Kindergarten - ELA
1: Letters
Unit 1: A - A Is for Musk Ox
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are given a vocabulary word (herd) with a real-world definition — "a large group of animals that live together" — which names a real-life concept. In Activity 2 students are prompted to discuss that the alphabet has a certain order and that this order "helps people organize information," tying the concept of alphabetical order to its real-life use. The Optional Extension asks students to compare letter and number order and discusses that these orders "provide a standard way for all people to communicate information," which further connects word/letter concepts to everyday uses.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students read and watch informational resources about musk oxen and discuss where musk oxen live, what they eat, how people use them, and threats they face. Students are explicitly introduced to the vocabulary word "herd," told that musk oxen live in herds, and given the definition that a herd is a large group of animals that live together. Students act like a musk ox and optionally draw a musk ox, applying the word meaning to real-life animal behavior and contexts.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to find the picture that matches each marked word in the book and to point to the first letter of each word and say the letter aloud, connecting written words to pictured objects. Students are asked what "herd" means, discuss the two meanings of "heard/herd," and read the definition (a large group of animals that live together), linking the word to the book context and prior discussion of musk oxen. Students practice the short "a" sound with the example "apple," connecting the letter sound to a real-word example.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Activity 1 directs students to look at a world map, identify continents, and point out Canada, Greenland, and Alaska as places where musk oxen live, and to discuss tundra environments and why musk oxen survive there. Activity 2 has students create a musk ox craft, gluing cotton/yarn to simulate thick fur and explicitly linking the fur to keeping the animal warm. Activity 3 has students match pictures to beginning letters and cut/paste images, which connects written words/letters to real objects (e.g., ant, airplane).
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1 students are asked to associate quantities of objects with number words and symbols by showing 1, 2, and 3 apple die-cuts and having the child tell how many and find the matching number card. Students choose numbers of objects and pick or check the corresponding number card, explicitly linking spoken/printed number words to real objects. The activity also asks questions like "What number is one more than 1?" which has students use number words in concrete contexts.
Unit 2: H - Hondo and Fabian
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the book cover and explain how the picture might relate to the title, prompting them to connect words (Hondo, Fabian) with visual context. Students identify the characters and describe their actions (e.g., Hondo rode in a car; Fabian unrolled toilet paper), linking vocabulary and action words to concrete behaviors. Students act out activities in Activity 1, practicing mapping verbs and story events to real-world movements and experiences.
Lesson 2
Day 2
In Activity 1, students talk about real animals (cats and dogs), consider their appearance and behavior, and write characteristic words (e.g., "make a purring sound," "can climb trees," "have four legs," "are pets for people") into a Venn diagram. In Activity 2, students list and say real words that begin with H (happy, hug, heart, hand, help), emphasizing the word meanings and associating sounds with real objects or experiences. Students also point to pictured letters in the Bingo activity as they connect the song's words to the pictured dog.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson has students locate and say words from the book (e.g., find the words "home," "happy," and "hungry" and identify their initial sound). Students find the sight word "he" in the story pages and practice reading it in context. The lesson asks students how they feel at the end of their own day, prompting them to connect feeling words to personal experience. The teacher explains that capital letters are used to begin sentences or give names, linking letter forms to their real-world use.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to act out and name different ways objects and animals move (straight, zigzag, round and round, back and forth, fast and slow), then look through the book to identify additional movement words tied to characters' actions. Students are prompted to paint an activity they like to do with a friend and then dictate a sentence about their painting, connecting words and sentences directly to a personal real-life experience. The letter-sound pages include pictures of familiar objects (heart, ant, house, hand, hat, hammer, horse) that students identify and match to beginning sounds, linking words to concrete objects.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to look through Hondo and Fabian and move their finger left to right, identifying capital letters at the beginning of names and discussing whether those names fit the characters. Students are asked to talk about their own name, explain why it was chosen, see how it is written in print, and attempt to write their name in their journal. Students are prompted to name a pet they would choose and to think about character names, connecting written names to real people/animals and real-life naming choices.
Unit 3: I - The Little Island
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked what an island is, are taught the definition, and talk about the little island on the book cover. Students look at a world map to locate land and water and discuss the difference between an island and a continent. Students view a web gallery of island photographs and are prompted to note similarities and differences, say which islands they would like to visit, and explain why. Students draw a large circle to represent an island and fill it with counted features, physically linking the word to a pictured place.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Activity 1 prompts students to describe how different seasons affect the island and themselves and to choose appropriate gear as seasons change, connecting the word "season" to real-life actions and items. Activity 2 labels pictures with the words "igloo" and "island" while practicing the letter I, having students match the word to a pictured object and its sounds. Activity 3 has students paint an island and explains how islands appear on maps, linking the word "island" to a real-world visual representation and use.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 3 asks students to find animals in the book and identify where each animal moves (air, land, or water), then act out those movements, linking animal words to real-world behaviors and locations. Option 2 has students hold a piece of ice (explicitly noted as a real object that starts with i) while practicing the downward stroke and the sounds of i, connecting a spoken/printed element to a concrete real-life object. The reading activity has students read and supply the sight word "little" in the book text, connecting the word to its use in context.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to pretend to be the winds and act out the motion "around" the pillow-island and to act out motions of clouds, fish, and fog using "over" and "around." Students are then asked to move like a kitten in relation to the island using prepositions: on, under, off, beside, near, far, above, in front of, and behind. The directions include adult guidance (e.g., "guide him if necessary"), supporting students as they connect these spatial words to physical actions.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1 students are asked whether the island was really "little" and to compare it to real-world referents (a continent, the ocean, animals, a blade of grass, a drop of water), directly linking the word "little" to things in their environment. Students are shown a ruler and tape measure, measure their height and household objects, and record which items are longest and shortest, connecting the comparative words "big/little" to measurable real-life examples. The teacher prompts and models measurement and comparison, providing guided support during these real-world word-usage tasks.
Unit 4: T - What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are given a clear definition of the word "structure" and asked to apply it to animals (body parts like noses, ears, tails, eyes, mouth, feet). Students answer questions connecting the word to real-life contexts by identifying parts of homes (kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.) as structures and explaining how homes can differ. Students complete activities that require sorting animals by number of legs and comparing structural similarities and differences between pairs of animals, directly using the word in real examples.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to talk about the purpose of animal tails and match tail pieces to the correct animals, explicitly linking the word "tail" to real animal functions (e.g., balance, communication, swimming). Students are prompted to think about what each animal might need or use a tail for and then glue the matching tail, practicing connecting the word to real-life use. Students design a new tail for a specific purpose and explain how it works, requiring them to state a real-world connection between the word (tail) and its use.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The teacher introduces the words "fiction" and "nonfiction" and explains that a nonfiction book's purpose is to share information rather than tell a story. Students are asked directly whether this book was make-believe or true and to compare it to a previously read animal book (Hondo and Fabian) to determine whether that one was make-believe or true. The teacher shows the sight word "this" in multiple places in the book and has students practice reading it in context.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to name an animal whose tail has a special job and to describe that job, prompting them to link the word 'tail' to its real-life function. In Activity 1, students choose an animal, locate information, and discuss the animal's body parts and how those parts are used in real life. In Activity 2, students act out using a named body part (e.g., 'nose') as a specific animal would, and others guess the animal, reinforcing the connection between the word and its real-world use. The Beginning Letter Sounds page has images of real objects (taxi, ambulance, hand, tree, island) that students match to letters, linking words to familiar real-world referents.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1, students pick two yarn tails and answer which is longer or which is shorter, then put eight tails in order from shortest to longest and vice versa, directly using comparative words in a real, hands-on context. The optional extension asks students to measure tails with paper clips, counting how many paper clips long each tail is, reinforcing the use of measurement vocabulary and connection to physical objects. In Activity 3, students draw an animal body part and dictate 1–3 facts about it, using vocabulary that connects words to real animal parts they observed or researched.
Unit 5: L - We're Going on a Leaf Hunt
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson defines "adjective" as a word that describes how something looks, smells, feels, tastes, or sounds and explicitly points out the word "colorful" in the book as an example. It prompts the child to generate other adjectives that describe leaves (brown, crunchy, soft, sharp, shiny, round, big, etc.). The leaf hunt and subsequent sorting/counting activities require the child to gather real leaves and describe and classify them by observable properties such as color, size, and shape.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students sort real leaves by observable attributes (size, shape, color) and count the groups, using and applying descriptive words such as small, medium, large, brown, orange, red, and green to real objects. Students identify the adjective "tall" for a mountain in the book and point out the taller font, linking a descriptive word to a visual, real-world property. Students substitute specific verbs (skip, march, stroll, hop) and physically act them out, connecting action words to real movements.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to identify adjectives in the story by answering questions such as what word describes the forest, the waterfall, the lake, and the skunk, and to repeat phrases like "dark forest." Students are prompted to point to and say descriptive words while reading and to notice how font reflects meaning. Students draw a simple map of the journey and are instructed to include specific features (a maple tree with orange leaves, a dark forest) and may add a legend that matches symbols with place names.
Lesson 4
Day 4
In Activity 1 students go outside, pull up a plant (even a blade of grass), and look at and talk about its parts, directly naming roots, stem, leaves, and flowers. Students discuss functions (roots gather water like straws, leaves collect air and sunlight to make food) and compare real examples (tree roots vs. grass roots, dandelion stem vs. tree trunk). Students plant seeds in a bag, observe emerging stems, leaves, and roots with a magnifying glass, and talk about those parts as they grow.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Writing Workshop Option 2, students look around the room, identify five real objects they like, draw each object, and then think of a describing word for each object; they are invited to write the words or dictate them to an adult. The Reading Workshop asks students to notice adjectives (describing words) in the book, distinguishing them by colorful fonts and sizes, and to practice reading left to right while identifying those describing words.
Unit 6: F - Fireflies
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson labels and defines the vocabulary word "flicker" and asks the child if he knows what it means. Question #1 explicitly prompts the child to identify what is flickering in the story and to "think of other things that flicker," giving examples such as lights during a storm and candlelight. The pre-reading prompt also asks the child to relate the book to personal experience by describing if he has seen fireflies before and what he saw.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to name a synonym for "blinking on, blinking off" (flickering) and to use surrounding words to infer the meaning of "soaring," which engages contextual word meaning. Students connect the word firefly to a physical feature by painting the abdomen yellow to represent its glow and discussing that feature as part of insect vocabulary. Students practice matching vocabulary to real creatures by examining pictures (firefly, ladybug, spider, worm, millipede, butterfly, grasshopper) and deciding which are insects, explaining the clues they used. Students go outside to collect bugs and talk about whether each creature is an insect, applying word meanings to real-life observations.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 3 asks students to find pairs of opposites in the book and then act out antonym pairs (happy/sad, tall/short, fast/slow, etc.), so students link word meanings to physical actions and situations. Activity 2 has students count out 10 "fireflies" and add one more, so students connect number words to concrete objects and real-world quantity changes. During reading, students are encouraged to point out and read the word "said" in a sentence, connecting the word to its use marking speech in real text.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students color pictured creatures in colors they are commonly found in nature (e.g., ladybug red with black spots, grasshopper green), linking word labels for creatures to real-world appearances. Students sort pictures into insects and non-insects and create new sorting categories (flying vs. non-flying, one color vs. multicolored), which requires them to connect word referents to observable real-life attributes. Students watch a video about fireflies and are asked to imagine being the boy and create movements, connecting the word "firefly" to actions and experiences. The review questions ask students to explain the meaning of "flicker" and give an antonym for "mean," prompting students to consider word meanings in context.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 3 asks the child to name a favorite summer activity, draw it, and write words or sentences describing that real-life activity, prompting the child to use words tied to a personal experience. Activity 2 asks the child to retell the story in his own words using illustrations and to discuss reactions (liked it, funny, surprising), which requires the child to select and use words that describe real situations and feelings.
Unit 7: E - But No Elephants
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson explicitly teaches the vocabulary word "predicament" with a definition and asks students to name predicaments Grandma Tildy faced and how she solved each (Question #3). Students apply the word by identifying specific situations from the story (elephant crying in the cold, elephant not fitting through the door, etc.). The lesson also offers an optional real-world extension (a trip to the zoo) that could connect book content to students' experiences.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to review vocabulary and explain each word and give an example (e.g., providing "big" as an example of an adjective). Students describe the positions of animals in book illustrations using prepositions such as "in," "on," "under," "beside," and "behind," applying those words to real picture contexts. Students name geometric shapes, sort and count them, and assemble a paper elephant so they apply shape words (circle, rectangle, triangle) to parts of a real object.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to point out objects in the room that have the shape of a circle, rectangle, and triangle, directly linking shape words to real items. In Activity 1, students think of an animal, act it out, and explain how that animal would help Grandma Tildy, connecting animal words to real-life functions. In Activity 3, students sort animal pictures by number of legs and consider other real-world categories (land/sea, size), linking animal vocabulary to real-world categories and uses.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to look at the story picture and say what Grandma Tildy is doing (working, picking apples) and why (so she will have something to eat), linking the verb and its real-world purpose. In Activity 1 students sort real household objects into two piles labeled "wants" and "needs," explain why each item belongs in its category, and count the objects in each category. The Getting Started review asks students to name real-life examples of shapes (a circle, a rectangle, a triangle), prompting them to connect shape words to items in their environment.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1, students count ears and feet on pictured elephants, say the rhyme with different quantities, and write equations such as 2+2=4 and 4+4=8 while the adult explains that 2 ears plus 2 ears equals 4 ears. The lesson explicitly tells students to use the pictures as visual cues so they can count body parts and to connect the written equation to the real-world elephant problem. In Activity 3, students draw a house full of animals and write or dictate words/sentences describing what might happen, applying descriptive language to an imagined real-life scenario.
Unit 8: C - Millions of Cats
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson introduces the vocabulary word "quarrel," gives its meaning, and asks students why the cats were quarreling, prompting them to connect the word to the cats' behavior. The sight word "pretty" is highlighted and used in questions about which cat the characters wanted and how caring changed the cat's appearance, linking the adjective to observable features. Activity 1 has students sort die-cut cats by color, size, or pattern and count groups, and Activity 2 has students list physical features (whiskers, tails, fur) and compare characteristics in a Venn diagram, connecting descriptive words to real objects and situations.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students make landforms with playdough while an adult prompts them to name and talk about rivers, ponds, lakes, hills, valleys, meadows, and islands; students color-code features (blue for water, green for hills) and place an island in a lake, connecting vocabulary to physical models. Students find and say the uppercase C on the book cover and connect the letter/sound to real words and objects (cat, cake, crayons), trace and write C on a worksheet, and decorate a cat with household materials, linking word meaning to familiar items and uses.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to learn the word "cat" in many languages (Activity 3) and to watch a video to learn how to sign "cat" in American Sign Language, directly connecting the word to real-world language uses. Students count die-cut cats and create addition equations (Activity 2), linking the word "cat" to real objects and numerical use. Students are prompted to discuss the sight word "pretty" and explain how it was used in the story, connecting the word to its contextual meaning in the text.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students choose a pet and locate real-world information about how to care for that pet (e.g., bathe, brush, feed) and then create a poster or give a "pet talk" explaining care steps. Students match pictures (cat, fan, elephant, lion, ant; car, lollipop, etc.) to beginning letters and unscramble words, linking written words to pictured, real-world objects. Students create and perform motions for a poem about kittens, acting out word meanings and connecting words to actions.
