Third Grade - ELA
1: Environment
Unit 1: Tornado
Lesson 1
Weather on the Farm
Students read a nonfiction book about a tornado and are asked to describe a tornado and write three factual sentences, locate information about Tornado Alley on a U.S. map, and explain that when cold, dry air meets warm, moist air a tornado can form. Students also create a daily schedule that lists activities hour-by-hour (sequence) and compare farm life today with life in the past (discussing tractor vs. plow, machines vs. hand milking). The map activity has students label and color the shaded Tornado Alley and discuss location in relation to physical features, linking geographic placement to weather occurrence.
Lesson 2
The Storm
Students practice time and sequence language in Activity 3, where they review Beginning/Middle/End transition words (e.g., "At first," "Later," "As a result") and fill blanks to show order of events. Students are asked to summarize Chapter 1 (Activity 4) in three or four sentences and to "use transitions in [their] summary to help show when things happened in the chapter." Reading and Questions require students to retell what happens (twister comes, family hides in cellar, father is outside, Pete tells a story) and identify the problem, which prompts them to put events in sequence and link causes and effects (tornado -> seek cellar).
Lesson 3
The Tornado
Students are asked to verbally summarize Chapter 2 and to write and illustrate a chapter summary, with an explicit reminder to use transition words to show the order in which events occurred. Question #2 asks students to compare how the tornado at Pete's house differed from the tornado in the first chapter, prompting comparison of events across chapters. Question #1 and the descriptions of the yard after the tornado ask students to describe conditions before and after the storm, which touches on temporal sequence and observable consequences.
Lesson 4
A Card Trick
Students are asked to "Describe what happens in this chapter," which prompts them to recount events and produce a chapter summary in their journal. The lesson asks, "How does the environment affect living things?" and directs students to "discuss the fact that dogs learn about the world from their environment," which prompts explanation of cause/effect. Question #5 asks why Tornado obeyed Pete's dad but not Pete, requiring students to state a cause (Pete's father was more commanding).
Lesson 5
Turtles
Students conduct Turtle Research where they locate information in books and online and fill in facts about turtle shells, habitats, diets, predators, and protection, which engages scientific ideas about adaptation and function. Students read and retell myths in How the Turtle Got Its Shell, answer comparative questions about similarities and differences, and complete a Story Map Graphic Organizer that asks them to list setting, characters, problem, a series of events, and the solution. The My Own Myth organizer also asks students to plan three events and a solution, prompting practice with event sequence and causality within a narrative.
Lesson 6
The Best Pet Award
Students read Chapter 5 and discuss how animals get on a schedule according to patterns in their environment, noting that dogs wait at the same time each day — which connects to time and sequence. Question prompts ask students to explain why Tornado digs a hole (to keep cool) and why he digs more dirt after Five-Thirty leaves (to remove the cat's smell), which requires students to state cause-and-effect relationships. The Wrap Up asks students to describe ways living things can change their environments and what makes an environment uncomfortable, linking scientific ideas about environment and behavior.
Lesson 8
The End of the Storm
Students are asked to reread Chapters 1 and 7 and describe differences in how the environment and characters are portrayed at the beginning and at the end of the story (Activity 4 and the "Mood and the Environment" sheet). Students are prompted to explain how changes in the environment can change the way characters feel, which links environmental change to character reaction (a cause/effect relationship). Students also plan and number sentences in the fishbone organizer and then write a paragraph in sequence, which gives practice in ordering events or details.
Final Project
Think-Tac-Toe
Students are asked to "write a paragraph that describes how the environment and/or weather affects the characters' feelings or actions," which directs them to explain cause-and-effect between weather and characters. Another task asks students to "choose your favorite event... write about what might have happened if the event had occurred differently," which requires students to consider how one event's change would affect characters (cause/effect and consequences). The "paper bag" activity has students select five objects representing major events and write a sentence for each describing how the object relates to the book, which engages students with multiple events from the text.
Unit 2: Sarah, Plain and Tall
Lesson 1
Getting Started
Students are asked to locate and color New England and Heartland states on a U.S. map while being told that European settlers first came to the East Coast and that, over time, people moved west as pioneers. Students read about life in the late 1800s in Kansas and Maine and are prompted to discuss how far apart the places are and the possible differences in climate and land. Students are encouraged to watch pioneer-era media and discuss how life during pioneer times was different from life today, which brings in historical context and change over time.
Lesson 2
Story Elements
Students are asked to describe the plot by listing problem/conflict, important events, and solution on the activity page and in the Story Pyramid activity, which has students write two events and a solution in sequence. Students are prompted to use time transition words (first, next, after, then, finally) when writing their own stories. Students practice organizing events into a sequence through constructing a story pyramid and writing a short narrative that includes multiple events leading to a resolution.
Lesson 3
The News
The journal activity explicitly tells students to use time transition words and phrases to show the order in which events occurred, prompting practice with sequence language. The skills list and activities require students to retell or summarize chapters and write structured narratives, which ask them to organize events in order. Several comprehension questions (for example, asking why Anna took three days to love Caleb and why her father wanted help) require students to explain causes and reasons, inviting cause/effect thinking.
Lesson 5
The Arrival
Students read Chapter 3 and answer a question that asks what Papa does to get ready for Sarah's arrival, prompting them to identify a sequence of actions (gets up early, combs his hair, puts on a clean shirt, hitches the horse, sets off). Students are asked to write a journal entry from Anna's point of view focusing on Sarah's arrival, which requires retelling events in narrative order. The lesson's listed skills include "Retell written messages by clarifying or summarizing" and "Locate specific information within text," supporting students' practice in identifying and recounting events.
Lesson 6
Life on the Prairie
Students are asked to write structured, informative narratives and to retell or summarize written messages (skills list and Activity 1), which supports practice in sequencing events. A comprehension question asks how life on the prairie 100 years ago differs from life today, prompting students to describe changes over time and some cause/effect (machines reduce hand labor, travel easier). The wildflower activity explains how seeds travel, land, and grow with soil, rain, and sunlight, providing a scientific cause/effect sequence, and Activity 4 gives step-by-step instructions for making 3-D flowers that students follow.
Lesson 8
Work and Play
Students are asked to explain why Sarah asks about winter and why Papa teaches her to plow a field, which asks them to identify reasons (cause/effect). Students are asked to act out events that might occur in Kansas 100 years ago and to discuss how those activities are similar to or different from today, which engages them in comparing past and present (time). The craft pages (Bottle Snowman and It's Snowing) present step-by-step directions that students follow, providing exposure to procedural steps and sequencing.
