First Grade - ELA
1: Environment
Unit 1: Habitats and Homes
Lesson 1
My Environment
Students label rooms and write the names of household places (Activity 2 Option 1 and Option 2) and practice vocabulary words such as bed and bath (Activity 4). In Option 2, students circle items that relate to meeting basic needs of water, food, or shelter, which asks them to group objects by their function. Activity 3 asks students to state how a room is used and why it is the most important room, prompting them to describe attributes and purposes of that place.
Lesson 2
What Is a Map?
Students are given an explicit definition: "A map is a picture that shows where places in the environment are located and how to find them," and adults are directed to "explain that a map is a type of picture...and that a map is drawn as if we are looking down on a place." Students are asked to answer and repeat location questions (country, state, town, address) with adult guidance and to label/map items (refrigerator, bathtub, bed, television) while sounding out words as they write. Handwriting practice includes the words "map," "mom," "home," and "house," reinforcing the target vocabulary with adult support.
Lesson 3
Guide to Animal Habitats
Students sort pictures into three labeled circles (INSECTS, ANIMALS, PLANTS) by cutting and pasting images, directly practicing categorization. Students draw and label three of each type in the advanced option, and may discuss that insects are a type of animal, showing hierarchical category work. The materials state the purpose is "to teach children to identify and sort by attributes or characteristics," and students identify plants, animals, and insects in habitat scenes during read-aloud activities.
Lesson 4
Animals Live and Grow
Students sort and label living things as "Plants" or "Animals" across multiple habitats in the Habitats of Living Things activity pages, providing direct practice with category classification. In the Plants Can.../Plants Are.../Plants Have... activity, students generate attributes and functions for the category "plants," recording multiple key attributes. In the Plant Art and plant-parts activity, students identify specific plant parts (seed, leaf, root, flower, stem) by matching foods to those parts, practicing attribute identification for particular items.
Lesson 5
Discovering Animal Habitats
Students sort and match animals into habitat categories (Activity 5 "Let's Create a Habitat" cut-and-paste and Option 2 drawing and labeling). Students group animals on a pictorial/bar graph by habitat (Activity 6) and answer questions about which habitat has most/fewest animals. Students are asked to identify and describe animals in pictured habitats and to label animals and their food and water sources (Activity 1, Activity 3), and to color animals by class (insects, mammals, reptiles/amphibians, fish, birds) in Option 2.
Lesson 6
Exploring Animal Habitats
The Facts and Definitions section explicitly defines zoologist as "a scientist who studies animals" and botanist as "a scientist who studies plants," which presents words by category with a key attribute. In Activity 1 students draw and label items in a habitat (plants, animals, insects, water, rocks), requiring them to name and categorize things they observe. Activity 2's fill-in prompts ("I am a ______. I live in the ______.") prompt students to name an animal and its habitat, connecting words to categories/contexts.
Lesson 7
Tools in My Environment
Students collect household items and decide which items are tools, directly identifying category membership during the scavenger hunt. Students answer targeted questions for each item—"What is the tool used for?" and "How does the tool work?"—which asks them to state key attributes. Students sort tools by attributes (used every day vs. once in a while; large/medium/small) and are asked to name and record tools when measuring them, reinforcing category labels and attribute-based distinctions.
Lesson 8
Animal Care
The lesson explicitly defines "domestic animals" as "animals that can live with and around people in homes or backyards," giving a category and a key attribute. Students are asked to draw a domestic animal and a nondomestic animal and to answer questions about what pets need and what habitat a salamander requires. Activity prompts (shoebox habitat, questions after The Salamander Room, and life-application prompts) require students to identify an animal's needs (water, food) and whether it belongs in a home or its natural habitat.
Lesson 9
Animal Designs
Students name animals and their habitats and read captions that describe how each animal moves (Activity 1), then circle and explain the body parts that help each animal move. In Activity 2 and Activity 3 students identify which animals do not belong in specific habitats and explain why, using sentence frames such as "A ______ can't live in the ______. A ______ lives in the _______." In Option 2 students write habitat names, think of animals that move in particular ways, and link those movements to body parts.
Lesson 10
Amazing Animals
The lesson includes an explicit definition under Facts and Definitions: "Camouflage is when an animal or insect's body color looks the same as the color as its environment." The Student Activity Page descriptions provide direct attribute information about specific animals (e.g., starfish regrow arms, snakes shed skin, lizards change color/detach tails, sharks grow new teeth). Activity prompts ask students to analyze each animal's changes (Activity 1) and to answer attribute-focused questions (Activity 2: "What can lizards do to hide themselves?" with the answer that some lizards change color).
Final Project
Animal Research / My Environment
Students select an animal and draw it and write its name (Page 1), locate where it lives on a world map (Page 2), and record what it eats and drinks (Page 3) and its habitat (Page 4). Students are prompted to list "Interesting Facts" about the animal and to label pictures, which requires identifying specific attributes (diet, habitat, location, physical or behavioral facts). The introduction discussion asks students to describe habitats and body designs (camouflage, regrowth, sweating) and to review what habitats provide (food, water, shelter), which elicits attribute-based descriptions.
Unit 2: Weather
Lesson 1
Reading the Skies
Students practice weather vocabulary by matching words to pictures (Activity 2) and by writing or dictating sentences that use each vocabulary word. The facts section explicitly states that "Rain, hail, sleet, and snow are all different types of precipitation," which names a category and gives examples. Students are asked to describe weather conditions, discuss seasons, and explain what to wear, providing opportunities to use vocabulary in context.
Lesson 2
Types of Precipitation
Students are given explicit definitions (e.g., "Precipitation is water falling from the sky in the form of rain, snow, hail, or sleet" and "sleet (a mixture of snow and rain)") that name categories and attributes. Students read and label the words for each type of precipitation and match those words to pictures (Option 1 & 2), practicing categorization. Students are asked to describe how rain forms (warm, damp air meets cooler air) and to describe what is happening in the sky, which asks them to state an attribute of rain.
Lesson 3
Measuring and Charting Weather
The lesson includes direct definitions such as "Temperature tells us how hot or cold something is," and "A thermometer measures the temperature of something," which present word meanings and functions. Activity 4 describes key attributes of cacti (needles instead of leaves, stores water) and asks the child to describe features of animals and habitats, giving students content-based attributes to reference. The rain gauge description explains its purpose (measures amount of rain), providing another example of a term defined by function/attribute.
Lesson 4
Simulating Weather
In Activity 1 students are asked to name three things that the wind can move and to go outside to identify things the wind is moving. The activity directs a discussion of what those things have in common (for example, being light in weight), prompting students to compare items by shared attributes.
