First Grade - ELA
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 1
My Environment
Students are prompted in Activity 3 to write about the most important room (fill-in prompts) and then draw a picture of that room on the bottom of the page, linking a drawing to their written description. The extension activity explicitly invites students to draw pictures of the actual rooms in their home using blank home sheets, encouraging them to add visual displays of their spaces. In Activity 2 students place data and ideas on a chart (numbering rooms and circling items) and label pictures of rooms, which are visual ways to support their descriptions.
Lesson 2
What Is a Map?
Students create and label maps of familiar spaces (Activity 2) by identifying items on a floor plan and writing labels or sounding out words. Students make a map of their own room (Activity 3), either by pasting pictured objects onto a drawn room map or by drawing items in the correct locations and sizes (Option 2). Students are asked to review what maps show and to describe the environment in which they live, linking the visual map work to their verbal descriptions.
Lesson 3
Guide to Animal Habitats
Students are asked in Activity 5 to draw their chosen habitat or tell a story about visiting it and then answer questions about what they see and how it would feel, linking the drawing to descriptive ideas and sensations. Activity 6 directs students to draw a picture of an animal (or make a craft) from the habitat, producing a visual to represent their idea of the animal. Activity 4 (Option 2) asks students to draw and label three plants, animals, and insects in sorting circles, and Activity 2 (Option 2) has students chart Crinkleroot's course by drawing lines on a map-like page, creating a visual display that clarifies sequence and location.
Lesson 4
Animals Live and Grow
Students are instructed to draw pictures of plants and animals in Activity 1 (Option 1) and to label each drawing on the "Habitats of Living Things" pages. Activity 2 asks students to cut, paste, draw, or label consumers and energy sources on the "Food for Survival and Energy" pages, using visual cards for each habitat. Activity 4 and Activity 5 provide opportunities to create a visual "Plant Art" arrangement and to write or draw responses in a CAN / HAVE / ARE graphic organizer, respectively.
Lesson 5
Discovering Animal Habitats
Students are asked to draw an additional animal in each habitat and to color the habitats and animals (Activity 1, Option 1 and Option 2). Students are prompted to draw a picture of their favorite animal habitat and to add pictures showing what the animals eat and drink, then label those parts (Activity 3). Students are asked to draw an appropriate habitat surrounding each given animal and label each habitat (Activity 5, Option 2), and students create a pictorial graph using animal crackers to visually display how many animals belong to each habitat (Activity 6).
Lesson 6
Exploring Animal Habitats
Students are asked to draw the habitat they observe on the "The ________: An Animal Habitat" sheet, using crayons/colored pencils and labeling objects so drawings represent observed plants, animals, water, and rocks. Students may take pictures and create a collage of the habitat to document and display their observations. Students place a drawing or picture of an animal in the "A Day in the ______: A ______'s Life" page and use that visual while dictating and revising a narrative about the animal's experiences in its habitat.
Lesson 8
Animal Care
Students create a shoebox habitat by collecting materials, placing a water dish, drawing food on paper, and making a clay salamander to put in the home (Activity 3). Students are asked to draw a picture of a domestic animal and one that is not domesticated during the Wrapping Up. The lesson also has students draw or make food items for the habitat and use these visual elements while answering questions about animal needs.
Lesson 9
Animal Designs
Students are asked to print or draw a small picture of an animal and paste it in the habitat (Option 2), directly adding a visual to a written description of habitat and movement. In Activity 4 students tell a story about an animal in the wrong habitat, have that story recorded, and then draw the animal first in its correct habitat and then in the wrong habitat, pairing drawings with their spoken/written description. Several activities also ask students to label habitats and circle body parts, which connects visual marking to descriptive ideas about animals and movement.
Lesson 10
Amazing Animals
The lesson explicitly tells students to "draw in the missing body parts on the page" on the Amazing Animal Math activity, prompting students to add drawings that clarify answers to the word problems. Multiple Student Activity Pages include numbered illustrations with descriptive text (starfish, snake, lizard, shark) that students examine and use to answer questions. Activity 1 asks students to analyze pictures of animals and to select an animal to learn more about, engaging students with visual information tied to descriptions.
Lesson 11
Amazing Me
Students are asked in Activity 2 (both options) to fold paper into four boxes labeled with emotions and draw a picture of something that makes them happy, sad, scared, and surprised. Activity 3 directs students to think of a change caused by the environment, have their ideas recorded and read aloud, and then illustrate those ideas on the same sheet. The Skills list explicitly includes "Illustrate a story" and "Express ideas," and the student activity pages provide prompts to circle faces and draw pictures to represent feelings.
Final Project
Animal Research / My Environment
The project pages explicitly require students to create illustrations that match written descriptions (Option 1: draw self, foods/drinks, home, activities, and a change; Option 2: draw the animal, shade world regions, draw what it eats/drinks, draw the habitat, and draw interesting facts). The lesson directs students to paste pictures from magazines or the Internet and to label their pictures. Students are also asked to explain each page of their book, linking oral descriptions to their drawings.
Unit 2: Weather
Lesson 1
Reading the Skies
Students are asked to illustrate or tell a story about their favorite weather and may draw a picture to accompany or clarify that story (Activity 3). Students draw a picture each day on a Weather Calendar to reflect the weather and record observations (Activity 4). In Activity 2 students match vocabulary words to pictures and dictate sentences, using images as visual supports for their descriptions.
Lesson 2
Types of Precipitation
Students are asked to draw raindrops, snow, or hail on the "Falling From the Sky" activity (Option 1). In Option 2, students are asked to draw outside scenes of what a child might be doing in each type of precipitation on the back of the sheet. The Life Application asks students to draw pictures of symmetrical things and draw lines of symmetry on their illustrations.
Lesson 3
Measuring and Charting Weather
Students record thermometer readings on the "Measuring Temperature" sheet and are instructed to use a red crayon or marker to show the degrees the thermometer reads, producing a visual marking that represents measured data. Students complete student activity pages that include thermometer diagrams and spaces for written temperature values, supporting creation of a visual display tied to their measurement. Students make cactus collages and sock cacti (cutting, gluing, painting, and adding textured elements), producing tangible visual artifacts related to habitat descriptions.