Lesson 9
Writing
Students are asked to identify the problem in the story and to record three reasons Sarah should stay, supporting each reason with examples from the book. The example support sentence explicitly links events and effects: "the family stopped singing when their mom died, but when Sarah came to Kansas the family started to sing again," which models cause/effect language. Students use a graphic organizer to lay out reasons and supporting details, which can involve referencing events and their consequences in the story.
Lesson 10
Neighbors
Students answer comprehension questions that require cause/effect reasoning (for example, explaining that Maggie and Matthew visit because they are helping Papa plow a new field and that Sarah cries because she misses her life in Maine). Activity 2 asks students to consider the time in which the story takes place and to use textual details about the setting, including how farm equipment and transportation would be different then. Activity 1 asks students to write Anna's journal entry about the visit, which asks them to recount events from the chapter.
Lesson 11
Squall
Students are asked to discuss how the environment changes and how the environment affects people, prompting cause/effect thinking. Students answer Question #1 about why Sarah wanted to learn wagon-driving and horseback riding and why she did not learn this in Maine, which asks them to reason about historical differences and causes. Students practice using sequence language in the Connecting Sentences activity (for example combining "We went to the restaurant. Then we went to the movies.") and are asked to combine sentences using words like "and" and "then."
Lesson 12
The End of the Storm
Students are asked to create a Story Plot Diagram that identifies the problem, rising action (events), climax, falling action, and resolution, and to fill in events from each chapter. Students answer specific comprehension questions about chapter events (e.g., damage the storm does, what Sarah purchases) and are encouraged to reread journal entries for each chapter to recall important events and characters' feelings. The Theme activity asks students to record examples of how the author supports the theme through characters' actions, words, thoughts, and events.
Final Project
Welcome To Kansas
Students are asked to find a period recipe and "write the ingredients and directions" (Step 3), and to design a game listing "Materials" and "Directions" (Step 4), which requires putting procedural steps into a text. Day 2 instructs students to "follow the recipe and prepare the food," so students practice executing sequenced steps. The activity is organized into numbered steps (Step 1–5) and includes creating an invitation with date/time, which orients students to temporal details.
Unit 3: Who Was Helen Keller?
Lesson 1
Helen's Early Years
Students are asked to add two or three important events from each chapter to a two-page timeline spanning Helen's birth (1880) to her death (1968), and to record dates when provided. Students answer specific comprehension questions that require sequencing (Describe Helen in her first two years of life) and cause/effect (What caused Helen to lose her sight and hearing?). Students are prompted to answer in complete sentences and to generate questions as they read, supporting ordered retelling and factual cause identification.
Lesson 2
Helen's Childhood
Students are asked to fill in one or two important events from Chapter 2 on a timeline (Activity 1), which has them identify events and their placement in time. A comprehension question asks why Helen threw tantrums and the provided answer links her behavior to frustration from inability to communicate, which asks students to identify a cause/effect relationship. The Wrapping Up prompt asks students to explain that Helen could not use sign language because she was blind, prompting students to state a causal relationship between Helen's blindness and her inability to use visual signing.
Lesson 3
Helen's Challenges
Students are asked to add an event from the chapter to a timeline (Activity 1), which engages them with sequencing Helen Keller's life. Question 1 asks about dangerous things that happened "because of her disabilities," prompting students to identify cause-and-effect relationships. Activity 2 asks students to discuss and explain how losing one sense can make other senses stronger, explicitly addressing a scientific cause/effect concept. Question 4 recounts a sequence of events (parents visiting a specialist then being referred to Alexander Graham Bell), which students must identify.
Lesson 4
Inventors
Students are asked in Activity 1 to add one or two events from the chapter to a timeline, which has them place events in time and show sequence. In Activity 3 students write, for each inventor, a sentence describing the invention, a sentence describing how the invention helped people, and a sentence describing what changed as a result, which asks them to state cause/effect relationships. Activity 2 asks students to list ten facts about Alexander Graham Bell's life and to compare the biography with Chapter 4, which provides material students can use to identify events and differences across texts.
Lesson 5
Annie
Students are asked to add events from the chapter to a timeline (Activity 1), which requires them to place events in time and show sequence. In Activity 2 they draw Helen "before" and "after" Annie's arrival, list adjectives, and write sentences, and they are prompted to "discuss why Helen changed and how her environment led to positive changes," which asks for cause/effect explanation. The reading questions (e.g., why the doll caused problems; why family let her eat off plates) require students to identify causes and effects in the text, and the Wrapping Up prompt asks students to describe the relationship between Annie and Helen and to predict future events, linking sequence and causality.
Lesson 6
Helen Leaves Home
Students add events from the chapter to a Timeline of Helen Keller's Life and create a personal timeline, which requires them to order events over time. Students answer question #5 asking what happened to Helen after a negative experience, identifying consequences (she became ill, lost eagerness to learn, friendship ended). Activity 3 prompts students to discuss how Helen's life and environment changed over time and gives an example sequence (she lived in her house, then the cottage, then Perkins School).
Lesson 7
More Learning
Students add one event from each chapter to a timeline, which requires them to order events and show time/sequence. Students label places on a map and paste events that occurred there, then discuss how each place influenced Helen, which prompts cause/effect reasoning. Students are asked to name important events in Helen's life and explain why the events were important, requiring them to describe relationships and consequences.
Lesson 8
All Grown Up
Students read Chapters 9 and 10 about Helen Keller and answer questions that include a temporal/causal prompt (QUESTION #3: "What happened to Helen after Annie died?"). Activity 1 asks students to construct and add later important events to a timeline of Helen Keller's life, which requires ordering events by time. The skills list instructs students to discuss and connect events and information within and across texts, supporting comparison of events.
Final Project
Scrapbook or Interview
Students plan and assemble a biography scrapbook that highlights important events in Helen Keller's life and organizes content into specific pages (birth, illness and how she went blind, how she learned about her environment, family/home, school, vacation postcard, proudest moment). Students write a doctor's report on her sickness and a journal entry about how her environment shaped who she was, which asks them to explain causes or influences. The interview option requires students to develop and answer questions about Helen's childhood, family, Annie, environment, and achievements, prompting them to connect events and life aspects in sequence.
