The information shown here is a meant as a general outline. It is subject to change without notice based on special events, scheduling conflicts and the needs and interests of students. Topics, activities and titles may change, be removed or added at any time.
Building classroom norms and culture
- Creativity kickoff
- Aesop Fables preview (“The Miser”)
- Introduction to depth and complexity
Making generalizations and the concept of change
- What is change?
- Forming generalizations
Literary elements
- Use literary elements to analyze text for deeper understanding
- Aesop’s fables (“The Miser”)
Analysis and interpretation of literature: ‘Shells’
- Determining a theme
- Figurative language
- Character perspective and how it impacts the conflict
- “Shells”
- Change matrices
- Depth and complexity frame
Analysis and interpretation of literature: ‘Sachiko Means Happiness’
- Symbolism
- Character perspective
- Literary elements
- Connection to change
- Conflict leads to change
- “Sachiko Means Happiness”
- “The Wolf and the Lion”
Analysis and interpretation of literature: M.C. Escher and ‘Free Fall’
- Understanding symmetry and tessellations as they relate to change
- Explore the text and illustrations to notice literary elements and details within the illustrations
- Sequence of illustrations to determine plot and climax
- Summarizing by using parts or sections of the text to summarize the events
- “Day & Night” and “Free Fall”
Creative problem solving
- Introduction to the creative problem solving process
- Apply idea to popular tales for understanding
- Use in open ended tasks related to literature or real life situations
- “The Three Little Pigs, Late For School”
Analysis and creative problem solving in text: ‘Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain’ and informational texts
- Cause and effect relationships
- Repetition in text
- Application of creative problem solving
- Review of five generalizations of change
- How change impacts people and our relationships by causing us to respond
- Understand that change can be natural or caused by humans
- Summarize central idea
- Review text structure
- Compare creative problem solving across folktale and informational text
- “Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain”
- Paired informational texts
Analysis and creative problem solving in literature: ‘The Crow and the Pitcher’
- Applying creative problem solving process as well as integrating understanding of consequences and implications, theme and concept
- “The Crow and the Pitcher”
Analysis and interpretation of literature: ‘The Green Book’
- Develop reasoning and creative problem solving skills through literature
- Generalizations of changes and how the characters responded to change
- Compare and contrast
- Figurative language (imagery)
- “The Green Book”
Analysis and interpretation of literary elements and change: ‘Artist’ and artwork
- Review generalizations of change
- Focus on literary elements, inference skills and theme
- Personification of nature
- Utilize text to highlight the elements of change and begin the exploration of character changes throughout the quarter
- “Artist”
- Paired visual imagery through art
- Utilize See, Think, Wonder Strategy
Literary analysis and the concept of change ‘The Green Man’ and informational texts
- Analyze character development and traits using details from the text
- Analyze the impact the setting has on the character’s development
- Exploring the concepts of change in nature and within a character
- Identify possible parallels of the ideas of change in the informational texts and “The Green Man”
- Provide evidence to support thinking of theme (in literature) or central idea (informational text
Literary analysis and interpretation: ‘The Fisherman and His Wife’
- Annotate the text to guide students in gathering and interpreting evidence to come to a deep understanding of the story
- Provide evidence to support thinking of theme
- Analyze character development and traits using details from the text
- Exploring the concepts of change in nature and within a character
- “The Fisherman and His Wife”
Analysis and creative problem solving in literature: ‘The Ugly Duckling’ and author biography
- Analyze character development and traits using details from the text
- Exploring the concepts of change in nature and within a character
- Generate examples within the text that illustrate the generalizations of change
- Compare and contrast the life of Hans Christian Anderson to that of the ugly duckling
- “The Ugly Duckling”
Analysis and interpretation of literature using poetry, the concept of change: ‘Poem for Rodney’ and other poetry
- Analyze and interpret poems, author’s message and theme
- Explore the concept of change in a personal context
- Discuss the structure of poetry and compare and contrast with prose (stories)
- “Poem for Rodney” and other poetry
Introduction to systems and ancient Egypt
- To develop an understanding of the concept of systems
- To understand structure, function, and pattern as key systems concepts
- To use maps to locate specific places in the world
- To introduce the idea of chronology and put events in chronological order
- Develop an understanding of a hierarchy of needs as it affects the development of civilizations
The Nile, floods and farming in ancient Egypt
- To understand the text and context of a primary source document
- To understand how the Nile contributed to the civilization and its survival
The writing system and reasoning about languages
- To introduce the writing system of ancient Egypt
- To explore the history of translating Egyptian hieroglyphs
- To understand the education system in ancient Egypt
Architecture and the Egyptian pyramids
- To understand how a division of labor supports the development of civilizations
- To introduce the purpose and history of the pyramids of ancient Egypt
Egyptian mythology, the pharaohs
- To explore the role that religion played in ancient Egypt and the myths about Egyptian gods
- To begin to explore the system of leadership and government in the ancient Egyptian society
Grammar Island
Grammar is a year-round ongoing topic
- Parts of speech
- Parts of a sentence