Lesson 5
Fall
Students create pictorial graphs in Activity 2 by coloring, cutting, and pasting leaves onto a graph to show how many leaves of each color fell. In Activity 3 students make leaf prints by painting leaves and stamping them onto paper, producing visual displays of leaf colors and shapes. In Activity 1 students use an illustrated fall picture to circle favorite items and then write sentences about those items, linking visual elements to written descriptions.
Lesson 6
Winter
Students are asked to dictate or write a story about something they like to do in the winter and then "illustrate the story in the box provided," which requires adding a drawing to a written description. The Student Activity Page includes a large rectangular box for drawing and the prompt "In the winter I _______," prompting students to pair text with an image. Students also compare pictures in a book to their own winter descriptions, using visuals to support and clarify their observations.
Lesson 7
Spring
In Option 2 of Spring Poetry, students are asked to add their own illustrations to each poem and told that the picture should help tell the story of the poem. In Option 1, students read each poem and draw a line from the poem to the existing picture that best tells the poem's story, linking text to visual representation. In Seed Sort, students color, cut, and "plant" seeds on brown construction paper, creating a visual display that represents grouping and quantity.
Lesson 8
Summer
Option 2 of Activity 2 explicitly asks the student to illustrate the completed story and the student activity page includes a large blank rectangle for drawing a related picture. Activity 1 has the child color the "Summer Fun" picture and assemble it as a puzzle, which has the child produce and use a visual image. The story activities have students read or retell the story aloud, and Option 2 pairs that retelling with a drawing task.
Final Project
Weather Games
Students cut apart pictures of children and clothing and glue them onto construction paper, labeling each scene with a season (Activity 1), creating a visual display that links clothing choices to seasonal descriptions. In Activity 2 students match season and weather words with pictures in a Weather Memory game, reinforcing connections between descriptive words and visuals. For the final product students use a Weather Forecast graphic organizer with illustrations and are prompted to record and present daily forecasts to the family, linking observations and answers to a visual page.
Unit 3: Community
Lesson 1
On the Town
Activity 3 asks students to draw a new page for the book showing a unique place in their community and then write or dictate a sentence about Charlie visiting that place. The Life Application asks students to take notes or draw pictures while visiting places in the community over the next weeks. Activity 2 has students select or paste pictures to complete sentences, connecting visual images to descriptive sentences.
Lesson 2
My Community Environment
Students make a My Community Poster in which they print photos or pictures of buildings, label the places, and write or dictate brief descriptions of how each place serves the community, combining visual displays with descriptions. In Activity 3 students select three books, copy the titles, and draw a simple illustration of the community in each story, directly adding drawings to their descriptions of those communities. The Community Map activity has students use and trace a pictorial map, discussing the purpose of each place while referencing the visual map.
Lesson 3
Jobs in the Community
In Activity 1 (Option 2) students are encouraged to "draw a symbol to represent each community worker" above the worker's name, directly asking them to add a visual to represent an idea. In Activity 4 (When I Grow Up) students write a paragraph about a chosen worker and are given a large blank box to "draw himself in the role of the worker," pairing a drawing with a written description. The Skills section and Activity 2 ask students to "create a chart" and record tally marks, which asks students to produce visual displays to represent observational data.
Lesson 4
Goods and Services in the Community
Students cut out picture cards and match buildings to the goods or services they provide, then glue the pairs on construction paper and title the sheet "Community Services," creating a visual display of community goods and services. The Student Activity Page includes labeled illustrations (library, hospital, grocery store, books, fruits and vegetables, etc.) that students read and use when sorting and matching. During wrap-up students are asked to describe goods and services offered in the community, which could be paired with the created poster.
Lesson 5
Resources
Students are asked in Activity 1 to draw one natural resource and one manmade resource after sorting pictures, providing explicit practice making drawings of ideas. In Activity 2 students cut out, count, label (N or M), and paste pictures of resources to order them from least to greatest, using visual displays to represent and clarify quantities. In Activity 3 students collect real objects (three natural and three manmade) and explain how each resource is used or where it is found, which can pair physical/visual items with descriptions.
Lesson 6
A Good Community Citizen
Students are asked to draw examples in multiple activities: Option 2 directs students to draw three family members showing behaviors in a good home and three showing behaviors in a not-good home and to label each picture as they explain what is happening. Activity 3 asks students to draw or paste a photo of each family member and then describe examples of good citizenship beneath each picture (they may dictate while an adult records). Option 1 has students paste sorted pictures into good/not-good homes and then draw one more example of each. The badge activity has students color a visual award recognizing good citizenship.
Lesson 7
A Citizen with Character
Students are asked to illustrate the beginning, middle, and end of The Boy Who Cried Wolf and to write or dictate a sentence to accompany each drawing (Activity 5, Option 1). Students are encouraged to make up their own version of the story and draw a picture to accompany it (Activity 5, Option 2). The Acting Responsibly activity explicitly suggests drawing a picture and/or writing the jobs down so the student can refer to the list. The Kindness Award activity has students use stars (cutting, pasting, or writing points) as a visual scoring system to represent kindness.
Lesson 8
Rules and Laws
Students create a vertical poster of six rule sentences, number and order the strips, and paste them on a second poster board (Activity 1). Students cut out labeled items and paste them onto two labeled webs (Laws and Rules) on the Student Activity Page, using the webs as a visual organizer to sort and display examples (Activity 2).
Lesson 9
Caring for Our Communities
Activity 3 asks students to think of three things that make their community happy and healthy and to take pictures, draw pictures, or make a video of these things, then share and explain why they chose them. Activity 5 asks students to draw a picture to say "thank you" to someone they have seen being an excellent citizen, linking drawing to expression of feeling. Activity 2 has students interact with pictures (placing Xs and circles) which connects visual elements to descriptive judgment about communities.
