Kindergarten - ELA
1: Letters
Unit 1: A - A Is for Musk Ox
Lesson 1
Day 1
The skills list explicitly requires students, with prompting and support, to ask and answer questions about key details in a text. The Reading and Questions section has students point to the title and to the author and illustrator, listen to the book read aloud, and then answer specific comprehension questions (e.g., which two animals talk). Activities ask students to count letter cards and order alphabet cards, providing opportunities to confirm understanding of letter names and order through guided practice.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students read and watch informational material about musk oxen (links to Britannica Kids and a video) and then discuss the content. Students discuss specific key details such as where musk oxen live, what they eat, how people use them, and what threats they face. Students compare information from the reading/watch media with what the musk ox in the story says about his species.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to find marked words in the book, point to the first letter of each word, say the letter aloud, and find the picture of that item in the illustration. Students are asked directly, "what does 'herd' mean?" and are prompted to explain the meaning and discuss the book vocabulary after the teacher reads the definition. Students practice answering when prompted in Activity 1 by saying the sight word "you" with the adult and then saying it independently when reading pages aloud.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The review prompts the adult to "Ask her what a herd is," which requires the child to answer a question about a concept. Activity 1 asks the child to look at a world map while the adult "explain[s]" musk ox habitats and to "discuss what the environment is like," which invites the child to respond to questions about key details and to view pictures (media) about tundra regions. Several steps instruct the adult to prompt the child (e.g., pointing out continents, naming places like Canada/Alaska/Greenland) so the child can identify and answer about specific details.
Lesson 5
Day 5
The Reading Workshop prompts the adult to ask the child whether he liked the book and why and whether he would recommend it to a friend, which requires the child to answer questions about the text. The Getting Started review asks the child to define what a herd is, which has the child respond to an orally presented question about meaning. The writing workshop asks the child to tell a story that the adult records and then reread, giving the child an opportunity to respond to questions about his own recounting.
Unit 2: H - Hondo and Fabian
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson explicitly instructs students to answer specific comprehension questions after a read-aloud (e.g., Who are the two characters? What did Hondo and Fabian do?). The Skills section states: "With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text." Activity 1 asks students to identify which activities belong to Hondo or Fabian and to act out each activity, prompting recall of key details.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to name the two characters when shown the cover of Hondo and Fabian, which asks and requires them to answer a question about the book. Students talk about what they know about cats and dogs and respond to prompts to list characteristics, recording those details in a Venn diagram. Students are asked to identify the initial /h/ sound in Hondo and to point to letters while singing the Bingo song, which asks them to attend to and respond to orally presented sounds and media.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to retell the story in their own words using the pictures to guide their retelling and to answer scaffolded questions about what happened at the beginning, next, and the end. Students are asked specific questions about key details (what two animals are in the book, ways the characters are alike/different, how the characters feel at the end of the day). Students practice confirming details by locating and pointing to words in the text (identifying the initial sound of "home," "happy," "hungry," and finding the sight word "he").
Lesson 4
Day 4
The lesson asks the child to "page through the book together to see if Hondo or Fabian moved in any other ways," which requires the child to identify and answer questions about details in the book. The lesson also asks direct questions (e.g., "What does she like to do with the friend?" and "what sound the letter H makes?") that prompt the child to recall and answer about specific information.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to answer questions such as "Ask your child what a character is," and to recall sight words "he" and "you," which requires them to respond to oral prompts. During Reading Workshop students look at Hondo and Fabian, move their finger under the print, and are then asked what they think about those names, prompting answers about details in the text. Activity 1 asks students explicit comprehension questions about counting (e.g., "What number is one more than 4?"), requiring them to answer questions about presented information.
Unit 3: I - The Little Island
Lesson 1
Day 1
The text asks the child to find the title and author/illustrator, to observe the cover illustration, and to answer five specific comprehension questions after the read-aloud (e.g., What is an island? What changes happened on the little island?). Activity 2 has the child discuss the definition of an island while looking at a world map, and the Web Link activity asks the child to note similarities and differences among islands and explain preferences. The questions and map/website prompts require the child to ask and answer questions about key details from the read-aloud and related media.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students page through The Little Island book and talk about how the pictures show changes through the seasons, with the teacher prompting discussion of how different seasons affected the island. Students are asked what season it is during a pretend picnic, to choose appropriate gear, and to identify what changes when the season changes. Students answer questions about seasonal details and relate those details to their own experiences.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Before and during reading, students are asked to supply the omitted sight word "little" and to read the title together, prompting them to answer about specific words. After the book is reread, students are asked to tell the story of the island in their own words and to use the illustrations to guide their retelling, which asks them to answer questions about key details. The teacher is instructed to ask guiding questions if necessary, providing opportunities for students to answer targeted comprehension questions.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The Review asks the child to tell the definition of an island, prompting the child to answer a question about word meaning. Activity 1 shows a picture of a stormy ocean and asks the child if he knows how waves form, then has him observe and decide what causes the waves (answering questions about media and key details). Activity 2 includes reading the first lines aloud and asking the child to describe and act out how winds move around the island and how the kitten moves in relation to the island, prompting answers about details from the text.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 1 asks the child whether the island was really little and to compare it to other things, asks how we know size (leading to the idea of measuring), and has the child report which measured items are longest and shortest. Activity 2 requires the child to identify what she sees on the front cover, locate the back cover and title page, spend time looking at the book, and answer questions about whether she liked the book and why. Activity 3 has the child 'read' her recorded trip ideas aloud to an adult, practicing answering questions about her own writing.
Unit 4: T - What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to recall and answer specific questions after a read-aloud, such as naming animal parts learned in the book and remembering how animals use ears, eyes, and noses. The lesson directs students to preview the book, make predictions, and then answer post-reading questions (Questions #1-#3) about key details and differences in structures. In activities, students sort animals by number of legs and draw two animal cards and state one similarity and one difference, which requires recalling and discussing key details from the text and pictures.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson prompts caregivers to 'Ask your child to explain each of the terms,' which has students answer questions about vocabulary. It instructs adults to ask 'What does [structure] mean? How are animals' structures similar and different?', prompting students to respond to key-detail questions. Activities ask students to consider 'What jobs do their tails do? Why are they shaped the way they are?' and to explain the tail they created, requiring answering and explaining information.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to answer explicit comprehension questions after the read-aloud (QUESTION #1 asks whether the book was make-believe or true and compares it to a previously read book; QUESTION #2 asks what kind of information the child learned). Students are prompted to identify and read the sight word "this" in the book and predict the omitted word on the cover. The teacher prompts include organizing the child's thoughts if necessary and introducing the terms "fiction" and "nonfiction," which students use to classify the book.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The Review prompts the child to name an animal whose tail has a special job and to describe that job, which requires the child to answer questions about key details. Activity 1 has the child choose an animal from the book, locate information, and discuss the animal's body parts, where it lives, and what it eats, which involves answering and exchanging information about details from the text and other sources. Activity 2 asks the child to act out animals based on body parts while others guess, which has the child demonstrate and explain how body parts are used.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 2 (Reading Workshop), students are asked specific questions about the sequence and key parts of the book (e.g., "What was the first section of the book about?" and identifying the order of the body parts) and are asked evaluative questions that require answering about content. In Activity 1, students are asked comparative questions about tangible items (which tail is longer/shorter) and asked to order the tails, requiring them to answer questions about observable details. These tasks require students to answer questions about key details from a text or presented materials.
Unit 5: L - We're Going on a Leaf Hunt
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to examine the book cover, notice details, and answer questions such as what season is depicted and what the children wanted to find, which requires attending to key details. The directions tell students to read the title and then read the book aloud, and to answer four specific comprehension questions about enjoyment, obstacles, feelings, and personal connections. The instructions also tell students to look back through the story as they discuss answers, which has students confirm details from the text.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The Review prompts the child to answer questions about the text (Ask your child if he remembers what an adjective is; What kind of mountain is it?), guiding the child to find the word "tall" on the page and say "a tall mountain." Activity 1 asks the child to observe and answer questions about features of leaves (What features do some of the leaves have in common? What are some differences among the leaves?), practicing answering detail-focused questions. Activity 3 has the child act out the story after it is read aloud, including responding to substituted verbs (skip, march, stroll, hop) by performing actions that demonstrate comprehension of events and actions in the text.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to point to and say the sight word "go" during the read-aloud and to read and repeat the line that contains it. Students are prompted to look for adjectives in the story and to answer direct questions such as "What words describe the forest, the waterfall, the lake, and the skunk?" and "what word the author uses to describe the forest." Students repeat phrases like "dark forest" after identifying adjectives, reinforcing comprehension of those key details.
Lesson 4
Day 4
In the Review, students are asked to name three adjectives that describe themselves, which requires them to answer questions about previously presented information. In Activity 1, students listen as an adult explains plant parts and are prompted to "talk about the roots" and answer questions such as "What does your child think a tree root is like compared to the roots of a blade of grass?" and "What is the difference between the stem of a dandelion and a tree's trunk?" These prompts require students to respond to key details from an oral explanation and discuss observations from the seed-growing and outdoor exploration tasks.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 asks the child to look through the book for describing words and to answer adult questions such as whether she enjoyed the book and why and whether she would recommend it to a friend. Activity 2 also asks the child to practice pre-reading behaviors (read left to right, use finger to guide) while engaging with the book. Activity 3 (Option 1) instructs an adult to ask questions to help the child generate ideas, and Option 2 has the child identify five things in the room and think of a describing word for each.
Unit 6: F - Fireflies
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Reading and Questions section asks the child to describe the book cover, tell what he knows about fireflies, and then answer four explicit comprehension questions after the read-aloud. Question prompts require the child to identify what is flickering, explain the boy's feelings using evidence from pictures, and justify whether the boy did the right thing, which engages asking and answering key-detail questions. The guidance also asks whether the child knows the meaning of the vocabulary word 'flicker' and supplies the definition, modeling vocabulary clarification.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are prompted to answer vocabulary and comprehension questions about the read-aloud page (e.g., being asked to supply a synonym for "blinking on, blinking off" and to explain what "soaring" means using surrounding words as clues). Students are asked to determine whether pictured creatures are insects and to explain the clues they used (identifying body parts, antennae, wings, and legs). Students practice reviewing and explaining insect characteristics after creating a model firefly, reinforcing answering questions about key details of the information presented.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson directs an adult to ask the child if he remembers what "flicker" means and to show the child the word "said," encouraging the child to read it when it appears in the text, which has the child answer questions about vocabulary and text words. The lesson asks the child to find three pairs of opposites in the lines "Blinking on, blinking off, dipping low, soaring high above my head," which has the child identify key details from the text. The lesson asks the child to count out fireflies and to answer what the number would be if one more is added, having the child respond orally to questions about quantities.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to answer questions such as what "flicker" means and to give the opposite of "mean," and they are prompted to recall insect characteristics (three body parts, exoskeleton, antennae, eyes, six legs, two pairs of wings). Students watch the Owl City "Fireflies" video and are prompted to imagine the boy in the media and describe or imitate the movements he and his friends make. Students respond to teacher prompts by sorting creature cards into insects vs. non-insects and counting each group, demonstrating answering questions about key details from pictures and media.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 asks the child to review illustrations, tell the story in his own words, and answer discussion questions such as "Did he like the story? Why or why not?" and "Were there any parts that were funny or surprising?" These prompts require the child to recall and respond to key details from the text. Activity 1 also has the child respond to repeated questions about how many fireflies he has now, prompting answers about specific details of an event.
Unit 7: E - But No Elephants
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Skills section explicitly states that students should, "With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text." The Reading and Questions section has pre- and post-reading prompts and three specific comprehension questions asking about Grandma Tildy's life, her feelings, and the predicaments she faced and solved. Activities require students to use the book as a reference to answer sequence and ordinal questions (e.g., "Who came third? Who came fifth?"), reinforcing answering questions about key details.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to explain vocabulary words and give examples, which requires them to answer questions about word meanings. Students are prompted to recall the meaning of "predicament" and name a predicament Grandma Tildy faced in the story, demonstrating answering questions about key story details. In Activity 1, students describe positions of animals in illustrations using words like "in," "on," "under," or "beside," answering questions about visual details from the book.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to explain what happened in the story after the read-aloud, which requires them to answer questions about key story details. During reading, students are prompted to read and identify the sight word "no" at the appropriate time, checking comprehension of specific text elements. In Activity 1, students act out an animal and answer the question of how that animal would help Grandma Tildy, practicing answering questions about details and functions. In Activity 3, students sort animals by number of legs and respond to a prompt to suggest another way to sort, which has them answer questions about observable attributes.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked specific comprehension questions about the picture and story (e.g., "What is Grandma Tildy doing?", "What kind of work is she doing?", "Why is she doing that?"). Students sort gathered objects into "wants" and "needs," explain why they placed each item in a category, and count the items in each pile. Students listen to a dramatic retelling and are asked to hold up each animal as it is introduced and to tell what came next or make up a new ending using stick puppets.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1 the child is asked aloud what would happen if there were two elephants and is shown pictures to count ears and feet, then together they write and discuss equations (e.g., 2+2=4, 4+4=8), confirming understanding of the rhyme and quantities. In Activity 2 the child moves a finger left to right while an adult reads, then is asked to retell the story and answer questions such as "Did she enjoy it? Why or why not? What was her favorite part?" and to suggest a different ending, which prompts answering questions about the read-aloud.
Unit 8: C - Millions of Cats
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to discuss the read-aloud: the teacher is instructed to "Read the book together and then discuss the following questions," and eight specific Q&A items target key story details (e.g., loneliness, why the cats quarrelled, what happened to the cats). In Activity 1 students are asked questions about similarities and differences among physical cats and to sort and count groups by features. In Activity 2 students construct and use a Venn diagram to list characteristics the two cat groups share and characteristics unique to each, practicing asking and answering about key details across texts.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The Getting Started review instructs to "Ask your child if she knows what it means to quarrel," which has students answer a vocabulary question to confirm understanding. The task to have the child "close her eyes, choose 5 cats, and divide them into two groups" has students categorize and explain their choices orally. Activity 1 asks students to "talk about different physical features of the Earth" after referencing a page of Millions of Cats, prompting oral discussion tied to a read-aloud reference.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked comprehension questions after the read-aloud such as "What lesson does the story teach?" and whether the quarrel ended, prompting them to answer key details about events and themes. The teacher points to the sight word "pretty," asks the child how the word was used in the book and has the child read it aloud. Students are also asked to repeat a recurring phrase each time it appears to confirm listening to and tracking key details in the text.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to divide the 10 cats into two groups and count how many are in each group, which requires them to answer a question about key details from the review. An instruction to "Talk about how the poem relates to the book" and the specific question "Would this poem describe the scene with all the cats from the book?" requires students to answer questions about details from a text read aloud. After researching pet care, students are directed to communicate to others what they learned by designing a poster or giving a "pet talk," which has them recount and explain information presented orally or via media.