Lesson 5
Fall
The lesson states "Winter, spring, summer, and fall are the seasons of the year" and "September, October, and November are fall months," which has students categorize 'fall' as a type of season and associate months with it. Activity 2 asks students to discuss that fall weather is cooler and sometimes windy and that leaves change color and fall off, prompting students to identify key attributes of fall. Activities ask students to write names of items they circled and use each word in a sentence and include handwriting practice with the words "fall" and "fun," giving opportunities to use words in context.
Lesson 6
Winter
Students are prompted to use winter vocabulary (cold, snow, freeze) in a dictated or self-written story (Activity 1) and to practice words wind and winter in handwriting (Activity 4). Students are asked to describe how winter differs from summer and to discuss attributes of winter (cooler weather, shorter days/nights, months of December–February) and the Earth's tilt as a cause (Activity 3 and Wrapping Up).
Lesson 7
Spring
The lesson asks the child to describe spring and provides explicit factual statements that define spring (e.g., "Spring follows winter," "March, April, and May are the months of spring," and descriptions of warmer weather and blooming flowers). The Skills list includes "Sort and classify objects by one attribute," and the Seed Sort activity has students color, cut, and plant seeds according to color, giving practice in classifying by an attribute. The Introduction prompts the child to answer questions about what spring is like, supporting guided verbal description of the season's category and attributes.
Lesson 8
Summer
The Facts and Definitions explicitly state that "Summer is the warmest season" and list June, July, and August as months of summer, which frames summer as a category (a season) with key attributes (warmth, specific months). Activity 3 has students place season names on a temperature continuum and complete sentences such as "_________ is the warmest season" and "_________ is the coldest season," requiring them to assign attributes to the category "season." The introduction and song prompt students to describe seasonal weather (e.g., "Spring is warm, and summer's hot"), reinforcing category-plus-attribute relationships for seasons.
Final Project
Weather Games
The lesson explicitly models a definition in Facts and Definitions: "A meteorologist is a scientist who studies the weather," which presents a category (scientist) plus an attribute (studies the weather). In Activity 2 (Weather Memory) students match seasonal words with pictures, linking word labels to characteristic images (e.g., winter with snow, summer with sun). In Activities 3 and 4 students observe and report features of weather (temperature, precipitation, clouds) and answer questions about appropriate dress, which has them identify attributes associated with weather and seasons.
Unit 3: Community
Lesson 1
On the Town
Students practice community vocabulary by reading words, matching words to pictures, and filling in sentence blanks in Activity 2. Students describe vocabulary words and use them in sentences through daily review and the Option 2 fill‑in‑the‑blank activity. Students write or dictate sentences about a new community place in Activity 3 and trace/write target words (e.g., park, people) in Activity 4, practicing word use in context.
Lesson 2
My Community Environment
Students label important places on a poster and write or dictate a brief description of how each place serves the community. Students discuss the purpose of each building on the community map and trace paths between them while the adult names the buildings. Students prepare and ask interview questions such as "Why would a person come here?" and "What are the people doing that work here?" to elicit attributes of each place.
Lesson 3
Jobs in the Community
Students are asked to name each community worker and say what the worker does (Activity 1 and Option 2), prompting them to describe job duties. Students observe a chosen worker and are asked to pay attention to whom the worker helps and to describe what they saw (Activity 3), which elicits key attributes of the job. Students write or dictate sentences about how each worker helps citizens (Activity 5) and complete prompts about how they could help in the 'When I Grow Up' page (Activity 4), providing practice in producing descriptive statements about roles.
Lesson 4
Goods and Services in the Community
The Facts and Definitions section explicitly defines "goods" as objects you can buy and use and "service" as something someone does to help someone in exchange for money. In the Introduction and Activity 1, students read names of buildings, goods, and services, and match each building to the goods or services it provides. In Wrapping Up and Life Application, students are asked to describe goods and services offered in the community and explain why people have jobs and what they do with the money they make, prompting descriptive category-and-attribute responses.
Lesson 5
Resources
Students sort pictured items into the categories "Natural" (from the earth) and "Manmade" (from people) in Activity 1 and on the student page, directly practicing grouping by category. In Activity 2 students count objects and mark each as N or M, reinforcing category labels and prompting attention to attributes that make an item natural or manmade. In Activity 3 students collect three natural and three manmade items and are asked to explain where each resource is found and how it is used, and to write a sentence about the resources, which requires stating attributes and category information.
Lesson 6
A Good Community Citizen
The lesson gives an explicit definition: "A citizen is a person who lives in a community," which states a category (person) and a key attribute (lives in a community). The introduction further tells students that good citizens "help others and take care of the community environment," presenting additional attributes. Activity 1 asks students to decide whether specific actions show good citizenship and to explain their decisions, and the skills list includes sorting and classifying objects, which requires grouping by category/attributes.
Lesson 7
A Citizen with Character
The lesson's Facts and Definitions explicitly define the target vocabulary: respect, responsibility, kindness, and honesty (for example, 'Respect means listening to people and treating people and things as if they are important'). The Introduction frames these words as types of 'character,' giving students a category for the words (good citizens have "character" meaning they are respectful, responsible, kind, and honest). Multiple activities ask students to explain what each word means, identify respectful/disrespectful behaviors, score kindness in pictured scenarios, and discuss honesty in stories, requiring students to articulate and apply key attributes of each word.
Lesson 8
Rules and Laws
The lesson gives explicit definitions: "A rule is direction for how to behave (what to do or not to do)" and "A law is a rule to be followed in the community," and explains that laws apply to everyone while homes may have different rules. Students sort specific statements (e.g., "Stop at a red light," "Make your bed," "Wear your seatbelt") into the categories Laws, Rules, or Both on the "Rule or Law" activity page. Students also generate and label rules for their home and explain why a given item is a rule or a law during discussion and ranking activities.
Lesson 9
Caring for Our Communities
Students are asked to identify the characteristics of a good community citizen (Questions to Explore) and answer specific questions about what Katy does to be a good citizen, which prompts listing attributes of a citizen. The Facts and Definitions line tells students that "Good citizens care for their communities and try to make them better places to live," providing an attribute to use. Activities (role-play of community helpers and handwriting practice of the words "citizen" and "care") have students use and discuss community-related vocabulary in context.
Final Project
I Can Make A Difference
The lesson includes an explicit definition: "A plan is where you record the steps you must take to carry out an idea or action." Unit questions and the introduction ask students to explain terms such as "What is a community?" and "What is a citizen?", which require students to produce definitions. The skills list asks students to "Use words that name and words that tell action," supporting some vocabulary work.