Final Project
I Can Make A Difference
Students are provided a large blank box labeled for drawing or illustrating their plans, which prompts them to add a visual display of their planned community project. The planning section asks students to write sentence-starter descriptions of their steps ("I am planning to...", "The first thing I will do is...") directly adjacent to the drawing area, encouraging a visual to accompany the written description. Students are also asked to paste a photo of themselves engaged in the project in the plan sheet and to complete reflection prompts that include feelings ("I felt __ when doing this project"), linking visuals with descriptions of thoughts and feelings.
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 1: Amazing Attributes
Lesson 2
Animal Attributes
Students are asked to draw missing legs on the Animal Parts (Option 1) page, which requires them to add visual detail to an animal depiction. In Activity 3 the extension explicitly invites students to draw an additional animal that would fit in each body-covering group. Several activity pages use pictures, cut-outs, and sorting graphic organizers that require students to manipulate or create visual representations of animals.
Lesson 3
Size, Shape, and Color
The Shape activity directs students to walk around, find objects that match each named shape, and draw those objects. The Student Activity Page provides a column with visual representations of each shape and a blank 'Object' area where students are instructed to write or draw an example corresponding to the shape. The wrapping-up prompts ask students to name and describe the shapes they examined, linking the drawings to their descriptions.
Lesson 5
How Old?
Activity 3 directs students to draw and label each animal on an index card and write its average life span, requiring students to add a drawing alongside descriptive information. Activity 1 asks students to cut out pictures from magazines and sort or order them by age, and Option 2 has students paste numbers beside pictures, which has students add or arrange visual displays to represent age information. Option 1 and Option 2 also prompt students to record names and questions next to pictured people, pairing text descriptions with images.
Lesson 6
The Measure of Things
Students are given a specific prompt in the Length activity to either draw pictures of the measured items or write the word for the sentences at the bottom of the page, which explicitly allows them to add drawings to their descriptions. Several Student Activity Pages include illustrations (e.g., Which Weighs More?, Measuring Similar Objects, Finding Capacity) that students interact with by circling, labeling, or recording measurements next to images. The Measuring with a Ruler and Measuring Similar Objects pages provide spaces where students record measurements alongside or in relation to visuals of objects.
Lesson 7
More Attributes
Students create Venn diagrams by forming overlapping yarn circles, labeling them with attribute words (e.g., "yellow" and "triangle"), and placing attribute blocks in the appropriate sections to show similarities and differences. Students sort toys into Venn diagram circles labeled with attributes (e.g., "Soft Parts" and "Hard Parts") and place items that match both labels in the overlapping area. The student activity page includes drawn Venn diagrams and has students practice the word "Venn," reinforcing the use of a visual display alongside descriptive labeling.
Lesson 8
Amazing Attributes
Students complete a "Magnetic or Not?" activity page that lists objects in a table with columns for Prediction and Results, which they fill in after testing. Students place selected objects on a sheet of paper labeled "sink" and "float" to represent their predictions visually. Students take a picture of the sorting paper (or boxes) and then examine the photo to compare and discuss which predictions were correct.
Lesson 9
Solids and Liquids
Students write definitions on the "Solid or Liquid" page and complete a two-column graphic organizer labeled "Liquid" and "Solid," providing a written description (definition) paired with images. Students are asked to find, cut out, and paste pictures from magazines, catalogs, or online into the Examples column to illustrate each category. Students also cut apart images from the provided "Solid or Liquid?" page and paste them onto labeled construction paper for "Solids" and "Liquids," creating a visual display that accompanies their categorizations.
Lesson 10
Earth Materials: Rocks, Soil, and Water
Students create an Earth Materials Book in which they write descriptions of dirt, rocks, and water and paste or glue pictures for soil types and rock types. Students cut, paste, and draw on the Water pages (including drawing three places water can be found) and glue in a picture that represents cohesion. Students also locate and use illustrations from the read-alouds (finding animals and rocks in the book illustrations) and complete student pages that pair sentences with visual prompts.
Lesson 11
Using Earth Materials
In Activity 1 students are encouraged to take a picture each time water is used, print the pictures, and make a collage to document uses of water. In Activity 1 students may also record or dictate a log of water uses, linking text descriptions with photographs. In Activity 2 students are asked to take photos of rock discoveries during a scavenger hunt, creating visual records of objects they describe.
Final Project
Presenting Attributes
The poster option asks students to draw or use pictures, stickers, or online images to explain attributes and to label items (e.g., labeling a rock "rough" and cotton balls "soft"). Steps require students to plan how each attribute will be shown on the poster and to include words/sentences that explain similarities and differences. The demonstration option has students gather and organize real materials as props and practice explaining attributes while using those visual/physical displays during a presentation.
Unit 2: Senses
Lesson 1
My Five Senses
Students are asked to draw themselves using a sense and to draw the associated sense organ in Activity 3 Option 1 (Favorite Sense), providing a picture alongside a written label. In Activity 3 Option 2 students dictate four sentences describing a sensing experience and then illustrate that experience, add a title, and record the sense and organ. Activity 2 has students create visual webs by cutting and placing pictures or words onto a graphic organizer, which adds a visual display to their descriptive sorting of items by sense.
Lesson 2
Senses and Body Parts
Students are given a Student Activity Page with a blank-faced figure and cut-out sense organs and are instructed in Option 1 to pick up and glue the appropriate body part on Jackie's face as they hear each sense used in the read-aloud. In Option 2, students are asked to make up and tell a story about Jackie and pause to glue the sense organ on Jackie's body when they describe her using a sense, directly linking a spoken description to a visual display. The activity pages (cut-outs and matching sheets) provide concrete visual pieces that students add to stories or responses to clarify which sense is used.
Lesson 3
Smelling and Tasting
Activity 3 directs students to fold paper into four columns labeled sweet, bitter, sour, and salty and to "illustrate or record the taste of the food products," which requires students to add drawings. The Skills list explicitly includes "Create charts and graphs," and Activity 2 has students complete a survey table (the Student Activity Page) that serves as a visual display of taste preferences. The Student Activity Page description notes a simple illustration on the page, providing an example visual element students can use or replicate.