Unit 9: G - The Real Mother Goose
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students listen to or read nursery rhymes from the book or CD/MP3 and then talk about the poems (e.g., "What parts are silly… Which ones does your child like, and why?"). The adult asks the child to identify rhyming pairs and to explain why words like "horn" and "corn" fit, and students are asked to describe what is happening in a poem and act it out. Students are asked to look at illustrations and identify shapes and to supply missing words when a poem is read aloud with line endings left off.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to supply words for the poem "The Little Bird" and to think of a word that rhymes with "boy," which requires them to answer oral prompts. The teacher reads the poem "The Year" aloud and then has students practice and recall the months of the year, promoting oral response to presented information. Students are prompted to "talk about what happens in January" and answer "What is the weather like?", which asks them to answer questions about key details from the reading.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson directs adults to ask the child to identify a circular object and to think of a rhyming word for "book," and it tells the adult to ask the child to identify rhyming pairs as poems are read aloud. The lesson also instructs the adult to ask the child what her favorite poem is and why, and in Activity 3 the adult reads lines aloud and asks the child what word rhymes with given words (e.g., "fiddle," "moon") and to produce rhyming pairs.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students listen to poems on the accompanying CD/MP3 and are encouraged to follow along by moving their finger left to right, providing practice in attending to orally presented text. Students and the adult read poems together and are asked to talk about the poems and identify spherical objects described, which requires answering questions about details in the poems. In Activity 1, students are asked to identify shapes (circle vs. sphere) and to explain where the ball is compared to another object, practicing responding to prompts about presented information.
Unit 10: O - Owl Babies
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to look at the book cover, describe what they see, and predict whether the book will teach facts or tell an imaginary story, which engages them in confirming meaning. After the read-aloud, students answer direct questions: identifying whether the book was a story or factual (Question #1), citing evidence for that judgment (Question #2), and naming true facts found in the text (Question #3). These activities require students to answer questions about key details in the read-aloud to show understanding.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked what they see on the front of the book and to predict whether the book is fiction or non-fiction and explain why, which requires answering questions about key details. After the book is read aloud and after watching the owl video, students are asked to confirm that the book is non-fiction and to dictate or write facts they learned about owls. The activities ask students to identify letter shapes and sounds and to perform/memorize a poem with motions, reinforcing oral comprehension and recall of presented information.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to identify who in the book wants something and what he wants using the sight word card "want," and to read Bill's line "I want my mommy!" aloud when prompted. After reading, students are asked to tell the story in their own words (Question #1), which requires them to answer questions about key story details. While watching the animated reading of Owl Babies, students are asked to pay attention to the music and state when it seems scary or cheerful and whether that matches the story, connecting media cues to story meaning.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to look at an online gallery of owls and identify what is different and what is similar about the owls, and to click on owls to learn what makes them like other owls and what makes them unique. Students are asked to answer the question about how the book Owl Babies gives the owls attributes they don't really have (for example, talking or human-like feelings). The reader's theatre activity has students practice and perform lines aloud, providing additional experience with listening to and producing oral text.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1, students hear oral word problems (e.g., "Three baby owls flew to the tree. Then two more came. How many are in the tree now?") and respond by moving counters and counting to answer how many owls are in the tree or sky. In Activity 2, students examine two owl books, decide which is fiction or nonfiction, identify clues that support their ideas, and are asked to tell the adult what they found, which requires answering questions about key details from the books.
Unit 11: S - Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to look at the front cover, describe what they see, examine four pictures of branches, and say what they think the pictures represent. Students are read the book aloud and then answer explicit comprehension questions (Question #1 asks them to name the four seasons; Question #2 asks them to describe Arnold's activities and relate their own favorite seasonal activities). Students are guided to identify characters, settings, and major events with prompting and support and to describe relationships between illustrations and the story.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The guide asks the adult to "Ask your child if he can remember the names of the four seasons," which prompts the child to answer questions about key details. It directs adults to "Talk about the current season" and to "talk with your child about what the weather is typically like," which has the child respond to oral prompts about seasonal/weather details. The weather-tracking activity has the child observe and record daily weather details (sky, wind, temperature), which requires answering and providing details about observations when prompted.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students hear the book read aloud twice and are asked to find and read the sight word "some" in context, practicing comprehension of orally presented text. Students are explicitly asked a key-detail question: "What gift did the tree give Arnold in each season?" which requires them to answer about details from the read-aloud. Students are also asked to listen to adjectives read from a poem and then name the season based on those orally presented details.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked questions about key details from text and media: in Review they are asked to answer 2 + 1 and name an adjective for summer. In Activity 1 students are asked to look at the page about Arnold's family and answer "How does each member of the family contribute?" and "Why he thinks the family worked together to do these jobs?" In Activity 2 students listen to clips of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and are asked if they can tell which season is being described and what makes them think of that season.
Lesson 5
Day 5
The lesson asks the student where and when The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree took place and introduces the term 'setting' while prompting discussion about it. The student is asked to look through books with outdoor settings, identify the setting and the season, and share the clues that helped her identify the season. During the shape hunt, the child is prompted to name items aloud as 'circle' or 'sphere' when the items are reviewed.
Unit 12: D - Dinosaurs Big and Small
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Skills section explicitly includes "With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text" and "With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text," and also lists "Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases." The Reading and Questions section directs an adult to ask the child predictive and comprehension questions (e.g., fiction vs. non-fiction, Q1–Q5) and to discuss key details such as characteristics of dinosaurs. Activities instruct the child to answer comparative questions (Who is longer? Which is longest/shortest?) and to describe characteristics of a created dinosaur, prompting clarification and discussion about details.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The Review asks the child to show a dinosaur from the book and name one interesting characteristic, which requires the child to answer a question about a key detail from the text. Activity instructions ask the child to listen carefully to the song "We Are the Dinosaurs" and act out the movements, supporting attention to orally presented details. The notes about pages 10 and 28 and the explanation of fossils present informational content that students listen to and can respond about.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked specific comprehension questions after the read-aloud (Question #1: ask what "sprawl" means and how to guess its meaning; Question #2: ask what new information they learned and what surprised them). During reading, students are prompted to look for the word "big," read it aloud, and explain the difference between uppercase and lowercase instances. In the poem/activity, students are prompted to identify adjectives that describe dinosaurs and to answer questions about pictures in the book.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students listen to the "We are the Dinosaurs" song and are asked to name a favorite dinosaur and one characteristic, including an adjective to describe it. In Activity 1 students use web links to research a chosen dinosaur, make a drawing, and dictate five facts about the dinosaur which are recorded beneath the drawing. Students are prompted to share the researched information with friends and family, implying oral presentation of key details.
Unit 13: P - Harold and the Purple Crayon
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked specific comprehension questions after a read-aloud (What do you think about Harold's adventure? Were there dangerous or difficult parts? How do you think Harold feels at the end?), which requires them to answer about key story details. Students are prompted to recall and describe Harold's predicaments and the solutions he devised using his imagination, and to offer solutions for new predicaments. Activity 2 asks students to identify shapes on book pages and to sort and count purple squares and rectangles, requiring them to respond to and answer teacher prompts about attributes.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked direct comprehension questions about a read-aloud: "What shape is the moon in the story? Does the moon always look that way?" which prompts them to answer key details from Harold and the Purple Crayon. Students are prompted to predict and answer questions about color mixing (Which two will combine to form purple?) and to identify shapes and letters (point out a square and rectangle; find the uppercase P on the book cover). Students complete activities that require them to respond to teacher prompts and explain observations (observe moon phases each night, glue phase labels in order).
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students reread Harold and the Purple Crayon and answer explicit comprehension questions (e.g., What was the most interesting thing that happened? How did he figure out how to get home?). Students are asked to identify and read a sight word in context ("made") and respond when it appears in the story. Students are asked to explain word meanings (e.g., "trim," different meanings of "drew") and to explain and match flat shapes to solid shapes by describing differences and counting faces, edges, and corners.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked questions about the read-aloud Harold and the Purple Crayon (e.g., what imagination means, whether their neighborhood is like Harold's, and what important places it contains) and respond with details. Students verbally answer review prompts (naming shapes, identifying which are flat or solids, imagining sitting on a boat and saying where they are going). Students use those verbal answers to plan and create a neighborhood map, demonstrating comprehension of orally presented ideas.
Unit 14: B - Blueberries for Sal
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to look at the book cover and answer predictive and observational questions (e.g., what the book will be about, whether the child on the cover likes blueberries). Students are asked to identify the illustrator and notice illustration color by flipping through the book. After the read-aloud, students are asked and expected to answer six explicit comprehension questions about key details (who was looking for blueberries, why they wanted blueberries, what happened on the mountain, how the story ended, etc.).
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson directs the adult to ask the child to name one similarity and one difference between Little Sal and Little Bear and to name number pairs that add to 10, prompting the child to answer questions about key details. Activity 1 asks the child whether the book takes place in the past or present and has the child look through the pictures to find specific visual clues that support that answer. Activity 3 asks the child to describe what "hustle" must mean based on a picture and to act out character movements, which requires answering questions about details and interpreting meaning from the text and images.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to retell Blueberries for Sal in their own words after the read-aloud, using pictures to prompt their retelling. The lesson includes teacher-posed questions (e.g., asking what "hustle" means, asking for number pairs that equal 10, asking what people did with the blueberry dye) that require students to answer about key details. During reading, students are prompted to identify and read the sight word "she," demonstrating attention to details in the text.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to read and learn about bears using a website or non-fiction books, exposing them to information presented through media. Students create a two-column list naming elements of fiction and non-fiction from Blueberries for Sal, which requires them to identify and state key details from a text. During review, a child is shown the number 13 and asked to read it and explain what it means, requiring the child to confirm understanding of presented information.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In the Reading Workshop, students examine books set in the past, search for clues about setting, and then share their findings aloud. Adults are instructed to ask targeted questions (e.g., about characters' clothes or technology) to help students identify and explain key details. The Writing Workshop encourages students to share work with others and to receive questions and suggestions from listeners.
Unit 15: R - Rain
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students listen to the book read aloud while the adult stops and asks them questions (e.g., asking what they think the rain will fall on next) and prompts them to point to words and colors. A set of four discussion questions (#1–#4) asks students to answer about how the author made them feel, how the writing created the sense of rain, whether the ending was surprising, and to talk about different kinds of rain and personal experiences. In Activity 1 students demonstrate comprehension by placing die-cut pieces on a sky mat to show the progression of the story.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson repeatedly asks the child orally to answer questions about presented information (e.g., "Ask your child what is coming down from the sky when it rains," and follow-up sensory questions: How does it look, sound, feel, smell, taste?). The lesson has students observe and report changes (e.g., predicting and later observing what happens to an ice cube and answering "How has it changed? Is it still a liquid?"). The lesson also asks the child to describe a downpour and explain number formation (e.g., how 18 is formed), requiring verbal answers to key-detail questions.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The teacher reads the book aloud while having the child point to each word and manipulate die-cuts to match each page, then asks the child to read the book back, prompting answers about words like "on" and "rain." The lesson includes questions about numbers (e.g., show 14 and ask how it is made; show 9 and 7 and ask which is smaller) and asks the child to read math equations and give answers using raindrops. Activity 3 asks the child to point to each object in a glued scene and use its describing word to tell about the scene, eliciting responses about key details.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked to answer oral questions in the Review section (e.g., "what another word for 'downpour' could be" and answers to 4 + 1 and 3 + 2). During the rain experiment the adult asks students observable and explanatory questions: "How does rain form?" "What happens?" and "Why?", prompting students to describe key details of the demonstration. Activities ask students to observe the experiment and explain the cause-and-effect of evaporation and condensation.
Unit 16: N - Night in the Country
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to look at the book cover and describe what they see (sky, time of day) and to answer questions about what the country is and how it differs from city/suburbs. Students are asked to respond after the read-aloud to questions such as how they feel about nighttime, what the author seems to think about nighttime, and whether they would like to live in the country. Students are guided to notice key details (pictures, words) and to answer teacher-posed comprehension questions about those details.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are prompted to explain vocabulary words in their own words during the Review (e.g., flicker, predicament, fiction) and to name a night sound and describe two meanings for "country." In Activity 1 students create puppets and take turns asking and answering explicit questions about key details (Where do you get your fruit? Where do you get your vegetables? How close is the nearest store?), practicing oral question-and-answer about differences between country and city life.
Lesson 3
Day 3
After the read-aloud, the child is asked to "tell you the story in his own words, using the pictures as a guide to the retelling," which requires recounting key details. The review section directs the adult to "Ask him one difference between life in the country and life in the city," providing an explicit question about content. The child is asked to find and read the sight word "there" during two readings, which directs attention to details in the text.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 instructs an adult to explain that good readers ask questions while they read and models an example question. The child is asked to spend time with the book, identify a question or two after "reading," share those questions with an adult, talk about them, and do research to find answers if appropriate. Activity 3 has the child read his own writing aloud and respond to a prompt to add one more thing, which provides some practice answering a question aloud.
Unit 17: M - Marshmallow
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the cover and predict why the book is titled Marshmallow and whether it is fiction or non-fiction, which prompts them to confirm understanding before reading. After the read-aloud students are asked specific comprehension questions (Q1–Q6) about key details such as how Marshmallow acted, advantages/disadvantages of a rabbit, and why Oliver hesitated. The lesson prompts a vocabulary check by asking the child if she knows the meaning of "hesitated" and directs the adult to define it if the child does not understand, which provides clarification of a key word from the text.
Lesson 2
Day 2
In Activity 1, adults ask the child to look at the part of the book where Oliver stops and to talk about how Oliver followed Miss Tilly's rules, and they ask the child what the rules of the home are and why they are important. The lesson directs adults to talk with the child about the Simon Says game and how it requires following instructions, prompting discussion. In Activity 3, adults reread a poem and deliberately omit words, asking the child to supply the missing words to confirm recall and understanding.
Lesson 3
Day 3
After reading, the teacher asks the child to tell the story in her own words and to use the pictures to prompt her, which requires the child to answer questions about key details. The lesson directs the child to practice reading the word "out" on the page and to read it as it occurs in the story, which gives the child opportunities to confirm understanding of specific words in context. The instructions to show the second page and point to words provide explicit prompts for the child to demonstrate comprehension of read-aloud text.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students watch the Owen and Mzee video and are prompted to "talk with your child about how Owen and Mzee's friendship was similar to and different from Owen and Marshmallow's," which requires answering questions about key details from the video. Students are asked to "explain the number 14 in his own words," encouraging them to restate information orally. Students are also asked to observe and describe illustration details (colors, outline and smudging) when looking at the pictures.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1, students are asked to observe a can and answer questions about its shapes, rolling behavior, and number of faces, and they physically test and count these features. In Activity 2, students listen as poems are read aloud and answer questions about how the poems differ from stories and identify rhyming pairs and visual clues that mark a poem. In Activity 3, students listen to a dictated short poem and story and fill in blanks, demonstrating comprehension of orally presented information.
