacher prompts them to use and practice words with the prefix "un-" and are instructed to look for other words with "un-" throughout the week.
Unit 19: J - Jump Frog Jump
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson lists Vocabulary Word: escape -- to get away, giving an explicit definition. It directs the caregiver to tell the child "another word for 'get away' is escape" and states "The frog escaped many situations!". Students are asked to look back through the book to identify which animals the frog escaped (fish, snake, turtle) and to answer questions using that word in the story context.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are prompted to review vocabulary and define each word in their own words, which engages them in thinking about word meanings. The vocabulary list explicitly presents 'country' with two senses ("a nation OR an area far away from a city"), giving a direct example of a familiar word with multiple meanings. Students are also asked questions (e.g., what it means to escape) that require them to explain word meaning in their own words.
Unit 20: K - Kindness
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson explicitly labels the vocabulary word 'grand' and provides the definition 'very good or excellent.' During reading the teacher asks the child if he knows what 'grand' means and, if not, to explain that meaning. The lesson then asks the child to think of things that make him feel 'grand,' prompting the child to apply the word in personal contexts.
Unit 21: V - Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are given the vocabulary word "solo" with the definition "something done by one person alone." In Activity 1, students find the trombone playing alone, choose the number card 1, and locate the matching word "solo," and they are prompted to discuss what it means to do something "solo" and whether they have sung or seen a solo. The activity also has students match other ensemble labels (duet, chamber group of 10) to the number of instruments, applying the vocabulary to pictured contexts.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson explicitly explains that "violet" is a shade of purple and the name of a purple flower while having the child form the letter v with a violet crayon and trace it, which exposes students to two meanings of the word. In the shapes activity, students name a cone as a three-dimensional shape and then identify objects that are cone-shaped (ice cream cone, traffic cone, party hat), applying the shape-name to real objects.
Unit 22: Y - Little Blue and Little Yellow
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson provides an explicit vocabulary entry for row with two meanings: "a number of people or things in a straight line" and "to move a boat with oars." Students are asked to look at the book page that uses row in the sense of seating and identify that meaning from context. Students are then prompted to think of the other meaning and challenged to make a sentence using row twice with different meanings, practicing application.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are prompted to define vocabulary terms in their own words (e.g., characteristic, imagination, country). The lesson explicitly presents a word with two meanings—"country: a nation OR an area far away from a city"—and asks the child to describe two meanings of the word "row." These items require students to identify multiple meanings for familiar words.
Unit 23: W - George Washington's Birthday
Lesson 4
Day 4
Activity 2 (Acting Out Words) directs students to read sentences with italicized words and deduce their meanings from sentence context. The activity explicitly notes that some words have a more familiar meaning but an entirely different one in context and gives the example of the two meanings of "mind." Students are asked to act out the sentence and the action described by the italicized word, requiring them to apply the contextual meaning.
Unit 24: Q - The Quilt Story
Lesson 1
Day 1
After reading, students are prompted to talk about the word "shavings" and to share any familiar meanings they know (for example, shaving hair). The text explains the meaning "thin slices or slivers that are cut off" and contrasts that with the familiar meaning, noting that in the story the shavings are wood pieces carved off when the father made the rocking horse. Students are guided to use the story context to determine which meaning applies.
Unit 26: Z - Greedy Zebra
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson explicitly teaches the vocabulary word "greedy," providing a student-friendly definition and examples of greediness. Students are asked to predict how the zebra will be greedy and, after reading, to explain how the zebra was greedy and what happened as a result. The lesson prompts students to apply the taught meaning of "greedy" to events in the story and to generate their own examples.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The review directs the child to define each vocabulary term in her own words and provides explicit multi-meaning entries such as "country: a nation OR an area far away from a city" and "row: a number of people or things in a straight line OR to move a boat with oars." Students are asked to review vocabulary words and give definitions, which makes the multiple meanings visible and names both senses of those words.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The lesson defines an elephant's trunk as "a long nose" and describes its uses, giving students an explicit new meaning for the word "trunk." Activity 2 directs students to act out many action verbs from the text (e.g., "crept cautiously," "peered," "rushed out," "running and jumping"), having students practice verb meanings through movement. The review prompt asking for an antonym of "greedy" also engages students in thinking about word meaning.
2: Holidays
Unit 27: Halloween
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson introduces the word "lagoon," gives two senses (a shallow body of water sometimes connected to the ocean, or a shallow area of dirty water), and asks the child to listen for the word in Goodnight Goon and decide which definition is used. After reading, the child is prompted to look at a specific page and decide whether the pictured lagoon is saltwater-connected or a shallow dirty area, with the expected answer identified. The lesson also defines "goon" as a big, silly person and asks the child to generate rhyming words including "lagoon," providing contextual use of vocabulary.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The Getting Started prompt asks the child to explain what a lagoon is and what a goon is, directly prompting students to state word meanings. The read-aloud of Goodnight Goon asks the child to join in at line endings when they know the next word, which requires recognizing and predicting word usage in context.