Lesson 4
Hearing and Seeing
Students draw a line representing light rays through the cornea to the retina and then draw and attach a brain to show where vision is processed (Activity 3). Students cut out, place, and glue labels on diagrams of the eye and ear (Activities 2 and 6 and corresponding Student Activity Pages), creating visual displays that clarify anatomical ideas. The materials include labeled answer-key diagrams that students match to, reinforcing use of visuals to explain how senses work.
Lesson 5
Touch
Students draw and label two of their own objects on the Touch Chart and mark adjectives that apply, directly adding drawings to their descriptions of object properties. In Sensory Art, students create a Jell-O finger painting and are asked to describe their painting and give it a title, pairing a visual display with a verbal description. The Touch It activity (Option 2) asks students to generate descriptive adjectives for pictured objects, which they may record alongside images.
Lesson 7
Using All of Our Senses
Students are asked in Activity 1 Option 2 to draw or find pictures for three situations and then identify and circle the senses used in each situation. During the Nature Walk (Activity 2) students can record observations and are explicitly given the option to draw pictures to represent what they hear, see, smell, and feel. The student activity pages include spaces and icons that prompt students to produce visual marks (circling senses, tallying totals, and drawing in blank sections) to accompany their written or spoken descriptions.
Lesson 8
Writing About Our Senses
Students are prompted to draw the popcorn kernels in a box and to complete two labeled drawing squares: "My popcorn before popping" and "My popcorn after popping," directly pairing drawings with sensory description prompts. On the "Sensing My Day" activity, students are asked to illustrate a memorable event on Page 1 and then add sensing words for each sense on Page 2, pairing a drawing with descriptive text. In the "Sensing Logic" activity students color the remaining correct image after using clues, using a visual display to represent their choice.
Final Project
A Sensible Party
Students are asked to complete a Party Planner chart with columns for each sense and rows for "Ideas" and "Supplies," which requires them to place descriptive information into a visual organizer. The Skills list explicitly includes "Create charts and graphs," indicating students will generate at least one visual display. The Student Activity Pages include icons and a chart format that students use to record their party plans and game descriptions.
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 1
You're Special
The lesson's skills list explicitly includes 'Discuss, illustrate, and dramatize stories (LA),' indicating students are expected to illustrate. The 'You Are Special' activity asks students to answer personal questions about feelings and preferences (e.g., what makes you happy/sad) and to complete and share a personal story, which are opportunities to clarify ideas and feelings. The student pages include icons next to each prompt, providing visual supports that connect images with descriptive prompts.
Lesson 2
Physical Characteristics
Students are asked to illustrate the beginning, middle, and end of a dictated Friendship Story and to make sure their illustrations reflect the sentences they recorded, which requires adding drawings to clarify story ideas. In Activity 1 (Option 2) students must draw missing facial features and other physical characteristics so the pictures clearly show appearance. Activity 1 (Option 1) and Activity 2 have students color/cut/paste or order event boxes and paste them on construction paper, using visual displays to represent and sequence story events. These tasks require students to produce drawings or visual items that correspond to and clarify descriptions.
Lesson 3
Different Personalities
Students draw a small self-portrait in the center of a web and write or paste personality words that describe themselves and a friend (Activity 2). Students record and illustrate main characters from a favorite movie or cartoon and then write personality words around the picture or paste a printed picture and label it (Activity 3). Students are encouraged to decorate the webs and present them to family members, using the visuals alongside their descriptions.
Lesson 4
Interests and Hobbies
Activity 2 explicitly invites students to extend their research by creating a project "such as a poster, presentation, or booklet," which are visual displays students could use when sharing an interest. The "My Interest" student page includes multiple graphics surrounding the prompts, providing visual elements that students can reference when thinking about or presenting their interest. Activity 1 and the wrapping-up section ask students to share and teach others about their hobby or interest, creating an opportunity for students to use visual supports when presenting.
Lesson 5
Shapesville
Students draw and color the shape they chose on the "What Is Your Shape?" worksheet and can draw their face on the shape or paste a photo to accompany it. Students dictate or record a short description of their personality and interests to go with their drawing and are encouraged to attempt to read and share their description aloud. Students draw, cut out, and decorate shapes for family members and explain why each shape represents that person, linking visuals to personal attributes.
Lesson 6
Different Families
Students are asked to draw an illustration for each basic need in Activity 1, placing pictures in labeled boxes (Water, Food, Shelter, Health). In Option 1 students draw a picture of their own family engaged in an activity and draw a picture of a family from another country to compare similarities and differences. In Option 2 students complete a Venn diagram and are instructed to "illustrate each idea," providing another explicit visual display tied to descriptive comparison.
Lesson 7
Different Homes
Students are asked to sketch a "dream" home (Activity 3) and to construct that home using art and building materials, producing a visual representation of their idea. In Activity 2 students color, assemble, and add details around pictured homes and label countries above the homes, creating visuals that accompany information about each home. The wrapping-up prompts ask students to describe the type of home they would like and to discuss why homes look different, which can be paired with the drawings and models they created.
Lesson 8
Different Holidays and Traditions
Students are asked in Activity 3 to draw a picture of themselves celebrating their favorite holiday and then write three sentences explaining what they enjoy about it, pairing a drawing with descriptive sentences. Activity 5 directs students to make a Book of Holidays with each page containing the name, date, a sentence about the holiday, and space to draw pictures or add photos/stickers that represent the holiday. Activity 4 has students color holiday graphics and glue symbols onto a calendar to create a visual display of when holidays occur.
Lesson 9
Different Modes of Transportation
Activity 3 directs students to draw a picture of themselves taking a chosen mode of transportation and then tell a story about the trip, with the story recorded and read aloud. Activity 2 (Option 2) asks students to draw and write the mode of transportation for specific travel scenarios, linking drawings to written responses. Activity 1 (Option 1) has students cut and match pictures of transportation and talk about where they went, connecting images to spoken descriptions.