2: Similarities and Differences
Unit 1: Amazing Attributes
Lesson 1
Describe It
Students practice identifying and using attributes (color, size, shape, texture) across multiple activities (Guess What's in the Bag, Describing Words worksheet, and observation activities). Activity 2 has students state categories explicitly when comparing items (e.g., "These two objects are similar because they are both fruit"), and sample clues in Activity 1 include category/function phrases (e.g., "something that comes from a tree," "something you use in the bathtub"). The Describing Words activities require students to select or write adjectives that describe pictured items, reinforcing attribute identification.
Lesson 2
Animal Attributes
Students sort and classify animals by attributes in multiple activities (Body Coverings sorts animals into feathers, scales, fur, other; Animal Parts has students mark wings/fins/legs and write body parts that help animals move). Students identify living vs. nonliving items and are asked to describe how they know which items are living, and in Option 2 they write names of items in Living and Nonliving columns and add additional examples. Skills list explicitly includes developing vocabulary associated with properties and sorting/classifying objects by attributes.
Lesson 3
Size, Shape, and Color
The lesson lists explicit definitions for shapes (e.g., "A circle has no sides," "A square has four equal sides," "A triangle has three sides") that state a category (shape) and one or more key attributes. In Activity 2 students review the names and outlines of each shape, discuss those attribute statements, then walk around to find and draw real-world objects that match each shape. The Student Activity Page asks students to connect the shape name (category) with example objects, reinforcing naming and attributing properties of each shape.
Lesson 4
How Does It Feel?
The lesson explicitly teaches that a noun is a person, place, or thing and that adjectives describe nouns. Students are asked to select objects, describe their textures using adjective vocabulary (fluffy, sticky, gooey, wet, rough, soft, hard, cold), and match those texture words to pictures of objects (pillow, soap, juice box, brick). Students write or copy a sentence about an object's texture ("______ feels _________") and Option 2 asks them to record two descriptor words and invent a new describing word for each object.
Lesson 5
How Old?
Students are asked to sort pictures and objects according to properties (size, color, weight, height, length, texture) and to order people from oldest to youngest, which requires using attributes to classify items. The text defines age, height, and weight in simple terms (e.g., "Age describes how old something is," "height is how tall they are," "weight is how heavy they are"), and students investigate living vs. nonliving (trees) and add life-span cards for animals. Activities ask students to identify what they look at to determine a person's or tree's age and to match numerical ages to pictures, practicing use of attributes to describe and sort.
Lesson 6
The Measure of Things
The lesson explicitly defines key vocabulary: "Weight is the measure of how heavy something is," "Length is the measure of how long something is," and "Capacity is the measure of the maximum amount something can hold." Students practice using these words in context by estimating and measuring items, filling in comparison sentences (e.g., "The ___ is longer than the ___"), and explaining differences between length, weight, and capacity during the wrap-up. Activities also prompt students to describe similarities and differences of materials (milk, water, sugar), reinforcing attribute-based descriptions.
Lesson 7
More Attributes
Students sort attribute blocks by color, shape, size, and thickness (Activities 1 and 2), and they find items that match two attributes (e.g., "red and thick", "yellow triangles"). Students create Venn diagrams labeled with attribute or category words (e.g., "yellow" and "triangle", "Soft Parts" and "Hard Parts") and place items that belong to one circle, the other, or the overlap. Students use vocabulary associated with properties of materials (color, size, shape, texture) and compare attributes of objects throughout the activities.
Lesson 8
Amazing Attributes
The Facts and Definitions explicitly define key vocabulary: "A magnet is an object that attracts iron or steel," and sink/float/density are defined. Activity 1 asks students to predict, test, and then explain whether listed objects are magnetic, prompting students to state what a magnet is and what it means to be magnetic. Activity 2 has students sort objects into "sink" and "float," compare similarities among items in each category, and discuss density as the reason objects sink or float. The Skills list includes developing and using vocabulary and using descriptive words in speech and writing.
Lesson 9
Solids and Liquids
Students are asked to write the definitions: "Solid -- a solid is something that keeps its size and shape" and "Liquid -- a liquid can be poured and takes the shape of the container it is in" on the Student Activity Page. Students sort and paste pictures from magazines or the provided activity page into columns labeled "Liquid" and "Solid," generating examples for each category. Students examine ice, water, sugar, and snacks and describe attributes (e.g., "can be poured," "individual grains keep their shape," melting/freezing caused by heat/cold) to justify category placement.
Lesson 10
Earth Materials: Rocks, Soil, and Water
Students create an Earth Materials book in which they write 'Properties of Dirt', 'Properties of Rocks', and 'Properties of Water' and list descriptive attributes (e.g., fine, gritty, sticky; magnetic, smooth, heavy; liquid, solid). Students arrange and label categories on the book spreads by showing the three soil types (sand, silt, clay) and the three rock types (igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic) and glue images/names to illustrate each category. Students use the glossary to view definitions of important words and are asked to identify the animals/terms in the text, reinforcing use of defined vocabulary.
Lesson 11
Using Earth Materials
The lesson asks the child to "describe the three Earth materials" and includes activities that prompt students to list and photograph examples of rocks, soils, and water (Activity 2 and Introduction). The Skills section tells students to "summarize the physical properties of Earth materials" and to understand that some soils "retain more water, nutrients and provide better structural support," which directs students to identify key attributes. Activity 3 asks students to discuss the properties of soil that make it good or not ideal for plant growth, prompting attribute-based descriptions tied to the category 'soil.'
Final Project
Presenting Attributes
Students generate and record a list of attributes (color, size, shape, texture, weight, length, magnetic or not, sink or floats, etc.) and use that vocabulary in conversation and writing. Students select at least five attributes and plan how to explain each attribute and how it can be used to find similarities and differences among objects. Students label items (e.g., "rough," "soft," "gritty") and create sentences on a poster or in a demonstration to describe those attributes. Students practice presenting their descriptions and explanations to a family or small group.
Unit 2: Senses
Lesson 1
My Five Senses
Students sort pictured objects/words onto Senses Webs, placing items under the appropriate sense (see, smell, hear, taste, touch). Students describe objects' attributes by using their senses (e.g., explaining how an object looks, smells, tastes, sounds, or feels) and identify the body part used for each sense (eye, nose, ear, tongue, finger). The Senses Word List pairs sensory organs with senses and students copy and read those words, and Option 2 asks students to brainstorm objects associated primarily with each sense.
