Set 1: Take Action
Essential Question: How do people respond to natural disasters?
Texts & Genre: A World of Change (Expository Text)
Earthquakes (Expository Text)
Weathering the Storm (Personal Narrative)
Text Structure: compare & contrast; chronological
Skill & Strategies: compare & contrast; text evidence and sources; author's perspective
Text Features: diagrams & headings
Set 2: Think of Others
Essential Question: How do your actions affect others?
Texts & Genre: The Talent Show (Realistic Fiction)
Experts Incorporated (Realistic Fiction)
Speaking Out to Stop Bullying (Expository Text)
Text Structure: literature with plot & conflict
Skill & Strategies: literary elements (plot, conflict); predictions; figurative language; author's claim
Text Features: dialogue
Set 3: Time for Kids
Essential Question: How do your actions affect others?
Texts & Genre: Dollars & Sense (Argumentative Text)
Kids in Business (Argumentative Text)
Starting a Successful Business (Argumentative Text)
Text Structure: problem & solution; sequence
Skill & Strategies: summarize; central idea & supporting details; author's craft; sequence
Text Features: graphs and headings
Unit 2: Amazing Animals
Big Question: How do people & animals use their senses to navigate the world?
Big Idea Vocabulary: perception, aroma, distinguish, tactile
Week 1:
Text: The Science Behind Sight
Skill & Strategies: central idea; summarize; text
features
Week 2:
Text: Animal Senses; Blind Ambition
Skill & Strategies: text structure; figurative language
Week 3:
Text: The Game of Silence
Skill & Strategies: visualization; authors craft
Unit 3: That's the Spirit!
Big Question: What does it take to meet a challenge?
Big Idea Vocabulary: confront, dauntless, endurance, dedication
Week 1:
Text: Rent Party Jazz
Skill & Strategies: identify the argumentative claim,
synthesize
Week 2:
Text: The Galveston Hurricane; Catch me if you Can
Skill & Strategies: visualize, point of view, elements
of drama
Week 3:
Text: My Diary from Here to There
Skill & Strategies: literary elements, point of view,
author's craft
Unit 4: Fact or Fiction?
Big Question: What makes someone a hero?
Big Idea Vocabulary: aspire, confidence, endeavor, fearlessness