Lesson 10
Wants and Needs
Students are asked to draw or write items in the Wants and Needs survey chart and to complete two webs (one for wants and one for needs), which requires creating visual displays to organize information (Activity 4). Students are instructed to draw a house, clothes, a meal (including a drink), sources of water, items for education, examples of love and care, and health-related items on the Meeting Needs pages (Activity 5). The activities include cutting/gluing items around webs and filling pictorial activity pages, so students produce drawings or place visuals alongside category labels.
Lesson 11
Being Part of a Group
Students are asked in Activity 2 to draw a picture of the members of a group in a large box and then complete a paragraph about that group, linking the drawing to their written description. In Activity 1 students cut out illustrations and place them into a three-circle organizer to sort people visually by attributes (age, size), practicing use of a visual display to show grouping. The Student Activity Pages provide a blank drawing area and a vertical three-circle graphic organizer that students use to add visuals to their descriptions.
Final Project
Differences Make the World Go 'Round
Students are asked to draw a picture of themselves and the child from the other country on the cover and to "illustrate each page by drawing or pasting a picture that represents the sentence." The student activity pages include large blank boxes on each topic page (Food, Hobbies, Homes, Clothing, Transportation, Holidays, Similarities) explicitly meant for drawing or writing. The instructions allow students to print pictures from the Internet or cut pictures from magazines, providing alternative visual displays to accompany written descriptions.
3: Patterns
Unit 1: Identifying and Creating Visual Patterns
Lesson 1
What Is a Pattern?
Students draw their own bug patterns using the 'Drawing Bugs' page and cut-and-paste images to build and extend patterns, then explain the patterns they created. In the 'Do You See a Pattern?' activity, students point to each item as they describe the sequence and then color/trace items (e.g., A's in red, B's in blue) so the visual display matches their description. Activity 7 asks students to make a pattern and write or copy three sentences describing it, linking a visual pattern to a written description.
Lesson 2
Recognizing Types of Patterns
Students physically create and arrange colored strips and tiles to form and show ABAB and AABB patterns. Students label objects with letters (A, B) beneath pictures and strips to make the pattern structure visible. Students sort and describe caterpillar color sequences and complete activity pages that use images to represent sequences.
Lesson 3
What Comes Next?
Students are asked to draw and add shapes in Activity 2 (draw a new square or circle on the outside, draw a triangle pattern, and add colors) and in Options 1 & 2 (draw an object in each blank to extend patterns). Activity 3 directs students to "illustrate what would come next" for bug patterns. Students also label added items with A, B, or C, and cut/glue or draw visuals to show extended sequences.
Lesson 4
Extending a Pattern
Students read written pattern descriptions (Option 2) and then gather objects to create the given pattern, directly converting a verbal description into a visual display. In Option 1 and Activity 3 students recreate and extend patterns using physical objects and select their own objects to make new patterns, producing visual displays that represent the described sequences. The Student Activity Pages include pictured sequences that students identify and use as the basis for filling in and reproducing patterns.
Lesson 5
Making Color Patterns
Students make visual patterns with dot stickers on leaf cutouts and with colored beads for necklaces, then are asked to describe the patterns they create. The lesson asks students to show patterns with color words or first letters (e.g., Y, R, Y, R) and to write or copy a sentence describing something they created. Students also demonstrate a variety of color patterns using blocks, counting bears, or colored shapes.
Lesson 6
Shapes and Patterns
Students make and recreate patterns with attribute blocks and then trace or color those shapes onto paper (e.g., "He can trace the shapes onto a separate sheet of paper and then color them"). Students describe the order of shapes aloud and label patterns with A, B, or C after removing the blocks. Students also write or copy a sentence about a pattern and are instructed to create visual pattern rows by cutting/gluing or tracing shapes to represent the sequence.
Lesson 8
Creating and Writing About Patterns
Students are asked to "illustrate the words to form patterns with pictures" and to "illustrate the pattern" in multiple student activity pages (AABB, ABAB, ABC). Activity 2 explicitly allows students to "draw objects on paper to represent the patterns," and Activity 7 has students write sentences describing a pattern they made, pairing writing with drawings. The "Describe the Pattern" page asks students to fill in sequence lines (First–Eighth) and to identify pattern elements, supporting use of visuals alongside descriptions.
Final Project
Patterns Poster or Patterns Presentation
Students are instructed to create a poster with materials glued to poster board and to record the materials beside the name of each type of pattern, providing a visual display alongside labels. Students who choose the presentation option are prompted to describe each pattern and then demonstrate an example of each pattern with a variety of materials, and are given a "Script for Presentation" page to write out their descriptions. The poster is to be hung for an audience and the presentation is practiced for an audience, linking visual displays to accompanying descriptions.
Unit 2: Patterns in Sounds, Words, and Actions
Lesson 1
Word Patterns
Students are asked to "illustrate her word" as an added challenge in Activity 1 and to "act out or illustrate the nursery rhyme" in Activity 2, directly prompting them to add drawings to accompany their descriptions. Activity 4 asks students to "make habitat pictures and draw the animals from the book," which has students create visual displays to clarify where animals live. Several activity pages prompt students to circle repeating word parts and label pictures, engaging them in adding or using visuals alongside word descriptions.
Lesson 2
Making Word Patterns
In Activity 1, students glue a sentence and an illustration on each page to make a book of rhyming sentences, and they pair provided pictures (frog on a log, cat with hat, etc.) with corresponding sentences. The life application suggests making a poster for the wall and adding words from the same word family to that poster, which creates a visual display of language groupings. Activity 3 has students identify and record words from picture books that rhyme, linking text descriptions with book illustrations.
Lesson 3
Poetry Patterns
Students are asked to write another verse to the song and "illustrate the new verse in the box provided" (Activity 2 and the A Rhyming Song student page). The Skills list explicitly includes "Discuss, illustrate, or dramatize a story or poem," indicating students are expected to produce illustrations. The student activity pages include a large blank box for drawing to accompany the written verse.