Unit 30: February Celebrations
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson text uses the familiar verb "run" in the political sense: "He or she then can choose to 'run' for office again, meaning the people get to decide...", directly explaining the new meaning. Students are prompted to discuss being president and to watch a video about the president's job, which exposes them to the word in context. The coins and presidents activities provide contextual vocabulary about presidents that may reinforce the political sense of related words.
1: Environment
Unit 2: Weather
Lesson 5
Fall
Students practice the word "fall" in handwriting exercises and are asked to write sentences using selected words (Activity 4 and Activity 1). The text also uses "fall" as the name of the season (September, October, November) and uses "fall" as a verb when describing leaves that "fall off of the trees" (Activity 2). Students are prompted to write and use words from the picture in sentences, providing opportunities to use familiar words in context.
Unit 3: Community
Final Project
I Can Make A Difference
The lesson lists the skill "Use words that name and words that tell action (LA)," and students complete written planning and reflection sentence starters (e.g., "I am planning to __," "The first thing I will do is __," "I helped __ with __.") which require students to produce nouns and verbs. Students also are asked to sequence events and write steps, which prompts use of action words in context.
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 1: Amazing Attributes
Lesson 8
Amazing Attributes
The lesson explicitly defines "magnet" and "magnetic" and has students predict and then test whether pictured objects are magnetic, recording results on the activity page. The lesson defines "sink" and "float" as actions (falling vs. sitting on the surface of a liquid) and has students predict, test, sort, photograph, and discuss which objects sink or float, relating outcomes to the term "density." The skills list includes developing and using vocabulary associated with properties of materials and using descriptive words in speech and writing, which prompts students to employ the taught terms in speaking and recording results.
3: Patterns
Unit 1: Identifying and Creating Visual Patterns
Lesson 3
What Comes Next?
The lesson explicitly defines the target word: "Extend means to make something longer. To extend a pattern means to continue the pattern where it ends, making it longer." Students are asked to identify patterns and "add the appropriate objects" to extend them, to "draw a new square on the outside" or "draw a new circle on the outside," and to label new items they added with A, B, or C. Question prompts (e.g., "What type of square would you add to the outside square?") require students to apply the meaning of "extend" when predicting and creating the next elements of patterns.
Unit 3: Patterns in Your World
Lesson 10
Tracing Patterns
Activity 1 explicitly contrasts two senses of pattern: repeating sequences (objects/numbers) and a pattern as a model or template to copy. Students cut out heart and star patterns, trace them onto construction paper, and recreate two template-based designs with attribute blocks. Activity 3 has students use stencils and explain why stencils help keep designs the same size and shape, and Activity 2 asks students to identify the original patterns after making multiples.
4: Change
Unit 1: Changes on Planet Earth
Lesson 4
Changes in the Environment
The lesson explicitly discusses the difference between a couple and a few and states "Explain that a couple is two, and a few is three." Students practice applying those meanings by ordering cups and being asked to point to the cup that has a couple or a few. On the "Counting Leaves" activity students draw a couple, a few, many, and the most leaves on branches, directly applying the taught meanings.
Unit 2: Characters Change
Lesson 1
What's in a Name
Students are asked to listen to the story, pause after listed vocabulary words, guess meanings from how the words are used in context, and then match their guesses to the actual definitions (Activity 4). Students are taught to recognize and use common suffixes ("-less" and "-ful") by underlining them in words like "priceless" and "dreadful" and using those endings to infer word meanings. The Skills section explicitly includes determining or clarifying the meaning of unknown words and using affixes as clues to meaning.
Lesson 3
Is It a Problem?
The lesson explicitly teaches idioms and personification, defining idioms as phrases that don't mean what they literally say and giving examples like "tackle the problem," "under the weather," and "I'm all ears." Students are prompted to look through the book to find how the problem is described and to discuss that the phrase "I tackled my problem" means to start solving it (with an optional explanation of a football tackle). Activity prompts ask students to explain idiomatic meanings in context and to illustrate how the problem changes as described with figurative language.
Lesson 5
The Raft
Students read sentences and match vocabulary words to definitions in Activity 2, using context to determine meanings for words such as mumbled, cluttered, flock, swooping, drift, and startled. Students discuss figurative language in Activity 6, interpreting nonliteral phrases like "She had eyes in the back of her head," "it was like finding presents under a Christmas tree," and "What a herd of wild animals we were!" Students are prompted to use clues in the text and teacher questions to clarify word meanings and nuances.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 1
Letter Sounds Review I
Students are asked to recall words from a short-a video and, if they suggest "angry," they are explicitly told that "angry" is a feeling while other examples (apple, ant, ambulance) are objects. Students are told that the character 'a' is both a letter and a word and that it can be pronounced differently ("ay" or "uh"). The lesson defines meanings for some words when introduced (e.g., explaining that a mast is a tall post on a boat and that sap flows in trees).