Unit 18: U - Umbrella
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Skills list explicitly states that, "With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text." The Reading and Questions section asks students to look at the cover and predict, to recall events after reading, and provides four specific comprehension questions (Q1–Q4) for students to answer about key details. The lesson also asks the child if he knows the meaning of "unfortunately," invites a response, and provides an explanation of the prefix "un," which addresses clarification of word meaning.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to retell the story Umbrella in their own words using pictures as prompts, which requires them to answer questions about key details and confirm comprehension. An adult directs the child to read and locate the word "not" on page 14 and to read it back, which has the student identify and confirm a specific textual detail. The Review section instructs the adult to ask the child what would be an unfortunate thing to happen on someone's birthday, prompting the child to answer an orally presented question about a scenario.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The Review prompts the child to answer questions about the prefix "un-" and to name a pair of numbers that add to 10, requiring oral responses. Activity 1 asks the child questions about the sky and clouds (e.g., "What are clouds?", "Do all clouds look the same?"), asks the child to describe clouds she has seen, and directs the adult and child to "look together" at a cloud website to notice different shapes. Activity 2 asks the child to answer a question about in what weather she would use a fan, prompting oral explanation.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Reading Workshop students look at page 2 while an adult reads words and are asked to find capital letters and explain why a word is capitalized. Students are asked comprehension and reflection questions such as what they thought about Umbrella, what they liked, and whether they would recommend it and why. In Writing Workshop students read or are read their own writing aloud, point to where they wrote their name, and answer questions about capital letters and the content of their piece.
Unit 19: J - Jump Frog Jump
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to identify animals and the setting from the book cover before reading and to answer four explicit comprehension questions after reading (e.g., how the frog got away; which animals escaped or did not escape). Students are asked to look back through the book to remember details (identify animals the frog escaped) and to consult the book while cutting out and ordering story sequence pictures to confirm event order.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to define vocabulary words in their own words and to answer a direct question ("Ask your child what it means to escape"). Students are prompted to discuss pond animals by answering questions such as "What does he know about these animals? What are some things they have in common? What are some differences among them?" and to sort the animals into groups based on those details. Students identify the uppercase letter J on a book cover and orally review the letter sound, producing brief spoken responses.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to line up the story sequence cards and tell the story using those cards as prompts, which requires them to answer questions about key story events. Students respond to teacher prompts by showing spatial relationships from the book (e.g., "The frog was under the fly") using die-cuts and props, demonstrating comprehension of details read aloud. Students are prompted to read and identify the sight word "how" in the sentence "How did the frog get away?" and to read repeated phrases like "Jump, frog, jump!" during a second reading.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Reading Workshop, students are prompted to look at the repeating question sentence "How will frog get away?", to ask a question themselves, and to answer questions posed by the adult (e.g., "What time is it? What are we having for lunch?"). Students reorder story sequence cards and practice "reading" the book aloud to an adult. In Writing Workshop, students generate a question about frogs and record it using a question mark.
Unit 20: K - Kindness
Lesson 1
Day 1
The child is asked to look at the book cover, make predictions, and answer questions after a read-aloud (e.g., What do the animals do? What was your favorite example?). The lesson includes an explicit vocabulary check where the adult explains the word "grand" if the child does not know it. Activity 2 directs the child to watch a kindness video and describe kindness in his own words, which asks the child to confirm understanding of information presented through media.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked after the read-aloud to say which act of kindness they found especially kind or thoughtful. Students are asked to explain how Harry helping the frog resulted in a series of kind acts and whether they agree with the author's idea that a little kindness can go a long way. Students locate and read specific text (find the page where the frog thanks Harry and read the sentence with the word "so") and name actions for animals on the Animals in Fiction chart, providing answers about key details from the story.
Lesson 4
Day 4
During the Review, an adult asks the child oral questions (continue counting to 20, give a synonym for "grand," solve 10-6) and the child is expected to answer. In Activity 1 the adult explains what a good citizen is and then asks the child to state rules she follows, dictating items to create a posted list. Activity 2 has the child listen to a song and video several times and sing along or perform the song from memory after hearing it orally/through media.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1 an adult asks the child how many acts of kindness were performed, prompting the child to supply numbers during a guided 100-step walk. In Activity 2 the child is instructed to look at pictures and retell the story, giving a general description of each act of kindness using illustrations as a guide. In Activity 3 the child reads back his writing or dictation and is prompted to add one more detail, which elicits answering and expanding on key details.
Unit 21: V - Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted before and after a read-aloud to look at the cover, name instruments they see, and answer five specific comprehension questions about the book's details (e.g., instruments that were new, what the musicians formed, how the audience responded). Students are asked to name other instruments they know and to pay attention to instruments and characters during reading, supporting oral recall of key details. In Activity 1 students match instrument pictures with number cards and ensemble names and discuss vocabulary (e.g., the meaning of "solo"), which requires them to identify and explain details from the text.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked and answer oral questions such as "how many instruments are playing during a solo" during the Review. Students are asked to look for and identify natural resources used in instruments and to determine and explain ways to classify instrument pictures, which requires answering content questions about the instruments. After viewing the linked video segments, students are asked what they think it would be like to play in an orchestra and which instrument they would enjoy playing, requiring answers about media-presented information.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are read Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin and are asked to look for a target word and then place instrument pictures in the order they appear, prompting them to recall key details from the read-aloud. The lesson includes teacher prompts asking students how many instruments play during a solo or duet and asking them to name a natural resource in the room, which requires answering questions about presented information. In Activity 2 students are asked to name a can's shape, decide whether objects are two- or three-dimensional, compare similarities and differences between objects, and identify instruments with cylinder or cone shapes, all of which involve answering and responding to questions about presented information. Activity 3 has students brainstorm jobs and decide whether each card represents goods or services, requiring them to answer and sort based on discussed concepts.
Lesson 4
Day 4
During the Review, an adult asks the child direct comprehension questions (e.g., how many instruments play during a solo; name a job and whether it provides goods or a service; give an example of a cylinder and a cone) and the child is expected to answer. In Activity 1 the adult asks which senses the child could use to learn about an instrument, and the child draws, writes, or dictates observations on a Senses Web, requiring the child to respond about key sensory details.
Unit 22: Y - Little Blue and Little Yellow
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Skills list explicitly includes the target standard and instructs students to confirm understanding by asking and answering questions and requesting clarification. The Reading and Questions section directs an adult to read Little Blue and Little Yellow aloud, ask detailed comprehension questions (with a provided question/answer set), and to turn back and re-read sections if the child has trouble remembering answers. The lesson also asks students to make observations and predictions from the cover and to discuss vocabulary (the word "row"), prompting both asking and answering about key details and meanings.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to answer comprehension questions about stories (e.g., "What were some ways Little Blue and Little Yellow were good friends?", "Why was it important for Little Blue to obey his mother?") and to look back at pictures to support their answers. Students orally continue a given pattern and answer factual questions (e.g., "what two colors can combine to create the color green?") and respond when asked to identify shapes and explain how to make the dough green. Students practice responding to teacher prompts across multiple activities (story discussion, color-mixing, pattern completion, and shape naming).
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students read and hear the story Little Blue and Little Yellow as the adult reads it aloud and practice reading the sight word "they" in context. After the read-aloud, students are prompted to use pictures from the book and balls of dough to retell and act out the story in their own words, which requires them to recall and describe story details. During the review, students answer oral prompts (continue a pattern, name a quality of a good friend), showing they respond to spoken questions.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are asked orally to continue a color pattern and to explain the number 19, requiring them to answer questions about orally presented information. After reading Little Blue and Little Yellow, students are asked specific questions about how the author shows characters, feelings, and settings (e.g., how parents and houses are shown, how Little Blue's feelings are shown). Students are prompted to tell a story using torn paper and to choose one scene to glue and write or dictate what is happening, which requires them to recount and explain key story details.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 2 directs an adult to show the child a page where Mama speaks to Little Blue and to point out the quotation marks, asks the child to find another place in the book where quotation marks are used, and asks, "Can he tell who is speaking?" The activity then instructs the adult and child to talk about what the child has found, prompting the child to answer questions about who is speaking and to discuss details from the text.
Unit 23: W - George Washington's Birthday
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to ask and answer questions about the dollar bill and George Washington's picture, compare the book cover to the bill, and share what they already know. The text directs students to discuss whether the book is fiction or nonfiction, to answer questions about key story details (e.g., parts of Washington's life, happy ending, lessons learned), and to respond to sidebars that give factual information. The skills list explicitly includes asking and answering questions about unknown words and, with prompting and support, identifying the main idea and recalling key details; the teacher prompts students to explain terms like "myth" and "tyrant."
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to recall details from a read-aloud (e.g., remember a myth about George Washington and answer 2+3). Students are prompted to observe and answer questions about media and images (e.g., find the USA on a map, name their state, say what they notice about the American flag, count the 50 stars and 13 stripes and explain why). Students identify key details from the book when rereading pages (e.g., identify which days of the week were mentioned and say all the days of the week).
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to page back through the book, recapping each story about George Washington and to identify whether each one is a myth or a fact. The teacher reads sentences aloud while pointing to each word and has students read the sight word "went," then reads the book to the child for comprehension review.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The lesson asks the child to watch two short videos about George Washington and Benjamin Franklin and then 'talk with him' and 'ask your child why he thinks these qualities are important,' which requires answering questions about information presented orally/through media. The review prompts the child to 'name two symbols of the United States' and 'explain why they were chosen,' asking the child to answer questions about key details. Activity 2 has the child listen to pages read aloud, deduce meanings of italicized words from context, and act out sentences, which requires demonstrating understanding of read-aloud content.
Lesson 5
Day 5
The Reading Workshop asks the child to explain why an author might include information in boxes and to point out words like "FACT" and "MYTH," prompting the child to answer questions about text features and purpose. The parent is instructed to have the child share observations about different places text appears and to ask whether she enjoyed the book and whether she would recommend it to friends, eliciting answers about key details and opinions. The Writing Workshop asks the child if George Washington ended up having a birthday celebration, prompting a direct question about a story detail.
Unit 24: Q - The Quilt Story
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to look at the book cover and answer whether they know what a quilt is and to make observations about any quilts they see. Students listen to The Quilt Story read aloud and answer specific comprehension questions, such as how they knew the story took place a long time ago and how the quilt helped the girls. Students are asked about the meaning of the word "shavings" and to discuss familiar meanings versus the story meaning.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson directs the adult to ask the child concrete questions (e.g., "Ask your child what wood shavings are," identify circle/triangle/square/rectangle, challenge her to draw a hexagon) and to have the child identify ways the pioneer family used natural resources and landforms shown in the story. The lesson also asks the child to watch a video about Daniel Boone and "Talk with your child about what character qualities Daniel Boone must have had" and to answer whether she would enjoy that kind of exploration. These prompts require the child to answer questions about key details from a text and from a media resource.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to retell The Quilt Story in their own words after it is read aloud, which requires them to speak about key details from the oral text. Students answer prompted questions in the shape activity by recalling shape names and matching shapes to clues (e.g., "I have three corners"), demonstrating answering questions about presented information. Students compare and contrast story details from the beginning and end using a Venn diagram, which requires them to identify and articulate key details from the read-aloud.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1, students listen to spoken clues and respond by traveling to and naming the correct shape, demonstrating answering questions about orally presented information. In Activity 2, students examine illustrations and are asked to describe characters' facial expressions and explain what those details reveal about the story, demonstrating answering questions about key details from a text. In Activity 3, students read back their writing and answer prompts about what to add, showing additional practice answering questions about content they produced.
Unit 25: X - An Extraordinary Egg
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked questions after the read-aloud of The Extraordinary Egg, including a key-detail question asking what the frogs thought was inside the egg and what was really inside. Students are prompted to compare and contrast friendships (Chicken and Jessica vs. Marshmallow and Oliver), requiring them to answer questions about story details and relationships. In Activity 2 students examine the text to decide if it is fiction or nonfiction and find specific examples where frogs act like real frogs versus fictional characters, then categorize those details.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to answer specific comprehension questions about the story (e.g., What did the frogs think it was? Were they right? What kind of animal is a chicken? Do birds hatch from eggs?), requiring them to recall and discuss key story details. Students are prompted to describe a real chicken egg using guided sensory and measurement questions (color, size, shape, weight, texture, flexibility, magnetism, float/sink), which has them answer questions about information presented and observed.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The plan instructs an adult to read An Extraordinary Egg aloud and then ask the child to retell the story in her own words using the pictures to remember events, which requires the child to answer about key story details. The caregiver is directed to point to the sight word "look" and have the child read it as the sentence is read, prompting the child to respond to a prompt during oral reading. The review prompts also ask the child to find and read numbers on a chart, which involve answering questions presented orally.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The lesson directs an adult to "Read with your child" the National Geographic alligator page and to have the child recall the stages of the frog life cycle, asking the child how the alligator life cycle differs from the frog's. Activity prompts ask the child to recall and answer questions (e.g., label life cycle stages, "ask your child how that differs", and review questions like "what comes next?"). These items require students to answer questions about key details of orally presented or read-aloud information.
Lesson 5
Day 5
During Reading Workshop, an adult reads Jessica's spoken words aloud and asks the child to identify quotation marks and to point out quotation marks she found after independent reading. The adult then asks the child what she liked about the book An Extraordinary Egg. During Writing Workshop, the adult reads the child's story back to her and asks the child to name one thing she likes about her story and one idea for a change to improve it.
Unit 26: Z - Greedy Zebra
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to look at the book cover and answer observational questions and to locate where zebras live on a world map, connecting oral information to a visual. Students are asked to predict how the zebra will be greedy and what might happen, and after the read-aloud they are asked to explain how the zebra was greedy and what happened as a result and whether the zebra deserved that outcome. The guide also directs adults to talk about the vocabulary word "greedy" and elicit examples from the child, supporting question-and-answer interaction about key details.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson asks the child to define vocabulary words in her own words and to give an example of being greedy, which requires the child to answer questions to show understanding. The lesson directs the child to do online research about zebras and complete a Zebra Research graphic organizer (appearance, predators, diet, habitat), which has the child identify and record key details from media. The optional extension asks the child to dictate a report and share it with others, which has the child communicate understood information.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to retell Greedy Zebra using the illustrations, which requires them to answer questions about key story details. Students are asked to predict what would have happened if Zebra had not been greedy, practicing answering and reasoning about story information. Students sort animal cards, count members of each group, and state the criterion used, which has them observe details and answer questions about categorizations.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The lesson directs an adult to "read and discuss" informational passages about five savannah animals while the child colors each cut-out based on what she learns about the animals' characteristics, which requires the child to use details from the text. The Acting Out the Animals activity has the child listen to pages of a story and physically act out verbs and verbals, demonstrating comprehension of action-related details. The Review prompt asks the child to produce an antonym for "greedy," which involves responding to an oral prompt.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 2, students are asked to identify books with animal characters, state similarities and differences between books, identify settings for selected books, and name which books were nonfiction and recall their subjects. In Activity 1, students identify animals by number and compare pairs (e.g., bigger/smaller, more legs), answering teacher prompts about those details. In Activity 3, students read their own writing aloud and identify one thing they like about it, responding to an adult's feedback and a suggested revision.
