This is a review lesson of fiction vs. nonfiction. Before completing this activity, students should have prior knowledge of these genres and be able to identify them according to their characteristics.

In this unit students begin to explore the concepts of fairness and justice. Over the course of the unit students are exposed to numerous ordinary people who worked together to overcome injustice and fight for a better future for others. Students will grapple with what it means if something is fair and just, particularly in regard to race, class, gender, and ability. Then students will be challenged to think about the different ways in which people showed courage, patience, and perseverance in order to challenge things that were fundamentally unfair. Over the course of the unit it is our hope that students are able to acknowledge and realize that things aren't always fair in the world around them, but that doesn't mean that it always has to be that way. It is our hope that students see that identifying the problem is only the first step and that anyone who has the right mindset and beliefs can inspire others to work together to create a more just future for everyone. Essentially, we hope that this unit begins to plant the seed within our students that they can be activists and take charge of their own lives and communities. No one is too young to inspire change. It is important to note that this unit primarily focuses on big-scale changes. Additional projects and lessons should be added to help students understand how what they learned connects to change on a smaller scale.

In reading, students will continue to work on developing their informational reading strategies, particularly when reading a collection of narrative nonfiction texts. The focus of this unit is on reinforcing and practicing targeted informational strategies in the context of a narrative structure. In particular, students will be pushed to describe the connection between individuals, events, and pieces of information. Students will also be challenged to think about the reasons an author gives to support a point and how those reasons look slightly different in a narrative informational text than in a scientific or history-based informational text.

In writing, students will continue to work on writing responses to the text that provide relevant and accurate information along with some evidence of inferential or critical thinking.

In this unit students study the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of the youth and children who experienced the struggles, hardships, victories, defeats, and possibilities firsthand. Students will be challenged to analyze the key characteristics shared by children who participated in the Civil Rights Movement, particularly their courage, commitment, bravery, and unending commitment to fighting for the cause. Over the course of the unit students will realize that through community organizing and a strong desire for justice, regular people, especially youth, were able to come together to use a variety of nonviolent tactics to fight for change, even when faced with resistance, oppression, and violence on a daily basis. The stories and experiences in the unit will highlight that the Civil Rights Movement was driven by the heroism of regular people and that anyone can participate in the fight against injustice. It is our hope that this unit, in conjunction with other units from the sequence, will empower students to notice and challenge the injustices, relying on their knowledge of history and the lessons they've learned from those who have fought before them.

In this unit students refine their skills as critical consumers of texts by analyzing the point of view from which a text is written and noticing how the point of view influences what and how information is presented to a reader. Students will read multiple accounts of the same topic or event and be challenged to notice the similarities and differences in the points of view they represent and how the author uses evidence and reasons to support a particular point of view. Photographs are an important part of the texts in the unit. Students will be pushed to analyze photographs as a source of information to support an author's point. Students will also continue to practice determining one or more main ideas of a text and explaining how they are supported by key details, summarizing a text, and explaining the relationship between one or more events or individuals in a historical text. Over the course of the unit students will also be required to access information from multiple sources in order to integrate information and draw conclusions about an event or topic.

This video is part of the Continue to Know with WHRO TV series. Watch Kelly Sowden teach about figurative language.

Figurative Language SortDirections: Students will work in teacher-assigned pairs to sort statements containing examples of figurative language into the correct columns. Statements will need to be cut apart and placed in envelopes before giving them to students. Students will work collaboratively to sort the statements into the correct column.    

Figurative Language SortDirections: Students will work in teacher-assigned pairs to sort statements containing examples of figurative language into the correct columns. Statements will need to be cut apart and placed in envelopes before giving them to students. Students will work collaboratively to sort the statements into the correct column.    

This video is part of the Continue to Know with WHRO TV series. Watch Claire Verdillo teach about how to determine the main idea and supporting details of nonfiction text.

This video is part of the Continue to Know with WHRO TV series. Watch Chautauqua Hopson teach about the first-person and third-person point of view.