2: Change
Unit 1: Morning Girl
Lesson 1
Background Information
The lesson labels the year of Columbus's voyage ("In 1492") and has students sing and discuss Columbus sailing west to reach the East Indies, which brings explicit temporal detail and a simple sequence of travel. The Skills list includes "Analyze the effects of change in communities and predict future changes," and Activity 5 has students examine artifacts and write how artifacts may have been used and what natural resources were used, linking past conditions to later change. Activity 4 asks students to record facts about the Taino and includes a sample acrostic that attributes lack of immunity to disease to the tribe's disappearance, which references cause/effect between contact and population change.
Lesson 2
Point of View
Students are asked to record two important events from each chapter in a journal (Activity 1), identifying what happened in sequence. Students compare the accounts of the day at the park using a four-part Venn diagram to find similarities and differences among the four narrators (Activity 4). Students write separate descriptions of an outing and then compare those accounts to note differences in how events and reactions were reported (Activity 5).
Lesson 3
The News
Students are asked to "review the fact that stories have a beginning, middle, and end," which gives them practice with sequence in narrative. In Activity 1 students record two events that happen to Morning Girl and retell/ summarize spoken material, which requires recalling event order. Activity 3 asks students to write how each family member "causes change for other family members" and to describe what each person brings to the family, which prompts students to identify cause/effect relationships among characters and family changes.
Lesson 4
The Rock
Students are asked to explain how Star Boy changed from the beginning to the end of Chapter 4 and to identify what caused that change, which requires describing sequence and cause/effect. Guided questions ask why Star Boy pretends to be a rock and how the environment changes as the sun sets, prompting students to link events with cause and time/sequence. The canoe activity provides numbered procedural steps that students follow, and the journal task asks students to record events from chapters, which can involve ordering events.
Lesson 6
The Storm
Students are asked to record Morning Girl and Star Boy's feelings, thoughts, words, and events for each chapter (Activity 1), which requires ordering events across Chapters 6 and 7. Activity 2 directs students to find words/phrases that describe the setting before and after the storm and to draw before/after pictures, prompting comparison of sequence and change over time. Activity 2 also asks students to "discuss how the storm changed the environment" and to "list two positive and two negative effects" on people, which requires identifying cause/effect relationships. The reading questions ask what happens during and after the storm, prompting students to describe events and consequences.
Lesson 7
Visitors
Students are asked to read sequential chapters and answer questions about specific events (e.g., what Star Boy loses in the storm, why he does not come home), which has them recount event outcomes. The Skills list includes "Analyze the effects of change in communities and predict future changes," and Activity 3 asks students to describe how the explorers' arrival changed native life and to write journal entries describing each person's description of the event. The Name Poem activity asks students to think about events that have occurred in the story to show how Star Boy has changed over time.
Final Project
Poetry Night
Students read Encounter and the Student Activity Page that explains how European contact led to disease, population decline, shifts in power, enslavement, and cultural exchange. Students are instructed to use details from Encounter and the activity text to create a mini-fold book that sorts examples into Positive, Negative, and Mixed effects, identifying outcomes of contact. Students write two "Before and After" poems (native and Columbus perspectives) using five before/after phrases each, explicitly using time/sequence language ("Before...Now...") to show change.
Unit 2: Communities and Culture
Lesson 1
Getting Started
Students are taught about historical time periods and dates (BCE and CE) and are given specific dates for the texts (e.g., 2500 BCE and 1066–1485 CE). The lesson explains that the Middle Ages "came between ancient times and modern times," giving students explicit sequence language. Students are prompted to discuss causes of cultural change (weather, leaders, war, technological advances, sickness) and to compare how things differed between ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages through activities that ask them to describe settings, clothing, and homes.
Lesson 2
Where Are We?
Students answer explicit questions about cause/effect, for example Q8 asks how the Nile River affected the way people lived and Q9 asks how changes in the Nile River affected people (flooding producing fertile land). Activity 3 has students locate the Nile, describe how rivers provide water/transportation/irrigation, and list how needs were met using natural resources, which asks them to analyze effects of environmental features. The Skills section directs students to "Analyze the effects of change in communities" and to "Cite ways people modify the physical environment...and explain the consequences."
Lesson 3
The King
Students answer questions that require cause/effect reasoning (e.g., Q3 asks why Emma and Libby have to work; Q5 asks why Egyptians built pyramids). Students compare government systems by completing a Venn diagram and write a paragraph explaining why they would prefer a president or a king, which asks them to give reasons. Students add information to a "Historical Time Periods: Ancient Egypt" page, which invites them to place facts in a temporal context.
Lesson 4
Back Home
Students are asked to complete a Plot Pyramid by recording five important events leading up to the climax and three events after the climax, which has them sequence story events. Question #1 asks students to describe how Emma and Libby rescue Josh, prompting students to recount the sequence of actions in the rescue. Activity 3 directs students to reread the description of how pyramids are built (pp. 28-29) and to build a model, which has students follow and rehearse procedural steps.
Lesson 5
A Day in Egypt
Students are asked to record a daily schedule of events in ancient Egypt using specified time slots (7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.), which requires them to order activities by time and describe what happens at each time. The lesson asks students to refer back to the book and a "What I have learned" page to brainstorm events, and to compare and connect information across the text and their own experience when writing a paragraph about how life is different. The activities explicitly direct students to list events and provide brief descriptions for each time slot, encouraging sequencing of daily events.
Lesson 6
Middle Ages
The Questions to Explore ask how and why communities change through the ages and how life has changed over time, prompting students to think about change across time. Activity 4 asks students to compare at least three similarities and three differences between laborers in ancient Egypt and peasants in the Middle Ages, which asks them to relate two historical contexts. Activity 3 has students write a first-person journal entry describing the work done during a peasant's day, which requires students to describe a sequence of daily activities and their feelings; Activity 6 asks students to reflect on causes (e.g., why rulers were unfair and how birth determined life).
Lesson 7
Off to the Castle
Students are asked to record information on a "Historical Time Periods: Middle Ages" page, which prompts them to place facts in a time-related context. In Activity 2 students compare events "In a Castle in the Middle Ages..." with events "In a Community Today...", deciding whether activities are still practiced or where they occur. The reading questions ask about events in sequence (e.g., what happens when the Binkertons arrive, whom they encounter in the forest) and ask students to note beliefs about causes (e.g., medieval beliefs about disease and remedies).
Lesson 8
Return Home
Students are asked to retell how the Binkertons get the book back (QUESTION #5), which requires recounting a sequence of actions (Josh pretends to be a knight, Libby and Emma destroy supplies, confusion allows Josh to recover the book). QUESTION #3 asks students to describe castle features that "helped to keep the people inside the walls safe," which connects features to effects (safety). Activity 4 explicitly situates the two books in time by noting the Egypt book took place "about 3700 years before" the Middle Ages book and asks students to compare differences and similarities across the two time periods.
