This lesson opens by introducing students to the Classroom Discussion Norms anchor chart. Students add to this anchor chart throughout the module to help them learn behaviors for successful classroom discussions.

In this lesson, the primary goal in reading The Dot is to ensure that students understand the important events in the text, as well as how Vashti's feelings change throughout the text.

In Work Time A, students complete another focused read-aloud of The Dot. In this session, they revisit key sections of the text to answer text-dependent questions that guide them to identify the central message. Students should be able to explain why the author wrote this story or what he wanted us to learn from it.

This lesson is the first in a series of six in which students engage in a close read-aloud of Off to Class. In this lesson, students are introduced to the idea of learning about a school in a new part of the world that has a problem to overcome. Students practice listening to the text for important details to write as notes in their Off to Class notebook.

This is the second of six close read-aloud sessions of Off to Class. In this session, students explore the solution to the problem the school faced and the benefits the school provides its community. Students continue listening for important details and practicing taking notes.

This is the third of six close read-aloud sessions of Off to Class. In this session, students read the first few paragraphs of "Out of the Rubble" and learn about the problem this community faces in sending students to school. Similar to Sessions 1 and 2, students continue listening for important details and practicing taking notes

This is the fourth of six close read-aloud sessions of Off to Class. In this session, students continue reading the section of text they began reading yesterday: "Out of the Rubble "(pages 18-19). Students learn about how this community solves its problem in sending students to school. They also continue listening for important details and practicing taking notes.

This lesson follows a similar pattern to Lessons 4-5. In Work Time A, students participate in Session 5 of the close read-aloud. Similar to Lessons 4-5, students listen closely to sections of the text read aloud and turn and talk to an elbow partner to discuss answers to text-dependent questions. Unlike Lessons 4-5, students' discussions in today's close reading session will serve as Part I of the Unit 2 Assessment and provide formative assessment data on their progress toward RI.2.1, RI.2.2, and L.2.4.

This lesson follows a similar pattern to Lessons 4-6. In Work Time A, students participate in Session 6 of the close read-aloud. Similar to Lessons 4-6, students listen closely to sections of the text read aloud and turn and talk to an elbow partner to discuss answers to text-dependent questions. As in Lesson 6, today's close reading session will serve as part of the Unit 2 Assessment and provide formative assessment data on students' progress toward RI.2.1, RI.2.2, and L.2.4.

This lesson begins the exploration of the similarities and differences between a student's school and the schools they read about. In this unit, students will reread two sections from Off to Class, as well as a new section, to develop skills around comparing and contrasting. In this unit, contrasting will often come first because it is easier for students to recognize differences. Materials will also be named with contrast first for consistency.
Unit 3 continues the studies from Unit 2 of schools around the world.

This lesson follows a similar pattern to Lesson 1. Students complete another focused read-aloud of a familiar section from Off to Class and then respond in writing to consider how the school in the text is similar to their own school.

This lesson follows a similar pattern to Lessons 1 and 2. Students participate in a focused read-aloud, then write in response to the reading, and then discuss their ideas using the Collaborative Conversations protocol.
In Work Time A, students listen to a new section of Off to School--"Schools That Go to Kids." This section explores a mobile bus in India that serves children who live in remote or faraway places in the city of Mumbai and have no other way of making it to school every day.

In this lesson, students research in small groups to learn more about one of the schools they have learned about in Lessons 1-3. Students will use photographs and videos of the school to collect new information and will pull from the public notes to collect existing information. Students will then use information to help them write their "The Most Important Thing about Schools" book for the performance task in Lessons 6-9.
This is the first lesson in which students are introduced to shared or independent research.

In this science-based unit, students explore the world of energy. In the first half of the unit students learn what energy is, the different ways that energy is transferred from place to place, and the ways energy can be converted from one type to another. In the second half of the unit students explore the pros and cons of different types of renewable and nonrenewable energy. After learning about the different types of energy, students will grapple with what the world’s energy future will look like if more renewable solutions aren’t found, particularly in their communities. Through a combination of reading and research, it is our hope that students begin to build a deeper understanding of energy and its influence on our lives.

This unit builds on to the informational reading skills and strategies developed in previous units. At this point in the year we assume that students are able to actively read and annotate informational texts in order to build understanding of a topic. Therefore, the focus of this unit is on refining students’ ability to use different strategies to comprehend denser scientific texts. In particular, students will continue working on determining the main idea, summarizing key details, explaining cause and effect, using text features to improve understanding, and explaining how an author uses text features to elaborate on key concepts and ideas.

