Second Grade - ELA
1: Community
Unit 1: Communities Around the World
Lesson 1
Exploring a Community
Students write three sentences about whether they would rather live in the country or city and then draw a picture of themselves in that setting (Activity 3). Students construct and label three-dimensional maps by cutting, folding, gluing paper cubes and rectangular prisms and placing them on a taped poster board base, producing a visual display of a community (Activity 6). Students read or listen to "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse" aloud at least twice, practicing oral retelling and comprehension (Activity 2).
Lesson 2
Roles of People in Communities
Students color, cut out, fold, and glue community worker figures onto a three-dimensional map (Activity 2), and they draw pictures of themselves as a worker (Activity 4). Students are prompted to create visual materials and to write a paragraph or sentences about community workers (Option 2 and the I Can Be... page). The lesson's Skills section explicitly lists "Create visual materials."
Lesson 3
Goods and Services
Students plan and write an original story using the "If You Give a ___ a ___" organizer and then write the story with prompts that sequence events. Students draw a cover for their book and are encouraged to put a sentence and an illustration on each page and fold pages to make a book. In Activity 1 students can draw a picture of the place where a good or service is obtained, and Activity 3 has students record examples on a two-column chart (Goods/Services).
Lesson 8
Customs and Holidays
Students are asked to draw a symbol for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July and to color and assemble a paper flag, including pasting stars and writing AMERICA on the flag. In the Holiday Book activities students write the name and date of holidays, complete sentence prompts such as "On this day our family..." and "We celebrate this holiday because...", decorate a construction-paper title page, and add illustrations to each page. In the "Holidays in Other Communities" activity students color map outlines and label countries and holidays, pairing written information with visual coloring and labeling.
Lesson 10
Communities Change
Students illustrate the community in all four seasons on the "Changing Seasons Wheel" and write a sentence beneath each picture describing the community during that season. Students are asked to list or draw natural and human resources (Option 2) and to cut and glue pictures into the appropriate community in "A Growing Community," showing use of drawings and other visual displays to represent community features. The lesson also asks students to retell and summarize events from The Little House, which provides occasions for combining visuals with recounting.
Lesson 11
Government and the People
Students are asked to illustrate each government service and write a sentence about how each service helps them or a way they have benefited ("The Government Helps Citizens" pages). Students are directed to cut apart the labeled boxes and glue them on a poster board titled "Government Community Services," creating a visual display. On the "Government Flowchart" students are asked to draw an American flag, an outline of their state, and a city landmark to accompany names and titles of leaders.
Final Project
Community Brochure
Students are instructed to create a community brochure and to make it colorful and interesting by drawing or taking pictures. Students use the "Community Brochure Organizer," which includes spaces for pictures and asks students to describe their ideas for illustrations. Students are prompted to locate or print pictures of community buildings and add them to the brochure, using visuals alongside text to present information.
Unit 2: Citizenship
Lesson 1
A Good Citizen
Students are asked to illustrate story events in Scene by Scene (Option 2) by drawing the five most important events and creating pictures for movie-slide boxes. In Communities Change and Scene by Scene (Option 1) students draw or color scenes to show beginning, middle, and end and write brief captions to clarify the sequence. Activity 8 asks students to carry out a community activity, take a picture (or draw a picture) of themselves engaged in it, and paste or draw that image on a page alongside a written recount. Activity 7 has students transfer earned stickers to a Citizenship Graph, counting and interpreting the visual display of their behaviors.
Lesson 2
Decisions and Consequences
Students are asked to attempt to read Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse aloud and to listen when an adult reads the story aloud, providing practice with oral storytelling. Students complete a "Lilly's Action Chart" that pairs illustrated actions with spaces to write consequences, engaging with visual images while recording ideas. Students can create their own action-and-consequence cards on a blank sheet and include them in a matching game, which allows students to produce visual cards that represent actions and outcomes.
Lesson 3
Diversity in the Community
Students prepare and conduct an interview with a community member and an adult is instructed to "accompany your child and take notes or record the interview," indicating an audio recording of a recount can be made. Students write five interview questions, practice question punctuation, and write short answers based on what the person said, showing practice in recounting information. Students color, cut out, and place pictures of people on continent and U.S. maps, creating visual displays that represent cultural information.
Lesson 4
Living in America
Students read and sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" and practice saying the Pledge of Allegiance aloud (Activities 3 and 4). Students color and assemble the American flag, cut and glue stars, and complete sentences about the flag (Activity 1). Students design and draw a unique family flag using construction paper, shape patterns, and markers, producing a visual display that represents ideas about their family (Activity 5).
Lesson 5
Citizens Share and Help
In Activity 1, students are asked to illustrate an example of sharing in the three categories (Resources, Time, Money) and to explain their drawing and how it makes the community a better place. Activity 2 asks students to record their helping plan on the "A Helping Hand" sheet and to describe who will help and what each person will do. Activity 3 has students read aloud sentences they write in their spelling journal, giving some practice with oral presentation of their own words.
