Sixth Grade - ELA
• Literacy
1: Environment and Cycles
Unit 1: Weather and Climate
Lesson 2
Temperature and Seasons
Students build and draw a globe-and-lamp model in the "Model the Seasons" activity, answering questions that link written descriptions of Earth's tilt and the Sun's rays to a labeled visual (equator, poles, direction of tilt). In the "Seasons" worksheet students mark where they live on diagrammed globes and decide whether their location is angled toward or away from the Sun, then label the season, directly matching textual explanations to a diagram. In the "Weather Journal" students measure temperature in degrees Fahrenheit and enter quantitative readings and other numeric weather data into tabular pages, converting spoken/written measurement procedures into a visual table of values.
Lesson 3
Wind and Air Pressure
Students use the Wind Chill Chart to combine numeric temperature and wind-speed values (expressed in words/numbers in the text) with a visual grid to determine wind chill and frostbite risk. In Activity 2 students count anemometer rotations and then use the provided Estimated Wind Speeds chart (a table) and the Beaufort scale diagram to convert counts into miles per hour and qualitative wind categories. Students read weather-map symbols and barometric-pressure readings (including arrow visuals) and record numeric pressure with an arrow to interpret changing conditions.
Lesson 4
Humidity
Students assemble a wet/dry bulb hygrometer using step-by-step written directions alongside assembly diagrams that show thermometer placement. Students record the dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures, compute the numeric difference, and are instructed to locate the dry-bulb temperature on the left of the provided Relative Humidity chart and the temperature difference across the top to find the relative humidity at their intersection. Students also use a provided Heat Index chart to combine temperature and relative humidity readings (numbers) with the visual table to determine a heat-index value and risk level.
Lesson 5
Precipitation
Students read the text (pages 35-45) describing water cycle components and precipitation and are directed to "outline the water cycle using the details, labels, and sections/types of condensation and precipitation you read about." They study an example diagram of the water cycle, fill out a chart that links each water-cycle component to examples, and then draw their own labeled diagram showing evaporation, condensation, precipitation, runoff, infiltration, and storage. An optional rain-gauge activity requires students to measure rainfall (marking and reading centimeters) and record those quantitative measurements in a weather journal.
Lesson 6
Clouds
Students research cloud descriptions in the text and on websites and record technical details (description, altitude, type of weather, clues) in a Cloud Chart table. Students cut out cloud images and paste them onto a labeled altitude diagram (Low/Middle/High with numeric markers at 6,500 ft and 23,000 ft), matching textual altitude information to a visual model. Students are directed to use a Cloud Identification Flowchart and their weather-journal air pressure readings together with cloud observations to make weather predictions, linking numeric readings and textual clues to visual identification tools.
Lesson 8
Geography and Climate Change
Students cut out written climate descriptions and paste them onto a map key, matching text descriptions (e.g., "Polar," "Tropical") to patterned regions on a world map. Students draw the four jet streams on the map using numeric latitude cues (about 50°–60° for polar, 30° for subtropical) and add west-to-east arrows as instructed. Students color and place North American air masses and global wind patterns on the map based on textual labels and directions, integrating the written descriptions with the visual map.
Lesson 9
Climate Change
Students interact with NASA's Climate Time Machine maps, moving a year slider and observing changes in global temperature, carbon dioxide, sea ice, and sea level, then record what they see on activity pages. They use the provided map outlines to color differences between past and present, label their drawings, and write short descriptions linking the visual changes to textual prompts. In the Greenhouse Effect experiment, students take quantitative temperature readings inside and outside a jar and discuss those numeric observations in relation to the greenhouse model.
Final Project
Presenting My Weather and Climate
Students label the water-cycle diagram on the test using technical terms from a word box, directly matching words in text to parts of a visual model. Students plan and refer to charts in their weather journals using the Weather Journal Presentation Planning page, answering questions such as "What information is on the chart?" and "What patterns did you observe on your chart?" Students display their weather journal during the Part 3 presentation and must explain the information in the journal and the patterns they found, which the rubric explicitly assesses.
Unit 1: The Wanderer
Lesson 1
Charting the Course
The "Parts of a Sailboat" activity provides a labeled diagram of a sailboat (hull, keel, rudder, mast, boom, etc.) alongside a "Sailing Terminology" text section with definitions and prompts to draw connections between terms and components. The "Charting the Course" activity asks students to locate and label places (Connecticut, Martha's Vineyard, Block Island, Grand Manan Island, England, Ireland) on a map using an atlas or Google Maps, directly pairing place names in text with positions on a visual map. Instructions explicitly direct students to review the diagram and terminology to understand how each part functions and to refer to the diagram while reading, requiring students to match written technical terms to visual features.
Lesson 3
Juggling
The Dolphin Beads activity provides numbered materials (85 blue, 60 gray, 2 black seed beads; counts per column) and text directions that say, "Each column in the pattern represents a small safety pin" and instruct students to add beads according to the pattern in Column 1, etc. The activity asks students to use the provided graph paper to "code the pattern according to the color of the beads you will need in each row," explicitly requiring students to map written/color instructions and counts onto a visual grid. The pattern description and the step-by-step bead columns require students to translate quantitative instructions in words/numbers into a physical/bead-image and a graph-paper representation.
Lesson 4
Grand Manan
Students are asked to complete a chart-style activity (Sentence | Predicate Adjective | Direct Object | Indirect Object) in which they identify grammatical elements from written sentences and place them into table columns. Students are asked to complete a "Relationships" page that is a diagram/box chart where they describe how characters are related and how they interact, transferring textual descriptions into a visual map. The materials also require students to fill out a "Character Timelines" sheet, which prompts students to organize story information into a temporal/visual format.
Lesson 5
Under Way
The Radio Code activity presents a visual chart mapping each letter to a phonetic word (A = Alpha, B = Bravo, etc.) and asks students to decode coded messages using that chart. Students decode three example messages and then write their own message in radio code and teach a parent or sibling to decode it. The answer key shows decoded phrases, demonstrating that students must use the visual mapping to convert between coded text and ordinary words.
Lesson 6
Marine Life
The origami activity pages provide step-by-step written directions alongside diagrams for folding lobsters, whales, and dolphins, requiring students to use the text and visual diagrams together to produce a model. The nautical mobile activity asks students to "create your whales and dolphins to scale," cut them out, tie strings of different lengths, and adjust the hanger so it balances, which requires translating size/scale and spatial relationships from words into a physical visual model. The student is directed to refer to photographic and species resources when drawing animals to reflect what they actually look like, linking textual descriptions to visual representations.
Lesson 8
Changes
Students are asked to locate Ireland and England on a map of Europe, which requires matching country names (words) to a visual map. Students are given explicit quantitative/technical directions to make a postcard 4" x 6", use a ruler for lines, and to use provided postcard template images (front and back) when designing the card. The activity directs students to illustrate one side and write a descriptive note on the other, combining written description with a created visual artifact.
Lesson 10
Narrative Essay Writing and Voice
Students are given a Narrative Essay Rubric that is presented as a table with a numerical scale (1–4) and written criteria; they are instructed to review the rubric before writing and to check each criterion during editing and revision. Students complete a Pre-writing Narrative Organizer that requires them to put brief written descriptions of the experience, three main events, and associated feelings into labeled boxes—visually organizing text. The Parent Plan also describes adding rubric point totals and dividing by the total to compute a percentage, linking written evaluation criteria to numeric values.
Final Project
Character Lapbook and Test
Students follow specific numerical measurements and folding directions (e.g., cut a sheet to 6" x 6", 4" x 2", 5" x 3", 8" x 6", cut a 15" x 3" strip and fold every 3 inches) to construct visual mini-books such as a tri-fold Character Tree and an accordion Important Events book. Students use referenced "Lapbook Layout" sheets and a linked video that provide visual diagrams to match and assemble the written folding and layout instructions into a physical lapbook.
Unit 2: Geography and Landforms
Lesson 1
Maps of All Kinds
Students read descriptions and watch videos about different map types, then label visual examples and explain what each map shows (Activity 1). Students create a map of their neighborhood, invent symbols, and produce a key—using printed or online maps as reference—translating place information into a visual map and corresponding legend (Activity 2). In Activity 3 students read written scenarios and select or write about which of five visual maps would meet each need, and Activity 4 has students compare a panoramic photo (textual directions and photos) with their map.
Lesson 2
What Is Geography?
Students read technical descriptions and instructions (pp. 15-20 and the "Making the Round Earth Flat" activity) and then build a balloon globe model and draw continents on an orange, directly translating written directions into three-dimensional and flattened visual models. After peeling the orange, students lay it flat and compare their peeled-orange map to the printed map on page 19, copying their peeled-orange result onto the activity page. Vocabulary boxes and matching activities present technical definitions (for example, "the line at 0° longitude," latitude/longitude, and scale) alongside visual cards and globe/map references that students must connect.
Lesson 3
Landforms
Students read numeric mountain heights in The Geography Book (pp. 51) and use those written heights to create a bar graph with a stated scale (1 square = 500 ft) on the "Mountain Heights" activity page. As an alternative, students can construct 3-D paper models that approximate the relative heights of mountains using the numeric height information on pp. 52-53. In Activity 5 students follow technical instructions to build a modeling-clay board and manipulate water flow to represent how slope and landforms affect river behavior, turning procedural/technical descriptions into a physical model.
Lesson 4
Representing Landforms on Maps
Students read instructions and a presented formula for estimating height and then record numeric measurements and calculations on the "Measuring Mountains" activity page, including a measurements chart. Students translate numeric elevation ranges into a visual key and color boxes on the "Contour & Color-Coded Maps" activity page and use those numeric ranges to color a traced potato to show changes in elevation. Students create three-dimensional relief maps by modeling elevation with dough or papier-mâché, turning measured or described elevation information into a physical visual representation.
Lesson 5
Human Geography
Students use a provided table titled "DOT MAP DATA" listing city names and precise population numbers and are instructed to "use the following data to complete your dot map," which requires translating numeric data into a visual dot map. Option 2 directs students to find population figures for cities in their state (via atlas, road map, or Internet), record those numbers in a table, and then create a dot map on a state outline. Activity 2 also asks students to use information from the text Prisoners of Geography to complete graphic-organizer boxes (weather & climate, natural resources, major landforms), which requires moving textual information into a visual organizer.
Lesson 6
Interacting with the Land
Students sort pictured resources into renewable and nonrenewable boxes using the definitions in the text (Activity 2), cutting and gluing images based on the written directions. Students research where resources are found and create a state resource map, including a map key and symbols, by locating information from web resources and placing symbols on an outline of their state (Activity 3). The Natural Resources activity asks students to walk through their home and write examples of resource use, linking textual descriptions of resource categories to labeled pictures on the activity page (Activity 1).
Lesson 7
Water Everywhere
Students complete the Water Use Chart activity page that presents estimated gallons per use (e.g., 5-minute shower = 12 gallons) alongside a visual table with columns for activity, estimated gallons, and a running tally. Students are instructed to track daily occurrences, fill in the table, and calculate the approximate total number of gallons used. Activity 2 directs students to visit water system websites and annual water quality reports (technical documents) and record source information on a structured student page.
Lesson 8
World Map - Part I
Students read specified pages of Prisoners of Geography and then locate and label countries that border China and features in Russia and Europe based on that text. Students draw and label the Himalayan Mountains, Great Wall, Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, Moscow, the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and place symbols for oil and gas using the Map Key from the book. Students use the book's maps as references to create a visual World Map and a postcard that pairs written descriptions with drawn images of geographic features.
Lesson 9
World Map - Part II
Students read specified pages of Prisoners of Geography and then use that written information to locate, draw, and label geographic features (rivers, mountains, deserts, canals, countries, cities) on a multipart world map. Instructions require students to apply symbols from a Map Key, choose colors to represent feature types (e.g., desert, rainforest), and align textual place-names with their positions on the visual map. Students also research a chosen feature and draw it on a postcard, combining written descriptions with a hand-drawn visual representation.
Final Project
Local Geography Book
Students are asked in Part 1 to create a map or other visual representation of a chosen place and are given specific options such as a contour map, color-coded elevation map, relief map, or 3-D relief map (with a photograph of the finished model). In Part 2 students write detailed descriptions of landforms, water forms, and climate, and the project rubric explicitly requires that the map be accurate and clearly labeled and that landforms, waterforms, and climate be described. The final book assembly directs students to include the map alongside the written "Written Descriptions" and "Human Activities" pages, putting visual and textual materials side by side.
Unit 2: The People of Sparks
Lesson 1
The City of Ember
Students are asked to look up vocabulary definitions (including the technical term "thermodynamics") and record those definitions in a chart. Students must draw an illustration for each vocabulary word in the chart and write a sentence using each word, integrating the written definition with a visual representation. The Student Activity Page is organized as a table where students record definition, illustration, and sentence for each term.
Lesson 3
Discovery
Students are asked to keep a "New Environment, New Discoveries" learning log in which they record specific discoveries from the text (oxen, earth is round, milk comes from cows, etc.) and illustrate each discovery in labeled boxes. The activity directs students to group similar items, label pages by category, and use the graphic-organizer grid to represent discoveries visually.
Lesson 6
Flags
Students are instructed to illustrate the city of Ember and the city of Sparks, including landforms, bodies of water, and manmade structures, and to make a Venn diagram that compares the two cities. The activity explicitly tells students to use their log from Lesson 3 and the movie to remember discoveries and then represent similarities and differences visually. A student activity page and an image of a Venn diagram are provided as the visual organizer for that comparison task.
Lesson 8
Unfairness
Students are asked to record features of American city governments and the government of Sparks on a 'Town Government Systems' activity page that uses a two-column table for comparison. Students are also asked in Option 2 to make a diagram that illustrates a government system for Ember, describing leadership, selection, and functions. The activities require students to convert descriptive information about governments (from the book and prior knowledge) into a visual form (table or diagram).
Lesson 10
The Decision
Students are asked in Activity 3 to list science-related details from the novel and then either (Option 1) illustrate what Sparks might look like once people use electricity and describe five ways electricity will change their lives, or (Option 2) write directions for an experiment including a materials list, step-by-step directions, and illustrations. The Student Activity Page directs students to complete a bubble map (graphic organizer) that places the story conflict in the center and records textual evidence in surrounding bubbles. Activity 3 explicitly ties technical topics (energy/electricity and plants) from the text to student-created visual representations and procedural writing.
Final Project
Wars and Plagues or A New Environment
Students gather information from written research about a selected war or plague and are instructed to "show on a map the countries/regions that were affected" and to shade affected areas, converting textual geographic descriptions into a visual map. Students are asked to list six major events from their research on a "Timeline of Events" graphic organizer, placing textual chronological information into a visual timeline. Students complete a Venn diagram comparing Ember and Sparks and create a newspaper report that must "effectively include information from the research" and include two related visuals, all requiring translation of written information into visual forms.
Unit 3: Our Changing Earth
Lesson 1
The Rock Cycle
Students read pp. 90-91 of Dirtmeister and watch the "Rock Cycle" video to learn technical descriptions of how igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks form. Students are given a Rock Cycle chart and Rock Types visuals in the Rock Science Kit and the Student Activity Page, and they use the textual information as a guide to place each physical rock specimen into the correct visual category (igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary). The activity requires students to compare the written definitions/processes with the graphic representations and with real rock samples, then check and revise their classifications using the kit's visuals and answer key.
Lesson 2
Inside the Earth
Students are directed to read text (pp. 58–65) and to look at a graphic on p. 41, and then to use those diagrams as a guide when building a 3D model of the Earth. In both model options students must show all four layers (inner core, outer core, mantle, crust), cut a wedge or show each layer, and explain which model layer corresponds to which textual description. The igneous rock demonstration gives students a written procedure with measured quantities and asks them to observe and describe visual changes and relate cooling method to rock type.
Lesson 3
Igneous Rocks and Volcanoes
Students read technical text that includes quantitative details (for example, felsic magma is about 60% silica and mafic magma about 45% silica) and are directed to use that information while completing the 'Igneous Rock Observations' table that records texture, where cooled, color, and where magma formed. Students watch two videos that provide visual examples of rock textures and use those visuals to classify their kit specimens on the activity pages. Students also match written descriptions of volcano types to drawn volcano shapes in the 'Volcanoes Match!' activity and use the USGS interactive map (visual) to connect written location and advisory information to map icons and photos of real volcanoes.
Lesson 4
Earthquakes and Moving Plates
Students are assigned pages (pp. 34-39 and 42-43) that describe seismic waves, earthquake causes, and hazard information, then answer targeted questions about wave types and measurement. In Activity 2 students create P and S waves with a Slinky (and/or rope), directly translating the textual descriptions of wave motion into an observable physical model. In Activity 3 students color a keyed "Earthquake Shaking Hazards" map and identify their state's hazard level, integrating hazard-level information with a visual map. In Activity 1 students build models on clay, sand, and soil and count taps until collapse, converting qualitative descriptions about ground and construction into quantitative measurements tied to a visual model.
Lesson 5
Metamorphic and Sedimentary Rocks
Students are directed to read technical text (pp. 66–67, 84–89) and to "view the pictures on pp. 67, 29, and 88 for details," linking textual descriptions to visual examples. Students are instructed to use the Rock Types chart (a visual diagram on the back of the Rock Cycle chart) and the booklet while completing the Metamorphic Rock Observations and Sedimentary Rock Observations tables. Students complete observation tables that require them to record rock names, indicate foliated/non-foliated or clastic/non-clastic, and note textures and imprints, which pairs textual definitions with visual/diagrammatic classification tools.
Lesson 6
Weathering
Students build a sugar-cube model in the "Drip, Drip, Drip" activity that visually represents how water weathers rock and then record observations about how drips change the structure. Students run the "Ice Cold Weathering" experiment, compare physical briquette conditions (wet, dry, frozen), and draw conclusions based on visual differences in the samples. Students document real-world weathering on a walk using photographs, sketches, or written descriptions, linking observed visuals to weathering concepts in the readings.
Final Project
Presenting the Rock Cycle
Students are directed to read the Rock Cycle chart and the Rock Types chart and then sketch and create slides or visual aids that answer specific technical questions (e.g., the stages of the rock cycle; how each stage changes the face of the Earth). Slide and video templates prompt students to produce diagrams/visuals for questions such as how earthquakes, volcanoes, weathering, and erosion change the land. Rubrics for all project options explicitly evaluate whether students show paths rocks take through the cycle and whether visual aids illustrate geological processes (e.g., volcanoes creating new rock, erosion changing geography).
Unit 3: Short Stories
Lesson 3
The Dog of Pompeii
The "A Volcano" activity provides technical instructions and quantitative measurements in words (e.g., 2 tablespoons baking soda, 2 cups vinegar, 2-3 cups water) and step-by-step procedure for creating a model volcano. Students are directed to build a physical volcano model (a visual representation) and then pour ingredients to simulate an eruption. The Volcano Experiment Sheet asks students to state a question, hypothesis, list materials, record procedure, results, and conclusion while testing variables such as amount of vinegar or baking soda.
Lesson 4
Rip Van Winkle
Students are asked to locate the Catskill Mountains on a map of the U.S., which requires them to connect textual setting information to a geographic visual. Students are also directed to research information about the Catskill Mountains in an encyclopedia and to write ten trivia questions, which would prompt gathering factual (potentially technical) details. The lesson includes an image of the Catskill Mountains for students to compare with the author's descriptive words and phrases.
Lesson 5
Zlateh the Goat
Students are asked to cut out the Hanukkah dreidel template and follow step-by-step assembly instructions, using a visual pattern to construct a three-dimensional model. The lesson provides a diagram of the dreidel and a labeled template showing the four Hebrew letters, and a written 'Symbols and Rules' / 'Let's Play' section that maps each letter to a game action. The instructions list materials and procedural steps in words that students must integrate with the printed visual template and diagram to complete and use the dreidel.
Lesson 6
Women in Short Stories
Students follow step-by-step technical instructions paired with illustrations in the "How to Draw a Great White Heron" activity, using the written directions and sketches together to produce a drawing. Students read a materials list and numbered construction steps alongside labeled diagrams on the "Birdhouse Feeder" page to build a feeder. The "Bird Wreath" recipe gives quantitative measurements in text (e.g., 2 cups birdseed, 1/4-oz gelatin, boiling water amounts, refrigeration time) accompanied by illustrative images showing the preparation and final shape.
2: Force and Power
Unit 1: Slavery and the Civil War
Lesson 1
Antebellum America
Students use the Population Map activity where they take census numbers (e.g., New York 813,669) and place one dot per 10,000 people on a U.S. map, turning written numeric data into a visual dot-density representation. Students read and interpret the map and left-hand page data (e.g., factory production ratios such as 10:1 or 15:1) and answer questions comparing the textual descriptions to the map symbols and ratios. Students also extract dated events from readings and add them to a physical timeline, converting chronological text information into a visual timeline.
Lesson 3
Disunion and the Start of the Civil War
Activity 1 directs students to cut out, color, and add relevant events from the assigned readings to a Civil War timeline, and the parent notes explicitly tell students to add dated events such as the election of Jefferson Davis, John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry, and the attack on Fort Sumter. The Skills section names dated items (Missouri Compromise (1820), Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)) that students are to analyze and sequence. The activities also ask students to sequence and categorize events, which requires translating textual chronological information into a visual timeline.
Lesson 4
Leadership and the Civil War
In Activity 1 (Civil War Timeline), students are instructed to review the reading and add dates from the text to timeline cards, converting textual chronological information into a visual timeline. Multiple student activity pages ask students to complete comparison charts and leader cards (for Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, McClellan, Grant, Jackson, Lee, etc.), where students must transfer written background, roles, and notable events into a structured visual card or chart.
Lesson 6
Major Battles of the Civil War
Students are asked to add major battles from the assigned chapters to a Civil War timeline, converting dates and event descriptions in the text into timeline cards. Students locate and label battle sites on a provided map, using place information and outcomes from the reading and circling Union or Confederate victories in color. Students complete a Civil War Monument worksheet that asks for date, location, important details, and a sketch, requiring them to represent textual information about a battle in a visual design.
Lesson 7
The Homefront Experience
Students are given numeric price information in prose (e.g., 1862 and 1865 prices for bacon, sugar, potatoes, and flour) and step-by-step directions (subtract, divide, convert to percent) for calculating percent change. The Student Activity Pages present tables labeled with 1862 Price, 1865 Price, and Price Increase (%) and a separate table for Current Price with columns for 5%, 10%, 50%, and 2000% increases. Instructions and an example (multiply by 25 for a 2500% increase) direct students to compute values from the written descriptions and record the results in the provided tables.
Lesson 8
Gettysburg and Beyond
Students are instructed to "use your Civil War timeline to record any important events and dates from this lesson's readings," which requires extracting dates and events from text and placing them on a visual timeline. Students are also told to continue the "Civil War Map" pages and "complete the sections for the battles listed under 'Lesson 8,'" which requires locating and marking battles on a map. The Venn diagram activity directs students to highlight phrases in three documents and place overlapping ideas into a visual diagram.
Lesson 9
End of War and Reconstruction
Students are asked to read chapters 28–31 and then add important events from the reading to a Civil War timeline, using blank timeline cards to record events (including dates such as Lee's surrender and the Reconstruction amendments). In Activity 3, students convert textual descriptions of freed peoples' lives into two contrasting images (before and after emancipation), showing significant details from their readings. Option 2 provides a Plot Diagram organizer that requires students to take story elements from their historical research and place them into a visual diagram (characters, setting, problem, climax, resolution).
Final Project
Remembering the Civil War
Students are directed to display and revise a timeline they created and to include that timeline in their museum exhibit, which requires them to present textual event descriptions as a visual sequence. Students must write exhibit cards (short written explanations) to accompany visual displays and include interactive visual elements such as a printed map of Sherman's March that visitors can trace. In the documentary option, students plan narration (words) to accompany still images, maps, or reenactments, explicitly requiring integration of verbal explanations with visual media.
Unit 1: Bull Run
Lesson 1
Background on the Civil War
Students are asked to color and label a blank map of Civil War–era states using information about which states were Union, Confederate, or border states, integrating textual descriptions into a visual map. Students cut out dated event descriptions and paste them in chronological order on a multi-month 1861 timeline, turning text with dates into a visual sequence. An extension explicitly directs students to write how long each Confederate state had been a member of the Union on the map, converting admission-date information (quantitative) from a chart into annotations on a visual map.
Lesson 2
Pink and Say
Activity 4 (Option 2) directs students to use a Venn diagram to compare life during the Civil War to life today, asking them to place similarities and differences in a visual diagram. Activity 1 asks students to identify and record factual information about the Civil War in a journal, which supplies textual details that students could place into the Venn diagram. The parent notes reiterate that students will create a Venn diagram to explore similarities and differences.
Lesson 3
Joining the Ranks
Students are instructed in Activity 1 to read character descriptions and cut out each character's symbol and paste it on the state in which the character resided before the war using a colored map. The directions require students to use the book's text (and sometimes research town names) to determine each character's home and then place that information onto a visual map. The Student Activity Pages include a 'Cast of Characters' spread divided into North and South, prompting students to categorize characters visually based on textual information.
Unit 2: Force and Motion
Lesson 1
Force and Motion Basics
Students are instructed to read the timeline on pages IV–V to learn about important force and motion discoveries, and they then review and cut out scientist cards that pair scientists with their discoveries. Students practice matching each scientist with a corresponding discovery and can play a memory game that requires them to connect the text labels (names/discoveries) across the cards. The activity page and glossary require students to match technical vocabulary words with their definitions.
Lesson 2
Forces
Students read the specified pages describing types of forces and then complete the Force Scavenger Hunt by recording two examples for each force in a table, directly turning textual descriptions into a visual chart. In the Building Bridges activity students record bridge modifications and the number of coins each bridge supported in a table and are asked to sketch their original bridge, linking quantitative results with a visual model. In the Book Buddies experiment students determine a numerical outcome (the fewest number of pages that hold the notebooks) and discuss how surface area affects friction, providing another instance of measuring text-described phenomena.
Lesson 3
Gravity
Students record quantitative measurements and outcomes in the provided experiment table (Round | Object 1 | Object 2 | Which is heavier? | Which is larger? | Result) as they weigh objects with a dynamometer and time their drops. Students compute their weight on other planets by using given numerical multipliers and entering the results in the "How Much Do You Weigh?" table, using a calculator. Students also complete parachute and parachute-test result sections where they record test outcomes and relate surface area (a quantitative property) to descent rate.
Lesson 4
Laws of Motion
Students collect quantitative data (mass in grams and force in newtons) in the Force Experiment and record those numbers in a table. Students are instructed to plot mass and force for each object on a labeled graph (Mass in grams on one axis and Force in newtons on the other) and draw lines between points. Students also state and illustrate Newton's laws in posters, linking written descriptions (words) to visual representations (images/diagrams).
Lesson 5
Magnetism
Students read text sections (including the "How can we measure magnetism?" material and Question #4 which states numeric strengths in teslas) and then record predictions and results in a provided table (Magnet | Prediction | Result). Students use a compass and follow video instructions to map and draw magnetic field lines (diagrams) for the neodymium and marble magnets and label poles and vector arrows. Students are also asked to interpret their experimental results by answering what the results tell them about the size of each magnet's magnetic field.
Lesson 6
Buoyancy
Students collect quantitative measurements (mass, water level before and after submersion) and enter them into a provided data table with columns for Object, Mass (grams), Water Level (without/with object), Volume, and Density. The lesson gives the density formula in words (density = mass ÷ volume), shows a sample filled table with numeric calculations, and asks students to explain how they calculated densities using the words displacement, volume, density, and mass. Illustrations (crown with beaker; bowl sketch) accompany the procedures and the student activity pages that require matching text descriptions to table entries.
Lesson 7
Forces at Work
Students read explicit technical text that defines work and gives the formula W = F × D and examples (e.g., 2 N × 0.5 m = 1 J). The materials include visual representations (illustrations of a screw, a lever with a fulcrum, a stack of coins, and a diagram/hint for building a cart) and students are prompted to build models (ramps, levers, pulleys, wheel-and-axle) and to use the extra space to create diagrams and notes. Station hints and parent notes guide students to compare outcomes (e.g., screw vs nail holding strength) and to test designs, which involves translating technical descriptions into physical/visual models.
Final Project
Force and Motion Stations
The sample station "Weight in Space" asks students to calculate weight on different celestial bodies and to cut out images of each planet and write the force-of-gravity multiplier on each one, which requires transferring numeric (quantitative) information into a visual form. The Station Planning page is a table where students record Possible Activities and Possible Materials for each topic, requiring students to place written planning information into a tabular visual format. The station card directions ask students to write procedures and an optional "Takeaway" that can include the type of data or conclusions visitors should observe, prompting students to summarize technical findings alongside station visuals or materials.
Unit 2: Albert Einstein
Lesson 1
Who Is Albert Einstein?
Students are instructed to look at a map of Europe, add the names of countries to blanks next to listed capitals, and put a star on each country where Albert Einstein resided. The activity explicitly tells students to place a star on countries from the text and to include the date, if available. The map pages and answer key are provided so students can match textual place and date information with locations on a visual map.
Lesson 2
Einstein, The Boy
In Activity 3 students are instructed to cut, assemble, and use a two-page timeline to "record events you read about" and to "include a date if provided." The timeline images show marked years (1880–1915 and 1920–1955), requiring students to place textual events at appropriate points on a visual scale. Directions ask students to record important events from the chapters in chronological order, directly converting written descriptions (and provided dates) into a visual diagram.
Lesson 4
Research and Discovery
Students conduct the Bending Light demonstration, observe a photograph of a pencil in a glass of water, and read a written explanation of refraction, requiring them to connect the verbal/technical explanation of light bending with a visual image and live model. In Activity 6 students use toys as physical models to explain the theory of relativity based on examples from the book or videos (including an E=mc² video), requiring translation of technical ideas expressed in words into a visual/physical model. The timeline/biography web activity asks students to place textual events onto a visual timeline, reinforcing conversion of textual information into a visual representation.
Lesson 5
The Professor
Students are asked in Question 4 to "illustrate the trampoline demonstration (described on page 86) that helps explain how gravity is a warping of time and space," requiring them to convert a technical textual description into a diagram. A sample image (gravity-well drawing) is provided as a possible answer, showing the expected visual representation of the text. Students are also instructed to add events to an Einstein timeline and to fill a Biography Web, which requires placing information from the reading into visual organizers.
Final Project
Biography Scrapbook
Students are instructed to "Fill in the details on the 'Certificate of Birth' page" using factual information and to "Add color to the certificate," which requires transferring textual facts (name, date, year, place) into a visual certificate form. The lesson also tells students to "Use your biography web and timeline to assist you," and to design an award/certificate and assemble photographs and other artifacts, all of which ask students to place researched textual/biographical information into visual artifacts.
Unit 3: World Wars I and II
Lesson 3
The End of World War I
The Student Activity Page asks students to complete a three-column table that compares key parts of Wilson's Fourteen Points (text) with reasons he supported them and how the Treaty of Versailles was similar or different (visual organization). Activity 2 directs students to use Hakim Chapter 2 and the provided activity page to analyze and record textual information in the table and to answer follow-up reflection questions about why Wilson failed to achieve his goals.
Lesson 4
World War II Before U.S. Involvement
Students are asked to read chapters from a history text and then transfer information into structured, visual student pages such as the "World Leaders" organizer (sections for country, affiliation, form of government, important actions, and goals). The "Dear Mr. President" activity directs students to create two columns labeled "reasons to go to war" and "reasons to stay out of the war," requiring students to turn written arguments from the reading into a simple visual pros-and-cons chart. Both tasks require students to extract information expressed in words in the reading and place it into a visual format or organizer.
Lesson 5
Mobilizing for War
Students are asked in Rationing Activity Option 1 to determine miles per gallon from text instructions, multiply that value by four, and record trips in a provided table with starting/ending odometer readings and miles traveled. In Rationing Activity Option 2 students tally usage of rationed food items in a chart, converting weekly consumption described in words into a visual tally/chart. Students are also asked to sketch a diagram of a planned victory garden, turning a written life-application prompt about what to plant into a visual plan.
Lesson 6
Wartime Skills
Students are given a textual description of the Navajo encoding procedure (how to represent letters by choosing English words and then translating them into Navajo) and the alphabetic portion of the Navajo Code Talkers' Dictionary presented as a table of English letters, Navajo words, and literal translations. The Student Activity Page instructs students to choose an English word for each letter of their name and then "translate those words into the Navajo code & write your name in code below," requiring use of the visual code table alongside the written procedure. The activity and sidebar explicitly direct students to apply the written encoding rules to the visual table to produce coded messages.
Lesson 7
War in the Pacific and North Africa
Students are instructed to read textual accounts and then identify and label locations and events from the readings on a large World War II map, including shading areas of Japanese expansion and marking battles like Midway, Coral Sea, and Guadalcanal. The map activity explicitly invites students to color-code and use symbols to represent outcomes, naval forces, bombing raids, or troop movements, tying textual descriptions to a visual diagram. The Weapons of War activity asks students to describe weapons from the readings and to draw or paste images on exhibit cards, comparing how the weapons differed from earlier technology.
Lesson 8
War in Europe
Students are asked in Activity 1 to label the correct locations for events (Allied capture of Palermo, Operation Avalanche, D-Day, The Battle of the Bulge) on a map, using A History of US as a reference. The lesson directs students to consult the book's map (page 166 referenced) and the world map answer key image to place and identify event locations visually. The lesson also instructs students to "know the locations and significance" of the events listed on their map, linking textual descriptions to map placement.
Final Project
A World War II Board Game
Students are given explicit numerical instructions (create thirty-six question-and-answer cards; 12 cards for each of three categories) and are told to cut, glue, and arrange those cards into physical stacks for use in the game. Students are instructed to label at least 3 spaces for each category (EUROPE, PACIFIC, US HOMEFRONT) on the visual game board and to place the appropriate card stacks on those spaces. Student activity pages show grid layouts and card templates labeled with maps and category names, providing visual versions of the category information.
Unit 3: Number the Stars
Lesson 1
Background on Denmark and World War II
Students are instructed to use the chart "European Involvement in WWII," which lists countries under Axis Powers, At War with Germany, German-Occupied, and Neutral, to complete a map activity. Students are asked to color-code countries on a blank map according to those categories, directly matching the written chart to a visual representation. An answer-key map with a legend showing the four categories is provided for checking students' map work.
Lesson 2
Soldiers on Every Corner
Students examine the "Proofreading Symbols and Abbreviations Chart" and focus on symbols for inserting commas, words, apostrophes, and quotation marks, then read a paragraph and rewrite it using those visual symbols to correct the text. Students correct a paragraph at the bottom of the editing page using the four symbols they learned, directly applying visual proofreading marks to written sentences. Students also complete an "Impact of Occupation Chart" by filling columns such as Area of Life and Possible Impact, converting written ideas about occupation into a tabular visual format.
Lesson 3
The Button Shop
Students view an "Editing Symbols" chart that pairs visual symbols with editing actions (insert period, space needed, close space, delete, transpose) and copy the first paragraph in their journal using those symbols. Students mark the second paragraph with the five editing symbols to show where corrections are needed and complete a "Finding Symbols" page by underlining symbols in a paragraph and circling the words associated with those symbols. Students also review and write each symbol and use an answer key to check symbol-to-word mappings.