Unit 9: G - The Real Mother Goose
Lesson 1
Day 1
The activities ask students to identify the shape of the face of a clock, a well, a button, and a pancake and to look around the room to identify any circles, tying the word "circle" to real objects. The Skills list includes "Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes," which directs students to use shape words to label real-world items. Activity prompts also have students move in circles in multiple ways, reinforcing the connection between the word and real actions/contexts.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students talk about what happens in January, describe the weather and activities, draw or glue magazine pictures that represent the month, and note family birthdays as part of the Months of the Year activity. Students color, cut, and glue month boxes and thereby connect the word for each month to real-life events and images. Students identify words that begin with the letter G (goose, giraffe, glue, green, glitter) and discuss those objects while practicing the letter sound and formation.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The review asks the child to identify a circular object in the room, prompting the child to connect the word "circular"/"circle" to a real object. Activity 2 has the child examine a collection of tops and lids, ask what shape the lids form, order them from smallest to largest, sort them by a chosen rule, and explain the grouping. Activity 2 also has the child dip lids in paint and stamp circle shapes, reinforcing the connection between the word circle and real-world objects and actions.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Activity 1 asks students to add a name for each month along with symbols and pictures about the weather, activities, and special events of each month, and then create and bind a Months of the Year book. Activity 3 has students match pictures to beginning letters and cut and glue picture boxes under the correct letters, linking word sounds/letters to pictured objects. The review and nursery rhyme activities ask students to supply words and connect poems to familiar versions, reinforcing word use in familiar contexts.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to compare a die-cut circle and a ball and to learn that a ball is called a "sphere," linking the word to the physical object. Students are challenged to name many real-world spheres (balls, globes, marbles, light bulbs, the Moon, planets), which requires identifying instances of the word in everyday contexts. Students practice using the word "sphere" in sentences that describe where the ball is placed in the room (e.g., "the sphere is on top of the shelf"), connecting the word to real-life usage.
Unit 10: O - Owl Babies
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the book cover, predict whether it will teach facts or tell a story, and then name true facts from the book to distinguish fiction from non-fiction. Students cut out, sort, describe, and order geometric shapes and are asked to explain the difference between a circle and an oval, connecting shape words to physical pieces used to assemble an owl. Students make owl cookies using chocolate kisses and a cashew to represent eyes and a beak, linking vocabulary for parts of an owl to real, everyday objects.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson asks the child to find a circle, an oval, and a triangle in the room and to name the shape of the letter O (a circle), connecting words to objects in the environment. Activity 2 links the letter O to real-world examples (octopus, orange, owl) and has the child use an orange crayon to make circles, tying the word "orange" to a real object. Activity 1 has the child look at photographs of owls, predict nonfiction, watch an owl video, and dictate facts about owls, connecting the word "owl" to real animals and their features.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Getting Started asks the child to find a circle, an oval, and a triangle shape in the room, prompting identification of shape words in the real environment. Activity 2 has the child name shapes and move to the corresponding large paper when shown an index card or when the shape name is spoken, and sometimes asks the child to call out shape names while the adult travels. The reading section points out the sight word "want," asks who in the book wants something, and has the child locate and read the word in context.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students view pictures of different owls online and are asked to observe what is different and what is similar about the owls and to click to learn what makes them like other owls and what makes them unique. Students are asked to explain how the book Owl Babies gives owls attributes they don't really have (for example, that they can talk or have human-like feelings), prompting them to contrast book language with real owl characteristics. Students complete letter-sound pages that require matching pictures (octopus, apple, orange, frog, etc.) to letters, linking written words to real-world objects.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to decide which of two owl books is fiction or non-fiction and to find clues that support their choice, which requires noticing how words and images are used to convey facts versus stories. In writing, students record factual information about owls on one side of a page and write a fictional owl story on the other side, practicing different uses of language for real-world facts and imaginative narrative. In the math activity, students act out word problems (e.g., owls flying to and from the tree) and create their own stories, linking action words and quantity words to concrete, physical situations.
Unit 11: S - Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to examine the book cover pictures and explain what the four images represent, prompting them to connect the word season to visual cues. Question #2 asks students to look at what Arnold does each season and to name their favorite activities during each season, prompting them to relate the word season to real-life activities. Activity 1 situates addition problems explicitly in the fall (Arnold collected apples), and students move apples and tell season-based stories, linking the vocabulary word to concrete, everyday events; Activity 2 connects seasons to places on a map (equator, hemispheres), linking the term to real-world locations and conditions.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to talk about the current season and describe typical weather where they live, then record sky conditions, precipitation, wind, and temperature using drawings, words, or dictation on the Weather Report chart. Students design four trees labeled Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter and add season-specific materials (leaves, blossoms, cotton for snow), linking the season words to observable seasonal changes. Students connect words to objects and sounds by identifying words that start with S (snake, sun), practicing the sound while forming the letter S and shaping a playdough snake.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson asks the child to give an adjective about today's weather, directly prompting the student to link a descriptive word to a real-life condition. It has the student listen to a poem that uses three adjectives for each season and name the season based on those adjectives. The student is asked to generate additional adjectives to describe each season, applying words to familiar seasonal experiences.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students listen to clips of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, are asked which season is being described and why, and then paint while choosing colors that reflect that season. The review prompts students to name the four seasons and to give an adjective that describes summer. Students make an apple pie together and are asked how each family member contributed and why they worked together, connecting role words to real actions.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 1 has students move around the house for five minutes finding real objects and grouping them with a paper circle or a playdough sphere, then holding up each item and saying "circle" or "sphere." Activity 2 has students look through books with outdoor settings, identify the story's setting and season, and share the clues that helped them identify the season. Activity 3 has students draw their favorite season and write or dictate things they know about that season, linking seasonal vocabulary to their own experiences.
Unit 12: D - Dinosaurs Big and Small
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson defines the vocabulary word "characteristic" and prompts students to discuss characteristics of dinosaurs (Questions #4 and #5). Activity 1 has students measure their own height, cut yarn to that length, and compare it to labeled yarn lengths for specific dinosaurs, explicitly linking the word "length/height" to real-life measurement. Activity 2 asks students to create a dinosaur and then describe the characteristics of the dinosaur they made, connecting the word "characteristic" to a hands-on, real-world example.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students press household and outdoor objects into playdough and observe imprints while the text links those imprints to fossil footprints, connecting the word 'fossil/imprint/footprint' to physical examples. Students locate the uppercase D on the book cover and hear that D makes the 'd' sound in the word 'dinosaur,' and they practice a 'drumstick' activity that connects the word 'drumstick' to a real object/action. Students listen to the 'We Are the Dinosaurs' song and act out the movements described, linking words in the song to physical actions.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 2 asks children to talk about real kinds of scales (bathroom, doctor's office, grocery, truck scales) and then build and use a balance to predict and observe which household objects are heavier. Activity 1 presents a picture of a dog with the word "dog" and has children practice reading and writing the word, linking the written word to a real-world referent. Activity 3 prompts children to look at dinosaur pictures and generate adjectives to describe physical attributes, connecting descriptive words to observable features.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to name a favorite dinosaur, state one characteristic, and think of an adjective to describe that characteristic, which has them link descriptive words to a real object. In Activity 1 students research a dinosaur, dictate five facts beneath their drawing, and share that information with others, connecting word use to an informational, real-world context. In Activity 3 students identify beginning letters for pictured objects and cut-and-paste or write letters under the correct picture, linking words/letters to real-life objects.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 asks students to listen for and identify adjectives in a nonfiction book (gigantic, longer, thick, sturdy, heaviest, tallest) and then look through supplemental books to find or think of describing words that fit pictures. Students are asked to share adjectives they found or thought about, which requires linking words to pictured referents. Activity 3 has students cut out realistic dinosaur pictures and dictate factual sentences about them, encouraging students to apply descriptive language to images.
Unit 13: P - Harold and the Purple Crayon
Lesson 1
Day 1
Activity 2 asks students to identify squares and rectangles in the room and then sort and count purple cutouts, directly connecting the shape words to real objects. Activity 1 introduces and defines the word "imagination" and has students propose and draw solutions to real predicaments Harold might face, applying the word to problem-solving situations. The Questions to Explore and Skills list prompt considering how the same word can mean different things and practicing identification of new meanings, reinforcing real-life word use.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to point out a square and a rectangle in the room, connecting shape vocabulary to real objects in their environment. Students mix red and blue paint to make purple, use a color wheel, and then create a painting, linking color words to real materials and visual results. Students are prompted to look at the moon each night and match moon-phase pictures/labels to what they observe, connecting phase vocabulary to real-world observation.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 1 prompts the child to explain the meaning of "trim" in two real contexts (a hair trim vs. a "trim" little boat) and to explain the meaning of "drew" in two contexts (drawing a picture vs. pulling up covers). The activity then asks the child to generate other familiar words with two meanings (duck, mouse, ball, bat), connecting word meanings to everyday objects and actions. Adults are instructed to ask and guide these questions, providing support as the child makes connections.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to list and choose real neighborhood places (home, police and fire stations, airports, banks, hospitals, supermarkets, schools, places of worship, etc.) and construct a map placing those locations. Students assign blank store drawings as particular places that are familiar or special to them and can use a toy car to travel from place to place on the map. Student activity pages include labeled illustrations of community places (Bank, Hospital, Fire Station, Police Station, Post Office, School, Grocery Store, Library, Playground) that students can cut, color, or place on their map.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students name and show examples of square, rectangle, cube, and rectangular prism while building those shapes with toothpicks and marshmallows and counting edges, corners, and faces, directly linking shape words to physical objects. Students choose a color and draw a picture using only that color, then write or dictate a description of the picture, linking color words to a concrete image they created.
Unit 14: B - Blueberries for Sal
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the book cover and identify the color the illustrator used (blue), connecting the color word to the pictures. An adult is instructed to explain that Little Sal's mother made blueberry jam to eat in winter and to relate that people used to preserve food and some still do today, linking story vocabulary (jam, freezer, store) to real-life practices. The recipe and the invitation to make freezer jam provide a hands-on activity that connects story words to real-world objects and actions.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to find picture clues that show the story takes place in the past (e.g., model of the car, clothes, cast-iron stove), linking the word past to real visual details. Students are asked to infer the meaning of the verb "hustle" from a picture and then act out hustling, connecting the word to a real physical action. Students use 20 blue pom-poms as "blueberries" to trace the shape of a B and hear the word "blueberry," linking a word to a tangible object and its use.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students make and observe blueberry dye (Activity 3) and are asked what people did with the dye, prompting them to connect the word/concept "dye" (and "blueberries") to the real-life use of coloring fabric. The lowercase b activity includes a picture and the word "bat," and students trace/write the letter while practicing the word "bat," linking the word to a real object.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students create a two-column list labeling elements of fiction and non-fiction about bears and list scientifically accurate facts (e.g., 'bears eat fruit,' 'mother bears protect their cubs'), which requires linking words/phrases to real bear characteristics. Students substitute verbs in the song (e.g., 'hustled,' 'backed,' 'padded') and add motions, connecting action words to real physical movements. Students match pictures of real objects (astronaut, tree, elephant, bat, guitar; sailboat, sun, leaf, grapes, owl, pig) to beginning letters/sounds, linking words to real-world referents.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In the Reading Workshop, students spend independent time looking through books searching for clues that identify the setting as the past and then share their findings. Students are prompted to examine characters' clothing and the technology used for cooking, listening to music, driving, or farm work and to compare those items to what people use today. In the Writing Workshop, students are encouraged to choose more colorful, descriptive words and add detail, which connects word choice to real-world descriptions.
Unit 15: R - Rain
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to talk about different words for rain (sprinkling, raining, drizzling, pouring, downpour) and to discuss whether they have experienced a downpour and what they did. Students are prompted to point out colors that match the text, color die-cuts to match items in the story, and place colored die-cuts on a sky mat to recreate real scenes from the book. Adults are instructed to ask questions and prompt discussion while reading and during the activities.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students write sentences in the "Making a Rainbow Book" activity beginning with "I see..." and fill in color words (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) and draw matching objects, directly linking color vocabulary to real-world items. Students are prompted to name other liquids (milk, juice, liquid soap) and to describe water and ice using their five senses, explicitly connecting the words "liquid" and "solid" to everyday materials. Students are supported to copy or dictate sentences, indicating guided adult support while they apply words to real-life referents.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students arrange and glue die-cuts to create a scene and then point to each object and use its describing word (such as "purple flowers") to tell about the scene. Students are prompted to notice color words in the text (e.g., "Rain on the green grass") and to read or point to color and object words. In Option 2, students handle a red ribbon and are prompted to notice that "red" and "ribbon" start with r, linking a color word to a real object.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to provide "another word for 'downpour'" during the review, prompting them to connect a vocabulary word to a real-life synonym. In Activity 1 students identify where water exists on Earth (rivers, lakes, streams, underground, oceans), linking the word "water" and related vocabulary to real places. The student activity pages present pictures (ladder, elephant, football, tennis ball, star, robot, camel, pineapple, ant, igloo) for students to match or circle letters, which requires students to connect words for real objects to their written forms and initial sounds.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 3 asks the child to name 3–5 favorite real things and write or dictate a sentence or phrase about each using a color word (e.g., "red car") and then illustrate them using corresponding colors. The teacher prompt asks the child why writers like to use color words, prompting the child to explain how color words help description. Activity 2 has the child read a book using the colors of the type as a guide and read the book she wrote about colors of the rainbow to family, connecting color words to items and illustrations in real contexts.
Unit 16: N - Night in the Country
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked what the word "country" means and prompted to identify one meaning as a nation while locating other countries on a world map. Students are taught a second meaning of "country" as an area far from a city and describe features such as farms, fewer houses, and darkness from lack of city lights. Students compare and contrast city, suburbs, and country and answer whether they have been to the country and what they like about it, connecting the word to their own experiences.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to name a night sound they hear at home and to describe two different meanings for the word "country," directly linking word meaning to real-life experience. Students cut out and dress paper-doll characters and then role-play asking and answering where they get fruit, vegetables, meat, and clothes, connecting vocabulary (grocery store, farm, online ordering) to real places and activities. Students discuss how families on farms meet needs differently than city families, explicitly tying words like food, clothing, shelter, and shopping to everyday sources and actions.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson asks the child to look through Night in the Country, identify landforms (river, fields, road, hills), and 'talk about the names of these features as you work.' It then has the child create physical models of those features in sand, linking the words (names of landforms) to real-world objects. The review question asking for 'one difference between life in the country and life in the city' also prompts the child to connect vocabulary/concepts to real-life settings.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students brainstorm examples of natural resources and are asked to hunt for pictures in magazines and collect leaves, feathers, and pebbles to make a collage, directly linking the word "natural resource" to real items. Students act out onomatopoeic words from Night in the Country and a provided list, connecting words to the sounds and actions they represent. Students complete beginning letter-sound pages where they circle the correct beginning letter for pictures and cut-and-paste letters under the correct picture, linking words to objects in their environment.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 2 (Reading Workshop), students are prompted to ask what a word means and given examples such as wondering "what a baby raccoon is called" or "where in the country the book is located," and students are encouraged to identify questions after reading and to do research to find answers. In Activity 3 (Writing Workshop), students draw the sun and moon and write about what they do in the day and at night, linking the words "day" and "night" to their own real-life routines.