Lesson 6
Leaders in the Community
Students are asked to illustrate each page of their short biography (Activity 3 Option 1 and Option 2) and to draw or paste a picture for "A Leader I Know" (Activity 4). In Activity 5 students draw pictures of four types of leaders and write a sentence about how each is a leader. The lesson also has students listen as an adult reads the biography aloud during Activity 1.
Lesson 7
Inventors
Students draw pictures of at least five inventions on the "Invention Scavenger Hunt" page and label each one, and they write a paragraph about their favorite invention using provided sentence starters. Students are asked in "My Own Invention" to draw a picture of their invention and label its parts and to write about who would use it and how it would help the community. The "Famous Inventors" pages include illustrations and require students to write sentences explaining how each invention helped people.
Final Project
Community Citizens Mobile
Students draw pictures and write on cardstock shapes (front and back) to show community leaders, an inventor, a flag, and themselves, including characteristics and how they helped or changed the community. Students assemble those shapes into a mobile and decorate a title, producing a visual display to present community members and recounts of experiences. Students are asked to write and illustrate three community items that match each shape, and to explain the parts of the mobile when sharing with the family.
Unit 3: Plants and Animals
Lesson 1
Living and Nonliving
Students dictate an imaginative story about finding a magic stone and have that dictated story recorded for them, providing an audio record of their oral recount. Students read the pictured book aloud and listen to reading, practicing oral narration that can be recorded. Students create drawings to accompany their dictated story and make collages and drawings in other activities, producing visual displays that accompany their stories and recounts.
Lesson 3
Classifying Animals
Students are asked to draw a picture of their favorite animal in its habitat and label body covering and parts (Activity 5). Students write a paragraph pretending to be an animal and describe life in its community (Activity 9), and students act out animals and answer questions about them (Activity 10), which involves oral performance. These activities show students produce drawings and create spoken or written recounts about animals.
Lesson 4
Animal and Plant Communities
Students label habitat illustrations and draw pictures of animals in those habitats (Activity 1 and Student Activity Page directions). Students write names and descriptions/classifications of animals and draw or cut-and-paste pictures into a woodland scene (Activity 1, Activity 3). Students create a visual bar graph of rainforest animals and color each bar as a visual display of data (Activity 2). Activity 5 asks students to write names and draw pictures of animals they observe on a zoo trip, which is a written recount accompanied by drawings.
Lesson 5
Animal Needs
Students draw items and places that meet needs and then write sentences explaining how the community helps meet those needs (Activity 1). Students draw an animal in its habitat and label or write how its food, water, and shelter needs are met (Activity 2). Students create visual representations of invented animals by drawing or building them and produce a written description for a zoo label (Activities 3 and 4).
Lesson 6
Extinct and Endangered Species
Students create paper bag puppets and assemble them from templates (Activity 3), and students use an "Endangered Species Puppet Show Script" to practice and perform dialog. Students practice the puppet show, creating unique voices for each animal and perform the puppet show for the family, which has them orally present a story with visual props. Students make three dinosaur finger puppets, dictate at least two lines for each dinosaur, and have those ideas recorded in script form before performing, combining visual puppet displays with spoken lines.
Lesson 7
Plants
Students are asked to draw a picture of what they imagine at the top of the beanstalk and explain what their picture reveals (Activity 4). Students are instructed to draw what they imagine will grow from a special seed, tell a story about the experience, and have their ideas recorded and illustrated (Activity 7). Students role-play being a seed, responding with movements and imagined sensory details, which supports adding visual or dramatized elements to a recount (Activity 8).
Lesson 10
Life Cycles
Students are asked to draw pictures of animals at each life stage (Activity 1, Option 2), which has them create visual displays of sequence and change. Students compose a diamante poem about a caterpillar/tadpole (Activity 3) and may dictate words to an adult, showing oral composition of a poem. Students also label and sequence pictures of life cycles (Activity 1, Option 1), practicing representing ideas with words and images.
Lesson 11
Community Members Depend on One Another
Students are asked to draw pictures of habitats and glue food chains within those pictures (Activity 2 Option 1) and to draw animals and paste them on colored paper strips to build linked visual food chains (Activity 3). Students may draw their own animals for food chains and are invited to draw items each stuffed animal would eat as an extension of Activity 1. These activities require students to create drawings and other visual displays to represent ideas about food chains and habitats.
Final Project
Nature Guide or Habitat in a Box
Students are asked to draw pictures, find or paste images from magazines or the Internet, and paste their drawings and descriptions into a folded nature guide book. Activity pages prompt students to "Describe and illustrate the life cycle," provide large blank boxes for drawings of plants and animals, and ask students to create diagrams for two food chains. The Habitat in a Box option has students line a shoebox, place realistic materials, and paste picture cards and a key to visually represent the habitat.
2: Matter and Movement
Unit 1: States of Matter
Lesson 1
What Is the World Made Of?