2: Holidays
Unit 27: Halloween
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are asked to listen to or read Goodnight Goon and then answer specific questions about key details, such as identifying whether the "lagoon" is a shallow area of dirty water (Question #1) and noting similarities and differences with Goodnight Moon (Question #2). The lesson also prompts students to explain why the book was written and how it makes a child feel, which requires them to answer questions about the text's purpose and effect. Students are prompted to listen for the word "lagoon" and determine which definition is used in context.
Lesson 2
Day 2
An adult prompt asks the child, "if she remembers what a lagoon is," which has the child answer a question to show recall. After viewing the Dem Bones video, the child is encouraged to complete the bones dance and "point to the correct bones as she dances," which requires the child to identify details presented through media. The activity page asks the child to color labeled body parts and the adult is told to "assist your child if she is unfamiliar with any of these terms," implying some clarification is provided during labeling.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are asked to explain vocabulary before reading ("Ask him to explain what a lagoon is and a goon") which requires them to answer questions about word meaning. After the read-aloud of Goodnight Goon, students are asked to choose a page they find funniest or most clever and explain why, which prompts them to answer questions about details and meaning from the text. During math story activities, students are prompted to solve story problems and use ghost manipulatives to find and explain answers, practicing answering questions about presented information.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students watch a video about bats (media) and are then asked specific questions such as what kind of bat they are and what the bat eats, prompting oral answers about key details. The review prompts ask students to name number pairs whose sum is 10 and to think of a synonym for "lagoon," which require students to answer orally and demonstrate understanding of spoken prompts. The activities include direct oral questioning to elicit information from the student after a media presentation.
Lesson 5
Day 5
The Reading Workshop asks the child to identify and guess which words rhyme on specific pages (for example, asking which two words rhyme: "bat" and "hat") and then to find and share rhyming pairs from the book independently. The Getting Started counting activity asks the child direct questions about quantities ("How many are there?" and "Now how many stars are there altogether?") and prompts the child to respond and demonstrate their thinking by adding stars and counting.
Unit 28: Thanksgiving
Lesson 1
Day 1
The skills list explicitly states, "With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text." The Reading and Questions section directs adults to ask the child what she sees on the cover, what she likes, and to summarize why Thanksgiving is celebrated after the book is read. Activity directions have the child listen to turkey facts read aloud and then repeat or dictate facts, which gives practice confirming understanding of orally presented information.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson directs an adult to re-read the Pilgrim pages and asks the child to recall specific details (e.g., why the Pilgrims left England, name of the ship, what the first winter was like), so students practice answering questions about key details. The guidance 'If he cannot remember, look back at the story together' prompts students to seek information from the text when they lack understanding. The pretend-play and acting-out activities have students demonstrate comprehension of events and details by using body language and actions as pages are read aloud.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson asks the child to "offer something she learned about the very first American Thanksgiving" after review, which requires the child to answer questions about key details from a read-aloud. After rereading Thanksgiving Is... by Gail Gibbons, the lesson directs adults to "look at the pages... and talk about your family's favorite Thanksgiving foods," prompting students to discuss details from the text. Activity 2 asks students to "discuss with your child how the help Pocahontas provided was different," which requires students to answer comparative questions about key details in the informational webpage.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The lesson includes direct oral questions for the child: "Ask your child what it means to be grateful" and "What was one thing the Pilgrims were grateful for that first Thanksgiving?", which require the student to answer key-detail questions. The lesson also prompts discussion about Abraham Lincoln with "Ask your child what words might describe Abraham Lincoln and why we still celebrate him today," requiring the student to answer questions about details from the presented text. The Thanksgiving note activity asks the child to "write or dictate a note describing why he is thankful for this person," which has the student produce and clarify a key idea in writing or speech.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students watch a turkey counting video and sing along, engaging with information presented through media. Students read the number on each cut-out turkey and count and glue that number of feathers, demonstrating they can interpret visual/numeric details. Students are prompted to study a book's illustrations independently and then point out observations about how the illustrations help the author, so students answer prompts about key details in illustrations.
Unit 29: Christmas
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are prompted to explore The Christmas Wish on their own, to say what they notice, and to predict what the book will be about, which engages them in answering and generating questions about key details. They are asked to consider the illustrations and to look for edited photographs as the book is read aloud, prompting attention to details during the read-aloud. After reading the Conifers web page, students are asked to state three things they learned about real Christmas trees, which requires answering questions about information presented through media.
Lesson 2
Day 2
The lesson repeatedly prompts the child to answer questions about a read-aloud ("Ask her to tell you about her favorite part of the story"). It asks the child to answer and predict answers about information presented orally/demonstratively ("Ask your child what she thinks snow is made of", "Ask her to predict what will happen" when mixing hot chocolate). It also directs caregivers to view videos and "talk with your child about what life is like in Norway," which invites question-and-answer discussion about media and informational content.
Lesson 3
Day 3
The lesson instructs an adult to "page through the book with your child" and to "Ask him to note all the animals the little girl encounters on the northern tundra," which asks the child to identify key details from the text. It prompts the adult to "Ask your child what he observes about the reindeer. What does it look like? Can a reindeer really fly?" which requires the child to answer questions about details and consider reality versus fiction. It directs the child to "Read together the article... 'Masters of a Cold World' to learn about how reindeer are able to thrive in the cold," providing an opportunity to seek clarification and additional information when something is uncertain.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Activity 1 directs children to answer specific questions about Anja (e.g., why she wanted to be an elf, how she showed commitment, whether her experience was a dream or real), so students respond to oral questions about key story details. Activity 2 asks children to identify locations on a map and answer questions about continents, islands, oceans, and mountains as Santa travels, so students answer orally about key details of orally presented geographic information.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to notice the kind deeds Anja did, identifying actions the character took (Activity 1). Students are prompted to respond when asked what they think a character's voice sounds like and to speak the character's words in that voice, and they are directed to notice quotation marks that show dialogue (Activity 2). Students are asked to draw and describe their favorite part of celebrating Christmas or compose a letter to Santa, which requires recalling and describing aspects of the story or related personal details (Activity 3).
Unit 30: February Celebrations
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students are read The Biggest Valentine Ever aloud and are asked six specific comprehension questions (#1–#6) that focus on key story details (how the argument started, what they did, how they felt, what they decided at school, and the lesson learned). Students are asked to recall prior learning (what they remember about Abraham Lincoln) and to describe personal experiences (how they typically celebrate Valentine's Day). The skills list explicitly includes "recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question," which aligns with answering questions about spoken text.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are prompted to inspect coins and answer questions such as "what do you notice?" and "what do you remember about Lincoln," and they compute equivalencies (e.g., how many pennies equal a nickel/dime/quarter). Students watch videos about the president's job and about Washington and Lincoln and are asked to discuss the content and their opinions (e.g., best and worst parts of being president). Students sort mixed change and review the name and value of each coin together, answering teacher prompts during the activity.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students are prompted to watch an online storybook and a short video and then answer teacher prompts such as "Ask your child why education is important for people," "Ask your child to think about how the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., showed love," and "Ask your child to name something similar between the work of Booker T. Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr." Students are also asked follow-up questions about whether the leaders' dreams made the country better and to describe their own dreams in a book, which requires recalling and discussing key details from the media.
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 1
My Environment
The lesson has multiple teacher prompts that require the child to answer questions about key details (e.g., asking the child what she drinks and where it comes from, what kind of food is in the home, and what each room is used for). Activity 2 and 3 ask the child to describe rooms, circle items that meet needs, explain why an item or room is important, and read a paragraph aloud. The review and conversation prompts ask the child to describe her environment and to use vocabulary words in sentences, which elicit answers about presented information.
Lesson 2
What Is a Map?
Students are read Me On the Map aloud (Activity 1) and then asked explicit questions about key details (What is the name of our country? state? town? address?), with instructions to continue asking until the child can answer correctly. Students view maps (online or physical) and the teacher/parent points out landforms and locations, providing information through media. In Activities 2 and 3 students answer specific map-detail questions (e.g., What is beside the refrigerator? What is in front of the couch?) and locate and label items on maps, practicing answering questions about presented information.
Lesson 3
Guide to Animal Habitats
The materials explicitly list the skill "Listen to and answer questions about text read orally" and instruct an adult to read Crinkleroot aloud while stopping to ask the child to point out animals and plants and to count them. Before reading, students are asked questions about the cover (point to the title, identify letters, predict what the book is about, and predict what the character will do). Activities require students to use the book to sequence the habitats visited and to look through the book as they chart Crinkleroot's course, which asks them to answer questions about key details from the text.
Lesson 4
Animals Live and Grow
Students listen to Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt read aloud and answer explicit comprehension questions (QUESTION #1–#7) about key details such as season, why seeds are planted in spring, and how animals help plants. The lesson repeatedly prompts adults to "ask your child what he learned" and to discuss what plants and animals need, which requires students to answer questions about details from the text. Activity 2 directs students to analyze recorded living things in each habitat and identify consumer/energy source pairs, practicing answering questions about relationships presented in the book.
Lesson 5
Discovering Animal Habitats
The lesson includes explicit question-and-answer prompts (Activity 2) where students are asked to name habitats for given animals and to describe what they see in habitat pictures. Multiple activities (Activity 1, Activity 6, and Wrapping Up) require students to discuss pictures, answer follow-up questions about key details (e.g., which habitat had the most crackers), and recall examples from Crinkleroot's Guide to Animal Habitats. The lesson also directs students to examine media (websites and videos) and use those resources to find information when they do not know an answer.
Lesson 6
Exploring Animal Habitats
Students are asked specific questions during the habitat observation (e.g., Where are the plants? What animals do you see? What are they doing?), and they draw and label what they observe. Students compare their illustration/collage to the predictions they made before the observation, which requires them to check understanding of the information they collected. In Activity 2 students dictate a story about an animal, locate information in books or online, and read the story back with prompting, giving opportunities to answer questions about key details (what the animal eats, where it gets water, etc.).
Lesson 7
Tools in My Environment
Students are prompted to answer oral questions about tools and their uses (e.g., "What is the tool used for? How does the tool work?" and exploration questions like "What if we didn't have pens or pencils?"). Students verbally report what items are needed to live and what makes life easier, and they are asked to tell what a tool is and which tools they used to measure. The activities require students to examine objects, answer questions about key details (use, frequency, size), and respond during the wrap-up discussion.
Lesson 8
Animal Care
The lesson directs an adult to read The Salamander Room aloud and then asks the child multiple specific comprehension questions (e.g., What kind of animal did the boy find? Where did he find it? What kind of environment did the salamander need?). Activity 1 instructs the adult to ask the child questions after practicing pet care (What do pets need? What would happen if we didn't provide a healthy environment?). The Skills section explicitly lists "Answer questions about a text (LA)," and several wrapping-up and life-application prompts ask the child to discuss and respond to questions about environments.
Lesson 9
Animal Designs
Students are asked to name animals and habitats and to analyze captions in the "Animals on the Move" activity, answering questions about how each animal moves and which body parts enable movement. In "You Can't Live There," students must decide which animals do not belong in each habitat and explain why, with guidance to research if they are unsure. Activity 3 prompts students to identify misplaced animals and to state aloud where animals do and do not belong, and Activity 4 has students listen to a recorded story and respond with additions or changes.
Lesson 10
Amazing Animals
The Skills list explicitly includes "Listen critically to text read aloud" and "Respond to critical questions about a text," indicating students will listen and answer questions. Activity 2 presents multiple oral prompts (e.g., "How would you feel?" "What will happen to the starfish's arm?" "What can lizards do to hide themselves?") that require students to answer key-detail questions about orally presented scenarios. Activity 1 and the wrapping-up prompt ask the child to read/listen about animals and tell what they learned, giving students opportunities to answer questions about key details.
Lesson 11
Amazing Me
Students are asked oral questions in Activity 1 (e.g., "You are outside playing, and it gets very cold. What do you do?") and are prompted to answer how they would change in response to scenarios. In Activity 2 students are encouraged to read words aloud and respond by circling faces that show how items make them feel, practicing answering questions about presented images. In Activity 3 students are asked to recall and describe a time they changed because of their environment and to read their ideas aloud (or have them read back), which involves responding to and confirming details from an oral prompt.
Final Project
Animal Research / My Environment
Students are asked to answer guided questions about their environment and habitats (e.g., "Can you describe the environment in which you live?" and "What do habitats give to the animals that live in them?"). Students are asked to explain each page of the book they create and to share the book with family, which requires them to state key details. The research option directs students to find information from books, websites, or people, and students label pictures and record "Interesting Facts," which practices reporting details from sources.
Unit 2: Weather
Lesson 1
Reading the Skies
The lesson asks students to listen to a read-aloud (Activity 1) and answer specific comprehension questions such as "What type of weather is best for playing outside?" and "How does it make you feel when it rains?" The Skills list explicitly includes "Listen critically to text read aloud" and "Respond to text read aloud," indicating students will practice listening and answering questions. The Life Application directs students to listen to weather forecasts on radio or television and talk about the vocabulary and maps used, giving students additional oral/media input to respond to.
Lesson 2
Types of Precipitation
Students are asked comprehension questions after a read-aloud (Activity 1) such as identifying habitats in pictures, describing weather in those habitats, and noting what they learned. Students reread selected pages and discuss different types of precipitation (Activity 2), then label pictures or name the precipitation, which requires answering questions about key details. The teacher asks students to make and check predictions during the rain experiment (Activity 4) and to review the four types of precipitation and where water comes from in Wrapping Up.
Lesson 3
Measuring and Charting Weather
The lesson repeatedly prompts the child to answer questions about key details (e.g., "Ask your child what she thinks would happen if an animal's habitat got too warm or cold," and "Ask your child how she thinks she could do that" when discussing measuring rain). It asks the child to describe information from a book ("Look at the book, Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing Animal Habitats, with your child and ask her to describe what the weather can be like in different habitats"). The wrapping-up prompts require the child to give examples and explain relationships ("Ask your child to give you examples of how weather can be measured" and "Ask her how weather helps provide plants and animals with what they need to live and grow").
Lesson 4
Simulating Weather
Students are prompted to answer questions about observations and details (e.g., Activity 1 asks the child to name three things the wind can move and to identify things the wind is moving outside). Activity 2 asks the child to explain what happens when the bottle is squeezed and released, requiring them to describe key experimental details. Activity 3 asks students to find specific words and letters in the Weather Song and to point to each word while singing, which involves answering and responding to questions about textual details.
Lesson 5
Fall
Students are asked direct comprehension questions throughout the lesson (e.g., in Introduction: name seasons/months and respond to calendar questions; Activity 1: answer questions about the picture such as what people are wearing, what the plants look like, and how the weather feels). In Activity 2 students answer questions about their completed graph (e.g., What does this graph show us? Which color has the fewest/most leaves? Do any colors have the same number?). The lesson also instructs the child to read directions aloud or read with an adult, prompting oral engagement with presented information.