Unit 17: M - Marshmallow
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson introduces a vocabulary word ("hesitated") and directs the child to show the page where the word appears, ask if she knows the meaning, define it if needed, and explain why Oliver hesitated — connecting the word to the story event. The lesson lists social vocabulary/traits (sharing, taking turns, kindness, honesty) and gives real-life friendship scenarios in which the child is asked to respond as a friend, requiring use of those words in everyday contexts. The opening prompts (look at the cover, predict why the book is titled Marshmallow) ask the child to connect words and title to meaning in the book.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to name the rules of their home and then use words and/or pictures on butcher paper to depict those rules, connecting word labels to a real-life family context. Students locate the uppercase M on the Marshmallow book cover and link the letter to the word "marshmallow," and they practice the M sound with the monkey illustration on the activity page. In Option 2, students handle real coins while being reminded that "money starts with M," forming an M with coins to connect a real object and its word to the letter/sound.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students practice reading a sight word by having the teacher point to the word "out," show a matching word card, and read the word as it occurs in the story. Students retell the story in their own words using pictures as prompts, which has them use vocabulary from the book in a narrative context. In Activity 2, students measure two stuffed animals with marshmallows, count the marshmallows, record the numbers, and decide which animal is longer, which can prompt use of comparative words (e.g., bigger, longer). The Student Activity Page pairs the lowercase letter m with an image and the word "moon," linking a written word to a pictured real-world object.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to observe and name colors in the illustrations (black and pink/peach) and discuss how the illustrator used charcoal and smudging to create those colors. Students compare Owen and Mzee with Oliver and Marshmallow, talking about real-world attributes like living outdoors vs. indoors, predator vs. pet, and being in danger, which connects vocabulary to real situations. Students complete beginning-sound and letter-matching activities (e.g., matching mitten, mushroom to the letter M), linking word forms to real objects.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 1 asks students to observe a can and identify its circular faces, name the shape 'cylinder', and then move around the house to find real examples of cylinders (cans, pencils, cups, paper towel tubes). Activity 2 has students look through story and poetry books to identify which pages are poems and to decide whether books are story books or poetry, connecting the words 'poem' and 'story' to real book examples. Adults are prompted to ask guiding questions and have students point out and record their findings in both activities.
Unit 18: U - Umbrella
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to explain the meaning of "unfortunately" and identify the prefix "un," including generating opposites (unlucky, unable, unhappy). In Activity 2 students physically do and undo fasteners (ties, buckles, buttons, snaps, zippers, Velcro) while practicing words with the "un-" prefix (unwrap, undone, unlock, etc.). The extension and class prompts ask students to look for "un-" words throughout the week and to compare a real or imaginary umbrella walk to events in the story, connecting vocabulary to everyday experiences.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to point out Japanese characters in the book, locate Japan on a world map, and view pictures of people, homes, buildings, animals, and habitats in Japan, linking the word "Japan" to a real place and cultures. Students are shown the cover image of an umbrella with the word "umbrella" and are given examples of U-words ("umbrella," "unicorn," "rule"), practicing letter sounds while connecting words to tangible objects. Students are invited to find and cook a Japanese recipe or go to a Japanese restaurant and try chopsticks, and to find household objects that make sounds and decide which rhythms sound like rain on an umbrella, tying words and descriptions to real-life activities and objects.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students look at a Kanji Characters activity page that pairs symbols with English translations (tree, woods, sun, mountain, river, fire, fish, car) and copy/trace those characters, linking symbols to concrete word meanings. Students practice the lowercase letter u using a handwriting sheet that includes a labeled picture of a unicorn, trace/write the letter, and practice the sound, connecting the letter and word to a pictured referent. Students are asked to retell the story using pictures to prompt their retelling, which requires them to connect words in the text to pictured events and objects.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to describe clouds they have seen and to look outside to observe current clouds, linking the word "cloud" to real-world visual features and weather (cloudy, before rain). Students use cotton to recreate clouds and may name different cloud shapes after viewing photos on the linked website, connecting word meaning to real examples. Students are asked what kind of weather would make a fan useful, directly linking the word "fan" to its real-life use (hot weather). Letter-sound activities present pictures (umbrella, car, etc.) for students to match with letters and words, reinforcing connections between object words and their real-world referents.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 2, students are asked to find capital letters on page 2, read the words, and figure out why each word is capitalized; the text explicitly notes that New York and Japan are capitalized because they are names of specific places. Activity 2 also directs students to notice capital letters that begin sentences and people's names. In Activity 3, students write their name (being reminded to start with a capital), practice writing it, and are asked to point out and explain any capital letters they used.
Unit 19: J - Jump Frog Jump
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to identify animals on the cover and to predict the setting, including justifying that it is a pond because those animals are found around ponds. The teacher labels the synonym 'escape' as another word for 'get away' and asks students to look back through the book to identify situations where the frog 'escaped' (fish, snake, turtle). The ordering events activity has students match pictures and captions to story events, reinforcing use of action words in context.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are prompted to think about the group of pond animals, state what they know about each animal, and sort them by real-world characteristics (e.g., animals with legs vs. no legs; animals that live primarily on land or in water; animals that fly or don't fly). The review section asks students to define vocabulary words in their own words and asks what it means to escape, which requires connecting words to meaning. The uppercase J activity links the letter to real words (jar, jump) and has students practice the word sound while forming the letter.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students read positional phrases from the book and use die-cut figures to place animals in the physical relationships described (e.g., "The frog was under the fly"). Students use real room objects as props (a couch as "water," a shelf as a "branch," a washcloth as a "net") to map the words to concrete locations and actions. Students are given a list of words (to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by, with) and asked to create original situations between two animals and demonstrate those situations with the die-cuts and props.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students read nonfiction text about a frog life cycle and talk about what a life cycle is, then construct and label a four-part diagram with the terms "eggs," "tadpole," "froglet," and "frog," linking the words to the animal stages and where they live (water vs. land). Students select die-cut animals and physically act them out without words while peers guess, connecting animal names to real behaviors and sounds. Student activity pages show pictures of real objects (pig, duck, jet, jump rope, unicycle) that students match to letters, which connects spoken/written words to pictured real-world referents.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 has students look at the repeating sentence "How will frog get away?" and points out the question mark, then asks students to produce and answer real-life questions (e.g., "What time is it? What are we having for lunch?"). Activity 3 instructs students to think of a question they have about frogs or another animal and to record that question using a question mark. These prompts have students generate and use question forms in everyday contexts.
Unit 20: K - Kindness
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson explicitly teaches the vocabulary word "grand" with the definition "very good or excellent" and asks the child whether he knows the word and to think of anything that makes him feel grand. The reading prompts ask the child to recall and describe acts of kindness he has performed and how those acts made him feel. Activity 2 has the child brainstorm, choose, and carry out real acts of kindness, linking the concept of kindness to concrete real-life behavior.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are prompted to discuss that it is important to show kindness with words and to say a kind statement, linking the concept of "kindness" to real interactions. Students create a "Kindness Mouse" puppet and are instructed to go around the house and outside and use the puppet to say kind things to each family member, practicing the word in real-life settings. Students look at the title "Kindness Mouse," find the uppercase K, and hear that K makes the /k/ sound as in "kindness," linking the written word to its meaning and use.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students reread pages and use the Animals in Fiction chart to name actions of the mouse, frog, mole, and bat and record which actions are things the real animal would do versus human-like actions. The teacher prompts students to identify something each animal does that a real animal would do and something it could not do, guiding students to connect story words/phrases about actions to real-world animal behavior. The activity asks students to compare multiple animals (mouse, frog, mole, bat), providing repeated opportunities to link words from the book to real-life characteristics.
Lesson 4
Day 4
In Activity 1, students generate a list of rules they follow (e.g., I put my trash in trash cans, I pick up my toys), dictating items and adding illustrations that tie words to their home and community behaviors. In Activity 2, students sing and act out a Kindness song, linking words in the song to real actions they can perform. In Activity 3, students match pictures to beginning letters and spell words using provided letters, connecting written words and sounds to real-world objects shown in the images.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students take a 100-step walk and supply each number as they step, stopping every 10 steps to highlight that number, which connects number words to a real-life action. Students use the book illustrations to retell the story and give general descriptions of each act of kindness, linking words from the text to pictured actions. Students choose a favorite book and write or dictate a brief description and reasons they like it, which has them use words to describe real preferences and scenes.
Unit 21: V - Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson introduces the vocabulary word "solo" and has the child match the trombone picture to the number card 1 and the label "solo." The adult prompt asks, "Has your child ever sung a solo or seen someone play or sing a solo? What does it mean to do something 'solo'?" Activity 2 asks the child to create, name, and demonstrate an instrument, linking the word for the instrument to its real use.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to take a walk around their home and look for natural resources being used (water, wood, rocks, animals, plants), directly connecting vocabulary (natural resources, man-made) to real-life objects and uses. Students examine pictures of instruments and identify the natural materials used to make them (wood, horsehair, metals), linking the words for those materials to tangible items. Students label and classify instrument pictures (strings/no strings, color, size) and locate the word "violin" on the book cover while practicing the sound of the letter V, tying the word to the object and its use in context.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to name and compare real objects (a can and a paper towel roll) and identify their shape as a cylinder, and to observe and name cone-shaped objects (ice cream cone, traffic cone, party hat). Students sort jobs into "Goods" and "Services" cards and decide for each job whether it provides goods or services, linking the words to real-world roles. Students use a handwriting page labeled "volcano" and are asked to form the letter v with a violet crayon while discussing that violet is a shade of purple and the name of a flower, and are asked to name a natural resource they see in the room.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked in Review to name a job they know and indicate whether that job provides goods or a service, which connects the word "job/service/goods" to a real-life example. In Activity 1 students write or dictate observations on a Senses Web about a real instrument and label it, linking the word for that object to sensory experiences and uses. The beginning-letter activities have students match pictures (e.g., violin, van, pumpkin) to initial letters, which connects word forms to real-world objects.
Unit 22: Y - Little Blue and Little Yellow
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson directs students to look at the page that says, "In school they sit in neat rows," and asks if they know what "row" means in that context (a real-life school connection). It then prompts students to think of another meaning of "row" (to move a boat with oars) and challenges them to create a sentence using "row" twice with two different meanings. These tasks explicitly require students to connect a word to real-life uses and to apply multiple meanings in context.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to define vocabulary terms in their own words during the review, tying word meanings to their understanding. Activity 1 asks students to describe how friends and citizens behave, recall examples from stories, and draw/give a picture to a real friend, connecting the words "friend" and "citizen" to real people and actions. Activity 3 has students mix blue and yellow food coloring to make green dough and form spheres, explicitly connecting color words and the word "sphere" to hands-on, real-life materials. Activity 2 uses a pictured yo-yo and yarn to form a Y, connecting the letter/word to concrete objects and actions.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students create a Color Book in which they paint two real color samples, mix them to produce a third color, and write or trace the color names, directly linking color words to physical paint examples. Students use a pictured word "yarn" on the lowercase y page and practice the sound, connecting the letter/word to a concrete object. Students read the sight word "they" in sentences about school and retell or act out the story using Play-doh, placing the word in a real-context scenario. Students build numbers with colored stickers and write equations (e.g., 14 = 10 + 4), linking numerals/number words to actual quantities.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students go on a nature scavenger hunt to find items that match specific color words, collect small items or sketch large ones, and then sort those items into the correct color boxes. The lesson provides Student Activity Pages labeled with individual colors (RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, PURPLE, WHITE, GRAY, BLACK, BROWN) for students to draw, write, or paste real-world examples corresponding to each color. The Paper Story activity asks students to relate story elements to colors (e.g., park = green, mountain = black) and to create and describe a scene using torn paper colors.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to draw a picture and write about something they saw or found on a nature walk, using words, phrases, complete sentences, or dictation. This activity has students put words to real objects and experiences from their own environment, linking vocabulary to real-life items they observed.
Unit 23: W - George Washington's Birthday
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson defines the vocabulary word "arithmetic" and directs students to look at a page where George Washington is doing arithmetic, have them observe addition and subtraction, and use pennies to check answers. The lesson identifies the object "quill pen," asks students what George is using to write, explains historical use, and has students make ink and write with a quill. The lesson points out the word "tyrant," asks students to explain its meaning, and asks them to decide whether George's brother fits that description.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students read four word boxes, choose the title box, and glue the correct name under each picture of national symbols (Statue of Liberty, United States Flag, Bald Eagle), directly matching words to real-world objects. Students locate the USA on a world map, identify their state, and are directed to look up and view their state's flag online, connecting place names and flags to real places. Students also connect vocabulary to everyday objects in the letter activity (e.g., identifying 'wagon' and 'wood' as examples that begin with W) when arranging twigs or labeling pictures.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The handwriting Option 2 asks the child to form the letter w with white chalk and explicitly explains that the color "white" begins with w, linking a real object/color to a word. The Getting Started section asks the child to name one symbol of our country, prompting the child to connect a real-world object with its name. The activities also require the child to say number words while tossing the "rock," giving a context where number words are used in a real action.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students match pictures of real objects to beginning letters on the "Letter Sounds: W" and "Beginning Letter Sounds" activity pages (e.g., key, globe, horse, hot dog, grapes), which requires them to connect written letters/words to real-world referents. In the Acting Out Words activity, students deduce meanings of italicized words from sentence context and physically act out the actions or meanings (including discussing two meanings of "mind"), linking word meanings to real actions and situations. The review prompt asking the child to name two symbols of the United States and explain why they were chosen also asks students to relate words (symbols) to real-world significance.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 2, students are asked to notice that some information appears in boxes and to explain why an author might place information there; they are directed to the words "FACT" and "MYTH" and told that the boxed text includes real information tied to the story. Students are prompted to look for all the different places text appears on the pages and to think about the purpose for those placements, then share their observations. In Activity 3, students draw and write about how they celebrate their own birthday, then consider whether one word could be replaced with a more descriptive word.
Unit 24: Q - The Quilt Story
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover and explain what a quilt is and to examine any quilts at home, making observations and sharing stories connected to the object. After reading, students are asked about the word "shavings," prompted to suggest familiar meanings (such as shaving hair), and then are shown the meaning "thin slices or slivers" and how that meaning applies to wood shavings in the story.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to identify the ways the pioneer family used natural resources (wood for furniture, houses, wheels, toys; tea for drinking; beeswax/bayberries/animal fats for candles) and to identify landforms mentioned or shown (hills, prairie, river). Students are prompted to point out shapes in the room and to name wood shavings, connecting shape and object words to real-world examples. Students make word-to-object connections when tracing the letter Q in sand described as like "quicksand" and when using a numbered key to map numbers to color words while coloring the quilt.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students match die-cut shapes to cards with the shape's name, recall and say each shape name, and use the shape or the written name to identify shapes during clue-based questions, directly linking word labels to physical shapes. Students read and practice the sight word "under," and locate and read that word within the story text, connecting the word to its usage in context. The Venn diagram activity has students compare settings and characters labeled "LONG AGO" and "MUCH LATER," which asks them to relate time-related vocabulary to story events and settings.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students read descriptions of famous Americans and their associated holidays, cut out portraits, and glue them into the correct squares, linking holiday words (e.g., "Columbus Day," "Martin Luther King, Jr. Day") to real-world celebrations. Students read short descriptions of holidays (Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving) and color pictures representing those holidays, connecting holiday vocabulary to real-life events. Students practice hand-sewing a quilt patch and hear that quilts were sewn by hand in the past and are still made today, connecting the words "quilt" and "sewing" to an actual craft. Students also match a picture of a quilt to the beginning letter Q, linking a word to a concrete object.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1, students handle household examples (can, ball, dice, party hat, box) and are asked to name each shape and match two-dimensional paper shapes to three-dimensional objects (e.g., circle–sphere, circle ends of a cylinder). Students also move to the correct real object when given spoken shape clues, directly linking shape words to physical items. In Activity 3, students choose a personal item that reminds them of home, draw it, and write or dictate sentences describing where it came from, what it looks like, and how it makes them feel, linking descriptive words to a real-life object. Activity 2 has students interpret facial expressions and use feeling words (pleased, satisfied) to explain what the illustrations convey about the story, connecting emotion words to pictured situations.