Students are asked to draw and label examples of solids, liquids, and gases on the Option 2 activity sheet and to cut and paste examples from the book on the activity pages. Students may draw pictures to represent items too large for a bag during the scavenger hunt. Students are also asked to write sentences describing observations (for example, labeling balloons as solid/liquid/gas and explaining their reasoning).
Lesson 2
Solids
Students are asked to draw pictures of containers and their contents and label each container and the matter inside it (Activity 6). Students create visual materials by labeling, cutting out, and arranging pictures from the "Weight of Solids" activity (Activity 1) and fill in sensory-descriptive diagrams for solids (Activity 3). Students also practice speaking sentences aloud for spelling words in the Spelling Journal activity.
Lesson 4
Bartholomew and the Oobleck
Students are asked to list or draw the book's characters, setting, three important events, favorite part, the problem, and the solution on a 'Story Quilt' sheet; the directions explicitly state the child can list or illustrate his ideas. Activity instructions (Story Quilt and some activity pages) prompt students to illustrate story elements and favorite parts, providing opportunities to add drawings or visual displays to a recount of the story. The True/False pages include illustrations paired with statements, giving students practice linking images to story details.
Lesson 6
Changes in States of Matter
Students are asked to draw water in its three states and write a sentence about each picture, and to draw and label the burning candle showing solid, liquid, and gas. Students collect data from melting experiments and create a bar graph (a visual display) to show how long each solid took to melt. Students measure and record observations (height, weight, cups) across days and write sentences describing changes in foods and materials.
Unit 2: Earth
Lesson 1
Our Planet Earth
Activity 5 asks the student to write an acrostic poem about Earth and instructs the student that he can illustrate his own poem when it is completed. Activity 4 asks the student to write a letter to an alien and explicitly directs the student to draw pictures and diagrams on a separate sheet to accompany the letter.
Lesson 3
Digging Into Dirt
Students are asked to draw and label places where different soils are found (Activity 4) and to draw and color the layers they observe in a cup (Activity 3). Students are asked to write four complete sentences about how the Earth is important to them and then illustrate one of those sentences (Activity 8). Multiple student activity pages prompt students to color, draw, and add visual labels (e.g., "Where On Earth Do I Live?", "Layers of the Earth", and the Experimenting with Soil recording page).
Lesson 5
Rocks
Several activities ask students to add drawings or visual displays: Activity 3 directs students to draw the sugar cubes at start, after a little shaking, and after a lot of shaking to show erosion. Activity 5 (Rock Recipe) asks students to draw a picture of each "mineral" ingredient. Activity 9 (My New Rock) asks students to write a short story about their rock and to draw a picture of themselves and the rock to illustrate the story; it also offers that the child may dictate the story to an adult to be recorded.
Lesson 6
Water, Water Everywhere
Students are instructed to draw or build a newly discovered ocean creature and write a short paragraph describing where it is found, what it eats, and its features (Activity 8), which pairs a recount with a visual. Students are asked to write and illustrate an example of how they use water (Activity 7), explicitly combining writing with illustration. Students create painted fish placemats and other artwork (Activity 5) and complete illustrated activity pages, demonstrating multiple opportunities to produce visual displays that accompany text.
Lesson 7
Taking Care of the Earth
Students are asked to write a free-verse poem about why it is important to take care of the Earth (Activity 8, Option 2). Students are asked to make a colorful poster encouraging people to keep the Earth clean (Activity 8, Option 1), which is a visual display that clarifies ideas. Students read materials and directions aloud during the Making Paper activity, giving some practice in spoken presentation.
Final Project
Earth Exhibit
Students plan and display a poem or poster as the final part of their exhibit, and they are instructed to display the poem or poster they created in a previous lesson. Students are told they can draw pictures, add color, and glue sentences and directions onto colored paper to make cards and displays more appealing. Students design a poster that displays the name of the exhibit and arrange materials for museum patrons to view, which results in visual displays accompanying their written work.
Unit 3: Balance and Motion
Lesson 1
What Is Balance?
Students are asked to attempt to read the book aloud and to read their written directions aloud to a family member (Activities 1 and 9). Students are directed to draw objects that would balance seesaws (Activity 2, Option 2) and to record weights and totals on activity pages (Activities 3–6).
Lesson 2
What Can Be Balanced?
In Activity 3 students cut apart sentences, choose four to glue on construction paper, and then illustrate those four sentences. In Activity 1 students are directed to draw a meal on the MyPlate template, adding a visual display to represent a recount of what they would eat.
Lesson 4
Force and Motion
Students are asked to read the book Move It! aloud and answer comprehension questions, which gives practice with oral storytelling and recounting. Students are instructed to draw a detailed picture showing examples of motion, label each example, and then write a short paragraph or story describing what is happening in the picture. Students also create lists of observed actions on a neighborhood walk and complete illustrated spelling sentences, which involve combining text with drawings or visuals.
