This unit helps to build a community of readers and writers, establish routines, and build foundational skills.

Students will understand: 

•  Over time, groups of living things develop and pass down certain features or traits that help them survive in their environments.
• An adaptation is an inherited feature or trait that helps a living thing survive where it lives.
• Different animals have different adaptations for survival depending on where they live, what they eat, and what they need protection from.

Students will be able to: 

•  Ask questions and create mental images. Reread to clarify or confirm understanding.
• Determine the main idea and recount key details. Describe compare-and-contrast relationships and connections in a text. Compare and contrast the most important points in two texts on the same topic. Refer explicitly to the text to draw inferences. Understand features of poetry.
• Use context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words.
• Write informative/explanatory essays based on text-based prompts.
• Form and use regular plural nouns and regular present tense verbs. Use abstract nouns. Ensure subject/verb agreement and form simple sentences.
• Practice fluency with short pauses. Study word patterns, including short vowels, long 'a' (VCe, ai, ay, a), long 'o' (VCe, oa, ow, o), and long 'u' (VCe, ue, ew, u).
• Engage effectively in whole-class and peer discussions. State, clarify, and support ideas in a constructive conversation.

Students will understand: 

•  Writers tell traditional tales including fables, tall tales, myths, and folktales; these tales carry important messages and lessons for readers.
• Every action has a consequence, and a story’s plot is shaped by the actions of its characters.
• Readers can learn from characters’ actions and their consequences.
• People who think about the consequences of their actions can make caring and constructive decisions.

Students will be able to: 

•  Draw inferences and make connections. Reread to clarify or confirm understanding, and read out loud to support comprehension.
• Recount story details and refer to parts of stories. Describe characters and explain how their actions contribute to events. Compare and contrast the plots of stories. Explain how illustrations contribute to a story. Analyze poetic structure and nonliteral language.
• Distinguish literal from nonliteral language, such as similes. Use context clues to determine the meaning of words and phrases.
• Write opinion essays based on text-based prompts.
• Use adjectives and adverbs correctly. Form and use irregular past-tense verbs and regular future tense verbs.
• Practice expression through characterization/feelings while reading. Study word patterns, including long 'e' (VCe, ea, ee, ey, y, ie, e), long 'i' (i_e, igh, y, ie, i), and compound words.
• Engage effectively in whole-class and peer discussions. State, clarify, and support ideas in a constructive conversation.

Students will understand: 

•  Participating in government gives people a voice in how their lives are governed.
• In a democracy, people have a civic duty to take part in government and contribute to their communities.
• Throughout history, people in the United States have protested unjust laws and worked with the government to gain rights and equal and fair treatment.
• There are many ways to participate in government, including: voting, proposing new laws, petitioning leaders, protesting inequality, and/or serving as a volunteer or worker.

Students will be able to: 

• Distinguish between important and unimportant information. Summarize and synthesize information. Read more slowly and think about the words. Reread to clarify or confirm understanding.
• Describe cause/effect relationships and connections in a text. Use information gained from graphic features and text. Describe sequential relationships and connections in a text. Determine the main idea and recount key details. Use text evidence to draw inferences. Compare and contrast the most important points in two texts on the same topic. Analyze nonliteral language in a poem.
• Use context clues to determine the meaning of words and phrases.
• Write informative/explanatory essays based on text-based prompts.
• Form and use irregular and regular past-tense verbs. Ensure pronoun-antecedent agreement.
• Practice inflection/intonation (pitch) and phrasing (units of meaning in complex sentences) while reading. Study word patterns, including r-controlled vowels (/är/, /ôr/), r-controlled vowels (-er, -ir, -ur), and closed syllable patterns.
• Engage effectively in whole-class and peer discussions. State, clarify, and support ideas in a constructive conversation.

Students will understand: 

•  The narrator and the characters in a story have different perspectives, or ways of looking at the story’s events.
• Authors can explore the same characters using different perspectives, settings, and literary genres.
• A play is a literary form with unique storytelling features.
• We can learn about ourselves—and others—by examining and respecting others’ perspectives.

Students will be able to: 

• Ask questions and create mental images. Read on to clarify or confirm understanding, and stop to think about the author’s purpose.
• Distinguish the reader’s point of view from that of the narrator or the characters. Describe how each part of a drama builds on the previous parts. Explain how illustrations contribute to a story. Compare and contrast stories with similar characters. Analyze point of view in a poem. Recount story details.
• Use context clues to determine the meaning of words and phrases. Distinguish literal from nonliteral language.
• Write narratives based on text-based prompts.
• Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs. Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.
• Practice expression through anticipation/mood and speed/pacing (slow) while reading. Study word patterns, including open syllable patterns, consonant -le syllable patterns, and vowel team syllable patterns.
• Engage effectively in whole-class and peer discussions. State, clarify, and support ideas in a constructive conversation.

Students will understand: 

•  Inventions and new technology are created to solve problems.
• Technology influences and changes how we live, work, communicate, play, and learn.
• Inventors learn from and build upon the works of other inventors.
• Technology can help connect people and cultures.