Lesson 9
Blends with l
Students are asked to read and use the sight words "have" and "had," and the lesson explicitly explains that "have" is used for present time and "had" for past time (Activity 1.3). Students are prompted to come up with sentences using "have" and "had," and the Wrapping Up asks students to explain the difference and use each word in a sentence. These tasks require students to recognize and apply a difference in meaning between two related word forms.
Lesson 12
Double ll, ss, ff, zz (FLOSS)
Students practice forming new words by combining or modifying familiar words in Activity 2.1 (e.g., star → starlight, pan → pancake) and are asked to listen for differences in meaning and length. In Activity 1.3 students compare present and past verb forms ('are' vs. 'were') using example sentences and point to each word when they hear it. The lesson also discusses that some words are shortened forms with distinct histories/meanings (e.g., 'bus' from omnibus, 'gas' from gasoline), which students hear as explanations of why spelling/meaning differ.
Lesson 15
More Ending Blends
Students are asked to read words that change by adding or replacing ending blends and are given explicit definitions for some resulting words (for example, changing pat to pact and explaining that a "pact" is an agreement, and noting that "wept" means cried). Students are instructed to add -s to words to show more than one of something and to read the plural words they create, linking form to meaning. Students are also taught functional usage of short words (explaining that "an" is used before vowel sounds and contrasts with "a"), and teachers are prompted to "explain the words as needed" during word-building and sorting activities.
Lesson 17
Semester Review
Activity 1.3 explicitly introduces the sight words "how," "their," and "if," and states "Now you know two words that sound the same: 'there' and 'their.'" Students are asked to listen to sentences and point to the correct sight word card, then to view the page and underline "there" or "their" in each sentence. The wrap-up asks the child to reread the weekly message and point to the two words that sound the same, reinforcing selection and application of the distinct meanings.
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 5
Long a Spellings ai, ay
Students are asked to have meanings of words explained as needed (for example, the lesson tells students that "male" refers to a boy or man and "tale" means a story). Students are explicitly taught the meanings of words such as "maid" (a young woman or a woman who cleans a house) and "sail" (the sail on a sailboat). Students read sentences, complete fill-in-the-blank exercises using target words, and produce sentences in the Life Application activity, providing opportunities to use word meanings in context.
Lesson 6
Long e Spellings ee, ey, ea
On Day 2 students read and compare the words "see" and "sea," with the teacher writing both on the laminated sheet and explaining that they sound the same but "see" means to look and "sea" means ocean. The Long e Spellings student page contains sentences using each word (e.g., "I see the monkeys at the zoo." and "The sea has many waves today."), and students are asked to read those sentences aloud. Activity prompts ask students to notice meanings when the words are used in context and to read sentences while the teacher points to either "see" or "sea."
Lesson 10
Other Long Vowel Patterns
The lesson explicitly teaches word meanings in places (for example: 'Mild' is defined as gentle or calm, with examples of use). Students are asked to use sight words in sentences and to read and write sentences that include target words (e.g., dictation: 'The child is kind.'; Fill in the Blanks where students choose words like cold, fold, gold to complete sentences). The activities instruct students to 'explain word meanings as needed' and have students read words in context (reader comprehension questions and sentence reading) to practice word use.
Lesson 14
Other Vowel Sounds aw, au
The lesson asks students to explain multiple meanings of the word "saw," having them discuss both the tool and the past-tense meaning in Activity 3.1. Activity 1.3 introduces "made" as the past-tense form of "make," provides example sentences contrasting present and past, and asks students to read and write the sight word. The Life Application and discussion prompts ask students to use words in everyday conversation, reinforcing applying meanings.
Lesson 16
Silent Starts: kn, wr, gn
Students read and discuss meanings for words that begin with silent letters (Activity 1.2 gives definitions for gnat, gnaw, gnu, gnash; Activity 2.1 and 3.1 have students read kn and wr words aloud). Students practice distinguishing words that sound the same but have different spellings/meanings (Activity 3.3 asks them to write no for know and right for write and then point to the correct word in sentences). Students also read, sort, and use words in sentences (sorting, spelling test, and sentence dictation activities require reading words and applying meanings).
Lesson 17
Year-End Review
The lesson includes an optional Compound Words activity (Activity 4.2) in which students read a model word ("starlight"), have the second and first parts covered to show component words, and are reminded that two words put together create one new word. Students are asked to create and spell compound words from a word bank (cupcake, starfish, rainbow, shipwreck, cowboy, toothbrush) and may be introduced to the term "compound words."