Unit 25: X - An Extraordinary Egg
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are taught the vocabulary word "extraordinary" (defined as "unusually amazing") and given concrete examples (an extraordinary sunrise, an extraordinary home run, an extraordinary picture). They are prompted to judge whether specific real-life events (using a computer, finding a never-before-discovered insect, seeing a double rainbow, waking up) are examples of something "extraordinary" and to explain their reasoning. Students are also asked to recall and describe a real situation when they found something extraordinary. These prompts require students, with adult guidance, to connect the word's meaning to real-life situations.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students observe a real chicken egg and are prompted to describe it using words for color, size, shape, texture, weight, magnetic attraction, and whether it floats or sinks, directly linking vocabulary to a real object. Students locate and point to the lowercase x in the word "extraordinary," hear and practice the /ks/ sound, and read and discuss real words that contain x (box, extraordinary, x-ray, fox), connecting word forms and sounds to familiar items. Students make an "extraordinary egg" craft and are asked to think about the story behind it, connecting the adjective "extraordinary" to a tangible creation.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to use the "Words with X" activity page where the teacher/adult reads familiar words (e.g., mailbox, taxi, fox, ox) and students repeat each word and find and circle the letter x. The activity page includes illustrations for many of the words, so students link spoken/written words to pictured real objects. In Activity 2 the teacher writes and shows the word "next" and has the child locate the letter x in that real-word example.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students label and assemble a three-part alligator life-cycle craft with the sections titled "egg," "baby alligator," and "adult alligator," connecting the words to the corresponding life stages. Students act out the frog and alligator life cycles using the vocabulary words egg, tadpole/froglet/young alligator, and adult, linking the terms to physical actions and stages. Students complete beginning-sounds pages by matching images (toy car, umbrella, refrigerator, drum, pirate; skeleton, key, etc.) to letters, connecting words for real objects to their beginning sounds.
Unit 26: Z - Greedy Zebra
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson introduces the vocabulary word "greedy," provides a child-friendly definition, and models a concrete example (eating a whole batch of cookies). It asks the child to generate additional examples of greediness and to predict how the zebra will be greedy. After reading, the child is asked to explain how the zebra was greedy and what happened as a result, tying the word to real actions and consequences.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to define vocabulary words in their own words during the review (e.g., downpour, country, hesitated, greedy). The prompt explicitly asks the child to give an example of being "greedy," which asks students to connect the word to a real-life situation. Students are also asked to create and solve a story problem using animal cards, and an optional zebra report asks students to link the word "zebra" to real-world facts (appearance, habitat, diet).
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked in the review to explain why being greedy is considered a negative characteristic, which prompts them to connect the word "greedy" to real-life behavior. Students practice the sight word "new" in the sentence from Greedy Zebra and are encouraged to read and recognize the word in context, linking the word to an example in the story. Students enter an imaginary cave and are prompted to talk about what they might see and how they would feel, connecting the concept and word "cave" to a real-world experience.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students read descriptive passages about savannah animals and color each animal cut-out the appropriate color based on those descriptions, linking color words and descriptive vocabulary to the animals' real-world appearances. Students create a textured savannah scene using photos, grass, and twigs and then place the colored animals into that scene, connecting words (colors, habitats, body-part functions) to a real-life setting. Students also act out verbs from the story (e.g., crept, peered, rushed, running, jumping), linking action words to physical movements.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1, students arrange animal cards by real-life size and use comparative words aloud (e.g., "The elephant is bigger than the onyx"), linking descriptive words to real animals. In Activity 2, students identify which books have animal characters, which books have outdoor settings, and which books are nonfiction, connecting labels like "setting" and "nonfiction" to real examples. In Activity 3, students draw a scene from a favorite book and write words or phrases about characters, setting, and events, then consider replacing words with more interesting choices, linking word use to real scenes they depict.
2: Holidays
Unit 27: Halloween
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson introduces the vocabulary word "lagoon," gives a child-friendly definition, and asks students to listen for the word in the story and decide which meaning is used. Question #1 directs students to inspect the picture and determine whether the lagoon is a salt-water inlet or a shallow area of dirty water, requiring them to connect the word to a real-world referent. Activity 1 directs students to read factual information about mummies and Activity 2 has students enact being a mummy, linking the word "mummy" to real-life historical and physical experience.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are instructed to color labeled parts of a skeleton (feet, legs, hands, arms, spine, ribs, skull) using specified colors, requiring them to match vocabulary words to the corresponding body parts on the activity page. An adult is to assist with unfamiliar terms, which supports students in identifying and using the real-life words. Students watch the "Dem Bones" video twice and are asked to complete the bones dance and point to the correct bones as they dance, linking bone names to locations and movements on their own bodies.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson asks the child to explain what a lagoon is (and what a goon is), prompting the child to connect the word to its meaning in the real world. The greeting-card activity has the child trace and write the words "Boo!" and "Happy Halloween!" and compose a message "Dear Grandma and Papa... Love, Jack," which places words in a real-life communicative context. The child is asked to draw or write a message to a friend or family member, directly practicing using words for real-world purposes.
Lesson 4
Day 4
During Review, students are asked to think of a word that could be used instead of "lagoon" (for example, pond, puddle), which has them connect a vocabulary word to real-world places. In Activity 1 students watch a video about bats that explains kinds of bats, their diets, and their role in the ecosystem. In Activity 2 students make a bat mask and are asked questions such as what kind of bat they are and what they eat, prompting them to link bat-related words to real-life characteristics and behaviors.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 3, students generate a rhyming pair of real objects to say good night to (for example, clock and sock or bed and head), draw those objects, and write or copy the words to label them. In Activity 2, students find rhyming word pairs in Goodnight Goon (and optionally Goodnight Moon), locating words embedded in a familiar story context. These tasks require students to name real objects and match printed words to those objects.
Unit 28: Thanksgiving
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson explicitly lists the vocabulary word "grateful -- thankful." During reading and discussion, adults are instructed to talk about what it means to be grateful and to ask the child what she is grateful for. Students are also asked to summarize why Thanksgiving is celebrated in many cultures, connecting the concept of gratitude to real-life cultural events and practices.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Activity 3 asks the child to act out actions from the Pilgrims story (e.g., build homes, shiver, hold stomach), which connects verb meanings to real bodily actions and situations. Activity 2 has the child build a replica Mayflower, predict whether it will sink or float, sail it, and observe how waves/storms affect the boat, connecting words like "sink/float" and "stormy" to physical outcomes. Activity 1 has the child recall place names and events (e.g., Mayflower, Plymouth, first harvest), tying words from the story to real historical places and events.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are prompted to talk about their family's favorite Thanksgiving foods after rereading the story, which asks them to connect food words to their own family experiences. In Activity 1, students prepare a family recipe with an adult, linking recipe and food words to real-life cooking activities. In Activity 3, students write or draw things they are thankful for on die-cut food shapes, connecting word labels or pictures to personal real-life objects and experiences. Activity 2 asks students to discuss how Pocahontas's help differed from help at Plymouth, prompting connections between the word "help" and different real-life scenarios.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to explain what it means to be grateful and to connect that meaning to the Pilgrims' experience. Students are prompted to identify words that describe Abraham Lincoln and to explain why those words apply to a real historical person. Students write or dictate a Thanksgiving note explaining why they are thankful for a real person, applying the word "thankful/grateful" to a real-life relationship.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 3 asks students to draw real-life things they are grateful for and then write words or sentences (or dictate them) about their pictures, directly asking students to connect words to their own real-life referents. Activity 2 asks students to study book illustrations and then point out observations about how the illustrations help the author teach about Thanksgiving, prompting students to relate words and ideas to contextual illustrations. Activity 1 has students read numbers on turkeys and count out matching feathers, which has students match symbols/words to real objects.
Unit 29: Christmas
Lesson 1
Day 1
In Activity 1, students are shown rectangular strips and asked to name their shape, put them in order, glue them to form a tree, and discuss the number of sides and what makes each shape unique—directly connecting shape words (rectangle, triangle, square) to physical objects. In Activity 2, students read the linked Conifers page and are asked to state three things they learned about real Christmas trees (e.g., cones, evergreen, needles) and draw a picture, tying vocabulary to real-tree features. The reading prompts also ask students to consider the book's illustrations and whether photographs might have been edited, encouraging discussion of words like "photograph" and "edited" in relation to real images.
Lesson 2
Day 2
In Activity 2, students are asked what snow is made of and are guided to connect the words solid and liquid to real items (snow/ice, water, hot water, powdered hot chocolate). They are prompted to classify each item as a solid or a liquid, predict what will happen when mixed, and observe the result, directly linking word meanings to real-world examples. In Activity 3, students use the dough and natural materials to create a snowy scene and name animals from the story, applying vocabulary to physical objects and settings.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson directs an adult to explain that the aurora borealis is caused by charged particles and can only be seen in locations very far north, and asks the child to look at pictures and watch a video of northern lights. The bells activity explains that bells announce events, are used in celebrations, and remind people of horse bells on sleds, and asks the child to count and use bells in a wreath. The tundra activity asks the child to note animals encountered in the book, describe what a reindeer looks like, and questions whether reindeer can really fly, followed by a nonfiction article about how reindeer thrive in the cold.
Lesson 4
Day 4
In Activity 2, students locate their approximate location on a world map and name their country and continent. Students are asked to track a possible path Santa takes, discuss which oceans he crosses, and identify the continent where Santa arrives. Students are prompted to find an island for Santa to land on and are given a definition of an island, and to identify mountains (for example, the Rocky Mountains) on the map.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1, students identify kind deeds Anja did and are prompted to think of a simple, real-life task they could do "to be an elf like Anja" (e.g., bring a card, call a grandparent, do a chore). Activity 3 asks students to draw and then write or dictate a description of how they personally celebrate Christmas or compose a letter to Santa, connecting words about celebration to their own experiences. Adult guidance is specified for Activities 1 and 2, supporting students as they make these real-life word-to-action connections.
Unit 30: February Celebrations
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson asks students to describe what they typically do to celebrate Valentine's Day, linking the word/holiday to real-life practices (exchanging cards, candy, flowers). Activity 2 directs students to think of and carry out concrete ways to show "love" (e.g., bake cookies, bring flowers, help with a chore), connecting the word "love" to everyday actions. The reading prompts also ask students to recall what they know about President's Day and Black History Month, tying those words/terms to real-life people, events, and celebrations.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students inspect real coins and are asked to notice features (pictures, words, numbers) and to name who is pictured, linking the word 'president' to the people on the coins. Students are asked to name each coin (penny, nickel, dime, quarter), state its value in cents, and compute equivalencies (e.g., how many pennies equal a nickel). Students sort mixed change into piles and review the name and value of each coin, connecting the coin names and numeric words to real-world money.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to say "I love you" to those they love and to learn how to say that phrase in several languages, then choose a favorite language to practice saying the phrase. Students are prompted to write a message on the valentine craft (the mouse) and give it to someone special, which connects written words to an interpersonal real-life use. The directions to read problems out loud in the Fixing Broken Hearts activity show students practicing oral reading, though those items focus on math problems rather than word usage.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Activity 1 asks the child to explain why education is important and provides real-life uses (to read, write, think, and get jobs), prompting the child to link the word "education" to everyday roles. Activity 2 asks the child to think about how Martin Luther King, Jr. showed "love," connecting that word to specific real-life actions (caring about people, working for equal treatment). Activity 3 asks the child to state personal "dreams" that would make the world better and to write or dictate them, linking the concept of a dream to concrete real-world outcomes.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to dictate a letter to the President while an adult records their words and to help address, stamp, and mail the letter, linking writing to real postal use. Students create Valentine cards, write 'TO: ___' and 'LOVE, ___', and write recipient and sender names, practicing using words for labeling and greeting. The card image includes the printed word 'You!', which students reproduce as part of a real card they share with others.
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 1
My Environment
Students label and write the names of rooms on the "Exploring My Home" pages and copy or attempt to write missing letters for room names, directly connecting written words to real places. Students walk through actual rooms, number them, circle items that meet basic needs (water, food, shelter), and discuss why those items are important, linking vocabulary to real-world functions. Students complete prompts such as "We use this room for ____, ____, and ____" and practice handwriting words like bed and bath, reinforcing the use of words in real-life contexts.
Lesson 2
What Is a Map?
Students label and identify household objects on the "Map of a House" pages (Activity 2) by sounding out and writing the words for items such as refrigerator, bathtub, bed, and television. Students create a map of their own room (Activity 3) and place or draw labeled objects found in their real bedroom, choosing which items to include. Students practice handwriting and spelling of target words (Activity 4) including map, home, house, and mom, reinforcing the connection between written words and real places/objects.
Lesson 3
Guide to Animal Habitats
Students are asked to review the definition of "environment" and describe the environment in which they live, directly linking that real-life environment to the word and to animal habitats. Activities prompt students to point out and count animals and plants in habitat pictures and to sort pictures into labeled circles for "PLANTS," "ANIMALS," and "INSECTS," connecting vocabulary to concrete pictures. Students choose a habitat they would like to visit and answer questions about what they would see, feel, and do there, using vocabulary in a real-world imaginative context.
Lesson 4
Animals Live and Grow
Students handle and name real plant parts (sunflower seeds as seed, spinach as leaf, carrot as root, broccoli as flower, celery as stem) when they arrange foods into a plant. Students draw or write the names of plants and animals in specific habitats (wetlands, woodlands, grasslands, drylands) and label them on graphic organizers. Students identify and record consumers and energy sources from each habitat and match animals to appropriate shelter locations, linking vocabulary (consumer, energy source, shelter, plant part names) to concrete examples.
Lesson 5
Discovering Animal Habitats
Students read and match habitat vocabulary to pictures in multiple activities (Option 1 scrambled names, Option 2 word box and labeling). Students draw and label habitats (Let's Create a Habitat Option 2) and place/cut out animals into the correct habitat (Option 1), connecting the vocabulary to pictured real-world environments. Students are asked to describe animals and their needs in those habitats and to identify which habitat each stuffed animal would live in (Life Application).
Lesson 6
Exploring Animal Habitats
Students draw and label plants, animals, insects, water, and rocks on the "An Animal Habitat" sheet, linking written words to observed real objects. Students complete the "A Day in the ___: A ___'s Life" page and fill sentence frames ("I am a ___; I live in the ___"), using animal and habitat words in context and describing actions like eating and drinking. Students trace and write words such as "zebra" and "zoo" next to pictures, and guided questions ask them to name where things are and what animals do, supporting word-to-referent connections.
Lesson 7
Tools in My Environment
The lesson's skills list explicitly includes "Identify tools in the environment and how we use them," and Activity 1 asks students to find tools that "make life easier" and to determine whether an object "helps us to do a task." Activity 2 prompts students to answer "What is the tool used for?" and "How does the tool work?", requiring students to link tool names to their functions. Activity 3 and the handwriting activity connect the words "ruler" and "inch" to real measuring tasks, asking students to measure objects and record inches.
Lesson 8
Animal Care
Students are given the word 'domestic animals' with concrete examples (cats, dogs, sheep, cows, horses) and are asked questions that require applying that word to real situations (e.g., describe animals that live with people). Students practice caring for real or pretend pets (feeding, brushing, walking) and are asked to name what pets need and to explain consequences of not providing a healthy environment, which connects vocabulary like 'needs,' 'environment,' and 'habitat' to real actions. Students design a salamander home from found materials and answer questions about the salamander's habitat needs, and the life-application prompt asks students to consider environmental needs when they next see a turtle, fish, or lizard in real life.
Lesson 9
Animal Designs
Students are asked to name and write the names of habitats (Option 2) and to read movement words and think of animals that move that way, linking the word to a real animal and place. In Activity 1 students circle body parts that help animals move and explain those parts, tying vocabulary (movement words, body part names) to pictured animals and actions. In Activity 3 students say sentences aloud such as "A zebra can't live in the ocean. A zebra lives in the savanna," using words in real-life habitat contexts. The Life Application asks students to observe real animals/insects and note how their body parts help them move, encouraging direct real-world use of related words.
Lesson 10
Amazing Animals
Students are given a clear definition of "camouflage" and read descriptive text about animal changes (starfish regrowing arms, snakes shedding skin, lizards changing color, sharks growing teeth). In Activity 1 students analyze pictures and read about how each animal changes to live in its habitat and are asked to locate more information, linking vocabulary to real animal examples. In Activity 2 students role-play and answer questions that require them to explain what they (as the animal) would do, explicitly connecting words like "change color," "grow back," and "shed" to real behaviors.