Lesson 4
In Hiding
Students read Chapters 5 and 6 and are directed to record three problem/solution situations on a 'Problem and Solution' student activity page, transferring problems described in the text into a three-column graphic organizer with arrows from Problem to Solution. The Student Activity Page is explicitly a visual diagram (columns and arrows) that students fill with information taken from the written chapters. Students also fill a menorah-shaped graphic organizer with labeled categories (Foods, Holidays, History, Tradition, etc.), taking textual information about Jewish religion and placing it into a visual structure.
Lesson 5
In the Country
Students are assigned the role of a "travel tracer" to follow where the action happens in Chapters 7 and 8 and to "describe where the characters have moved to and from". The task asks students to describe each setting "either in words or in map form" and explicitly tells students to "be sure to give the page locations where each scene is described." Parent notes also encourage children to share a map or descriptions of the setting.
Lesson 6
Aunt Birte is Dead
Students are shown an image that lists four editing symbols (Sp, -s, S/V, T) alongside written explanations, providing a visual representation of technical editorial notation. Activity 1 directs students to rewrite a paragraph making corrections indicated by those editing abbreviations and to edit a second paragraph by marking mistakes with the learned symbols. An answer-key image displays a passage annotated with the same symbols, linking specific textual errors to visual marks.
Lesson 7
Run!
Students are asked to act as an illustrator and create a sketch, cartoon, diagram, or stick-figure scene based on Chapters 11–13, converting story elements into a visual form. In Activity 2, students complete a Venn diagram to compare and contrast Annemarie's sacrifice with that of a historical figure, recording unique and shared aspects in the diagram. The student activity pages and images show labeled diagrams (proofreading symbols and the Venn diagram) that students fill in to represent textual information visually.
Lesson 9
A Magazine Article
The lesson asks students to include two pictures and to look for statistics and "factoids" to "spice up" their article, and it provides a magazine template with designated areas for quotes and factoids. The Bubble Map and other graphic organizers require students to place central topics, subtopics, and supporting details visually. The research activity directs students to find information and images and to note sources, encouraging inclusion of visual elements alongside written content.
3: Change
Unit 1: Matter
Lesson 1
Elements and the Periodic Table
Students read text descriptions and percentage breakdowns of the atmosphere, ocean, Earth's crust, and the human body and view corresponding pie charts that visually represent those quantitative values. Students are directed to locate the 12 most common elements on a periodic table (text list → visual table). For compounds, students refer to the "Common Compounds in Nature" table that lists elements and chemical formulas and then build clay-and-toothpick molecular models that represent those formulas visually.
Lesson 2
Introduction to Metals
Students read technical descriptions of metals in the text and are directed to locate each metal on the provided periodic table and write down its family. Students conduct observations and record those technical properties (color, luster, heaviness, malleability, magnetism) in a provided chart/table for aluminum, copper, and iron. Students synthesize their recorded information into a Venn diagram to show similarities and differences and are asked to create an informational poster or collage that includes the element's symbol and atomic number.
Lesson 3
Introduction to Metalloids
Students are asked to look at a periodic table and discuss the seven metalloids, linking element names and positions (visual) with properties described in the text. In Activity 1 students measure how far Silly Putty stretches, record those measurements and observations in an Observations table comparing room-temperature and frozen results (quantitative data in a visual table). In Activity 2 students fill in a "Metals, Metalloids, and Nonmetals" activity page and a mini-book (visual organizers) using information read in the text about properties, symbols, and atomic numbers.
Lesson 4
Introduction to Nonmetals
Students are asked to use a periodic table (visual) to identify the eleven gaseous elements and to pick one gaseous element to research using the book and an interactive periodic table website. Students complete the 'Test Your Nonmetal' activity sheet that includes spaces for procedure, observations, conclusions and a small graph in the bottom right for recording data. Students perform the 'A Feast for Yeast' experiment, record observations, and draw conclusions about carbon releasing carbon dioxide (a technical, measurable result).
Lesson 5
Classifying as Solids, Liquids, or Gases
Students are given a written list naming the eleven gaseous elements and the two liquid elements at room temperature and are instructed to color a provided "States of Matter Periodic Table" (color solids blue, liquids red, gases green) using that list. The student activity description explicitly identifies the periodic table as a visual version of elemental information and directs students to use the colored table to fill in the "State of matter at room temperature" section for metals, metalloids, and nonmetals. Observation tables and diagram boxes in the freezing/melting/evaporation activities require students to record textual observations alongside simple visual tables or before/after diagrams.
Lesson 6
Classifying by Density
Students are instructed to use a "Periodic Table with Density" (visual table) and to "use the density periodic table to solve the puzzles" (Activity 3), including a puzzle that gives the density of air (1.29 g/L) in text and asks students to identify which gases would make a balloon float by comparing those values to the table. Puzzle 4 gives numeric densities for three mystery elements and asks students to identify the elements using the density table. Several activities also require students to draw and label visual results (sketch the cup, label layers in a jar) while ordering substances by density.
Lesson 7
Classifying by Magnetic Properties
Students are instructed to copy and label the diagrams of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic elements from the book (Part 1) and to create a similar diagram for a diamagnetic element, linking textual definitions to drawings. Students are asked to draw the image of a magnet floating between two bismuth plates and add poles and arrows after reading the explanatory web text (Part 2). Students examine a color-coded periodic table titled "Classifying Elements by Magnetism" and use it to fill in magnetism properties for metals, metalloids, and nonmetals (Part 3).
Lesson 8
Classifying by Conductivity
Students read a linked article and a textbook passage about elements (tungsten, yttrium) and answer content questions. Students perform hands-on experiments and record results in an Observations table for electricity (Material | Conducted Electricity?) and in a table for the heat experiment. Students also view an illustration of the circuit setup while connecting materials and noting when electricity flows.
Final Project
Mystery Elements
Students are asked to draw a diagram of a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) molecule in the short-answer test and the answer key shows the expected molecular diagram. Students record technical observations (state of matter, color, luster, heaviness, magnetic, malleable, conductivity) in the "Mystery Element Observations" table and fill a "Matter Challenge" chart where they draw each mystery element and list whether it is a metal, metalloid, or nonmetal and which element it is. Students are instructed to analyze findings by comparing test results and observations with information gathered throughout the unit and to use an interactive periodic table (a visual resource) to research and confirm element identities.
Unit 1: Tuck Everlasting
Lesson 1
Getting Ready
Students are given a Parts of Speech Table (a visual table) with functions, sample words, and sample sentences and are asked to review it. Students are shown a Grammar Symbols Chart that maps geometric shapes to parts of speech and instructed to use colored symbols to identify parts of speech in sentences. Students cut out Parts of Speech Cards and play a Memory game that requires matching vocabulary/definition cards (words expressed in text) with symbol/word cards (visual representations). Students create a Vocabulary Picture Dictionary by writing each word and drawing a picture to represent its definition.
Lesson 2
The Wood
Students are asked to design a map of the book's setting based on the author's description, translating textual descriptions of roads, turns, and features into a visual map. An illustration option asks students to underline sentences from the text and create a picture that reflects those textual descriptions. In the parts-of-speech activity, students place laminated symbols above each word and refer to a Grammar Symbols Chart and Parts of Speech Table, integrating textual words with visual labels and a table/chart.
Lesson 4
The Tucks
Students read a technical explanation of groundwater (definitions, how it moves from recharge to discharge, and forces like gravity and pressure) in the lesson text. They then follow the 'Investigating Groundwater' simulation procedure to build a 2‑liter bottle model with sand, gravel, and stones and observe how water penetrates layers and drains. The lesson also provides a groundwater video as a visual explanation and prompts parents to ask the child to explain what is happening beneath the surface when it rains.
Lesson 5
At Home with the Tucks
The Juxtaposition Option 2 asks students to "record words and phrases from the text" on the top half of folded paper and then "illustrate the two homes as you imagine them, based on the author's descriptions" on the bottom half, requiring students to turn textual descriptions into a visual representation. The student activity pages and instructions explicitly direct students to locate descriptive words/phrases and create corresponding illustrations of the Fosters' and Tucks' homes.
Lesson 6
The Man in the Yellow Suit
In Activity 2 students read quoted text that describes natural cycles in words and then are instructed to "collect small items from nature to represent the cycles and changes" and "put the items... into a clear jar". Students must "explain to your parent the significance of each item in the jar" and "describe the cycle or change each item represents," which asks them to create a visual/model representation of ideas expressed in the text.
Lesson 8
The Gallows
Students are instructed to "identify the parts of speech in the two sentences by placing the correct laminated symbol above each word," which requires mapping words in a text to visual symbols. A labeled table of commonly used subordinating conjunctions presents technical grammatical information in a visual (tabular) form. The answer-key images show sentences with each word visually labeled by part of speech, providing a model that links the verbal description of grammatical function to a visual representation.
Lesson 9
The Plan
Students are directed to identify three examples of cause and effect from the novel and to record them in a journal. Students are given two graphic organizers (cause-to-effect and effect-to-cause) with arrows and numbered boxes and are instructed to fill the organizer and then use it as an outline for a paragraph. A sample paragraph models how to turn the textual events (e.g., the man hearing a music box) into a brief visual-to-text representation and back into prose.
Unit 2: Civil Rights
Lesson 9
Legacies of the Movement
Students are asked to read Nobody Gonna Turn Me 'Round pages 56–58, and page 58 is described explicitly as a timeline (a visual representation of events). Students complete activities that require creating visual products: Option 1 of Activity 2 asks students to fill a four-quadrant graphic organizer titled "A Lifetime of Activism," and Option 2 asks students to create an informational flyer combining researched text with visual elements. Option 2 of Activity 1 asks students to present pairs of objects or images as analogies that represent "before" and "after" conditions.
Final Project
Presenting Your Research
Students are asked to create a learning station poster that explicitly must include images, a timeline, and a key message about the person they researched. The unit test and activity pages require students to number events in chronological order and to match historical events to years, which requires translating textual/date information into an ordered visual sequence. The project rubric and presentation options ask students to design visual elements and present information visually (e.g., illustrated book, poster, learning station, listening station with explanatory cards).
Unit 2: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Lesson 2
A Visitor
Students are asked to record researched information on the "Mississippi Facts" graphic organizer that includes a Map and a Population section and spaces for Weather/Climate and Natural Resources. In Option 2, students must create a tri-fold brochure that requires a map with three largest cities, two rivers, and two lakes labeled; a panel drawing natural resources; a panel writing about climate with graphics; and a panel providing statistics and facts (population, governor, capital, number of representatives). The lesson includes a brochure layout diagram image to guide students in placing visual and textual elements together.
Lesson 3
The Bus
Students are instructed to "Follow the guidelines shown in the formal letter template below" and are shown an image that labels sender address, recipient address, date, salutation, body, closing, signature, and printed name. The Things to Know and Parent Plan explicitly tell students to "Know the format of a formal letter" and provide written examples of salutations and closings that students must use. Activity 2 requires students to write a 6–10 sentence formal letter that incorporates those written requirements and uses the visual template to format the letter.
Lesson 9
Papa's Accident
The lesson provides a written explanation of the sharecropping system including quantitative detail ("they would usually get to keep only 50% (sometimes less) of the money made from selling the crops"). Activity 1, Option 1 asks students to "Draw a diagram that visually explains the sharecropping system" and specifies the diagram should include both visual elements and text. The Wrapping Up step requires students to "Explain the system of sharecropping to a sibling or parent using your diagram or your picture and quote," prompting students to use their visual representation to communicate the information.
Lesson 11
Trouble
The Student Activity Page is a chart titled "Symbol Meaning Example" that pairs visual proofreading symbols with their meanings and example sentences. Instructions tell students to "Use the editing symbols page to correct your paper" and to "Read through your rough draft and make changes," which requires applying the chart's visual symbols to textual corrections. The activity includes explicit examples showing each proofreading symbol used in context, linking the written explanation to the visual mark.
Final Project
Unit Test and Presentation for Change
Students are instructed to make four slides/posters and each slide/poster must include bullet points, charts or diagrams, and at least one graphic related to the slide content. Students are given a "PowerPoint Organizer" graphic organizer to plan and illustrate ideas for each slide. The presentation rubric evaluates visuals, asking that visuals support ideas, be clear and easy to follow, and use integrated media to help the listener follow the presentation.
Unit 3: Chemical Change
Lesson 1
Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons
Students use numerical information from the text (atomic number, atomic weight, electron shell capacities) on the "Filling Shells with Electrons" activity page to draw the correct number of electrons for oxygen, argon, and iron. Students are directed to read diagrams (the gold atom on p. 11 and the phosphorus diagram) and to consult the periodic table to compute protons, neutrons, and electrons and then create a visual atomic model (collage or computer illustration) showing shells and electrons. The activity also asks students to explain the parts of their model, linking the numeric/technical data to the visual representation.
Lesson 2
Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures
Students build color-coded gumdrop models that represent atoms, elements, molecules, and compounds (steps instructing each color = an element and building H2O, O2, etc.). The "Your Turn!" table shows visual models alongside substance names and chemical formulas, prompting students to match the visual model to the written formula and classify element vs. compound. In the Metal Sandbox activities students record technical observations (state, magnetism, solubility) in a table and then use a visual separation procedure (filtration/magnet) to show how the written description of properties maps to observable outcomes.
Lesson 3
Physical Changes
Students are directed to read technical descriptions in Kitchen Chemistry and then complete Activity 1 by filling in a table about solids, liquids, and gases using information from the text. Student activity pages require students to draw molecular arrangements (solid, liquid, gas), draw gas filling a vacuum, and draw/label phase-change arrows (red for speeding up, blue for slowing down) that map vocabulary terms to visual transitions. The answer keys and parent notes explicitly link page references and textual definitions to the diagrams and table students must produce.
Lesson 4
Chemical Changes
Students read technical descriptions and procedural text (book pages and activity instructions) and then record quantitative observations in provided visual formats such as the "Temperature Observations Table" in the Rusty Shapes activity and the time-based observations table in the Clean Pennies activity. Students take temperature measurements with a thermometer and enter those numeric observations into the table, and they draw or sketch experimental outcomes in boxes provided on the It's a Gas!, Color Shift, and Prepare a Precipitate activity pages. The Valence activity asks students to record chemical names and formulas alongside molecule types, linking written technical information (formulas, names) with a documented visual list.
Lesson 5
Acids and Bases
Students read the text definitions of pH, acids, and bases (pages 35–41) and are directed to use the pH chart on page 41 and the activity page's 0–14 pH scale to identify and record numeric pH values for household items. The Student Activity Page requires students to write test items in a table, predict pH, measure with pH strips, and record actual pH next to predictions. In Activity 2 students use the provided table of chemical formulas (textual technical information) and then rearrange Valence element cards (a physical/model representation) to create reactants and products such as H2O, CO2, and sodium acetate.
Final Project
Demonstrating the Concepts
Students record observations and pH readings in the Acid Indigestion activity using a table that lists actions and pH (color of litmus paper). The Chemistry Fair Plan provides a table for students to convert their experiment plans and the chemical concepts (words) into a visual organizer (columns for Experiment, Supplies, Chemical Change Concepts, Location). Students collect photos/videos and draw diagrams in the Teeth, Saliva, and Stomach demos and are instructed to include these images and diagrams on posters or slides that explain the chemistry (text) alongside visual representations. The project rubrics explicitly require diagrams and step-by-step visual details of the digestive process on posters/slides.
Unit 3: The Giver
Lesson 3
The Ceremony of Twelve
Students are asked in Reading and Questions to "record on the timeline words or phrases that describe Jonas," and Activity 2 directs students to create a "Timeline of Change" by labeling each age (Ceremony of Seven, Ceremony of Eight, etc.), writing a description of what happens at that age, adding a picture, and ordering the sheets to form a timeline. The Stages of Life activity explicitly maps numbered ages (twos, threes, ... twelve) from the text to a visual sequence, and students must use the textual descriptions of ceremonies to populate each timeline entry.
Lesson 4
The Selection
Students are asked to record words or phrases that describe Jonas on a timeline, which requires placing textual descriptions into a visual chronological representation. Students complete a two-column activity page labeled "Euphemism" and "Actual Meaning," filling a table with meanings drawn from the text. These tasks require students to transfer information expressed in words from the novel into visual formats (timeline and table).
Lesson 5
Memories
Students are directed to use a dictionary and text to identify each word's part of speech, number of syllables, roots/prefixes/suffixes, and definition, and then record those attributes on Vocabulary Web graphic organizers. The History: To Be Forgotten or Remembered? activity asks students to describe three historical events in writing and then place each event and its benefit to the community into paired boxes connected by arrows (a visual organizer). These tasks require students to extract information expressed in words and place that information into a visual diagram.
4: Systems and Interaction
Unit 1: North and South America
Lesson 1
Geography of North America
Students read specified pages in Prisoners of Geography and then label and color a North America map and a United States map using the textual descriptions of borders, rivers, mountains, and cities (Activity 1). Students cut out dated events and place them on a timeline and shade/number territories on a U.S. expansion map to match textual dates and descriptions of acquisitions (Activity 2). Students use written descriptions to shade and label the Canadian Shield and population hotspots on a Canada map and to label physical features on a Mexico map (Activity 3).
Lesson 2
North America Economies
Students record product names and countries of origin in a table on the "Made in the U.S.A.?" activity pages, converting label information (words) into a structured table. The activity directs students to tally the number of products from each country and to create a bar graph or chart representing those counts. Activity 1 asks students to place named natural, capital, and human resources into columns on a Student Activity Page table, matching textual resource descriptions to a visual classification grid.
Lesson 3
The Cultures of North America
Students follow the Day of the Dead student activity page that lists materials with quantities (flour, salt, water) and step-by-step procedures in words while referring to decorative skull illustrations and shaping instructions. Students follow the Remembrance Day poppy instructions that include a petal template and illustrated steps, combining written directions with visual templates. Students complete a three-ring Venn diagram by transferring written cultural information into a visual diagram to compare and contrast the three countries.
Lesson 4
Geography of Central America, The Caribbean, and South America
Students are instructed to read pp. 64-69 of Prisoners of Geography and then use the map on pp. 64-65 as a guide to assemble and label a map of Latin America with specified landforms, bodies of water, and countries. Activity 3 directs students to use an online Caribbean map as a guide to color and label island chains on their map. Activity 4 asks students to research an island and fill an "Island Data Disk" diagram with information (Resources, Climate, Industry, Points of Interest, Plants and Animals, Environment).
Lesson 6
Economic Systems of Central and South America
Students are instructed to research country economies and fill in charts that map agriculture, natural resources, industry, and tourism (Activity 1 and multiple Student Activity Pages). The scavenger hunt and product table (Activity 2) require students to record items, country of origin, and usage in a tabular format. Activity 4 asks students to gather information about imports/exports, industry, natural resources, and agriculture and place that information into a structured 'Economy of ___' page.
Lesson 7
Central and South American Culture
Students follow a written recipe with specific measurements (Potato Ñoquis: 1 lb potatoes, 1/2 cup potato flakes, etc.) and convert that technical, quantitative text into a prepared food. Students use the piñata materials list and step-by-step instructions (materials and layered papering steps) to construct a physical model from written technical directions. Students chart or replicate geometric designs on provided graph paper, translating descriptive notes about symmetry and proportion into a visual grid-based representation. Students also record foods from a word bank onto a "Foods of Central America" activity chart, transferring textual items into a table format.
Final Project
Embassy Reception or Trivia Game
Students are instructed to draw the outline of a country and label the capital city, major rivers, lakes, and landforms for their embassy display, and to include a map section on a tri-fold display. The economy activity page asks students to write a brief paragraph describing the country's economic status and to include images of natural resources, industries, and exports, combining written summaries with visual elements. The trivia game requires students to write questions and answers (text) and then assemble a visual map using the backs of the cards, linking textual content to a visual puzzle.
Unit 1: Esperanza Rising
Lesson 1
Tragedy in Mexico
Students are asked to locate and label geographic places on a provided Map of Mexico, using an atlas or online map, converting place names from text into positions on a visual map. Students create a photo journal by selecting two first-hand textual accounts and pasting corresponding images beside each account, pairing narrative text with visual photographs. The lesson also directs students to locate the table of contents in an informational book, which links chapter headings (words) with page numbers (a simple tabular locator).
Lesson 3
Train Ride
Students are asked to read descriptive and historical passages and then complete Venn diagrams comparing the social/class system and the political system of Mexico and the U.S., using two provided web texts as sources. In Option 1 students are directed to draw the inside of a wealthy train car and a poor car based on the author's description, and to assemble the drawings into a visual train representation. These tasks require students to take information expressed in words (chapter descriptions and web articles) and produce visual representations (Venn diagrams and drawings).
Lesson 4
Los Angeles
Activity 2 directs students to "use a map of the United States with a scale to estimate how far the journey would have been for a family to migrate from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Los Angeles, California," requiring them to combine written/quantitative distance information with a visual map. The Reading and Questions Travel Tracer task asks students to "describe each setting in detail either in words or in map form" and to give page locations, prompting students to convert textual scene descriptions and location references into a visual map. The Dust Bowl poster activity has students paste a photo and record textual quotes on a visual poster, which pairs written information with an image-based display.
Unit 2: Cells
Lesson 1
Microscopes and Cells
The lesson states that microscopes "probably have 3 magnification levels" and asks students to "look at [a slide] under 3 of the magnification levels". The Student Activity Page "Ready for Close Ups!" includes labeled spots "AT ___ MAGNIFICATION" and "WITH THE NAKED EYE" for students to fill in magnification values and draw what they observe. The wrapping-up instructions ask students to explain whether the slide was clear under all magnification levels and to guess why or why not.
Lesson 2
Animal Cells
Students read technical pages about cell structures (pages 8-13) and are instructed to use that information to label a provided Animal Cell Diagram or to draw and label an animal cell (Activity 1). Students prepare cheek cell slides and paramecium slides, observe them under a microscope, and make sketches of what they see, directly linking observations to labeled visuals (Activities 2 and 3). Students complete a two-column comparison chart (Cheek Cell and Paramecium) and produce either an illustrated report or a presentation that combines written facts with drawings and labeled diagrams (Activity 4).
Lesson 3
Plant Cells
Students read assigned pages about cell structure and functions and then label a provided Plant Cell Diagram or draw their own plant cell using information from the reading. Students use a Planning in Three Dimensions page to map organelles to specific materials and then build a 3D model, and finally explain how the 2D diagram and the 3D model are similar and different and justify material choices. The activity directions explicitly link textual descriptions (Things to Know, reading answers) with visual tasks (labeling diagram, drawing, and modeling).
Lesson 4
Systems of Plant and Animal Cells
Students are asked in Activity 1 to read descriptions of factory jobs (words) and place corresponding cell structures into a comparison table (visual/table). In Activity 2 students read/watch explanatory material about levels of organization and then sketch a diagram of the four levels (textual/technical descriptions integrated into a visual diagram). Activity 3 provides a labeled diagram of plant tissues and directs students to make microscope slides, observe cells, and sketch and compare their observations to the diagram (integrating written descriptions and visuals). The Virtual Electron Microscope activity gives textual clues and asks students to identify and label electron microscope images, requiring matching technical descriptions to visuals.
Lesson 5
Large Systems of Life: Ecosystems
Students are asked to read habitat texts (planktonic and benthic) and then label or illustrate organisms, populations, communities, biotic factors, and abiotic factors on ecosystem diagrams (Activity 3). Students create color-coded drawings of biotic and abiotic factors in a local ecosystem (Activity 1) and use the reading and habitat images as reference. The experiment pages give technical measurement details (e.g., 1 teaspoon salt per cup, 70–78°F) and students record results across Days 1–3, linking procedural/technical steps in words to observations.
Lesson 6
Classifying Life
Students create a 3D prokaryotic cell using a prokaryotic cell diagram as a reference and compare it to their earlier 3D plant cell, requiring them to translate written descriptions of cell parts into a physical model. Students build an Animal Classification Collage by finding images and using Internet resources to locate and write each animal's scientific name under the image, pairing technical names (words) with visual representations. Students explore an interactive bacteria model after reading about prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and answer questions that require integrating textual descriptions with the visual/interactive model.
Final Project
Cells and Life on Earth
Students are asked to sketch fungi cells under a microscope and write notes comparing similarities and differences with plant cells, linking written observations to their sketches. In Activity 3 students gather prior cell sketches and use a poster modeled on a Venn diagram and the provided "Four Kingdoms" table to show how the four kingdoms are similar and different on a cellular level, placing written characteristics into a visual organizer. Test and activity pages require students to label cell diagrams and match written descriptions of organelle functions to parts of a diagram, connecting technical text to visual representations.
Unit 2: The Tree That Time Built
Lesson 5
Amphibians and Reptiles
The Camouflage (Option 2) activity has students follow a written procedure (technical directions) to punch and place black and white dots, time one-minute trials, and record quantitative results in the provided "Results" fields ("I picked up ___ black dots."). The activity page also asks students to write a hypothesis, describe the procedure, state numeric results, and draw a conclusion linking the numerical outcome to the concept of camouflage.
Final Project
Poetry Lapbook
The lesson gives numeric and technical instructions that students must follow to create visual artifacts: e.g., fold the accordion book with four equal folds of about 2.5 inches, cut four pieces of construction paper 8.5 inches by 6 inches for the layered book, and cut pages 2 inches shorter sequentially. The haiku fan book specifies the 5/7/5 syllable structure and instructs students to write each line on a separate fan blade and assemble them with a paper fastener. Students read step-by-step, measurement-based directions and then produce physical, visual models (accordion, layered book, fan) that reflect those numerical specifications.
Unit 3: Incas, Aztecs, and Maya
Lesson 1
Incas, Aztecs, and Maya History and Geography
Students read dated historical descriptions (e.g., era ranges such as "Preclassical Era...2000 BCE to 250 CE") and add corresponding timeline cards with specific dates to a two-page visual timeline (Activity 1). Students also use the map on pp. 4-5 of the reading to color and label the geographic regions of the Inca, Aztec, and Maya and complete a map key, directly transferring location information from the text to a visual map (Activity 2).
Lesson 2
Daily Life of the Incas, Aztecs, and Maya
Students use pp. 12-13 of the book to identify how Incan citizens were grouped and then label an "Incan Society Pyramid" diagram, cutting and pasting the written descriptions into the appropriate pyramid levels. In Activity 1 students translate written descriptions of daily life into a drawn scene and then write descriptive answers based on the readings. In Activity 3 students gather natural materials and construct a small house model that reflects building techniques described in the texts.
Lesson 3
Three Cities
Students find dated timeline cards (e.g., Founding of Tenochtitlan 1325 AD, Machu Picchu 1450 AD) and add them to a physical timeline binder, matching card dates to the timeline ranges. Students cut out city names, civilization names, and pictures, match and glue them into labeled boxes, and write descriptive phrases on lines beneath each city. Students create visual artifacts (drawn or clay Sun Stones) and use a graphic organizer with spaces for city, civilization, notes, and a large blank area for drawing or mapping.
Lesson 4
Sharing Knowledge in Ancient Civilizations
The lesson gives written descriptions of the Mayan numeral system (a shell for zero, dots for ones, and horizontal lines for fives) and explains step-by-step how to build numbers below 20 using those rules. It provides multiple visual representations (symbol chart and images for 0, 4, 7, 12) that depict the same numeric information. The Student Activity Page asks students to convert Arabic numbers (10, 13, 5, 18, 6) into Mayan symbols and to use the symbols to solve basic arithmetic. The answer-key image pairs symbolic Mayan representations with equivalent numeric calculations.
Lesson 5
Religion and Celebration
Students are asked to read descriptive text about ceremonies and complete a two-column graphic organizer titled "Ceremonies in the Past and Today," filling in prompts such as "What is the ceremony/event?", "Who is involved?", "Where does it occur?", and "What does the event/ceremony look like?" Students also follow written, step-by-step technical directions to create a Mosaic Mask (cutting the face shape, tearing paper pieces, applying glue, and assembling a physical mask). These activities require students to convert written descriptions and procedural instructions into visual/physical representations.
Lesson 6
Warfare and Gold
Students are asked to read descriptive text about Mesoamerican weapons (pp. 32-33) and then cut out illustrated weapon items and glue them in order of importance, linking textual information about warfare to a visual arrangement. In Option 1 students follow technical, step-by-step instructions (e.g., roll out coils and stack them) to form a cup from air-dry clay, producing a physical model based on written directions and pictured examples on pp. 50-51. In Option 2 students review textual descriptions of Incan gold objects and are prompted to choose one object and draw a picture of it, translating words and images into their own visual representation.
Lesson 7
The Incas
The Quipu activity includes an illustrated example showing columns for hundreds, tens, and ones with specific numbers (e.g., 245, 275) and a practice section where students translate knot patterns into numeric values and perform addition. Students are instructed to build their own quipu, deciding categories to count and using knot placement on strings to represent 1s, 10s, and 100s, then explain how their system works. The timeline activity has students add a dated card (Founding of Cuzco, 1100 AD) to a visual timeline, and the textiles activity has students order labeled production steps and create a mini-poster with drawings and written explanations.
Lesson 8
The Maya and the Aztecs
Students find timeline cards with dates (e.g., "Decline of Mayan Power (850-900 AD)", "Aztecs Arrive in Central Mexico (1200 AD)") and add them to a timeline binder, matching the card dates to the timeline ranges. Students create an "Aztec Children Timeline" by pausing a video and pasting events into four age/stage sections (Baby; Young Child; Older Child 6-14; Teen 15-17), placing verbal/printed events into a visual organizer. The parent answer key and activity directions require students to match textual event descriptions to specific visual timeline slots and age ranges.
Lesson 9
History and Archaeology
In Activity 1 (Ancient Americas Timeline) students take final yellow timeline cards that include event descriptions and dates (e.g., Arrival of Cortes (1519 AD)) and affix them to the appropriate section of a timeline page, matching the date on the card to the date range on the timeline. In Activity 5 (An Artifact / Incan Archaeology) students record textual information about an artifact (name, when it was made, where it was made, important details) and produce a sketch of the object, linking written/technical descriptions to a visual representation. Activity 4 also has students sort written quotes into three labeled visual boxes or onto ship templates, requiring them to map text to a visual organizer.
Final Project
Time Machine
Students are asked to review and use the maps they created and timelines as part of studying for the unit test. The unit test (Options 1 and 2) requires students to label and shade a map to show where the Inca, Aztec, and Maya lived. The final project and journal prompt direct students to refer back to DKfindout! and earlier lessons (text) while completing visual pages (maps, timeline, and drawing) in their travel journal.
Unit 3: Secret of the Andes
Lesson 1
The Andes Mountains
Activity 2 directs students to draw the Andes Mountain range on a labeled map of South America and to shade the countries through which the range stretches (green) and Peru (red). The Things to Know section states that the Andes are located along the western border of South America, and the Parent Plan lists the specific countries (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina) students should shade. The map page includes country labels, a compass rose, and the Equator to support translating the verbal geographic information into a visual representation.
Lesson 2
The Valley
Students are directed to explore web texts about Incan culture and add information to an "Elements of Incan Culture" chart, using words and pictures. The provided student pages are graphic organizers (sections for Holidays, Clothing, Religious Practices, Government, Transportation, Family Roles, Technology) that ask students to record important information visually. The Technology section specifically includes an illustration of a quipu (a knot-record), linking a technical artifact to a visual space where students can record what they learn.
Lesson 9
Belonging
Students follow the Llama Craft page that gives step-by-step technical instructions in words alongside illustrations, so they must use the written procedure together with the visual diagrams to construct the craft. Students research llamas using provided reference links and then create a five-slide slideshow that requires 2–3 sentences or bullet points per slide paired with pictures to reinforce the information. The slideshow directions explicitly tell students to make slides visually engaging and include many pictures to reinforce the written content.
1: Semester 1
Unit 1: Egypt and Mesopotamia
Lesson 1
Civilizations
Students cut out and paste labeled categories onto a four-level pyramid diagram in the "Social Structure" activity, directly converting textual class labels into a visual hierarchy. The answer key and questions ask students to explain why a pyramid is a good diagram because fewer people occupy higher levels and many more occupy the bottom, prompting students to connect verbal descriptions of relative numbers to the diagram. In the timeline activity, students prepare a binder and are instructed to place timeline cards (with dates/events) left-to-right on pages, requiring students to place quantitative date information from text onto a visual timeline.
Lesson 2
Archaeology
Students are asked to use the Dig Site Map (a 3x3 labeled grid) to mark the location of found artifacts and to record the depth at which each artifact was found (write the artifact number and, in parentheses, the depth). Instructions explicitly tell students to compare their physical grid to the map, use a ruler to indicate depth, and transfer numerical depth measurements into the map. Students also draw pictures of artifacts and write detailed descriptions on the "Analyzing Artifacts" pages and may use online digs that provide maps, pictures, and field notes.
Lesson 3
Mesopotamia
Students convert dates from text cards into a visual timeline in Activities 2 and 7 by locating green timeline cards (e.g., Agriculture 10,000 BC; Reign of Hammurabi 1792–1750 BC) and attaching them to a timeline binder. In Activity 1 students use the reading and sample maps (pp. 10 and 36) to create and label a geographic map of Mesopotamia, placing rivers, seas, and cities visually. In Activity 3 students read specific laws from Hammurabi's Code and record and compare those textual laws in a three-column table, integrating technical legal text with a tabular visual format. Activity 8 asks students to produce a research poster that combines textual research with maps and illustrated examples, reinforcing integration of written information with visual representations.
Lesson 4
Ancient Egypt
Students are instructed to create a map of ancient Egypt using the map on page 14 and online maps, labeling the Nile, Nile Delta, regions (Upper/Lower Egypt), cities, and shading fertile versus desert areas, which requires translating geographic text into a visual diagram. Students locate seven timeline cards with dates and attach them to a timeline binder in the correct chronological positions, which requires placing quantitative date information into a visual timeline. Students complete Egyptian ruler trading cards by filling in dates of reign and pasting descriptive "known for" statements onto each card, integrating textual facts about rulers into a visual card format.
Lesson 5
Egyptian Religion and Myths
Students are directed in Activity 4 to use descriptions from the textbook (p.16) and an online guide to cut out images and explanations and arrange them with arrows to create a flowchart showing the embalming/mummification process. In Activity 2 students locate green timeline cards with specific dates and place each card at the appropriate position on a timeline page, matching the written date information to a visual timeline. Both activities require students to convert information expressed in words (procedural steps or dates) into a visual form (flowchart or timeline).
Lesson 6
Daily Life in Egypt
Students are directed to use the "Nile River" student activity page, a four-part graphic organizer, to record (in writing or drawings) ways Egyptians used the Nile, requiring them to convert textual descriptions into a visual chart. In Activity 3, students are told to use pages 14-15 and web resources to fill in tables on the "Life and Work in Ancient Egypt" pages with types of work, tools/natural resources used, and status—moving information from text into tabular form. In Activity 4, students use written descriptions and a referenced web page about ancient houses to color, cut, and assemble a physical 3-D model of an Egyptian worker's house, translating technical textual details into a constructed visual model.