Lesson 9
Writing About History
Students are asked to record a Time Period and Years and to list "Interesting Things" about a culture, which requires identifying when events or practices occurred. Students are prompted to write a factual paragraph with sentence starters such as "In the year _____, you would find _____" and "One thing you should know about _____ is _____," directing them to state facts tied to a time. Students read and compare factual text pages and the "Fact or Fantasy?" section, which asks them to distinguish factual details from fictional elements.
Final Project
Elements of Change
Students choose three cultural elements and write descriptions for each in Ancient Egypt, the Middle Ages, and Today, directly comparing items across time periods. Students place information on a vertical timeline and use "Through the Ages" organizers to record descriptions that show change over time. Students are asked to describe reasons for the changes they include and to consider how life would be different if culture never changed, prompting cause/effect thinking.
Unit 3: American Heroes
Lesson 1
Heroes
Students are prompted to write a sentence about how their chosen hero "made the world a better place," which asks them to state an effect of a person's actions. Students are asked to describe what a hero did during the Wrapping Up discussion and to explain how heroes can motivate others, which encourages cause/effect thinking. Students are directed to read parts of 60 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet ("A Tribute" and the Introduction), exposing them to texts about historical figures that could contain events or actions to describe.
Lesson 2
Early American Heroes
Students create and interpret a "Heroes Timeline" by listing heroes and their birth years on a timeline spanning 1725–2000, and they calculate how many years it has been since 1776. Students complete "Hero Cards" by recording the years each hero lived and writing a sentence about how each hero changed the world. In reading questions students answer cause/effect prompts such as why colonists said "enough" to the British king and why George Washington refused to be king, which requires explaining reasons for events.
Lesson 3
Heroes of Freedom
Students place hero cards with names and birth dates on a timeline, practicing chronological ordering. Students identify slave and free states on a map and discuss the long journey to Canada, linking location and sequence of travel. In the Underground Railroad activity, students design and describe secret signs, draw a route, and create a key that specifies the correct path and which places to avoid, which requires planning steps in order. Reading questions ask students to explain how Lincoln and Tubman changed the world and note that slavery was the main cause of the Civil War, prompting cause/effect reasoning.
Lesson 4
Hard Times
Students read an introduction that names the Great Depression and World War II and states, "After the Great Depression, World War II was fought...," giving explicit time/sequence language. Students answer questions that identify FDR as leading the nation through the Great Depression and World War II, linking those events to his presidency. Students complete a timeline activity where they record heroes' names and birth dates, placing persons/events in chronological order. Students also describe Eleanor Roosevelt's change from childhood to adulthood, showing practice in sequencing personal/historical development.
Lesson 5
Recent Heroes
Students record heroes' names and birth dates on a timeline, which requires placing people in chronological order and relating them to time. Students answer questions that ask how Walt Disney "changed the world," prompting them to link Disney's actions to effects. Students answer a question about whether Hitler was happy about Jesse Owens's performance, which asks them to connect Owens's achievements to a historical reaction (cause/effect).
Lesson 6
African-American Heroes
Students are asked to create hero cards and record each person's birthdate on a timeline, which has them place events in chronological order. After reading Frederick Douglass, students answer how he saw America change over his lifetime, prompting them to describe change over time. Questions about George Washington Carver ask who was helped by his experiments and note that planters adopted peanuts to replace cotton, which connects a discovery to its effects (cause/effect).
Lesson 7
Female Heroes
Students are asked to place heroes' dates of birth on a timeline (Activity 1), which requires ordering events by time. Questions about Susan B. Anthony ask why she was arrested (answer: she voted) and what changed after her death (answer: women gained the right to vote via the Nineteenth Amendment), which connects actions to consequences and change over time. The Skills list includes analyzing the effects of change in communities and evaluating effects of responsible citizenship, and activities ask students to compare how women's lives are different today than in Anthony's time.
Lesson 8
Heroes of Science and Invention
Students are asked to record each hero's name and birth date on a timeline, which requires ordering people by time. The introduction explicitly presents a sequence of transportation changes ("wagons to trains to cars to airplanes"), providing a model of chronological change. Reading questions for Edison and the Wright brothers ask students to explain how inventions "changed the way the world lived," prompting cause/effect explanations about the impact of scientific inventions.
Lesson 9
Book of Heroes
Students are asked to put hero cards in chronological order and number them for a table of contents, which practices sequencing and use of dates. On the Comparing Heroes page students record each hero's name and dates and note something important happening in America during that person's life, linking individuals to historical context. In Wrapping Up students are asked to explain how each hero changed the world, prompting students to state cause/effect relationships (what actions led to change).
Final Project
My Life Story
Students are prompted to list birth information and three major life events in the Pre-Writing Organizer and to write a first paragraph about events in their life up to this point. Students are asked to choose and arrange photographs that show past events and to draw a future picture, reinforcing chronological thinking. The Editing Rubric asks whether paragraphs have introduction and concluding sentences and whether three events from childhood were included, which supports ordering and organization of events.
3: Cycles
Unit 1: Poppy
Lesson 1
Preparing for Poppy
The Setting Map activity directs students to label major events on a map and to trace Poppy's journey as they read the chapters, which requires identifying the order of events. Activity 1 asks students to tell a short story that includes fantasy elements, which involves sequencing events in a narrative. The research and wrapping-up sections address relationships in nature and cycles of power (e.g., food chains, predators, and owls eating mice), and students complete research pages that record habitat, food source, and predators, connecting scientific ideas.
Lesson 2
Mr. Ocax
Students practice combining sentences using conjunctions (including because) and produce sentences such as "Mr. Ocax ate Ragweed because Ragweed did not listen to Poppy," which models cause/effect language. Students answer comprehension questions that ask them to explain motivations and outcomes (e.g., why Mr. Ocax wants the mice to fear him; why he was not entirely disappointed when Poppy escaped), prompting explanation of relationships between actions and consequences. Students retell chapter events when they write sentences about the chapter or reenact scenes with puppets, which requires sequencing of events (e.g., Poppy was with Ragweed when Mr. Ocax ate him, but Poppy managed to escape).