Lesson 11
Amazing Me
Students are asked to "review the words beneath each face, encouraging your child to read the words aloud," then circle the face that shows how the pictured item (snake, flower, hurt elephant) makes them feel, directly linking emotion words to pictured real-world items. Option 2 asks students to record the emotion represented on each face and to use more advanced vocabulary (joyous, depressed) to describe reactions to environmental items. Activity 3 asks students to think of and describe a time they changed because of something in their environment and to read and illustrate those ideas, connecting descriptive words to their own real experiences.
Final Project
Animal Research / My Environment
Students are asked to draw and label pages such as "What I Eat and Drink," "My Home Environment," and "Things I Do," and the instructions explicitly state to "Help your child label his pictures." Option 2 asks students to write the animal's name, shade regions where the animal is found on a globe, and fill in "What ___ Eats and Drinks" and "___'s Habitat," which requires linking words to real-world referents. The introduction prompts students to describe the environment they live in and to name tools in their home and how they use them, connecting vocabulary to real-life objects and actions.
Unit 2: Weather
Lesson 1
Reading the Skies
Students match weather vocabulary to pictures and write or dictate sentences using each word (Activity 2). Students observe and describe real weather daily on a Weather Calendar and record temperatures and pictures of conditions (Activity 4). Students discuss what to wear and what activities to do based on observed weather and describe personal experiences or stories about activities in particular weather (Introduction, Activity 3, Life Application).
Lesson 2
Types of Precipitation
Students read and label precipitation words on the "Falling From the Sky" activity (Options 1 and 2), matching the printed words to real pictures of rain, snow, and hail. In Option 2 students draw outside scenes showing what a child might do in each type of precipitation, connecting vocabulary to real-life actions. Activity 6 has students write the words rain and round with accompanying images, and the Wrapping Up and Life Application sections ask students to explain where water comes from and find symmetrical things at home, linking vocabulary to everyday contexts.
Lesson 3
Measuring and Charting Weather
Students create a RAIN acrostic by thinking of words or phrases that connect the word "rain" to real items (e.g., rain jacket, needed for plants to grow). Students place a thermometer in different water temperatures, read and record the degree values, and color the reading, linking the word "temperature" and degree symbols to real measurements. Students practice measuring rainfall by putting water in a jar and using a ruler to record depth, connecting the concept of "rain" and "rain gauge" to a real measurement method. The wrap-up asks students to give examples of how weather can be measured, prompting them to state real-life uses of weather vocabulary and tools.
Lesson 4
Simulating Weather
Students are asked to read and point to the words of the Weather Song while singing, and to find specific words such as "clouds" and "rain" on the page. The Skills list includes recognizing that written words are separated by spaces and knowing the difference between letters and printed words. Students also go outside to observe wind and clouds and discuss what the wind moves and how clouds form, linking the vocabulary to real weather phenomena.
Lesson 5
Fall
Students circle three favorite items in an autumn picture, write the names of those items, and are asked to use each word in a sentence. Students compare the pictured environment to their own outside environment and answer questions about similarities and differences. In the leaf activities students collect real leaves, name or color them, and place or graph them by color, then answer questions about which colors occur most or least. Students practice writing the words "fall" and "fun" and compose or copy sentences using those words.
Lesson 6
Winter
The lesson asks the child to describe the outside environment in winter and to compare winter pictures in a book to the winter environment where they live, which requires linking vocabulary to real settings. Activity 1 directs the child to use the vocabulary words cold, snow, and freeze in a dictated story about something they do in winter, connecting words to personal experiences. Activity 4 has the child practice writing the words wind and winter and copying sentences that contain them, reinforcing word use in context. The wrapping up prompts ask the child to describe what a winter environment can be like in different places, again tying vocabulary to real-life situations.
Lesson 7
Spring
Students are asked to talk about spring weather and what happens in spring (Introduction questions) which links words like "spring," "rain," and "flowers" to real conditions. In Activity 1 students read short poems, say what each poem is about, and match poems to pictures, connecting vocabulary in the poems to visual, real-world scenes. In Activity 2 and the Life Application students color, cut, and physically "plant" seed cutouts and are prompted to discuss what seeds need (dirt, water, sunlight), directly linking those words to the real-life activity of planting and caring for seeds.
Lesson 8
Summer
Students are prompted to describe the pictured summer environment and explain what is happening and whether those activities could happen in winter (Activity 1), which connects vocabulary for activities and seasons to real situations. In the fill-in-the-blank story (Activity 2) students select picture-word prompts (beach, hot, trip, swim, pool) to complete a narrative about a real summer trip, using words in context. In the "Changes in Weather" page (Activity 3) students place season names on a temperature continuum and complete sentences such as "_____ is the warmest season," linking season words to real-world temperature concepts.
Final Project
Weather Games
Students match written season and weather words with pictures in the Weather Memory game and are prompted to match words (season names, weather terms) to real-world images. In the What to Wear activity, students label scenes with season names and glue appropriate clothing on pictured people, then practice dressing for a called-out season. In Weather Window, students look outside and pick the book page that best matches current weather and answer observational questions using weather vocabulary. In the Weather Forecast task students record temperature, describe precipitation and sky conditions, and state how people should dress and what activities to do, using vocabulary in a real-life reporting task.
Unit 3: Community
Lesson 1
On the Town
Students are asked to choose community vocabulary words to complete sentences and match pictures (Activity 2 Option 1 and 2), directly linking words like restaurant, park, school, library to real places. Students discuss which places Charlie visited and which places they visit regularly, explaining the people and services in each place (Activity 1 and Wrapping Up). Students draw a new page showing a unique place in their own community and write or dictate sentences about Charlie visiting that place, and are encouraged to take notes/draw pictures during real visits (Activity 3 and Life Application).
Lesson 2
My Community Environment
Students name and locate community places (court, police, fire station, library, museum, grocery) and discuss the purpose of each place (Activity 1). Students label places on a poster and write or dictate brief descriptions of how each place serves the community (Activity 2). Students prepare and ask interview questions and reflect on why people come to a place and what workers do there, connecting place-names to real-life uses (Activity 4).
Lesson 3
Jobs in the Community
Students read and name community helper words and match each worker name or picture to the place where that worker works (Activity 1, Option 1 and 2). Students take a written list into the community and record tally marks each time they see a named worker, linking the written word to real-life sightings (Activity 2). Students observe a worker on the job and describe what the worker does and whom they help, then write or dictate sentences about how each worker helps citizens (Activities 3, 4, 5 and Life Application).
Lesson 4
Goods and Services in the Community
The lesson asks students to name important places in their community and explain how each place helps people, connecting place words to real community functions. In Activity 1 students read labels for buildings, goods, and services, circle beginning letters, and match building pictures to the goods or services they provide. Activity 2 has students read price labels, count and spend dollar bills, and decide what they can buy, linking the word "dollar" and price words to real purchasing actions. The wrapping-up and life application sections ask students to describe goods and services and explain why people have jobs and what they do with the money they earn.
Lesson 5
Resources
Students are given explicit definitions of 'resources', 'natural resources', and 'manmade resources' and asked to sort pictures into Natural or Manmade categories (Activity 1). Students are asked to draw one natural and one manmade resource found in their community and to label objects as N or M on counting sheets (Activity 2). Students are asked to gather three natural and three manmade resources from home or outside, explain how each is used and where it is found, and to look through the kitchen to identify natural and manmade resources (Activity 3 and Life Application).
Lesson 6
A Good Community Citizen
The lesson defines the word "citizen" and then has students judge behaviors as examples or non-examples of being a good citizen (Activity 1), asking them to explain their decisions. In Activity 2 students sort illustrated scenarios into "Good Home Environment" and "Not a Good Home Environment," draw additional examples, and (Option 2) label each picture to describe what is happening. In Activity 3 students identify and record real examples of good citizenship from their own family, linking the vocabulary (good citizen, good environment) to real people and actions.
Lesson 7
A Citizen with Character
Students read short scenarios and mark each as respectful or disrespectful and complete the prompt "I am respectful when I __," directly connecting the word respectful to everyday behaviors. Students are assigned real jobs, check them off, and evaluate whether they were "Done" or "Done Well," tying the word responsible to concrete actions. Students score pictured interactions for kindness and explain their scores, and they keep a four-box chart over weeks placing stars and explaining why, linking the trait words to real-life examples.
Lesson 8
Rules and Laws
Students sort specific statements (e.g., "Stop at a red light," "Share your toys") into the categories "Laws" and "Rules" on the "Rule or Law" activity page, directly linking word meanings to real-life actions. Students generate and record six household rules, read them aloud, and rank them by importance, applying the concept of "rule" to their home context. Students imagine consequences in "The House with No Rules" and then create 3–5 new household rules, connecting the words to everyday situations and behaviors.
Lesson 9
Caring for Our Communities
Students are asked in Activity 3 to think of three things that make their community happy and healthy, take pictures/draw or make a video of these items, and explain why they chose them, which connects vocabulary like "happy" and "healthy" to real-life community features. In Activity 2 students place an X on things that are not good in one community picture and circle things that make the second community a good place to live, applying descriptive judgments to real scenes. Activity 7 has students practice writing the words "care" and "citizen" and write or copy sentences that contain those words, reinforcing form and basic usage.
Final Project
I Can Make A Difference
The lesson lists the skill "Use words that name and words that tell action (LA)" and provides sentence starters for planning and reflection such as "I am planning to __," "The first thing I will do is __," and "I helped __ with __." Students are asked to write steps, check them off while carrying out a real community project, and then write about what they did and how it helped the community, which requires using vocabulary in real situations.
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 1: Amazing Attributes
Lesson 1
Describe It
Students practice connecting words to real objects in multiple activities: in Activity 3 they select descriptive words from a word box and place or write them beneath pictures of milk, a tree, and a lollipop. In Activity 1 students listen to and give attribute-based clues that include uses (e.g., "something you write on," "something you use in the bathtub") and then identify the real object. The Life Application asks students to go to a familiar setting (backyard or other) and describe visible objects and explain how pairs of objects are similar or different, applying descriptive words in a real-world context.
Lesson 2
Animal Attributes
Students sort animals into categories labeled feathers, scales, fur (and other) and write additional examples, directly linking the words for body coverings to real animals. Students circle living things from pictured items and are asked to describe how they know an object is living, linking the concept word "living" to real examples. Students identify body parts (wings, fins, legs) and describe how those parts help animals move, and they practice writing and using words such as animal and ant in sentences.
Lesson 3
Size, Shape, and Color
Students are asked to walk around the house, find an object with a shape matching each named shape, and draw that object (Activity 2). The Student Activity Page provides shape names and blank spaces for students to write or draw real-world examples for circle, rectangle, square, oval, and triangle. The Life Application asks students to organize a row of clothing by color and to talk about color, shape, and size in relation to objects in their environment. Activity 3 has students identify and mix primary colors and then describe what they learned about mixing colors.
Lesson 4
How Does It Feel?
Students are asked in the Life Application to go to their room or the backyard, select real objects, and describe their textures, linking vocabulary to everyday items. In the Introduction and Activities students blindfold and handle a rock, tissue, and foil and then use texture words to identify those real objects. In Activity 2 and the handwriting task students match texture adjectives to pictured objects and write sentences using descriptive words about real items.
Lesson 5
How Old?
Students sort family photos from oldest to youngest and discuss cues (height, size) they use to judge age, explicitly linking the words old/young/age to real people. Students go outdoors to examine trees and tree rings to connect the word age to living plants and judge which tree looks old or young. Students match written ages to pictured people, write questions about people based on age, order animal life spans, and practice handwriting with the words "old" and "order," linking vocabulary to concrete real-life examples.
Lesson 6
The Measure of Things
Students are asked to name what a doctor measures (height, weight) and to explain how they know those measurements, linking the words height and weight to a real-life setting. Students gather household items (toothbrush, pencil, hairbrush), choose informal measurement tools (paper clips, pennies), estimate and then measure those items, directly using measurement vocabulary in a home context. Activity 5 asks students to decide which glass to use if they are very thirsty or which to pack to limit weight, requiring them to apply words like capacity and weight to everyday decisions, and the Life Application section directs regular discussion of times they measure things.
Lesson 7
More Attributes
The skills list explicitly requires students to develop and use vocabulary for properties (color, size, shape, texture). In Activity 1 and 2, students sort attribute blocks and are asked to 'find all the blocks that are red and thick' or 'yellow triangles,' directly applying color and shape words to real objects. Activity 3 and 4 have students label Venn diagram circles with words like 'yellow,' 'triangle,' 'Soft Parts,' and 'Hard Parts' and place actual blocks or toys into the diagram according to those words.
Lesson 8
Amazing Attributes
Students make and record predictions about whether everyday objects (pencil, spoon, paper clip, nickel, scissors, thumbtack, nail, etc.) are "magnetic" and then test those objects, filling in a Prediction and Results table. Students select 10–15 real objects, place them on labeled paper as "sink" or "float," test them in water, and compare results to their predictions. The Skills list explicitly instructs students to "develop and use vocabulary associated with properties of materials" and to "use words that describe in speech and writing," which is enacted as students describe objects and discuss why items float or sink (including the term "density").
Lesson 9
Solids and Liquids
Students are prompted to brainstorm real-world examples of "solid" and "liquid," cut out pictures from magazines or online, and paste them into labeled columns for "Solid" and "Liquid." Students examine and manipulate real materials (ice cubes, water, sugar, snacks) to decide whether each is a solid or a liquid and to explain why. The Life Application asks students to bake and decide whether batter and the finished product are solids or liquids, explicitly linking the vocabulary to everyday experiences.
Lesson 10
Earth Materials: Rocks, Soil, and Water
Students brainstorm and record different real-world places where water can be found (oceans, lakes, rivers, puddles, pipes, fountains, hoses, showers, etc.), directly linking the word "water" to everyday locations. Students complete preposition sentence frames using pictures from the books (e.g., "The frog jumps ___ the lily pad," "The boat floats ___ the water"), using words in situational contexts. Students dig up and compare soil samples and then identify soil-type words (sand, silt, clay, loam, organic matter) in those real samples, and they use the glossary to match bold vocabulary from the text to illustrations and animals.
Lesson 11
Using Earth Materials
Students keep a Water Log recording each time water is used and may take photos, directly connecting the word "water" to daily uses. Students go on a scavenger hunt to find rocks and items that require rocks, list findings or photograph them, directly linking the word "rock" to real-world objects and uses. Students work in the garden, discuss soil properties that affect plant growth, and connect "soil" and "plants" to everyday functions like supporting growth and producing oxygen.
Final Project
Presenting Attributes
Students pick real Earth materials or pictures to represent attributes (e.g., a rock for rough texture, cotton balls for soft) and label them. Students decide how to explain each attribute and how it can be used to find similarities and differences, record those explanations, and practice presenting them to others. The poster option explicitly asks students to use words and sentences on the poster to show attributes and their use.
Unit 2: Senses
Lesson 1
My Five Senses
Students match vocabulary words for senses to pictures and objects by cutting out items and placing them on a Senses Web (Activity 2), directly linking words like "see," "smell," "taste," "hear," and "touch" to real objects (rainbow, pizza, radio, etc.). Students copy the Senses Word List and refer to those words while reading My Five Senses, helping them recognize the words in context (Activity 1). Students describe a real sensing experience and dictate or write sentences about how they used a sense and its organ (Activity 3, Option 2) and are asked to reflect during the week on which senses they use in real situations (Life Application).
Lesson 2
Senses and Body Parts
Students hear a story and are instructed to pick up and glue the sense organ when Jackie uses a sense (Option 1), directly linking words in the story to real-life sensory actions. In Option 2 students make up a story and pause to glue the corresponding sense organ when a sense is used, connecting their vocabulary choices to situational uses. Activity 2 presents real-life situations (smelling dinner, seeing a sad dog, petting a dog, hearing a call, tasting food) and asks students to point to the sense organ they would use, reinforcing word-to-context connections; Activity 4 asks students to use the words 'sense' and 'see' in sentences.