Lesson 5
Gravity
Students are asked to write a short paragraph about life without gravity and to draw a picture of their description (Activity 4), which has them add a visual display to accompany a written recount. The guide encourages reading the book aloud or having the child read it aloud (Activity 1), and the skills list includes "Listen responsively to stories and other text read aloud" and "Use vocabulary to describe clearly feelings, ideas, and experiences," supporting oral expression and use of visuals. The center-of-gravity mobile and shape-construction activities require students to create and arrange visual elements to communicate balance and ideas.
Final Project
A Wordless Skit
Students plan and make large labeled cards to wear as visual cues (Balance, Push, Pull, Gravity, Friction) and select props and a costume to communicate ideas nonverbally. Students are directed to create a program and invitations for the performance, which are visual displays for the audience. Students are given the option to videotape the pantomime and play it for friends and family, providing a recorded version of the performance.
3: Culture
Unit 1: Geography
Lesson 1
Using Maps and Globes
Students are asked in Option 2 of 'Where in the World Am I?' to fill in location prompts and draw a picture that represents their location. Activity 9 directs students to draw and label a large outline map of their state, including symbols, bodies of water, cities, and buildings. Activity 5 asks students to write a paragraph pretending to take a trip to a Texas location, and Activity 1 has students read The Armadillo from Amarillo aloud and listen to a reread.
Lesson 3
Landforms and Bodies of Water
Students create two posters (Activity 4) in which they draw landform map symbols, print or draw detailed pictures of landforms and bodies of water, and write a sentence about how people are affected by them. Students draw a picture of something they would most like to do at a landform and something they would most like to do near a body of water, then dictate a description of what is happening in their drawing (Activity 5). Students make clay models of landforms (Activity 3) and look at pictures as they create models, using visual representations to support their explanations.
Lesson 4
Natural Resources
Students draw, color, cut and glue pictures to show connections between natural resources and products (Activity 1). Students create a poster-map by placing materials (popcorn, cotton balls, orange peel, etc.), label a map key, and title their map (Activity 2). Students use the "Researching Resources" sheet to record information and to illustrate the resource and its products, and students talk about resources during a community field trip (Activity 3 and 5).
Lesson 5
Habitats and Geography
Students are instructed to draw a picture of an animal in its habitat and to write a poem about that animal (Activity 3), providing an explicit connection between visual work and a written poem. Multiple activities (Option 2, If I Lived...) direct students to draw animals/plants or themselves and glue those drawings with written sentences about habitats and resources. The Skills list includes "Record or dictate knowledge on topics (LA)," which is an explicit curricular skill listed alongside other language arts tasks.
Lesson 6
Geography, Weather and Natural Disasters
Students cut apart pictures of natural disasters and paste them onto a poster and then write three or four sentences that describe each disaster (Activity 3). Students read about disasters to find answers to their questions and identify subjects and verbs in the sentences they write. The Student Activity Page provides illustrations (floods, hurricanes, tornadoes) that prompt students to think about and write questions related to each disaster.
Lesson 8
People Change Geography
Students are asked to create visual items from recycled materials (Activity 3: Trash to Treasure) by making flowers, chicks, and vases from egg cartons and other materials. Students are directed to look on the Internet or in books to find pictures and descriptions of farms and then write a sentence about each crop/farm (Activity 2). The Student Activity Pages include illustrated worksheets (Farming and The Weight of Trash) that prompt students to label items and record information alongside pictures.
Final Project
Geography of a Continent
Students are asked to create a poster that includes drawings or printed images from the Internet and to write and record information about a continent, which provides practice making visual displays. Students who choose the presentation option must use at least three props and may dress in a costume to support their presentation and clarify ideas about the continent. Students are encouraged to practice and present the work to their family, using the poster or props as visual supports.
Unit 2: People Around the World
Lesson 1
Exploring Culture
Activity 4 asks students to interview a person from a different cultural background and states an adult can "record the interview and let her listen to it," giving students experience with audio recordings of a recount. Activity 3, "Looking at My Culture," directs students to "illustrate and write about" cultural elements, and the Student Activity Pages include spaces for drawings and written responses about jobs, holidays, food, clothing, and homes. The Interview and Looking at My Culture pages ask students to fill in answers and compare/contrast cultures, which involves producing spoken or written recounts paired with illustrations.
Lesson 2
Traditions
Students are asked to draw holiday symbols and write sentences about each holiday on the "Holidays" page and to illustrate and write about their "My Favorite Holiday," providing visual displays that accompany their recounts. Students create a Kwanzaa placemat and draw foods for Chinese New Year, producing visual artifacts that express cultural meanings. Students also build a maraca and play it with Spanish music, engaging in producing cultural sound and musical performance.
Lesson 3
Different Religions
Activity 4 asks students to write about their family's beliefs and includes a box at the bottom for an illustration, so students produce drawings to accompany their written recounts. The 'Religion in Holidays' matching activity directs students to use a different color for each holiday when drawing lines to link holidays, religions, and symbols, which requires students to add visual elements to clarify relationships.