Lesson 3
The Emergency Meeting
Students are asked to write a short summary of Chapters 3 and 4 and to answer Q1 ("How did Poppy escape…") in complete sentences, which requires describing a series of events in sequence. Question #5 asks students to list what the mice had to do before planning their journey (ask permission, scout, pack), prompting students to describe ordered steps. Activity 1 has students draw and label a path showing Poppy's escape and the route from Gray House to New House (visual sequencing), and Activity 3 has students dissect owl pellets and draw food chains to show how energy is passed from one organism to the next (cause/effect relationships).
Lesson 4
Standing Before Mr. Ocax
Students chart and label Poppy and Lungwort's journey from Gray House to Mr. Ocax's tree in Activity 1, which practices ordering events in a sequence. Several comprehension questions (Questions 1–4) ask students to state reasons for characters' actions (e.g., why Mr. Ocax did not eat them, why he denied the mice), prompting students to explain cause/effect relationships. The Wrapping Up prompts ask students to explain why the mice must ask permission and why Mr. Ocax denied them, which asks students to connect actions and consequences (cycle of power).
Lesson 5
Poppy and Poppa
The Skills list explicitly includes "Recognize cause and effect relationships" and "Analyze characters' actions and the consequences," which directs students to identify causal links. Activity 2 asks students to read specific causes from the story and write the resulting effects, using a graphic organizer with five cause boxes and corresponding effect lines. Discussion and journal prompts ask students to predict outcomes and explain why characters acted, prompting students to connect actions with consequences in the text.
Lesson 6
Dimwood Forest
Students are asked in a journal prompt to describe a decision Poppy made, the effects of that decision, and why it was good or bad, which asks them to identify cause and effect. Students are asked to chart Poppy's journey across Old Orchard and over Glitter Creek on a Setting Map, which requires ordering locations and events in sequence. The listed skills include retelling/summarizing and discussing similarities and differences in events and characters, which supports practice with recounting events and their relationships.
Lesson 7
Ereth
Students are asked to discuss the food chain and whether a porcupine is part of an owl's food chain, connecting scientific concepts about predators, prey, and protection (Activity 3). Students are prompted to explain how Mr. Ocax convinced the mice to fear porcupines and how that gave him power, which requires describing a cause-and-effect relationship (Activity 3 and opening questions about cycles of power). The skills list asks students to represent text information in different ways, including story maps, which supports ordering events or ideas and showing sequence.
Lesson 8
On the Way to New House
Students are asked to write a summary of Chapters 13 and 14, which requires identifying the major ideas across the two chapters. Activity 1 directs students to trace Poppy's journey to New House on a Setting Map, which has students represent the sequence of events. Question #3 asks whether the forest changed or Poppy's point of view changed, prompting students to explain a change and its cause.
Lesson 9
The Truth at Last
Students complete a journal entry using the frame "In Chapters 15-16, Poppy wanted... But... So..." which requires them to state events and resulting outcomes. Students are asked to record two pieces of evidence that Mr. Ocax is losing power and two that Poppy is gaining power, connecting events across chapters. Students create and label a circular diagram tracing the cycle of lies and consequences (mice believe protection → mice stay → Mr. Ocax has food → he continues to lie) and are asked to identify where the cycle could be broken.
Lesson 10
The Battle
Multiple comprehension questions ask students to explain causes and outcomes (for example: Why did humiliating Mr. Ocax bring Poppy a feeling of power? What gave Poppy the bravery to confront Mr. Ocax? How was Poppy able to gain power? How did Poppy escape?). The wrapping-up prompt asks students to describe how Poppy defeated Mr. Ocax and broke the cycle of power, requiring them to connect a series of events and outcomes. Activity 2 asks students to explain what made Poppy afraid, how she overcame the fear, and the outcome, and the -ed/-ing activity has students write past and present sentences and discuss differences in timing of actions.
Lesson 11
Writing Project
Students are asked to explain the cycle of power between the mice and Mr. Ocax, how Poppy broke the cycle, and how life will be different for the mice, which directs them to relate events and outcomes. Students use a three-paragraph organizer that assigns Paragraph 1 to describe the cycle, Paragraph 2 to describe how Poppy broke it, and Paragraph 3 to describe future differences, guiding them to present information in a logical sequence. The rubric requires students to combine short sentences using conjunctions including "because," prompting use of explicit cause/effect language.
Lesson 12
A New Beginning
Students are asked to trace Poppy's journey on a setting map from New House to Ereth to Gray House (Activity 1), which directs them to follow and record the sequence of events (page 156 is cited). Activity 3 asks students to explain why the author jumps forward in time and to discuss the theme of cycles and life cycles, prompting students to consider temporal shifts and continuity. The Story Tree and other activities ask students to record resolution, problem, and sequence-related elements, encouraging organization of events and elements over time.
Final Project
Poppy
Students must complete a required plot diagram that asks them to identify the problem, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The lesson gives guidance that the rising action includes important points that lead up to the climax and that the falling action shows what happens after the climax, directing students to sequence events. One Think-Tac-Toe prompt asks students to write a paragraph explaining how plot elements support a theme, which requires linking events and outcomes.
Unit 2: Charlotte's Web
Lesson 1
Getting Started
Students are asked to complete a Plot Flow Chart, writing a major event from each chapter in sequential boxes connected by arrows, which requires organizing and describing a series of events. In Activity 6 students label the four seasons in order and draw the farm for each season, addressing cycles and sequencing of scientific concepts (life cycles/seasons). Multiple comprehension questions (e.g., Why was Fern angry? Why did Wilbur prefer his pen?) prompt students to explain reasons and changes, engaging cause/effect thinking, and the Skills list explicitly includes "Describe season and weather cycles."
Lesson 2
Charlotte
Students are asked to complete a Plot Flow Chart by highlighting a major event from each of Chapters 4–6, which requires identifying events in sequence. Students are asked to write Wilbur's schedule from Chapter 4 and to make their own schedule, which has them list activities in time order. Students complete Spider Research questions including "What is the life cycle?" and are prompted to discuss that animals must eat to progress through life cycle stages, linking a scientific series of stages with a causal factor.
Lesson 3
Bad News
Students are asked to complete a Plot Flow Chart by highlighting a major event from each of Chapters 7–9, which has them identify and order events across the chapters. Discussion questions ask why Wilbur learned the bad news and what Charlotte might do to save him, prompting explanation of causes and likely outcomes. Activity 2 asks students to review life cycles and discuss how predation and human farming can cut life cycles short, linking scientific concepts to cause/effect relationships.
