In this unit students explore the Taliban influence on the Middle East through the eyes of multiple young women. In the core text, The Breadwinner, students experience how the Taliban presence in Afghanistan drastically altered Parvana and her family's life. Students will be challenged to think about what constitutes basic human rights and the way in which the Taliban violated the human rights of many Afghanistan citizens. Students will also be challenged to think about women's rights, especially in regard to education and freedom, and how both were constantly at risk under Taliban rule. Finally, students will realize that a positive attitude, dedication to family, and drive to be self-reliant can help people survive, and thrive, in the worst of situations. In the second part of the unit, students read about the experiences of real children living in Afghanistan after the Taliban left. Through those experiences, students explore how education and women's rights are still restricted in Afghanistan and grapple with what it will take to create a society where women have access to the same basic freedoms as men. In the last part of the unit, students meet Malala Yousafzai and analyze how her positive attitude and drive help her fight for women's rights in Pakistan despite facing incredible challenges and threats. Over the course of the entire unit, it is our hope that students will build a deeper understanding of the importance of women's rights and access to education around the world, particularly in the Middle East.

As readers, this unit builds onto unit one by pushing students to compare and contrast characters and analyze character point of view at an even deeper level. Students will be challenged to close read the text, make accurate annotations, and quote accurately in order to develop theories about key characters in and across texts. In this unit, students will also begin to use informational texts, particularly memories and first-person accounts, to help build a deeper understanding of fiction texts. The focus for informational reading is similar to the focus for fiction, and students will analyze how the point of view influences the way in which events are described.

In this historical fiction unit, students learn about the Great Depression through the eyes of a ten-year-old African-American boy by reading the core text Bud, Not Buddy. In Bud, Not Buddy, students join Bud on his quest to find his father. In doing so, students are exposed to what life was like during the Great Depression, especially for African-Americans. Over the course of the novel, students will grapple with lying, and if lying is always bad or if it can sometimes be a good thing, as they witness Bud lying as a way to survive. Students will also analyze and explore the idea of maturity and what it means to act one's age versus acting more mature as Bud finds himself in situations most ten-year-olds will never experience. The theme of compassion and kindness also arises over the course of the novel. Students will analyze how the compassionate actions of others help Bud on his journey, while deepening their understanding of why it's always important to help others, even when times are tough. It is our hope that this unit, in conjunction with the rest of the fourth-grade sequence, will help students develop empathy and understanding for the experiences of others.

As readers, this unit serves as the culminating unit for the year. Therefore, the majority of the unit focuses on spiraling strategies. Students should be pushed daily to summarize key events, analyze characters and setting, and figure out the meaning of unknown words. Students should also be pushed to use the information they learn from the nonfiction text about the Great Depression to confirm and deepen their understanding of what life was like during the Great Depression.

In this unit, students will explore the meaning of true friendship by reading Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. Charlotte's Web, a classic novel written in 1952, clearly illustrates how difficult and scary it can be to make a friend, yet how rewarding a true friendship really is. Over the course of the novel, students will consider what it means to be a good friend, whether or not friendship is always easy, and whether or not conflicts and struggle really are an important part of strengthening friendships. By deeply connecting with the characters, students will learn about the power of helping others, how creativity and determination can help solve problems, and that people can and do change. Students will also begin to understand the cycle of life and beauty, and the emotional responses that come with death through the eyes of Wilbur. It is our hope that this unit, in connection with other units, will provide the foundation for developing empathy and understanding about true friendship and life.

Charlotte's Web was chosen not only because of the strong theme of friendship and life, but because it is a classic in children's literature. Charlotte's Web was written in the early 1950s and contains themes and language that are more archaic than other texts from the year. Therefore, students will learn how to analyze themes, settings, characters and language that are less familiar and relatable.

Intentional planning of Tier I supports provides all students essential opportunities to acquire new skills and more powerful opportunities for development when immersed throughout collaborative daily learning.  Using the Curriculum Map is a great way for staff to combine efforts that focus on strengthening skills, knowledge and behaviors which often makes a greater impact on overall student development.

This instructional plan combined Counseling SOLs EA 2,4,10 and WIDA English Language Development Standards. The lesson includes several activity options. Note: Some images may not appear in the "Overview". To view all images in this instructional plan, click "download" at the bottom of the overview.

This guide contains links to free resources that align with each of the SEL standards assigned to this gradeband. 

These emotion wheels were designed to be used as a starting point with students to help increasetheir emotional literacy. Emotional literacy is the ability to name and communicate your feelings;people with strong emotional literacy skills tend to have greater awareness of both their ownemotions and those of others.