Lesson 6
Winter
The lesson includes multiple prompts that require students to answer questions about key details from text and media: parents are instructed to ask, "What season follows fall?" and to ask the child to describe winter pictures in Whatever the Weather and compare them to his own environment. Students are asked to view a picture of the Earth and Sun and then explain how leaning toward/away from the Sun affects seasons. The activities ask students to attempt to read their dictated story aloud and to describe how winter weather differs from summer, which asks them to confirm understanding of presented information.
Lesson 7
Spring
Students are asked to attempt to read each poem and then are asked what the poem was about, which requires them to answer questions about key details of a text read aloud. In the Seed Sort activities students respond to teacher prompts such as "How many seeds are there?" and "Is it an even or odd number?", practicing answering questions about presented information. In Blowing in the Wind students answer observational questions ("Does it move/fall off? Why did it move/fall off?"), requiring them to confirm understanding of orally presented prompts and observations.
Lesson 8
Summer
Students are asked to answer specific comprehension questions about the summer picture (e.g., describe the environment, what is happening, how the kids feel, could these activities happen in winter and why) in Activity 1. In the introduction and Activities 2 and 3, students are prompted to respond orally or in writing about seasonal order, vocabulary, and fill-in-the-blank story details (reading or reading-along and completing blanks, and labeling seasons on a temperature continuum). Students are also encouraged to read the completed story aloud and sing a season song, providing opportunities to respond to oral text and information presented aloud.
Final Project
Weather Games
Students are asked to compare the book Whatever the Weather to the actual weather and to answer specific observational questions (e.g., temperature, precipitation, clouds) in Activity 3. In Activity 4 students listen to or watch weather forecasts and then answer the guiding questions on the Weather Forecast page and practice giving an oral forecast to the family. The wrap-up prompts students to answer questions about what they learned and how weather changes over the year.
Unit 3: Community
Lesson 1
On the Town
Students are prompted to make a prediction from the book cover and to answer multiple comprehension questions after the read-aloud (e.g., "What is a community?," "What places did Charlie visit?," "Why did Charlie write down the places…?"). Students complete vocabulary and fill-in-the-blank sentences that require them to recall and use key details about community places from the text. Students draw a new page and write or dictate sentences about Charlie visiting a place in their own community, reinforcing comprehension of story details and connections to personal experience.
Lesson 2
My Community Environment
Students hear a read-aloud (Me on the Map) and discuss map details while tracing paths and identifying the purpose of buildings, which requires answering questions about key details. Students prepare and ask interview questions during a field trip, write down questions to bring, and ask and record answers from community workers. Students are prompted to describe important places in the community and to answer comparative location questions (optional extension) and to ask questions of people they visit over time.
Lesson 3
Jobs in the Community
Students are asked to answer questions about community workers (e.g., "what the worker does" and "how his/her job makes the community a better place") during Activity 1. In Activity 2 students record sightings and then answer specific chart questions ("How many marks do you have for each community worker?", "Which worker did you see most often?"). In Activity 3 students observe a worker and then describe what they saw, and Activities 4–5 ask students to speak or read aloud sentences about workers.
Lesson 4
Goods and Services in the Community
The parent is instructed to ask the child to name important places and ask how each place helps people, and the Wrapping Up prompts ask the child to describe goods and services and explain why people have jobs. Activity 1 has the child read labels, circle beginning letters, and match buildings to goods/services, which requires answering questions about key details. Activity 2 and the bartering activity ask the child to discuss money, make choices about purchases, and explain trades, engaging the child in oral discussion and responses.
Lesson 5
Resources
Students sort pictured items into Natural or Manmade columns, label items as N or M, and draw one natural and one manmade resource. Students gather three natural and three manmade resources, explain how each resource is used and where it is found, and may write a sentence about the resources. Students are prompted to explain the difference between resources found in nature and those made by humans and to identify natural and manmade resources in the kitchen.
Lesson 6
A Good Community Citizen
The lesson asks the child questions during the Introduction and Wrapping Up (e.g., "Ask your child how citizens in her community help one another" and "Ask your child what it means to be a good citizen"), and Activity 1 has the adult read scenarios aloud and ask the child to decide whether each action shows good citizenship and to explain how she made her decision. The Skills list includes "Listen responsibly to text read aloud," and Activities 2 and 3 require the child to sort, draw, label, and describe examples, which involve answering prompted questions about key details of behaviors shown.
Lesson 7
A Citizen with Character
Students read or listen to "A Lesson in Honesty" and answer explicit comprehension questions (e.g., What do you think will happen next? Did Riley do anything wrong? What should Riley have done?). After hearing "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," students are asked what the story teaches and can retell beginning, middle, and end or create their own version, requiring them to answer questions about key details and sequence. In the Respect and Kindness activities, students evaluate scenarios (marking R/D, assigning kindness scores) and explain their choices, which involves answering questions about details presented in the scenarios.
Lesson 8
Rules and Laws
Students listen to the story "The House with No Rules" read aloud and then answer multiple comprehension questions (e.g., What kinds of things happen in the house with no rules? Would you stay in the house with no rules? Why or why not?). Students read or hear items aloud in Activity 2 and decide whether each statement is a rule or a law, explaining their choices as they paste items on the appropriate web. Getting Started and Wrapping Up prompt students to describe what a rule is, name rules at home, and explain why rules and laws are important.
Lesson 9
Caring for Our Communities
Students listen to the story "When One Person Cares" read aloud and then answer specific comprehension questions (beginning/middle/end, where Katy lives, what she does to be a good citizen). Students discuss hypothetical community scenarios and answer guided questions in Activity 2, marking problems and positives in two pictures. In Activity 4 and the role-play game, students respond orally about community helpers and pretend to be people who need help, and in Activity 3 students identify and explain three things that make their community healthy.
Final Project
I Can Make A Difference
Students are prompted to answer direct questions about the unit in the 'Unit Assessment Questions' (e.g., What is a community? What are some important places in your community?). Adults are instructed to ask the child to give examples and to ask reflective questions after the project (e.g., Were you able to carry out your plan? How did you affect the person/people you helped?). The student activity sheet includes sentence starters and reflection prompts that require students to respond to questions and describe key details of their plan and experience.
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 1: Amazing Attributes
Lesson 1
Describe It
Students listen to oral descriptions in Activity 1 (Guess What's in the Bag) and use attributes (color, texture, use) to identify and respond to the described objects. In Activity 2 and the Wrapping Up section, students are asked questions about how pairs of objects are similar and different and to explain what it means to describe something, requiring them to answer questions about key details. Activity 3 asks students to select or write descriptive words for pictured items, reinforcing answering questions about details presented visually and orally.
Lesson 2
Animal Attributes
Students are asked to explain how two stuffed animals are alike and different during the Introduction, prompting them to answer questions about key details. In Activity 1 students circle living things and are asked to describe how they know which objects are living, which requires answering questions about features of items shown. In Activity 2 students look at pictures from a book or pages and identify animal body parts and discuss how those parts help animals move, engaging with presented information and answering detail-focused questions.
Lesson 3
Size, Shape, and Color
Students are asked to describe a metal and a wooden spoon's size, shape, and color and to discuss similarities and differences, which requires answering questions about key details. Students organize toys by size and explain the plan they used, verbally responding to prompts and discussing their process. Students watch a video on primary colors and are then asked to explain what they learned and answer questions about what makes purple, green, and orange.
Lesson 5
How Old?
Students are asked to decide which question they would ask each person in the pictured scenarios (Activity 2 Option 1 and Option 2) and to record those questions in writing. Students are prompted to reread the questions or have them read aloud and to practice writing question marks and capital letters for questions. Students put family pictures in order from oldest to youngest and discuss what they look at to determine a person's age (Activity 1), answering prompts about key details used to judge age.
Lesson 6
The Measure of Things
Multiple teacher prompts ask the child to answer questions about measurement details (e.g., "Ask what a doctor measures... Ask your child how he knows these measurements," and "Ask him how he measured length using a measurement tool other than a ruler"). Activity directions require the child to respond to questions and explain reasoning (e.g., estimate vs. actual capacity, "Ask him to describe how the sugar, water, and milk are similar and different"). After multimedia, the guide directs checking comprehension ("Make sure your child understands what it means for the scale to balance") and the Wrap Up asks the child to explain differences between length, weight, and capacity.
Lesson 7
More Attributes
The lesson repeatedly prompts the child to answer questions about attributes (e.g., "Ask your child to explain what an attribute is," "Ask her how the blocks are similar and different," and "Ask her which toys go in each circle"). Students are asked to describe key details about objects (color, shape, size, texture) and to justify sorting choices when creating and using Venn diagrams. Students also respond to prompts asking them to name shared attributes and describe differences during the wrap-up.
Lesson 8
Amazing Attributes
Students are prompted to answer direct questions such as "what is a magnet?" and "what causes an object to sink or float?" They make predictions on the Magnetic or Not and Sink or Float activities, test objects, and compare results to their predictions to confirm understanding of key details. Students watch a Sink or Float video and discuss the term "density" and why objects sink or float, relating the explanation to their experiments.
Lesson 9
Solids and Liquids
The lesson repeatedly instructs the adult to ask the child questions (e.g., "Ask your child if she has heard the word 'liquid' or the word 'solid,'" "Ask her to explain the difference," and "Ask what caused the ice cube to change"). Students are prompted to observe, explain causes (heat/cold), brainstorm examples, and answer sorting tasks (write definitions, cut/paste pictures into Solid or Liquid). Several activities require students to respond to questions about key details of demonstrations (melting/freezing) and to describe observations.
Lesson 10
Earth Materials: Rocks, Soil, and Water
The Reading And Questions sections instruct an adult to read books aloud and provide a list of specific questions (e.g., Can you name three solids...; Describe the habitat...) for the child to answer. The Skills section explicitly states that students should "Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information or clarify something that is not understood." Activities include discussing videos and asking the child to describe observations (e.g., water cohesion experiment, soil descriptions) and compare details between two books, which requires asking and answering about key details from media and text.
Lesson 11
Using Earth Materials
Students are asked to describe the three Earth materials they explored in the prior lesson, which requires them to answer questions about key details. Students watch a music video about the three types of rock and are prompted to think about how rocks are used and why they are important, engaging with information presented through media. Students participate in discussions and scavenger hunts (keeping lists or photos) and talk about soil properties during gardening, which involves answering and explaining key details aloud.
Unit 2: Senses
Lesson 1
My Five Senses
Before and after reading My Five Senses, students are asked specific pre-reading and post-reading questions (e.g., find the title, predict the story, name the five senses, identify the body part for each sense, and explain which senses detect color or shape). Students complete activities that require them to organize and explain sensory details (Senses Webs, sorting pictured/word items by the primary sense, and drawing/writing about a sensing experience). A video link is provided as an additional media resource to test understanding of the five senses.
Lesson 2
Senses and Body Parts
Students listen to a story twice and, during the second reading, pick up and glue the sense organ when the character uses a sense, showing they answer questions about which detail (which sense) occurred. Students respond to spoken scenarios in Activity 2 by pointing to the sense organ they would use, demonstrating oral comprehension of key details. The lesson's skill list explicitly includes "Determine a purpose for listening to text read aloud" and "Listen responsively to text read aloud," indicating practice in answering teacher-presented prompts about oral information.
Lesson 3
Smelling and Tasting
Students are asked oral questions about their senses (e.g., which sense they use most, how smell helped decide whether to taste) and respond about whether foods smelled/tasted good. In Activity 2 students conduct a survey by asking other people yes/no questions about whether they liked each flavor and then answer follow-up questions about which flavor was liked most/least. Students record answers on a chart and write a sentence reporting survey results, demonstrating answering questions about key details of the tasting activities.
Lesson 4
Hearing and Seeing
Students are asked specific comprehension questions after a read-aloud of The Magic School Bus (Activity 1), such as what happened when the bus driver flipped the switch and whose nose the bus traveled into. In Activity 5 students close their eyes, listen to two orally presented descriptions, and decide what place is being described, demonstrating comprehension of orally presented information. In the Listening Walk (Activity 7) students describe and record what they hear and then compare those descriptions to what they see, confirming understanding of information gathered through listening.
Lesson 5
Touch
Students are asked orally to recall the meaning of "texture" and to say which sense they would use, requiring them to answer questions about key details. In Activity 3 students describe the sensations they feel while preparing and finger-painting with Jell-O and are asked to identify the different senses they are using. In Activity 4 students are blindfolded and must describe how each item feels and guess what it is, answering questions about tactile details and making observations.
Lesson 6
Experimenting With Our Senses
Students are asked specific questions after the taste test (e.g., "Were your first answers the same as your second answers?", "Can you taste color?", "Are these cups of liquid the same or different?"), which requires them to answer about key details of the oral experiment. In Activity 2 students smell each spice, answer which spice they think it is, and check their answers by looking at the other side of the cards, practicing answering questions about presented sensory information. In Wrapping Up and Activity 3 students are prompted to explain how senses help make decisions and to tell and then read aloud a story about a favorite flavor, engaging them in answering and producing oral information.
Lesson 7
Using All of Our Senses
The Skills list includes "Listen to stories and text read aloud (LA)" and "Interact with reader when text is read aloud (questions, comments, and ideas) (LA)." The Introduction directs an adult to read pages and then ask the child which senses the boy used and how he used each sense. Activity prompts and the Nature Walk include explicit oral questions (e.g., "What were some things you heard? Smelled? Saw? Touched?" and "If someone asked you what you found on your walk, what would you say?").
Lesson 8
Writing About Our Senses
Students listen to orally presented clues in the "Sensing Logic" activity and mark which pictures do not fit, then color the remaining picture and reread the clues to confirm the choice. Students are asked to describe an apple when prompted and to attempt to read their completed popcorn report aloud, which has the child respond to adult prompts and spoken observations. The logic puzzles require students to attend to and answer questions about details heard aloud.
Final Project
A Sensible Party
The adult is instructed to read the sample "Party Planner" sheet with the child so she can "get an idea of what a plan looks like," which provides an instance of text/information being presented orally. The child is asked to compare her own party plan with the sample in Game 1 and to answer guided wrap-up questions after the party (e.g., "Did the party go well? Why or why not?" and "Did your guest use all of their senses? How?"), requiring the child to respond about key details of the event and planning. The child is also asked to review the plan the day before the party, which invites discussing details of the plan aloud.
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 1
You're Special
Students are asked to read each prompt on the "You Are Special" page aloud and answer questions about personal details (name, where they live, favorite color, what makes them happy/sad, talents). They fill in a paragraph using their answers and read their story aloud to others, and they are asked reflective questions such as "What do you like about your story?" In the numbers activities, students read sentence prompts, record numeric details about themselves, and compare their answers with others, answering questions about similarities and differences.