Final Project
Expedition or Web-based Tour
Students are asked to label the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates on a blank map (Unit Test, Question 7), which requires converting textual/geographic information into a visual diagram. The Archaeology Planning Page 2 asks students to complete a two-column chart (Egypt, Mesopotamia) including a row for "How many days would you spend in each location?" and other logistical details, prompting students to place numeric and technical planning information into a table. The "Share Your Findings!" activity requires students to provide written descriptions of artifacts and either draw or attach images, directly pairing technical/textual artifact information with a visual representation.
Unit 1: The Hydrosphere
Lesson 1
The Hydrosphere and the Nature of Water
Students read text and watch a video that describe the atomic composition of water, polarity, cohesion, and surface tension, and then are asked to create a labeled drawing or a three-dimensional model that shows the oxygen and hydrogen atoms and the molecule's positive and negative regions. Students arrange multiple drawn or built molecules to show how opposite charges align and explain how polarity causes cohesion. In the surface tension investigation, students collect quantitative data by counting and recording the number of drops a penny holds across multiple trials (with and without dish soap) in provided tables and then compare and explain the numerical results using molecular concepts.
Lesson 2
Density, Salinity, and Water Behavior
Students read text that defines density (D = M/V) and explains how salinity and temperature affect density. Students measure mass and volume of four solutions, record those quantitative results in a data table, and calculate density values. Students then use those calculated densities to shade and label a container diagram showing how solutions of different densities would settle into layers, and they observe an image that visually represents layered liquids.
Lesson 3
Oceans and Ocean Currents
Students translate technical descriptions of density, salinity, and thermohaline circulation into visuals by coloring and labeling the layered container (Activity 1) and by shading a key that links color to "most/least dense." Students draw models of particle motion with arrows and spacing to represent faster/slower movement in hot, room-temperature, and cold water, using text about molecular motion to guide their drawings (Activity 2). Students build an Earth system model by placing sunlight arrows, labeling equator and poles, and adding ocean current arrows to show how unequal heating and sinking/rising water create global circulation (Activity 3).
Lesson 4
Freshwater and Groundwater
Students are asked to develop and draw a model that includes technical labels (permeable layer, impermeable layer, aquifer, zone of saturation, water table, zone of aeration) and to add arrows and labels for gravity and the Sun, requiring them to convert textual definitions into a visual model. The activity directions ask students to use their model to answer questions about how gravity and solar energy move water, explicitly linking text-based technical explanations with their drawings. In Activity 2 students examine a bar chart titled "Freshwater Withdrawals" (liters per kilogram) and answer questions that prompt them to describe patterns in the quantitative data and to use an accompanying article to explain implications for drought-tolerant crops and water resources.
Lesson 5
Aquatic Ecosystems
Students read written scenario cards and instructions that include numeric actions (e.g., "Remove 2 small fish," "Add 3 small fish") and then add or remove goldfish crackers from labeled cups to represent population changes visually. Students cut out organism cards and glue them into a food pyramid, label each organism as producer/consumer/decomposer, and draw arrows showing energy flow based on textual descriptions. Students build a combined marine-terrestrial food web from written organism niches and use colored arrows to trace the movement of pollution through the web, directly linking the written technical instructions to a visual model.
Lesson 6
The Water Cycle
Students read Chapter 6 of Water: The Story of the Hydrosphere and watch a water-cycle video, then they draw the water cycle on a Ziplock bag using the chapter diagram as a model. Students build a working mini water-cycle model (bag with water, placed in sunlight) and answer questions that ask them to explain how evaporation, condensation, and precipitation in the text map to what they observe in their model. Students respond to prompts such as "How is your bag similar to the real water cycle on Earth?" which asks them to connect the written descriptions to a visual/model representation.
Lesson 7
Weathering and Erosion
Students are asked to draw and label a multi-step diagram in "Modeling Earth's Changing Surface" that shows rock → weathering → erosion → deposition with arrows and technical labels. In Activity 1 students record observations and sketch their sand landscape, labeling features such as weathering, erosion, deposition, and sediments. In Activity 2 students analyze a river diagram/map, color the outside bends red (erosion) and inside bends blue (deposition), and use written evidence to explain where water is faster or slower.
Lesson 8
Water Pollution
Students are instructed to read Chapter 8 and then examine Graph 1 (dissolved oxygen vs. temperature for fresh and salt water) and Graph 2 (dissolved oxygen vs. pollutant levels), answering questions using evidence from the graphs. Students are directed to turn data into a graph, look for patterns, and use that visual evidence to explain how temperature and pollution affect dissolved oxygen and organism survival. In the modeling activity, students create physical cup models of low, organic, and heavy runoff that visually represent the textual description of agricultural runoff and its effects on water quality.
Lesson 9
Water Treatment, Conservation, and Clean Water
Students collect quantitative measurements in The Great Leak Investigation (count drops, measure teaspoons) and then use those calculations to complete a table that summarizes estimated water lost over time. In the Water Filtration Challenge, students translate technical ideas about filtration and sedimentation into a drawn filter design (a model/diagram) and record before-and-after observations. The Water Quality Experiment provides structured spaces where students record and compare qualitative and quantitative observations (odor, color, taste) side-by-side.
Final Project
Local Water Investigation
Students are asked to draw and label technical diagrams: the unit test requires drawing and labeling a water molecule including polarity (+/−) and labeling a groundwater diagram with terms like zone of aeration, zone of saturation, water table, and impermeable layer. Students must convert textual research about a local water source (organisms, abiotic factors, and observations of water clarity/contamination) into a cross-sectional ecosystem model that includes labeled organisms, abiotic factors, and arrows showing interactions. Students must also translate identified organisms and written descriptions of feeding relationships into a visual food web that shows energy flow with labeled organisms and directional arrows.
Unit 1: The Pearl
Lesson 4
Related Research
Students are asked to record information about La Paz on a Student Activity Page that includes a specific section labeled "Geographical Location" (with a globe image) and to include a "map" on the back side of the travel brochure. Students creating the pearl-diving presentation must produce at least two visual aids, which may be pictures or charts, and organize note cards into a logical sequence for an oral report. The brochure directions require students to include pictures and text and to organize information into labeled visual sections (places to see, nature and wildlife, people and culture).
Lesson 9
Parables
Students are instructed to copy sentences and use colored pencils to underline prepositional, appositive, and verbal phrases and to draw or place parts-of-speech symbols above verbal phrases, converting written grammatical information into visual markings. Students are directed to review and use a grammar chart (a table) that summarizes phrase types, descriptions, parts of speech, and examples, integrating written definitions with a visual table. Students are asked to copy information from the chart onto note cards for study, reinforcing the mapping between textual technical grammar information and visual representations.
Lesson 10
Writing a Parable
Students are directed to fill out a Story Map/"The Elements of a Short Story" graphic organizer that labels setting, characters, themes, introduction, rising action, climax, and falling action, converting narrative ideas into a visual diagram. Students also use a Parable Rubric presented as a grid/table with written criteria and achievement levels, and an Editing Symbols page that pairs symbols (visuals) with meanings and example sentences. These activities require students to represent written narrative elements and editing conventions in visual formats.
Final Project
Think-Tac-Toe
Students are asked to compare the book to another story and "use a Venn diagram to organize similarities and differences," which requires them to take information expressed in words and place it into a visual diagram. The Student Activity Pages include the Venn diagram as an explicit visual organizer for students to complete. Other activities (e.g., identifying symbols, answering factual book questions) require extracting specific textual details that could be used in visual organizers.
Unit 2: Africa Today
Lesson 1
Overview of Africa
Students assemble a poster-sized map of Africa and label bodies of water and major landforms (Atlantic Ocean, Nile River, Sahara Desert, Mt. Kilimanjaro, etc.), using the reading and page 205 as a guide. Student pages include a map key with symbols for mountains, deserts, rainforest/basin, waterfall, lake, and river that students must interpret. The Parent Plan and skills list explicitly direct students to create maps, charts, graphs, databases, and models and to generate and interpret information from maps and other geographic tools.
Lesson 2
Northwestern Africa
Students are prompted in Option 1 to use Geography of the World to fill a four-column table listing each country's climate, major crops, how the environment influences farming, and major exports and industries. The lesson text includes quantitative facts in words that students can transfer into the table (for example, "88% of Libya's people now live in cities," "Sahara Desert covers 90% of the country," and "Oil and gas make up 97% of Algeria's exports"). Students also label and color a map of Africa to show deserts, coastal farming areas, and other geographic features, and Option 2 asks students to draw an illustrated brochure that pairs descriptive text with a visual representation of the environment-economy relationship.
Lesson 3
Northeastern Africa
Students are asked to label and color maps of northeastern Africa (Activity 1) and to illustrate ancient and modern Egypt maps with people, buildings, boats, uses of the Nile, and crops (Activity 4, Option 2), which requires turning textual geographic and cultural descriptions into visual representations. The "Cultures of Sudan" student activity page directs students to fill a comparative table for Northern and Southern Sudan (climate/terrain, languages, religions, houses), prompting students to place written information into a visual table. The extension asks students to build models of Nubian houses from images, which has students convert descriptive and pictorial information into three-dimensional visual/technical artifacts. Question #1 provides explicit numerical information (country area and population) that students read and answer about in words.
Lesson 4
West Africa
Students are asked to read Geography of the World and then label and color a map of West Africa, using the text to choose colors for desert, grasslands, and rain forest and to add rivers, lakes, and cities. In Activity 4 Option 1, students use information from the reading to complete a two-column student activity page (a table) that documents climate, landscape/terrain, natural resources, agricultural crops, and examples of people interacting with or changing the environment for northern vs. southern West Africa. The parent notes and activity instructions explicitly direct students to use the written text to populate these visual representations.
Lesson 5
Central Africa
Students are asked in Activity 1 to read descriptive text about landscapes and then color and label those features on a map (using brown for deserts, gold for grasslands, greens for rain forests) which requires turning textual geographic descriptions into a visual map. In Activity 4 Option 1 students are prompted to extract numeric indicators (Adult Literacy Rate, Life Expectancy, Number of People Per Doctor) from Geography of the World and record them on a structured activity page, integrating quantitative data from text into a visual organizer. The Parent Plan Skills also explicitly lists creating maps, charts, graphs, databases, and models as student tasks, reinforcing the expectation that students will produce visual representations from textual information.
Lesson 6
Central East Africa
Students read descriptive geographic text and then label and color a map of central east Africa, placing countries, capitals, and physical features to represent written information visually. Students create a brochure that requires them to turn written descriptions of landscapes and wildlife into images and short descriptive captions. Students design posters and a public service announcement that ask them to synthesize researched information into a visual/presentational format.
Lesson 7
Southern Africa
Students use definitions on pages 270-271 to write definitions and populate a multi-column table that classifies systems of government and lists the eight southern African countries and other African examples (Activity 4). Students complete a Venn diagram comparing apartheid in South Africa and segregation in the United States, writing similarities and differences from the reading into a visual organizer (Activity 2). Students label, trace, and color a map of Africa, transferring place names, capitals, and geographic features from the reading into a visual map (Activity 1).
Final Project
African News Report
Students are instructed to include images such as maps, charts, or graphs to accompany each news story in the Printed Newspaper and News Broadcast options, and the "Final Project Notes" pages include a dotted box for "Ideas for visuals." The Lapbook mini-book #2 explicitly asks students to show three natural resources and gives the example of creating a graph showing the percentage of Algerian exports that are oil and gas. The Lapbook economy mini-book example cites a quantitative fact (that 1/3 of Morocco's exports are farm products) and directs students to include images and 2–3 details about industries on index cards. Rubrics for the projects evaluate the use of visuals to help understand content and require background information that can be paired with visuals.
Unit 2: The Atmosphere
Lesson 1
What Is the Atmosphere?
Students are asked in Activity 2 (Part 2) to "create a simple drawing that includes the different spheres" and to "use arrows to show how the atmosphere interacts with the other systems" and to "label each arrow with an example from the reading," which requires translating technical textual descriptions of system interactions into a diagram. A separate student page directs students to "Create a simple diagram... Label where energy is absorbed, reflected, and converted," which asks students to convert technical descriptions of energy movement into a visual. The Step Outside activity and the Air Takes Up Space investigation prompt students to make sketches or record observations (including bubbles and the cup) that represent experimental/technical ideas visually.
Lesson 2
Layers of the Atmosphere
Students read Chapter 2 and are instructed to collect information about each atmospheric layer's altitude, temperature, unique characteristics, and importance and record those details on the "Atmospheric Layers" activity page. In Option 2 students build a labeled 3D stack model and are told to include altitudes/temperatures and use the model to identify patterns (for example, how temperature changes with altitude). In Activity 2 students sort real-world objects/phenomena onto the atmospheric layers and must explain their placements using evidence from Chapter 2, linking textual descriptions to the visual model/diagram.
Lesson 3
Air Pressure and Density
Students examine a five-day weather data table (temperature, air pressure in mb, wind direction, cloud cover, precipitation) in the "When Air Masses Move" activity and answer pattern-identification questions about how those quantitative values change over time. They are asked to use evidence from the data to explain cause-and-effect (e.g., how decreasing air pressure relates to increased cloud cover and precipitation) and to make a Day 6 prediction based on the numeric trends. Students are also prompted to draw a model/diagram showing high- and low-pressure areas with arrows for air movement and to explain how their model represents relationships between pressure, air movement, and weather.
Lesson 4
Energy from the Sun
Students measure temperatures for black paper, white paper, and aluminum foil and record starting/final temperatures and temperature change in a table (Surface Heating & Albedo Investigation). Students color and label a world map, use online visual maps, and then fill a table for six locations that asks whether each place is near the equator or poles, whether the surface is dark or light, and whether energy level is High/Medium/Low. Step 4 and Step 5 explicitly direct students to use the written ideas about sunlight angle and surface albedo together to decide energy level, integrating the textual/technical explanations with the map and table models.
Lesson 5
Heat Transfer in the Atmosphere
Students are asked to read textual explanations of radiation, conduction, and convection and then identify those processes in illustrated scenarios on the "Identifying Heat Transfer" activity, linking words to pictures. In "Convection Moves the Air" and "Convection in the Atmosphere" students observe experiments, draw top-view and schematic representations of colored water/air movement, and explicitly compare those drawings to a labeled diagram of air currents. In the sea-breeze/land-breeze activity students annotate a side-by-side diagram (drawing arrows for rising and sinking air and wind direction) and are asked to use the words radiation, conduction, and convection in their written explanation, tying the technical text to the visual model.
Lesson 6
Wind and Global Circulation
Students follow written steps that specify latitudes (Equator, 30°N/30°S, ~45°) and draw or shade a world map to show warm/cool regions, rising and sinking air, surface and upper-level arrows, and labeled features such as Trade Winds and the Jet Stream. In the Coriolis activity, students spin a paper circle representing Earth and draw paths while it rotates to show apparent deflection, directly translating the textual explanation of the Coriolis effect into a visual model. The Skills and activity directions explicitly instruct students to "use maps and diagrams to identify repeating patterns" and to "create a model to show how air moves across Earth."
Lesson 7
Air Masses and Weather Systems
Students analyze a real-style weather map in the Weather Front Investigation, using the map key and symbols to identify cold, warm, stationary, and occluded fronts and then explain air-mass interactions in writing. In the "It's Snowing!" activity students retrieve numeric snowfall data from an interactive site, compute averages and compare total snowfall between years, integrating numeric tables/graphs with written explanations. Students build and observe a physical model (Snowstorm in a Jar) and answer questions linking the model's visual behavior to written explanations of convection and density, and they analyze tornado and hurricane case-study texts while answering questions that require linking textual descriptions to tracking tools like radar and satellite imagery.
Lesson 8
Human Impact on the Atmosphere
Students examine graphs in the Climate Data Analysis activity that show atmospheric CO2 levels and global average temperature and answer questions that link those visuals to written explanations (e.g., "How does the temperature trend compare to the carbon dioxide trend?" and "What evidence from the graphs suggests that human activities are increasing emissions?"). Students record observations in a table during the What's in the Air? activity and compare written descriptions of particulate samples with the table of locations and days. The Designing Solutions and subsequent reflection prompts require students to use evidence from the graphs and observations to support written explanations connecting visual data to technical concepts like greenhouse gases and emissions.
Final Project
Atmosphere Escape Room Challenge
Students fill out a chart that links conditions (temperature/humidity increases or decreases) to impacts on atmospheric pressure, requiring them to convert written descriptions into a table. Students use terms from a word box to label a diagram of air movement and then explain what the diagram demonstrates, integrating textual technical terms with a visual model. Students are asked to draw and label a light wave (marking amplitude) and then relate written descriptions of sunny vs. cloudy days to the drawn wave's amplitude and energy.
Unit 2: A Girl Named Disaster
Lesson 1
Nhamo
Students are instructed to locate Mozambique on a world map and then use the provided Mozambique map to shade and label the country, Lake Cabora Bassa, and the Zambezi River. They are directed to shade the tropical climate green, label and shade each country that borders Mozambique in a different color, and mark the ocean and Mozambique Channel. Students are also asked to put a star on the map to represent Nhamo's village, using textual map information from the book's maps and cast of characters.
Lesson 4
Escape
Students read the background history pages about Mozambique and Zimbabwe and then complete activity pages that require visual work: they color and label flags, draw and label three flags, and use outline maps. The activity pages include a three-column chart and a three-row chart/graphic organizer for students to fill in information about tribes, European influences, and migration. Questions such as "What country fought the war against the Frelimo?" and "What are the names of the two major tribes…?" require students to extract facts from the text and place them next to or into visual elements (flags, maps, charts).
Lesson 5
Lake Cabora Bassa
Students are assigned the role of a Travel Tracer to follow where action occurs and to "describe where the character(s) have moved to and from" and to "describe each setting in detail, either in words or in map form." The directions explicitly reference using a map from Lesson 1 and ask students to record this information in a journal. The Activities also present visual prewriting tools (idea webs/cluster diagrams) that students can use to represent ideas visually.
Lesson 7
Baboons
Students are told to "look back at your map from Lesson 1 and locate the lake," which asks them to use a map (visual) together with text location information. Students are asked to take on the role of an Illustrator and draw a sketch, cartoon, diagram, or stick-figure scene tied to chapters 21–23, linking textual description to a visual. In Option 1 and Option 2 students gather written sentences about animals and paste or draw pictures on a museum plaque or guidebook pages, combining written descriptions with visual representations.
Lesson 11
Out with the Old
The Student Activity Page presents a table that pairs proofreading symbols (visual) with their meanings and example corrections (words). Students are instructed to read the "Editing Symbols and Abbreviations" sheet and to use the correct symbol or abbreviation on their paper when they find errors. Activity 6 directs students to consult that sheet and apply the symbols to mark grammar and punctuation errors in their own writing.
Unit 3: Australia and Oceania
Lesson 2
Overview of Australia and Oceania
In Option 2 students locate quantitative data (area and population) in the text and enter those numbers into a table, then calculate population density for each country. The activity asks students to use those table values to answer interpretive questions (which country has largest population/area/density). Activity 1 and the timeline task require students to place spatial and temporal information from the reading onto visual products (a poster map and timeline cards).
Lesson 3
Australia and Papua New Guinea
Students are asked to use readings to determine dates for events (1770, 1778, 1901, 1967, 1972) and then draw a timeline, placing date cards in the appropriate positions. Students complete a Venn diagram comparing the governments of Australia and the United States and are instructed to include "when the constitution of the country was created" among the facts they record. Students create and label a map of Australia and Oceania (capitals, geographical features) and answer a reading question that states that 85% of Australians live along the coast, which can be represented visually on the map.
Lesson 4
Stories of the Yorta-Yorta People
Students research a specific Australian animal, record habitat, foods, and five facts on the "Amazing Australian Animals" page, and create a drawing or a model of the animal and explain how it is adapted to its environment. Students use structured student activity pages (fields for name, habitat, foods, facts, adaptations) that organize written information into a visual/activity page format. In Option 1 and the Uluru activities students create planning pages, plot diagrams, bumper-sticker/button designs, or models that require translating written ideas into visual forms.
Lesson 5
New Zealand
Students are asked to label and color a map of Australia and Oceania, marking New Zealand, its capital, and geographical features (Activity 1), which requires translating textual descriptions of climate and terrain into a visual map. Students complete an "Outdoor Activities in New Zealand" page that uses a table to record connections between activities and natural features in New Zealand and in their own environment (Activity 3), integrating descriptive information into a visual organizer. The reading includes technical and quantitative statements (e.g., about climate differences, about "about 10 sheep for every person," and "about 60% of its electricity from hydroelectric plants") that could be referenced when creating those visuals.
Lesson 6
Peoples of the Pacific Ocean
Students create a labeled map of Australia and Oceania, marking countries, capitals, and coloring geographical features, which requires translating geographic descriptions into a visual map. Students produce a Galápagos field guide page or an illustrated animal diagram where they write the animal's size, habitat, key features, and explain adaptations while adding labeled drawings. Students complete a two-column "Vacation Planning" graphic organizer and a "Tourism & Village Life" page that put written reasons and impacts into a visual organizer format.
Lesson 7
Polar Regions
Students are instructed to read Geography of the World (pages 267 and 269) and then label and shade features on two maps (Activity 2). Students shade Alaska to represent oil and gas reserves and Svalbard to represent coal mining, add those colors to a map key, and label locations such as Greenland, Barrow, and Mt. Gunnbjørn. Students also mark research stations in Antarctica and use symbols to indicate the deepest point of ice and Vinson Massif, tying textual place/resource information to visual map representations.
Final Project
Celebrating Australia and Oceania
Students are asked to label a world map on the unit test (placing names like Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Ocean, Arctic, Antarctica onto a visual map). For the museum option, students build a model and create a map of the museum on grid paper, drawing rooms and labeling exhibits to represent information about governments, economies, natural environments, and cultures. The history planning page provides a three-column table where students put written details (arrival of first people, arrival of Europeans, changes over time) into a visual table, and brochure pages ask students to summarize written ideas in tri-fold visual format.
Unit 3: The Lithosphere
Lesson 1
Shifting, Drifting, and Spreading
Students read technical descriptions of isostasy and sea-floor spreading in Chapter 1 (Parts I and II) and then create visual representations: they draw the "Covered in Ice" and "As the Ice Melts" views showing how much of the block (crust) is underwater, and they build a sea-floor spreading paper or shoebox model with colored stripes representing magnetic patterns. The activity directions require students to color, cut, thread, and pull the paper strips so the visual pattern develops as described in the text, and parent prompts ask students to identify which slits represent ridges or trenches and to explain why rocks at different positions are older or younger.
Lesson 2
Plate Interactions
Students read technical descriptions of plate boundary types in Chapter 1 - Part III and answer guided questions that reference those descriptions. Students complete a two-column activity page where they must either write descriptions or create illustrations of divergent, convergent (oceanic-continental and continental-continental), and transform boundaries, directly pairing text with drawings. Students build clay models to demonstrate each boundary interaction and explain their model behavior to a parent or sibling. On Day 2 students examine a photo of a real mountain and explain, in words and drawings, how the visual features show a particular plate interaction.
Lesson 3
Rocks and Minerals
Students read technical descriptions of rock formation and properties in the Things to Know section and Chapter 2 readings. In Activity 1 (Option 1) students are asked to label a provided rock-cycle diagram with specific technical terms (Weathering/Erosion, Deposition, Heat/Pressures, Magma/Lava, Compaction/Cementation, Sedimentary, Metamorphic, Igneous, Melting, Cooling) and draw arrows showing transformations. In Activity 1 (Option 2) students create their own diagram to illustrate scenarios described in the text. Activity 3 and Activity 4 direct students to use identification keys and picture-based guides to match textual mineral/rock descriptions to visual examples.
Lesson 4
Seismic Waves
Students are asked to sketch and plan a seismograph on the "Seismograph Design" page, drawing a device and writing how it will work, what materials it needs, and its limitations. Students watch a video and an animation that visualize seismic waves (including a color-amplitude mapping) and are prompted to review and discuss differences between P-waves, S-waves, and surface waves. In Option 1 students complete an "Earthquake Hazards" activity page that asks them to draw or paste an image of the hazard and to record quantitative details (when/where, lives lost, total cost) for a historical example.
Lesson 5
Earthquake and Volcano Research
Students are prompted to collect quantitative details about an event (exact date, monetary damage, number of lives lost, area affected) on the research worksheets. Students are asked to create visual products — a 5–7 slide slideshow, a poster with images, or a report with a cover image — and to include images or drawings that represent the event. Example slide content provided in the materials shows numeric facts (e.g., $1 billion damage, 57 lives lost, 57,000 square kilometers of ash) presented alongside images.
Lesson 6
Geologic Time
Students read technical text about geologic time, relative vs. absolute age, index fossils, law of superposition, unconformities, and how crust movement affects layers. Students are instructed to create a physical or written rock-layer model that shows layer ordering, erosion, faults/folds, and fossils and to use different colors or materials to represent layers. Students must reconstruct the sequence of events from a scrambled stack (newspaper analogy) and explain what the remaining parts tell a scientist. The lesson includes links to a geologic time scale and a rock-layers diagram to support translating textual information into visual form.
Lesson 7
Pedosphere and Soil
Students collect a soil sample, measure settled layer depths (sand, silt, clay) and calculate percentages, then consult a texture-triangle graphic to determine soil type (Activity 2 Option 1). Students also follow a USDA 'Guide to Texture by Feel' flowchart to classify soil (Activity 2 Option 2) and read text descriptions of the 12 soil orders while examining maps, then record similarities/differences in a Venn diagram (Activities: Reading, State Soils, and Student Activity Pages).
Final Project
Our Lithosphere and Pedosphere
Students are asked to "Show the layers of the Earth and explain what the lithosphere is," providing space for drawings and written explanations on the "Inside the Earth" activity page. Tectonic Plates and Rock Cycle activity pages instruct students to explain concepts and provide blank sections for diagrams or illustrations, and the rubric explicitly evaluates both visuals and explanatory text. The "Our Soil" page asks students to report soil pH, texture, and nutrient content alongside descriptions, prompting technical information in writing that can be paired with visuals in the booklet.
Unit 3: The Hobbit
Lesson 1
Bilbo Baggins
Students are instructed in Activity 2 to tape together a setting map, trace Bilbo and the dwarves' route with a red pencil, circle important geographical locations, and record an important event and the chapter number next to each location. The lesson provides 'Events of the Journey' graphic organizers where students write short sentences summarizing what happened in each chapter and place those summaries on the map. An answer key links specific chapters to map locations, showing students map-based alignment of textual events and chapter references.
Lesson 2
Trolls
Students are asked to chart the journey on a "Setting Map" page and to "draw a dotted line from Hobbiton halfway into the wild in the direction of Elrond," which requires translating written directional and quantitative language into a visual map. Students are directed to record the first night's camp on an "Events of the Journey" page, linking a sentence description of an event to the map. Optionally, students create a collage representing Tolkien's life, turning biographical text into visual representations.
Lesson 3
The Elves
Students are asked to chart today's journey on the "Setting Map" page, indicating where the group arrived in Chapter 3 and where their journey takes them in Chapter 4 and to record descriptions on the "Events of the Journey" page, which pairs textual descriptions with a visual map. Students complete a three-column "Foreshadowing and Flashbacks" table that records chapter/page numbers alongside quoted examples of foreshadowing and flashbacks, converting textual details into a tabular visual format.
Lesson 4
Gollum
Students are instructed to draw the path to the other side of the Misty Mountains on the "Setting Map" page and to write a brief description of what happens in the chapter, requiring them to convert textual narrative details into a map. The Anglo-Saxon Runes activity provides a chart that maps rune symbols to Latin letters and asks students to write a note using the runes and provide the chart for decoding, requiring students to translate written text into a visual/table representation.
Lesson 5
Wolves, Goblins, and Eagles
Students are asked to "Draw the path from the Goblin Gate to the Eyrie on the 'Setting Map' page," which requires translating location information from the chapter into a visual map. Students also must "Write a brief description of what happens in this chapter on the 'Events of the Journey' page," linking textual events to a visual timeline or map context. The activity directions tell students to record examples of foreshadowing and to use the map and events pages, showing an expectation that they will convert written narrative details into visual representations.
Lesson 7
Spiders
Students are asked to "Draw a path from the Forest Gate to the spiderwebs in Mirkwood, west of the Elvenking's Hall" and to label the chapter number, which requires converting narrative text into a diagram/map. Students are directed to write a short sentence about the chapter's events on the "Events of the Journey" page and to record an example of foreshadowing on their chart, tying textual details to a visual chart. The lesson also presents a table of commonly used subordinating conjunctions, providing grammatical information in a visual/tabular form.
Lesson 8
Elvenking
Students are asked to "Continue the path from the spider webs to the Elvenking's halls on your 'Setting Map' sheet" and to record chapter number and write sentences on the "Events of the Journey" page, which requires translating narrative text into a map and chart. The lesson provides a "Problems and Solutions" table and a "Problem Solving" page with columns for Solution, Pluses, and Minuses, and an answer key table showing problems paired with solutions, so students fill in a visual table based on events and actions described in the text.
Lesson 9
Men of the Lake
Students are asked on the "Setting Map" page to trace the journey down the river from the Elvenking's halls to Long Lake and then draw a line up river to the Lonely Mountain, and to record the chapter numbers. Students are also asked on the "Events of the Journey" page to write short descriptions of events and to record examples of flashback or foreshadowing on a chart, placing textual events into a visual/chart format.
Lesson 10
The Dragon
Students are asked to "Mark the chapter numbers next to the Lonely Mountain" and to "review them using the 'Setting Map' page," which requires placing textual chapter information onto a visual map. In Activity 2 students are asked to collect and "classify" artifacts and to "rank them in order from least to most devastating," which requires organizing textual findings and quantities (counts of examples) into an ordered representation. The lesson also asks students to "record" summaries and examples in their journals, linking written descriptions to placement on the Events of the Journey page.
Lesson 11
Bard
Students are directed to refer to a visual "Commonly Used Transitional Expressions" chart that lists categories (Effect, Addition, Contrast, Example, Emphasis) and example expressions. The activities (Part II and Option 2) require students to choose appropriate transitional expressions and to join independent clauses using a semicolon plus a transitional expression, explicitly telling students to consult the chart. The lesson repeatedly prompts students to review the chart and use it while combining sentences.
Lesson 12
The Arkenstone
Students are asked to "identify the elements of the quest from The Hobbit using illustrations" and to "draw your own illustration or print and paste pictures" for each face of a Quest Cube. They must "cut out the cube, fold on the dotted lines, and use tape or glue to assemble the cube," producing a 3-D visual model. Students must also "consider how each idea represented on the cube contributes to a central theme" and explain how each element affects theme and mood.
Unit 4: Ancient Asia
Lesson 1
The Caste System of Ancient India
Students are instructed to shade the Harappan civilization area, mark ancient and modern cities, and use map coordinates from their readings to place locations on the "Ancient India" map (Activity 1). Students locate dated timeline cards (e.g., Aryan Settlement 1700 BC, Birth of Siddhartha Gautama 563 BC) and attach them to a visual timeline, placing quantitative date information into a visual sequence (Activity 4). Students cut out answer boxes from the reading and paste them into a comparison table for Hinduism and Buddhism, synthesizing written descriptions into a structured visual table (Activity 2, Option 1).
Lesson 2
Life and Culture in Ancient India
In Activity 1 students locate five red timeline cards that list specific dates (e.g., Reign of Ashoka 269–232 BC, Beginning of the Gupta Empire 320 AD) and are instructed to note the date on each card, find the page in their binder that includes that date, and attach the card above or below the timeline line. The parent plan reiterates that the dates on the cards should correspond to the dates on the timeline pages where students affix each card, requiring students to match textual date information to a visual timeline.
Lesson 3
Life in Ancient China
Students are instructed to use the map on page 6 of Life in Ancient China and pages 174-175 of Geography of the World to create a composite map, outlining modern borders, shading a key, and labeling rivers, the Grand Canal, the Great Wall, and multiple ancient and modern cities. Students are also directed to locate five red timeline cards with specific dates (e.g., Earliest Chinese Settlements 2000 BC, Shang Dynasty 1700-1046 BC, Qin Dynasty 221-206 BC, Han Dynasty 202 BC-220 AD) and attach them to a timeline binder in the appropriate places. In the booklet activity, students copy sections of the Tao Te Ching and add illustrations that convey the meaning of each textual passage.
Lesson 4
Culture in Ancient China
Students are instructed in Activity 2 to illustrate a map showing the flow of goods between China and the West and the Parent Plan explicitly tells students to put the listed Chinese exports and imports (from page 13) onto their map. In Activity 1, students locate timeline cards with dates (e.g., Birth of Confucius 551 BC, Invention of Printing 8th century AD) and place them on a timeline binder, directly matching written dates to a visual timeline. The Student Activity Page descriptions and Parent Plan repeatedly require students to transfer information given in the text (goods lists and dates) into visual representations (map and timeline).
Lesson 5
Life in Ancient Japan
Students are asked to label maps of Japan and list natural resources based on the reading (Activity 1), which requires transferring geographic and resource information from text to a visual map. In Activity 3, students draw directional arrows on a map and label traded goods between Japan, China, and Korea, directly translating textual trade descriptions into a visual diagram. Activity 2 Option 2 asks students to create a flow chart or graphic organizer showing changes in rule over time with approximate dates, requiring students to convert chronological (quantitative) information from the text into a visual timeline/flowchart. The provided student activity pages and answer keys support these tasks by showing the expected visual representations tied to the text.
Lesson 6
Culture in Ancient Japan
Students are instructed in Activity 1 to find dated timeline cards and attach them above or below the timeline line, transferring event dates and descriptions from the text into a visual timeline. Activity 2 asks students to complete a table (Option 1) or a three-circle Venn diagram (Option 2) by extracting descriptions, beliefs, and practices from the reading and entering them into the visual organizer. Activity 5 Option 1 directs students to label and draw invasion routes and typhoon symbols on a map using information about the Mongol invasions from the text. Activity 3 has students add cultural components and technologies from the reading onto a trade map, linking textual descriptions to geographic visuals.
Unit 4: Ecosystems and Ecology
Lesson 1
What Is in an Ecosystem?
Students are assigned to read pages 1-6 of Changing Ecosystems (providing technical definitions of ecosystem, biotic/abiotic, producers/consumers/decomposers) and then complete a "Survey Table" where they list components, classify each as abiotic or biotic, mark P/C/D for biotic items, and record locations. Students are instructed to draw a diagram (Option 1 or 2) that represents relationships among components, include both biotic and abiotic factors, and use arrows to show the flow of matter and energy. The activity repeatedly directs students to use the textbook vocabulary and classifications while creating the table and the relationship diagram, tying the textual technical information to visual representations.
Lesson 2
Diversity within Ecosystems
Students are instructed to collect information about two ecosystems and record that information on two explicit tables (Table 1 and Table 2) that capture location, major characteristics, biotic and abiotic factors, and roles such as producer/consumer/decomposer. The lesson provides a separate Survey Table for students to classify components as abiotic/biotic and label them P/C/D and note locations. Students are also asked to present their research in a website or portfolio page that can include images alongside written paragraphs.
Lesson 3
Energy Transfer in Ecosystems
Students read text that references an energy pyramid graphic and are directed to compare biomass and energy flow (read pages 8-10 and review the energy pyramid). In Activity 1 students use numeric information given in words (counts per area, weights, feeding rates) to calculate biomass and food consumption and are instructed to record those calculated values on the Exploring Biomass student page. In Activity 2 students construct a physical model (three bowls and labeled cups) with a specified quantity of water (128 oz) and make measured transfers to represent energy flow, then compare measured percentages to the 10% energy-transfer figure.