Lesson 2
Senses and Body Parts
The lesson explicitly tells students that "the parts of our bodies that help us use our senses are called sense organs," and lists that we "smell with our noses, see with our eyes, hear with our ears, taste with our tongues, and feel with our skin." Students are asked to point to and glue specific body parts when a character in the story uses a sense, and to point to the sense organ they would use in given situations. Matching and handwriting activities require students to identify and trace words and pictures of sense organs.
Lesson 3
Smelling and Tasting
Students label four columns sweet, bitter, sour, and salty and sort or record foods into those categories (Activity 3). Students sample foods and identify whether they are salty, sweet, bitter, or sour, recording those attribute judgments on a survey chart (Activity 2 and the Student Activity Page). Students record choices and survey results and write a sentence about how many people liked each flavor (Activity 2 and Activity 4).
Lesson 4
Hearing and Seeing
Students hear explicit definitions such as "A person who can't see is blind" and "A person who can't hear is deaf." Students label parts of the eye and ear (retina, pupil, cornea, iris, lens, optic nerve; eardrum, hammer, cochlea, auditory nerve, etc.) and read descriptions that state functions (e.g., "The cornea is a clear, thin, film-like layer that protects the eye," and the lens "focuses the light"). Students cut out and place labels on diagrams and describe how sensory organs and nerves work, linking each part to its role.
Lesson 5
Touch
Students select and apply descriptive adjectives to pictured objects in the "Touch It" activity, choosing words like "warm," "hard," or "wet" to describe nouns. Students complete a "Touch Chart" by checking boxes for attributes (Hot, Cold, Wet, Dry, Hard, Soft) and add and label their own objects, linking items to tactile properties. Students orally describe textures during Sensory Art and the blindfolded "Feel It!" game and practice writing sensory words (touch, taste) in the handwriting activity.
Lesson 6
Experimenting With Our Senses
Students are asked to describe what each drink tastes like before and after a blindfolded test and to record those descriptions, which practices using descriptive words. The plan asks students to read and copy the names of spices, scratch and sniff cards, identify which spice matches each card, and comment whether they like the smell or think it would taste good, which engages vocabulary about smells and tastes. Activity 3 asks students to name their favorite flavor, list foods that share that flavor, and tell a story about eating something with that flavor, which has students group foods by a shared flavor attribute.
Lesson 8
Writing About Our Senses
Students are taught that words that describe people, places, and things are called adjectives and are encouraged to use sensing words (e.g., red, smooth, crunchy) in speech and writing. In Activity 1 (Sensing Logic) students read or hear attribute clues (e.g., "I am small. I am brown. I have a flat tail.") and eliminate pictures until they identify the correct item (beaver). In Activities 2 and 3 students write or fill in sensory descriptors for popcorn and for a memorable event, using attributes for each of the five senses.
Unit 3: We're the Same, We're Different
Lesson 1
You're Special
The lesson defines the vocabulary word: "Unique is a word we can use to describe something that is different and special," and instructs students to review vocabulary daily and use words correctly in a sentence. Students trace and write the word "unique" in handwriting practice and are prompted to describe ways they are alike and different, and to explain what makes them unique. Students complete personal-response pages that require them to produce sentences and speak about their attributes (e.g., favorite color, what they are good at), providing opportunities to use the target word in context.
Lesson 2
Physical Characteristics
Students are asked to describe and name physical characteristics of people and pictures (e.g., describing hair color, number of eyes, shoe size) and to describe family members and the characters Susan (ladybug) and Casey (caterpillar). Students complete activities that require adding or drawing missing body parts and answering questions about similarities and differences, which elicits use of attribute language. Students write a sentence about a personal physical characteristic ("I have _________") and dictate/illustrate stories that note how characters differ physically.
Lesson 3
Different Personalities
The introduction models a categorical definition by stating "Personality is the way a person acts most of the time," which names the category (personality) and a key attribute (the way a person acts most of the time). Activity 1 directs students to explain what each vocabulary word means and asks an adult to provide an appropriate definition when needed, giving students opportunities to practice defining words. The handwriting page for the word "quiet" includes a picture and tracing practice that links the word to an attribute (silence/gesture), reinforcing word meaning through illustration.
Lesson 4
Interests and Hobbies
The lesson provides explicit definitions: "Hobbies are activities that people enjoy doing on a regular basis" and "Interests are the things that someone is curious to learn more about," which label a category and give a key attribute. Activity 1 asks students to write a few sentences that describe their hobby to someone unfamiliar with it, and the Hobby Survey asks "How would you describe your hobby?" prompting students to produce descriptive definitions. Activity 2 asks students to record an interest, answer focused questions about it, and teach others, giving repeated opportunities to state what an interest is and its attributes.
Lesson 5
Shapesville
In Activity 1 students identify the shape of each character, count the number of sides and angles, and describe physical characteristics such as color and eye color. In Activity 2 students select a shape that represents them and complete the "What Is Your Shape?" worksheet, naming the shape (category) and listing attributes (physical characteristic, personality trait, hobby, interest). In Activity 3 students assign shapes to family members and explain why each shape represents that person, reinforcing category naming plus one or more key attributes.
Lesson 6
Different Families
The lesson provides an explicit definition for responsibility: "Responsibility means doing the things you are supposed to do and doing them well," which models defining a word by describing its key attributes. In the Basic Needs activity, students label the categories Water, Food, Shelter, and Health and draw illustrations that represent attributes of each need. In the Families Around the World activities, students describe clothing, activities, and interactions and complete comparison sentences or a Venn diagram, which has them identify attributes that make families similar or different.
Lesson 7
Different Homes
Students identify and describe different types of homes from the book and name materials used to build them (stones, mud, wood). Students sort and assemble home puzzles and label each home with a country, showing that they group examples by type. Students use descriptive vocabulary and write a sentence about their home, and they practice comparative adjectives (big, bigger, biggest; tall, taller, tallest) that support noticing attributes.
Lesson 8
Different Holidays and Traditions
The lesson provides explicit definitions that follow the category-plus-attribute format: "A holiday is a special day that is celebrated by a culture," and "A tradition is a special practice or event...that happens in the same way at the same time." Students match traditions with holidays (Activity 1) and discuss why families celebrate particular holidays, which requires using the vocabulary and attributes in context. Students also write sentences about holidays and include a named month/date and a sentence describing the holiday in Activity 5, providing opportunities to express category and key attributes in writing.