Lesson 2
Physical Characteristics
The listening-comprehension activity 'Different Friends' has an adult read a short story aloud and then asks the child targeted questions (e.g., 'Can you retell the story in your own words?', 'What happened at the beginning? In the middle? At the end?', and questions about characters' motivations). After answering, students cut event boxes apart and put them in story order, which requires them to confirm and demonstrate their understanding of key details. Activity 3 asks students to dictate their own two-character stories with a beginning, middle, and end, reinforcing narrative comprehension and sequencing skills.
Lesson 3
Different Personalities
In Activity 1 students read through a list of personality words with an adult, are asked to sound out words, and are asked to explain what each word means and to circle words that describe themselves. In Activity 2 students write or paste personality words for themselves and a friend, then answer prompts to describe how they are alike and different and count shared traits. In Activity 3 students record main characters from a movie or cartoon and name two words describing each character's personality, practicing answering questions about details from media.
Lesson 4
Interests and Hobbies
Students are asked to conduct a Hobby Survey in which they read the survey questions aloud and interview three people, recording responses—this requires asking questions and listening to orally presented information. In the My Interest activity, students go to the library, research a topic, answer five prompted questions about key details of that topic, and then teach or present their interest to a sibling or adult. Activity 1 has students dictate or write sentences describing a hobby and share that description with someone else, practicing asking/answering about personal details.
Lesson 5
Shapesville
Students are prompted during the read-aloud to identify each character's shape, count sides and angles, and describe physical characteristics and personalities. After reading, students answer explicit comprehension questions such as "What doesn't matter in Shapesville?", "How do the shapes look different on the outside?", and "What are some of the interests of the shapes?". Students select a shape that represents them, draw and color it, dictate a short description of their personality and interests, and share their shape design and description with family.
Lesson 6
Different Families
Students are asked to answer questions about family membership, responsibilities, and activities (e.g., "What are your responsibilities in your family?" "What does each family member do for the family?"). Students describe pictures and key details from the read-aloud pages of A Life Like Mine, noting clothing, activities, and interactions. Students complete comparison activities (sentence frames, Venn diagram) using details from the book to explain similarities and differences between their family and families in other countries.
Lesson 7
Different Homes
Students are prompted to identify and describe the different homes after reading pages 26–35 of A Life Like Mine and to answer questions such as why people have homes and what materials were used. The lesson asks students to recall what a natural resource is, to identify familiar materials, and to describe what they enjoy about their house. Activities and wrap-up prompt students to name countries for different home types and to discuss why homes around the world look different, requiring oral answers about key details.
Lesson 8
Different Holidays and Traditions
The lesson repeatedly instructs adults to ask the child questions about holidays (e.g., "Ask your child to name some holidays... Ask her what she enjoys about each one") and provides a set of direct comprehension questions in Activity 2 (What are the people celebrating? What types of activities? What type of clothing? What types of foods?). Activity 3 asks the child to state which holiday is her favorite and explain why in three sentences, and Activities 4 and 5 require the child to identify dates and place holidays in chronological order. These components require the child to answer questions about key details from discussions, pictures, and calendar information.
Lesson 9
Different Modes of Transportation
Students are asked oral questions (e.g., give examples of ways people get from place to place; how people travel great distances) and answer them. In Activity 2 students decide and justify which mode of transportation fits specific scenarios and number destinations from closest to farthest, which requires answering questions about key details in the pictures. In Activity 1 students talk about which modes they have taken and where they went, and in Activity 3 students tell a story about a trip and read it aloud.
Lesson 10
Wants and Needs
Students are asked to listen to pages (e.g., pages 46–51, 56–61, 66–71) and discuss why children need education, play, and love and care, which requires answering questions about key details from the read-aloud. In Activity 4 students will take a survey by asking four people to name two things they want and two things they need and then record and categorize those responses. Activity 3 and other discussion prompts ask students to explain their answers (e.g., which list is longer and why), requiring them to answer questions about the information they generated.
Lesson 11
Being Part of a Group
Students are asked to listen to pages 98–113 of A Life Like Mine and then discuss what identity, nationality, and religion mean, prompting them to answer questions about similarities and differences. The lesson includes multiple teacher prompts that require students to answer questions (e.g., Which group has the most people? Do two groups have the same number of people? Which group would you be in?). Students are asked to brainstorm community groups and explain the purpose of each, and to complete and then read aloud a paragraph about a group they belong to, which provides opportunities to respond to key-detail questions.
Final Project
Differences Make the World Go 'Round
The student activity pages require students to identify and record specific details (e.g., "I live in...", "I like to eat...", "I wear...") about themselves and a child from another country, so students practice answering questions about key details. The introduction asks students to locate a country on a map and read about its food, clothing, activities, transportation, and environment from books or the Internet, so students engage with information presented in text and media. The wrapping up explicitly encourages students to meet a person from the chosen country and "encourage her to ask questions about life in that country," which prompts oral question-asking about presented information.
3: Patterns
Unit 1: Identifying and Creating Visual Patterns
Lesson 1
What Is a Pattern?
Students are asked to follow along as Busy Bugs is read aloud and then to answer questions about patterns found on specific pages (e.g., "what types of patterns she sees" on pages 6–11 and to "explain the patterns" on pages 12–25). Students are prompted to answer direct questions such as "Have you ever seen a pattern? Where?" and to describe patterns orally using sequence language ("First, there is ______. Next, there is _______") while pointing to each item. Students also explain patterns after completing the Caterpillar Patterns activity and are asked to explain each pattern they complete.
Lesson 2
Recognizing Types of Patterns
Students are prompted to answer questions such as "Ask him how many colors are in the set," "Ask him how he decided" when identifying patterns, and "Ask your child to explain to you the difference between an ABAB pattern and an AABB pattern." Students are asked to point out ABAB and AABB patterns when the book Busy Bugs is reread, and to decide whether each row on activity sheets forms a pattern and to label objects A and B to justify their choice.
Lesson 3
What Comes Next?
The lesson repeatedly instructs an adult to ask the child questions such as "What comes first in the pattern? Next? What comes before __? What comes after __?" and to have the child "explain how she knows what would come next." Activity 2 asks the child to "Describe the center square" and similar detail-oriented prompts. The Wrapping Up section asks the child to describe how she knows what comes next and to describe different types of patterns, prompting answering and explanation of key details.
Lesson 4
Extending a Pattern
Students are asked orally what comes next in Activity 1 (e.g., when the adult lays out 1 square/1 circle, then 2 squares/2 circles and asks what would come next). Activity 2 explicitly says the adult can read the pattern to the child or the child can read the words, after which the child recreates and then answers questions about each pattern on the student activity page. The wrapping up section asks the child to explain how he extends a pattern, prompting verbal responses about key details of the pattern.
Lesson 5
Making Color Patterns
The lesson prompts the adult to ask the child questions ("Ask your child if she can think of ways to use colors to create patterns") and to discuss patterns ("Discuss how the leaf is a pattern that she is tracing"). The child is asked to describe patterns she creates ("Ask her to describe the patterns she creates") and to demonstrate ideas and finished patterns (multiple references to letting the child demonstrate and model).
Lesson 6
Shapes and Patterns
Students are prompted to describe the order of shapes aloud (for example: "The first shape is a small circle. The second shape is a small square...") and to decide and state whether a set is a pattern. Students are asked to describe patterns verbally as ABAB, AABB, or ABC and to label shapes with A, B, or C. Students read written pattern words (Option 2) and recreate the patterns with attribute blocks, then describe those patterns.
Lesson 8
Creating and Writing About Patterns
Students are asked to recreate patterns called out aloud in Activity 2 (Pattern Race), which requires them to listen to oral information and reproduce key pattern details. In Activity 4 (Guess the Pattern) students figure out and describe patterns created by an adult, answering what comes next and identifying pattern types (ABAB, AABB, ABC). Several student pages prompt students to write sequence details (First, Then, Next; First to Eighth; "comes before/after"), which has students answer questions about the key details and order of a pattern.
Final Project
Patterns Poster or Patterns Presentation
Students prepare an oral presentation by writing a "Script for Presentation," describing each of seven pattern types and demonstrating examples with materials. Students present their poster or presentation to friends or family and the activity asks them to describe each pattern and demonstrate an example. After the project, students are asked specific wrap-up questions (e.g., "How did you think your project went?", "Which pattern was hardest to create?"), which require them to answer questions about key details of their work.
Unit 2: Patterns in Sounds, Words, and Actions
Lesson 1
Word Patterns
Students are asked to listen to texts aloud (Read a variety of nursery rhymes; Read the poems in the book Bear Hugs) and to identify rhyming words they hear, record them, and act out or illustrate a chosen rhyme. The activities prompt students to answer teacher questions about patterns in words (e.g., "Ask her if she sees a pattern," "ask her if she can think of any other -ake words") and to identify details from a read text (Activity 4: copy or dictate the names of the animals from the text and identify each animal's habitat). Several tasks require students to respond to prompts and produce answers (circle repeating parts, add another word that follows the pattern, match rhyming pairs).
Lesson 2
Making Word Patterns
The introduction prompts students to define rhyming and to name pairs or sets of rhyming words, requiring verbal responses. Activity 1 asks students to read each sentence aloud to check answers after completing rhyme prompts, which has students confirm meaning of individual sentences. Activity 3 has students look through picture books that rhyme and identify and record words from the text, engaging them with words found in a read text.
Lesson 3
Poetry Patterns
The text directs an adult to read poems aloud and to "ask your child what each poem is about," and it has students identify and circle rhyming words on the activity page. Activity 2 asks the child to guess which rhyming word might come next while singing and to recite words that follow the same pattern. Wrapping up instructs asking the child to explain how to find rhyming words, and Activity 3 has the child identify rhyming words from songs and record them.
Lesson 4
Sentence Patterns
Students are asked to read sentences aloud and identify nouns and verbs (Activity 2, Activity 4). Students complete sentence patterns and choose words that fit blanks, then explain why the choice is a person/place/thing or an action (Activity 3 Part A/B). At the end, students are asked to explain the sentence pattern they worked with and to give examples of naming words and action words (Wrapping Up).
Lesson 5
Story Patterns
Students are prompted to answer specific questions after read-alouds such as "What happened at the beginning of the story? What happened in the middle? What happened at the end?" (Activity 1). Students are asked to predict what will happen next during a read-aloud and to identify and describe important events by illustrating and writing beginning/middle/end boxes (Activities 1, 2, and 3). Students practice retelling and describing key story details by dictating a sentence for each part and by creating their own stories with beginning, middle, and end.
Lesson 6
Sound Patterns
Students listen to sound patterns and are asked whether they heard a pattern and what type it was (Intro). Students answer questions about which sounds repeated and how many times each sound occurred in a segment (Activity 1 and Activity 2). Students record the pattern and describe parts and order of the pattern on the activity page and are asked to describe how to make a sound pattern (Activity 2, Handwriting, Wrapping Up).
Lesson 7
Making Sound and Action Patterns
The lesson includes 'Questions to Explore' prompting students to describe examples of patterns and how numbers, shapes, and words form patterns. Adults are instructed to ask the child how sounds can be used to make patterns and to have the child provide examples and demonstrate patterns in Activities 1–3. Wrapping Up directs the adult to ask the child what it means to have a pattern made from sounds and actions and to let her demonstrate examples. Activity 2 asks the child to perform or listen to sound patterns and to check that a pattern repeats, which requires answering and verifying details about the pattern.
Unit 3: Patterns in Your World
Lesson 1
Patterns in Nature
Students are read pages 1–11 of Pattern by Henry Pluckrose and are asked to identify and describe the pattern in each picture. Students are asked specific comprehension questions after the read-aloud (for example, "Were there any patterns that you had seen before? Which ones?" and "Were there any patterns you had not seen before? Which ones?") and to describe patterns they observe in animals, plants, bugs, and other objects. Students are prompted to explain patterns they've seen outside and to suggest other patterns that could be added to the book.
Lesson 2
Patterns of Growth
Students are prompted to answer oral questions such as those in "Questions to Explore" and the opening prompt asking how they are different now from when they were a baby. Multiple activities ask students to discuss and explain key details (e.g., discuss what plants need to live and grow; describe the stages of human, plant, and animal life cycles; explain what makes a butterfly or frog life cycle unique). Students also respond to prompts to sequence and describe growth (e.g., organize personal photos in order, guess ages, and describe growth patterns) and to identify plant parts when asked.
Lesson 3
Night and Day
The lesson repeatedly directs adults to ask the child questions (e.g., "How she knows when it is nighttime and when it is daytime?", "what kinds of things happen during the day and what kinds of things happen at night?", and "if she knows why we have day and night"). After the globe-and-flashlight experiment the child is asked to spin the globe and describe when it is daytime and when it is nighttime, and the wrapping up explicitly asks the child to explain the pattern of night and day. The lesson includes a video link of the Earth rotating and prompts the child to describe observations from the experiment and the pattern of day and night, which requires answering questions about key details presented through media.
Lesson 5
Calendar Patterns
The lesson directs the child to name the days of the week and months of the year (in order), which requires answering questions about calendar information presented visually. Activity 1 has the child fill in days on a weekly calendar and record scheduled activities, requiring them to interpret and respond to key details. Activity 4 asks the child to look at monthly calendars and answer whether events occur weekly, biweekly, or monthly, prompting identification of key details from presented information.
Lesson 6
Seasonal Weather Patterns
The lesson prompts students to answer oral questions such as "Which month comes after March?" and "Which season comes before summer?" Students are asked to name the four seasons, describe activities and weather for each season, and to discuss the month, season, and weather they are experiencing. Students complete fill-in-the-blank and sequencing tasks (cutting and ordering seasons and months) that require answering key-detail questions about the order of months and seasons.
Lesson 7
Patterns at Home
Students are asked to listen to the Pattern book read aloud and then identify and describe specific patterns from the book (e.g., checkerboard, repeating, circular) during the Pattern Scavenger Hunt. The lesson includes multiple prompts where students are asked to describe patterns, name shapes, and state the number of sides and angles on the quilt activity. A Patterns Video link is provided as media that students could watch, and several prompts ask students questions (e.g., "Ask your child if she can think of any patterns in the house").
Lesson 8
Symmetrical Patterns
Students are prompted to describe a butterfly's wing pattern and to say whether the wings look the same or different, showing they answer oral questions about key details. Students are asked to tell which group of shapes has more and how many more, requiring oral responses that confirm understanding of counted and compared details. Wrapping-up prompts ask students to explain what symmetry means and to describe examples of symmetrical and non-symmetrical objects, which requires answering questions about key information presented earlier.
Lesson 9
Counting Patterns
The Skills list explicitly includes "Listen to a story read aloud (LA)" and "Answer questions about a story read aloud (LA)." In Activity 3 (How Many Clowns?) students listen to a story and fill in blanks with the number of clowns, place clown faces in the car as they enter, and then tell their own version of the story. The activities require students to act out and record details from an orally presented story, supporting comprehension of key details.