Lesson 4
Ecosystem Relationships
Students are asked to complete a Student Activity Page that has structured fields (producer/consumer/decomposer, food source, location, relationships) which requires translating textual descriptions of organisms into a tabular/visual form. Students are also prompted to fill two explicit environment tables (Environment 1 and Environment 2) that ask for temperature range and amount of rainfall, prompting recording of environmental information in a visual table. The parent plan and web link reference a chart summarizing interactions on the "Ecological Niches" page that students may consult, providing an example of a visual summary of interaction types.
Lesson 5
Ecological Succession
Students read the "Things to Know" technical descriptions of succession (primary vs. secondary, pioneer species, climax community) and watch a video/animation explaining succession. Students are instructed to create a slideshow or portfolio that shows stages of succession visually and to add captions or written descriptions for each image. The Student Activity Page explicitly pairs a "STAGE" heading, a large drawing box, and a "DESCRIPTION" area so students must place visual representations next to written explanations.
Lesson 6
Natural Hazards and Natural Disasters
Students are asked to read technical descriptions of primary succession, volcanic activity, and climate influences (e.g., pages 6–15 and question prompts about CO2 and upwellings). Students write a paragraph imagining succession over years and then locate or create at least five images that represent stages of primary succession, adding captions to each image. A provided sample graphic and the requirement to add 2–3 images showing volcanic destruction ask students to pair textual ideas about disturbance and recovery with visual representations.
Lesson 7
Succession and Natural Disasters
Students are asked to collect 2–3 pictures of an area before and immediately after a disaster and to include contemporary pictures, pairing each image with a brief caption that describes what is going on in terms of stages of succession. Students must identify the type of succession (primary or secondary) and match descriptions of the stages of succession with the graphics they provide. Students also write a paragraph predicting the ecosystem 20–30 years in the future and choose a picture to represent that prediction, thereby linking technical explanations to visual representations.
Lesson 8
A Carbon Journey
Students are directed to read the text in Exploring Ecology and to "look carefully at the diagram on p. 14" to see how carbon is cycled, giving them technical descriptions (photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition). Students who choose the comic-strip option are asked to create a visual representation that begins with carbon dioxide and to include processes named in the text (absorption for photosynthesis, formation of glucose/cellulose, consumption, respiration, decomposition, trapping). The student activity pages and instructions require students to include informational captions and to make clear whether carbon is part of a molecule, explicitly linking technical wording to visual panels.
Lesson 9
Ecosystems and Their Environments
Students read specific pages in Exploring Ecology and Changing Ecosystems that contain biome descriptions and numeric details (e.g., rainfall amounts, temperature ranges) and are directed to gather that information. Students record those details in the provided "Ecosystem Characteristics" tables, filling columns for Factors, Change [+/-], and Result. The sample answer key shows numeric values (e.g., "Up to 60 inches," "3-16 degrees celsius") presented in table form that students can use as a model for integrating textual/quantitative information into a visual table.
Lesson 10
Cause and Effect in the Ecosystem
The lesson gives specific quantitative/technical details in text (e.g., 5% and 20% vinegar solutions, teaspoon measurements, and daily volumes). Students are instructed to measure plant height and describe color each day and to record those numeric and descriptive observations in a Student Activity Page chart with rows for each cup and columns for Day 1–Day 5, Predictions, and Results. The activity then asks students to compare results with predictions and answer Questions to Ponder that require interpreting the effects of the different concentrations (e.g., comparing Cup B and Cup C).
Lesson 11
Matter and the Food Web
Students perform a mass-measurement investigation (Activity 1) in which they weigh ingredients, record values in a provided table with columns for cup weight, weight with item, and item-only weight, and calculate differences using the formula on the activity page. Students also create a food web diagram (Activity 2) that must include graphic depictions and use different-colored arrows to represent the flow of matter and energy, linking textual descriptions from the readings to a visual model.
Lesson 12
Adaptability and Survival
The student activity includes a table of extinct animals listing technical information (common name, scientific name, location, and date of extinction), which students use as a data source. Students are instructed to find and include a map of the organism's location and multiple images (geography/climate, food sources, predators, and causes of extinction) and to record details about its place in the food chain and ecosystem on the Notes page. The presentation/portfolio directions require students to combine these images with written captions and a paragraph explaining how extinction could have been prevented.
Lesson 13
Invasive Species
Students are asked to create diagrams for ecological concepts on the unit test: Part 2 requires an ecological pyramid with four trophic levels and examples for each level, Part 3 requires a diagram depicting stages of primary succession and explanations of soil, producers, and consumers, and Part 5 asks for a carbon cycle diagram showing movement through plants, consumers, and decomposition. Activity 1 asks students to include a picture or drawing of an invasive plant and write textual information about areas where it occurs and its impact, combining visual representation with descriptive text.
Unit 4: A Single Shard
Lesson 1
Korea
Students are instructed to find a map of Asia, locate Korea, and color and label North Korea, South Korea, neighboring countries, and seas, then indicate colors on a map key, which requires converting geographic descriptions into a visual map. Students are directed to read linked texts about ancient and modern Korea and to record information they find on the "Elements of Korean Culture" pages, sorting facts into the "Today" and "Centuries Past" columns of a chart. The materials include a history timeline and Koryo Dynasty resources that students use as sources to populate the table and map, linking textual/historical information to visual representations.
Lesson 4
Food and Pottery
The pottery activity gives students step-by-step technical directions for sieving soil (dig, sieve, run water, pour off water) and includes an image that illustrates a mesh strainer over a bowl and the draining process, so students must use the visual to carry out the procedure. The kimchi recipe presents quantitative information (ingredient amounts and timed steps) alongside a grayscale image of the finished dish, providing another instance where textual technical/quantitative information is paired with a visual.
Lesson 5
The Royal Emissary
Students are asked to use information from Chapters 4–6 to list and sequence the steps for making pottery (Option 1 and Option 2). In Option 1 students cut out written steps from the bottom of the activity page and glue them into numbered blank spaces at the top, converting text descriptions into a visual, ordered sequence; the steps include small icons representing each action. The instructions also tell students to number steps and to check clarity, explicitly linking textual technical instructions to a visual sequence.
Lesson 6
Village Life
The "Some is Plural... Except When It's Singular" section presents quantitative language about quantity (e.g., "I ate most of the cookies, and they were delicious") and includes an accompanying illustration of a plate of cookies. The lesson pairs written explanation about singular/plural agreement with that visual example. The student activity pages include examples where students must judge pronoun agreement in sentences that include quantity words (e.g., "Most," "None").
Lesson 7
Opportunity
The mini-book activity gives explicit written technical directions (e.g., "Fold the sheet into three equal sections," "draw dotted lines that divide the left-hand panel into four equal, horizontal rectangles," "Cut on the dotted lines") and directs students to perform specific folding and cutting actions. The lesson includes an image titled "Creating Your Minibook" that provides a step-by-step visual guide with arrows and numbered circles illustrating the same folding and cutting steps. Students must use the written measurements and the diagram together to produce the booklet.
Lesson 8
Korean Pottery
Students are asked to visit museum web pages that provide pictures and explanatory text about Korean celadon pottery, and to consider how artwork reflects culture and geography. The Things to Know section defines celadon as "a pale, jade-green glaze," and students are instructed to experiment with colored pencils or paint until they get a color as close to celadon as possible. Students use a provided outline (a visual model) of a kimchi pot and add incision detail and color based on their research and observations.
Lesson 11
Relationships
Students create a Relationship Web graphic organizer in which they place Tree-ear at the center and draw lines to Min, Crane-man, and Min's wife, writing one adjective on each connecting line and two sentences describing each relationship. Students are instructed to support their descriptions with examples from the text, including characters' thoughts, words, and actions. In the Relationship Words activity, students cut or select descriptive words and glue them between Tree-ear and each character, visually placing textual descriptors on the page.
Final Project
Comparison and Contrast Writing
Students follow written folding directions accompanied by illustrations to create a four-section brainstorming diagram (top-left: Tree-ear/Min; top-right: Tree-ear/Crane-man; bottom sections: similarities/differences), so they translate written steps into a visual organizer. Students are directed to record text-based support from A Single Shard into the essay organizers and the brainstorming boxes, placing verbal/textual evidence into a visual layout. The proofreading symbols page pairs visual symbols with their meanings, and students use those symbols to mark and interpret written text.
Unit 5: Asia Today
Lesson 1
Russia East of the Ural Mountains
Students read specific text (Geography of the World, pp.132-143 and the Gazeteer) and then use that information to assemble and label a large map of Asia (Activity 1), coloring oceans/major waterways and labeling landforms and bodies of water. In Option 1 students record technical/economic information from the reading on a two-part activity page that distinguishes traditional economic activities from those related to discovered minerals and fuels. In Option 2 students extract descriptive information about daily needs from the reading and complete a comparative chart (table) titled "Daily Life in Eastern Siberia" and create a drawing or story that visually represents those textual details.
Lesson 2
Turkey and Cyprus
Students record quantitative facts (adult literacy rates and life expectancies) and categorical data (forms of government, major industries/exports) from the Geography of the World fact boxes into a structured table labeled "Governments of Asia: Data." Students then use those data to create visual displays: a bar graph of types of government and industry counts, and a labeled literacy-rate vs. life-expectancy grid where they plot each country using red and blue lines. Students answer specific data-based questions (e.g., which countries have highest/lowest literacy and life expectancy) based on their graphs.
Lesson 4
Central Asia
In Activity 1 students label countries and capitals on a map and color regions to show geographical features, converting written geographic descriptions into a visual map. In Activity 3 students write scripts and use a television-ad storyboard to pair written explanations about environmental issues with corresponding sketches or visuals, linking verbal descriptions to images.
Lesson 5
The Indian Subcontinent
Students read the Geography of the World pages about the Indian subcontinent and then label and color a map of Asia, placing countries and capitals and indicating geographic features. Students read about monsoons and then perform a hands-on experiment measuring how much water different soil types absorb, recording tablespoons of water and times in seconds on the provided "Results" activity page. Students answer reflective questions connecting the quantitative absorption results to flooding risk during monsoons and discuss how monsoon winds create seasonal rains with a parent.
Lesson 6
East Asia and Japan
Students are asked to create an illustrated flow chart (Option 1 for Growing Rice) using descriptions of rice production from the textbook and online resources, turning a textual, step-by-step process into a visual sequence with labeled boxes and arrows. The Japanese Garden Design activity provides a planning grid with a stated scale (each 1" square equals 3 square yards) for students to translate written design ideas into a scaled visual plan or model. The Ancient and Modern China/Japan comparison pages require students to extract information about government, economy, and culture from readings and record those details in a two-column chart, directly converting text into a visual table.
Lesson 7
Mainland Southeast Asia
Students are asked to read descriptive text about countries and then label and color a map of Asia, converting geographic descriptions into a visual map. In the Farming activity, students describe lifestyle and farming methods for river valleys and uplands and create a labeled sketch that illustrates an important aspect of agriculture. In the Resources and Economies activity, students fill a three-column chart (or create a flapbook) that organizes natural-resource-based and other economic activities for three countries, turning textual economic descriptions into a table or pictorial flaps.
Lesson 8
Maritime Southeast Asia
In Activity 3 students take a numeric distance for Indonesia (stated in the text as thousands of miles) and convert it to a scale (inches and feet) and then mark those distances in a large open space, using calculations and physical markers. In Activity 1 students label and color a map of Asia, placing textual place names and geographic features onto a visual map. In Activity 2 students cut out text boxes of facts and paste them into a two-column chart comparing Indonesia and the Philippines, moving information from written text into a visual table.
Lesson 9
The Indian Ocean
Students are instructed to refer to page 202 for details on coral atoll formation and then "use salt dough to create the model, showing the three stages of atoll formation," directly asking them to convert a written technical description into a three-stage physical model. The map activity requires students to label Maldives, Comoros, Mauritius, Madagascar, and Seychelles and color geographic features, requiring students to place written/place-name information onto a visual map. The poster and Environmental Threats activity ask students to record threats from the text and create a visual poster that shows the impact of a chosen environmental issue, connecting written descriptions to a visual representation.
Final Project
A Tour of Asia
Students are asked to label countries on a provided map of Asia (visual) as part of the unit test, linking country names from a written list to locations on the map. Students are prompted to collect and record quantitative population information (total population, adult literacy rate, life expectancy) in a labeled "Population Information" box on a country page. The final project planning page is a table-format organizer where students fill in country names, relevance to a theme, and resource availability, requiring them to place textual notes into a visual table.
Unit 5: Earth Cycles and Systems
Lesson 1
Matter and Energy
Students collect quantitative measurements of mass across four tests (Test 1–4) and are instructed to record those values in the 'Mass' column of the provided 'Defining Matter' activity page table. They compute numeric differences by subtracting Test masses to fill the 'Change in Mass' column and estimate and record the 'Number of Pieces', linking numeric data to observations. The activity page is a visual table where students place technical, quantitative data from the written procedure and then answer conceptual questions connecting those numbers to definitions of matter.
Lesson 2
Energy and Its Source
Students make and record quantitative observations in Parts 1–3 by timing how long it takes to feel heat from the lamp, and the Student Activity Page includes illustrations of a hand and a person interacting with the lamp that depict the experimental setup. The Parent Plan presents numerical, technical information (Sun diameter 863,000 miles, Sun–Earth distance 93,000,000 miles, bulb diameter 3 inches) and asks students to compute a proportional distance (approximately 26.9 feet) for a scale model linking the numbers to the lamp model.
Lesson 3
Energy Flow in Ecosystems
Students are instructed to read the text (pp. 8-10) and examine the energy pyramid, with guiding questions about why the pyramid shape represents loss of energy between trophic levels. Students are asked to draw an "Ecosystem Energy Diagram" that includes the Sun, energy, producers, consumers, decomposers, arrows showing direction of flow, and to represent decreases in mass/energy (for example by changing sizes or numbers of organisms). The activity and parent notes explicitly tell students to translate the written explanation of unidirectional energy flow and energy loss into a visual model or diagram.
Lesson 4
Matter and Plants
Students read pages in Exploring Ecology and answer questions that state technical ideas (for example, that only about 10% of energy is passed to the next trophic level and that matter cycles while energy does not). Students are then instructed to draw a diagram tracing a plant's growth, labeling water, carbon dioxide, and energy/sunlight and showing what happens to each component across stages. Option 2 has students cut out and organize illustrations and write labels (carbon dioxide, water, energy, producer, primary consumer, etc.) to represent the flow of energy and matter visually.
Lesson 5
Carbohydrates, Plants, and Energy
Students read technical procedural text that includes quantitative details (e.g., 2 ml test solution, 10–15 drops, 2 drops potassium iodide, 1 ml water) and a technical description of expected color changes for a positive starch test (blue or black). The Student Activity Page provides a structured table (columns for predicted test result, test result, actual results, and explanation) and a side panel labeled "Iodine Test Results" for recording observations. The reading also references graphics and information about producers of carbohydrates that students are asked to consider alongside their investigation.
Lesson 6
Intro to Earth's Cycles
Students are directed to read pages 12-16 in the textbook and to "pay attention to information about the cycling of water, nitrogen, and carbon" while also being told to "look carefully at the diagrams associated with each cycle." Activity 1 asks students to read descriptions, examine illustrations (pp. 16-21), and then create a Venn diagram that shows connections among the three cycles, using information from the text and illustrations. The supplied student activity pages include visual element cards that show technical details (e.g., element symbol, atomic number, atomic mass for carbon and other elements).
Lesson 7
Oxygen Production and Life
Students are instructed to write the photosynthesis and cellular respiration equations on an "Equations" page and to fill in spaces for those equations on a Student Activity Page, directly linking the textual chemical equations to a diagram. In Option 1 a diagram (sun, plant, tree, squirrel) is provided that depicts flow of light energy and exchange of O2 and students fill in or refer to the equations while answering questions. In Option 2 students cut out and organize drawings (H2O, CO2, glucose, sun, diatomic O2, plant, consumer) to visually represent the same processes described in the text and then use those arranged visuals to answer questions.
Lesson 8
The Carbon Cycle
Students read technical descriptions of decomposition, photosynthesis, and carbon storage (pages referenced in Exploring Ecology) and answer guided questions that use that information. Students record daily observations in a provided table labeled by day and by container (oxygen-deprived vs. oxygen-adequate) and fill a prediction/results table that links their written expectations to observed outcomes. Students complete a "Decomposer Observations" table to visually organize organism name, location, and description from their field survey.
Lesson 9
The Water Cycle
Students are directed to "first look over the diagram, and then read the brief summary underneath," which requires comparing a visual water-cycle diagram with text descriptions. Students build and observe a solar still (a physical model) and then answer guided questions such as "How is the solar still a model of the water cycle?" and "What does the plastic sheet represent?", prompting them to map textual technical terms (evaporation, condensation, transpiration) onto a model. Students answer content questions that ask them to explain processes (evaporation, condensation, storage) in words and to relate those explanations to arrows and storage shown in the chart/diagram.
Lesson 10
Energy, Food Chains, and Food Webs
Students are asked to investigate local organisms and "develop a graphic that represents the relationships among these organisms," using a trophic pyramid and food web diagrams. The assignment requires students to write out the equations for photosynthesis and respiration and to "show what is happening to energy as it is being passed from one organism to the other." Student activity pages include two food-chain diagrams with arrows labeled "ENERGY TRANSFER" and prompt students to "write the process that is happening between each type of organism."
Lesson 11
The Nitrogen Cycle
Students read technical text about the nitrogen cycle and fertilizers (including terms like nitrogen fixation, ammonification, nitrification, denitrification, and chemical formulas N2, NH3, NO2-, NO3-) and then are directed to "Track the journey of a nitrogen atom" using an interactive web diagram. Students complete a Student Activity Page that requires labeling stages and molecules on a diagram, coloring N, O, and H atoms, and pasting/placing elements into the visual cycle. Students also calculate quantitative information from fertilizer labels (e.g., converting a 10-2-5 bag into pounds of N, P, and K) and apply nutrient information to a plant diagram that links nutrients to plant parts.
Final Project
A Sustainable Farm
Part 3 requires students to create diagrams of the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles and to write explanations of how their sustainable farm incorporates each cycle (students may copy or create the diagrams). The farm map and crop labels also require students to explain sustainable techniques (e.g., crop rotation, no-till) in text alongside the visual layout. The student activity pages ask students to order events for each cycle and to match terms with definitions, linking textual technical descriptions to sequence representations.
Unit 5: Independent Study
Lesson 4
Finding Information
Students are directed to use a "Gathering Grid" (a table) to record information from different resources by writing answers to research questions in the grid's cells. The sample Gathering Grid shows students summarizing source content (e.g., NRP Report, President Obama's speech, USA Today) into table cells tied to specific questions. The lesson also provides a "Stakeholders Chart" graphic organizer and a note-card page with a visual layout and arrows, which require students to place textual supporting details and opinions into a visual format.
Lesson 5
Writing the Essay
Students encounter explicit quantitative information in the Example Essay Outline (e.g., "The U.S. consumes 20.8 million barrels of oil a day; this is 25% of the oil consumed worldwide," "The U.S. imports 50% of its oil," "Only 2% of the world's oil reserves are in the U.S."). The Student Activity Pages include visual elements (drawings of a bird, oil barrels, a drill silhouette, a wind turbine, and two circular images next to opposing points) placed adjacent to text that contains quantitative and technical claims. The wrap-up prompts students to "begin thinking about visual aids you will use to present and enhance your presentation," linking visuals to their written content.
2: Semester 2
Unit 1: Greece and Rome
Lesson 1
Early Greece
Students add specific dated timeline cards (First Settlement of Greece by 6000 BC; Beginning of the Bronze Age 3000 BC; The Minoans by 2000 BC; Mycenaeans 1600 BC) onto a two-page visual World History Timeline. Students read pages 22–23 and then label a printed map of Greece (marking Crete, Knossos, Mycenae, and Troy) and color-code areas on the map key. Students translate a narrative (Theseus and the Minotaur) into a drawn maze with required structural elements (entry point, central chamber, dead ends), converting text-based story details into a diagram.
Lesson 2
Ancient Greece
Students read textual descriptions of naval tactics on the "Naval Strategy" page and then cut out, place, and move trireme models to illustrate the periplous, rake, ram, and diekplous maneuvers. Students add dated battle sites (Marathon 490 BC, Thermopylae 480 BC, Salamis 480 BC, Plataea 479 BC) to their map, and add timeline cards with specific dates (e.g., Founding of Sparta, Battle of Marathon, Classical Period, Peloponnesian Wars) to a visual timeline. Students create a marathon poster that incorporates numeric distances (26 miles and other possible distances tied to Pheidippides' runs) as part of a visual product and color-code map features while updating the map key.
Lesson 3
Everyday Life in Ancient Greece
In Activity 2 students are instructed to use the "A Kid's Day in Ancient Greece" schedule template with labeled time slots (Early Morning, Mid Morning, etc.) and to "take your best guess about the timing of different activities," which requires translating textual descriptions of daily routines into a visual schedule. The Q&A notes include a specific quantitative detail (boys started school at age 7) that students can record. The "Famous Ancient Greek" pages prompt students to record dates of birth and death, which are quantitative facts that can be placed visually (e.g., on a timeline).
Lesson 4
The Hellenistic World
Activity 3 directs students to add three dated purple timeline cards (Phillip II 359-337 BC; Alexander 336-323 BC; Hellenistic Age 323-30 BC), note the date on each card, find the page that includes that date, and attach the card to the timeline, requiring students to map dates (quantitative information in text) onto a visual timeline. The Greek Architecture activity provides a labeled diagram of a temple (frieze, pediment) and asks students to color parts and draw columns after watching explanatory material, prompting students to match technical vocabulary and descriptions with a visual diagram. The Alexander activity asks students to sketch a monument representing achievements, which asks students to translate textual descriptions of accomplishments into a visual representation.
Lesson 5
Ancient Rome and the Roman Republic
Students are given Activity 3: Timeline Cards with four cards labeled with dates (Rome Takes Control 290 BC; Punic Wars 264–146 BC; The Twelve Tables 450 BC; Caesar Crossed the Rubicon 49 BC) and instructed to note the date on each card, find the page that includes that date in their binder, and attach the card to the timeline. The lesson's reading and the "Things to Know" bullets also present dates in words (e.g., Punic Wars began in 264 BC; Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC) that students must use when placing events on the timeline.
Lesson 6
The Roman Empire
Students are asked to place dated timeline cards (e.g., 42 BC, 27 BC–14 AD, 96–180 AD, 117 AD) onto a visual timeline, directly converting dates given in the text into a visual representation. In Activity 1 and Activity 3 students outline and shade the extent of the Roman Empire on a map, label cities (Rome, Pompeii, Carthage, Alexandria, Byzantium, Jerusalem), and trace shipping routes and road networks based on reading and online maps. Students are also instructed to use text/web readings about trade to identify goods imported to Rome and then mark those shipping routes on their map, integrating technical trade information expressed in words with the visual route network.
Lesson 7
Everyday Life in Ancient Rome
Students are instructed to read about religions in Rome and "fill in the chart below," using a student activity page that presents a table for recording key features, who practiced each religion, and the government's role. The Religion in Rome activity includes a partially filled chart and an answer key, prompting students to translate written descriptions into entries in a table. Activity 1 Option 2 asks students to create illustrations that depict scenes from textual readings, requiring students to convert textual details about daily life into visual depictions.
Lesson 8
The End of the Empire
Students are asked to outline the Roman Empire on a map for 235 AD (Activity 1), including an optional shading to show expansion since 27 BC, which requires placing temporal/geographic information onto a visual map. In Activity 4 students add dated timeline cards (e.g., 212 AD, 476 AD) to a timeline by locating the page with the date and positioning the card above or below the line. Activity 2 asks students to sort listed factors into "Internal" and "External" columns on a two-column activity page, placing textual cause labels into a visual organizer.
Unit 1: Force and Motion
Lesson 1
Force
Students read technical descriptions of different forces and then match those written descriptions to pictures on the "Name That Force" cut-and-paste activity. Students paste labels into the four-quadrant "Fundamental Forces" diagram, directly pairing textual descriptions with atomic and force diagrams. In Target Practice, students measure distances, identify forces in narrative steps, and create diagrams that use arrows (with direction and length) to represent the forces acting on the ball.
Lesson 2
Newton's Laws of Motion
Students measure distances in the Rubber Ball Ramp activity and are instructed to "Create a graph with 'Number of Cards' on the x-axis and 'Distance Traveled (cm)' on the y-axis," converting written/quantitative observations into a visual graph. In the Balloon Rocket activity students must "draw a picture of a balloon rocket and use arrows to show the forces acting on it," translating technical descriptions of forces into a diagram. In the Newton's Laws Mini-Book students match written law descriptions/definitions with images and illustrations, pairing textual technical information with visual representations.
Lesson 3
Graphing Motion
Students plot numerical data from tables onto displacement-time and velocity-time graphs (they label axes, plot points A–H, and connect them). Students calculate velocities from slopes using the data (e.g., compute m/s for intervals) and answer questions that connect graph features to motion descriptions. Students write or match short written stories/events (bicyclist scenario) to specific segments of the graphs and answer conceptual questions linking graphs to force concepts (balanced vs. unbalanced).
Lesson 4
Speed, Velocity, and Acceleration
Students collect quantitative time and distance data in the provided Data Collection tables and convert between elapsed time and lap time using the written instructions and sample calculations. Students use the Average Velocity sheet, apply the formula given in words (displacement divided by time), compute numeric average velocities, and plot those values on a displacement–time graph. Students transfer elapsed times and computed velocities into the Average Acceleration table, apply the written acceleration formula, compute numeric accelerations, and plot a velocity–time graph. Sample tables, worked calculations, and sample graphs are provided for students to compare with their own numerical work and visuals.
Lesson 5
Centripetal Force and Terminal Velocity
Students read technical explanations of accelerometers, centripetal and centrifugal forces (definitions and cause/effect descriptions) and are asked to "read about how accelerometers work and relate it to Newton's first two laws." The accelerometer activity includes a labeled diagram of the jar/cork setup and a Student Activity Page with a table (Prediction, Results, Explanation) that students complete. The bucket-swing activity provides illustrations of swinging stages and prompts students to describe forces from two different frames of reference, linking textual descriptions to visual scenarios.
Lesson 6
Work
Students read the technical definitions of newtons, joules, and the formula for work in the "Things to Know" section and in assigned pages of Why Things Move. They use that textual/quantitative information (Work = Force x distance; 1 J = 1 N·m) to calculate values and enter them into provided tables in Activity 1 and Ramp It Up. In the pulley activities students measure input and output forces and distances described in words, then complete a Pulley System Comparison table and follow pulley diagrams that visually represent the systems.
Lesson 7
Newton in the Milky Way
Students take numerical measurements (ramp height, exit locations) and record them in the provided chart/table on the "Analyzing the Data" page, then plot those measurements on the provided graphing grid using different colors and labeled axes. The "Newton's Acceleration Ramp" page includes a labeled diagram that students use to set up the experiment and mark actual exit points, linking the diagram to the measured data. The "Kepler's Laws" activity asks students to review written descriptions of Kepler's three laws and draw an illustration of a planet's orbit, requiring them to translate technical text about motion into a visual model.
Final Project
Demonstrating Newton's Laws
Students are instructed to build tabletop mini-golf holes and place printed concept labels (including the quantitative label "F=ma") into corresponding parts of their physical models, then give a tour explaining how each labeled concept is shown. Comic-strip activity pages ask students to create multi-panel visuals that illustrate Newton's laws (including a written statement of Newton's Second Law, Force = mass × acceleration) alongside drawings that depict the scenarios. A short-answer task explicitly asks students to draw and label a diagram illustrating centripetal and centrifugal force, combining written explanations with a visual diagram.
Unit 1: Greek Myths
Lesson 1
Ancient Greece
The Student Activity Page includes a Greek alphabet chart organized as a table with columns showing Greek letters (upper/lower), the letter names, the equivalent English letter, and pronunciations. The Decoding Greek Messages activity directs students to "Use the Greek alphabet chart to decode the message below" and asks students to write messages in the Greek alphabet and have them decoded. The Answer Key shows the Greek text paired with its English translation (e.g., "Mount Olympus is the home of the Greek gods and goddesses").
Lesson 2
The Gods and Goddesses
Students read written descriptions of the gods and their family relationships and then create and place labeled leaves on a Mount Olympus family tree (Activity 7), tracing, cutting, writing names, and pasting them where they belong. In Options 1 and 2 of the character-card activities, students match textual descriptions to pictures by cutting out descriptions and gluing them beneath the correct deity illustrations or by writing short descriptions on the cards. The family-tree diagram and the labeled character-card pages require students to translate information expressed in words (who is related to whom, who rules what) into a visual diagram and labeled visual cards.
Lesson 6
Vainglorious Kings
Students are explicitly asked to use a Venn diagram to compare Heracles to a modern superhero and then design a comic-book cover, which requires translating textual comparisons into a visual organizer and artwork. In Activity 3, students are instructed to read Icarus at the Edge of Time and use a provided "Chart" page to compare the traditional myth to the retelling, filling table-style categories (theme, method of flight, role of invention, setting, etc.). Several activities (movie poster, wordless book, mythical puzzle) require students to convert story information expressed in words into visual products.
Lesson 7
The Trojan War
Students are instructed to assemble cut-out characters and props using written assembly steps (e.g., "Fold back and tape the stands... (Refer to the 'Assembly Directions' graphic)."), cut out the horse and glue or tape it to a box, and glue city walls and cut an opening for the horse to pass through. Students are directed to place soldiers in the horse and roll it through the walls to retell the sequence of events, and they are offered the option to "write out your entire summary, take notes, or make a diagram to remember what happens next."
Final Project
A New Twist on an Ancient Myth
Students are directed to use an editing symbols reference page that displays proofreading symbols (visual marks) alongside their meanings and examples, and to apply those symbols when they revise and edit their drafts. Students complete a roots-matching activity that uses visual lines/diagrams to link root words to their English meanings, requiring them to connect textual definitions with a visual representation. The rubric and scoring options (1–3) present numeric criteria that students use to evaluate organization, voice/creativity, and conventions, which requires reading descriptive criteria and mapping them to a visual scoring scale.
Unit 2: The Middle Ages
Lesson 1
Introduction to Medieval Europe
Students place specific years and event cards (350 AD, 476 AD, 1000 AD, 1050 AD, 1300 AD, etc.) from the reading onto a multi-page timeline and trace the Early/High/Late Middle Ages with colored markers, converting dates in text into a visual timeline. Students label a map with countries and locate 13 groups, create a map key of codes or symbols, and draw arrows to show migrations described in the reading, translating written geographic movement into visual map elements. Students complete a feudal pyramid graphic organizer (or create one) using word-box terms and arrows to show flows of land, service, and protection, turning textual descriptions of relationships and exchanges into a diagram.
Lesson 2
Monarchs
Students add four dated timeline cards (Birth of Charlemagne 742, Coronation of William the Conqueror 1066, Coronation of Henry II 1154, Approval of the Magna Carta 1215) to a visual timeline using dates from the reading. Students complete the "A Monarch's Power" activity page, filling a two-column table labeled "Before the Magna Carta" and "After the Magna Carta" with answers that translate textual descriptions of lawmaking, limits on the king, and recourse into a visual table format. Students create a word cloud from the full text of the Magna Carta and from other political documents, then print and compare the clouds to visualise and analyze text-frequency information.
Lesson 3
Knights and Warfare in the Middle Ages
Students read technical descriptions of weapons and siege methods (pages 28-30 and 42-45) and then choose and cut out illustrated siege weapons and troops to glue onto a castle diagram for the "Planning a Siege" activity. Students draw numbered steps and arrows on the castle page to show the sequence and movement of their attack and may build a physical model of the castle and attack using blocks or toy figures. Students also manipulate game pieces (attack and defense cards, a die labeled with siege methods) to match textual descriptions of attacks and defenses in the Castle Defense Game and add dated event cards (e.g., Cavalry, Early 11th century) to a visual timeline.
Lesson 4
Castles and Feasts
Students are asked to read chapters about castle features (pages 49-64) and then "create a floor plan for your own medieval castle." The Option 1 steps tell students to use graph paper, sketch the castle shape, decide geographic placement and surrounding features, determine tower placement, wall thickness, moats, and the placement of keep, kitchen, Great Hall, bedchambers, garderobes, stables, forge, garrison, arrow loops, and dungeon locations. The Parent Plan explicitly tells students to "design a medieval castle, using the descriptions in today's reading as a guide," linking textual descriptions to a drawn diagram.
Lesson 5
Village and City Life
Students roll a die and record survivors in the "Impact of the Plague" activity, filling tables and percentage checkboxes that convert the textual description of plague mortality into numeric and tabular form. The "Personal Hygiene" activity asks students to fill a three-column table comparing Personal Care Activity (text) between Modern Times and Medieval Times, translating written descriptions into a structured visual table. Students add dated cards (e.g., The Bubonic Plague 1347-1351) to a timeline and build or draw a thatched-roof cottage model/diagram, turning written technical details about roofs, cottage contents, and population impacts into visual representations.
Lesson 6
Religion in Medieval Life
Students are instructed to add dated event cards (e.g., First Crusade 1096, Jews Ordered to Leave England 1290) to a medieval timeline (Activity 1), integrating event descriptions and dates with a visual timeline. In Activity 6 (Reconquista) students read an article and are explicitly asked on the cube to "Create a simple timeline showing key dates in the Reconquista," requiring them to turn textual date information into a visual timeline. Both activities require students to take chronological information expressed in words and place it into a visual chronological representation.
Lesson 8
The End of the Medieval Era
Students are instructed in the "Naming Our Own Era" activity to talk to at least four people, keep a running list of responses, and mark repeats with a star or check so they can see how many people noted each item. The "Middle Ages & Today" student activity page provides a graphic organizer with labeled sections (Toys/Games, Books, Other, Movies) where students list examples and explain connections. The Naming activity page asks students to list important events/discoveries and identify the most significant ones, which encourages students to compare counts of responses to determine significance.
Final Project
A Medieval Fair or Map
Students are instructed to create a detailed map or 3-D model of a medieval village or town and to consult earlier readings to see how things would have been arranged, translating textual descriptions of homes, fields, churches, castles, walls, marketplaces, and trades into a visual representation. The Student Activity Pages and the Medieval Map Rubric require inclusion of specific technical/geographic elements (city walls, placement of castle on a hill, marketplace, tradesmen's shops, fields, church) and assess the clarity and polish of a verbal walk-through that connects the map to what was learned. The unit skills list also asks students to study geography (location, topography, waterways, vegetation, climate) and to map the spread of the bubonic plague, linking technical geographic information in text to mapped representations.
Unit 2: Light and the Eye
Lesson 1
Lines of Light
Students read textual definitions of reflection and the angle of incidence/angle of reflection in the 'Things to Know' and reading passages. Students follow step-by-step instructions to build a ray-making tool and use a flashlight while referring to diagrams (index card diagram, comb setup, mirror on clay, and a diagram showing flashlight and reflected rays). Students are asked in the Observations and Analysis sections to observe beam directions and explain how the angle at which rays strike relates to the angle at which they reflect, requiring them to connect the written definitions to the visual/model representation.