Lesson 9
Different Modes of Transportation
Students are introduced to the category 'modes of transportation' with the statement that the ways people get from one place to another are called modes of transportation and a list of examples (cars, trucks, trains, planes, horses, boats, bicycles). In Activity 1 students identify and label pictures of different transportation words, practicing category membership. In Activity 2 students choose or write which mode of transportation fits particular scenarios, prompting consideration of attributes like distance and terrain. In Activity 3 students select a mode, draw themselves using it to an appropriate destination, and explain why that mode fits the trip.
Lesson 10
Wants and Needs
Students sort pictures and words into the categories "want" and "need" in Activity 1 and complete webs and a four-person survey in Activity 4 to group items. Students draw and label what a boy needs (water, shelter, food, clothing, education, love/care, health) in Activity 5 and discuss which needs are necessary for survival versus for healthy development. Students practice the word need and the letter N in Activity 6, reinforcing the vocabulary term.
Lesson 11
Being Part of a Group
Students sort attribute blocks by color and shape (yellow vs. blue, circles vs. triangles) and place illustrations of children into three circles by age, selecting which group gets labels 2, 6, and 14. Students are prompted to state which group has the most people, which groups have the same number, and characteristics like shortest or tallest. In Activity 2 students draw a group, complete sentences such as "One group I belong to is __," "The group does __," and "The members in the group are alike because __," and discuss the purpose and actions of community groups in Activity 3.
3: Patterns
Unit 1: Identifying and Creating Visual Patterns
Lesson 5
Making Color Patterns
Students make color patterns (caterpillars, necklaces) and are asked to describe the patterns they create, including writing color words or letters to represent sequences. Students practice using color vocabulary and are encouraged to describe patterns verbally (e.g., ABAB, AABB, ABC). The lesson's skills section explicitly lists comparing attributes of two objects and using words that describe color, size, and location, which students practice in the activities.
Lesson 6
Shapes and Patterns
Students are asked to name and describe shapes with attributes (e.g., saying, "The first shape is a small circle. The second shape is a small square...") and to label shapes as A, B, or C. Students compare sets of objects to identify what they have in common (Activity 5) and sort/describe patterned sequences by shape, size, or color (Activities 1, 2, and 4). Students practice writing the words shape, color, and size on handwriting paper, reinforcing category/attribute vocabulary.
Unit 2: Patterns in Sounds, Words, and Actions
Lesson 1
Word Patterns
Students copy or dictate the names of animals from the text and identify the habitat where each animal lives (Activity 4). Students cut out the animal names and sort them into groups according to habitats. As an extension, students can make habitat pictures and draw the animals in those pictures, reinforcing grouping by habitat.
Lesson 4
Sentence Patterns
The lesson explicitly teaches that naming words are words for people, places, and things and labels these as nouns, and it asks students to give examples of words that name people, places, and things. Multiple activities require students to list common nouns, pick nouns to complete sentences, circle nouns in sentences, and make up sentences using chosen nouns. Students also practice producing and copying sentences that begin with a noun and include an action, reinforcing the noun category.
Lesson 5
Story Patterns
The lesson explicitly tells students to "think of who will be in her story" and to "explain that we call the people or animals in a story the characters," which defines the term 'characters' by category. Activities ask students to identify and name story elements (beginning, middle, end) and to describe characters when planning and illustrating their own stories.
Final Project
Patterns Video
Students complete activity pages that begin with an explicit category prompt: "This is a _____ pattern," requiring them to name the category of the item they found or created. Students fill in "It is made of ____, ____, and ____" and sequence prompts "First comes..., Then..., Then..." to list key attributes and parts that define the pattern. Students practice orally describing each pattern and record a video in which they state where they found/made the pattern and explain the parts that create it.
Unit 3: Patterns in Your World
Lesson 1
Patterns in Nature
Students are asked to identify and describe the pattern in each picture (Activity 1), which requires them to name and describe visible attributes such as stripes, spots, or scales. In Activity 2 students cut out pattern samples and paste them on the appropriate animal, explicitly linking a pattern attribute to a specific animal (e.g., matching stripes to a zebra). In Activity 3 students draw 3–5 favorite patterns and label them, reinforcing observation and naming of patterns on plants and animals.
Lesson 2
Patterns of Growth
Students label plant parts using a word box (root, stem, leaf, petal) and identify initial letters when needed. Students record a plant's growth by drawing and writing sentences about how the plant is changing and discuss what plants need to live (dirt, water, sunlight). Students sequence and sort life-cycle stages for people, plants, and animals and discuss characteristics that make some life cycles (butterfly, frog) unique.
Lesson 3
Night and Day
The materials instruct an adult to explain that the Sun is "a big ball of fire that is very hot," the Moon is "a large rock," and the Earth is "a planet." Students are given a student activity page with pictures of the Sun, Moon, and Earth to label and boxes for notes. The listed skills include "Identify properties of objects (S)," which aligns with noting attributes of those celestial bodies.
Lesson 4
Daily Routines
The lesson provides an explicit definition of the target word: students encounter the statement that "A routine is something that we do in the same way over and over again" and discussion of routines as predictable patterns. Students describe and sequence their own routines in Activities 1–3 (cutting/gluing pictures into order, breaking a routine into four steps, and recording activities with times) and write or dictate a sentence about a routine in Activity 4. The student activity pages label actions (e.g., "get dressed," "brush teeth") that students use when describing their routines.
Lesson 5
Calendar Patterns
Students are given explicit facts stating numeric relationships (There are 12 months in a year; There are 7 days in a week; There are about 4 weeks in a month) and are asked to show these on a calendar. In Activity 2 students fill a chart labeled "Year =, Month =, Week =" and record numbers, number words, and tally marks that correspond to those time units. In Activities 5 and 6 students sort and write the names of the days and months, reinforcing the vocabulary for these time-related words.
Lesson 6
Seasonal Weather Patterns
Students sort months into seasons (Activity 1) and fill in missing season names on the student worksheet, which requires linking months (items) to the category of season. In Activity 3 students place weather words (cold, warm, cool, hot) beneath the season they describe and match month illustrations to seasons, connecting attributes (temperature words) to seasonal categories. The introduction and wrap-up prompt students to name seasons and describe the types of weather and activities associated with each season.
Lesson 7
Patterns at Home
Students are asked to name each shape and state the number of sides and angles on the "A Quilt Pattern" page, which requires identifying a category (shape) and its attributes (sides/angles). Students complete Shirt Patterns and other pattern-identification activities where they describe and categorize visual designs (checkerboard, circular, repeating). Students write or dictate a sentence that describes a pattern found in their closet, practicing use of category-based description.