Students will be able to: 

•  Draw inferences and distinguish between important and unimportant information. Read out loud to support comprehension, and read more slowly while thinking about the words.
• Describe cause/effect relationships and connections in a text. Distinguish the reader’s point of view from that of the author. Use text features to locate information. Use information gained from illustrations and words (photographs). Compare and contrast the important points in two texts on the same topic. Analyze poetic structure. Explain how reasons support specific points an author makes in a text.
• Distinguish shades of meaning among related words (states of mind). Use context clues to determine the meaning of words and phrases.
• Write opinion essays based on text-based prompts.
• Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions to produce compound and complex sentences. Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences.
• Practice pausing at full stops and inflection/intonation (pitch) while reading. Study word patterns, including VCe syllable patterns, vowel-r syllable patterns, and inflectional endings (-ed, -ing).
• Engage effectively in whole-class and peer discussions. State, clarify, and support ideas in a constructive conversation.

Students will understand: 

•  Realistic fiction stories take place in real-life settings with believable characters and plots.
• Authors can approach similar themes in a variety of settings, with different plots and characters.
• Characters’ actions have consequences that impact the story.
• Readers can learn problem-solving and decision-making skills by thinking about characters’ actions and their consequences.

Students will be able to: 

• Make connections and summarize and synthesize information. Reread to clarify or confirm understanding, and read on to clarify or confirm understanding.
• Explain how characters’ actions influence story events. Determine the central message or lesson in a story. Compare and contrast themes in stories by the same author. Use dictionaries to determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases. Recount key story events. Distinguish the reader’s point of view from that of a character. Explain the author’s purpose and message in a poem.
• Use context clues to determine the meaning of words and phrases.
• Write narrative, informative/explanatory, and opinion responses to text-based prompts.
• Form and use irregular plural nouns. Choose between regular, comparative, and superlative adjectives or adverbs depending on what is to be modified. Recognize the difference between written and spoken English.
• Practice inflection/intonation (pitch) and dramatic expression while reading. Study word patterns, including irregular plurals, long and short "oo" sounds, and /ou/ as in "how" and "out."
• Engage effectively in whole-class and peer discussions. State, clarify, and support ideas in a constructive conversation.

Students will understand: 

• Communities are places where people live and work.
• Communities can be urban, suburban, or rural areas.
• Each community has its own unique and defining characteristics.
• History, culture, and geographical location impact communities and how they grow and change. 

Students will be able to: 

•  Apply metacognitive strategies. Stop and think about the author’s purpose. Read out loud to support comprehension.
• Distinguish the reader’s point of view from that of the author. Explain how characters’ actions contribute to events. Explain how a text’s illustrations contribute to the story. Use text features to locate information. Explain how reasons support specific points an author makes in a text. Compare and contrast key points in two texts on the same topic. Understand nonliteral language, such as metaphors.
• Use context clues to determine the meaning of words and phrases. Identify real-life connections between words and their uses.
• Write narratives based on text-based prompts.
• Review verb tenses (simple past, present, and future). Form and use possessives. Use commas and question marks in dialogue. Choose words and phrases for effect. Recognize and observe differences between the conventions of spoken and written Standard English.
• Confirm and correct word recognition and understanding. Practice varied speed/pacing while reading. Study word patterns, including suffixes (-er, -or), homophones, and variant vowels (/ô/).
• Engage effectively in whole-class and peer discussions. State, clarify, support, evaluate, and compare ideas in a constructive conversation.

Students will understand: 

• Weather can change from day to day or moment to moment.
• Scientists observe and record weather patterns over long periods of time to understand a region’s climate.
• Earth has different climate zones with distinct seasons and weather patterns.
• Weather and climate affect people’s lives.
• Scientists can use climate data and knowledge of weather patterns to predict the weather. 

Students will be able to: 

• Apply metacognitive strategies. Read more slowly and think about the words. Reread to clarify or confirm understanding.
• Determine the central message and recount story details. Distinguish the reader’s point of view from that of the narrator and characters. Use information gained from illustrations and words. Compare and contrast key points in two texts on the same topic. Describe cause/effect relationships and connections in a text. Analyze personification and imagery in a poem.
• Use context clues to determine the meaning of words and phrases. Distinguish literal from nonliteral language, focusing on metaphors.
• Conduct process writing for a research project.
• Use adjectives correctly. Ensure pronoun-antecedent agreement and subject-verb agreement.
• Practice inflection/intonation (volume) and confirm or correct word recognition and understanding while reading. Study word patterns, including hard and soft "c," hard and soft "g," and diphthongs.
• Engage effectively in whole-class and peer discussions. State, clarify, support, evaluate, and compare ideas in a constructive conversation. 

Students will understand: 

•  Economic resources include both time and money, and people are constantly making decisions about these resources.
• There are benefits and costs to the economic choices people and businesses make.
• Personal decisions influence how and why people spend their money.
• People and businesses interact as they make and sell different goods and services.
• Making goods and services requires people to have certain skills and knowledge.

Students will be able to: 

•  Apply metacognitive strategies. Read on to clarify or confirm understanding, and stop to think about the author’s purpose.
• Describe procedural relationships and connections in a text. Compare and contrast key details in two texts on the same topic. Recount story details. Explain how illustrations convey character. Determine the central message or lesson in a story. Use text features to locate information relevant to a topic. Analyze how stanzas build on earlier sections.
• Distinguish literal from nonliteral language. Use context clues to determine the meaning of words and phrases.
• Create a multimedia presentation.
• Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions to produce compound and complex sentences. Form and use regular and irregular verbs.
• Practice inflection/intonation (stress) and phrasing (units of meaning in complex sentences) while reading. Study word patterns, including suffixes (-able, -ful, -less) and prefixes (dis-, un-, pre-, re-).
• Engage effectively in whole-class and peer discussions. State, clarify, support, evaluate, and compare ideas in a constructive conversation.