Lesson 2
Translucence and Shadow
Students read technical descriptions (definitions of transparent, translucent, opaque; umbra and penumbra; and text explaining that the Sun's position affects shadow length). Students then sort household items into a three-column "Household Materials Hunt" page, using a table to represent the written categories visually. Students use the "Shadow Stories" or "Shadow Study" pages (tables with rows for times of day and a flashlight row) to draw and label how shadows change, directly connecting the written explanation about sun position and shadow length to visual drawings. The sundial reading and optional sundial craft also link the textual term gnomon and the Sun-position explanation to a physical/visual model.
Lesson 3
Refraction and Lenses
Students read technical explanations of refraction, lenses, and focal points in the reading and activity text and then view and use annotated diagrams (e.g., the Lens Bend Demonstration diagram showing rays bending through a lens). Students are prompted to draw diagrams explaining angles of vision on the "Shhh! Here's How It's Done" sheet and to explain the magic tricks "through diagrams, a written explanation, or a combination of the two." Activities require students to compare their written/observational answers about ray paths and focal point changes with the visual models provided (illustrations of ray paths and camera obscura projections).
Lesson 4
How Human Eyes Work
Students read technical descriptions of eye parts (Things to Know; readings on pages 10–11 and KidsHealth) and then label two diagrams of the eye using terms such as lens, cornea, iris, pupil, retina, rods and cones. Students draw or label their own illustration and complete a two-column table ("Parts of the Eye Visible" / "Parts of the Eye Hidden") that maps textual descriptions to visual/model components. Students also assemble a 3-D model and compare the model and the camera obscura diagram to the written explanation that the lens produces an upside-down image on the retina.
Lesson 5
Animal Eyes
Students perform the Binocular Vision experiment in which they count and record the number of successful touches with both eyes open, right eye closed, and left eye closed, providing quantitative results. Diagrams illustrating the steps of the Part I and Part II activities are provided and used as visual guides for the experiments. In Activity 2 students sort a list of animals into columns (predator vs. prey or other categories), matching written descriptions of eye placement and function to a visual table/column format.
Lesson 6
Color and Perception
Students carry out multiple hands-on investigations (Rainbow Tray, Spectrum Peek, Cliff Hanger) where they observe separated light and are instructed to draw the resulting spectrum and describe their observations on activity pages. In the Ink Blots activity students perform chromatography, record the colors that appear, fill in hypotheses and conclusions, and attempt to recreate marker colors in paint. In Activity 3 and Picture the Sky students watch/read technical explanations about scattering and wavelengths and then explain sky color verbally or via a painting/photograph, linking their visual product to the written or spoken explanation.
Final Project
Tools of the Eye
Students are asked to write materials and step-by-step procedures in the "Tools for the Human Eye" pages and to draw a diagram of the tool (including a separate diagram if needed). The Periscope activity provides technical written steps alongside a diagram showing mirror placement that students must follow and/or reproduce. The project rubric explicitly requires a clear diagram of how to assemble the tool and an explanation of the science that makes the tool work, linking written technical information with a visual assembly diagram.
Unit 2: Tales from the Middle Ages
Lesson 1
Medieval Times
Students are instructed to examine a map of a medieval manor and record specific observations on the 'A Medieval Manor' activity page, filling sections for jobs, clothing, homes, inventions/technological advancements, military defense, and comparisons to neighborhoods today. Students are also asked to look at the map again after reading the Feudalism section and identify peasants, knights, or lords and where each group likely lived. The Feudalism text describes hierarchical relationships (king, lords, vassals, peasants) that students are prompted to connect to positions and roles on the map.
Lesson 3
Summer
Students are asked in Part I to underline each independent clause and put brackets around each dependent clause in given sentences, directly converting textual clause information into visual markings. The worksheet requires students to identify each sentence as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex, and the answer key shows bracketed and underlined clauses as a visual representation of the grammatical structure. Part II asks students to write a paragraph that must include at least one compound, one complex, and one compound-complex sentence, reinforcing practice in creating and recognizing these structures.
Lesson 4
Special Delivery
Students are asked to use the Venn diagram provided on the "A Memorable Event" page to compare an event in their life with Alyce's delivering of the calves, placing similarities and differences into the overlapping and non-overlapping circles. The Student Activity Page description explicitly identifies a two-circle Venn diagram graphic organizer labeled with "Alyce: Delivering of the Calves," which students use to organize information from the text. Students are instructed to list two ways the events were similar and three ways they were unique, converting textual comparisons into a visual diagram.
Lesson 9
Cast of Characters
Students are instructed to read each character's monologue and "fill out the chart on the four 'Cast of Characters' pages," recording the character name, a 1-2 sentence summary of the monologue, an example of descriptive language, and relationships to other characters. Multiple Student Activity Pages are provided that are tables/graphic organizers with columns labeled Name, Short Description, Summary, and Example of Descriptive Language/Relationship, which students are to complete using information from the text.
Final Project
Life in the Middle Ages Think-Tac-Toe
The Think-Tac-Toe includes a "Castle Blueprint" task that asks students to draw a detailed blueprint of a medieval castle and label important features and their purposes, requiring students to convert written/descriptive information into a labeled diagram. Multiple Student Activity Pages (Shelter, Jobs/Responsibilities, Village Life, Food, Struggle for Survival) provide large drawing areas alongside lines for written explanation, prompting students to create visual representations based on written responses. The Story Cube and foldable templates require students to organize story elements or historical connections into a physical/visual organizer.
Unit 3: The Age of Discovery
Lesson 1
Why Was There an Age of Discovery?
Students are instructed to add specific dated timeline cards (Emperor of China Stops Voyages 1433; Gil Eannes 1434; Fall of Granada January 1492; Ottoman Turks Conquer Constantinople 1453; Prince Henry's School 1418) to a visual timeline, converting dates from the text into a chronological visual display. Students are also asked to assemble a multi-page transatlantic map and use the maps in their reading to draw and label Henry the Navigator's voyages and mark the cities of Granada and Istanbul, converting textual/technical geographic information into a visual map.
Lesson 2
New World Empires
Students read pages 14–19 that include quantitative and technical information (e.g., the Inca empire covered thousands of miles; Cahokia had over 15,000 inhabitants and specific dates). Students are instructed to add dated timeline cards (1000, 1438, 1440–1468, 1473–1502) and to place Machu Picchu, Tenochtitlán, and Cahokia on a map using the map on pages 52–53. In Option 1 students are directed to use a chart or Venn diagrams and the map/descriptions to compare geographic size and other features between European kingdoms and American empires.
Lesson 3
European Explorers
Students read pages 20–35 and then add dated event "purple cards" (e.g., October 12, 1492; 1497-1498; 1513) to a timeline, directly transferring dates and event descriptions from the text to a visual timeline. Students label places (Canary Islands, Bahamas, Cuba, etc.) and draw Columbus's and other explorers' routes on a map using the map on page 23 and maps on pages 26, 30, and 32 as guides, converting textual route and location information into visual map traces. Students fill in information (dates, locations, goals, outcomes) from the reading onto explorer trading cards, turning written facts into a visual card format used for review games.
Lesson 4
The Consequences of Contact
Students read text passages that present quantitative claims about population and mortality (e.g., statements that mortality estimates range from 25% to over 90% and that 'as many as 9 out of 10 people' may have died). In Activity 4, Option 1 students use the "Contact and Loss" sheet to multiply given population estimates by various mortality rates and record the resulting numbers. The student activity page is a table labeled with population values and columns for 25%, 50%, 75%, and 90% mortality in which students enter calculated death totals.
Lesson 5
Copernicus and Changes in Science
Students read technical descriptions of planetary motion (for example, that the Earth turns on its axis daily and orbits the Sun yearly) in the assigned pages and questions. In Activity 4 students are instructed to draw diagrams or build demonstrations of the medieval (geocentric) and Copernican (heliocentric) models using those textual descriptions (pages 11 and 37–39). In Activity 1 students add dated event cards (e.g., 1453, 1473–1543) to a timeline, converting date information from the text into a visual timeline.
Lesson 6
Galileo
Students are instructed in Activity 1 to add purple cards with specific events and years (Galileo Galilei 1564-1642; Death of Giordano Bruno 1600; Trial of Galileo 1633) to their timeline, taking date information from the readings. The Things to Know and Reading sections provide those dates and event descriptions in words, which students must transfer to a visual timeline. The parent plan reiterates that the child will add three new cards to her timeline, making the task explicit and required.
Lesson 7
Isaac Newton
Students add dated cards (e.g., Isaac Newton 1642-1727; Telescope Invented 1608) to a timeline, placing quantitative date information onto a visual diagram. Students complete the Thermometer activity page by filling a table listing types of thermometers, what they do, and which scale(s) are used, linking technical descriptions to a visual table. Students sketch observations from a telescope or microscope in a large circle, translating observational descriptions into visual representations.
Final Project
Discovery Research Project
Students are asked to "show, on the map that you created for this lesson, the route taken by that explorer," which requires translating written voyage descriptions into a mapped route. Students must label locations on an unmarked world map on the unit test (e.g., Aztec empire, Inca empire, Spain, Portugal), converting textual location information into a visual map. The project rubric explicitly evaluates inclusion of a map showing the explorer's route, reinforcing that students will produce a visual representation from written/biographical information.
Unit 3: The Solar System
Lesson 1
The Latest View of Our Solar System
Students read specific textbook pages with technical descriptions of planet characteristics (size, density, composition) and then use those verbal descriptions to sort 13 planets into three labeled columns (Terrestrial, Gas Giant, Dwarf). Students are instructed to sketch each planet and paste the sketches under the correct category, turning textual descriptions into visual representations. In the "What Kind of Planet Am I?" activity, students complete a chart-like set of prompts (Size; Made of?; Dense?; Surrounded by objects?) and map five labeled descriptions to planet names, directly matching technical word information to a visual/graphic organizer.
Lesson 2
Our Sun
Students read the text about sunspots and are given a table listing the average number of sunspots per year from 1950–2023. They are instructed to plot that numerical data onto a line graph, connect the points, and label maxima (M) and minima (m). Students use the graph and the plotted data to calculate lengths of time between maximum years and to determine whether the pattern constitutes a regular cycle, and they are directed to an online article with a linked visualization.
Lesson 3
Earth, the Third Planet
Students read specified textbook pages and a web article that provide technical information about Earth's diameter, density, distance from the Sun, orbital and rotational periods, axial tilt, and seasons. Students are instructed to complete a Planetary Passport table and board-game cards that require them to write numeric answers (e.g., diameter, density, distance, orbital period, rotational period). Students are also asked to create a visual/physical model, slideshow, or animation that shows the Earth's tilt, its 24-hour rotation, orbit around the Sun, and seasonal positions.
Lesson 4
Satellites and Telescopes
Students read text that defines topographic maps, spectral analysis, and reflectance curves and explains that satellite images are used to create maps showing precise heights, depths, and widths. In the hands-on activity, students build a clay topographic model and create a map in the provided space, using tools (ruler, fishing line) to represent elevation. The activity explicitly asks students to add spectral analysis to their map by matching colors they chose for materials to what an ultraviolet telescope would see and by considering reflectance curves.
Lesson 5
Meteorites and the Moon
Students read text describing moon phases and tidal bulges (pages 23-24 and the tides article) and then use that technical information to create visual representations. In Activity 1 students manipulate a Styrofoam "Moon," a light source, and then draw the observed phases in the Me in the Middle page. In Activity 2 students are explicitly asked to add tidal bulges, the Moon's orbit, and the timing of two high tides to a slideshow, animation, or physical model, linking the written explanation of tides to a visual/model form.
Lesson 6
Other Terrestrial Planets
Students read specific pages that include quantitative and technical details (for example, Mercury's day-side 800°F/427°C and night-side -300°F/-183°C and prompts about orbital and rotational periods). Students are instructed to fill in the "Planetary Passport" table that has rows for Diameter, Density, Distance from the Sun, Orbital Period, Rotation Period, Highest/Lowest Surface Temperature, Moons, and other quantitative features, directly transferring textual numbers into a visual table. Students complete "From Earth to Eris" game cards by writing numeric answers (planet number, orbital period, rotational period, comparisons of diameter and density) and are asked to shade boxes that indicate which boxes these planets have in common with Earth.
Lesson 7
Gas Giants
Students are directed to complete the "Planetary Passport: Gas Giant Planets" table by recording quantitative attributes (diameter, distance from the Sun, hours in a day, orbital period, temperatures, moons, rings) which requires transferring numeric/technical information from the readings into a visual table. The "From Earth to Eris" board game cards ask students to fill in and cut out cards with numeric/technical questions (diameter, density, orbital and rotational periods, planet number), converting text information into a visual/card format. Students are also asked to paint and assemble Planetarium Solar System Model pieces using what they learned, applying textual descriptions of appearance and quantitative relations to a three-dimensional visual model.
Lesson 8
Dwarf Planets and Asteroids
Students read specific pages in the assigned text about dwarf planets (pages 31 and 45–51) and then record quantitative/technical details (e.g., diameter, distance from the Sun, orbital period, rotational period, density, temperature) on the Planetary Passport table. The From Earth to Eris Board Game cards prompt students to answer numeric/technical questions (diameter, density, orbital period, rotational period, position from the Sun) for each dwarf planet. The parent notes direct students to check their answers against the book (pages 58–59), indicating students must extract data from the text and place it into visual formats (table/cards).
Lesson 9
Men on the Moon and Beyond
Students consult NASA model-building instructions and record the materials and step-by-step procedure on the Space Explorers activity page, converting technical text into a plan. Students create a physical or paper model of a spacecraft, draw a picture or attach a photo of the completed model, and place it on the activity page. Student worksheets also ask for technical details (e.g., year built, components, counts) which students record in writing alongside their visual/model representation.
Final Project
Solar System Model and Test
Students follow directions from the book to create a grocery-bag scale model and are instructed to "make notes on index cards showing how far away they should be from one another." Several Student Activity Pages ask students to "illustrate the relative sizes of planet Earth and the Sun, including measurements in feet and inches," to illustrate distances between planets with measurements, and to illustrate Earth's orbit with measurements. The grading rubric and written-plan pages require students to show or describe relative sizes, relative distances, and how the planets orbit the Sun, and students must write and draw a proposed museum model integrating those quantitative details.
Unit 3: The Prince and the Bard
Lesson 2
Meeting the Little Prince
Activity 2 directs students to use a "Friend Venn Diagram" to take what the narrator says and either illustrate or write phrases describing what a child or an adult would want to know about a friend. The parent plan explicitly lists several adult questions that are quantitative in wording (e.g., "How old is he?", "How many brothers does he have?", "How much does he weigh?", "How much money does his father make?") that students are asked to place on the diagram. Students are also asked to add two more questions for each group and to place shared questions in the overlapping center.
Lesson 4
Earth and Other Planets
Students are asked to create a clay model of a planet and its inhabitant using the book's illustrations and to consider the size of the planet and what it is close to, which requires translating textual descriptions into a visual form. The Planet Problem page asks students to describe the planet and list what else is on the planet, prompting them to extract details from the text to inform their model. A parent note suggests the adult viewpoint could include facts and figures (for example, measuring distances to the nearest centimeter), which implies an expectation of integrating quantitative details into a visual or written product.
Lesson 10
Dreams
The lesson lists punctuation-to-pause rules (short pause for commas, longer pause for colons/semicolons/dashes, short stop for periods/question marks/exclamation points), which expresses technical information in words. The example passage shows the original line and a modern rendering with bracketed pause markers (e.g., [short stop], [short pause]) that visually annotate how to read the text. The activity instructs students to copy a scene into a document, print it out, and make notes to themselves about performance, implying students will mark pauses on the printed text.
Unit 4: Elizabethan Europe
Lesson 1
Europe at the Time of Elizabeth's Birth
Students are instructed to add dated event cards (Elizabeth I 1533-1603, Beginning of the Reformation 1517, Coronation of Elizabeth I 1559) to an ongoing timeline, requiring them to place quantitative date information into a visual timeline. The Brainstorming activity provides a three-part graphic organizer (My Home, My Work, My Children) where students record consequences from written scenarios, converting textual descriptions into a visual organizer. The Martin Luther activity page and other student pages present structured graphic organizers (e.g., prompts like "Who came from," "Who believed") that require students to synthesize reading into a visual layout.
Lesson 2
The Renaissance and Elizabeth's Childhood
Students add dated event cards (e.g., Gutenberg 1437; Dante 1265–1321; Leonardo 1452–1519; Michelangelo 1475–1564; Reign of Edward VI 1547–1553) to a timeline (Activity 1), converting dates and textual labels into a visual sequence. In Activity 3 students use a map key and colored pencils to shade the Silk Road, draw arrows for the Crusades, trace Marco Polo's route from the textual description, place the printing press at Mainz, and circle Florence, Venice, and Rome, attaching event squares to map locations. The map instructions explicitly require students to translate written descriptions of routes, events, and locations into spatial and colored visual representations.
Lesson 3
Becoming Queen
In Activity 1 students are given explicit quantitative labels (Reign of Queen Mary 1553–1558; William Shakespeare 1564–1616) and instructed to add them to a timeline, requiring them to place date ranges from the reading into a visual chronological display. In Activity 2 Option 2 students are directed to translate written technical guidance about blackwork stitches (short straight lines between grid intersections) into a visual design on graph paper. In Activity 3 students use symbolic meanings described in the text (e.g., rosemary = remembrance, pearls = purity) to plan and draw a gift, linking written symbolic information to a visual representation.
Lesson 4
Religious Turmoil
Students are instructed to "review those pages and use them to color the 'Religious Map of Elizabethan Europe' activity page," converting written descriptions of which countries were Protestant or Catholic into a color-coded map. Activity 1 directs students to add timeline cards listing key Reformation figures with years (e.g., Desiderius Erasmus 1466-1536) to a visual timeline, turning date information from the text into a chronological display. The student activity page includes a map with a key for Protestant and Catholic symbols that students must apply based on their reading.
Lesson 5
International Affairs
Students read chapter descriptions of John Hawkins and Francis Drake and then trace those voyages on a map, drawing arrows, labeling years, and marking routes (Activity 3, Option 2). Students complete a Triangular Trade activity by cutting and pasting squares that show what was bought and received and by drawing arrows between England, West Africa, and the West Indies (Activity 3, Option 1 and Student Activity Page). Students also place event cards on a timeline, converting written event descriptions and dates into a visual chronological display (Activity 1).
Lesson 6
Defeating the Spanish Armada
Students set up a visual game board (map) with 24 English and 24 Spanish tokens and are told that each token represents five ships, directly mapping textual quantities to a physical model. Students follow numeric game rules written in text (dice comparisons: attacker die must exceed defender by 3, later equal/greater, or exceed by 5) and remove tokens based on those numeric outcomes. Students count remaining Spanish and English ships after play and are asked to analyze how tactics (flaming ships) and weather changed the odds, tying the numeric outcomes back to the visual token model.
Lesson 8
The Making of the Modern World
Students read boxed textual descriptions and are instructed to highlight key words, cut out each idea, and paste them onto a two-column "Medieval vs. Modern" chart (Activity 1, Option 2). Students also place labeled themes around a central portrait of Elizabeth I and draw lines between shapes, writing connections on the lines to show relationships (Activity 2). These tasks require students to organize written information into graphic organizers and to represent relationships visually.
Final Project
An Elizabethan Lapbook
Students are directed to create a Map Mini-Book in which they label England, Spain, France, and at least five specific locations on an Elizabethan Europe map and then color it, combining place-name text with a visual map. The Triangular Trade mini-book asks students to draw arrows and label the flow of wealth, trade goods, and slaves among England, Africa, and the West Indies, pairing written labels/sentences with a triangular diagram. The Timeline Mini-Book requires students to select 7–10 dates, write each date and a brief description on rectangles, then arrange them on a string so readers can pull out a visual timeline that displays quantitative (date) information alongside textual descriptions.
Unit 4: Technological Design
Lesson 1
What Is Technology?
Students read written definitions of artifacts, hardware, methodology/technique, systems of production, and social-technical systems in the "Things to Know" section. Students are instructed in Activity 1 to place a list of labeled technologies into a four-column table (or to cut out boxes and sort images) corresponding to those categories. Student activity pages include a labeled image grid and an answer key that maps textual items into the visual categories.
Lesson 2
Technological Innovator
Students read textual descriptions of inventions and dates and then place those items into the provided "Technology Through the Centuries" chart, labeling each entry by century and by one of four technology categories. Students read explanations about da Vinci's use of proportion and perspective and then create a two-dimensional drawing that visually represents proportion and distance (a perspectograph). Students answer follow-up questions that require them to compare trends observed in the visual chart with information from the readings.
Lesson 3
Meaningful Technological Designs
Students are asked to write a paragraph about an object's inventor and when the design was invented (Part 1), which requires conveying technical/quantitative information in words (e.g., dates, inventor names). Students must include three pictures or illustrations showing the original device, an improved design, and a 21st-century version (Part 2), and the telephone example shows images labeled to correspond to those time periods. Students may choose to build a simple design (a model) in Part 3 or write about tests and trials, which would require translating technical/functional information into a physical or descriptive form.
Lesson 4
Necessity vs. Luxury
Students use 20th- and 21st-century activity tables where they label each technology's type and whether it is a necessity or luxury. Students are directed to research technical descriptions (for example, "How does a smoke alarm work?") using online sources and then fill the table and answer written questions about each technology. Students write short responses about whether a technological design solved a societal problem and why, synthesizing information from text into the table and response fields.
Lesson 5
Necessity Is the Mother of Invention
Students are asked in Option 2 to 'draw a diagram with a brief but thorough set of directions for the procedure' and to 'use the diagram provided in the book and make notes' (pages 12-22), which requires translating technical procedures in text into a visual diagram. In Option 3 students are asked to 'make one' of the anemometer designs from the book (pages 92-96), use it to collect wind-speed information, and consider creating their own scale based on revolutions, linking numeric measurements to a visual/mechanical model. The reading and activity prompts explicitly direct students to follow written technical information from the text and produce a visual representation or device that embodies that information.
Lesson 6
Da Vinci's Inventions
Students are asked to use the "Standards" chart (a rubric with numeric ratings 1–5) to evaluate scientific principles, risks, benefits, constraints, and testing protocols using information from the text. Student Activity Pages for the Parachute, Ornithopter, and Helical Air Screw provide diagrams and tables with columns labelled "Rating" and "Evidence" for students to fill in based on the reading. Students are also instructed to build one of the devices (model) and then re-evaluate their ratings, linking textual descriptions to a physical visual representation.
Lesson 7
Contemporary Design Approaches
Students complete evaluation tables (Rating and Evidence) for the hand-held vacuum, television, and computer where they record numeric ratings and written justifications for Scientific Principles, Risks, Benefits, Constraints/Limitations, and Testing Protocols. Students are provided sample ratings in the Parent Plan, showing numeric scores paired with textual evidence, demonstrating integration of quantitative judgments with explanatory text. Students are asked in the Engineering on a Budget activity to draw diagrams with specific shapes and dimensions and to develop solutions in two- and three-dimensions, linking technical descriptions to visual models.
Lesson 8
Engineering
Students are given quantitative/technical constraints in writing (an egg must survive a drop of at least 15 feet / 5 meters and specific added feet penalties for substituting materials). Students are instructed to model selected solutions in two dimensions (as a diagram) and three dimensions (as a physical model). Students are directed to record test results using the provided "Engineering Design and Development" table to document trial results, reasons, and modification recommendations.
Lesson 9
Modeling an Idea
Students are given a written materials list and step-by-step procedural text (place brick, attach rubber bands, tie string, pull string) and an accompanying diagram/illustration of the brick-with-rubber-bands setup. Students follow the written steps to build a physical model and use the diagram to guide construction, then test the model by pulling the string and noting observed outcomes. Students are asked to record how many times they tested the model and to describe results and modifications, linking their actions and observations to the visual/physical model.
Final Project
Final Exam and Model Bridge
Students are asked to scale a real bridge problem (100 feet across, one ton requirement) into a physical model by placing two chairs one foot apart and hanging a five-pound weight, requiring calculation and a corresponding visual prototype. The instructions direct students to articulate possible solutions "in two and three dimensions" and to produce diagrams with specific shapes and dimensions. Activity pages include an "Engineering Protocol" evaluation table (Rating/Evidence) and unit-test tables that require students to organize technical descriptions of designs into visual tables and diagrams.
Unit 4: Newton at the Center
Lesson 1
Features of Non-Fiction
Students are directed to focus on graphic elements such as captions, charts, graphs, diagrams, and tables and to explain the function of graphical components. Students use highlighting to identify feature names and then write definitions for page layout, table of contents, index, headings, and graphics including graphs, diagrams, charts, and captions. The Parent Plan explicitly states that students will "explain the function of the graphical components of a text."
Lesson 2
Newton and Math
Students are directed in Activity 4 (Graphics and Summaries) to take notes on page 163 and to give a 2-minute oral summary that includes the main idea and what is shown by the graph; the parent notes specify that students should say the graph shows a sprinter's changing speed second-to-second and that the shaded area relates to integral (skinny rectangle) calculus. In Activity 1 (Making/Explaining Ellipses) students summarize the written procedure for drawing an ellipse and then have a parent attempt the construction using only the student's written or oral directions, prompting students to reflect on how the diagram would help. In the sentence-diagramming activities students translate textual sentence structure into visual sentence diagrams and practice placing subjects, verbs, objects, modifiers, and prepositional phrases on diagram forms.
Lesson 3
Newton and Light
Students read technical descriptions about light and spectroscopy (e.g., "Each element absorbs and reflects energy in a specific spectrum...") in the assigned pages. Students are asked to create and observe a visual spectrum by going outside to view a rainbow or by using a prism and light to create a spectrum on a wall. Students are also required to produce visual aids (sentence diagram drawings or slides) and present diagrammed sentences inspired by the reading.
Lesson 5
Newton's Contemporaries
Students are asked to "circle the correct verb and then diagram each sentence" on the All in Agreement activity page, and the instructions explicitly tell students to diagram inverted-order and there is/there are constructions. The lesson includes an image (Graphic 8 / Parent Plan image) that shows sentence diagram structures and labels how parts of the sentences connect, and the answer key shows completed diagrams for the four activity sentences.
Lesson 6
Math and Science Take Flight
Students read a verbal statement of Bernoulli's principle and re-read the chapter section "Why Do Planes Stay in the Sky?" and a NASA page about aerodynamics. Students are directed to use the diagrams, captions, and text provided with demonstrations to take notes and to create their own numbered list of instructions for a lift demonstration. Students collect materials, perform or prepare a demonstration (cookie sheet or floating ball), and are asked to summarize how an airplane wing works using their materials and the Demonstrating Lift page.
Lesson 7
Using Newton's Work
Students are asked in Option 1 to create a graphic (timeline, chart, or illustrations) that demonstrates differences among verb tenses, converting written explanations into a visual representation. Students are instructed in Activity 4 to diagram specific sentences from the book, turning text into Reed–Kellogg style sentence diagrams. Students are also asked in Activities 6 and 5 to pair written sidebar summaries and captions with printed artworks, linking written descriptions to visual images.
Final Project
Lobby for Newton
Students are asked to diagram sentences during grammar review and on the unit test (Activity 5 and the Newton Test Part C), and the answer key shows sentence diagrams as examples. The unit asks students to "name and draw a sketch of two types of graphics" that appear in non-fiction books (Newton Test Part A, Q2). The parent notes and activities instruct students to confirm they know how to diagram items on the "Parts of a Sentence" page and to practice diagramming sentences.
Unit 5: Modern Europe
Lesson 1
Introduction to Europe
Students are instructed to create a poster-sized map of Europe, labeling countries, capitals, and geographic features and coloring parts of the map, which requires placing textual place names onto a visual map. The scavenger-hunt activity asks students to use Geography of the World to identify which countries use the euro and includes a small map with some countries highlighted and boxes for writing answers. The lesson text also provides quantitative facts (e.g., "Approximately 774,000,000 people live in Europe" and asks "How many member countries are there in the European Union?").
Lesson 2
Scandinavia and Finland
Students read pages 82–86 about Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland and then label and color those countries on a map, using textual descriptions of geography to place and shade features. In Activity 2 students use a "Geography, Natural Resources, and the Economy" organizer to draw arrows and connect geographic features named in the text (forests, fjords, lakes/coasts) to specific economic activities, and an answer-key diagram explicitly models these text-to-visual connections. The Quick Guide pages require students to write quantitative information from the reading (population) and other technical details (languages, government, geography) into structured, visual country pages.
Lesson 3
The British Isles
Students label the United Kingdom and Ireland and their capitals on a map and color regions to represent geographical features, translating written geographic descriptions into a visual map. Students record numeric and technical facts (population, form of government, number of MPs, size of the House of Lords, election frequency, voting age) by taking notes from the assigned readings or videos and filling out activity pages. Students answer specific quantitative questions on activity pages (e.g., how many constituencies elect MPs; how many members in the House of Lords).
Lesson 4
The Low Countries, Germany, and France
Students are asked to read pages 91–99 and then fill out "Quick Guide to Europe" pages that include fields such as Population, Official Language(s), and Geography. In Activity 1 students label countries and capitals on a map and color regions to show geographic features, and they may add rivers, lakes, bays, mountains, or major cities. Option 2 asks students to summarize three news articles and include an illustration for one article; Option 1 asks students to create a poster with images and a brief statement.
Lesson 5
Spain, Portugal, and Italy
Students read pages 100-105 that provide written descriptions of the countries' geographies, cultures, and (implicitly) demographic details. The Student Activity Pages for Portugal and Italy include a labeled map and blank fields for Population, Geography and Climate, and other technical descriptors that students are expected to fill in. Activity 1 asks students to label nations and capitals on a map and to color countries to show geographical features, connecting text descriptions of physical geography to a visual map.
Lesson 6
Switzerland and Austria
Students read text about the region's geography and then label and color the map of Europe, using suggested colors to represent grasslands, mountains, and forests (Activity 1). The Switzerland and Austria activity pages include small maps and blank drawing boxes where students are asked to record geography and climate information visually. The Alps activity asks students to consider farming, transportation, and engineering solutions and to write responses beneath prompts framed by a mountain illustration, linking textual problems to visual context.
Lesson 7
Slovenia, Croatia, Belarus, Baltic States
Students read the assigned textbook pages and then record facts (including a population field and form of government) on the "Quick Guide to Europe" and Student Activity Pages about Belarus, transferring textual facts into the worksheet fields. Students label and color countries and capitals on a map, adding geographic details from the reading to a visual map. Students also record researched government features onto a Venn diagram or structured "Three Different Governments" pages, placing textual descriptions into a visual comparison format.
Lesson 8
Central Europe
Students are prompted to record population and other factual fields (official language(s), form of government) on the Poland, Czech Republic, and Hungary activity pages. Students are asked to label countries and capitals and to color geographic features on a continental map, and the Hungary page provides space for notes or a diagram about geography and climate. The activity pages include a map image for each country, linking locational visuals with the written prompts.
Lesson 9
Ukraine, Moldova, Caucasian Republics
Students read pages 120-123 for technical information about climate, natural resources, and geographic features and then are instructed to 'briefly describe the climates, natural resources, and geographical features' and 'show the connections between those things and economic activities' on an activity page. Students will add and color countries on a map to reflect geographical features, translating textual descriptions into a visual map. An answer key is provided as a flowchart that visually connects 'Features of the Geography' (plains, mountains, rivers, natural resources, climate) with their 'Impact on' industrial, agricultural, and tourist economies.
Lesson 10
Southeast Europe
Students review the written description of latitude and longitude (page 14) and then use the provided "Latitude and Longitude" map to answer specific coordinate-based questions. Students are given numeric coordinates (for example, 42.42 N and 23.26 E) and asked to identify the capital city at those coordinates on the map. Students estimate positions between labeled latitude and longitude lines (20 and 30 degrees east; 40 and 50 degrees north) to locate features and cities visually.
Final Project
A Quick Guide to Europe
Students label countries on a blank map of Europe using a provided list of countries (Activity 4/map and the unit test map with 26 countries). Students identify and mark current European Union member countries on the unit map, using a textual list from the linked EU website to place initials, symbols, or stars on the visual map (Activity 3). Students draw lines to match written descriptions of geographic features (e.g., fjords, the Alps, steppes, Caucasus Mountains) to their corresponding names or locations on a map/diagram in the unit test matching section.
Unit 5: Energy
Lesson 1
Introduction to Energy and Matter
Students read technical definitions and descriptions (pp. 1-3 and web pages) and then match terms and definitions to pictures on the 'Energy Vocabulary' activity pages. Students use the "Mechanical Energy Coin" diagram that visually represents the equation potential energy + kinetic energy = mechanical energy. Students record real-world observations in the four-column "A Survey of Energy in Your Neighborhood" table and sort cut-out boxes into the two-column "Energy Source or Form of Energy?" graphic organizer, explicitly placing verbal labels into visual categories.
Lesson 2
Energy Transfer
Students read textual explanations of chemical potential energy and how burning a candle produces thermal and radiant energy, and they are instructed to "show how energy changes from one form to another by completing the diagram." The Student Activity Page "Follow the Energy!" provides a labeled diagram of the candle-pinwheel setup with arrows and empty boxes that students must fill with forms of energy (thermal, radiant, mechanical, chemical) and physically trace the energy path. Activity directions ask students to trace arrows with colored pencils to follow the path of energy from the candles to the pinwheel blades, directly tying the written description to a visual model.
Lesson 3
Electricity
Students complete the "Inside a Power Plant" activity by using a word bank to fill in blanks while referring to a diagram that shows energy sources, a turbine, coils of wire, and magnets. Students build a lemon battery following step-by-step text instructions paired with a labeled diagram (A–D) and then use that battery to power an electromagnet, linking textual assembly directions to a physical diagram. Students model electromagnetic induction by winding a coil around a tube or nail and moving a magnet while observing videos and an optional simulation that visually represent the same technical process described in the text.
Lesson 4
Radiant Energy
Students are directed to build a model of the electromagnetic spectrum by cutting, ordering, and coloring boxes that correspond to text descriptions (Student Activity Page), which requires mapping written descriptions to a visual spectrum. Students are asked to study a labeled diagram of a photovoltaic (PV) cell and then use that technical diagram to assemble a solar-powered motor, linking the textual explanation of how photons move electrons with the visual circuit. The lesson provides interactive visual resources (a simulation to drag a dot through the spectrum and several labeled illustrations, including the soccer-ball wave analogy) that students are instructed to explore after reading the text.
Lesson 5
More Renewable Power Sources
Students read specific chapters about wind, hydropower, and geothermal energy and are instructed to 'look at the diagram and watch the short video' before answering guided questions. Students build and operate physical models (a pinwheel and a water wheel) and must demonstrate and explain how the turbines work to a parent. The parent plan explicitly lists 'Examine models to build an understanding of the characteristics of energy transfer and/or transformation.'