Lesson 4
Some Pig
Students are asked to complete a Plot Flow Chart by highlighting a major event from each chapter, which requires ordering events. Multiple reading questions ask students to explain why things happened (e.g., why Charlotte weaves words, how Charlotte avoided capture, how the sheep convinced Templeton), prompting cause-and-effect explanations. The lesson opens with questions about life cycles and later asks students to review that the seasons are progressing and time is running out for Wilbur, connecting events to time and sequence.
Lesson 5
Progress
Students complete a Plot Flow Chart by highlighting a major event that occurred in each chapter, which requires them to order events from the text. Students answer comprehension questions that ask why characters acted (e.g., why Farmer Zuckerman treated Wilbur differently; why Charlotte chose particular words), which requires explaining causes and effects. Students describe the spider life cycle using a circular organizer, identifying stages in sequence (eggs, spiderlings, growth to maturity).
Lesson 6
The Fair
Students are asked to complete a Plot Flow Chart by highlighting a major event that occurred in each chapter, which requires them to identify and order events from the text. Classroom questions prompt students to consider how cycles on the farm affect the characters and how characters grow and change as they progress through life cycles, directing attention to relationships between scientific ideas (cycles) and character outcomes. Activities ask students to discuss seasons and life cycles and to review different cycles found in the story and in nature, then design a fair booth that relates to cycles, which engages them with sequences and conceptual relationships.
Lesson 7
The End
Students complete a Plot Flow Chart and Character Descriptions pages that require them to order events and note how characters change from beginning to end. Students fill out a Life Cycles Chart (Option 1 or 2) checking off birth, growth, adulthood, reproduction, and death for each character, and discuss cycles and seasons (Activity 3 and Activity 4) as circular, time-based patterns. Reading questions ask students to explain why things happened (e.g., why Wilbur fainted, why the Zuckermans bathed him), prompting causal explanations.
Final Project
Charlotte's Web
Students are asked to describe the setting and major events in Paragraph 1 and encouraged to look back at their "Plot Flow Chart" for ideas, which supports sequencing of events. The advertisement option asks students to use "Character Timelines" and to highlight setting, a major event, and the problem, and to illustrate two cycles in a circular pattern for the "Theme of Cycles." The rubrics and activity pages prompt students to describe major events, characters, and explain two cycles in the story.
Unit 3: The Family Under the Bridge
Lesson 1
Pre-Reading
Students are given a circular "Economic Cycles" diagram labeled with three steps (wants and needs → work to earn money → purchase goods and services) and spaces to list examples in each part. Students are asked to list community examples for each part of the cycle and to explain how the cycle would be disrupted if a person did not have a job. Activity 3 asks students to identify a theme that poverty disrupts the economic cycle, prompting students to connect cause/effect between poverty and the cycle.
Lesson 2
The French Man
Activity 3 (Opportunity Costs) directs students to discuss limited resources, name what a person gives up if they decide not to work, and make a list of advantages and disadvantages Armand experiences because he does not have a job, which asks students to link a decision to its consequences. The reading question "Was Armand hungry? How do you know?" requires students to cite textual evidence that links Armand's condition (hunger) to events in the chapter. The Meeting Characters activity asks students to record characters' actions, thoughts, and decisions after each chapter, which prompts students to track events and character choices across the text.
Lesson 3
A Discovery
Students answer comprehension questions that require explaining causes and effects (e.g., Q2: children were under the bridge because their landlady threw them out when they couldn't pay rent; Q6: children did not go to school because teachers might report them and they could be taken to an orphanage). Activity 2 asks students to think about how the children's economic situation was affected by their father's death, prompting students to connect an event to its economic consequence. Diary writing includes dated entries and a prompt "Tomorrow I will __," which gives students an opportunity to use time-related language.
Lesson 4
A Day in the City
Students answer comprehension questions that ask why characters act (e.g., why Armand said the Christmas log tasted like medicine and why the shopkeeper asked if they were 'in the wrong store'), requiring them to state causes or motivations from the text. Activity 3 asks students to discuss that Armand does not have money but does have time and to generate ways to give time, prompting students to connect circumstances to actions (cause/effect). The Skills list explicitly asks students to recall main ideas, facts, and details and to discuss similarities and differences in events and characters, which supports identifying relationships among events and character actions.
Lesson 5
Singing
Students are asked to describe the Calcet children's economic cycle on the "Working for Money" page by listing needs/wants, the service provided, and what was purchased, with arrows and labels connecting boxes to show a sequence. Discussion and comprehension questions ask students to explain reasons for actions (e.g., why Armand wanted the children to sing, why the children saved food, why Armand left), which requires identifying cause-and-effect relationships in the chapter. The activity also has students map a parallel cycle for their own family, applying the sequence of earning and spending.
Lesson 6
The Shoe
Students answer questions that require causal reasoning (QUESTION #2 asks why Armand was worried and provides a cause: it had snowed). Students interpret the significance of events (QUESTION #1 asks why finding the shoe signified hope for Armand). Students compare states across time in the story (QUESTION #3 asks how Armand's feelings in Chapter 5 differ from Chapter 2).
Lesson 7
Among Friends
Students are asked to discuss the cycle of wants and needs, jobs, money, and goods and services and to "review the fact that, without a job, people do not have money and are not able to purchase goods and services to meet their wants and needs," which presents a cause-and-effect relationship. In the Pack a Bag activity, students select items for characters and must explain which character will benefit from each item and how the items meet wants and needs, requiring them to state reasons linking needs to chosen items. Vocabulary and comprehension questions require students to explain character interactions and what Suzy and Tinka learned from one another, which can involve describing effects of interactions.
Lesson 8
Christmas Eve
Students answer questions that require sequencing of events (Question #1 asks where the children went—they went to a party under a bridge and then to midnight mass). Students explain reasons for actions, which addresses cause/effect (Question #6 asks why Suzy was anxious to leave; Question #7 asks why Armand said Father Christmas was building a house). The wrap-up asks students to describe how Armand and the Calcets celebrate Christmas Eve and compare it to their own celebration, which asks them to recount and relate a series of events.
Lesson 9
Saying Goodbye
Students answer comprehension questions that require explaining causes and motives (e.g., why the Gypsies packed up so Nikki would not get in trouble, why the policeman was looking for Nikki because he lost his wallet). Students discuss consequences of stealing and the economic cycle of earning, saving, and spending, linking actions to outcomes. Students respond to questions that reference sequence (e.g., "At the end of the chapter, how does Armand decide he will help the children?" and "Why was Suzy upset at Paul at the beginning of the chapter?").