Lesson 10
Tracing Patterns
The lesson asks the child to identify the holiday associated with each traced shape and to identify the original patterns and count the total number of shapes created. It prompts the child to explain why creating patterns without a stencil would be difficult and to describe how a traced pattern or stencil is used in art. The activities encourage the child to recreate patterns with attribute blocks and to tell a story about objects they create, which involves answering questions about key details of their work.
Lesson 11
Patterns in Graphs
Students are prompted to answer specific questions about graphs and charts (e.g., "What does this chart tell us?", "How many types of people are on the chart?", and "How many different colors of shirts were worn?"). The tasks ask students to describe patterns, predict what comes next (e.g., how many books John would read the next Tuesday), and decide which charts have patterns, requiring them to answer questions about key details. The wrapping-up prompt asks students to describe how to find patterns in graphs and charts, which asks them to confirm their understanding orally or in writing.
Final Project
Patterns All Around Lapbook
Students are prompted by the "Questions to Explore" (e.g., "Where are patterns found?" "How do you make a pattern?") and are asked in the Introduction to name different types of patterns they have found in their environment. Students create and explain six mini-books that each represent a different pattern, and the Wrapping Up section directs students to say which mini-book they are most proud of and what their book teaches about patterns. The Skills list also includes using props and pictures to support spoken messages, which implies opportunities for students to speak about and support their explanations.
4: Change
Unit 1: Changes on Planet Earth
Lesson 1
What Causes Change?
Students are asked to answer questions such as "What does it mean for something to change?" and to match before-and-after picture cards and decide what changed, which requires them to talk about key details in images. Students record "F" or "S" for fast or slow changes and complete sentences and drawings about a change they have seen, then attempt to read their paragraph aloud. The activities prompt students to identify causes and effects and to respond to adult prompts about observed details.
Lesson 2
What Changed?
Students are asked to listen or read "Part 1: Things Change" and are encouraged to answer explicit comprehension questions (e.g., identifying physical vs. chemical changes on pages 20 and 23). After reading, students are asked specific questions about key details (examples of physical changes, what a chemical change is, which changes they have seen). In Activities 2 and 3 students examine picture pairs, circle which attributes changed, give examples, record sentences, and demonstrate changes, providing multiple opportunities to answer questions about observed details.
Lesson 3
Changing Position
Students are asked to respond to a read-aloud: the guide directs an adult to read Zoom! Zip! Whoosh! aloud (if needed) and then ask four explicit comprehension questions (e.g., How do we get objects to start moving? What force keeps us on Earth?). Students are prompted to look at the book cover and answer what is happening and what they think the book will be about. Students also view a listed video ('Forces Can Push or Pull') and engage in follow-up activities that require them to identify and describe forces from other media and experiments.
Lesson 4
Changes in the Environment
The Skills section lists "Listen responsively to text read aloud (LA)," and Activity 2 directs the child to read or be read to and to "answer the questions about the changes in the book," citing specific pages and prompts. Activity 1 and the Getting Started/Wrapping Up prompts ask the child to describe weather and environmental changes and to explain causes, which requires answering oral questions and discussing key details. Several tasks ask the child to illustrate or write sentences about times weather caused changes, reinforcing comprehension of orally presented or read-aloud content.
Lesson 5
Changes in Location
Students are asked to describe location changes when an adult moves a stuffed animal and to answer the question "how the animal changed," which requires responding to an oral prompt. During the "Mouse in the House" activity an adult reads sentences aloud and students move the cut-out mouse to the described positions, demonstrating comprehension of orally presented details. In multiple activities (Where Did He Go?, Mouse in the House, Nature Relations, and Wrapping Up) students complete or write sentences about where objects are, respond to spoken directions, and follow oral commands to change or identify locations.
Lesson 6
Changes in the Sky
The lesson repeatedly asks the child to describe and explain observations (e.g., "Ask your child to describe how objects on Earth change," "Ask him if he knows what you are doing," "Ask him what you are doing now"), prompting students to answer oral questions about key details. Activities require students to discuss videos and demonstrate with models and movement (rotating/revolving role-play, Earth/Moon/Sun model) after watching media, giving students opportunities to confirm understanding aloud. The wrapping-up prompts ask the child to describe how objects in the sky change positions, reinforcing answering questions about details presented orally and through video.
Lesson 7
Living Things Change
Students are asked to review specific pages in Changes Happen All Around You and to answer direct questions about those pages (e.g., ask if she can think of other ways animals change). Students answer and discuss targeted questions about key details in pictures (e.g., "How and why did the lizard change?", "Did it change in size? number? place? shape?") and complete activities that require circling words that describe changes and identifying whether changes are fast or slow. Students are also prompted to give examples of changes they observe and to illustrate before/after pairs of living things.
Lesson 8
Plants and Change
Students are asked specific comprehension questions after a read-aloud (Read pages 4-7 and answer QUESTION #1 and QUESTION #2), and they are prompted to find and read the "What Do Plants Need?" section using the table of contents. During the video activity students are asked to watch the needs-of-a-plant song multiple times and to say the needs aloud when paused, which checks oral/media comprehension. In the plant experiment students make predictions, record their ideas, observe changes, and compare observations to their predictions, reinforcing answering questions about key details. The wrapping-up activity asks students to list plant parts and describe what plants need, requiring them to answer questions about key details from the texts and activities.
Lesson 9
Heat Causes Change
The lesson repeatedly prompts the child to ask and answer questions about observations and causes (e.g., "Ask your child if she has ever seen anything burn... ask her what burned and how it looked different"; Activity 1: "Ask her how the ice is changing" and "Ask her why the ice is changing"). Activity 2 directs the child to record measurements and then answer specific questions about change and cause ("How did the candle change? ... What caused the candle to change? Was it a physical or chemical change?"). Wrapping up and Life Application sections instruct the child to explain observations and causes of changes in multiple contexts.
Lesson 10
Chemical Changes
The lesson instructs an adult to "Check your child's understanding" and to have the child "explain how he made each decision" on the "Chemical or Physical Change" activity sheet. The Wrap Up directs the adult to "Ask your child to describe the difference between a physical and a chemical change and to give you an example of each." The Introduction and activities repeatedly prompt discussion and explanation of observations (e.g., discussing whether cracking, whipping, or heating eggs are physical or chemical changes).
Lesson 11
People Change the Environment
Students watch the linked video 'What Can I Recycle?' and then sort pictured items into a recycling bin or trash can, which requires them to answer questions about key details from the media. In Activity 3 students are asked to describe each illustration, explain how it changes the environment, and decide whether the change is positive, negative, or neutral. Activity 1 and the wrapping-up prompts have students brainstorm and share ways people change the environment and how to reduce/reuse/recycle, which elicits verbal answers to posed prompts.
Final Project
Mobile of Change
The lesson provides a set of "Questions to Explore" that prompt the child to discuss examples of change, and the Introduction directs the child to think about and discuss specific situations (e.g., "What if you stayed the same age?"). The Wrapping Up section has the child explain the mobile to family members and answer which example is his favorite and what he learned about changes on our planet. The Skills list includes "Express ideas through writing and conversation," which supports oral question-and-answer interaction.
Unit 2: Characters Change
Lesson 1
What's in a Name
Students answer four explicit comprehension questions about the story (How did Chrysanthemum feel..., Why did she change her mind..., What can you learn..., How did Mrs. Twinkle change...), providing direct practice asking and answering key-detail questions. In Activity 5 students identify character traits at the beginning and end of the story and write sentences about how the character changed, which requires them to use and confirm details from the read-aloud. Activity 4 directs students to listen again, pause after target words, guess meanings, then check definitions, and Activity 3 tells students to go back and listen to phrases in context if they struggle, which gives students a way to request or obtain clarification from the oral media.
Lesson 2
Why Worry?
Students are instructed to watch the read-aloud video of Wemberly Worried and then discuss the story using four specific questions that target key events (worries about the party, Halloween butterflies, and school) and a lesson takeaway. The introduction prompts students to talk about their own worries before listening, creating an oral-response opportunity tied to the story. The activities include teacher-provided questions and model answers for students to answer aloud, practicing answering questions about key details from the text.
Lesson 3
Is It a Problem?
Students are prompted to answer four explicit comprehension questions after a read-aloud (e.g., how the author illustrates the problem, what happens as the boy worries, how he takes care of the problem, and what he learns). Students are asked at the start to discuss Wemberly and Chrysanthemum's problems and at the wrap-up to name the beginning, middle, and end and explain what they learned about solving a problem. Students practice locating key details by looking through the book for pages that match prompts (illustrating the problem at different points) and by ordering story events in the Beginning/Middle/End activity.
Lesson 4
Comparing Characters
Students retell stories by dictating three- or four-sentence summaries (one sentence for beginning, middle, end) after hearing a read-aloud. Students answer specific comprehension and comparison questions on activity pages (e.g., "How are the characters' situations similar? What can we learn from both characters?" and "Which character is most like you? Why?"). Students complete Venn diagrams and a cause-and-effect matching activity that require identifying key story details and relationships.
Lesson 5
The Raft
Students are asked specific comprehension questions at several stopping points (Day 1–3 Reading And Questions) and provided answers, so they practice asking and answering about key details (e.g., Why does the boy not want to stay with his grandma? What does the boy find at the river?). Students practice clarifying word meanings through Activity 2 (Vocabulary matching using context clues) and Activity 6 (discussing idioms and figurative language), which asks them to interpret and explain phrases. Discussion prompts (e.g., comparing narrator perspectives, story elements) require students to respond orally about important story details.
Lesson 6
Positive and Negative Change
Students are read a character description twice and are asked explicit comprehension questions (e.g., "How do you think the rat feels about himself?"; "How could the rat respond…in a positive way?"), which requires answering key-detail questions about an orally presented text. Students match cause-and-effect statements on activity pages, label effects as positive or negative, and are asked to identify positive and negative cause/effect situations from stories they read. Students are asked to dictate a new story ending and discuss how and why the rat changed, showing they must explain and answer questions about story details.
Final Project
My Own Story
Students complete a 'Problem and Solution' activity page that asks them to describe the character at the beginning, identify the problem and solution, explain what caused the problem, how the character reached the solution, how the character changes, and why the change was needed. The teacher/parent records students' story ideas, reads them back, and asks the student to choose which idea to develop, prompting student response to details. The child's dictated story is read aloud and students discuss which parts belong on which pages, requiring students to talk about key details of the narrative.
Unit 3: A First Look at History - Change Over Time
Lesson 1
People and Families Change
Students are asked and answer specific oral questions about key details in Activities 1, 2, and 4 (e.g., comparing photos by age, identifying when they were shortest/tallest, and describing how family pictures changed). Students are invited to look at pictures and "ask questions about what he sees," and parents are instructed to read the child's dictated ideas back to the child in Activity 5. The Skills list also includes "Use listening skills when being read to," indicating attention to orally presented information.
Lesson 2
Understanding Time
Students are asked and respond to oral questions about key details such as naming something that happened in the past, describing something happening in the present, and stating something they would like in the future. Students answer guided comprehension questions during the Units of Time reading (e.g., "Were you born in the past, present, or future?", questions about dinosaurs and college) and complete calendar tasks by recording today's, yesterday's, and tomorrow's dates. Students are also asked at the end to explain the difference between past, present, and future, which requires verbally confirming their understanding of the material read and discussed.
Lesson 3
Communities Change
Students are asked and prompted to answer specific comprehension questions after the story is read aloud, such as "Where did the story happen?", "Who are the characters?", and "How did the environment change in the story?". Students complete tasks that require confirming details from the book and images (identifying communities, circling animals from the story, and sequencing events on a timeline) which use both the read-aloud text and visual media. Students are prompted to describe differences in transportation, clothing, homes, and activities and to explain preferences and reasons, practicing answering questions about key details.
Lesson 4
Past and Present
The lesson includes multiple teacher prompts that require students to answer key-detail questions after pictures and readings (e.g., "How did people in the past dress differently than we do today?", "How were their homes different?", and wrap-up questions asking what history means). Activity 3 asks students to compare characters' lives to their own and answer directed comprehension questions about similarities and differences. Activity 7 and the timeline and drawing activities require students to recount and describe details from read-aloud sections of The Usborne Time Traveler.
Lesson 5
Exploring the Past
The lesson prompts adults to "discuss" how people in different time periods lived and asks the child if he remembers the three time periods from the book, which requires answering questions about key details from a read text. Students are asked to assemble a book and "use it to give a presentation to the family and share what he learned," which involves orally reporting details from the material. The lesson also includes prompts to "Ask your child what he learned about cultures that existed in the past," encouraging spoken recall of key information.
Lesson 6
Predicting Future Change
Students listen as the adult reads each scenario in Activity 1 and are asked "what changed" and to predict how the change will affect the future, and they record their answers. Students answer follow-up questions for each scenario and write or dictate their ideas on the activity pages. In Activity 2 students reread the situations and their predictions, decide if results are positive or negative, label them, and write sentences describing one positive and one negative result.
Lesson 7
People of the Past
Activity 1 directs an adult to read a biography and ask specific comprehension questions (e.g., whether the person lived in the past or present, how you know, what the person did to make a positive change), which prompts the child to answer key-detail questions. Activity 2 has the child reread short descriptions, point to the individual described, and place people in chronological order, which requires the child to respond to oral prompts about details. The Wrapping Up prompts ask the child to define a biography and describe people from the past, further eliciting answers about key details from what was read aloud.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 1
Letter Sounds Review I
Students are asked to answer questions about key details from texts and media: Activity 1.2 asks, "What objects in the video begin with short a?" Activity 3.1 asks students to find and count sight words in the weekly message (e.g., "How many times is 'and' in the message?"). In Activity 5.3 students are prompted to describe the book cover and to point to words as they read, and parent prompts are provided to help students work through unfamiliar words (e.g., "What's the first sound?", "Does that word make sense here?").
Lesson 2
Letter Sounds Review II
Students watch a short vowel video and are asked specific comprehension questions ("What sound does short i make?" and "What words did the video show that have short i?"). Students read and respond to questions about the reader The Pig Can (describe the cover, "What do you think this book is about?", and "Do you think the pig and the cat can fit in the box?"), and students identify and point to sight words and letters in the Weekly Message when asked. Students also answer teacher prompts during word-family and word-building activities (e.g., "Which card says 'of'?" and finding sight words in the message).
Lesson 3
Letter Sounds Review III
Students answer explicit comprehension questions after reading The Bug (Activity 5.2) such as "What is the bug able to do?" and "Why can't he do that?". Students are asked to make inferences and point to text features after the Weekly Message (Activity 1.1) by answering "Based on the hint, what vowel do you think you're going to work with this week?" and by identifying punctuation. Students read sentences aloud (Activity 5.3) and respond to questions about sentence endings ("What do all of these sentences end with?").