With so many people getting their news from their social media newsfeed, how can they evaluate what is good and what might be fake? With the help of a Youtube video on the subject, student do some evaluating. This lesson is part of a media unit curated at our Digital Citizenship website, "Who Am I Online?"

What does it mean for a source to be credible? Why is it important to use these sources? How can you tell if a source is credible?

Evaluating has been called one of the six most important reading comprehension strategies. In this article, it is also considered as a strategy for analyzing and interpreting data. This professional development article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which integrates science education and literacy instruction for K-grade 5 teachers. Each issue examines one of the recognized essential principles of climate literacy and the climate sciences and one or more reading strategies for elementary teachers and their students.

In this unit students explore immigration by reading a series of narrative nonfiction and fiction texts that highlight the experiences of early and recent immigrants. In the first part of the unit students are pushed to notice and think about the different reasons people choose to leave their homes and settle in a new community or country. Students will then be pushed to think about the different memories, cultural traits, goods, ideas, languages, and skills that individuals and families bring with them when they move to a new place and how these characteristics enrich the community. While students are exposed to a wide variety of immigrant experiences over the course of the unit, not every experience or feeling about immigration is captured in this unit. Because many of our students are first- or second-generation immigrants, it is crucial to be sensitive to and respect the varying experiences and feelings of our students and families. It is our hope that this unit, in connection with others, will help students build sensitivity and empathy for varying cultures and experiences within the United States.

In this unit, students study the rovers Spirit and Opportunity and their remarkable missions to Mars. Through a combination of reading, analyzing images and photographs, and participating in engineering and design labs, students will begin to understand the complexity, preparation, and diligence involved in space missions. Students will grapple with why the engineering and design process, particularly continually planning, trying, and evaluating, is a crucial part of a successful mission. This unit also allows students to make connections between content learned in math and content learned in previous science units, solidifying the importance and value of STEM. It is our hope that this unit inspires students to explore engineering and STEM not only in space but in the world around them.

In this unit, students build their skills in consuming scientific and technical texts. Students will practice explaining the connection between two or more scientific ideas or concepts in a text. Additionally, students will be challenged to draw on and integrate information from two or more texts in order to describe a scientific idea, concept, or process in depth. This unit also continues the study of point of view and analyzing how the point of view influences what and how information is presented to a reader. The Mighty Mars Rover is written to captivate and engage a reader, while the NASA press releases are written to inform the public of the progress and findings of the Mars rover missions. Students will be challenged to compare and contrast the point of view of each text and the strategies each author uses based on the point of view and desired audience. Since this is the culminating unit of the course, all other informational standards will be spiraled throughout the unit.

In this unit students explore and experience the works of five award winning authors and illustrators; Grace Lin, Yuyi Morales, John Parra, Monica Brown and Jerry Pinkney. Students learn about each author or illustrator’s life and his or her inspiration for becoming an author and/or illustrator. Students will think critically and make connections between the author or illustrator’s life and the stories he or she writes or illustrates, and how each author’s unique personality is reflected in the words or pictures. By studying a wide variety of authors and illustrators, it is our hope that the foundations will be set for a life-long interest in reading and books. Author studies help students develop a deeper attachment to books while also noticing and identifying the many different ways in which authors write. It is also our hope that students will use the authors in this unit as writing mentors, mimicking the author’s style while also building confidence in their own writing and unique ideas. Another underlying focus of this unit is on helping students identify and explain why certain books win awards, and the types of awards that are given. In future units and grades students will read additional award winning stories written or illustrated by the different authors and illustrators from the unit.

In reading this unit builds on the first three units and assumes that students are inquisitive consumers of text, asking and answering questions while listening to and enjoying a story. Students will continue to work on retelling a story, including key details about setting, characters and major events. Students will also continue to be challenged to “read” the illustrations and think about how the illustrations help a reader better understand what is happening in the story. At the end of this unit, students should also be able to clearly articulate and define the role of the author and illustrator and why they are both important.

In writing students will continue to write daily in response to the text. At this point, students should be able to draw or write an answer that correctly answers the question. In this unit, students will be challenged to details to their writing to show a deeper understanding of the question. Over the course of the unit students will also write opinion pieces about which book by the author or illustrator was their favorite and why.