Lesson 6
Nuclear Power
Students are instructed to "read Chapter 7 (pages 57-62) ... and review the chart at the following web link," and then answer questions that draw on that chart (Question #3 asks, "Based on the chart you read...?"). Activity 1 has students build a Chain Reaction Bowling Set to model a controlled vs. uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction, and the Parent Plan explicitly lists "Examine models" and "Build a model to demonstrate controlled and uncontrolled nuclear reactions." The provided answer text for Question #3 cites a quantitative comparison (fusion provides "3-4 times more energy"), indicating students use numeric/technical information from the chart.
Lesson 7
Fossil Fuels and Biomass
Students are asked to create visual products such as a poster (Option 2) that must include how the fuel was formed, how it is extracted/mined, how it is used, and advantages/disadvantages. Option 3 explicitly suggests creating an infographic that shows how plants are turned into coal or designing a comic that shows how natural gas is extracted and used. Option 1 asks students to complete hands-on demonstrations (e.g., Oil Spill Experiment, Coal Layers) and then explain how the experiment illustrates the fuel source, which requires turning textual/technical ideas into a visual or physical model.
Lesson 8
Powering Our World
Students are directed to research state-level electricity generation data (from EIA or power company sites) and "create a pie chart" labeling each section with the energy source and its percentage, directly turning numerical/text data into a visual. The power-grid simulation asks students to identify cities, substations, outside systems, and five power plants on a diagram and to interpret "MW" (megawatts) units when working through challenge scenarios. The optional country-comparison activity instructs students to read accompanying text and examine charts showing access to electricity and shares from fossil fuels/renewables/nuclear, linking written data with visual charts.
Final Project
Energy Conservation
Students are instructed to obtain and study a recent utility bill that shows how much gas and electricity the family uses in a given month and to compare usage across months or seasons (quantitative information in words/numbers). Students are asked to use the Energy Use Calculator to determine how much electricity different devices consume and to make notes of the results (numeric outputs). Students record the top 3–5 ways the family uses gas and electricity on the "Home Energy Consumption" activity page, a two-column chart/table, and print or record results from the home energy audit and online charts for use in a presentation.
Unit 5: British Poetry
Lesson 1
Rhythm and Meter
Students are instructed to mark stressed (/) and unstressed (˘) syllables directly on poem lines and vocabulary words, turning the textual syllable information into a visual symbol pattern. Students are asked to identify the length of the metrical feet and to count feet (noting pentameter), which converts textual/technical descriptions of meter into a quantitative visual representation. The answer keys show poem lines and vocabulary broken down with stress symbols and explicitly note that the lines are written in pentameter.
Lesson 2
Voice and Rhyme
Students answer a question identifying the sonnet rhyme scheme as "abbaabbacdcdcd," extracting a technical notation expressed in text. Students use the "Sublime Rhyme" activity page that visually labels 14 poem lines with letters (a, b, c, d, e, f, g), showing a line-by-line visual mapping of the rhyme scheme. Students are instructed to write a poem using that rhyme scheme, requiring them to place rhyming words according to the visual labels.
Lesson 3
Graphic Elements
Students are asked in Activity 1 to identify lines from Tennyson's "Dedication" that exemplify graphic elements and to record two examples of each element on the provided "Graphic Variations" student page, which is organized as a table with columns for graphic element and the line from the poem. The "Prince Albert Remembered" page in Activity 2 asks students to write a poetic line and a corresponding prose statement side-by-side in two columns and to illustrate the event or emotion, pairing verbal descriptions with a visual depiction. The Student Activity Pages explicitly require students to transfer textual selections into a visual format (a table and illustrated comparison page).
Lesson 7
Themes
Students cut out written descriptions of punctuation rules and paste them into a three-column activity page labeled Hyphen, Dash, and Colon, directly mapping technical descriptions (words) onto a visual table. The activity includes poetry excerpts where students must choose which description explains why a punctuation mark was used, requiring them to link textual examples to the columns. The answer key and directions explicitly instruct students to place some descriptions so they overlap two columns when a rule applies to both, demonstrating integration of verbal technical information with a visual representation.
Final Project
Autobiography of a Poet
In Activity 1 students are asked to use a list of historical time periods and add poets' names and years of birth and death to the Timeline pages, cutting out boxes and pasting each poet's name in the space that corresponds to the year of birth. The Student Activity Page is a tabular timeline with columns labeled Years, Historical Events, Poets and Dates of Birth and Death, and Poetic Genre or Technique, and students fill the empty rows with the poets' dates and genres. The Parent Plan and timeline key show students matching textual date information and genre descriptions from the readings to specific visual positions on the chart.
1: Semester 1
Unit 1: Revolution
Lesson 1
Founding of the Colonies
Students are asked to identify each colony on a map, write its name, and note the date of its founding and the date it became a royal colony. Students are instructed to choose colors for British, French, and Spanish areas and shade those territories on the map using a key, using information from the timeline and maps in the book. An answer-key map and referenced timeline/pages in the book provide the textual dates and territorial descriptions that students must convert into the visual map.
Lesson 2
Southern Colonies
Students place timeline cards with dates (#1-10) onto a year-long timeline, converting textual date information into a visual chronological display. Students complete a Venn diagram comparing Equiano's Middle Passage and the Mayflower voyage, using textual descriptions (including quantitative details noted in the parent plan such as space measurements and mortality differences) to populate the diagram. Students use a two-column "Should You Go to Virginia?" table and a "Tobacco vs. Silk or Flax" chart to translate information from readings into pros/cons tables and charts.
Lesson 3
The Middle and Northern Colonies
Students create a word cloud from the Mayflower Compact by cutting and pasting the document text into an online word-cloud generator and then answer observation and interpretation questions about prominent words. Students review a table listing each colony's significant dates, people, reasons for founding, and early economic activities and then complete a Venn diagram comparing colonies founded for profit versus for religious freedom. Students add cards #11-18 to a timeline, placing each card in its appropriate chronological location using dates from the provided materials.
Lesson 4
Daily Life in the Colonies
Students read Chapters 3 and 4 and then complete the "Colonial Goods" student activity page, which is a table with images of goods (sheep, barrel, tree, horseshoe) and a column labeled "Source" for students to fill in. An answer key maps textual information about sources (e.g., grown/made at home, bought at a shop, traded) to the table entries. Students are also instructed to create props or costumes by following projects listed in the book, turning written project descriptions and instructions into physical visual models.
Lesson 5
Town and Country
The Student Activity Page titled "Colonial Occupations" provides a preformatted table (Occupation; What They Did; Rank; Reasons) and instructs students to take information about each trade from the reading and prioritize/rank the occupations, requiring them to transfer textual descriptions into the table. Option 2 explicitly asks students to justify numeric rankings (1–10) based on information from the text, which requires converting qualitative/technical job descriptions into a visual/ordered representation. The "Colonial Crafts" activity asks students to make physical models or signs based on historical descriptions, asking them to represent textual technical details in a visual or physical form.
Lesson 6
Leading Up to Revolution
In Activity 2 students use the NCpedia "Timeline of Resistance, 1763-1774" and complete a Student Activity Page that is a three-column table listing specific acts or policies (e.g., Stamp Act, Tea Act) and prompting them to write "What It Did and Why the British Might Have Enacted It" and "Why Colonists Might Have Objected to It." The Student Activity Page for "Resistance" and the Answer Key show students extract technical descriptions of laws and policies from text and record that information in the table. Activity 3 asks students to add cards #19-29 to a year-long timeline, requiring students to place textual event information into a visual chronological display.
Lesson 7
Independence
Students are asked to add cards #30-31 to a timeline (Activity 3), which requires placing events (with dates) into a visual chronological representation. In Activity 2, students print Jefferson's rough draft and use highlighters or colored pencils and margin notes to mark deleted and added text, creating a visual annotation of changes between versions.
Lesson 8
Fighting the War
Students are asked to add Cards #32-35 to a timeline of U.S. history, which requires placing dated events on a visual chronology. The lesson text and answer key include explicit dates and numbers (for example, Valley Forge, winter 1777–1778, and troop numbers at Yorktown such as 5,500 French troops and 26,000 British troops) that students encounter in readings and virtual tours. Students also complete a brochure about major battles that asks them to explain factors (including numbers and forces) that led to American victories.
Final Project
Living History
Students are required to use a prop or image for at least one topic in their living history presentation (both Option 1 and Option 2) and the rubrics explicitly include criteria for "Use of demonstration or image to illustrate ideas." Students also create and refer to a timeline and complete an ordering exercise on the unit test, converting textual event descriptions into a sequenced visual representation. The unit includes a "Time Machine" short-answer that asks students to identify a cash crop and describe its cultivation process, which involves describing technical/production steps in words.
Unit 1: Atoms
Lesson 1
Invisible Matter
Students are instructed to measure and record the mass of a sealed container at time 0 and after 20 minutes in a provided table, giving quantitative data to work with. They are asked to sketch the milk jug at 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes and to use the provided "Liquid and Gas Particles" image to help answer questions about particle behavior. The activity prompt and wrap-up explicitly ask students to consider the mass before and after heating and to explain those numerical observations using the particle diagram.
Lesson 2
Atomic Structure
The lesson gives specific quantitative information in text (e.g., electrons, protons, neutrons counts for oxygen, fluorine, and sodium and electron capacities for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd orbitals). It provides a labeled sample atomic model diagram of oxygen and Student Activity Pages that depict the nucleus and shells. Students are instructed to use the numeric counts to punch, color, and place the correct number of protons, neutrons, and electrons into drawn orbitals to create fluorine and sodium models, and then compare the two models noting numeric differences (e.g., number of orbitals, electrons on last orbital).
Lesson 3
Properties of Matter I
Students read technical definitions and descriptions of properties (malleability, ductility, luster, conductivity) in the text and are prompted to make predictions about conductivity based on that paragraph. Students then collect quantitative temperature data ("Before" and "After") for each material and record those measurements in the Conductivity table on the activity page. For malleability, ductility, and luster students record observations with check marks and note similarities/differences in the provided tables, directly pairing textual definitions/examples with visual tables.
Lesson 4
Solid, Liquid, Gas: What's the Difference?
Students use a written table of attributes (the "Attributes of Classical States of Matter") and follow written steps to place counted punched-paper dots into jar diagrams for solids, liquids, and gases. Students are instructed to keep track of how many dots they used for the solid, record that number, then use the same number for the liquid and divide that number by 20 to place dots for the gas, integrating the numeric count with a visual model. Option 2 asks students to complete a characteristics chart (a table) from textual resources and create their own diagram using the colored dots to represent particles.
Lesson 5
Properties of Matter II
Students use the Three-Dimensional Shapes graphic and the written volume formulas (e.g., V = l×w×h, V = 4/3πr^3, V = (B×h)/3) to calculate volumes of regular solids. Students follow the displacement procedure illustrated by diagrams, record the milliliters of water displaced, convert those milliliters to cubic centimeters, and compare the measured (visual/table) volumes to their calculated (text/formula) volumes. Students copy numerical mass/weight values from the Earth column of the provided table and then use the written density formula (D = m/v) on the Independent Traits page to compute densities and record results in the density table. Students match vocabulary terms to pictures and formulas and sort properties into dependent/independent categories using the provided visual vocabulary cards and tables.
Lesson 6
The Recurring (Periodic) Table of Elements
Students read text descriptions (the Periodic Table webpage, carbon example tile, and explanations of atomic number, atomic mass, and electron shells) and then complete visual representations: they fill in an element table with atomic numbers and masses, populate atomic card templates with proton/electron counts, and write electron distributions into shell columns (n=1, n=2, n=3). The lesson provides and refers students to a periodic table image and asks them to use it to locate metals/nonmetals. Activity 4 requires students to create a visual aid (e.g., Venn diagram, table, or atomic model) that shows similarities and differences and maps quantitative shell/electron information onto a diagram.
Lesson 7
Classifying Matter
Students are directed to examine the "Sample Compounds" table (visual) and use that information to complete the "What Is a Compound?" activity table, identifying each element and its subscripted quantity from the chemical formulas. The text explicitly explains how to interpret subscripts in formulas ("if an element does not have a subscripted number, the quantity is understood to be one..."), which students apply to the visual formulas. Students are also asked to consider the chemical equation image for sucrose combustion and relate the visual equation to their observations after heating sugar.
Lesson 8
Final Project
Students use the "Getting Specific with an Element" activity to look up quantitative element data (melting point, boiling point, atomic mass, atomic number, # of protons/electrons/neutrons) from texts/periodic tables and record those values in a table. Students are asked to create a labeled model of a fluorine atom (9 electrons, 10 neutrons, 9 protons) converting numeric information into a diagram. Students fill Survey and Survey Details tables and make Atomic Cards, moving technical descriptions of materials and properties from written sources into tabular and card-format visuals.
Unit 1: Abigail Adams
Lesson 1
Getting to Know Abigail Adams
Students are asked to complete a chronology with spaces for five key events and dates, which requires them to take temporal information expressed in the book and place it into a visual timeline. Students are also given an empty family tree diagram to complete after reading about the Quincy family, requiring them to convert textual descriptions of relationships into a visual diagram. The Student Activity Pages explicitly prompt students to read chapter titles, foreword, and reference notes and then record related visual elements (timeline entries, family tree), linking text to visual representations.
Lesson 5
Remember the Ladies
Students read Chapters 4–10 and are instructed to extract descriptions of duties and responsibilities for John and Abigail and place them into a three-column diagram (John's Job / Shared / Abigail's Job), explicitly listing at least five items per column and circling items Abigail managed alone. Option 2 asks students to interview parents or others and record household tasks in a chart (Parent #1 / Shared / Parent #2), turning spoken or written descriptions into a visual table. An answer-key image of a diagram divided into three columns provides a modeled visual representation of the textual information.
Lesson 10
Presidential Politics
Students are asked to review Chapters 19–20 and complete the "Federalists and Republicans" activity page, which is a three-column, six-row table labeled Characteristics / Federalists / Republicans. The directions tell students to "review the first three pages of Chapter 19 and refer back to the rest of the reading as needed as you complete the chart," requiring them to extract information from the text and place it into the table. The activity therefore has students convert textual descriptions of party positions (leaders, view of the French Revolution, endorsements, etc.) into entries in a visual table.
Lesson 11
Later Life
Students are asked to consult chapters and web image galleries and then complete a Venn diagram comparing Peacefield and the President's House, putting written details and impressions into the overlapping circles. In Option 1, students are asked to create two drawings of the homes using details from the readings and websites, visually representing textual descriptions. Both tasks require students to transform information expressed in words (book descriptions and website text) into a visual form (graphic organizer or sketches).
Unit 2: Civics
Lesson 1
The Origins of American Government
Students are instructed in Option 1 to cut out phrases from the Magna Carta, English Bill of Rights, and Mayflower Compact and glue them into a three-column chart labeled Limits / Rights / Responsibilities. Option 1 also includes an answer-key table showing specific excerpts placed into those visual columns. Option 2 asks students to use three colors to highlight passages in the texts corresponding to Limits, Rights, and Responsibilities, requiring students to map textual (technical/legal) information to a visual code.
Lesson 2
The Constitutional Convention
Students read textual explanations of the Great Compromise and the Three-Fifths Compromise that include numeric/representational details (House representation by population, Senate equal representation, and the 3/5 rule). They are directed to "See the 'House and Senate' graphic," which visually compares proportional House representation (53 people for California vs. 2 for Rhode Island) and equal Senate representation (2 per state). Students also complete a three-column Student Activity Page (table) about modern problems and specific weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, putting text-based problems into a tabular visual format.
Lesson 3
The Constitution of the United States
Students are directed in Activity 1 to determine the purpose of each constitutional section and cut out boxes of text to paste them into designated sections on a page, which requires placing written descriptions into a visual layout. The Student Activity Pages include a two-column/table-style organizer for parts of the Constitution with blank spaces for notes, and an answer-key diagram that visually pairs each part (Preamble, Articles, Amendments) with brief explanations. Option 1 of Activity 2 asks students to match scenario text boxes to a listed set of amendments, a task that pairs situational wording with a visual list.
Lesson 4
The Executive Branch
Students review technical constitutional text (Article II and Amendments XII, XX, XXII-XXV) and answer structured questions to create a mini-book, converting written provisions into organized pages. In Option 1, students cut out written job descriptions and paste them into designated squares and fill in a table with department names and current cabinet secretaries, placing textual descriptions into a visual table/layout. In Option 2, students examine presidential schedules (textual timelines) and then create their own 6–8 item presidential schedule, turning written duties into a visual daily schedule.
Lesson 5
The Legislative Branch
Students are directed to review Article I of the Constitution and online overviews of the legislative process (House and White House pages) and then "create either a visual or musical explanation" of the process. Option 1 explicitly requires students to "create a flow chart" showing all steps in the process, including the bill being sent to committee, votes in both chambers, and presidential actions (sign, veto, pocket veto). The student activity page gives step-by-step instructions for turning that flow chart into a mini-book, requiring students to represent the textual procedure visually.
Lesson 6
The Judicial Branch
Activity 3 directs students to use the "Checks and Balances" activity page to draw arrows between Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches and to write how they balance one another. Students are instructed to use red arrows for actions that cancel another branch and blue arrows for actions that appoint, approve, reject, or remove someone, explicitly mapping textual descriptions of checks and balances into a colored diagram. The student page includes labeled illustrations of the three branches to serve as the visual framework for this mapping.
Lesson 9
Citizenship
Students are instructed in Activity 2 Option 1 to use party websites to identify each party's position on three issues and to "summarize their findings in the provided chart." The student activity page presents an explicit table with rows for each party and columns for three chosen issues where students fill in 2–3 short points per issue. The directions tell students to "summarize" long statements into short points, requiring them to convert text-based information into entries in a visual table.
Final Project
Government Lapbook
The project rubric explicitly requires that students include a mini-book with a flowchart (or song) about how a bill becomes a law, which asks students to produce a visual representation of a procedural text. The Student Activity Page for assembling the lapbook includes diagrams and labeled folding/placement instructions that students follow to arrange visual components. Activity 1 directs students to review web-based resources that outline the bill-to-law process, giving textual descriptions students could translate into visual form.
Unit 2: Chemical Reactions
Lesson 1
Atomic Theory and Chemical Formulas
Students are given quantitative instructions in the text (e.g., "1 tsp vinegar," "1 tsp baking soda," "1 tablespoon baking soda") and a labeled diagram showing those reaction setups that visually represents those same amounts and results (balloon inflating). Students are directed to record observations at specific times (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes) on the provided Student Activity Page table titled "CLOSED SYSTEM EQUATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS." The Observation Guide instructs students to pair increases/decreases with specific traits (M, V, T) and to mark changes using the Legend codes, requiring them to translate textual/technical descriptors into the table's visual notation.
Lesson 2
Chemistry and Patterns
The lesson includes a labeled image of the baking soda + vinegar reaction that displays chemical formulas for reactants and products and a caption directing students to notice the same number of each type of atom on both sides. The text lists reaction types using symbolic chemical equations (e.g., A+B⟶AB, AB⟶A+B) alongside their names, and it instructs students to "take a look at your periodic table" when viewing chemical equations. The Student Activity Page provides a table where students record predictions and observations from the written procedures for three combinations, requiring students to translate procedural text into entries in a visual table.
Lesson 3
Understanding Reactions
Students read a labeled table explaining subscripts and coefficients and use it to count atoms in Activity 1, matching numerical counts to both the written chemical equations and the visual table. In the Student Activity Page they fill in numbers of each element before and after reactions for several equations, directly linking quantitative information in the equations to counts in a visual layout. In Activities 2 and 3 students are instructed to place the chemical equation at the top and create a molecular drawing (visual model) that corresponds to the textual/quantitative equation (electrolysis with and without salt).
Lesson 4
Combustion and Extinguishers
Students are instructed to measure room temperature and the temperature of the vinegar-and-baking-soda mixture and record those numeric values in the provided table (columns: Room Temperature, Temperature of Mixture). The activity directs students to mark and measure the height on the bottle where the flame goes out and enter that measurement in the Observation column. The lesson presents the fire triangle as a labeled diagram and asks students to match parts of the triangle (fuel, oxygen, heat) to inside or outside the container; chemical reaction equations (paraffin combustion and baking soda + vinegar) are given both in text and as images.
Lesson 5
Acids and Bases
Students read text that defines the pH scale (0–14), explains acids (<7), bases (>7), and the quantitative idea that strength increases with distance from 7. Students are instructed to create a color pH scale using the USGS color chart and to record observed indicator colors and then estimate a pH range for each tested substance in the activity table. The student activity page includes a pH scale diagram and a table where students match substances, observed colors, and numeric pH ranges.
Lesson 6
Physical and Chemical Properties, Part I
Students use a provided comparison table and the definitions in Activity 1 to mark processes as physical or chemical, directly matching textual descriptions to the table. In Activity 2 students read textual hints about states of matter and then label the states in chemical-equation images (replace question marks in formulas), integrating words with visual chemical equations. In Activity 6 students read the written explanation of specific heat and then interpret a bar graph comparing water and gold, linking the quantitative text to the visual. In Activity 4 and the steel-wool experiment students record temperature readings in a table and use those numeric observations to answer questions about chemical reactivity and catalysts.
Lesson 7
Physical and Chemical Properties, Part II
Students read a written explanation of electrolysis and ions (the Electrical Conductivity Excerpt) and view an accompanying labeled diagram that shows electrodes and the movement of Na+, Cl-, H+, and OH- ions. Students build a homemade battery and are instructed to measure and record voltage in a provided table (# of cells vs Voltage), directly tying the written procedure and technical description to quantitative tabular data. Students follow circuit and electromagnet procedures that include diagrams (Creating a Circuit image, Magnetic Loop and Electromagnet pages) and fill tables to record how changes in batteries or coils affect the number of paper clips picked up.
Lesson 8
Periodic Characteristics
Students are instructed in Activity 1 to write the symbol and name of each element from given chemical equations and, using their copy of the periodic table, record each element's material (metal, nonmetal, metalloid) and group number in a two-column table of reactants and products. The Student Activity Page provides a visual table for each reaction (Reactants / Products with subrows Element, Material, Group) that students must complete, and a supplemental pH table lists pH ranges for substances that students use to label compounds as acidic or basic. Students are asked to use the pH information to determine whether each reaction produced a salt, explicitly integrating textual/quantitative pH values with the visual tables and periodic table positions.
Lesson 9
Scientific Argumentation
Students read technical chemical equations presented both as images and as transcribed text (e.g., CaCO3 + 2C2H4O2 → products) and see labeled reactants and products. Students encounter quantitative values in text (atmospheric CO2 = 0.0387 percent; CO2 in soda = 0.2–1.0 percent) and measure set volumes in procedures (1/4 cup, 1/8 cup) while following illustrated steps. The student activity pages include illustrations of materials and step-by-step images paired with written directions and spaces for recording observations and evidence.
Lesson 10
Synthetic or Natural?
Students are directed in Activity 2 to research technical information about specific substances using provided web links and then complete a table (Substance | Category | Risk | Benefit | Good Value | Bad Value), which requires translating text-based information into a visual table. In Activity 1 students sort a list of common items into Natural or Synthetic categories on a student activity page, creating a visual classification of textual descriptions. The reading assignment (Eyewitness Chemistry pp. 52–54) provides technical descriptions that students must integrate into their activity responses.
Final Project
Chemistry in Action
Students are given a numeric table of density, specific heat, and phase-change temperatures (Lesson 6) and are asked to answer text questions that require using that table to compare densities and relate specific heat to heating time (Unit Test questions 17–19). Students are instructed to include a visual element in their final presentation and are explicitly told they may create charts and graphs or a poster board to show their findings (Part 3 and Part 6). The Unit Study Guide directs students to "use the table to understand specific heat and other properties" and to answer questions related to density and specific heat, requiring students to move between text questions and tabular data.
Unit 2: Animal Farm
Lesson 2
Major's Dream
Students read sentences from Animal Farm and label every word's part of speech (Option 1) or identify subjects and prepositional phrases (Option 2), converting textual grammatical information into labeled visual annotations. The student activity pages require using parentheses/brackets and color-coded boxes, circles, and underlines to mark subjects, verb phrases, prepositional phrases, and prepositions in specific sentences. An answer key image shows the same sentences with each word and phrase visually labeled, and Activity 2 has students place character adjectives and textual examples into a three-column table.
Lesson 4
Work on the Farm
Students complete Activity 1 "Farm Work After the Rebellion" by filling a four-column graphic organizer (Question, Manor Farm, Animal Farm, Similarities). The organizer explicitly asks students to record "How each job was completed (machinery used, amount of effort required)," prompting them to take technical descriptions from Chapter 3 and place them into a visual table. The activity directions require students to use specific examples from the text to support their points, which directs them to extract written technical/details and display them in the table.
Lesson 5
The Battle of the Cowshed
Students reread the chapter and are asked to pay attention to the order of events and the locations and landmarks described in the text. Students create a detailed map based on specific evidence from the book, choosing colors for humans and animals, drawing symbols for individuals, and using arrows or dotted lines to show movements at the beginning, middle, and end of the battle. Students map physical features and major events of the battle and then explain the map orally to a parent, tying the visual back to the written account.
Lesson 6
Comrade Napoleon
The activity instructions tell students to "create a short timeline, making connections to Animal Farm," requiring them to translate researched historical information into a visual timeline. Student activity pages ask students to record birth and death dates and roles for figures (Czar Nicholas II, Karl Marx, Josef Stalin, Leon Trotsky, Vladimir Lenin), providing quantitative dates to place on the timeline. The answer key supplies specific dates (e.g., 1868-1918 for Nicholas II, 1878-1953 for Stalin) that students can integrate into their visual timeline.
Lesson 7
Changes on the Farm
Students read Chapter 6, which includes quantitative details (e.g., animals working 60-hour weeks and receiving half rations if they refused Sunday labor) and answer a question that requires citing that information. Students are directed to complete a "Leadership on the Farm" graphic organizer divided into three visual sections (Mr. Jones; Napoleon and Snowball; Napoleon) where they record observations about work, sacrifice, productivity, happiness, power, and fairness. An answer-key diagram models the three-phase progression visually, showing students an example visual representation tied to the textual descriptions.
Lesson 9
The Battle of the Windmill
Activity 2 asks students to write a business letter and explicitly offers an optional enclosure such as "a chart showing the possible profits from using the cheap lumber," and the Student Activity Page includes an "Enclosure" line where students can note or attach such a document. The reading questions mention numeric claims about the farm's success (animals are given numbers), providing quantitative information in the text that could be represented visually.
Lesson 10
Boxer's Fate
Students are asked to diagram the plot of Animal Farm using a provided plot diagram template or by creating their own, with instructions to list key events in order and to create a visual representation that highlights especially important moments. The lesson includes a Student Activity Page with labeled sections ("Set the Stage," "Rising Action," "Climax," etc.) and an "Analyzing Theme" bubble map that asks students to place a central theme in the center and surround it with evidence bubbles. Instructions direct students to identify specific incidents from the text and show them visually on the diagram or map.
Lesson 11
The Farmers Pay a Visit
Students are asked to complete a Student Activity Page titled "The Seven Commandments, Revisited" in which they fill a table listing each original commandment and describe how it had changed by the end of the book. The activity includes a table format (visual) where students must record textual statements (the commandments) alongside their observed changes. The activity also asks students to answer reflective questions about the process by which the commandments changed, prompting them to translate narrative events into entries in the table.
Final Project
Animal Farm Letter
Students are asked to convert their planned letter content into a hierarchical outline (Sample Outline) and to "Outline the body of your letter" using Roman numerals, letters, and numbers to show relationships between ideas. The lesson provides explicit text instructions about how outlines represent main ideas and supporting details and gives step-by-step guidance for using word-processing tools to create multi-level outlines. An accompanying diagram titled "Outline-Related Buttons" labels the numbering, Increase Indent, and Decrease Indent buttons and visually explains how to change outline levels so students can map the written instructions to the software interface.
Unit 3: The Antebellum West
Lesson 1
America in 1800
Students are instructed in Activity 2 to create a map of America in 1800 by shading specific states, territories, and lands claimed by other countries, translating written shading and labeling directions into a visual map. The Student Activity Page description shows a labeled historical map with territories and disputed regions that students will reproduce and annotate. Reading questions ask students to describe changes such as population movement between 1800 and 1840, linking textual descriptions of change to later map-based comparison prompts.
Lesson 2
The Early Presidents
Students read online biographies and are instructed to "fill in the dates of each president's term" on activity pages and cut and paste facts under presidential images to "arrange them on a piece of poster board in chronological order to create a timeline poster." Activity 2 directs students to add timeline cards (#36-43) to a timeline, using the first date in a range to place each card. Multiple student pages include fields labeled "Years in Office: ____ to ____" and a graphic organizer (table) for taking notes on parties (supporters, important issues, policies).
Lesson 3
The Beginnings of Westward Expansion
Students are asked to consult the "American Indian Map" to complete an "American Indian Crossword Puzzle," requiring them to use map-reading skills to match textual clues to locations on the map. The Student Activity Page description and parent notes state that students will use the map (a visual diagram with a legend, rivers, and labeled regions) to find tribe names that correspond to written across/down clues. The reading questions also ask students to extract specific factual information (dates, population thresholds, list of states) from linked texts.
Lesson 4
The Louisiana Purchase
Students read assigned chapters and web pages that include quantitative details (for example, the expedition lasted over 2 years and covered 8,000 miles). Students are instructed in Activity 1 to label states, identify the northern/eastern/western geographical boundaries (Mississippi River, Rocky Mountains, and the 49th/50th parallels) and draw the Corps of Discovery route on a map. Students are asked in Activity 2 to create a timeline (or a dated top-10 list) that includes dates and descriptions, placing chronological and numeric text information into a visual timeline.
Lesson 5
The War of 1812
Students read four short essays (American, British, Canadian, Native Nations) and are directed in Option 2 to complete a five-column by four-row chart that compares those perspectives; the chart is an explicit visual organizer for information taken directly from text. In Option 1, students also use a movie-review template that asks them to rate the film by filling in illustrated stars and to answer guided questions, converting their textual judgments into a simple visual rating.
Lesson 6
The Trail of Tears
Students are asked to record justifications and objections on the "Support and Opposition for Indian Removal" activity page, which uses a two-column organizer (a table) for information they extract from Jackson's message, General Scott's ultimatum, Chief John Ross, and other documents. Students add cards #47-50 to a timeline in Activity 5, a visual representation that requires placing events (dates/details) on a chronological chart. The reading questions include explicit quantitative information (e.g., "46,000 American Indians were removed and 25 million acres of land were made available") and students answer comprehension questions about those figures.
Unit 3: Energy and Matter
Lesson 1
Introducing Energy
Students record numeric temperature measurements in a provided table during the Solar Energy bottle experiment and then use those numbers in a written justification to support or refute their hypothesis, directly linking textual explanations of radiation/greenhouse gases with tabular data. Students read technical descriptions of conduction, convection, and radiation and examine labeled diagrams (conduction/convection pot, radiation/rock and snake, and a solar panel diagram) that visually represent the same technical ideas. Students also build and interpret a marshmallow fusion model while consulting the periodic table, connecting the written account of fusion with a physical/model representation.
Lesson 2
Convection and Conduction
Students read text sections that define conduction, convection, thermal equilibrium, and conservation of energy. In Activity 1 they record timed measurements in a table (Part I) comparing Set-up 1 and Set-up 2 and fill a chart in Part II listing prediction order and actual order for the three spoons. The Student Activity Pages include labeled diagrams of the experimental setups that students use while collecting quantitative data and answering explanatory questions that connect measurements to the textual definitions.
Lesson 3
Energy Transfers
Students are asked in Activity 2 Option 1 to place illustrations in the correct order based on provided descriptions, directly mapping written descriptions to diagrams. The Student Activity Pages present labeled diagrams (battery components labeled MnO2 and Zn, electrons traveling in a wire, atomic orbitals, and sparks hitting kindling) that students must interpret and annotate. Option 2 requires students to write brief atomic-level descriptions for each image, explicitly tying technical text explanations to visual models.
Lesson 4
Electromagnetic and Sound Waves
Students record quantitative temperature data in provided "Heating" and "Cooling" tables at one-minute intervals and are explicitly instructed to graph that data with Time on the x-axis and Temperature on the y-axis, including a legend, title, and axis labels. Students read written definitions of amplitude, wavelength, frequency, and pitch and then use the "Amplitude and Wavelength" diagrams to relate amplitude to volume and wavelength to pitch. Students are directed to manipulate a rubber band (changing tension/length) and observe changes in pitch, and to answer questions about six wave diagrams that require integrating the written technical terms with the visual wave forms.
Lesson 5
Kinetic and Potential Energy
Students build a rubber-band-powered car, measure the distance it travels with a ruler, and record those quantitative measurements in a provided chart (columns for # of winds and rows for small/medium rubber bands). Students use and refer to labeled diagrams of the car (chassis, axle, cup hooks) while constructing the model. Students match written vocabulary definitions to pictures and draw two pictures documenting the Mentos/Diet Coke demonstration, then compare their drawings to the written explanation of the physical process.
Lesson 6
Energy and Machines
Students read the technical description and formula for mechanical advantage (mechanical advantage = length of effort arm / length of load arm) and then measure effort and load arm lengths and compute mechanical advantage for several fulcrum positions. Students record measurements and observations in the provided tables (Part 1 and Part 2) and use the diagram of a lever and the pictured fulcrum/ruler balance to relate the textual explanation to a visual model. In Activity 1 students match names and brief descriptions of simple machines to pictures, and in Activity 3 students mark heat loss (textual concept of efficiency) in a household-object table, linking worded criteria to a visual table.
Lesson 7
Conservation
Students interact with the Pendulum Simulation and are instructed to click the Energy box, raise the pendulum, and record what they notice about the colored bars (KE, PE, thermal, total) on the energy graph. Students perform a hands-on pendulum activity with a bucket, make predictions, and sketch the bucket's movement on a Student Activity Page diagram. Questions direct students to explain why the thermal bar appears, when KE = 0 and PE = 0, and to relate textual descriptions of potential and kinetic energy and friction to the visual energy graph.
Lesson 8
Energy Sources and Sustainability
Students record quantitative values from text and websites (usable sunlight hours per year, hours per day, roof square feet, recommended kW, monthly and annual savings, and 25-year totals) and use those numbers in activities. Students transfer pros/cons described in an article into an Advantages/Disadvantages chart (a table). Students use the Project Sunroof map and the solar power calculator (visual displays showing sunniest roof areas, kWp, and panel layouts) and then sketch and color their roof to show the sunniest areas and draw panel placements based on the numerical kW values.
Final Project
Harnessing the Wind
Students are directed to read technical web texts about turbines, coal plants, and hydroelectric power and then summarize that information in writing or by drawing a simple diagram (Turbines and Electricity directions). Students are instructed to draw a diagram showing how a wind turbine works or to use the wind turbine model they build to demonstrate the process (Presentation Guidelines and Make a Wind Turbine activity). The final exam includes diagrams (waveforms, sled positions, power plant/hydro dam images) and asks students to explain or match written explanations to those visuals, requiring students to connect text-based concepts with illustrations.
Unit 3: Einstein Adds a New Dimension
Lesson 1
Expository Writing
Students are asked to sketch a graphical representation of the five types of expository writing (Part I of Activity 2), turning textual categories into a flowchart-style visual. Students match sidebar colors with page numbers and explain what each color signifies, linking visual coding to textual functions (Activity 1, Part III). Students locate information using the table of contents and index (Activity 1, Part I and II), which requires connecting textual labels to page-based references and recognizing captions and charts described in the front/back matter discussion.