Lesson 10
A Home at Last
Multiple comprehension questions ask students to explain events and reasons (e.g., How did Armand help solve the children's problem?; Why was this important?; Why did the floorwalker not recognize Armand?). Activity 2 directs students to discuss how Armand's willingness to get a job will help the children, prompting cause/effect reasoning about economic decisions. The flip-book and the 'A Home for the Calcets' drawing and writing options require students to illustrate and summarize events or describe what families can do after moving into a home, which can involve ordering events and explaining outcomes.
Final Project
Reader's Theater
Students are asked to reread a selected scene and "retell or act out the order of important events in stories," select a scene from the novel, and write a Reader's Theater script that turns events into dialogue and stage directions. Students must write at least twenty lines, include stage directions, and practice performing the scene aloud several times, which requires them to sequence actions and events when converting the narrative into a script and during rehearsal.
4: Relationships
Unit 1: One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest
Lesson 1
The Rain Forests
Students are asked to discuss and describe relationships among plants, animals, and humans (Activity 2) and to explain how the experience or course of one living thing directly impacts another, which introduces cause/effect connections. Students fold a paper into four boxes, illustrate different types of relationships, and describe the relationships they depict. The Student Activity Page provides a step-by-step procedure for making a rain stick that students follow, giving them practice with a technical sequence.
Lesson 2
Morning in the Rain Forest
Students are asked to record events by time on the "Daily Activities" chart, noting the most important event that occurred during each time frame and comparing their day to Tepui's (Activity 3). The "Rain Forest Animals Chart" directs students to classify animals by chapter and to "describe any relationships between animals" in the last column (Activity 1). Question #2 prompts students to explain how "parts began to act upon each other" in the rain forest, and Question #4 asks why bulldozers and chainsaws made it "doomsday," which elicits cause/effect reasoning from the text.
Lesson 3
The Tree
Students answer a direct question about how plants depend on water, with the provided answer stating that water dissolves nutrients enabling roots to absorb and send them to leaves and flowers (explicit cause/effect). Students are asked to record the major events that occurred during the time periods found in Chapter 2 on a "Daily Activities" sheet, which asks them to organize events by time/period (sequence). Students discuss the theme of relationships and interconnectedness and place animals in and around Tepui's favorite tree based on the author's description, practicing mapping relationships among organisms.
Lesson 4
Butterfly Search
Students are asked to record the major events that occurred during the time periods found in Chapter 3 on a "Daily Activities" sheet, which requires them to sequence events. Students answer comprehension questions that establish cause/effect relationships (for example, Question #6 links finding a new butterfly to a wealthy man buying and saving the rain forest). Students match types of scientists and write a paragraph describing relationships between species and habitats, which has them describe scientific relationships in writing.
Lesson 5
Rain Forest Relationships
Students place events from Chapters 4 and 5 onto Plot Timelines by cutting and pasting event descriptions into specific time intervals, matching events to particular organisms and characters. The materials explicitly state that this activity will help students "recognize that events occur simultaneously and to see how earlier events effect later events," prompting analysis of time, sequence, and cause/effect. On the "Relationships" activity and question set, students describe how pairs of organisms help or harm one another, connecting scientific relationships among living things to the events on the timelines. Discussion questions ask students to explain why the author switches action between living things and men in trucks, reinforcing sequence and causal links across parallel event streams.
Lesson 6
Law of the Jungle
Students are asked to record the major events that occurred during the time periods found in Chapter 6 on the "Daily Activities" sheet, which requires identifying events and their timing. Comprehension questions ask for causes and effects (e.g., why the army ants are dangerous, how the army ants allowed Dr. Rivero and Tepui to avoid the jaguar), prompting students to explain causal relationships. Activity 3 asks students to illustrate or describe three examples of The Law of the Jungle (predator–prey and other ecological relationships) and to explain why that law exists, which asks for explanation of cause/effect among organisms.
Lesson 7
Helping a Friend
Students are asked to retell or act out the order of important events and to record the major events of Chapter 7 on a "Daily Activities" page, which requires sequencing. Question prompts ask students why Tepui needed the arrow and what happened to it, prompting explanations of cause and effect for the tree-climbing procedure. The dramatizing activity requires students to order script lines, include stage directions, and represent the steps (shoot arrow, pull rope, raise ladder, climb), practicing description of procedural steps. Activity 1 and Activity 3 ask students to describe relationships among living things and the process by which leaf-cutter ants grow their food and help one another, addressing scientific relationships and processes.
Lesson 8
Persuasive Writing
Students are asked in Paragraph 2 to "Explain relationships that exist in the rain forest" and to write a topic sentence plus three relationships with supporting details, so they practice describing connections among scientific ideas/organisms. The student organizer provides spaces labeled Relationship 1, Relationship 2, Relationship 3 and accompanying Detail lines for students to record and expand those relationships. The Getting Started prompt asks students to identify the problem in a story and what would have happened if the problem was not solved, prompting students to think about outcomes and effects.
Lesson 9
A Close Call
Students are asked to record the major events from Chapters 8–10 on a "Daily Activities" sheet and to add new animals and describe relationships on the "Rain Forest Animals Chart," which engages them in listing and relating events and elements. Activity 4 directs students to select important events, place them in numbered event boxes on a plot diagram (Introduction/Event Boxes 1,2,3; Falling Action; Resolution), and to identify the problem, the climax, and how the problem was solved. The activity also prompts students to look at each event they listed and "identify any relationships related to the events or that would be affected by the events," encouraging examination of links among events.
Final Project
Field Guide or Documentary
Students are prompted to identify and explain "relationships with other living things" on both the Field Guide and Documentary organizers, and rubric criteria explicitly assess the "Relationships" explanation. Students must record diet, predators, where an animal is found, and "how relationships affect those involved," and they must write scripts or entries that describe interactions and dependencies among organisms.
Unit 2: The Whipping Boy
Lesson 1
Medieval Times
Students are asked to read The Whipping Boy chapter by chapter and create a comic strip that illustrates a major event from each chapter, which requires sequencing story events (Activity 6). Students are asked to refer back to factual information they learn about the Middle Ages and identify places in the story that reflect historical facts (Activity 5). In Option 2 of Activity 3 students act out events from relationships and then describe whether what happened was positive or negative and what that reveals about the relationship.