Lesson 4
Homes and Culture
Students are asked to write a paragraph about a tradition in their home and to draw their family participating in that tradition (Activity 1), which adds a drawing to a written recount. Students draw their own home and list materials used (Activity 2) and are asked to record and graph materials of homes in the community (Activity 5), which involves creating visual displays. Students build a house with dolls and demonstrate how family members use rooms and act out a tradition (Activity 4), providing an oral dramatization of experiences.
Lesson 5
Transportation in Culture
Students draw and label vehicles on the "Need for Speed" sheet and then write a short recount about a time they rode one of the forms of transportation. Students draw transportation appropriate to different landforms on the "Landforms, Bodies of Water, and Transportation" sheet and draw or label resources carried by vehicles on the "Transportation & Trade" page. Students complete spelling sentences and illustrate them and write a "My Day as a _____" recount, selecting a transportation job and writing about a day doing that job.
Lesson 6
American Culture
Students are asked to draw and write about a personal symbol (Activity 1) and to write and illustrate information about American culture inside an outline map (Activity 4), which requires creating visual displays to support their ideas. The Life Application asks students to draw observations or take pictures during a community "culture hunt," and Activity 3 has students learn and sing American songs, practicing oral/performative expression of songs and poems.
Lesson 7
History of America
Students are asked to draw and label foods beneath food-group headings and cut and glue pictures onto a paper plate to show their family's Thanksgiving meal (Activity 5). Students create a Venn diagram comparing their life to a Pilgrim child's life and write about three ways culture has changed (Activity 8). Students build visual/physical items such as a model explorer's ship and color logs/trees in the Colonial Construction worksheet, producing concrete visual displays related to the historical content (Activities 2 and 7).
Lesson 8
Asian Culture
Students are asked to create a guidebook for Asia in which they write about topics and draw pictures to illustrate the information (Activity 2 and Introduction). Students make a panda mask and then share the information they recorded about the giant panda while acting out parts of the presentation (Activity 6). The skills list explicitly includes "Present dramatic interpretations of events and experiences," and students write a paragraph about what it would be like to live in Asia and respond to prompts that could be recounted orally (Activity 8).
Lesson 9
African Culture
Students are asked to draw pictures of an African child and themselves on a Venn diagram to compare similarities and differences (Activity 4). Students are instructed to draw an outline of the continent in the Guidebook to Africa (Activity 5). Students color the Map of Africa activity sheet so each nation is visually distinct (Activity 1). The Trying African Food page asks students to "record or draw" foods from the book and to list family members' reactions after a taste test (Activity 3).
Lesson 10
South American Culture
Students are asked to draw an outline of the continent on page 1 of the Guidebook to South America and to draw a South American animal in its habitat (Activity 6). Students decorate a soccer ball to reflect South America (Activity 5, Option 1) and are given a bottle cap tambourine craft to make and play (Activity 5, Option 2). Students also cut out and sequence events from the "An Amazon Journey" page, producing a visual-ordered recount of events (Activity 3).
Unit 3: Stories Around the World
Lesson 1
Fiction or Nonfiction
Students are instructed to 'illustrate the covers' and 'create a title and cover for one fiction and one nonfiction book of your own' in Activity 3, which requires them to produce drawings or visual displays tied to their stories. The 'Fiction Stories' activity has students write titles, authors, and a one-sentence description and explain why they liked or disliked each story, engaging them in recounting and responding to stories through writing and discussion. The skills list also notes that students will respond to stories and poems through art and music, indicating opportunities for visual responses.
Lesson 2
Character
Students are asked to draw a picture of the character after listening to a description (Activity 4) and then tell a story about the character, which involves oral recounting. Students role-play and speak as characters in Activity 5, responding to scenarios in character, and they create a Venn diagram to display similarities/differences between characters (Skills and Activity 5). The materials repeatedly prompt students to produce drawings and other visual displays (drawings, illustrations, Venn diagram) to clarify ideas about characters.
Lesson 3
Story Setting
Students draw and label settings and characters in multiple activities (Activity 2 'Creating a Setting' and the various 'Creating a Setting' worksheets). Students create a visual graph of the number of books in each setting category in Activity 1, organizing and displaying data visually. Students listen to a read-aloud with eyes closed (Activity 4) and then draw and label the "perfect setting," describing why their drawing fits the story and noting feelings evoked by setting in the Introduction.
Lesson 4
Plot
In Activity 5 students are asked to tell a story, and the instructor is told to "Record the story as your child dictates it," then read it back and let the child read the story aloud. The activity also directs the student to "draw a picture of the characters and setting" for the story. Several graphic organizers (Creating the Plot of a Story; Writing Events in a Story) guide students to produce a finished story and accompanying illustration.
Lesson 5
Folktales and Fairy Tales
Students are invited to attempt to read the story aloud and to take turns telling different parts of Cinderella, practicing oral storytelling and speaking. Students arrange sentence strips to sequence events and write and draw animal names and pictures, producing visual representations of story elements. Students complete Folktales and Culture sheets and are told they can illustrate or describe each example, engaging them in adding drawings or visual displays related to the stories.