Lesson 4
Process Writing
Students read chapters that include technical information about quantum mechanics, atomic theory, and E=mc². Students are directed to summarize sequences of scientific events (Option 2) and to record people, important dates, and terms on the Planning and Organization graphic organizer. The lesson provides graphic organizers and a visual "Process Writing Transition" list that students use to organize steps and events visually.
Lesson 5
Envisioning Fission
Students are instructed in Activity 1 to read Chapter 23, note the most important scientific and world events for each year from 1932 to 1939, and record those events on the provided "Chapter 23 Timeline" pages. The activity directs students to record scientific events above the timeline and world events below it, converting date-labeled narrative text into a visual timeline. The student activity page includes an example entry (1932) and spaces for each year, and the parent plan provides an answer key mapping textual year-by-year descriptions to timeline entries.
Lesson 7
Relativity
Students are asked to read chapters and then complete a Domain-Specific Vocabulary table in which they write definitions and provide an example or draw a picture for each technical term (e.g., uniform motion, frame of reference, invariant). Students must design a poster that explains a scientific concept using a combination of text and graphics and must include at least three domain-specific terms; the instructions explicitly encourage including drawings or photographs to clarify terms (e.g., Erlenmeyer flask and volumetric pipette). The student activity page itself is a table that organizes technical terms, definitions, and visual examples, linking words from the text to a visual version.
Lesson 11
Citing Sources
Students are asked to compare the information in text with an accompanying graphic on page 23 (cover the graphic, read the text, then uncover the graphic and explain how the graphic improves understanding), which has them relate technical description (electromagnetic wavelengths) to a visual. Activity 2 directs students to create an accompanying graphic for a prior writing assignment and lists visual forms including charts, tables, flow charts, Venn diagrams, and bar charts. The lesson also suggests using spreadsheet software (Excel) to input data and automatically create charts and explicitly names captions and diagrams as tools to clarify technical information.
Final Project
Research Paper
Students are asked to plan and create a graphic to accompany their research paper (Activity 8 and Activity 11) and the Research Rubric explicitly awards inclusion of graphics such as diagrams or charts. The unit also tells students they may use "statistics or other data" from outside sources when researching (Activity 5), and directs students to review earlier instruction about how diagrams, pictures, and graphs can help a reader (reference to Lesson 11). The student activity pages and rubric require a caption and that the graphic "illustrate or add to the understanding" of the paper.
Unit 4: Antebellum America
Lesson 1
North and South, 1820
Students are asked to view a film and fill in a provided graphic organizer (a Venn diagram) comparing North and South, which is a visual representation for organizing information. The Reading and Questions section includes quantitative or technical details expressed in words that students could record (e.g., nearly 1,000 men killed building the Erie Canal; the cotton gin allowed one person to produce 50 times more cotton; only two of the 10 largest cities were south of the capital). Students are instructed to jot down ideas about size of cities and economic activities while they watch, which could include those numeric details.
Lesson 2
The Rise of Capitalism
Students are asked to add timeline cards (#53-59) to a visual timeline, using the dates and descriptions on the cards to place events. In Option 1, students copy Andrew Jackson's veto message and generate a word cloud, then analyze which words appear most prominently to infer main issues. In Option 2, students cut out written statements and paste them into a two-column table that visually sorts supporters and opponents of the national bank.
Lesson 3
Technology and Infrastructure
Students perform the Assembly Line activity in which they time how long it takes to make one bracelet alone and how long the assembly line takes to make five bracelets, then compute averages and compare efficiencies. Students are asked to locate the Erie Canal on a U.S. map and consider who benefits from it, and to add dated cards (#60-63) to a timeline of U.S. history, placing textual events into a visual timeline.
Lesson 4
Immigration and Migration
Students are provided a Student Activity Page that lists countries of birth alongside the total number of immigrants living in the United States in 1850. Students are instructed to cut and assemble map sections, color the Immigration Key, and draw colored lines from each country or region to the United States; for countries with more than 100,000 immigrants they are told to draw a red line for each 100,000 immigrants. An answer key links specific counts to map colors/line conventions, and the activity includes color-coded maps as the visual product students will create.
Lesson 5
Education and Women's Rights
Students are asked to add cards #64-67 to a timeline of U.S. history, which requires placing textual event information (including dates) into a visual chronological display. The lesson includes factual statements with numeric/time information (for example, "In 1850, many children were homeschooled" and comparative rates of school attendance) that students read and could place on the timeline.
Lesson 6
Art and Literature
Students read and follow the step-by-step written instructions on the student activity page to sketch basic ovals, refine lines, and add shading to produce a realistic bird drawing (textual procedures converted into a visual product). In the Backyard Naturalist option, students observe an animal, record 2-3 sentences describing observations, and create a detailed drawing that integrates written observations with a visual representation.
Lesson 7
The Agrarian Economy and Slavery
Activity 2 "Slavery By the Numbers" provides a numerical table of white, free non-white, and slave populations (1790–1860) and directs students to use those figures to plot a line graph labeled "Southern Population Growth 1790-1860," then answer trend-analysis questions. The Activity 2 answer-key graph models the visual representation students are expected to produce and the follow-up questions require interpreting quantitative data. Option 2 "Stages of Cotton Production" asks students to place technical, process-oriented text blocks into a comparative table across three eras, linking procedural text with a visual table.
Final Project
A Poster Session
The rubric (item 8) requires that the poster include at least one map, graph, or table showing data to support main points. Option 1 instructs students to ensure each bullet point has either data represented in a table, graph, or chart or an image, and that at least one topic must include data. Option 2 asks students to create a timeline or line graph for Part 3 (Tensions) and the Planning Page gives a table for organizing 'Possible Data or Images' alongside written summaries.
Unit 4: Biochemistry
Lesson 1
Introduction to Biological Chemistry
Students read technical descriptions that give atomic number, bonding capacity, and atomic weight and then construct a physical carbon-atom model using six protons, six neutrons, and electrons (Activity 2). Students read the written explanation of the carbon cycle and are instructed to create a flow chart or diagram tracing a carbon atom through at least four steps, describing what is happening at each step (Activity 4). Students lookup calorie values from text/package or online sources and record and compute totals in a tabular food journal, integrating numeric information from words into a table (Activity 5).
Lesson 2
Building Blocks
Students read written descriptions of each biomolecule (functions and building blocks) and then fill Level One/Two tables that match those textual descriptions to biomolecule names. The lesson includes a visual depiction of the carbohydrate chemical formula ((CH2O)n) alongside explanatory text, linking a technical formula to words. In the laboratory activities, students follow technical, worded procedures for lipid and starch tests and then record visual outcomes (translucent/opaque or color change) in provided tables comparing control and experimental cups.
Lesson 3
Organic and Inorganic Molecules
Students read and use a Nutrition Facts label (image) that displays quantitative values (serving size, grams of fat/carbohydrate/protein, milligrams of sodium, % daily values) and are instructed to compare grams of fat, carbohydrate, and protein to see which is most prevalent. Students record those observations and serving counts in the Diet Survey table with columns for Carbohydrate, Lipid, Protein, and Inorganic Compounds, directly transferring text/numeric information into a visual table. In Activity 1, students research each chosen substance to fill in technical fields (chemical symbol/formula and functions) and then produce a labelled image representing an object or food source that contains the substance, linking technical descriptions to a visual representation.
Lesson 4
Feedback
Students are explicitly directed to "use the information above and the illustrations on the 'Cell Feedback' page to help you complete the chart," requiring them to match textual descriptions of hyper-/hypo-/isotonic conditions with cell diagrams and a table of solute concentration, water flow, and shape change. The Osmosis in Action activity asks students to record Claims, Evidence, and Justification in a table and to classify each cup as hypertonic/hypotonic/isotonic based on written procedure and observations. The Hunger Feedback and Hypothermia sections present written scenarios and numeric temperature ranges and ask students to complete three-column tables and diagnose scenarios using those words and numbers alongside visuals.
Lesson 5
Exposure and Feedback
Activity 2 instructs students to look up each chemical agent online and record the "Dose for Toxicity" values in a provided table with columns for Chemical Agent, Type of Agent, Dose for Toxicity, and Sources. The Student Activity Page explicitly shows a table to be completed and the Parent Plan answer key gives numeric dose ranges (e.g., ppm, mg, ml/kg) that students are expected to enter. The follow-up questions ask students to interpret concentration units ("What does ppm mean?") and to compare which concentrations require the smallest dose to cause death.
Lesson 6
Immune Response, Part I
In Activity 2 (Exponential Growth) students read verbal descriptions of two pathogen growth rules (one adds 100/day, one doubles daily), calculate counts for 14 days, complete a table, and then plot those results on graph paper. In Activity 3 (Understanding Immune Response) students apply written rules about pathogen doubling times and white blood cell production to compute numbers in a time table, using the table as a visual representation to determine when the infection is cleared. In Activity 1 students follow written assembly steps and an accompanying diagram to construct a physical/model representation of a virus, linking textual descriptions of parts (nucleic acid, protein coat, glycoproteins) to a visual/three-dimensional model.
Lesson 7
Immune Response, Part II
Students are asked to read technical descriptions and vocabulary about immune cells and then label illustrations and draw a B-cell (Option 1), directly mapping written/ spoken definitions to diagrams. In Option 2 students must summarize the immune process in their own words as a numbered list or draw a flow chart, converting textual/technical steps into a visual sequence. In the "Mystery Ailment" activity students analyze interview text and record findings in a Y/N table, translating written evidence into a tabular visual form.
Lesson 8
Intake and Health
In Activity 1 (Nutrient Amounts) students are instructed to use the day's reading and online research (NIH Office of Dietary Supplements link) to fill a table that includes an "Acceptable Intake Amounts" column. The Student Activity Page includes a visual table that displays specific quantitative intake values (e.g., 1300 mg) and prompts students to record amounts, natural sources, and effects of deficiency/excess. The activity requires students to cut out boxes and place information into the table, explicitly linking textual/online information to a visual representation.
Final Project
Analyzing Your Food Journal
Students are instructed to use their food journal entries and the carbohydrate/lipid/protein charts to count servings and to total calories by biomolecule. They are directed to create a titled bar graph ("Biomolecule Servings") with labeled X- and Y-axes and a legend, to create four separate bar graphs (one per biomolecule) showing servings by meal, and to create a "Calories per Biomolecule" bar graph using summed calorie totals. Students also complete tables comparing a healthy diet to their own day (food type, total calories, servings) and color-code journal entries to track quantitative information.
Unit 4: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Lesson 1
Introduction to Mark Twain and the Novel
Students are directed to visit online sources listing free and slave states and then use a map key to shade those states on a 'Map of Free and Slave States' page (Activity 1). Students are asked to use the first map as a guide to shade free and slave states on a more detailed 'Huck and Jim's Journey' map, trace the characters' river route, and number the sequence of places they visit (Activity 2). The lesson also asks students to read web articles about slavery and then relate that information to the geographic division they mapped, recording summaries and rules in their journals (Activity 5).
Lesson 5
Expository Writing
In Activity 2 students are instructed to "Use the 'Compare and Contrast Huck and Jim' sheet to record your information," and the Student Activity Page is a Venn diagram with directions to write characteristics unique to each character and shared traits in the overlap. The activity tells students to provide evidence from the novel (quotes or events) to support each item they place in the diagram, and then to use the completed graphic organizer to write a paragraph that integrates those ideas.
Lesson 8
Hiding the Money
Students follow a Student Activity Page that pairs step-by-step written construction instructions with clear illustrations (cutting paper, wrapping to make logs, arranging logs, tying, and adding a top). The written directions include explicit quantitative measurements (e.g., cut strips about 12 inches long and four inches wide) and procedural details that students must use. In Option 2 students watch and pause a how-to video while they construct the raft, using the visual demonstration alongside the verbal instructions to complete each step.
Unit 5: Civil War
Lesson 1
Sectional Differences
Students color a map in Activity 3 using written lists and instructions that identify which states and territories were free, slave, or open to slavery, converting textual descriptions into a visual map. Students add cards #73-75 to a timeline in Activity 2, placing written event information into a chronological visual display. In Activity 4, students read Lincoln and Douglas excerpts and fill a two-column chart that translates written arguments into a comparative table.
Lesson 2
Moving Toward War
In Activity 3, students are instructed to read an article and "complete the 'North and South by the Numbers' activity page using the data contained in the article," transferring percentages (railroad tracks, banks, manufacturing, agriculture, urban population, men who fought) into a chart and using colored pencils to mark Northern vs. Southern values. The lesson also provides a table headed "Top 15 Most Populous Cities in 1860" listing city populations that students can use as numeric text to interpret and place into their timeline or charts. The provided answer key and bar-graph description show the visual representation students are expected to produce or compare to after extracting numeric information from the readings.
Lesson 3
The Start of the War
Students read the Fort Sumter section in McPherson and are asked in Activity 3 to create an illustrated timeline showing the secession of South Carolina, federal efforts to supply the fort, Confederate efforts to seize it, the outcome, and the impact on other states. Students must place the five events in chronological order, create illustrations or use images, and write one sentence beneath each image summarizing the event. Earlier readings supply the textual descriptions that students must convert into the timeline visuals.
Lesson 4
Early Days of the War
Students read pages 18-29 of a text about early Civil War battles and then complete a Student Activity Page that includes maps (e.g., a map of troop movements for the First Battle of Manassas and a map of locations for Fort Donelson). Students add cards #78-81 to a visual timeline of U.S. history, and they complete Civil War battle cards that include boxes for Union and Confederate where they write numeric ratings (-2 to +2) based on their reading. The activities ask students to use the provided maps, timeline, and card spaces to record outcomes, significance, and notes tied to the textual readings.
Lesson 5
Wartime Strategies
Students read text that includes technical and quantitative details (for example, the reading notes that Jackson diverted 60,000 soldiers with 17,000 men). The Student Activity Pages include a map of the Battle of New Orleans showing Ft. St. Philip and Ft. Jackson and images/illustrations for each campaign. Students are instructed to use information from the readings to add to Civil War battle cards that feature images and labeled sections (important people, outcomes, significance, Confederate/Union responses).
Lesson 6
The Emancipation Proclamation
Students are asked to use a map of Vicksburg on the student activity page when answering why the capture of Vicksburg was strategically important, connecting geographic visuals with textual descriptions. In Option 1 students are directed to view recruitment posters on the Massachusetts Historical Society site and to read textual accounts about the 54th Massachusetts before writing a letter explaining enlistment reasons, which requires relating visual source material and text. The Civil War battle cards activity asks students to add facts from the readings to card images (including lines for "Confederate" and "Union"), prompting students to place written information alongside visual representations of battles.
Lesson 7
Gettysburg and Beyond
Students are directed to add cards #82-94 to a timeline of U.S. history, which requires placing dated events (e.g., Gettysburg - June to July 1863; Cold Harbor - June 1864) onto a visual timeline. Students are also instructed to use information from the assigned reading to add details to Civil War battle cards, transferring textual descriptions and dates into a visual card format. The student activity pages explicitly label battles with dates and prompt students to record outcomes and significance on the provided visual cards.
Lesson 8
The War's End
Students create Civil War battle cards from their reading and compile them into a set of visual cards (with options to add images and mount on card stock). Students are instructed to add cards #95-99 to a timeline, which requires placing dated events from text onto a visual chronological display. The Petersburg activity includes a map illustration that students reference while answering prompts about that campaign.
Final Project
Civil War Card Game
Students create and use Civil War battle cards that combine text descriptions, illustrations, and numeric Union/Confederate scores printed on each card. During play students read the card text aloud, state the numeric score (for example, "Union +2"), compare those numbers to an opponent's card, and add up victory piles at the end. Bonus cards and capture cards present written instructions alongside images that students must interpret and act on during gameplay.
Unit 5: Microbiology and Cell Theory
Lesson 1
Cell Theory
Students label the sample animal cell on page 2 of the coloring book by matching words from a word box to parts of the diagram and optionally color corresponding boxes, directly connecting textual labels with a visual diagram. Activity 2 asks students to examine objects in a provided table and mark each as cellular or non‑cellular and write supporting evidence, requiring them to translate textual criteria about life/cells into entries in a visual table. The lesson includes annotated images (amoeba and skin magnification) that students can use alongside text descriptions to identify cell structures.
Lesson 2
Introduction to Plant and Animal Cells
Students read technical descriptions and definitions of organelles (e.g., cell wall, chloroplast, vacuole, mitochondria) and then color, cut out, place, and label those organelles onto plant and animal cell diagrams. Students follow a written chromatography procedure and then compare the colors they observe on the blotting paper to a labeled visual diagram of pigment bands (carotene, chlorophyll a/b, lutein, etc.).
Lesson 3
The Structures of Eukaryotic Cells
Students read a text explanation of osmosis and then use the "Which Way Will Water Move?" activity page that labels water/salt percentages inside and outside cells and asks them to indicate direction of water movement, directly linking numeric/technical information in words to a visual diagram. Students complete "Match It Up!" and "Specialized Organelles" pages where they read organelle descriptions and draw lines or labels to the corresponding images, integrating technical descriptions with diagrams. Students build a two-dimensional model of a eukaryotic cell that requires them to attach labels and brief written descriptions to visual representations of organelles, connecting textual information with a constructed visual model.
Lesson 4
Protists
Students read a written, numerical explanation of surface-area-to-volume ratios (cube example with volumes and surface areas) and then measure, fold, cut, and compute perimeters of paper pieces as part of Activity 1, linking the numeric discussion to a visual/physical model (Size Image 1) and a marble-absorption experiment (Size Image 2). In Activity 2, students inspect diagrams of Amoeba, Euglena, Paramecium, and Volvox and transfer visual/technical information into a table on the "Similarities Among Unicellular Organisms" activity page by marking presence/absence of structures. The lesson also directs students to web readings that include classification tables and asks students to use information from those texts together with the provided diagrams to answer questions.
Lesson 5
Prokaryotes
Students are instructed to compare text descriptions of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell parts with images by coloring shared parts the same and noting differences, directly linking technical wording about organelles to labeled diagrams. The lesson explicitly states a quantitative size relationship ("A eukaryote is 10 times the size of a prokaryote") and asks students to compare construction-paper pieces to create a visual model of that ratio. In the culturing activity, students record temperatures and locations over three days and draw/observe colony growth, linking quantitative temperature data with visual representations of bacterial growth.
Lesson 6
Understanding Microbes
Students are given explicit numerical instructions in Activity 1 (place 1 rice grain for "Virus," 1/2 tsp for "Bacteria," 1/8 cup for "Animal Cell," 1/2 cup for "Plant Cell") and are asked to create a visual model that shows size differences. The text states quantitative relations (e.g., "A virus is even smaller than a bacterium; most are at least 100 times smaller") and provides links/images ("Sizing Up Viruses" and the labeled virus diagram) that present technical size information visually. Students are directed to consult scientific illustrations at the "Inside Viruses" site and to compare text descriptions with labeled diagrams of virus structure.
Lesson 7
Specialized Cells
Students are asked to research a chosen specialized cell, draw or paste an image in the circular area, and write the cell's functions and unique properties on the "Specialized Cell" activity page, directly pairing visual and written information. The lesson provides diagrams showing a muscle cell in "Relaxed" and "Contracted" states and a biceps/triceps diagram, and students follow written step-by-step instructions to build a cardboard-and-rubber-band model that reproduces those visual states. The student activity pages explicitly combine an image area with sections labeled "Types of Cells" and "Cell Features and Functions," prompting students to produce both textual descriptions and visual representations together.
Lesson 8
Mitosis
Students read technical descriptions of the phases of mitosis (pages 30-31 and a video) that describe prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, and interphase. Students color and label the "Stages of Mitosis" diagram, numbering each stage and using the text to check their work. Students construct clay models with specified parts (chromosomes, centrioles, spindle fibers, nuclear membrane) that reproduce the images and behaviors described in the text. Students may also create technology-based presentations (photos, video, stop-action animation, or PowerPoint) that combine their models and text-based explanations.
Lesson 9
Biological Hazards and Infectious Disease
Students read a written patient scenario that includes numeric and technical details (temperature, weight, symptoms) and are directed to use the "Patient Diagnosis" table that lists illnesses with corresponding Symptoms, Cause, and Treatment. The activity asks students to compare the textual patient data with the visual table to decide which illness fits and to recommend treatment. The antimicrobial experiment procedures include specific measurements (five 1 cm squares, five cups, 2–4 days incubation) and a pictured row of five cups that students use to set up and later compare results.
Lesson 10
On Their Shoulders
Students complete Activity 2 by using the provided "Results" page to draw what they see in each petri-dish illustration and then write a conclusion using the evidence they collected. In Activity 1 students cut out cards that have pictures on one side and text on the other, fold them, recall facts associated with each picture, and place the cards in order before checking the textual side. These tasks require students to connect visual representations (pictures, drawings) with written information and explanations.
Final Project
Outbreak Prevention
Students use the 21st-century leading infectious causes table (numbers of deaths by disease) together with written symptom descriptions to decide which infection fits the observed cases (Activity 1). In Activity 2 and the "What Do I Have?" table, students research textual descriptions of illnesses and fill a visual table with symptoms and whether each microbe is visible in a light microscope. In Activity 3, students compare written characteristics of microbes (e.g., viral vs. bacterial features, listed components) with electron microscope images to identify SARS. In Activity 4, students translate a technical list of viral components (spike glycoproteins, RNA, phosphoproteins) into a 2-D or 3-D model, turning written technical information into a visual representation.
Unit 5: Elijah of Buxton
Lesson 1
Introduction to the Novel
Students are instructed to locate Ontario and North Buxton on online maps (Activity 4), using the map view to determine that the town is close to Detroit and to zoom out for spatial context. Students are asked to watch the Buxton School House Tour video and read the author's note, linking written historical description of the settlement with visual images. Students are also asked to illustrate vocabulary words on index cards (Activity 2), translating word meanings into visual representations.
Final Project
Personal Narrative
Students are instructed to plan the sequence of their narrative using a plot diagram, creating a visual representation of the story and including the main conflict, the climax, 4–5 rising-action events, 2–3 falling-action events, and the resolution. The Student Activity Page and rubric emphasize organization and sequential structure, reinforcing that students must represent sequence and flashbacks visually and in writing. Students are asked to identify and label specific story elements (conflict, climax, rising/falling action) and then use that diagram to guide their written narrative.
2: Semester 2
Unit 1: History of Your State
Lesson 1
Your State's Natural History
Students read technical geologic and biome descriptions from provided web pages (Activity 1 and Activity 3) and answer focused prompts about their geologic province, including location, interesting features, and how a major feature was formed. Students create a visual map of their state (Activity 2), drawing dividing lines between geologic provinces, placing province names near appropriate regions, and listing two features for each province. Students also add biome labels to their state map (Activity 3) and either draw or paste images representing geologic features on the activity page (Activity 1) or produce sketches/photographs in a visual journal (Activity 4).
Lesson 3
Native Populations
Students are asked to add the names of native peoples to a state map (Activity 2), which requires placing textual research onto a visual map. In Activity 3 Option 1, students are instructed to build a three-dimensional model of a native home or village using their research; the lesson even links to a ‘‘Building a Tipi'' geometry lesson that includes instructions for building a scale model. The student research pages prompt students to gather descriptive information about housing, community layout, and whether a group has tribal lands, which can be used to create visual representations.
Lesson 4
The History of Your State
Students are asked to record the date of each event or era and include that date on a visual timeline or digital poster (Activity 5). For each of the four topics students must write 2–4 sentences explaining the events and their significance and pair those sentences with an image or website link on the poster/timeline. The lesson prompts thinking about population change over time and suggests locating reputable sources, which could contain quantitative information.
Lesson 6
Your State by the Numbers
Students are asked to consult historical population tables (three separate tables for different year ranges) and plot those numeric values as points on a large graph, then connect the points to show population growth (Activity 1). Students use the Census Bureau QuickFacts table to look up state demographic numbers and record them on a ‘Quick Facts' activity page (Activity 2). Students record county population numbers in a table for ten counties, divide the largest county population to create category breakpoints, and color counties on a map according to those numeric categories (Activity 3). Students locate a table and chart in a fiscal survey report and transfer revenue and expenditure numbers into a ‘State Budgets' activity page for comparison (Activity 4).
Lesson 7
Your State's Economy
Students are asked in Option 2 to note at least 25 businesses, categorize them, and "create graphs, one that shows what services businesses provide and another that shows what percentage of businesses were locally-owned, regional chains, or national/international chains," which requires turning counted/textual data into visual form. The Student Activity Pages require students to look up their state's GSP (millions of dollars), the percentage of national GDP, and the state's GSP per capita rank, and to list major industries and employers—tasks that require gathering quantitative information in text form.
Final Project
A Warm Welcome
Students are asked to include maps or timelines in the mural to show important ideas (Option 1) and the video option explicitly suggests showing a map of the state or images of key features (Option 2). The mural directions ask students to add written notes near images (e.g., place suggestions) and the rubrics list use of maps/timelines and inclusion of geographic/natural features and historical points as required elements.
Unit 1: Genetics and DNA
Lesson 1
The Importance of DNA
Students collect family trait descriptions and enter them into the provided Student Activity Page chart (a table) and then highlight shared traits, directly using a visual table to represent descriptive information. The lesson includes an illustrated graphic of trait examples (earlobe types, widow's peak, dimples, tongue rolling) that students use to interpret written trait descriptions. The DNA extraction activity provides step-by-step (technical) written procedures alongside an optional video/3D animation showing the procedure and the visual result (whitish, stringy DNA) for students to observe and compare with the text.
Lesson 2
Inheritance
Students record allele outcomes from coin flips in an "Allele Expression" table, count the combinations, calculate percentages, and use those percentages to create a pie chart with a specified color code (TT=blue, Tt=green, tt=yellow). Students complete a Parent Chart and a Sibling Chart listing traits for father, mother, and siblings and then compare those charts to form hypotheses about dominant or recessive traits. The Student Activity Pages provide explicit tabular templates and a large circle diagram so students convert written/technical descriptions of alleles and dominance into tabular and graphical representations.
Lesson 3
Generations, Probability, and Change
Students record numeric predictions (percentages) in Tally Sheets 1–3 and then fill tables with the counted outcomes from 100 coin flips, linking written probability statements to tabular data. Students read textual descriptions of allele dominance and genotype notation and then complete Punnett square diagrams to derive percent chances of homozygous/heterozygous and dominant/recessive outcomes. Students interpret pedigree symbols described in words (squares, circles, shaded/unshaded) and use the visual pedigree diagram to answer questions about relationships and inheritance patterns.
Lesson 4
Reproduction and Change
Students read textual explanations of meiosis, chromosomes, and crossing over (assigned pages and written 'Things to Know') and are directed to examine diagrams on pages 64-65 and the 'Crossing Over During Meiosis' student page. Students build a physical chromosome model with pipe cleaners and colored beads that maps bead colors to alleles and then use that model to simulate segregation and crossing over, comparing outcomes to Punnett-square logic. The Crossing Over activity instructs students to reorganize visual chromosome models and interpret resulting gamete genotypes, explicitly connecting the written steps of meiosis with the visual/model representations.
Lesson 5
From Generation to Generation
Students read technical descriptions of traits and dominance on the provided website and are instructed to use that information to fill in an "Investigating Genealogy Chart," describing each trait and whether it is dominant or recessive. Students collect family data and record observations in the provided "Family Survey" table (or review the Option 2 sample family table) to trace how traits are passed across generations. Students then use their filled tables to answer questions about dominance, genotype vs phenotype, and how traits appear in successive generations, connecting the written explanations to the visual tables.
Lesson 6
Diversity and Adaptation
The activity instructions state the nutrient values in words (white beans = 5 points, black beans = 2 points, red beans = 1 point) and direct students to record amounts eaten and calculate Total Nutrition Points in Cycle 1–3 tables. Student activity pages provide tables with columns labeled "Bean," "Nutrient Value," "Amount Eaten," and "Total Nutrition Points," which students must fill in and use to determine survival. The lesson also includes a labeled visual (Galapagos Finch Beaks) that students use to relate beak shapes (visual) to textual descriptions of adaptation and feeding function.
Lesson 7
Inheritance and Environment
Students read technical descriptions of inheritance and incomplete dominance in the lesson text and then complete Punnett squares for snapdragon flower color and hair type, converting verbal genotype/phenotype rules into diagrammed crosses. Students calculate and record percentages of offspring phenotypes from those Punnett squares, integrating quantitative results with the visual diagrams. Students also extract information from readings and web sources to populate tables/chart columns in the "Investigating Disease" and "The Influence of Environment" activity pages, turning written descriptions of symptoms and causes into organized visual tables.
Final Project
A New Organism
Students read quantitative environment descriptions (annual rainfall ranges and temperature ranges) presented in text and use the adjacent Environment Descriptions table to select and compare habitats. Students translate written dice-roll rules (even = dominant, odd = recessive) into genotype notation and fill genotype and trait tables, then complete Punnett squares and interpret pedigree charts to determine offspring phenotypes. Students use shaded cells in trait tables and the "A New Environment" table to map which verbally described traits are beneficial in each environment and to decide which offspring survive.
Unit 1: The House of the Scorpion
Lesson 2
Revising and Editing
The Student Activity Page presents a three-column chart labeled "SYMBOL," "MEANING," and "EXAMPLE," showing proofreading symbols (visual marks) alongside written explanations and example sentences. Activity 2 directs students to use those editing symbols to indicate changes on their persuasive essays and to consult the Handy Guide to Writing for editing symbols. The Option 1 image activity also has students create visual scenes labeled with vocabulary words, pairing words with visual representations.
Lesson 3
Cast of Characters
Students are asked in Activity 1 to create a family tree of the Alacrán family using either art materials or a computer drawing program and to write a brief description of each character next to his or her name. The directions point students to the "Alacrán Family History" page in the front of the book as a sample family tree, requiring them to extract relationship and character information from Chapters 7–9 and the family-history text. The task explicitly requires translating information expressed in words (character relationships and descriptions) into a visual diagram (family tree).
Lesson 7
One-Act Play
Students are asked to turn a scene into a one-act play and to "indicate directions for setting and action, props, lighting cues, etc.," which asks them to translate written dialogue and stage notes into visual/staging directions. The Student Activity Page provides a script with characters, setting, and stage directions that students can use as a model for converting text into a staged, visual form. The activity also asks students to practice blocking and physical locations on stage to show protagonist/antagonist relationships, which requires mapping words to visual placement and movement.
Unit 2: Industrialization, Urbanization, and Immigration
Lesson 1
Urbanization and Migration
Students are asked in Activity 1 to use the data presented in the "Growth of American Cities" table to create a graph and then answer analytic questions about trends and comparisons. The lesson provides links to visual resources (Chicago growth maps and a population map) that students can view in connection with the population data. The Student Activity Page directs students to analyze the graph (e.g., growth comparisons, percent growth, observational trends).
Lesson 2
Indian Wars in the West
Students are asked to design a sign for the Wounded Knee site that must include both words and images and may include timelines or maps, requiring them to organize textual information visually. Students compare paired "before" and "after" photographs of boarding school students and write observations, connecting visual evidence to written responses. Students pause the documentary and write summaries for film sections, linking spoken/written content with illustrative headings and images on the note-taking pages.
Lesson 7
Politics
Students are given quantitative information in words (input costs of $3 per acre, selling price of $3 per bushel, production of 100 acres each yielding 50 bushels) and asked to calculate profit per bushel. An accompanying image presents the same information visually as step-by-step equations and numeric calculations (profit per bushel, subtraction of shipping cost, and recalculation after percent increases). Student questions ask them to compute new costs and describe how profits change when visualized numbers (shipping costs) increase.
Final Project
A Dramatic Performance or Scrapbook
Students are asked to add cards #100-116 to their Timeline of U.S. History, using the dates printed on each card and an explicit instruction to use the first date when a range is shown. The project asks students to include a map showing the character's home country and to complete templates such as a mock steamship ticket and an immigration form, which require filling structured, often numeric or date-based fields. The unit test and activities also require students to recall and place historical events and inventors, reinforcing chronological/quantitative placement on the timeline.
Unit 2: Living Organisms
Lesson 1
Levels of Organization
Students are asked to "Describe each of the following levels of organization in one or two sentences" and then "fill out the rest of the chart" including providing names of corresponding organs/tissues and using sketches to visually distinguish categories on the Levels of Organization activity page. A separate activity includes cut-out pictures that students place into categories (cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, organisms), linking pictorial representations to written category labels. The Local Survey activity requires students to record observations (color, shape, height, size, other traits) in a table and then use those recorded words to list differences between plants and animals.
Lesson 2
Structure and Stability
In Activity 1 students are instructed to use the provided websites to describe each tree part and its function in words and then either label an existing 'Anatomy of a Tree' diagram or create and label their own sketch (including a cross-section). The Student Activity Page and answer key show labeled cross-sections (outer bark, inner bark, cambium, sapwood, heartwood) that students must match to their written definitions. Option 2 requires students to translate textual definitions into a labeled visual diagram and a leaf drawing, and to color and texture parts to reflect their observations.
Lesson 3
Plant Reproduction
Students read technical descriptions of seed and flower structures (seed part definitions, fertilization steps) and then dissect and label a seed diagram using those terms. Students are instructed to sketch daily germination observations and compare those sketches to the provided seed diagrams. In Activity 3 students must create a physical flower model with labeled parts or produce a mostly-visual presentation (flowchart, diagram, poster, or slideshow) that explains fertilization using the parts and processes described in the text.
Lesson 4
Biotic and Abiotic Factors
Students set up experiments with specified quantities (e.g., 9 seeds per bag, 1 tsp salt/vinegar/sugar, defined light and water treatments) and then record predictions and daily observations in the provided tables labeled Prediction, Day 1–Day 4 for Soil Type, Light, and Water. Students are instructed to sketch seeds and note counts or descriptive observations (e.g., "3 seeds sprouted") on the Student Activity Pages. In Activity 2, students read a short selection about the rainforest and then fill a two-column chart identifying three abiotic and three biotic factors and describe their impacts, transferring information from text into a visual chart.
Lesson 5
Nutrition
Students read the photosynthesis chemical formula in text (6 CO2 + 6 H2O + ENERGY -> C6H12O6 + 6 O2) and view an accompanying diagram that visually represents that same equation. Students use a written description of chloroplast structure to label a diagram of a chloroplast (identifying outer membrane, inner membrane, stroma, grana, thylakoid). For animal digestion, students research an animal, write a written summary of its digestive process, and are required to include or create a picture/diagram of the animal's digestive system in a brochure or report.
Lesson 6
Respiration
Students measure the circumference of a balloon every 5 minutes and draw sketches of the balloon in the "Activating Yeast" activity, recording numerical measurements alongside visual observations. The Student Activity Page presents the chemical equations for fermentation and respiration and includes diagrams of bottles for observations. In Option 1 and Option 2 students are asked to arrange images or create their own diagrams showing photosynthesis and cellular respiration, including inputs/outputs (CO2, O2, H2O, glucose) and the relevant organelles (chloroplast, mitochondrion).