Skills: This activity has the potential to develop and enhance student’s emotional literacy, emotional regulation, social awareness, feelings of connection, empathy, and self-expression.Includes directions for staff wellness and developmentIncorporates: CBT Materials: Emotions Wheel, Sticky NotesThis versatile tool can be used in individual, group, classroom lessons, journaling prompts, and more!KEY CONCEPTS:Emotions are how your mind reacts to an experience.Emotions drive your decisions.These emotion wheels were inspired by Plutchik’s Emotion Wheel. To put it simply, an emotions wheel is a chart with primary emotions in the center that fans out with more specific emotions. It is a tool that will help your students learn to name what they’re feeling so they can become more self-aware and process their feelings more fully. There are four emotion wheel options. Select the best one for your students based on their age and developmental level. The grade levels below are only meant as a guide, you know your students best, select the wheel you think is the most appropriate.

This is the first lesson in a sequential unit. Students make connections between their own feelings about caring for something and similar feelings that are expressed in works of art

This lesson is part of a sequential unit. Students study works of art that depict two people who care for each other and study how the artists use line, color, shape, and space to convey the sense of a caring relationship. Students then use these principles to create their own drawings of two caring people

This lesson is part of a sequential unit. In this lesson we celebrate by creating a hat that expresses the ideas of caring relationships and working together that were explored in this unit.

This guide contains links to free resources that align with each of the SEL standards assigned to this gradeband. 

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.

When world events suddenly shift our perspective and present overwhelming concerns, thinking like an artist can offer a way to creatively reflect on and process our days. Use the art, videos, and ideas in this lesson concept to help students explore ways to visually articulate their experiences by considering the colors, objects, and materials they encounter throughout their days.

Students will observe emotions depicted in an 18th-century bust and two 19th-century paintings. They will learn about and create similes based on paintings that depict people waiting and receiving a court verdict, respectively. They will write their own narratives about a time they had to wait, and they will use similes to describe characters' emotions. Students will then create two original works of art that illustrate their narratives.

In this unit students meet Joey Pigza, a loving boy with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in the core text Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. The novel, written in Joey's point of view, gives readers a glimpse into Joey's mind and shows what the life of a child with ADHD can be like. The novel is heartbreaking at times and vividly shows how much of a struggle it is for someone with ADHD to behave and do the right thing when they cannot get their body to listen. Over the course of the novel, students see firsthand how having ADHD not only influences the way Joey feels about himself but also the way that others interact with him, both positively and negatively. It is our hope that this unit will begin to raise awareness and understanding of ADHD and how to cope with it, both in and out of the classroom. It is also our hope that this unit will begin to humanize things that are hurtful and help in continuing to strengthen our students' understanding of empathy and the importance of being empathetic towards others. It is important to note that this book is fictional and told by an often-unreliable narrator. Therefore, in order to ensure that students get the correct impression and understanding of ADHD, special education, and the role of medication, discussions will need to be included throughout the entire unit that challenge and elaborate on what Joey shares in the text. Without these conversations, students could leave the unit with misunderstandings that could potentially reinforce the stereotypes and stigma assigned to people with ADHD and other disorders.

This novel allows students to genuinely connect with a character and fully immerse themselves in the mind of a character. Therefore, the main focus of this unit is on deeply understanding character, character relationships, and how relationships can both positively and negatively impact the way a character views himself or herself. The author, Jack Gantos, includes a lot of incredibly powerful descriptive and figurative language to help readers connect with Joey. Therefore, another focus of this unit is on analyzing the author's use of figurative language and description, and noticing how it deepens a reader's understanding of characters and plot.

This guide contains links to free resources that align with each of the SEL standards assigned to this gradeband. 

Author: Timothy Trask, VBCPSThis podcast focuses primarily on sitting nicely in a classroom, raising your answer, and taking turns.  It gives explicit instruction on the importance of raising your hand, lowering your hand, listening, staying on task, and sitting in one place while the teacher calls on students.Kinetic Scholars: Raising My Hand

This lesson sequence offers students and teachers a way to explore their individual identities and sense of belonging through analyzing children’s literature and coding with Scratch. Through read-aloud activities and self-differentiated Scratch projects, students learn about the value of inclusion and explore and express ideas about their personal and social identities. Students will describe environments supportive of diversity, and reflect on their own identity as they create expressive projects about their sense of belonging. This sequence is made up of four lessons, though your students may need additional class time to work on their projects.This lesson sequence is part of CodeVA's committment to the U.S. Department of Education "YOU Belong in STEM" initiative.

This guide contains links to free resources that align with each of the SEL standards assigned to this gradeband.