Lesson 8
Symmetrical Patterns
Students fold letters and shapes to see whether the two halves line up and draw lines of symmetry, directly working with the attribute of 'lines of symmetry.' Students sort shapes into two groups (symmetrical and non-symmetrical) and count items in each group, practicing categorization based on the symmetry attribute. The handwriting activity prompts students to write a sentence about how many lines of symmetry a figure has, requiring them to state an attribute of a category of figures.
Lesson 11
Patterns in Graphs
Students sort and label chart entries by category when they color girls' names pink and boys' names blue and answer that there are two types of people (boys and girls). Students record and label objects as "Sink" or "Float" and write a sentence describing whether an object sank or floated, identifying an attribute of each object. Students identify and describe patterns (ABAB, AABB, ABC) and color repeated elements to show shared characteristics across items.
4: Change
Unit 1: Changes on Planet Earth
Lesson 2
What Changed?
Students are asked to distinguish physical changes from chemical changes and answer direct questions (e.g., "What do you call a change where something changes into something new? (A chemical change.)"). The lesson gives an explicit definition for location ("Location is where something can be found in the environment.") and explains attributes that distinguish chemical versus physical changes (chemical change: a brand new substance forms; physical change: same substance in a different form). In Activity 2 and the student page, students examine pairs of pictures and determine which attributes changed (weight, color, size, amount, location).
Lesson 3
Changing Position
The lesson provides explicit definitions that model category-plus-attribute phrasing (e.g., "A force is a push or pull," and "An index is a part of a book that tells you on what pages certain topics or keywords can be found"). Students perform hands-on activities that require sorting and classifying actions as pushes or pulls (Activity 2) and finding/balancing the center of gravity (Activity 6), which reinforce key attributes of those terms. Activity 1 has students locate the words "gravity" and "inertia" in the index and copy the sentences containing those words, exposing students to contextual uses of vocabulary.
Lesson 4
Changes in the Environment
Students name and describe types of weather (hot, cold, rainy, windy) and discuss how weather causes people to change activities (Activity 1). Students label and color each season and assemble/rotate a seasons wheel, demonstrating categorization of observations by season (Activity 2). Students classify specific changes as physical or chemical (water freezing/evaporating, pupa to butterfly, photosynthesis) and are asked to decide whether changes they illustrate are chemical or physical.
Lesson 6
Changes in the Sky
Students are asked to list adjectives and phrases describing the Sun and the Moon (Activity 1), prompting them to identify observable attributes such as "provides light" or "has craters." Students discuss that plants cannot grow without sunlight and that the Moon does not produce its own light but reflects the Sun, which highlights key attributes of each object. An adult prompts and records student responses, so students receive guidance and support while discussing word meanings and attributes.
Lesson 7
Living Things Change
Students are asked to explain what it means for something to be living versus nonliving and to list key attributes of living things (grow, need food, have babies, respond to their environment). Students practice naming needs (water, food, shelter, space, clothing) with hand signals, linking items to the category of living things. The term "camouflage" is introduced and students are asked to describe and color examples, with an explicit statement that "when an animal changes color to blend in... it is called camouflage," identifying a key attribute.
Lesson 8
Plants and Change
The lesson asks students to identify and list plant parts (root, stem, leaf, flower) and to describe what plants need to live (dirt, water, sunlight, air, space). Instructional prompts and activities ask students to label parts and explain the functions of each part (Activity 2: review parts and functions; videos that review parts/functions). The lesson also includes factual statements such as "Plants are living things that need energy and grow," which frames plants as a category with key attributes.
Lesson 9
Heat Causes Change
Students draw and label the three states of matter as "ice," "water," and "steam" on the activity page and place them on a cold-to-hot arrow, which has them categorize states by temperature. Students are asked to observe and explain how ice turns to water and water to steam, and to answer questions such as "What caused the candle to change?" and whether changes are physical or chemical. Students are prompted to write a sentence about an observation, and adults are directed to explain that ice is the same water in a different form and that wax melts (physical change) while a burning wick is a chemical change.
Lesson 10
Chemical Changes
Students are given explicit definitions that place phenomena into categories: 'Physical change is a change in size, shape, color, or state of matter' and 'Chemical change occurs when a new substance is formed.' Students sort six paired scenarios on an activity page (e.g., apple/chopped apple, cupcake batter/cupcake) into the categories chemical or physical. Students are prompted to explain how they made each decision and complete hands-on activities (eggs; baking soda and vinegar) that illustrate the key attributes of each category.
Lesson 11
People Change the Environment
Students are given explicit definitions for reducing (using less), reusing (using something more than once), and recycling (changing waste to reusable material). Students practice applying those definitions by sorting pictured items into a recycling bin or a trash can and by discussing which materials can and cannot be recycled. Students also describe illustrations of human actions and explain whether those actions change the environment positively, negatively, or neutrally, using the vocabulary in context.
Final Project
Mobile of Change
Students sort and record examples into labeled categories on the 'Changes' activity page (Animal Change, Plant Change, Physical Change, Chemical Change) with separate 'before' and 'after' boxes. Students complete additional graphic organizers that ask for changes in position, location, environment, and sky, and they create a mobile labeled 'CHANGES' that displays their categorized examples. The skills list and wrapping-up directions require students to use new vocabulary in speech and writing and to explain their mobile to family members.
Unit 2: Characters Change
Lesson 1
What's in a Name
Students are asked to look at a list of vocabulary words, guess meanings from context, and then match or glue the actual definitions on the "Chrysanthemum Vocabulary" page. The lesson highlights affixes by underlining "-less" in "priceless" and "-ful" in "dreadful," and asks students to learn that these endings mean "without" and "full of." The skills list also includes using frequently occurring affixes as a clue to meaning and demonstrating understanding of word relationships and nuances.
Lesson 2
Why Worry?
The lesson explicitly defines a conjunction: "A conjunction is a word that joins together words and ideas," and gives examples "and" and "but." Students combine pairs of short sentences into a single sentence using the conjunction "and" and practice combining sentences verbally using "but." Students are asked to identify and circle conjunctions on the Characters Change activity page and to use "and" and "but" in their own sentences during the wrap-up.
Lesson 4
Comparing Characters
The Facts and Definitions section explicitly defines key terms: it tells students that "A Venn diagram is a graphic you can use to compare and contrast two things," and that "A summary is a short description of a story that includes only the main points of the story." Introduction and activity instructions repeat these definitions by telling the child what a Venn diagram and a summary are and how to use them. The Cause and Effect section likewise defines "cause" and "effect" and gives example cause/effect pairs for students to match.