Lesson 3
Smelling and Tasting
Students sort and label foods using the vocabulary words sweet, salty, bitter, and sour (Activity 2 and Activity 3). Students conduct a survey recording Y/N responses for each taste category and answer questions about which flavor people liked most and least (Activity 2 and Student Activity Page). Students fold paper into four columns and place real refrigerator/pantry items into the labeled taste categories, directly linking taste words to real-world items (Activity 3).
Lesson 4
Hearing and Seeing
Students are asked to choose a noisy place, describe it emphasizing the sounds heard, and read their descriptions aloud for others to guess (Activity 5), directly linking descriptive words to real locations. Students are blindfolded and guided on walks (Activities 4 and 7) and then compare and describe how experiences differ with and without sight, connecting words like 'blind' and 'see' to real navigation situations. The lesson ends by asking students to describe situations or places where they would use sight versus hearing, prompting students to map sensory vocabulary to real-life contexts.
Lesson 5
Touch
Students match adjectives (warm, hard, wet, etc.) to pictures of real objects on the "Touch It" activity page, choosing words that describe how those objects feel. Students complete a "Touch Chart" by checking boxes for properties (Hot, Cold, Wet, Dry, Hard, Soft) for pictured items and then draw and label two of their own objects and mark applicable adjectives. In Sensory Art and Feel It activities, students describe how ingredients and mystery items feel and identify the senses they are using, using descriptive words in real, hands-on contexts.
Lesson 6
Experimenting With Our Senses
The Skills list explicitly includes using descriptive words and developing vocabulary for properties like color and texture. In Activity 2 students read spice jar labels, copy the spice names onto index cards, and match those written words to the smells on the scratch-and-sniff cards. Activity 3 and Activity 4 ask students to name foods with a favorite flavor, tell or write a story about a sensory experience, and write a sentence about something they smelled or tasted, connecting words to real food experiences.
Lesson 7
Using All of Our Senses
Students identify and circle which senses are used in pictured real-life situations (playing in the sand, eating dinner, playing a musical instrument) and tally how many senses are used. Students record sensory observations on a Nature Walk chart under headings I hear, I see, I smell, and I feel and then answer questions about what they noticed and which senses they used most or least. Students look through books to identify how characters use their senses and write or copy a sentence about a real observation from the nature walk.
Lesson 8
Writing About Our Senses
Students observe and describe real objects (an apple, an ice cube, popcorn kernels and popped popcorn) using sensing words for sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound (Activity 2 and Getting Started examples). In Activity 3 (Sensing My Day) students illustrate a real event from their day and write one sensing word, phrase, or sentence for each of the five senses to describe that event. In Activity 1 (Sensing Logic) students read sensory clues and eliminate pictured items until they identify the pictured object that matches the descriptive words. The Wrap-Up and Life Application ask students to look at a variety of objects and books and state or identify sensing words authors use.
Final Project
A Sensible Party
Students plan activities that explicitly tie sensory words to real objects and situations by filling in the Party Planner table (e.g., seeing different colors of napkins, tasting cookies and punch, smelling flowers). Students list concrete supplies and ideas under sense categories and write games that require guests to use those sensory words to compare and decide. Students answer wrap-up questions describing how guests used senses and describing properties (color, size, shape, texture).
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 1
You're Special
Students answer personal questions using words for colors, feelings, abilities, and future roles (Activity 1), filling blanks and writing sentences that connect vocabulary to their own lives. Students record and describe numbers that apply to them (house number, age, shoe size) and compare those numbers with others (Activity 2), explicitly linking number words to real-life referents. Students practice finding and reading numbers in the home and community (Activity 3) and trace/write the word "unique" (Handwriting), reinforcing use of vocabulary in real contexts.
Lesson 2
Physical Characteristics
Students are asked to describe three attribute blocks and a picture of themselves, using words for hair color, skin color, shoe size, and other visible traits. Students cut out, color, or draw physical features on two figures and answer specific questions comparing hair, eyes, hands, and legs, connecting descriptive words to pictures. Students retell and discuss the "Different Friends" story and describe Susan's and Casey's physical characteristics, then write a sentence beginning "I have _____," linking vocabulary to themselves and characters.
Lesson 3
Different Personalities
Activity 1 asks students to read personality words, explain their meanings, and circle the words that describe their own personality, directly applying vocabulary to themselves. Activity 2 has students write or paste personality words for themselves and a friend/family member, circle shared traits, count them, and describe how they are alike and different, which connects words to real people. Activity 3 has students record main characters from movies and label each with two personality words; the song and presentation extensions ask students to use those words in conversation and explanations.
Lesson 4
Interests and Hobbies
Students are asked to write and dictate sentences that describe a hobby to someone who is not familiar with it (Activity 1), which has them use words to describe real activities. Students interview three people using the Hobby Survey, reading questions aloud and recording answers, which practices using and interpreting words in real conversational contexts (Activity 3). Students practice handwriting the words "you" and "yes" and are asked to use each word in a sentence, directly practicing word use in communicative contexts (Activity 4).
Lesson 5
Shapesville
Students identify and describe each shape's physical characteristics (color, sides, angles, eye color) as they listen to the story. They complete a 'What Is Your Shape?' worksheet naming the shape, its color, a physical characteristic, a personality trait, a hobby, and an interest, and they draw and color the shape. Students select a shape to represent themselves and family members, explain why they chose each shape, and share or give decorated shapes to family members. Students write or copy a sentence describing an interest or personality trait.
Lesson 6
Different Families
Students practice the word "different" in handwriting exercises and are asked to use the word in a sentence (Activity 3). In Activity 2 students complete sentence prompts such as "My family is similar to a family from _______ because we both _______" and use a Venn diagram to list similarities and differences between their family and a family from another country. The skills list explicitly includes "Connect information in text to personal experience," and students are asked to describe clothing, activities, interactions, and responsibilities they observe in book pictures and relate those to their own family.
Lesson 7
Different Homes
Students read about different types of homes and are asked to identify the materials used in their own home and in homes shown in the book. In Activity 1 students match and write comparative and superlative words (big, bigger, biggest; tall, taller, tallest; long, longer, longest) beneath pictures of real objects. Activity 2 and the Life Application ask students to find similar homes in their town or online, record country names, and discuss materials used. Activity 4 has students write a sentence about their home, using words in a real-life context.
Lesson 8
Different Holidays and Traditions
Students match traditions and pictorial symbols to holiday names in Activity 1, directly linking holiday words to recognizable images. In Activity 4 students locate holiday dates on an actual calendar and glue corresponding symbols, connecting holiday vocabulary to real calendar days. In Activity 5 and Activity 3 students draw celebrations and write or dictate sentences using holiday vocabulary (e.g., "On ____ we celebrate by ____"), applying words to their own family experiences.
Lesson 9
Different Modes of Transportation
Students are asked in the Introduction to give examples of ways people in their town get from place to place and to find transportation in picture books, connecting transportation words to real settings. In Activity 1 students label pictures of modes of transportation, draw a box around each mode they have taken, and talk about where they went, explicitly linking vocabulary to personal experience. In Activities 2 and 3 students choose or draw the appropriate mode for real travel scenarios and create/dictate a story about a trip, and the Handwriting activity has students write a sentence about a mode they have taken.
Lesson 10
Wants and Needs
Students label pictured items (car, home, water, meal, computer, etc.) as wants or needs (Activity 1), directly tying vocabulary to concrete objects. Students interview four people and record two wants and two needs for each, then arrange items on wants and needs webs (Activity 4), connecting words to real people's choices. Students sort and collect real clothes and toys to donate (Activity 2) and draw sources of water, shelter, food, education, and love for a child (Activity 5), applying vocabulary to real-life contexts and actions.
Lesson 11
Being Part of a Group
Students are prompted to draw and complete a paragraph about a real group they belong to using prompts such as "One group I belong to is ____." Students brainstorm and discuss community groups and the purpose and actions of those groups, linking group names to real-world settings. Students also practice writing and copying topic words (e.g., "group," "get," "extra") which reinforces the words and their use in context.
Final Project
Differences Make the World Go 'Round
Students complete sentence frames that tie words to real-life contexts (e.g., "I live in___", "I like to eat___", "I get to the store by___", "I wear___"). Students draw or paste pictures to illustrate those words (food, homes, clothing, transportation, holidays) and create a book comparing themselves with a child from another country. Students are encouraged to meet and ask questions of a person from the chosen country, reinforcing real-world use of the vocabulary.
3: Patterns
Unit 1: Identifying and Creating Visual Patterns
Lesson 1
What Is a Pattern?
Students are asked to identify where they have seen patterns and to name places where patterns can be found (Activity 1: questions "Have you ever seen a pattern? Where? What are some places where patterns can be found?" and references to patterns in nature such as spider webs). Students use descriptive language to explain patterns using prompts like "First, there is ___. Next, there is ___," and they write or copy three sentences describing a pattern (Activity 4 Option 1 and Activity 7). Students create and describe patterns with real objects (bugs, caterpillars, game pieces) and are prompted to explain each one aloud (Activities 2, 3, Caterpillar game).
Lesson 2
Recognizing Types of Patterns
Students label actual objects and sequences with letters A and B (e.g., placing an A under each yellow strip and a B under each green strip) and decide whether physical rows of pictures form ABAB or AABB patterns. Students use pattern words (ABAB, AABB) to describe sequences of colored strips, caterpillar pieces, and images from the book Busy Bugs and are asked to point out those patterns in the book. The skills list explicitly requires students to use words such as "before" and "after" and to name ordinal positions (first, second, third) when describing relative position in sequences.
Lesson 3
What Comes Next?
The Skills section and several activities require students to use words such as "before," "after," and ordinal terms to describe relative position in sequences, and teachers are instructed to ask questions like "What comes before _______________?" and "What comes after _________________?" Activity 2 has students review the concepts "thick" and "thin" by examining the thickness of real books, and students draw or describe radiating shapes using those descriptors. The Handwriting activity has students write a question that uses the word "after" ("What do you see after the ________?"), reinforcing contextual use of that word.
Lesson 4
Extending a Pattern
Option 2 explicitly asks students to "read the words for each pattern, gather the objects, and create the given pattern," requiring students to match written words (crayon, marker, penny, paper clip, fork, spoon) to physical items. The Student Activity Pages present patterns using real objects and prompt students to fill in blanks with the correct object names. The materials also ask students to write the names of objects they used and to copy or write a sentence about a pattern they made, reinforcing word-to-object connections in a real-life context.
Lesson 5
Making Color Patterns
The lesson asks students to describe patterns they create and to write the color word (or its first letter) to show patterns (Activity 1). The introduction directs students to see examples of color patterns in real items like fabric or jewelry. The skills list explicitly includes using words that describe color, size, and location and Activity 2 has students create necklaces for friends and family, linking color words to real objects.
Lesson 6
Shapes and Patterns
Activity 5 asks students to gather a variety of real objects that share the same shape and to create and identify patterns using those objects, giving examples such as round clock, book, plate, pillow, rubber band, and TV remote. Option 2 and other activities require students to use color as an attribute (e.g., red, yellow, blue) and to create patterns that combine shape and color. The Words to Practice section has students write the words shape, color, and size, connecting written vocabulary to the attributes they manipulate.
Lesson 7
Making Number Patterns
Students use real objects to create patterns and then write the numbers that represent those object quantities (Activity 3). Students label quantities with number cards (e.g., 2, 3, 2, 3) and are asked to record numerals that correspond to the objects they see. Activities 1 and 2 require students to choose and write number patterns (ABAB, AABB, ABC) linking written numbers to repeated real-world quantities or sequences.
Lesson 8
Creating and Writing About Patterns
Students use a provided word list (eye, apple, worm, nose, orange, bug, mouth, banana, hat) to write letters and illustrate objects in AABB, ABAB, and ABC patterns, linking words to pictures. Students create patterns with real manipulatives (logos, beads, coins, blocks) and recreate patterns in drawing or with objects. Students complete prompts such as "This pattern is made up of..." and label patterns as color, number, shape, or object, practicing use of words to describe pattern elements.
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 are asked to identify the habitat where each animal lives. Students cut out the animal names and sort them into groups according to habitats, and an extension asks them to make habitat pictures and draw the animals in the picture. These tasks require students to link animal words to real-world places where those animals live.
Lesson 2
Making Word Patterns
Students complete illustrated fill-in-the-blank sentences (Activity 1) by choosing rhyming words that fit a sentence context (e.g., "The frog stood on the ___"). Students cut, sort, and label word-family cards (Activity 2) and write sentences with rhyming words (Activity 4), practicing words in simple contextual uses. Students locate and record rhyming/word-family examples from picture books (Activity 3) and are encouraged to add encountered words to a classroom/home poster, tying word patterns to actual reading experiences.
Lesson 3
Poetry Patterns
Students are asked to listen to or sing familiar songs and identify rhyming words (Activity 3) and to brainstorm animal names and think of words that rhyme with each name when writing new verses (Activity 2). The Life Application asks students to listen to songs throughout the week and identify words that follow the same pattern. Activity 1 invites students to read poems from home and point to rhyming patterns or write rhyming words on a separate sheet of paper.
Lesson 4
Sentence Patterns
Students act out real actions (fold clothes, type on the computer, open a door) and then make and record sentences describing those actions, identifying the naming word and action word. The Making Sentences activity provides pictured everyday nouns (girl, boy, mom, dog, cat, plant) and common verbs (runs, eats, drinks) that students use to form sentences aloud and in writing. The noun/verb strip activity (Activity 5) has students combine common nouns and verbs from real-life contexts to create sentences, and Activity 4 has students find and copy simple sentences from picture books and identify the noun and verb.
Lesson 5
Story Patterns
The introduction asks the child to describe and illustrate her morning routine (a real-life sequence) and to select the 3–4 most important activities, linking story-sequence words to daily life. The Skills section specifies that students will 'use words such as "before" or "after" to describe relative position,' which requires applying those words to real events. The Life Application and activities prompt students to describe the beginning, middle, and end of real or read-aloud stories and personal routines.
Lesson 6
Sound Patterns
Students are asked to listen to real music and identify sound patterns in the Life Application and Activity 3 (play different types of music and point out sound patterns in songs). Activity 4 asks students to write about a sound pattern they heard using a sentence starter ("I heard a pattern that went..."), and several activities require students to identify where patterns can be found and describe parts and order of sound patterns. The Listen Carefully page asks students to record patterns they hear and to create and imitate patterns using body movements and instruments, tying the vocabulary (slap, clap, tap; pattern; rhythm) to everyday sounds.
Lesson 7
Making Sound and Action Patterns
Students cut out sound words that are paired with pictures (smack, stomp, slap, clap, tap) and arrange them to form repeating patterns, directly linking each word to a pictured action. Students perform or listen to the sound patterns they create, reinforcing the connection between the printed word and the real-life sound/action. Students write or copy a sentence describing a pattern they made, using words to label and describe real actions they performed.
Unit 3: Patterns in Your World
Lesson 1
Patterns in Nature
Students are asked to name and describe patterns they have seen outside and to identify and describe the pattern in each picture from the read aloud (Activity 1). In Activity 2 students match or create patterns on animals and objects, cutting and pasting pattern samples or drawing patterns based on real animal pictures. Activity 3 has students find pictures of natural patterns, choose favorites, draw them, and label them, and the wrapping up/life application explicitly tells students to point out patterns in nature as they encounter them.
Lesson 2
Patterns of Growth
Students label parts of a plant using a word box (root, stem, leaf, petal) and are asked to identify initial letters if they cannot write the whole word. Students go outdoors to identify plant parts in real plants, pull up weeds to see roots, and draw examples of the plants they investigate. Students record plant growth by drawing the plant over time and write sentences describing how the plant is changing and write target words (plant, grow, part) multiple times.