Lesson 5
Story Patterns
Students are asked to "write about or illustrate her morning routine," providing direct practice adding drawings to descriptions. In Activity 2 (both options) students glue or draw pictures for beginning, middle, and end and dictate or write a sentence for each part. In Activity 3 students can "create story boxes by illustrating her story" and act out events, and the skill list explicitly includes "Discuss, illustrate, or dramatize a story or poem."
Lesson 6
Sound Patterns
The Student Activity Page includes illustrations of hands clapping and a foot stepping labeled with the words "Slap, Clap, Tap," and provides a Pattern space and lines for Repeat where students can record a sound pattern. Activity 2 instructs students to record how many times each sound was made in a pattern and to use the page to record a pattern they create. Activity 4 asks students to write about a sound pattern they heard today on handwriting paper, which gives an opportunity to pair text with visuals.
Lesson 7
Making Sound and Action Patterns
Students cut out pictures and sound words and place them on paper to form repeating sound patterns (Activity 2, Option 1). The student activity pages present images paired with words (smack, stomp, slap, clap, tap) that students arrange visually to create and follow patterns. Activity 4 has students write or copy a sentence describing a pattern they made today, linking a written description to the pattern activity.
Final Project
Patterns Video
The skills list explicitly tells students to "Use props and pictures to support spoken messages (LA)," and students are asked to consider how to represent each pattern on video (action, sound, rhyming, story). Students write or dictate scripts on the Video Script pages describing the type of pattern, where they found it, the parts of the pattern, and practice saying those descriptions on camera. The activity also directs students to practice with mock videotaping and to use examples from books and activity pages as visual supports.
Unit 3: Patterns in Your World
Lesson 1
Patterns in Nature
Students cut and paste pattern samples onto animals (Activity 2, Option 1) and create or draw patterns directly on animal pictures (Activity 2, Option 2). Students draw pictures of 3–5 favorite nature patterns and label them (Activity 3). Students are asked to identify and describe the pattern in each picture after a read-aloud (Activity 1), supporting use of visuals alongside descriptions.
Lesson 2
Patterns of Growth
Students are directed to "draw the plant every few days and write a sentence to record its growth," which requires adding drawings alongside written descriptions (Activity 1). Students cut, sequence, and glue pictures of life cycle stages and are asked to "illustrate the stages of growth" for animals with unusual life cycles (Activity 4). Students also draw examples of plants they investigate and label plant parts, linking visual displays with descriptive words (Activity 3 and Activity 2).
Lesson 3
Night and Day
Students are prompted to draw a picture of something they do only during the day on the "During the Day" page and then record or dictate a few sentences explaining the activity. Students are similarly prompted to draw on the "At Night" page and write accompanying sentences, pairing visual displays with descriptions. Students label and color the provided pictures of the Sun, Moon, and Earth on the activity page, adding visual labels to clarify the identities of each celestial body.
Lesson 4
Daily Routines
Activity 2 explicitly asks students to "illustrate each step" or select an object/gesture to represent each step as they write or dictate sentences about a routine. Activity 1 provides a blank space on the "My Morning Routine" page for the child to add something (drawing) and has students cut and glue pictured sequence panels. Activity 3 directs students to record activities in words or simple symbols and pairs each time with an icon in the sample daily routine chart.
Lesson 5
Calendar Patterns
Students are asked to draw symbols to represent family or personal activities on a calendar when they cannot read, allowing pictorial representation of events (Activity 4). Students cut, order, and glue Days and Months cards onto a poster to create a visual display of temporal sequences (Activity 5). Students make tally marks to represent numbers in the Days, Weeks, Months, and Years chart, producing a visual representation of numeric information (Activity 2).
Lesson 6
Seasonal Weather Patterns
Students cut apart and order pictured season cards and fill in missing seasons on the "Seasons and Months" activity page, using illustrations (snowflakes, flowers, umbrella, sun, leaves) to identify seasons. Students create or refer to a poster of the months of the year and paste month squares beneath the appropriate season on construction paper in Activity 3, matching month images with season/weather words from a word box. Students also record weather words beneath the season that each month describes on the "Weather Patterns" sheet, linking visual month symbols to weather descriptions.
Lesson 7
Patterns at Home
Students draw and color patterns on shirt outlines and plate templates (Activity 4) and complete pattern drawings on the "Shirt Patterns" page (Activity 2). Students color a quilt pattern according to directions (Activity 3) and write or dictate then copy a sentence that describes a pattern found in her closet (Activity 5).
Lesson 8
Symmetrical Patterns
Students fold letters and shapes and are asked to draw lines of symmetry (Activity 1 and Activity 2), and they create a painted, folded butterfly design (Activity 3) that produces a visual, mirror-image display. The handwriting activity asks students to write a sentence about a symmetrical figure, and shape/letter tasks have students mark symmetry on the shapes and letters.
Lesson 9
Counting Patterns
Students cut out clown faces and place them in a car as they listen to and retell the "How Many Clowns?" story, using those cutouts as a visual representation of the events. Students look at illustrated activity pages (cups, light bulbs, fruit, presents, flowers) and use the pictures to count and describe quantities. Students use manipulatives and pictures while telling or writing sentences about the clowns, linking visuals to their numeric descriptions.
Lesson 10
Tracing Patterns
Students cut out, trace, color, and decorate shapes (hearts, stars, trees, eggs) and create designs with attribute blocks, stencils, and painted patterns. The lesson asks students to "tell a story about one or more of the objects he creates" and to "explain how to use a pattern" during the wrap-up. Students are also prompted to design and arrange shapes into visible patterns (ABAB, AABB, ABC) that could serve as visual displays.
Lesson 11
Patterns in Graphs
Students are instructed to color-code bars and chart entries (e.g., color days when John read two books orange and three purple; color girls' names pink and boys' names blue) and to circle titles and labels to highlight parts of graphs. In Activity 3 students color matching parts of graphs the same color and then describe the pattern (ABAB, AABB, or ABC). The activities ask students to use those visual markings to help them see and then describe or predict patterns on the graphs and charts.