Lesson 7
Theme
Activity 4 directs that as the child dictates her story, an adult should record it for her and then have her read it aloud and revise it, which has students creating an audio recording of their story. Activity 2 asks the child to illustrate one of the fables on a separate piece of paper or to act the story out with stuffed animals or figures, giving students opportunities to add drawings or other visual displays. Activity 4 also has students share their recorded story with the family, reinforcing the production and use of an audio recording.
Lesson 8
Myths and Legends
Students create visual elements and perform dramatizations: Activity 2 asks students to make rabbit ears, a weasel tail, and a tissue-paper fire and to practice and perform a skit. Students chart routes and color states on a U.S. map in Activity 4, drawing lines to show Paul Bunyan's journey. The student activity pages include illustrations (a rabbit and a fire) and direct students to retell folktales and present dramatic interpretations.
Lesson 9
Poetry
Students are asked to fill in "Life in America" charts using pictures and examples from the text and are given permission to write or draw the examples (Activity 2 and the Student Activity Pages). Students are prompted to sing and recite nursery rhymes (Activity 4) and to read poems aloud with the adult, providing oral performance practice. Students write their own month poem (Activity 3), producing a written poem that could be paired with visuals.
Final Project
A New Cinderella
Students plan and write a Cinderella story using a draft and final copy, and are instructed to "sketch illustrations" on the draft and "draw art on the front cover." Students paste text on the left side of book pages and "draw or paste her illustrations to accompany the text on the right side," providing multiple opportunities to add visual displays. Students are asked to read the book aloud to family and friends, practicing oral presentation of their story.
4: Relationships
Unit 1: Living Things and Their Environment
Lesson 2
Heredity Lab
Students build and color Generation 1 creatures and then color Generation 2 and Generation 3 offspring on the "Generations of Species" activity page, producing visual representations of traits. Students choose parental traits to create offspring and then discuss the traits of each generation, speaking about how traits changed across generations. Students are asked to use spelling words in an oral sentence and to answer wrap-up questions about what they learned, demonstrating oral recounting of their investigation.
Lesson 3
Sun, Moon, and Stars
Students are asked to draw examples of three animals or plants that depend on hot and cold habitats (Activity 2), trace and shade moons to show new, crescent, quarter, and full phases (Activity 4), and color, label, and describe temperatures of three different stars on the "Stars" activity page (Activity 5). The spelling activity directs students to write each spelling word in a box and draw a picture to represent the word, and several student pages require coloring or connecting-the-dots to create constellation visuals.
Lesson 4
Seasons and Living Things
Students listen to Bear Snores On and then cut out and place illustrated animals in the order they entered the cave, creating a visual sequence tied to a story. Students label the seasons on the "Seasons on Earth" page and construct a Four Seasons Tree craft, producing drawings or visual displays that represent and clarify seasonal ideas. The Student Activity Pages and orbit diagram prompt students to produce and use visual representations (diagrams, labels, crafts) to explain concepts about seasons.
Final Project
Investigating the Environment
Students take photographs of the habitat and are instructed to print, cut, paste, and organize those pictures on activity pages. Students draw pictures, complete a 'Food Chain' graphic organizer, and create a 'Life Cycle and Genetics' diagram, using drawings and photos to represent observations. Students share and explain their observations, investigations, and research to their family as a final presentation.
Unit 2: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Lesson 1
Relationships
Activity 2 asks the child to illustrate his favorite stuffed animal on the "Favorite Stuffed Animal" page and to write three sentences describing its personality. The Student Activity Page for that activity includes a large blank rectangular space specifically for drawing or attaching a picture. The vocabulary pages and activity pages include small thematic illustrations that students can reference when connecting images to text.
Lesson 2
Point of View
Students are asked to retell Pellegrina's tale in their own words and answer comprehension questions, providing practice in oral recounting. Students are instructed to acknowledge differences in points of view and to speak in different voices for characters when reading dialogue aloud, which practices expressive oral presentation. Students use a Venn diagram activity with visual elements (images and intersecting circles) to organize and clarify similarities and differences between characters.
Lesson 4
Pronouns
Students cut out a rabbit-head outline and write words or draw symbols in the center and on the ears to represent Edward's relationships with Abilene and with Nellie and Lawrence, using drawings to clarify ideas and feelings. Students are asked to look at and discuss the book's illustrations to understand characters and events, demonstrating use of visual displays to interpret story elements. Students listen to an audio recording of "Hush Little Baby," showing exposure to audio storytelling.
Lesson 5
Emotions
Students are asked to write a "Goodbye Note" as Edward to Lawrence and Nellie that must show emotions (not just list them) and then "color it and decorate it," which asks students to add visual elements to a personal recount. The activity describes the heart-shaped page with lines for writing and explicit instruction to decorate, and the reflexive-pronoun pages include small illustrations that students can use or color.
Lesson 6
Irregular Verbs
Students are asked to create a picture of the Big Dipper using black construction paper, chalk, and star stickers (directions list drawing dots, placing stickers, and connecting stars). The Student Activity Pages include illustrations and decorative images (truck, music notes, dog, table) that students interact with when completing the irregular verbs and constellation activities. The wrapping up activity asks students to say sentences using regular and irregular past-tense verbs, which involves oral production but not recording.