Lesson 3
Night and Day
Activity 3 asks the child to draw something she does during the day and something she does at night and to record or dictate a few sentences explaining each activity. The Life Application explicitly directs an adult to point out activities the child participates in during the day and ones she participates in at night. Activity 2 uses the globe-and-flashlight experiment to have the child describe when it is daytime where she lives and when it is nighttime, linking the words day/night to her real location.
Lesson 4
Daily Routines
Students match labeled pictures (get dressed, get out of bed, eat breakfast, put on shoes, brush teeth) to morning activities in Activity 1 and add an item that reflects their own life. Students break down another personal routine into four steps and dictate or write a sentence for each step in Activity 2, linking words to actions. Students record times and symbols for activities across a typical day in Activity 3 and write a sentence describing a routine in Activity 4, pairing vocabulary with real-life times and contexts.
Lesson 5
Calendar Patterns
Students are asked to write the day names and then dictate or record their scheduled daily activities (Activity 1), directly linking day words to real-life routines. In Activity 4, students record family activities on a monthly calendar and are asked to find events that occur weekly, biweekly, or monthly, which requires identifying how time-related words describe real events. Activity 3 has students practice writing dates with day, month, and year and ordering date cards, using those words in authentic contexts. Activity 2 asks students to write number words and match them to tally marks, connecting number words to real representations.
Lesson 6
Seasonal Weather Patterns
Students are asked to write today's date and select and circle the weather that describes the day on a laminated calendar, connecting weather words to their real-day observation. In Activity 3, students record weather words (cold, warm, cool, hot) beneath the season that each month describes and paste months beneath corresponding seasons, directly matching vocabulary to real-life months and seasons. Activity 2 has students look at a U.S. map and discuss that Florida rarely gets snow and that southern states are warmer, linking weather words to real geographic places.
Lesson 7
Patterns at Home
Students are asked to go on a pattern scavenger hunt and identify and describe specific patterns from the book (Checkerboard, patterns in nature, patterns on fabric, dishes, clothing, etc.). Students search closets and household items to find patterns on clothing and quilts and are asked to name shapes and the number of sides and angles on quilt pieces. Students write or dictate and then copy a sentence that describes a pattern found in her closet, explicitly linking descriptive language to real household objects.
Lesson 8
Symmetrical Patterns
Students are asked to "Look for symmetry in different objects around the house and outside" (Life Application) and to answer questions such as where patterns are found and where patterns occur in nature (Getting Started). Students fold and examine letters, shapes, and a butterfly, then describe which items are symmetrical or not and draw lines of symmetry (Activities 1–3 and Wrapping Up).
Lesson 9
Counting Patterns
The lesson asks students to consider "Where do we see patterns in our everyday lives?" and prompts them to "practice counting items in large quantities by twos around the house," which asks students to connect counting/pattern concepts to real-world settings. The How Many Clowns? activity has students place clown faces in a car as they listen to a story and then write a sentence about the clowns, linking counting language to a concrete narrative context.
Lesson 10
Tracing Patterns
Students are asked to identify the holiday associated with each traced shape (heart, Christmas tree, egg) in Activity 2, linking the word (holiday name) to a real-world symbol. Students are instructed to write or copy a sentence about their favorite holiday in Activity 4, using holiday vocabulary in a personal real-life context. Activity 1 asks students to recreate designs and tell a story about objects they create, encouraging use of words to describe personally made items.
Lesson 11
Patterns in Graphs
Students read and circle graph titles and labels, then explain what each label means and the purpose of the graph (e.g., 'Days of the Week' and 'Number of Books Read'). Students color-code chart entries (girls/boys and shirt colors marked G/R) and answer explicit questions such as "What does this chart tell us? (what color of shirt each child wore)." Students record sink/float results and write a sentence describing whether an object sank or floated, using those words in a real experiment.
Final Project
Patterns All Around Lapbook
The introduction asks the child to name different types of patterns he has found in his environment and to answer 'Where are patterns found in our everyday lives?', prompting identification of real-life examples tied to the word "pattern." Multiple activities require students to label mini-books with vocabulary (e.g., "Symmetrical Pattern," "Pattern in Nature") and then draw, paste, or describe real-world examples (fabric patterns, patterns in nature, stages of growth, seasons, days of the week). Students are directed to find, cut out, or draw pictures from magazines or the Internet that show patterns they encounter, directly linking the word "pattern" to concrete places and objects.
4: Change
Unit 1: Changes on Planet Earth
Lesson 1
What Causes Change?
Students are prompted to identify examples of cause and effect in their own home (Activity 1) and to point out changes they observe in the environment (Wrapping Up / Life Application). Students sort pictured before-and-after scenarios and decide what changed and why (Activity 1 and the paired illustrations). Students label changes as "fast" or "slow" for real-life picture sequences (Activity 2) and write about a change they have seen using sentence starters and drawings (Activity 3).
Lesson 2
What Changed?
Students are asked to name their current location (e.g., in the kitchen, in the house), directly linking the word "location" to a real place. Students are prompted to give examples of things that change in size, color, weight, amount, and location and to record a sentence for each example, connecting vocabulary to everyday objects. In Activity 2 students examine paired images and circle which attributes (weight, color, size, amount, location) changed, and Activity 3 and its extension ask students to identify changes in the community and describe causes, which requires applying words to real-life situations.
Lesson 3
Changing Position
Students locate the words "gravity" and "inertia" in the book index and copy the sentences that contain those words, linking the printed word to its usage in text. Students cut apart illustrations and sort actions into "push" and "pull" groups, then identify and draw or write names of toys that require pushing, pulling, or both. Students go outside to list or photograph examples of non-human causes of motion (water, wind, machines) and perform gravity experiments (dropping objects, balancing a ruler, finding the center of gravity) that connect the word "gravity" to observable phenomena.
Lesson 4
Changes in the Environment
Students describe types of weather (hot, cold, rainy, windy) and read scenarios asking how the weather word (e.g., heavy rain, snow, thunder) would cause changes in activities, then illustrate or write two sentences about a time weather changed their plans (Activity 1). Students practice quantifier words (none, some, a couple, a few, more, most) with physical items and are asked to point to the cup that matches each word; they also draw leaves to match prompts like "a couple" or "many" (Activity 3 and Counting Leaves page). Students label and color the Seasons Change wheel and create a seasonal-change wheel illustrating changes that occur in each season, linking seasonal vocabulary to real visual examples (Activity 2).
Lesson 5
Changes in Location
Students physically move a cut-out mouse to locations described by sentences (Activity 2) and complete sentences about a cat's position using picture contexts and a word box (Activity 1). Students go outside or to a park to observe and record three or four sentences describing object relationships (Activity 3) and follow oral directions to change their own location relative to furniture (Wrapping Up). These tasks require students to name location words and use them to describe real objects and places in their home, classroom-like scenes, or outdoor environments.
Lesson 6
Changes in the Sky
Students list adjectives and phrases to describe the Sun and the Moon, writing or dictating descriptive words directly onto the provided images. Students physically act out and label the motions 'revolve' and 'rotate' by taking turns being the Sun and the Earth, linking the vocabulary to observable movement. Students go outside to observe the Moon and discuss terms such as "illuminates," "day," and "night," applying vocabulary to real-world sky observations.
Lesson 7
Living Things Change
Students practice connecting words to real situations when they use hand signals for vocabulary words (Water, Food, Shelter, Space, Clothing) and perform the associated actions. In the Lizard and Rabbit coloring activities, students apply color words to real-world contexts (color the lizard green on a leaf, brown on a branch; color the rabbit brown in summer and white in winter). In Activity 2, students look at picture pairs and circle the words (number, size, shape, place) that describe the changes they observe, directly linking descriptive vocabulary to real images. The Life Application asks students to go to the zoo, park, or backyard and talk about observed changes, reinforcing word use in real-life settings.
Lesson 8
Plants and Change
Students are asked "What are some things plants are used for?" and identify real uses (food, clothing, homes for animals). Activity 7 directs students to go into the yard and the kitchen to find flowers, seeds, and seeds we eat, and to discuss ways we use seeds and flowers. Activities 2 and 3 require students to find, cut, glue, draw, and label real plant parts (root, stem, leaf, flower), linking vocabulary to real objects.
Lesson 9
Heat Causes Change
Students label pictures of bowls with the words "ice," "water," and "steam" and arrange them along a cold-to-hot arrow, directly linking state-of-matter vocabulary to observed materials and temperatures. Students measure a burning candle in paper clips and inches and record the results, connecting the measurement words to real objects and uses. Students describe batter and cake after baking and are prompted to identify ways their family uses heat and explain how heat causes changes, tying the words "heat" and "change" to everyday situations.
Lesson 10
Chemical Changes
Students break and cook eggs, observe that cracking is a physical change and cooking is a chemical change, and explain why. Students mix baking soda and vinegar, observe bubble formation, and are told that the bubbles indicate a new substance. Students complete the "Chemical or Physical Change?" activity page by categorizing six real-world item pairs (e.g., apple/chopped apple, bread/toast) and are asked to explain how they decided for each. The wrapping up activity asks students to describe the difference between physical and chemical changes and give an example of each from real life.
Lesson 11
People Change the Environment
The lesson defines vocabulary words (reducing, reusing, recycling) and gives concrete examples (using a reusable water bottle, taking shorter showers) that tie words to everyday actions. After watching a video, students sort pictured items into a recycling bin or a trash can, directly applying the word "recycle" to real objects. The Life Application asks students to check their family's recycling habits and to point out ways people change the environment on a walk or drive, linking vocabulary to community contexts.
Final Project
Mobile of Change
Students are asked to write the word "CHANGES" and create labeled pieces (e.g., "Change in the Environment") and draw or paste a real "before" and "after" picture for each category. The skills list explicitly includes "Use new vocabulary in speech and writing," and students are prompted to explain how each part of the mobile is an example of change on planet Earth. Multiple activity pages require students to match category words (Animal Change, Plant Change, Physical Change, Chemical Change; Changes in Position/Location/Sky/Environment) to concrete illustrations or descriptions.
Unit 2: Characters Change
Lesson 1
What's in a Name
Students are asked to write their own name and respond to prompts "My name is" and "I wish my name were" on the Capitalizing Names page, making a direct connection between the word (their name) and themselves. In the Name Craft activity, students trace petals equal to the letters in their name and place letters on petals, physically mapping the written word to their own identity. The Vocabulary activity highlights suffix meanings and gives real-word examples (fearless, beautiful, careless), prompting students to relate word parts to familiar words.
Lesson 2
Why Worry?
Students practice combining everyday sentences using conjunctions (e.g., I had bacon for breakfast. I had eggs for breakfast. → I had bacon and eggs for breakfast), and they orally combine real-life commands (I can take you to the park. Finish your work first. → I can take you to the park, but finish your work first.). Students are asked to use 'and' and 'but' in sentences and to take ideas from Wemberly's story (worries, party, Halloween, school) to create combined sentences.
Lesson 3
Is It a Problem?
The lesson explains idioms and personification and gives concrete examples (e.g., "tackle the problem," "under the weather," "I'm all ears") and asks students to look through the book and talk about how the problem is represented visually. In the "Tackling a Problem" activity students brainstorm real problems they face, describe them, identify what is within their control, and write steps they can take. The Life Application asks the child to apply how the story's character approached a problem to their own future real-life situations.
Lesson 4
Comparing Characters
Students are asked to generate their own cause-and-effect example from one of the stories (Activity 4), which prompts them to relate story events to real situations. In Activity 6 ("I Change") students draw and write about who they were before and after solving a problem, connecting story themes to their personal lives. The "Two Stories, Same Problem" and "My Favorite Story" pages ask students to explain which character is most like them and what they learned, encouraging real-life connections between story events and the student's experience.
Lesson 5
The Raft
Students read sentences from the story and use context clues to match vocabulary words to definitions in the Vocabulary activity. Students discuss idioms (e.g., "eyes in the back of her head") and explain what those phrases mean in real life. Students also engage in sketching and decorating activities (making a raft, sketching in a park or backyard) that connect vocabulary like sketch, paint, and raft to real actions.
Lesson 6
Positive and Negative Change
Students are prompted to recognize that cause-and-effect scenarios occur in everyday life (e.g., "You practice your new song... --> play the song perfectly" and "You bake cookies... --> your cookies are burnt"). Students cut apart and match real-world cause/effect statements (wash your hands -> you don't get germs; you don't brush your teeth -> you get a cavity; you make cookies -> you get to eat them). Students are asked to recall a time they changed, illustrate the cause and effect, and write or dictate sentences using descriptive words to describe that real-life event.
Unit 3: A First Look at History - Change Over Time
Lesson 1
People and Families Change
Students are asked to use measurement vocabulary (inches, feet) when they measure themselves and mark heights on a growth chart, and to estimate and measure objects on a walk (Life Application). The Skills list explicitly includes 'Use words that name and words that tell action (LA),' and activities ask students to write sentences about how they or their family have changed, labeling names and ages. Activities require students to label pictures with ages and heights and to dictate or write descriptions, which places vocabulary (age, height, change) in real-life contexts.
Lesson 2
Understanding Time
The Skills list explicitly includes "Connect information and events in text to own experience (LA)" and the Introduction asks the child to name something that happened in the past, present, and future. Activity 1 has students write or draw "Yesterday I", "Today I", and "Tomorrow I will", directly using time words to describe their own experiences. Activity 2 asks students real-life questions using time vocabulary (e.g., "Were you born in the past, present, or future?") and has students order spans of time and relate them to life events.
Lesson 3
Communities Change
Students match and label pictures of transportation, homes, and clothing (canoe, wagon, car; teepee, log cabin, brick house; dress, pants, leather clothing) in the "Communities Change" activity, directly linking words to pictured real-world objects. In Activity 6 students identify artifacts named in the book (arrowhead, china cup, ax, pot, beads) and draw artifacts while noting what materials last over time, connecting the word "artifact" to real objects and their use. In Activity 4 students circle animals that appear in the story and order nature scenes, linking animal words to their habitat and visual contexts.
Lesson 4
Past and Present
The Skills list includes "Connect information and events in text to own experience (LA)," which asks students to link book content to their lives. Activity 4 directs students to draw a historical child and themselves and list items each uses, asking them to state "One way the young person is different from me" and "One way we are the same." Activity 5 asks students to place images of homes, transportation, clothing, and school into columns including "Today," prompting students to relate those category words to real-life examples and discuss clues they used.
Lesson 5
Exploring the Past
Students are asked to find pictures, cut and glue them to charts and to draw and write or dictate descriptions of elements of culture (homes, clothes, food, travel). Students create a timeline and assemble a short book with one sentence about each cultural element and an illustration, then give a presentation to family. The skills list includes evaluating how lives in the past differ from today and recognizing elements of culture used to understand how people live.
Lesson 6
Predicting Future Change
The lesson defines the words "positive" and "negative" and asks students to decide whether real situations are positive or negative (Activity 2). Students are asked to label each change with a "P" or "N," write a sentence describing one positive change and one negative change, and discuss examples that have both outcomes. Activity 3 asks students to describe a personal change, explain why it happened, and write or dictate sentences about the change using vocabulary and reflections.
Lesson 7
People of the Past
Students read an explicit definition stating that biographies are books about real people, linking the word 'biography' to real-life persons. In Activity 2 students read short descriptions and match them to pictured historical figures, connecting descriptive words (e.g., inventor, scientist) to real people. In Activity 3 students generate personal examples of making a "positive change," applying that concept to their own lives.
Final Project
My Past, Present and Future
Students are prompted to use time-related words in real contexts by completing prompts such as "I was different because / Now I am / In the future I will be" on the Picture of Me and other pages. Option 2 directs students to write or dictate the sentences "In the past ______" and "Today ______" for cultural elements and to label time periods (e.g., "Time Period: United States 20__"). The Skills list explicitly includes "Use vocabulary related to time and chronology ("first," "before," "after," "next," and "last")" and "Recognize concepts (LA)," supporting application of words to real-life situations.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 1
Letter Sounds Review I
The Life Application directs the child to look for objects that begin with the reviewed letter sounds in his room, neighborhood, or grocery store, which prompts identifying words in real-world contexts. Activity 5.4 gives contextual clues that tie words to their uses or locations (e.g., "A cap goes on my head," "you might use [a map] to find your way"). Reader #1 and picture-identification activities ask students to point to items on a book cover, identify pictured objects (cat, map, mat, cap), and perform actions, connecting words to observable objects and actions.