Final Project
Patterns All Around Lapbook
Students are asked to draw a symmetrical pattern in the One-Page Book with half the picture on each side of the fold. Students are instructed to draw, paste, or copy a pattern from nature inside the Matchbook and to write the title on the front. Students label and draw or paste pictures under flaps in the Three-Flap Book to show stages of growth, and students illustrate and label the four parts of the Wheel Book for the seasons. The lesson skills also list "Use props and pictures to support spoken messages (LA)," which connects pictures to communication.
4: Change
Unit 1: Changes on Planet Earth
Lesson 1
What Causes Change?
Students are asked in Activity 3 to draw a picture of an item before it changed and one after, then complete sentences describing the change and attempt to read it aloud. Activity 2 asks students to illustrate their own examples of a fast change and a slow change on the worksheet. The Wrapping Up section asks students to illustrate a change that happens quickly and one that happens over a long period of time. Activity 1 has students look closely at picture cards and glue matched before-and-after pairs on construction paper, linking images with descriptions of change.
Lesson 2
What Changed?
Students are given a blank picture in Activity 3 (Situation 2) and asked to change its color, which requires them to create or modify a visual display. The Student Activity Page presents illustrations of transformations that students examine and determine changed attributes, and Activity 2 invites students to record a sentence to describe each example, pairing images with written descriptions. The activities also prompt students to observe and describe changes in the community, allowing use of visuals during observation tasks.
Lesson 3
Changing Position
Students are given three blank sheets labeled Push, Pull, and Push and Pull and are instructed that they can draw toys or write their names on the sheets as they explore (Activity 4). Students cut apart and sort illustrated actions into push and pull categories (Activity 2), using visual images to represent actions. Activity 5 suggests that students may take pictures or make a list of movements they observe, providing another form of visual display.
Lesson 4
Changes in the Environment
Students are asked in Activity 1 to "illustrate or write two sentences about a time when weather caused him to change his activity," which requires adding a drawing to a personal description. In Activity 2 students color and label seasonal trees and build a spinning "Seasons Change" wheel, producing a visual display that represents changes described in text. In Activity 3 students draw leaves on branches in response to prompts like "Draw a couple of leaves" and "Make this branch have the most leaves," using drawings to clarify quantities and descriptions.
Lesson 5
Changes in Location
Students cut out a location wheel, attach it to a paper plate with a brad, and turn the wheel to show the cat changing locations, creating a visual display that represents described positions. Students cut out and move a mouse figure to specific places in a room as sentences are read, using a manipulative to represent spoken descriptions. Students may color the pictures and write prepositional phrases (Option 2), linking written descriptions to the images.
Lesson 6
Changes in the Sky
In Activity 1 students are asked to list adjectives and phrases inside provided images of the Sun and the Moon, placing descriptive text directly on visual pages. The Student Activity Pages include large blank areas and labeled circles for SUN and MOON, giving students space to add content to the images. In Activity 3 students cut out shapes and assemble an Earth–Moon–Sun model with brads so they create a physical visual display to demonstrate and clarify the motions of those bodies.
Lesson 7
Living Things Change
Students are asked to illustrate changes by folding paper into four boxes and drawing or pasting pictures showing a living thing before and after a change (Activity 3). Students color and assemble visual scenes (lizard and rabbit coloring; cut-and-glue rabbit on snowdrift/grass) that represent camouflage and seasonal change (Activity 1). Students also observe picture pairs and describe changes in words, circling whether changes are in number, size, shape, or place and judging whether changes are fast or slow (Activity 2).
Lesson 8
Plants and Change
Students are asked to draw and label a plant (Activity 2, Option 2), assemble and glue labeled plant parts (Activity 2, Option 1), and create a foldable visual showing seed-to-flower stages by attaching real or cut plant parts (Activity 3). Students also cut and glue pictures in order to show the plant life cycle (Activity 4), producing visual displays that represent and clarify plant parts and changes.
Lesson 9
Heat Causes Change
Students are asked to draw the ice, the water, and the steam on the "Ice, Water, Steam" activity page and to label each drawing. Students organize the states along a "cold" to "hot" arrow on the activity page. Students record observations and measurements in the "A Burning Candle" table, using a visual chart to document change over time.
Lesson 11
People Change the Environment
Students are asked to look at and describe a series of illustrations in Activity 3, explaining what is happening in each picture and classifying the change as positive, negative, or neutral. In Activity 2 students interact with a page showing images of items and place them into a recycling bin or trash can, practicing matching visuals to categories. Activity 1 has students record brainstormed ideas on a two-column page titled "Positive Change" and "Negative Change," providing a space where visual organization (two columns) is used alongside descriptions.
Final Project
Mobile of Change
Students are asked to draw or paste examples of each change in paired "before" and "after" boxes, creating visual representations of changes. They glue these paired boxes onto shaped cards, assemble them into a mobile (a visual display), and arrange the cards so the mobile balances. Students are prompted to explain the mobile to family members and describe how each part is an example of change.
Unit 2: Characters Change
Lesson 1
What's in a Name
Students are asked in Activity 3 (Feeling Phrases) to interpret descriptive phrases from the story and then illustrate the face Chrysanthemum might have at those moments, directly having students add drawings to clarify feelings. Activity 2 (Name Craft) has students create a visual flower with petals that spell their name, which has them produce a visual display that represents an idea (their name). The introduction also directs students to pay close attention to the book illustrations while listening, prompting them to connect visuals with the narrative.
Lesson 3
Is It a Problem?
Students are asked to "illustrate the problem at different points in the story" on the "THE PROBLEM" activity page, linking specific text boxes to drawings of the problem as it grows. The Beginning, Middle, and End activity has students sort and paste illustrations to represent story parts, and the Beginning/Middle/End answer key visually shows how illustrations clarify progression. The Characters Change page includes prompts alongside images that ask students to represent how a character changes from beginning to end.