Lesson 7
Figurative Language
Students are asked in Option 1 to copy a favorite quote onto the Figurative Language activity sheet, circle the figurative language, and illustrate it in the large box. In Option 2 students write an original sentence containing figurative language, circle the figurative part, and draw an illustration for their sentence. The Student Activity Page provides a large drawing area specifically for adding a visual display tied to their written sentence.
Lesson 8
The Falling Star
Students cut out pictures of Edward, write a sentence for each preposition, illustrate the sentence, and place a cut-out of Edward in the correct position on the activity page (Activity 1). Students trace, cut out, write a wish in the center of a star, and decorate the star as a visual representation of their wish (Activity 2). The materials prompt students to draw objects mentioned in their sentences and to use the cut-outs and drawings as part of their responses.
Lesson 10
Illustrations
Students are asked to look through the book illustrations and retell the story using illustrations as a guide. Students can pick an unillustrated scene and create their own illustration and copy a quote beneath it (Illustrate a Scene). Students can pick a favorite illustration, record the accompanying quote, identify who/what/when/where, and explain why they selected it (Explain an Illustration).
Lesson 11
Building Sentences
Students are asked to copy the poem quote in their neatest handwriting on a large sheet of paper and to add illustrations or symbols that remind them of what the quote means, drawing either from the novel or their own life. The instructions tell students to hang the illustrated quote in their room to remind them of feelings and ideas from the poem and Edward's journey.
Final Project
Chalkboard Presentation
Students select a paragraph from the novel, practice reading it aloud, and record the reading on a phone, tablet, or other device (Part 2). Students add images and text to a slide presentation: they search for and insert images (stuffed rabbit, images for favorite part, images for favorite relationship), type titles, and dictate sentences that explain their opinions and reasons (Slides 1–3). Students practice and play back their audio recording as part of the family presentation, integrating the audio with their visual slides (Part 3 and Part 4).
Unit 3: Connecting with the Past
Lesson 1
Studying History
Students are asked to make a "Timeline of Your Life" and to "label and illustrate one historic event" for each year they have lived, which requires adding drawings to a personal recount. The unit asks students to create a book of famous Americans and famous landmarks and to assemble long timelines, providing multiple opportunities to produce visual displays. The lesson also explicitly notes that primary sources can include audio or video recordings, mentioning audio as a relevant historical source.
Lesson 2
Colonization and the Revolution
Students are asked to draw a picture to represent the time of the colonies and the American Revolution on the "Colonists and the American Revolution" page and to list two things we enjoy today because of the colonists. Students cut out leaves, write things they are thankful for, and glue them onto a large sheet to create a visual placemat for Thanksgiving. Students color the George Washington page and glue timeline labels and colony labels to a timeline, producing visual displays that accompany their recounting of historical events.
Lesson 3
Slavery and the Civil War
Students create and add drawings and visual displays: they add a picture and description to timelines for Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, and Civil War events; they draw on the "Slavery and the Civil War" page and complete a sentence about consequences; they assemble a cube with Henry's name and picture and fill faces with character traits. Students also glue a picture and accompanying description for the Lincoln Memorial page and complete pages in a "Famous Americans" book that include illustrations.
Lesson 4
Immigration
Students listen to recorded immigrant interviews from the Ellis Island Oral Histories link and are asked to describe what surprised them, identify a favorite recording, and retell one of the stories (Activity 1). Students create visual artifacts: they add dates, pictures, and descriptions to a timeline, complete a Statue of Liberty crown craft, and fill out the "Connecting with the Past" page where they draw a picture to represent the time in history and write about its impact (Activities 2, 3, and 4).
Lesson 5
Civil Rights
Students are asked to draw a picture to represent the Civil Rights era and write about how the country and their lives have been impacted on the "Civil Rights" page. Students fill out and color the "Famous Americans" pages for Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., which include illustrations alongside text. Students affix dates, descriptions, and associated images to a timeline for Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., adding visual displays to historical recounts.
Final Project
Preparing Projects
Students color and assemble a timeline and a "Famous Americans" book, including a cover where they write their name and add portraits. Students cut, glue, and arrange pages to create a "Connecting with the Past" poster with title and illustrated pages placed in chronological order. Students practice presenting the poster and invite family to view the exhibit, explaining how past events impact the present.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 3
Complex Consonants Review
Students color-code and highlight words in the "Sounds of C and G Story" page, using four colored pencils and a color key to mark hard/soft c and g in the story. Students cut out words on the "Ending with ng" pages and place and glue them into the correct rhyming-boxes, creating a visual organizer of rhyming groups. Students sort and display sight word cards (ABC order option) and place words face up to answer questions about digraphs/blends, providing visible arrangements of words for clarification.