Lesson 2
Letter Sounds Review II
Students identify and write words that label pictured real objects in multiple activities (Beginning Letters, Writing Words, Student Activity Pages that pair images with words). Students are asked to define items (for example, explaining that a "bin" is something to put things in) and to reason about real situations in the reader (e.g., whether the pig and cat can fit in the box). The Life Application directs students to create a Word Wall in the home and add words they want to spell, connecting words to their everyday environment.
Lesson 3
Letter Sounds Review III
Students are asked in the Life Application to look for words they know in the environment (picture books, signs, billboards), which requires identifying words in real-world contexts. Multiple activities ask students to identify pictures and write or read the matching words (Writing Words pages, What's Missing, labeling images), linking words to real objects. The reader activity (The Bug) asks students to describe the cover and answer questions about what the bug can do, connecting words in the text to pictured actions.
Lesson 4
Letter Sounds Review IV
The Life Application asks the child to look for objects that begin with sounds she knows (e.g., find things that start with /f/ or items that are yellow) and suggests playing "I Spy" or finding items while grocery shopping (beans, bread, bananas, bar soap, bags of fruit). These tasks require the child to identify real-world objects and name them using words or beginning sounds. The lesson gives concrete examples of connecting words/sounds to everyday items and settings.
Lesson 5
Adding s, More Word Families, Ending with ck
Students match written words to pictures (Activity 3.2) by counting objects and writing the plural forms, and they use number words with nouns (Activity 3.1) to say "one dog, three dogs." Students read and sort words that represent concrete objects in word-family activities (Days 2–4) and use clues that reference real objects (Activity 5.2: sock, dock, hogs). The Life Application prompt asks students to read the Word Wall and add words they are interested in spelling, connecting word learning to their own experiences.
Lesson 6
Open Syllables and Digraph th
Students name pictured objects (coat, thumb, horse, path, bath, etc.) and sort them into columns for /t/, /h/, and /th/, linking spoken words to real-world images. Students read short sentences (e.g., "We sat on the log.", "The man ran with his pet.") and reassemble cut-apart sentence boxes, connecting words to everyday actions. Students answer comprehension/personal-connection questions about a reader (e.g., which animal they would prefer as a pet), tying word meanings to personal real-life experience.
Lesson 7
Consonant Digraphs ch, sh, wh, ph
Students name pictures and match them to written words in the picture-sorting and student activity pages (e.g., cheese, whale, phone) and complete fill-in-the-blank items using pictured real-world objects (whip, phone, fish). Students read and respond to short sentences and reader comprehension questions that place words in context (e.g., identifying where the ship is by the dock) and practice sight words in simple real-world sentences ("I root for the ___").
Lesson 8
Blends with s
The Life Application explicitly asks the child to look for objects that start with the blends she's learning and to collect objects or make a collage focused on blends. Multiple activities require students to identify pictured objects (e.g., sled, snake, spoon) and to sort or glue them into columns by their beginning blends, linking words to concrete real-world referents. Activity 4.3 prompts students to answer questions about a reader (e.g., why they stop for a snack; what snack they would want), encouraging personal connections between vocabulary and real-life experiences.
Lesson 9
Blends with l
Students create sentences using everyday words (Activity 5.1) with prompts about ducks, docks, and the club, and they are asked to answer a question that links a word to a real-world attribute (Activity 4.3 asks what color the flags are). The Life Application asks students to generate words that start with blends, giving real-world examples such as stoplight, steps, and star. Sight word activities use contextual sentences about money (have/had) so students hear and use words in real-life situations.
Lesson 10
Blends with r
Students are asked to spell words defined by real situations (e.g., "Spell the word for something you might do if you hurt yourself (cry)," "Spell the word for the outside part of bread or the outer edge of pizza (crust)," and "Spell the word for things that you might build a house or school out of (bricks)" ). Students answer reader comprehension questions that connect words to places and actions (e.g., identifying "dock" and "track" and choosing which activity—hopping, swimming, or running—they are best at). The Life Application and word-building prompts require students to generate words that relate to everyday objects and activities (e.g., trap → truck, brush used to fix your hair).
Lesson 11
Ending Blends
Students name pictured real-world items (stump, lamp, hand, tent, shelf, etc.) and cut and sort those pictures into columns for their ending blends (Activity 3.2). Students read the reader At Camp and answer questions about what kids do at camp (hunt for ants, golf, swim in the pond), connecting words in the text to real camp activities (Activity 4.2). Students also read and underline blends in real-word examples (ask, dusk, lamp, stamp, sand, pond) and say the word meanings as they read (Activity 2.1).
Lesson 12
Double ll, ss, ff, zz (FLOSS)
Students name pictured items and write the corresponding words (Activity 3.2), linking written words to real objects. Students read a short reader (Huff and Puff) and answer questions about insects and why they follow the children, connecting word meanings to story events. Students write and read sentences that reference real places or events (e.g., "The kids shop at the mall," and examples contrasting "are" vs. "were" with the zoo), and are asked to point to words when they hear them.
Lesson 13
Glued Sounds ng and nk
Students match words to pictures in the Fill in the Blanks activity, writing missing digraphs for pictured real-world objects. Students answer comprehension questions about King Hank (e.g., where the king and his friends sleep; what color drinks they drink), linking vocabulary to places and objects. Students create sentences using Making Sentences cards with words like pond, camp, tent, truck, and use those words in context. The Life Application game asks students to produce real-word examples (e.g., lamp, hump) when a die roll calls an ending sound.
Lesson 14
Three-Letter Beginning Blends
Students match words to pictures on Fill in the Blanks and Word Sort pages, with instructions to make sure they know what each picture is showing and to say the sound of each blend. Students answer comprehension questions about reader events (e.g., "What do the kids do at the track?" and activities at the pond) and are asked to describe things they like to do in the spring, connecting story words to personal experiences. The lesson explains the use of the sight word "there" ("used like 'over there'") and asks students to write and read sentences that place words in real contexts (e.g., "The shrimp swim in the tank.").
Lesson 15
More Ending Blends
The lesson provides explicit word-meaning explanations and real-life examples (Activity 2.1 explains that a "pact" is an agreement and gives the example "you might make a pact with a friend"). Activity 2.1 and other activities prompt students to hear and read words in contextual sentences (e.g., changing "pat" to "pact," and explaining "wept" means cried). The reader comprehension questions (Activity 5.2) ask students to relate the story to their own experiences ("What would you like to see if you went down a river on a raft?"). The Life Application asks the child to revisit a Word Wall and add words they like, which encourages personal selection of words.
Lesson 16
R-Controlled Vowels (ar)
Students match words to pictures in the Fill-in-the-Blanks pages (ba___ = barn, sca___ = scarf, fa___ = farm) and are prompted to say the sound of each blend as they complete the words. Students answer comprehension questions after reading the reader (e.g., "What else might you find in a barn on a farm?" and "What else might be made of yarn?"), requiring them to link words to real-world objects and settings. Students are asked to identify and explain words shown in pictures and to spell words that name familiar things (yard, park, scarf, barn).
Lesson 17
Semester Review
Students point to and underline 'there' and 'their' in contextual sentences (There is my friend's house; The library is over there; Their house is down the street) in Activity 1.3, directly linking word meaning to places and possession. In Activity 2.2 students choose 'a' or 'an' for pictured objects (banana, apple, dog, ant) and say each word aloud, connecting words to real-world items. In Activity 1.2 students spell words from short real-life descriptions (somewhere you might skate in a circle = rink; liquid you pour over cereal = milk; building where animals might sleep on a farm = barn), reinforcing word use in everyday contexts.
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 1
Long Vowels a and i with Silent e
In Activity 1.3 students are asked to compare the words "there" and "their," are reminded that "there" refers to a place and "their" indicates possession, and then point to which word fits in example sentences (e.g., "The pencil is over there."). Reader #1 asks students to identify real activities characters do in the fall and to state which activities they personally like, linking words for actions to students' own experiences. The Life Application asks students to make words they know with letter cards, encouraging them to connect written words to real objects and uses.
Lesson 2
Long Vowels o, u, and e with Silent e
Students are asked to name and sort pictures of everyday objects (bed, tree, soap, phone, nose, etc.) into sound-based columns, which requires identifying the words that label real items. Activity prompts explicitly ask students to spell the word for real-life uses, e.g., "the word for the body part that you use to smell (nose)", "something you might use to talk to someone who's far away (phone)", and "something you might write to tell someone thank you (note)". Students also read and point to words in messages and readers that refer to everyday experiences (car trip, dome, slope) and answer questions about those events.
Lesson 3
Hard and Soft c and g
The lesson's Life Application explicitly asks the child to look for words in the environment (food labels, street signs, billboards) that include the letters c and g and decide whether the letter has its soft or hard sound. Multiple activities require the child to read real words aloud, sort words, and identify the sound of c and g in words they may not yet be able to read, encouraging application to printed words. Activity prompts (e.g., reading the weekly message, reader #3, and sorting/cutting activities) give students practice applying phonics knowledge to words they encounter.
Lesson 4
More R-Controlled Vowels (er, ir, or, ur)
Students manipulate ordinal-word index cards and a line of real objects, turning over a card (e.g., "third") and pointing to the corresponding object, directly linking ordinal words to physical positions. Students name pictures on Fill-in-the-Blanks pages and supply the appropriate vowel pairs to complete the pictured words (e.g., barn, fern, worm), linking written words to real-world objects. Activities prompt students to find and use sight words in the Weekly Message and to explain word meanings (e.g., explaining that a "farce" is a funny play), which connects word meaning to real-world concepts.
Lesson 5
Long a Spellings ai, ay
Students are asked to explain word meanings and uses (e.g., explain "pay" as what you do when you buy something; "stay" as a command to a dog; "gray" as a color), and to read sentences that place target words in real contexts (Fill in the Blanks sentences and the reader The Gray Day with questions about objects and actions). Activities require students to use words in sentences (Life Application: make silly long a sentences) and to sort/contrast words with different meanings (e.g., male vs. mail, tale vs. tail) so they link spellings to real-world referents. Several tasks ask students to read, select, or place words into contextual sentences, prompting them to connect word form to everyday meaning and use.
Lesson 6
Long e Spellings ee, ey, ea
Students read and discuss the pair 'see' and 'sea,' hearing the difference in meaning and linking each word to its real-world referent (look vs. ocean). Students name pictures (bean, leash, leaf, beach, bead, meal) before writing the corresponding 'ea' words, directly connecting written words to pictured objects. The Life Application activity has students play an 'I Spy' game using vowel sounds, locating real objects (e.g., pole, hose) in their environment that match the target sounds.
Lesson 7
Long i Spellings y, igh, ie
Students are asked in the Life Application to explain to a family member or friend what they know about ways to spell long i and to give examples of words with those spellings. Students complete fill-in-the-blank sentences (e.g., "Turn right to get home," "The kite is high") that place target words into everyday contexts. Students answer comprehension questions about The Dark Night (e.g., what Tom and Val see in the sky; what they dream about) and spell/define words like dry and fly that connect to real-world meanings.
Lesson 8
Long o Spellings ow, oa, oe
Students match words to pictures and write the corresponding words in Activity 3.1 (boat, coat, road, toast, soap, toad, goat, float, goal), linking word forms to everyday objects. In Activity 2.2 students spell words from prompts that refer to real activities or objects (the dish you eat cereal from — bowl; something you might do with a ball — throw; the person who leads a sports team — coach), directly connecting word meaning to real-life use. In Activity 5.1 and the Weekly Message students identify long-o words in a story and answer questions about boats (how many, what color, whether they'd want it to go fast or slow), making personal and contextual connections to vocabulary.
Lesson 9
Long u Spellings ue, ew, ou
Students are asked to explain that "hue" is a word used to describe the color of something (Activity 2.2) and to read sentences that use color words (e.g., "The sky was dark blue"). Students answer comprehension questions that connect words to real-world attributes, such as "What color does Val add to the stew? (blue)" in Reader #9. The Life Application asks students to name real words (bake, train, play, etc.) for particular vowel cards, which prompts listing concrete examples from everyday life.
Lesson 10
Other Long Vowel Patterns
Students are prompted to use sight words in everyday sentences (Activity 1.3: "Bobby has the most stickers," "Caitlyn has two stickers"), and they are asked to explain word meanings with real-life examples (Activity 2.1: explaining 'mild' as a type of food or weather). Students spell and act out words tied to daily actions and objects (Activity 2.1: "fold" for laundry; Activity 3.1 and Fill-in-the-Blanks: sentences like "The wind is cold," "I can fold my shirts"). The Life Application asks students to review a Word Wall and add or remove words they know, connecting word knowledge to their own collection of words.
Lesson 12
Other Vowel Sounds oi, oy
Students are asked personal-connection questions in Day 5 (Reader #12): they are asked "What do you think Dan's new toy is?" and "What is your favorite toy? Why?", which prompts linking the word toy to their own experience. The Life Application prompts students to make up silly sentences using words learned this week (e.g., "The boy has a toy that brings him joy"), having them place words into real-world contexts. Activity 4.1 has students make sentences from word cards (including words like boy, toys, night, light), and Activity 2.2/3.2 include explaining word meanings as needed, prompting students to relate words to meanings and uses.
Lesson 13
Other Vowel Sounds ou, ow
Students are explicitly encouraged in the Life Application to look for ou and ow words in their environment (e.g., seeing "pound" in the grocery store or "found" on a flyer or sign). Activities ask students to read words aloud, explain meanings as needed, and sort words into groups, which requires them to connect words to real-world referents. The reader and discussion questions (The Hound and the Owl) prompt students to talk about events in a story, reinforcing linking words to real situations.
Lesson 14
Other Vowel Sounds aw, au
Students are prompted in the Life Application to use the words they learn in everyday conversations and to teach others how to spell them, which asks them to connect words to daily use. In Activity 3.1 students discuss meanings of the word "saw," exploring its real-life meanings (tool vs. observed). In Activity 5.1 students answer where the pups sleep (on a bed of straw), linking the word "straw" to a real-world context. Activity 2.1 asks students to read words, have meanings explained as needed, and to explain groupings, which requires thinking about word meaning and usage.
Lesson 15
These Make More Than One Sound: oo and ea
Students name and match pictured objects (spoon, book, boot, etc.) to written words in Activities 1.2 and 3.1, linking words to concrete images. Students are asked to use sight words in sentences (Activity 1.3) and to write and choose question words to create real-world questions (Activity 4.2: "Where is the beach?", "How do you bake bread?"). Students read and answer comprehension questions about everyday actions in the reader (Activity 5.1), which requires recognizing words in story contexts.
Lesson 16
Silent Starts: kn, wr, gn
Students are shown a picture of a garden gnome and asked how the word "gnome" is said and what they notice about its beginning; the instructor explains that gnomes are decorations for a garden or yard. Students are given definitions and real-world meanings for words such as gnat (a small fly), gnaw (to chew), gnu (an animal), and wrist (the part of the arm connected to the hand) and are asked to spell or point to the body part. The reader activity asks students to recount what gnats do at the playground and picnic, linking the word to real situations, and the Life Application asks students to find words they can read in real books.
Lesson 17
Year-End Review
Students are asked to write sentences about pictured, real-world scenes (ducks on a dock; children playing soccer) in the Sentence Writing activities, which requires linking words to images. In the Compound Words activity students read and spell words that name real objects (cupcake, rainbow, toothbrush, starfish) to match pictures. The Life Application section asks caregivers to encourage the child to "read words in the environment around her," which prompts noticing printed words in real settings.