Lesson 4
Comparing Characters
Students are asked to draw in multiple places: the "Two Stories, Same Problem" page has boxes labeled "Illustrate Wemberly" and "Illustrate the boy" that accompany dictated story summaries. The "My Favorite Story" page asks students to "Draw a picture of your favorite part of your favorite story," linking a drawing to a description and reason. The "I Change" page directs students to draw themselves "Me Before" and "Me After" and to write sentences about how they felt and changed, explicitly combining drawings with descriptions of thoughts and feelings.
Lesson 5
The Raft
Students make a physical raft (Activity 3) and then draw or paint three symbols on it that "should signify something important in her life" so that a finder would learn about her (Activity 4). Students also sketch scenes from nature to capture memories or observations (Activity 5), and complete story-element pages and character frames where they glue titles, characters, settings, problems, and solutions—using visuals to represent story information.
Lesson 6
Positive and Negative Change
Students are asked in Activity 3 to "illustrate the situation — the cause and the effect of the change that occurred" and then to "write or dictate a sentence or two to describe the change," which pairs a drawing with a verbal description. In Activity 1 students glue cause and effect statements on a separate sheet with the cause, an arrow, and then the effect, physically combining text and a simple visual display. The lesson also prompts students to consider and describe feelings (e.g., how the rat feels) and offers expressive word choices to use in their written or dictated descriptions.
Final Project
My Own Story
Students are asked to illustrate each character and write three traits for each (Part 2 and the CHARACTER graphic organizer with empty frames). Students are asked to illustrate the setting on a blank sheet of paper (Part 3). Students use the online storybook to add, upload, and arrange images and backgrounds for their pages (Part 6), and the Problem and Solution page asks how the character changes, which students can show with images.
Unit 3: A First Look at History - Change Over Time
Lesson 1
People and Families Change
Students are asked to illustrate their family's changes in the boxes provided on the "Writing About Change" sheet (Activity 5 and Student Activity Page). Students draw a picture of what the family will look like in ten years and label names and ages (Activity 6). Students create a growth chart by marking heights and using colored markers to show multiple siblings, producing a visual display that corresponds to written age/height descriptions (Activity 2).
Lesson 2
Understanding Time
Students complete the "Yesterday I / Today I / Tomorrow I will" activity where they are instructed to complete sentences and illustrate each box, directly requiring drawings to accompany descriptions. Students cut apart labeled time-span boxes and order/paste them on construction paper, creating a visual display that represents units of time. Students place years and numbers on number lines and glue number pieces in order, using visual organization to clarify chronological relationships.
Lesson 3
Communities Change
Students are asked to draw themselves in a historical time period and to draw two objects they would have used (Activity 5). Students draw two or three artifacts from the illustrations (Activity 6) and use graphic organizers that include empty boxes around characters for adding drawings or notes. Students cut out pictures and paste them on a vertical timeline and in the Communities Change activity, using pictures to represent transportation, homes, and clothing; the skills list explicitly includes "Use pictures to support written and spoken language."
Lesson 4
Past and Present
Students are asked to draw themselves living in a chosen historical time period and then tell a story about that adventure, with the teacher recording the dictated story (Activity 2). Students cut out and paste time-period images onto a timeline and order images of homes, transportation, clothing, and school across time (Activities 1 and 5), using visual displays to organize and clarify chronological ideas. Students draw a historical child and themselves with associated items in Activity 4 and may illustrate ideas when listing advantages and disadvantages of the past (Activity 6).
Lesson 5
Exploring the Past
Students are asked to "draw and write or dictate descriptions" of cultural elements (homes, clothes, food, transport) as they review the book, which requires adding drawings to accompany descriptions. In Activity 4 students "write one sentence about each element of culture... and will draw an illustration to accompany the sentence," then assemble the pages into a book. Students are also encouraged to print, cut out, and glue pictures onto charts and timelines, using visual displays to support their descriptions and a family presentation.
Lesson 6
Predicting Future Change
Students are asked in Activity 3 (A Change in Me) to dictate a description of a personal change and then draw a picture at the top of the page showing what they were like before the change and after the change. The activity pages provide space for students to write responses about feelings and changes and include a large blank box explicitly intended for drawing to accompany the written description. Students also practice describing feelings and outcomes in Activities 1 and 2, which pairs written/oral responses with the opportunity to mark positive/negative results, reinforcing the connection between description and visual representation.
Lesson 7
People of the Past
In Activity 2 students handle a 'People in History' sheet that includes sketches of five historical figures and their written descriptions; they cut the squares apart, place them in chronological order, point to the individual described, and glue the description beneath the person's picture. The Student Activity Page pairs visual sketches with descriptive text, so students physically match and attach visual displays to written descriptions.
Final Project
My Past, Present and Future
Multiple student pages pair written prompts with aligned drawing boxes (e.g., "I was different because/Now I am/In the future I will be" with three picture boxes; "My family," "My home," and "What I Do" each have writing lines with corresponding illustration boxes). The instructions tell students they "can use photographs or draw pictures" and explicitly state that the student "will have to draw her own pictures to represent the future." Option 2 directs students to "illustrate each side" when comparing a past time period and today.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 17
Semester Review
Students are given multiple student pages with a large blank rectangular box for drawing paired with lines for writing (Activity 4.1). In Activity 4.2 students are asked to create their own reader and are explicitly told they "can add pictures if they'd like." The planning page asks students to note characters and "What Characters Do," which supports pairing drawings with descriptions of actions.
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 3
Hard and Soft c and g
Students cut out pictures and place them into labeled columns for long vowel sounds (Activity 1.2), and they glue those images to the page to show the vowel categories. Students sort words into labeled columns for hard/soft c and g, highlight the letter after c or g, and write words into labeled boxes on pages such as "Hard and Soft c," "Hard and Soft g," and "Writing c and g Words" (Activities 2.1, 3.1, 3.3, 4.1). These tasks require students to create or arrange visual displays (pictures, highlighted letters, categorized word boxes) to represent phonics concepts.