Lesson 5
More R-Controlled Vowels
Students are asked to draw simple pictures next to homophone pairs (hare/hair, stare/stair) to show meaning, and the lesson invites the child to "draw an image next to these words" (sore/soar) and to illustrate sentences in the cloud-shaped boxes. During shared reading and Reader #5 (All About Storms), students read a story aloud to an adult and answer comprehension questions about the story. Multiple activities require students to create visual index-card pictures or illustrations tied to words and sentence meanings.
Lesson 12
Homophones
Students are asked to draw simple illustrations next to words to demonstrate meaning in multiple activities (for example, Activity 2.1, Activity 3.1, Activity 4.1, and Activity 4.2 where they draw pictures next to homophone words). Students read aloud in shared reading and read the reader The Knight and the Night Ride aloud to identify homophones (Activity 5.1), practicing oral presentation of text. Students also create visual displays of word pairs by gluing paired words onto construction paper and into a Word Collection folder (Activity 2.1 and others).
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 1
Compound Words
Students read the book A Color of His Own aloud and participate in shared reading where they speak the text. Students cut, color, and glue pictures and words to construction paper in several activities (e.g., Words with Light collage, Color the Chameleon, Chameleons on Leaves, Compound Word Puzzles). Students create visual displays such as coloring balloons and assembling word-image pairs to illustrate vocabulary and story elements.
Lesson 2
The Six Syllable Types
Students read and reread A Color of His Own and then label and color the animals on the "Animals and Colors" page (Activity 3.1), which has them produce visual representations that relate to the story. Students are instructed to place this week's activities into the Interactive Notebook, cut and glue word cards, and color or highlight parts of pages (several activities), demonstrating that they add drawings/visual displays tied to the text.
Lesson 4
Syllables with R-Controlled Vowels
Activity 4.1 (Personification) directs students to draw faces on the stones to reflect how the stones talk, which asks students to add a visual display tied to a story. Activity 3.1 provides a Plot Diagram graphic organizer for students to map problem, rising action, climax, falling action, and solution, which is an explicit visual representation of a recount/re-telling. Activity 3.1 also notes that students can dictate their answers and the parent can "record" them, providing a possible opportunity for capturing a student's spoken recount.
Lesson 5
Two-Syllable Words Ending in y
Students create visual products and displays: they color and label the "A Yellow Rose" page to show things that make them happy, and they complete the "Mouse Soup Recipe" page by writing ingredients from favorite stories into boxes that are part of a visual soup. Students also cut out and tape theme word cards around the house and complete labeling and coloring pages (Home labeling, Color by Sight Word), which require adding drawings/color to support word meaning and location.
Lesson 7
Contractions
Students draw pictures of Penny on the "Before and After" page and write three words describing how she felt before and after returning the marble (Activity 3.1). The "Theme" page and several student activity pages provide spaces for drawing and written responses about story events and feelings, and students are prompted to record and read their responses aloud.
Lesson 8
Two-Syllable Words with Silent e
Students are asked to give an oral summary of the story "Down the Hill" (Activity 4.1), practicing retelling the most important events in their own words. In Activity 3.1 students record descriptive words on each point of a snowflake to show how Frog and Toad (and they) feel about winter, creating a visual display of ideas and feelings. In Activity 5.1 students cut out and place theme word labels on a picture of a child dressed for winter, adding visual labels to clarify word-meaning connections.
Lesson 9
Vowel Teams
Students write three upcoming events on the "Just Around the Corner" page and illustrate the event they are most excited about, producing a drawing to accompany their written recount. Students create an ice-cream craft tied to the story "Ice Cream," tracing, coloring, and decorating a visual display that connects to story content and feelings. Students also read stories aloud (shared reading, retelling, and summary activities) so they practice oral presentation of stories and recounts.
Lesson 10
Consonant Teams
Students are asked to draw a picture of themselves in their favorite season and write a sentence about it (Activity 4.1), linking a drawing with a written recount. Multiple activities require students to read aloud—shared reading, answering comprehension questions aloud, and reading completed sentences on worksheets—so students practice oral presentation of stories and sentences. The Seasons page explicitly directs students to "draw a picture of herself in her favorite season" and to use a possessive in the written sentence, connecting drawing with personal recounting.
Lesson 12
Suffixes
Students are asked to tell a story aloud using the eight Party theme words (Day 2 Activity 2.1), and they are prompted to illustrate a before-and-after transformation on the "Magic Purple Pebble" page (Day 4 Activity 4.1). Several activities require students to draw or illustrate responses (the Magic Purple Pebble drawing frames) and to write sentences that describe ideas and feelings associated with their drawings.
Final Project
Write Your Own Story
Students plan and produce illustrations for their books: they are prompted to "think of illustrations," to draw on the right-hand page or paste drawings, and to provide illustrations for pages 3-6 and the cover (Activity 2.2, Day 4 Activity 4.2, Day 5 Activity 5.1 and 5.2). Students write final copy in a blank booklet and decorate the cover, indicating practice adding visual displays to their stories. The lesson also directs students to read their book aloud to the family at the end.