Final Project
My Own Story
Students are asked to decide whether characters will be people or animals, which requires identifying a category for each character. Students are instructed to illustrate each character and "write 3 traits to describe each one," which asks them to produce attributes. The 'Problem and Solution' activity asks "How would you describe the character at the beginning of the story?" and "How does the character change from the beginning to the end of the story?" prompting descriptive language about character attributes.
Unit 3: A First Look at History - Change Over Time
Lesson 2
Understanding Time
The lesson provides explicit definitions for temporal words: "The past is time that has gone by or what has happened before," "The present time is happening right now," and "The future is what will happen at a later time." Students are prompted to classify events by those categories (e.g., "Were you born in the past, present, or future?", "Did dinosaurs live in the past, present, or future?") and to explain differences between past, present, and future. Activities require students to record dates for yesterday/today/tomorrow, complete "Yesterday/Today/Tomorrow" writing/drawing boxes, and cut and order units of time from shortest to longest, reinforcing category membership and key attributes (e.g., relative length).
Lesson 3
Communities Change
Students are given an explicit definition of "artifacts" ("discovered objects that people used in the past") and are asked to identify, draw, and discuss artifacts (Activity 6). In Activity 3 students sort pictures of transportation, homes, and clothing into categories (canoe/wagon/car; brick house/log cabin/teepee; dress/pants/leather clothing) and number communities in chronological order. In Activity 4 students circle animals from the story and order nature scenes, linking animals to a habitat (forest).
Lesson 4
Past and Present
The lesson provides an explicit definition: "History is the study of people and events that happened in the past," which models defining a term by category and attribute. In Activity 7 students are asked to dictate five clues about a time period, an exercise that has them name key attributes of a category (a time period). In Activities 3–5 and the comparison grids, students describe differences in clothing, homes, transportation, and list advantages/disadvantages, which requires identifying attributes of people and eras and placing them in categorical time-period boxes.
Lesson 5
Exploring the Past
Students sort information into explicit categories labeled Homes and Houses, Clothes and Fashion, Food and Eating, and Travel and Transport and complete corresponding activity pages. Students are asked to draw and write or dictate descriptions of information for each category across ancient Egypt, ancient Rome, and medieval Europe. Students write one sentence about each element of culture for a selected culture and assemble those sentences into a presentation book.
Lesson 6
Predicting Future Change
The lesson explicitly defines the words "positive" ("something is good") and "negative" ("something is not good"). Students are asked to label scenarios as positive or negative (mark with "P" or "N") and to record a sentence describing one positive change and one negative change. The skills list and activities prompt students to use new vocabulary in speech and writing and to write/copy a sentence about a change.
Lesson 7
People of the Past
The Facts and Definitions statement tells students that "Biographies are books about real people of the past who have done important things," which defines a category and key attribute. Activity 2 presents five historical figures with short descriptions that label each person (e.g., inventor, scientist, president, astronomer, leader) and state one or more defining attributes or actions. Activity 1 and the Wrapping Up prompts ask students to "describe this person" and to say "what a biography is," prompting students to produce category-based definitions and attribute-based descriptions.
6: Reading
Unit 1: Semester 1
Lesson 1
Letter Sounds Review I
Students hear and respond to brief definitions and category labels such as "mast is a tall post on a boat or ship that often holds a sail" and "sap flows in trees and other plants and delivers sugar and other nutrients throughout the tree." Students are asked to identify items by category in activities (e.g., name objects in the short-a video: apple, ant, ambulance) and to contrast categories when the teacher notes that "angry" is a feeling while the others are objects. In Guess My Word, students use an attribute question ("Where do I go on your body?") to identify "cap."
Lesson 2
Letter Sounds Review II
The lesson directs adults to define unfamiliar words for the child (Activity 4.2) and gives a concrete example: "explain that a 'bin' is something we put things in like a box." Activity 2.2 tells the adult to identify that the pictured "bug is actually an insect," which points to categorizing a word. Several activities ask the child to identify pictures and name the corresponding word, offering opportunities to hear brief definitions or labels.
Lesson 3
Letter Sounds Review III
Students sort pictures/words into short o and short u boxes (Activity 2.2) and place words into word-family columns (Activities 3.3 and 4.2), which requires them to categorize words by shared phonological/spelling attributes. Students are prompted to identify pictures and name words (many activities) and to have unknown words defined for them when they do not know meanings (Activity 3.2 and 4.2). Students answer comprehension questions about the reader The Bug (Activity 5.2), describing actions and wants of the character.
Lesson 6
Open Syllables and Digraph th
Students sort words into groups in the Weekly Message by identifying the 'an' word family (e.g., fan, man, pan, can). Students place words into left/right columns labeled open and closed syllables (e.g., he vs. hen) and answer questions about what letters the words end with and whether the vowel is "closed in" by consonants. Students sort pictures and words by initial sounds into t, h, and th columns and build/read words containing the digraph th.
Lesson 7
Consonant Digraphs ch, sh, wh, ph
The lesson includes explicit adult explanations of word meanings (for example, instructing the adult to explain that 'whim' means a sudden want and that 'chap' is another word for a boy who is a friend). The teacher directions ask the child to name pictures and read sight words, and to be told meanings of any words he doesn't yet know. Some vocabulary items are given short semantic glosses (e.g., 'chat' = a conversation or short talk) while students read and spell those words.
Lesson 9
Blends with l
Students are asked to spell words from short definitional clues (e.g., "the word that is something you put into the wall when you want to turn on a lamp (plug)," "the word for something you look at to tell time (clock)," and "the word for the darkest color (black)"). The teacher prompts students to explain meanings as needed during word-building activities and to explain the difference between "have" and "had," using time as a key attribute. Students also use sight words and word cards to create sentences, which requires them to use word meanings in context.
Lesson 10
Blends with r
Students are given clue-based prompts that link words to meanings (e.g., "Spell the word for something you might do if you hurt yourself (cry)", "Spell the word for the outside part of bread or the outer edge of pizza (crust)", and "Spell the word for a place you might run a race (track)"). Several activities instruct an adult to "explain the meanings of words" as needed and include wrapping-up riddles that describe words by their sounds and meanings (e.g., clues for crush, drip, truck, brush). Students also answer questions that require selecting words from descriptions or matching words to brief definitions during word-building and dictation tasks.