Lesson 7
Stimulus and Response
Students take quantitative measurements in Activity 1 (measure how far worms move in centimeters) and record those measurements in a provided data table labeled by trial and worm orientation. Students calculate averages from their numeric data and are explicitly instructed to "Create a bar graph to show your results," with an indicated y-axis scale (1 cm per line) and a legend for color-coding. In other activities students also record averages in tables (Reaction Time) and draw/sketch seed orientations (Plant Geotropism), linking numeric or technical observations to visual displays (tables, graphs, sketches).
Lesson 9
Ecological Relationships
Students are asked to print the Galapagos pages and color-code instances of parasitism, mutualism, commensalism, competition, and predation, underlining examples and circling the organism(s) that benefit, which converts textual examples into a visual, coded representation. As an alternative, students create a chart (table) with headings "Relationship," "Example," and "Who Benefits?" to organize textual information into a visual table. Vocabulary activities require students to match words and definitions to pictures or to create index cards with a word on one side and a definition or drawing on the other, linking technical terms in text to visual depictions; students also sketch and label seed anatomy from a dissection, integrating written anatomical information with a diagram.
Lesson 10
Structural Similarities
Students read written descriptions of organisms and are instructed to make a list of traits for each animal (Activity 1). They fill a trait table that lists organisms and columns for technical traits (e.g., vertebra, hair/fur, opposable thumb, complex language) and then use the completed table to create a cladogram in the blank "Cladogram" space (Activity 2). Multiple student activity pages explicitly direct students to translate text descriptions into trait listings and then draw cladograms showing relationships based on those traits.
Final Project
Exploring Living Organisms
Students are asked to label diagrams (tree, bean, flower) and to complete Part II: Labeling of the reproductive system, requiring them to place technical terms on corresponding visuals. Students must create a booklet or slideshow that pairs a hand-drawn or printed illustration of their organism with its taxonomic classification and descriptive text. Slide instructions explicitly require a combination of text and graphics and encourage using pictures, diagrams, maps, or other graphics to communicate information visually.
Unit 2: Watership Down
Lesson 1
Preparing to Read
In Activity 1, students use a written list of numbered place names paired with grid coordinates (for example, Sandwick Water (A4)) and locate those places on the map by moving to the correct lettered row and numbered column. Students use the map key to interpret symbols (roads, streams, vegetation) and record the place or event next to each numbered location. The directions also ask students to recreate the rabbits' journey on the map with a colored pencil as they read, linking narrative events to a visual path.
Lesson 2
Foreshadowing
Activity 1 directs students to read a technical article about the European Rabbit (link provided) and then fill out a Rabbit Research graphic organizer. The Rabbit Research page asks students to record scientific name, physical description, behavior, communication, reproduction, and life span — technical details from the source. Multiple character/teacher pages also require students to extract details from text and place them into structured character cards and tables.
Lesson 4
Comparing Rabbits
The lesson asks students to use details from Chapters 14–17 to complete a Venn diagram titled "Strange Rabbits," with Option 1 requiring students to cut out phrase boxes and glue them into the appropriate sections (Hazel's Group, Both Groups, Cowslip's Group). Option 2 explicitly directs students to "use information from the text" to list characteristics of each group and place shared traits in the overlapping section of the Venn diagram. The student activity pages and parent notes show students sorting textual descriptions into the visual Venn diagram.
Lesson 5
Quotes and Creatures
Students are asked in Activity 2 to research each plant and animal from Chapter 18 and record whether each is a producer or a consumer and its diet. They must use that recorded information to create a visual food web (Option 1 poster or Option 2 computer diagram) that depicts the ecosystem connections. The Student Activity Page provides a list of organisms with spaces for students to fill in producer/consumer and diet information, linking the textual/technical descriptions to a visual diagram.
Lesson 7
Rabbit Societies
The Rabbit Societies activity directs students to cut out descriptive boxes and glue them into a chart with columns labeled Rabbit Group, Leader, Positive Traits of Group, Negative Traits of Group, Positive Traits of Leader, and Negative Traits of Leader. The Parent Plan and activity pages require students to locate and record specific textual descriptions (leaders and group traits) into the visual table. The activity also includes a prepared table in which students place text-based information into the corresponding visual cells.
Lesson 8
Folktales and Fantasy
Students are instructed to consult at least three sources about a chosen animal and to record findings on an "Animal Research" graphic organizer that has labeled fields for habitat, diet, lifespan, physical appearance, family relationships, predators and defense, and sources. Students are prompted to record quantitative details such as lifespan and to cite the sources of their information. The activity requires students to place information expressed in words from texts into the visual spaces of the organizer.
Lesson 10
Setting
Students are asked to create a Venn diagram (Option 1) to compare and contrast the physical settings of Efafra and Watership Down, translating textual descriptions into a visual diagram. Students are offered an option to create artwork (Option 2) that represents similarities and differences between the two locations. Students are asked to draw a labeled map of a setting (Activity 2) and use the provided Simbaya Student Activity Page map as a visual reference tied to survival/navigation text instructions.
Lesson 11
Conflict and Escape
Students are assigned the Travel Tracker role and instructed to "make a simple map of the rabbit's journey by drawing pictures of each setting the rabbits encounter in their escape," which requires converting written descriptions of locations and sequence into a visual map. Students are also asked to "create a plot diagram for your story that outlines the conflict, the rising action, the climax, and the falling action," and a sample plot diagram image is provided, which has students turn narrative elements described in words into a visual diagram.
Lesson 13
A Fantasy Story
Students are directed to use planning sheets including a plot diagram and character and setting organizers to guide their writing, and are told to "look more closely at your plot diagram" and add details. The Fantasy Short Story Rubric is presented as a multi-criteria evaluation table that students are asked to consult before writing. Several student pages use grids (e.g., flashcard grids and suffix/prefix boxes) that present word-part information in a visual layout.
Unit 3: The Great Depression and World War II
Lesson 1
The 1920s
Students read short biographies on the Kennedy Center "Faces of the Harlem Renaissance" pages and identify the listed "Intersections" (people and places). They then create a large, hand-drawn network diagram: placing a chosen person in a central circle and drawing lines to connected people/places, repeating for five individuals and using the sample chart as a visual model. The sample chart image explicitly shows a diagram that students are asked to emulate, turning textual relationship information into a visual network.
Lesson 3
The Start of World War II
Students are instructed to "Follow the instructions on page 18 of World War II for Kids to simulate extinguishing an incendiary," which requires translating technical, step-by-step written procedures into a physical simulation (model). Students are given the option to "create a recruiting poster" using instructions on page 24 and to consult an online poster collection, which has them convert written/persuasive content into a visual artifact. Students are also told to "add cards #124-126 to your timeline of U.S. history," which has them place written event information into a visual chronological display.
Lesson 5
The Homefront
Students are asked in Activity 3 (Rationing) to use their family's grocery receipts for a month (or a week's receipts multiplied by 4) to explore how rationing would change diet and shopping habits, which requires working with numeric quantities and performing multiplication. The Student Activity Page for "Making a Difference" provides a three-column table for brainstorming ideas and explaining impact, giving students a visual organizer to record responses. The instructions refer to rationing rules and limits in the "Things to Know" section, which students must consider while completing the rationing exercise.
Lesson 6
1943
Students are instructed to add cards #127-129 to a timeline (Activity 1) and to identify the location for each timeline card topic and write the title and date on a world map (Activity 2). The activity directions tell students to use the timeline cards and the reading (textual descriptions and dates) and then place corresponding markers or dots on the provided blank "Map of World War II" pages. The Student Activity Pages are blank outline maps intended for students to label locations and annotate with titles and dates from the text and timeline cards.
Lesson 7
Victory in Europe
Students are instructed to add timeline cards #130-132 to a Timeline of U.S. history and then add the events from those timeline cards to their World War II map, which requires placing textual event descriptions and dates onto visual displays. Students read a passage and question about why June 5 or 6 was chosen for D-Day that explains technical factors (tides and moon phases) in words. Student activity pages include a tabular chart ("The Impact of the War") where students record and organize textual information about individuals across labeled columns.
Lesson 9
Victory in the Pacific
The Student Activity Page titled "The Atomic Bomb" provides a chart/table with a column labeled "Facts and Advice/Estimates Available" and rows (e.g., Japanese response to invasions, potential length of the war) that students are instructed to fill in with facts and estimates. The reading text and questions supply explicit quantitative and technical information (for example, an estimated 500,000 troops for an invasion, casualty figures for Okinawa, and projections that an invasion could extend the war by up to two years) that students can transfer into the chart. Activity 1 directs students to add cards #133-139 to a Timeline of U.S. History, asking students to place textual events into a visual chronological display.
Final Project
Before and After World War II
Students are asked in Option 2 to include at least one brief primary source that is not an image, with an explicit example being "statistics about unemployment that you have looked up." Both options require students to create poster-board exhibits, timelines, and include images or timeline resources (Library of Congress timelines are suggested) that present information visually. Option 1 and the exhibit rubrics require written summaries and visual elements (Before/During/After sections, images, timelines, and interactive features) that invite combining text and visuals.
Unit 3: A Dynamic Planet
Lesson 1
The Dating Game
Students use the radiometric-dating table (parent/daughter isotopes and half-lives) and the accompanying half-life illustration to calculate ages of rocks and interpret isotope ratios in Option 2. Students use the layered diagram showing igneous intrusions and labeled zones to integrate radiometric ages with visual stratigraphy to create age ranges for sedimentary zones. Students build a physical bottle model of sedimentary layers and cut-and-paste fossil columns to match textual descriptions of superposition and zone fossils with visual models.
Lesson 2
Plate Tectonics
Students are given explicit numeric times and scales and instructed to build a "Deep Time" timeline (e.g., "Each meter will stand for 1 billion years", "One cm = 10 million years") and to mark specific dated events at measured distances (e.g., 4.57 billion years = 4.57 m, 540 million years = 54 cm). Students receive Plate Tectonic Timeline Cards with dated events (e.g., 50 M.Y.A., 100 M.Y.A., 230 M.Y.A.) and are told to place those cards on the timeline using a clear scale (50 cm = 1 billion years; 5 cm = 100 million years; 1 cm = 20 million years). Students also create a physical model of transform faults by cutting, folding, and pulling cardstock/paper so that a textual description of fault behavior is represented visually and kinetically in the paper model.
Lesson 3
The First Four Billion Years
Students read pages that state numeric ages and durations for the Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic eons and answer questions citing specific billions-of-years ages (e.g., 3.9 bya, 3.5 bya). Students look at an image of the four eons and add dated timeline cards (3.5 BYA, 3 BYA, 2.4 BYA, etc.) to a physical timeline. Students are given and use an explicit scale (50 cm = 1 billion years; 5 cm = 100 million years; 1 cm = 20 million years) to place events accurately on the timeline, and they compare the timeline to a previously created "Deep Time" timeline.
Lesson 4
The Age of Visible Life
Students are given a clear numeric scale ("1 cm = 5 million years") and explicit measurements for eras and periods (e.g., Paleozoic = 96.2 cm, Cambrian = 40.9 cm) on the student activity page. Students measure a 125 cm piece of butcher paper, lay out sections in specified centimeter dimensions, and mark the Precambrian at 545 mya, directly converting numeric ages into a visual timeline. Students also cut and place timeline cards that contain textual descriptions of events (e.g., "First jawed fishes," "The Great Dying") onto the corresponding visual positions on the Geologic Column.
Lesson 5
Digging for Clues
Students are asked to label a geologic column diagram (Phanerozoic eon) with eras and fossil groups using a provided word box (Option 1). A Student Activity Page presents a layered fossil diagram and asks students to write which layers are oldest, describe how fossils change from older to younger layers, and explain how paleontologists use that progression. The text provides technical wording and a quantitative note ("Phanerozoic eon — the last 545 million years") and Activity 2 has students create and excavate a physical sedimentary model, recording which beads (fossils) appear in each layer.
Lesson 6
Natural Selection
Students are given a textual claim that domestic dogs split from gray wolves about 30,000 years ago and are asked (Question 1) to compute how many generations dogs have had in that time. Students are provided a visual table on the Student Activity Page titled "Generations" that lists generation lengths and numbers of generations across time spans for multiple species. The activity questions ask students to use the numeric/textual information (30,000 years) together with the table to calculate generations and to compare rates of evolution across species.
Lesson 7
Survival of the Fittest
Students collect and record numerical counts of red, blue, and green dots across four generations in labeled tables for White, Green, and Red environments. Students perform a simulated predation and reproduction procedure that produces quantitative data (numbers of each color) and then answer questions that ask them to explain changes in genetic variation and selective pressures. The reading and video describe technical concepts (mutations, genetic variation, peppered moth, sickle-cell example) that students are asked to relate to their observed tabled data.
Lesson 8
Convergent Evolution
Students read a written quantitative/technical statement in the provided example that specifies an optimal streamlined shape: a body length about 4 1/2 times the body diameter and notes about cartilage vs. bone. Students are asked to research species' habitats, challenges, and anatomical similarities/differences on the Convergent Evolution Research page. Students are given an Option 2 poster task that requires creating images, detailed anatomical drawings, and brief descriptions of environments and adaptations (the sample poster shows ichthyosaur, shark, and dolphin panels with anatomical sketches).
Final Project
Fast Forward
Students map 4.5 billion years onto a five-minute presentation by using the explicit scale "each second = 15 million years," requiring them to convert numeric years into minutes/seconds during their performance. Students are given timeline/table activity pages (columns: Years Ago, Time Remaining, Events) that they fill in to align numeric dates with a visual timeline and practice pacing. The unit test page includes an illustration of layered rock strata and questions asking students to explain relative vs. radiometric dating, prompting students to connect written/technical explanations with a visual diagram.
Unit 3: The Book Thief
Lesson 1
The Author and Narrator
In Activity 1 students use textual web sources (Encyclopaedia Britannica and a CNN facts page that includes statistics and a timeline) to gather information about World War II and then record their findings on a nine-box "World War II Detective" grid. The grid is a visual table where students write answers to prompts such as "When?", "Where?", "Sides involved", and "3 reasons for the war," converting information from the texts into a structured visual layout. The reading assignment also prompts students to note dates (1939–1945) and categorical facts (Axis vs. Allies) which students enter into the table.
Lesson 12
The Teddy Bear
Students are asked to create a map or diagram of a person's or character's journey (Activity 1, Option 1 and Option 2) and to communicate that journey using both words and images; an example flowchart of Liesel's journey is provided to model converting written narrative into a visual flowchart. Option 2 explicitly suggests using a printed map of Germany as a background and placing cards at locations to show stops in Max's journey, and the student activity pages guide students to collect and organize interview responses for a visual representation.
Unit 4: Global Conflict and Civil Rights
Lesson 1
The Post-War World
Students are given tables with pre-war population, war-related deaths, and GDP (1938 and 1945) and are asked to fill in material-damage descriptions using historical photos and captions. Students are instructed to calculate each nation's war deaths as a percentage of its pre-war population and to create a bar graph showing changes in GDP from 1938 to 1945 using specified colors for each country. Students also review photo captions and write descriptions that connect visual images of destruction to the quantitative data in the chart. In Activity 2, students compare historical and modern advertisements by describing images and textual messages, linking words to visual elements.
Lesson 2
The Cold War and Communism
Students answer specific questions that require numeric or technical facts (e.g., cost of the interstate system, 13 million houses built, 330 babies born per hour, $5.5 trillion spent on nuclear weapons, ICBM range of 3,500 miles) and fill those values on student activity pages. Students add cards #140-143 to a Timeline of U.S. History, which requires placing dated textual information into a visual timeline. Students also create visual artifacts (political cartoons or posters) that translate textual arguments or themes about the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan into images.
Lesson 3
The Cold War
Students are given a Student Activity Page for the Cuban Missile Crisis that includes a map outline of Cuba for use in decision-making and analysis. The Parent Plan and extension explicitly suggest that students could "plot the locations of ships on a map" or use the Scribble Maps tool to create a custom map. Option 1 directs students to read advisers' recommendations (text) and use the activity page to research and evaluate options, which could be combined with the map graphic.
Lesson 4
Civil Rights
In Activity 1 students are given a graphic organizer (columns and rows with a faint bus outline) and instructed to fill each square with information about Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks using full sentences, which requires transferring information from the assigned readings into a visual/table format. In Activity 3 students are asked to add cards #144-146 to a timeline of U.S. history, which requires placing dated events from the readings into a visual chronological display. The newspaper clipping activity also asks students to produce a two-paragraph news article on a template, connecting textual biographical information to a visual newspaper format.
Lesson 5
Sit-Ins and Freedom Rides
Students are asked to add cards #147-151 to a timeline of U.S. history, which requires placing textual historical entries into a visual chronological display. Students are given a Student Activity Page that is a graphic organizer for comparing two speeches, prompting them to record similarities and differences in a visual chart. Students also read and follow along with the text of Dr. King's speech while listening, highlighting key phrases as they work between text and audio.
Lesson 7
New Directions and Other Social Movements
Students are directed to read primary and secondary texts about the SCLC and the Black Panther Party and then use a Venn diagram to record comparisons and overlaps, which requires transferring information expressed in words into a visual diagram. The reading and question set also includes at least one numeric detail (e.g., farm workers being paid "less than a dollar an hour") and descriptions of working conditions that could be represented visually. Students are asked to create a collage or to write a speech that incorporates quotations and facts from readings.
Lesson 8
Korea
Students read text and questions that include quantitative and technical details (for example, Question 1 states that about 75,000 North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel on June 25, 1950, and the war ended with an armistice in 1953). The Student Activity Page includes a simple map of the Korean Peninsula as a geographic visual reference. Activity 3 directs students to add cards #152-157 to a timeline of U.S. history, requiring students to place information into a visual chronological display.
Unit 4: Human Body Systems
Lesson 1
Our Bodies
Students are directed to "use the graphics and their labels and descriptions to help you better understand" the readings and to take notes on what each system does and which systems interact. In Activity 1 students match cut-out images to labeled system boxes and draw arrows between systems, writing how one system benefits another, which requires linking written descriptions to pictorial representations. Activity 3 (optional) asks students to read about CT, MRI, and ultrasound and consider how the textual explanations correspond to different internal images, reinforcing integration of technical text with visuals.
Lesson 2
Cells, Tissues, and Organs
Students are instructed to read text alongside graphics and image callouts (pp. 26-29) and to "look over any graphics associated with the text," explicitly linking words to visual labels. In Activity 1 students build a bead model that maps a single bead to a cell, three beads on a pin to a tissue, and strings tissues into organs and organs into systems, using numeric counts to construct the visual model. In Activity 2 students sketch carrot cross-sections and compare their sketches to labeled diagrams, and they view an online dissected-earthworm PDF to identify and label internal and external structures.
Lesson 3
Musculoskeletal System
Students are asked to use diagrams on pp. 40-41 and 64-67 to identify which bones and muscles produced specific movements and to record those observations (Activity 1). Students match named joint types with corresponding body joints and mechanical-joint illustrations in a table, integrating verbal descriptions with visual examples (Activity 2). Students cut, paste, draw, and label skeletal and muscular parts on a body outline using textbook images as guides, creating a visual representation from technical text descriptions (Activity 3).
Lesson 4
Cardiovascular System
Students are instructed in Activity 2 to use the text (pp. 146–147 of The Concise Human Body Book) and a website diagram to color and label the cardiovascular system, indicating oxygenated (red) and deoxygenated (blue) vessels. In Activity 3 students label a heart diagram and use the book's descriptions (p. 151) to draw arrows tracing blood flow through the heart. In Option 1 students build a physical pump model and then demonstrate and explain how the valve in the model corresponds to heart valves, linking a hands-on visual model with the technical description of valve function.
Lesson 5
Respiratory System
Students color, cut out, and paste anatomical parts onto a body outline and label nasal cavity, trachea, bronchioles, diaphragm, etc., using the diagram on pp. 162–163 as a guide (Activity 1). Students cut out descriptive boxes and arrange them with arrows to build a flowchart showing the ordered steps of inhalation and exhalation, directly turning written process descriptions into a visual flowchart (Activity 2). Students use percentages and numeric data given in the text (e.g., 21% O2 inhaled, 16% O2 exhaled, tidal volume 0.5 L) to perform calculations and record results in tables and problem worksheets about daily and lifetime air volumes (Activity 4).
Lesson 6
Digestive System
Students are asked to read pages 210–231 of The Concise Human Body Book and then create visual products based on that text. In Activity 1 students create a comic strip that describes and animates what happens to a food particle at each step (mouth, esophagus/stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum), converting technical process descriptions into sequential visuals. In Activity 2 students color, cut out, paste, and label digestive organs on a body outline using the image on pp. 212–213 as a guide, directly transforming technical organ information from text into a labeled diagram.
Lesson 7
Urinary System
Students read technical descriptions of urinary structures and functions (pp. 240-247 and pp. 242-243) and are instructed to color and label the urinary system diagram, directly mapping words to the visual diagram. Students create a comic strip that traces a water droplet through specific textual steps (renal artery → nephron → renal vein/ureter → bladder → urethra), converting the written sequence into sequential visual panels. The comic activity also requires students to represent a quantitative split when it directs that half of the droplet follow the blood-return path and half follow the urine-collecting path.
Lesson 8
Endocrine System
Students use pages 132–135 of the textbook and an online chart to match each hormone (technical descriptions in words) with its producing gland and its function on a three-column activity chart (Activity 1). Students color, cut, and paste labeled glands into the correct positions on an outline diagram of the body and draw in small brain glands using the book's illustration as a guide (Activity 2). The instructions explicitly direct students to use textual information to complete both the table-style activity and the body diagram.
Lesson 9
Reproductive System
Students color, cut out, and arrange pregnancy cards in Activity 2 using the length of the embryo/fetus as a guide to order the cards from conception to childbirth. The Student Activity Pages show illustrations of fetuses with accompanying textual data (e.g., "Length = 1.5", "Length = 10", "Length = 18", "Length = 22") and descriptive text about weeks and development. The answer key and activity instructions explicitly link week numbers and lengths (e.g., Week 8: Length = 1-1.5", Week 20: Length = 10", Week 40: Length = 22") so students must match quantitative/technical descriptions in words with the visual cards.
Lesson 10
Immune System
Students read technical text (pages 190–205) describing immune system structures and processes and then use the diagram on p.194 as a guide to label and color a lymph node cross-section. Students either build a two-dimensional labeled model of a lymph node (folding labels into flags and inserting them into the model) or complete the labeled/coloring activity page for the same structures. Students also color and label a whole-body immune system diagram (spleen, thymus, tonsils, adenoids, and lymph nodes/lymph vessels) and may explore an interactive that pairs transcripts/videos with visualizations of lymph vessels and nodes.
Lesson 11
Nervous System
Students read technical descriptions in the textbook (pp. 78-85, 86-93) and then create or complete visual representations: they build a pipe-cleaner neuron model (Activity 1 Option 1) or use an interactive 'Build a Neuron' tool (Option 2). In Activity 2 students place labels and sequence steps on a Nerve Impulse diagram to show impulse flow based on the text. In Activities 3 and 4 students color, draw, and label a whole-body nervous system diagram and a detailed brain diagram, mapping functions (e.g., frontal lobe = decision making) from the reading onto colored regions.
Lesson 12
Balance in the Body
Students record pulse counts in a table for resting and exercising trials, convert those counts to beats per minute, and are instructed to create a line graph of their results (Activity 2). The Hands-On Homeostasis activity includes a data table and explicit directions to graph the measured values and answer interpretive questions about homeostasis versus imbalance. The Homeostasis matching activity asks students to use reading pages and web links to identify organs and their systems in a table format, linking written technical descriptions to a visual tabular representation.
Lesson 13
Human Growth and Development
Students read assigned textbook pages and a linked WHO/UCDavis web page describing environmental factors that affect health, then use that technical information to complete the 'Environmental Effects' activity. In the activity students label at least four boxes with specific environmental issues, write brief explanations of possible negative consequences, and draw lines from those boxes to organs on an anatomical diagram. In Activity 1 students also create a visual timeline from personal photos to represent growth changes over time.
Final Project
Body Systems Presentation
Students are instructed to create system diagrams and include them on slides or posters, and to scan/upload or draw these diagrams for use in their presentation. The directions state that students will "supplement your images with text that explains the function of each system and at least two ways the system is interdependent with other body systems." The project rubric explicitly evaluates inclusion of system diagrams and explanations of functions and interdependencies.
Unit 4: To Kill a Mockingbird
Lesson 1
Historical Context
Students are asked to watch a video titled "Alabama in the 1930s" and then create a mind map with "Alabama in the 1930s" at the center, adding branches, lines, sketches, and color to show connections. The directions explicitly tell students how to represent categories and examples visually (thick lines for big categories, thinner lines for specific examples) and offer an online diagramming tool (Coggle) as an option. Students also answer a reflective journal question after creating the mind map, indicating they must extract and reorganize information from the video into a visual format.
Lesson 3
The Mystery of Boo
Students are directed to use a Student Activity Page titled "The Mysterious Boo Radley" that asks them to list five things based on hearsay and five things based on personal experience, placing each set into two clearly labeled columns (a table). Students are told to compare and contrast the two columns and to develop and record a hypothesis about Boo Radley's true character, which requires converting textual details into a visual/table format and analyzing them side by side.
Lesson 5
Surprising Talent
Students are asked to convert sentences into sentence diagrams in Activity 1, with explicit step-by-step instructions for placing simple subjects and predicates on the diagram and for handling direct objects, predicate nouns, and predicate adjectives. The lesson provides multiple visual examples and images that show sentences (e.g., "Atticus reads", "Atticus Finch was reading") represented as diagrams and an answer key with completed diagrams. The Student Activity Page requires students to diagram specific sentences and to label/underline parts of speech before diagramming, directly tying the verbal/technical grammatical information to visual representations.
Lesson 8
Identity
The lesson explicitly states grammar rules in words (e.g., "In a sentence diagram, modifiers are placed on a diagonal line pointing to the word they modify" and "Nouns and pronouns are always placed on a horizontal line in a sentence diagram") and provides multiple visual sentence diagrams that correspond to those rules. Students are shown diagrams for sentences such as "Mr. Ewell considered the matter carefully," "The judge was a very amiable man," and indirect-object examples, and are given a Student Activity Page with sentences to convert into diagrams. An answer key includes diagrammed versions of those student sentences so students can compare their written-to-visual integrations.
Lesson 9
Order in the Court
Students read the explanatory text on the "Order in the Court" activity page that describes roles, procedures, and sequence of events in a criminal trial. Students view a courtroom diagram and a flowchart/sequence diagram of the trial process and are asked to label or order parts of the trial (cut-and-paste boxes, fill-in-the-blank "The Trial" worksheet) using terms from the text. Students are directed to watch a courtroom video to get a visual sense and then apply the vocabulary and sequence from the written descriptions to the visual diagrams and worksheets.
Lesson 10
Equal Rights?
Students are presented with a "Diagramming Compound Constructions" section that explains in words what a compound subject and a compound predicate are and shows labeled sentence-diagram images (e.g., "Atticus and Calpurnia met us downstairs," and "Our father turned, looked up, and spoke"). Students are given a worksheet of sentences to diagram (items 1–4 and challenging sentences) and an answer key with corresponding visual diagrams that map each word/phrase to diagram structure.
Lesson 11
The Mockingbird
Students are given multiple sentence-diagram images that visually represent the grammatical structure of compound and complex sentences (subjects, verb phrases, direct objects, modifiers) and are shown how clauses are joined by dotted lines. The student activity pages instruct students to diagram specific sentences from the text, identify independent and dependent clauses, and mark subjects, predicates, and objects in their diagrams. Directions also require students to convert the wording of sentences (text) into a visual diagram using underlines, boxes, brackets, and labeled lines.
Final Project
Oral Book Presentation
Students are asked to diagram grammatical constructions and specific sentences: the study guide lists "Diagram the following parts of speech and grammatical constructions" and the unit test requires sentence diagrams for given sentences, with images showing model diagrams. Students plan and create slide shows and use graphic organizers that require them to represent historical context, plot, characters, and themes using text plus pictures/graphics. The rubric and activity pages instruct students to use visuals (slides, graphic organizers, blank boxes for illustrations or mind maps) to represent information they have first written in words.
Unit 5: Technology Explosion
Lesson 1
Overview of Modern America
Students are asked to "Create a poster board timeline" that requires them to draw a timeline, include three key dates, and place their paragraph text and images at specific date points, directly linking written descriptions to a visual diagram. The Brainstorming student page asks students to fill a table with subtopics, what they learned from the video, what they want to know, and websites, which has students move information expressed in words into a tabular visual format. Activity 3 instructs students to add specific numbered cards to a timeline, prompting students to place chronological (quantitative/time) information into a visual timeline.
Lesson 2
Demographics and Immigration
Students are given numerical population data for 10 cities (Activity 1 "Statistical Changes") and are instructed to "make a line graph using population data provided in your lesson," plotting dots for each city and year and connecting them. In Activity 2 students are directed to calculate each city's percent of the U.S. population for 1950 and 2010 using the provided data and then color and label maps to show those percentages and changes. The Student Activity Pages include a blank graph with labeled axes and map templates with color keys so students convert the numeric/textual population information into visual representations.
Lesson 3
The End of the Cold War
Students are asked to read State Department articles and "use the readings" to complete the "American Presidents and Foreign Policy — Nixon to Reagan" activity page, which is presented as a table with columns for summaries, challenges, and successes. Students are also instructed to add cards #164-166 to a timeline of U.S. history, which requires placing dated events (for example, "The Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989") onto a visual timeline. These tasks require students to transfer information from written texts into visual formats (a table and a timeline).
Lesson 5
Technology
In Activity 2 (Generations and Technology), students complete a provided table with columns for This Year and the years when a parent, grandparent, and great-grandparent were the student's age and write how scenarios would be handled in each column, requiring them to record numeric years alongside textual explanations. In Activity 3 (Space Age Technology) students research "When was this technology developed?" and are asked to draw or paste an image of the technology, linking a date (quantitative information) and explanatory text to a visual. In Activity 1 (Emerging Technologies) students rank seven technologies from 1 to 7 and justify their rankings in writing, producing a numbered (quantitative) ordering tied to textual explanations.
Lesson 7
Modern American Culture
Students are given a table of NCES enrollment figures for men and women from 1970–2010 and are directed to use the "Create a Graph" tool to make a visual representation of that data. The student activity page instructs students to use the data and their graph to answer percent-of-total questions for women in 1970, 1990, and 2010 and to reflect on how the visual representation conveys changes over time. The reading questions also present percent figures (e.g., 7.5% in 1971 to 39% in 1996) that students can connect to visual displays.
Final Project
Illustrated Essay or National History Day
Students are asked to write paragraphs about three technologies and to create a poster-board timeline with three key dates (one for each paragraph), placing each image above the timeline and the corresponding paragraph below it. The illustrated-essay instructions explicitly direct students to arrange text and images in a visually pleasing way and to use dates such as 1900, 1950, and 2000 on the timeline. The provided illustration also depicts arranging items under specific years, showing the process of organizing textual information by date into a visual timeline.
Unit 5: Health and Nutrition
Lesson 2
Being a Smart Consumer
Students are asked to write down five products and any claims made on the packaging or in commercials and to consider the price and compare with other products. The Student Activity Page provides a structured, visual organizer with sections for Product Name, Claims, and Other Similar Products That Cost Less for students to fill in. The Fads activity page asks students to record Money (cost considerations), Positives, and Negatives in separate visual sections for each fad.
Lesson 3
Healthy Body
Students cut out disease names and sort them onto labeled construction paper for "Chronic" and "Communicable" categories in Activity 1, producing a visual classification. Students research one of five chronic diseases and make a public awareness poster that presents at least four prevention strategies visually in Activity 2. Activity 4 asks students to create a PSA that can be a poster, skit, or recorded performance, requiring translation of health information into a visual or performed form.
Lesson 4
Healthy Relationships
Students read textual descriptions of friendship qualities in the assigned pages (page 85 for boys, page 87 for girls) and are instructed to ‘‘Make a list of your 3 closest friends and see how well they fit the criteria, using the chart provided on 'A Good Friend' page.'' The Student Activity Page contains a table with labeled criteria (e.g., "Can you count on your friend?", "Does the friend help you when you need to talk?") and directs students to fill in A/S/N for each friend and for themselves. Students are also asked to examine their table results and set a goal, which requires comparing the written criteria to the visual ratings.
Lesson 5
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drugs
In Activity 1 students are directed to watch videos and read an online booklet and then, "Using the 'Drug Use' activity page, take notes on the different types of drugs" in the provided chart. The Student Activity Page is a four-column table (Drug | What is it? | Effects of Abusing it | Other) that students must fill with information gathered from the text and videos. The Parent Plan/Answer Key supplies filled-in tables showing how textual technical details about each drug map into the table format.
Lesson 6
Nutrition and Exercise
Students use Nutrition Facts panels with numeric entries (calories, grams of fat, % Daily Value) and answer calculation questions such as calories or fat in two servings. Students are given the BMI formula in words, calculate BMI values for themselves and family members, and are directed to plot those BMI numbers on CDC BMI-for-age growth charts (visual). Students record servings in a Food Journal table and compare their recorded amounts to the food pyramid and MyPlate recommendations expressed as cups/ounces.
Unit 5: Great American Poets
Lesson 1
Poetry Basics
Students are shown an annotated poem in which rhyme-scheme letters (A, B, C) and the term "iambic pentameter" are written alongside lines, and stressed syllables are indicated by underlining or capitalization. The Poetry Vocabulary page asks students to determine and label the rhyme scheme (e.g., AABB) and to underline or mark stressed syllables in a line from "The Raven." The Active Poetry Reading pages direct students to annotate poems with colored-pencil markings (underlines, circles) to identify sound and structural features.
Lesson 3
Figurative Language
Students look up and record poets' birth and death years from the book onto Poet Cards, transferring numerical (year) information from text into a written/visual card format. Students also create concrete (shape) poems by arranging their written lines to match a drawn outline, turning text into a visual form. The Poet Cards require students to fill labeled fields (Date, Favorite Poem, Interesting Facts), which organizes textual information into a structured, visual layout.
Lesson 4
Poetic Forms
Students are asked in Question 1 to reread a poem, identify and mark the pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables, and determine whether the poem uses iambic pentameter; the lesson provides images that show the x and / notation above the line "When I see birches bend to left and right" and a "da DUM" visual pattern. The lesson displays and explains sonnet rhyme schemes using letter notation (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG) and asks students to compare that scheme to Longfellow's poem, requiring them to map textual rhyme into a visual letter pattern. Students are instructed to write and revise haiku and limericks where they must count syllables (5-7-5) and mark rhyme and rhythm visually on their drafts.
Lesson 10
Poems about Poetry
The lesson gives explicit technical instructions about ellipses in words (use only three dots, how to type dot-space-dot-space-dot, and keyboard shortcuts). It shows visual examples of ellipses in text, including a line of spaced periods to indicate an omitted whole line. The Ellipses activity asks students to analyze examples and choose which version uses ellipses correctly, requiring students to compare the written rule to visual instances.
Final Project
Poetry Journal
Students are directed to complete a "Punctuation Review" graphic organizer by cutting out descriptive boxes and pasting them into the correct column labeled Comma, Dash, Ellipsis, or Hyphen. The student activity pages also require students to match punctuation usage descriptions and to place sentence examples into the appropriate visual columns, converting written rule descriptions into a table format.