Lesson 2
Jemmy and Prince Brat
Students are asked to illustrate an important event from each chapter and create a comic strip that assembles scenes from the book, which requires them to identify and sequence events across chapters. Multiple comprehension questions ask students to summarize chapters (e.g., "What are the main ideas of Chapters 1 and 2?" and "How would you summarize Chapter 3?") and to explain reasons (e.g., "Why was Jemmy brought to the castle?" and "Why did Jemmy not want to run away with Prince Brat?"), prompting cause/effect thinking. The diary/journal activities ask students to write from Jemmy's and the prince's points of view using events from the story, which requires connecting events and their effects on characters.
Lesson 3
The Plot Thickens
Students are asked to draw a comic strip showing scenes from each chapter, which requires them to order events across Chapters 4–6. Several comprehension questions ask about causes and outcomes (e.g., why Jemmy changed his mind about running away and what made the men realize they had the prince). The skills list includes recalling main ideas, facts, and details and discussing similarities and differences in events and characters, which prompts students to think about relationships among events.
Lesson 4
A Note to the King
Students study a flowchart of the feudal system and discuss the relationships between king, lords, knights, and peasants, answering questions about what each level provides and receives. Students answer targeted questions (e.g., what do peasants pay, what do kings give to lords, who has most/least power) and are asked to explain the relationships that existed in the feudal system during the wrap-up.
Lesson 5
Disagreements
Students read Chapters 10-12 and answer questions that require explaining why events happened (e.g., how Jemmy convinced Cutwater and Hold-Your-Nose Billy, and why the horse was sent back), which asks them to state causes and consequences. Students identify who was sent back and justify that choice, connecting actions to outcomes. Students sequence events by filling in a comic-strip box for each chapter, which requires ordering chapter events across the text.
Lesson 7
The Rescue
Students are asked to draw a comic strip showing scenes from Chapters 16-18, which requires them to order events and represent the sequence of actions across chapters. Guided questions ask students to explain reasons for events (for example, why Billy and Cutwater stopped whipping Prince Brat, why the prince decided not to betray Jemmy, and how characters feel about the city), prompting students to state causes and effects. The wrapping-up prompts and Activity 6 ask students to describe how the prince and Jemmy have changed since earlier chapters, which addresses changes over time in characters.
Lesson 8
Friends
Students are asked to reread Chapters 1-2 and Chapters 19-20 and to list four specific behaviors from the beginning and four from the end, directly comparing the prince's actions over time. Guided questions ask students to explain why the prince changed (e.g., why he said he wanted to be like Jemmy) and why Jemmy decided he trusted the prince, prompting students to identify causes for relationship changes. Activities require students to write a poem about the changes and to write journal entries describing a day in the castle after the events, which asks them to describe sequence and resulting relationship effects.
Final Project
A Monologue
Students are prompted to reflect on how relationships change over time (Questions to Explore: 'How do relationships change over time?') and to reread specific pages (pages 65–66, 68–70, 79) to inform their writing. The Prince and Jemmy monologue templates include temporal and causal language prompts such as 'When I was...', 'Now that I am...', 'From now on...', and 'I have to change because...', which ask students to describe changes in relationship over time. Students must write and revise monologues that discuss how Jemmy and the prince's relationship has changed and how those changes affect other relationships, and they practice presenting those ideas aloud.
Unit 3: Iggie's House
Lesson 1
The Move
Students record events from multiple chapters on a Reactions Chart and write characters' reactions and their own personal reactions to those events. Students answer questions that ask why Winnie was upset and why she reacted as she did, linking events (Iggie moving away) to character responses. Students are asked to summarize the important events in Chapter 1 and to locate and reflect on events across chapters (the activity lists events from Chapters 1–12).
Lesson 2
Meeting the Neighbors
Students answer comprehension questions that ask "Why" (e.g., why Winnie's mom asked her not to tell her father, why Winnie upset Herbie), which requires identifying causes and effects of characters' actions. The Skills list asks students to recall main idea, facts, and details and to analyze characters and their relationships, which supports describing relationships and reasons in the text. Activity 2 has students read scenarios about racial relationships and decide how they would respond, prompting analysis of how actions affect others.
Lesson 3
The Softball Game
Students answer several 'why' questions (e.g., Why do you think Winnie lied? Why was Winnie disappointed?) that ask them to explain causes of characters' actions. Students are asked to "describe the softball game that occurred in the book" and to "recall the main idea, facts, and details from a text," which requires retelling events. The Reactions Chart activity asks students to record responses to events and characters, prompting attention to what happened and how characters reacted.
Lesson 4
A New Dog
Students read Chapter 4 and answer comprehension questions that ask "why" (e.g., why Mrs. Landon came over, why the Garbers did not retrieve Woozie), which requires stating causes. Students are asked to summarize the events that occurred in Chapter 4 and to produce sentences in past, present, and future tense, linking events to time. The lesson includes a Past/Present/Future Tense worksheet and an activity in which students write sentences in each tense, reinforcing time and sequence language.
Lesson 5
A Visit from Germs
Students answer questions that require identifying reasons for events (e.g., Question #1 asks why the Garbers were glum and the provided answer links Mrs. Landon's petition and signatures to their sadness). Question #4 asks students to explain Winnie's behavior, prompting cause-and-effect reasoning about motives. Activity 2 has students record problems between characters and think of ways to solve them, which requires analyzing relationships and consequences of actions.
Lesson 9
A Letter
Students are asked to write a letter that "tells her what has been going on over the past few days," which requires recounting a series of events from Winnie's perspective. The planning pages require students to produce topic sentences and supporting details for three ordered paragraphs and include prompts such as a sentence about the petition, parents' response, and what must be done to help, which invites sequencing and cause/effect discussion. The provided example letter uses temporal language (e.g., "Since you have been in Tokyo") and describes actions and consequences (starting a petition in response to Mrs. Germs' petition), giving a model of linking events and causes.
Lesson 10
I Have a Dream
Students read an excerpt of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech aloud and answer questions about what King's dream was and what "all men are created equal" means. Students discuss historical conditions (separate schools, restaurants, bathrooms; unfair jobs) and are prompted to consider that "many laws have been passed and many people's attitudes have changed." Students are asked to explain what Winnie is doing to help King's dream and what actions they could take to help the dream come true.
Lesson 11
The End
Students complete a Reactions Chart to read through and remember major events and how characters responded, which prompts them to identify a sequence of events. Journal and discussion questions ask students to explain why Winnie decided to go rowing and whether that was a good decision, requiring students to state causes and consequences of actions. Questions about whether the story problem was solved and how ask students to connect events and outcomes to evaluate resolution.