Lesson 11
Ending Blends
Students sort words and pictures by their ending blends (nd, mp, lf, nt) in Activity 3.2, cutting out pictures and placing them in columns labeled by blend. In Day 2 and Day 3 activities, students read words, underline the target ending blend (sk, sp, st, nd, mp, lf, nt), and say the component sounds separately and together. In Activity 3.3, students point to sight words that meet given attribute-based categories (e.g., 'A word that begins with a blend', 'Words that have digraphs', 'Words that refer to more than one', 'Words that rhyme with "moo"').
Lesson 12
Double ll, ss, ff, zz (FLOSS)
Students are given attribute-based descriptions as clues and asked to identify or spell the matching word (e.g., "the word for something in the ground that holds water and that you don't want to fall into (well)"). Students are presented with short definitions or role descriptions (e.g., "someone who's in charge at work (boss)") and use those attributes to select or spell words. Students hear explicit explanations contrasting present and past verbs ("are" vs. "were") and answer comprehension questions about categories in a reader (identifying insects as bees and ants).
Lesson 14
Three-Letter Beginning Blends
Students are asked to "explain word meanings as needed" in multiple activities (Activity 3.2, Activity 4.2) and to make sure they know what each picture is showing when completing Fill in the Blanks (Activity 4.1). Students are asked to spell a word from a provided meaning (e.g., "Spell the word that means to something smaller in size (shrink)"). Students answer comprehension questions about story actions (e.g., what kids do at the pond), which requires identifying verbs and meanings in context.
Lesson 15
More Ending Blends
Students are given brief word definitions and explanations: Activity 2.1 labels "pact" as "an agreement" and explains "wept" means "cried." The sight-word activity explicitly explains "an" is like "a," that both mean one, and that "an" comes before words beginning with a vowel sound. The activities repeatedly ask students to read words and to hear/identify meanings as the teacher "explains the words as needed."
Lesson 17
Semester Review
In Activity 1.2 students are given short descriptions (for example, "a man who might rule a country," "somewhere you might skate in a circle," "liquid you pour over cereal") and are asked to spell the corresponding words (king, rink, milk, barn). In Activity 4.1 students are asked to point to or name characters and to talk about the different things the characters do, prompting them to describe actions or attributes. In Activity 5.2 students group rhyming words and are instructed to "explain the meaning of words as needed," requiring occasional discussion of word meanings.
Unit 2: Semester 2
Lesson 1
Long Vowels a and i with Silent e
In Activity 1.3 students are asked to pronounce and explain the words "there" and "their," with explicit prompts that "there" refers to a place and "their" shows possession. The lesson also prompts students to "explain the meanings of words" during word-building activities and asks them to state what it means when a word has a silent e (that the final e has no sound). These items show some direct attention to word meaning and defining words by functional attributes.
Lesson 3
Hard and Soft c and g
Students sort words into labeled categories (Hard c, Soft c, Hard g, Soft g) and write labels such as "hard c /k/" and "soft c /s/" above columns. Students highlight the letter after each c or g and are asked explicitly to notice and state that c and g are hard when followed by a, o, u or a consonant and soft when followed by e, i, or y. Students are asked to explain how they know the pronunciation for specific words (e.g., race vs. care, jag vs. gag) and to place words into categories on sorting and writing pages.
Lesson 4
More R-Controlled Vowels (er, ir, or, ur)
Students are asked to name pictures from contextual clues (e.g., "This is a vegetable that you eat on a cob. What is this word?") and to fill in blanks for pictured items (barn, fern, worm, fork, shirt). The teacher is instructed to "Explain the meanings of the words as needed" and to define at least one word explicitly (explaining that a "farce" is a funny play). Students also practice using sight words in sentences during the wrap-up.
Lesson 6
Long e Spellings ee, ey, ea
Students are given explicit meanings for homophones when asked to read and compare "see" and "sea," with the text stating "'See' means to look at or note with your eyes. 'Sea' is another word for 'ocean.'" Students are also prompted to identify a word from descriptive clues (e.g., "Spell the color that you get when you combine yellow and blue…it's also the color that means go (green)"), requiring them to use attributes to select a word. Additionally, students name pictured items (bean, beach, meal, bead) before writing the corresponding ea words, linking words to pictured referents.
Lesson 7
Long i Spellings y, igh, ie
Students sort and group words by their long vowel sounds (Activity 2.1) and place sight-word cards into vowel-sound categories (/ā/, /ē/, /ī/, /ō/, /ū/). Students cut, sort, and glue words into columns labeled i_e, y, igh, and ie, and are asked to note where each spelling appears (e.g., y comes at the end; igh and ie can be in the middle or end) (Activity 4.2). Students are asked to explain which letters make the long i sound in given words and to explain aloud the different ways to spell long i and provide examples (Day 4; Life Application).
Lesson 10
Other Long Vowel Patterns
Students are asked to match words to brief definitions and attributes (e.g., "Spell the word that is the opposite of hot (cold)"; "Spell the word to describe when someone can't see (blind)"). An adult provides explicit meanings for some words (e.g., "'Mild' means gentle or calm") and the lesson repeatedly prompts students to "explain word meanings as needed." Students also use words in sentences and answer comprehension questions that require understanding word meanings (e.g., identifying why the colt is hard to find; how the man stops the colt from bolting).
Lesson 13
Other Vowel Sounds ou, ow
Students cut out and sort words into groups in Activity 2.1 and are asked to explain their groupings and reasoning. In Activity 2.2 and its sorting page students place words into three explicit categories (OW = ō, OW, OU) and are asked to read words aloud and note spelling/position patterns. In Activity 3.1 students highlight ou versus ow in words and identify key orthographic attributes (ending consonants t/d for ou; l/n for ow) to decide category placement.
Lesson 14
Other Vowel Sounds aw, au
Students sort word lists into groups and are asked to explain their groupings (Activity 2.1), noting that the grouped words share the short o sound. Students place words into the three-column organizer labeled aw, au, and o and are asked to read each word, examine spelling, and justify placement (Activity 2.2). Students highlight aw and au in words, answer questions about where aw and au occur in words and how many letters follow them, and spell words using letter cards (Activities 3.1, 4.1).
Lesson 16
Silent Starts: kn, wr, gn
Students are given explicit meanings for several target words (Activity 1.2 defines gnat as "a small fly," gnaw as "to chew," gnu as "a large animal…similar to an antelope," and gnash as "to grind one's teeth"). Students sort words into groups by vowel sound and into columns by their silent beginning letters (gn, kn, wr) in Activity 4.1, which asks them to read the words and name the vowel sounds. Students compare words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings (Activity 3.3 asks them to write and contrast no/know and right/write).