Lesson 4
Letter Sounds Review IV
Students answer explicit comprehension questions after reading a reader (Activity 5.2 asks "Why are the dog and the fox napping…?" and "Why aren't the cat and the pig napping?"). Students confirm understanding of a written message by identifying sentence end marks and counting sentences after the message is read aloud (Activity 1.1). Students listen to spoken word pairs and indicate which word has the target short /e/ sound, showing they confirm understanding of orally presented information (Activity 2.1).
Lesson 5
Adding s, More Word Families, Ending with ck
Activity 1.1 has the child read the Weekly Message aloud with an adult, identify and circle punctuation, and answer questions about what a period, exclamation point, and question mark do and how many sentences the message has. Activity 4.3 asks the child to read Ducks Are Fun aloud and then answer a comprehension question ('Which duck do you think is having the most fun? Why?') and to infer the meaning of the word 'don' from context. Several oral activities (Guess My Word, word-family sorting prompts, and teacher-spoken spelling drills) require the child to listen to spoken clues and respond with answers or written words.
Lesson 6
Open Syllables and Digraph th
Students are asked comprehension questions after reading the reader (Activity 5.2), such as identifying why names start with uppercase letters and what kind of pet Dan has, which requires answering key-detail questions about a text read aloud. In Activity 1.1 students read the Weekly Message aloud and are asked questions (e.g., Do these words end with the same sound?) that require them to confirm understanding of word-level details from the oral reading. In Activity 3.3 students watch a rhyming video and physically respond (sit/stand) to whether words rhyme, showing that they confirm understanding of information presented through media.
Lesson 7
Consonant Digraphs ch, sh, wh, ph
Students are asked to make predictions and answer specific comprehension questions after reading the reader They Get Wet (e.g., "What do you think will happen in this book?"; "Where is the ship at the beginning of the book?"; "Why are the rat and the cat wet at the end?"). Students are prompted to point to and read parts of the Weekly Message and to find digraphs in that message, responding to teacher prompts. Students listen to spoken words and media (videos) and respond (for example, standing/sitting on /ch/ vs /sh/, and reading sight words when prompted).
Lesson 8
Blends with s
Students are asked to answer specific comprehension questions after reading Reader #8 (Activity 4.3), e.g., "Near the end, why are Meg and Dan no longer on the sled?". Students watch linked videos (Activity 2.1) and then name each picture and say the correct word for each image to show understanding of media. Students read the Weekly Message aloud and perform tasks (Activity 1.1) such as locating punctuation and sight words, which requires them to listen, read, and respond to text read aloud.
Lesson 9
Blends with l
Students listen to and read the Weekly Message aloud with an adult and then perform comprehension-related tasks (identifying punctuation, sight words, digraphs, and words with a short a sound), which requires attending to and confirming details in the text. Students read Reader #9 (The Club) and then answer explicit oral comprehension questions about key details (e.g., the color of the flags; what kids do at the club; personal response about what they would do). Students also watch a phonics video (media) as part of the lesson, giving them exposure to information presented through other media.
Lesson 10
Blends with r
The lesson asks the child to read the reader One Can aloud and then answer specific comprehension questions (e.g., "Where are the ducks swimming to?"; "What are the kids running on?"; "Which of these things are you best at -- hopping, swimming or running?"). The lesson also instructs the child to read One Can on her own before reading it aloud, pointing to each word as she reads, which supports checking understanding of the text. Several activities require the child to read or listen and then perform related tasks (reading aloud, writing sentences, and responding to dictated sentences), providing opportunities to confirm comprehension.
Lesson 11
Ending Blends
After reading Reader #11 — At Camp, students are asked specific questions about key details (e.g., "What do the kids do at camp?" and "What are the kids hunting for?"), requiring them to answer orally. Activity 1.1 has students follow and read along as an adult reads the Weekly Message aloud, allowing them to point to and read words they know. Several activities ask students to name pictures or read words aloud (e.g., naming pictures in the Ending Blends sorting activity and reading dictated sentences), which requires students to respond to teacher prompts about content.
Lesson 12
Double ll, ss, ff, zz (FLOSS)
Students watch a FLOSS video and are asked to answer the question "Which letters does the FLOSS rule tell us to double?" demonstrating comprehension of information presented orally/through media. After reading the reader Huff and Puff aloud, students are asked specific comprehension questions (e.g., "What insects are shown?"; "Why is everyone huffing and puffing…?") and are expected to answer key-detail questions. Students also read the Weekly Message and are prompted to point to and read words they know and to point to words when they hear them in example sentences, confirming understanding of read-aloud material.
Lesson 13
Glued Sounds ng and nk
Students read Reader #13 (King Hank) aloud to an adult and then answer three explicit comprehension questions about key details (Where do the king and his friends sleep? What color drinks do they drink? What would you want to do if you were a king?). Students are also asked to read the Weekly Message aloud with the adult and point to words, and to read back sentences after dictation, demonstrating spoken comprehension of written and read-aloud material.
Lesson 14
Three-Letter Beginning Blends
Students are asked comprehension questions after reading Reader #14 (e.g., "What do the kids do at the track?" "What do the kids do at the pond?") and are expected to answer with key details from the text. In multiple activities the teacher says words aloud or plays videos and asks students to identify or point to the beginning sounds (e.g., "What sounds do you hear at the beginning of these words?" and pointing to scr/str/spr/spl cards). Students are also prompted to read along with spoken text (Weekly Message) and to answer or point to cards based on orally presented words.
Lesson 15
More Ending Blends
After reading Reader #15 aloud, students are asked direct comprehension questions such as "What animals are on the bank of the river?" and "Which animals nap on the raft?" (Activity 5.2). Students read the Weekly Message aloud with an adult, point to words as they read, and highlight multisyllabic words, demonstrating engagement with orally presented text (Activity 1.1). Students are instructed to watch a video and to look and listen for the word "use," showing they confirm information presented through media (Activity 1.3).
Lesson 16
R-Controlled Vowels (ar)
Students are asked to read the reader Which? When? What? and to answer the question on each page as they read (Activity 4.2). The lesson has students use the question-word cards (which/what/when) to produce questions and to underline question words in sentences (Activity 1.3). The student activity pages provide direct practice with question sentences (e.g., "Which horse runs faster?", "What is your favorite color?", "When do you eat lunch?") that students are expected to answer or interact with.
Lesson 17
Semester Review
In Activity 4.1, the child is asked, "Which of these readers is your favorite? Why?" and is prompted to point to or name characters and describe what the characters do, requiring answering questions about story details. In Activity 1.3 the teacher reads sentences aloud and asks the child to point to the correct sight word card and then underline and read the word, which requires confirming understanding of orally presented sentences. Activity 2.1 and Activity 3.1 ask the child which pages or words he would like to read and to read selected words aloud, engaging the child in answering questions about text selections and details.
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 1
Long Vowels a and i with Silent e
Students are asked to answer comprehension questions after reading the reader (Activity 5.1 asks questions such as "What are some of the things that Lin and Dev like to do in the fall?"). Students respond to orally presented or media information by pointing to vowel cards, raising hands, or standing when they hear long versus short vowel sounds (Activities 1.2, 2.1, 3.1). Students watch linked videos and then identify the long vowel sounds they heard and point to corresponding letters, and they read aloud or along as texts are read (Activity 1.1 and video activities).
Lesson 2
Long Vowels o, u, and e with Silent e
Students are asked and answer comprehension questions about a read-aloud in Activity 5.1 (e.g., "What did the family do on their trip?" and "Who fell off of the mule?"). In Activity 1.1 the child is prompted to point to and read words in the Weekly Message and to answer a question about why 'Tim' is capitalized. In Activities 2.3, 3.1, and 4.2 students are asked to identify vowel sounds and to point to or read sight words aloud, then show and read the words they find in the word search.
Lesson 3
Hard and Soft c and g
On Day 5 (Activity 5.2), students read the reader These Mice aloud and then answer specific comprehension questions about key details (e.g., what the mice use to make beds, what they sit on to eat cake, and why they like their home). Throughout the lesson, students are repeatedly asked to explain observations and answer questions about presented information (for example, "What do you notice about the sound of c in these words?" and "How do you know?") when distinguishing hard and soft c and g. Students also read aloud passages and watch/or listen to short videos as part of practice that could be the basis for question-and-answer confirmation.
Lesson 4
More R-Controlled Vowels (er, ir, or, ur)
Students read a short reader aloud and then answer explicit comprehension questions (Activity 5.2 asks "Who won the race?" and "Which animal came in last?" and a follow-up opinion question). Students respond to teacher prompts about key details of words and spelling (e.g., "What makes the way you pronounce a in each word change?", "What do you think [silent e]'s job is?"). Students also read aloud passages and sight words and are asked to find and identify details in the Weekly Message and word lists.
Lesson 5
Long a Spellings ai, ay
Students listen to and follow the Weekly Message #5 as they point to words, read along, and answer teacher prompts identifying features (e.g., words with bossy r, two-syllable words, long a words). Students read The Gray Day and answer explicit comprehension questions about key details (e.g., what boys play with, what animal they see) after reading. Students also watch linked videos for ay and ai and respond to teacher prompts about which letters make the long a sound, showing engagement with information presented through media.
Lesson 6
Long e Spellings ee, ey, ea
Students are asked to answer explicit comprehension questions after reading Reader #6 (e.g., "What does the worm eat?" "How many beans are the birds eating?"). Students are prompted to point to and read words in the Weekly Message and to read aloud sentences while the adult reads, allowing for checking understanding. Students respond to teacher questions about phonics details (e.g., "Which long e spellings appear most?" and identifying whether words have short e or long e) during sorting and highlighting activities.
Lesson 7
Long i Spellings y, igh, ie
Students are asked comprehension questions after reading The Dark Night (e.g., "What do Tom and Val see in the sky?" and "What do Tom and Val dream about?"), and they are expected to answer those key-detail questions aloud. Throughout the week students are prompted to point to and read words, show and read sight words from the word search, and point out words that have long vowel sounds, demonstrating they can confirm understanding of printed and read-aloud material. In phonics activities students are asked to identify sounds and point to letters (e.g., noting silent letters in "fight" and identifying letters that make the long i sound), which requires them to answer teacher prompts about details of the text and media.
Lesson 8
Long o Spellings ow, oa, oe
Students read The Slow Boat and then answer specific comprehension questions provided (e.g., "How many boats are in the race?" and "What color is the boat that wins the race?"). Students are orally asked to identify and explain long o spellings after listening or reading (e.g., "What letters are making the long o sound?" and "Which long o spellings appear most?"). Students watch a linked video and are instructed to "pay attention" to different spellings, supporting confirmation of understanding of information presented through media.
Lesson 9
Long u Spellings ue, ew, ou
Students answer explicit comprehension questions after reading the reader (Activity 5.1 asks "What does Tom add to the stew?" and "What color does Val add to the stew?" and a follow-up open-ended question). In phonics activities (Activity 1.2, Day 2 and Day 3) students are asked to read words aloud, identify vowel sounds, and explain what changed when letters are added (e.g., identifying short u vs. long u and explaining the effect of silent e). Students are also asked to watch linked videos and listen for different spellings of long u, and to point to or underline words in sentences that show meaning and sound differences (Activity 3.1 and Day 5 wrapping up).
Lesson 10
Other Long Vowel Patterns
Students read The Wild Colt and then answer specific comprehension questions about key details (e.g., why the colt is hard to find; how the man stops the colt from bolting). Students are asked to point to and read words in the Weekly Message and respond to a prompt asking if they see any words that are unusual, and they explain what makes words special (e.g., why ild words are "wild"). Several activities require students to read words or sentences aloud and then answer or discuss them (Fill in the Blanks, Alphabet Soup creations, and sentence dictation where students read back what they wrote).
Lesson 11
Long Vowel Sounds Review
Students are asked to point to and read words in the Weekly Message and to identify which words have long vowel sounds (Activity 1.1). The teacher prompt "Which of these words have long vowel sounds?" in the sight word activity (Activity 1.3) requires students to answer questions about details in the text. Students reread decodable readers to locate and write long-vowel words and then read those words aloud (Activities 2.1, 3.2, 4.1, 5.1). In Activity 4.3 the teacher reads clues aloud and asks students to write and say the word that fits each clue, requiring students to answer based on orally presented information.
Lesson 12
Other Vowel Sounds oi, oy
Students answer comprehension questions after reading The New Toy (for example identifying the toy sound and predicting the toy) and they are asked to recall and list words from the video about oi and oy. Students sort and point to words with the target sounds in multiple activities (word sorting, pointing out long vowel words in the weekly message, and the wrapping up prompt to point to words with the oi/oy sound). Students read aloud and then respond to teacher questions about key details from texts and media during Day 2 and Day 5 activities.
Lesson 13
Other Vowel Sounds ou, ow
Students are asked to answer specific comprehension questions after reading The Hound and the Owl (Activity 5.1), e.g., "What does the hound do during the day?" and "Why do you think the hound howls at the owl?" Students are asked to explain their groupings and reasoning during the Word Sorting activity (Activity 2.1) and to explain how they knew spellings after Writing o Words (Activity 1.2). The lesson also prompts students to answer the prompt "Where do you find ou and ow in words?" after sorting (Activity 2.2).
Lesson 14
Other Vowel Sounds aw, au
Students are asked specific comprehension questions after reading Reader #14 (e.g., "Where do the pups sleep?" and "What are some of the things the puppies in the story do?"), which requires them to answer key-detail questions about a text read aloud. During Word Sorting (Activity 2.1) students are asked to explain their groupings and respond to teacher prompts such as "What do you notice about all of these words?" and to justify changes to their sorting. Activities such as 3.1 prompt students to answer questions about word features (e.g., "Where does aw come in a word?" and "How many letters come after aw?"), requiring them to confirm their observations orally.
Lesson 15
These Make More Than One Sound: oo and ea
Students answer specific comprehension questions after reading The Bad Bear (e.g., "What are some of the naughty things the bear does?" "What happens when the bear's mom finds her?"). Students watch short videos about oo and ea and then sort pictures and are asked which group has the long/short vowel sound, requiring them to confirm their understanding of media. Students respond to teacher prompts during the Weekly Message and other activities (e.g., underlining/circling words, pointing to groups) that check their understanding of key details and sounds.
Lesson 16
Silent Starts: kn, wr, gn
Students read aloud and respond to comprehension questions after reading The Gnats (Activity 5.2), answering specific questions about what the gnats do at the playground and picnic. Students read and follow along with the Weekly Message (Activity 1.1) and are asked to list things they learned about reading words, which requires them to recall and talk about key details. Students watch related videos and are asked to make and explain pronunciation guesses (Activities 2.1 and 3.1), engaging with information presented through media and discussing their understanding.
Lesson 17
Year-End Review
Students are asked to read the Weekly Message aloud and to point to and read words they know, which requires attending to orally presented text. In Activity 1.2 "Which Words?" students read a word list and answer specific teacher-posed questions (e.g., Which words have soft c or g sounds? Which words rhyme with 'gold'?), demonstrating answering questions about key details in printed text. In Activity 4.1 students find sight words in a word-search and then show and read them aloud in response to the prompt to read the words they found.