This unit continues the yearlong theme of what it means to be a good person in a community by pushing students to think about how the lessons and morals from traditional stories and folktales connect to their own lives and communities. The unit launches by listening to the book A Story, A Story, in which students see the power of storytelling not only for entertainment, but also for learning valuable life lessons. Over the course of the unit, students will explore lessons and morals about hard work, happiness, friendship, honesty, and humility. Through discussion and writing, students will be challenged to connect their own lives with the sometimes-abstract lessons and stories in order to build character and a strong community. It is our hope that this unit, in connection with other units in the sequence, will help students internalize the idea that we not only learn from our own experiences, but we also learn and grow by hearing the experiences of others.

In reading, this unit builds on the foundation set in unit 1. Students will continue to practice asking and answering questions about key details in partners, individually, and in discussion, although questions will require a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the text than in unit 1. Students will learn to use the text and illustrations to both identify the setting of a story and think about why the setting is important to the story. Students will also be pushed to deeply analyze characters traits, actions, and feelings and how those change and evolve over the course of the story. Once students have a deep understanding of the setting and character motivation, students will grapple with figuring out the lessons the characters learn and how they learn them. Finally, in this unit students will begin to notice the nuanced vocabulary authors use to help a reader visualize how a character is feeling or acting.

In writing, students will continue to write daily in response to the text. The focus of this unit is on ensuring that students are answering the question correctly and using correct details from the illustrations and text to support their answer.

Students will participate in a variety of activities to complete the experiment, and the student will produce written steps, notes, and results for each part of the experiment using the scientific method. For each part of the experiment, students will do the task two ways: sitting cross-legged on the floor to simulate what it would be like to be Kevin, and standing on a chair to simulate what it would be like to be Max** This performance assessment was developed by a collaborative team of teachers and division staff from Middlesex, Poquoson, and West Point school divisions.

mini-From the beginning of the novel study, students will focus on what it means to be a hero, and who acts heroically in the story. At the conclusion of the reading, they will use the evidence they have gathered throughout their reading to determine who the hero in the story is. They will use this evidence to produce a five-paragraph essay to support their claim.** This performance assessment was developed by a collaborative team of teachers and division staff from Middlesex, Poquoson, and West Point school divisions.

Written and illustrated with sensitivity and gentle humor, Free Phonetic Readers features short and long vowels. Stories introducing children from a variety of backgrounds along with their families, friends, pets and other critters introduce phonics to the beginning reader.

This lesson uses movement to help students learn their sight words.  This will increase fluency and build on reading comprehension.

This video is part of the Learn and Grow with WHRO TV series. Watch Mary Mathias teach about how to summarize.

Word study is the use of explicit instruction which encompasses both phonics and phonological awareness to instruct decoding and encoding. Third grade students are learning to decode and encode hard and soft ‘g’ and ‘c’. The Go Fish game is an enjoyable way to practice and contrast between Hard and Soft ‘g’ and ‘c’. The words and photos can help students develop vocabulary.

Word study is the use of explicit instruction which encompasses both phonics and phonological awareness to instruct decoding and encoding. Third grade students are learning to decode and encode short vowels. The Go Fish game is an enjoyable way to practice and contrast between long and short vowels, specifically short short ‘o’ and long ‘o’ (oCe). The words and photos can help students develop vocabulary.

Word study is the use of explicit instruction which encompasses both phonics and phonological awareness to instruct decoding and encoding. Third grade students are learning to decode and encode short vowels. The Go Fish game is an enjoyable way to practice and contrast between long and short vowels, specifically short a and aCe and short I and iCe. The words and photos can help students develop vocabulary.

Word study is the use of explicit instruction which Third grade students are learning to decode and encode short vowels. The Go Fish game is an enjoyable way to practice and contrast between long and short vowels, specifically short a and aCe. The words and photos can help students develop vocabulary. encompasses both phonics and phonological awareness to instruct decoding and encoding.

Word study is the use of explicit instruction which encompasses both phonics and phonological awareness to instruct decoding and encoding. Third grade students are learning to decode and encode short vowels. The Go Fish game is an enjoyable way to practice and contrast between long and short vowels, specifically short short ‘u’ and long ‘u’ (uCe). The words and photos can help students develop vocabulary.