During Unit 1 of this module, your student will generate questions about the sun, moon, and stars and begin to consider how the sun and moon have inspired storytellers. Students examine and read various narrative stories about the sun, moon, and stars, and build skills of retelling role-playing and writing in response to text. By the end of the unit, students will be able to participate in a discussion about the unit guiding question: “Why do authors write about the sun, moon, and stars?” I am writing today to explain what your student will be learning, describe the activities that will support this learning, and suggest how to support this learning at home.
What will your student be learning?
Students will begin to study the topic by reading various narrative stories about the sun, moon, and stars and considering how they inspire each story. As students read, they gather and record descriptive language used to describe the appearance and position of the sun and moon, and work to retell key events from each story. The learning will be focused on these ideas:
The sun, moon, and stars are always there and affect our lives in different ways.
The sun, moon, and stars inspire us and make us imagine.
Students will also practice these reading literature skills:
Retelling stories, including key details and demonstrating an understanding of their central message or lesson
Describing characters, setting, and major events in a story, using key details
Identifying words in stories that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses
How will your student be learning?
Throughout the unit, your student will read, think, listen, talk, write, and ask questions about the topic of how the sun, moon, and stars inspire storytellers. Students will participate in these activities, among others, to build their literacy skills:
Listening to read-alouds of a variety of texts about the sun, moon, and stars
Closely observing and examining pictures of the sun, moon, and stars to generate notices and
wonderings
Singing songs and engaging in movement routines about the sun and moon
Engaging in role-play with peers to act out and retell various parts of stories read aloud
Responding to text through writing and drawing
What can you do to support your student’s learning at home?
Here are a few activities that you can do at home with your student to support his or her learning:
Ask your student to talk with you about this question: Why do authors write about the sun, moon, and stars?
Read books and sing songs about the sun, moon, and stars from home or at the library.
Observe the sun, moon, and stars at different times of the day and discuss their appearance and position in the sky.
Encourage your student to read the weekly Decodable Student Reader or a letter book to you every night.
During Unit 2 of this module, your student will dive deeper into the study of the sun, moon, and stars as the class transitions from their reading of narrative texts to reading informational texts. By the end of the module, students will be able to participate in a discussion around the unit’s guiding question: “What patterns can we observe in the sky?” I am writing today to explain what your student will be learning, describe the activities that will support this learning, and suggest how to support this learning at home. I hope that you will plan to join us at the end of our deep study to celebrate all of your student’s learning!
Through a combination of read-alouds, hands on experiences, authentic writing tasks, and small group discussions, students take on the role of astronomers. The learning will be focused on these ideas:
The sun and moon appear in different places in the sky during different times of day and year; stars are visible during the night, but not during the day.
The pattern of motion of objects in the sky can be described and predicted.
Students will also practice these language skills:
Using frequently occurring adjectives and prepositions
Students will also practice these speaking and listening skills:
Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions while building on others’ talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges
Throughout the unit, your student will read, think, listen, talk, write, and ask questions about the topic of the patterns we see in the sky. Students will participate in these activities, among others, to build their literacy skills:
Listening to read-alouds of informative texts about different patterns that we can observe in the sky
Reciting poems about the sun, moon, and stars to learn about adjectives and prepositions
Engaging in hands-on science demonstrations and activities to make the learning come to life
Participating in Science Talks, using student-created notes as evidence for their discussion
Participating in shared and independent writing practices to describe the appearance and location of the sun and moon
Here are a few activities that you can do at home with your student to support his or her learning:
Ask your student to talk with you about this question: What patterns can we observe in the sky?
Read books and sing songs that describe the patterns of the sun, moon, and stars.
Work with your student to re-create science experiments from class at home and discuss what is happening and why.
Encourage your student to read the weekly Decodable Student Reader or a letter book to you every night.
During Unit 3 of this module, your student will continue to observe and describe the sun and moon at various positions in the sky throughout the day. By the end of the module, students will use their observations and their knowledge of the sun and moon to create narrative poem. I am writing today to explain what your student will be learning, describe the activities that will support this learning, and suggest how to support this learning at home. I hope that you will plan to join us at the end of our deep study to celebrate all of your student’s learning!
In this unit, students will conclude a module study that has been ongoing for the past several weeks. This unit specifically focuses on describing both the sun and moon, their position in the sky, and what the sun and moon “see” during various times of day when they are visible in the sky. Your student’s learning will focus on the following area:
Writers can use their knowledge and observations of the sun and moon to write a narrative poem.
Students will also practice these writing skills:
Writing a narrative poem that includes sequenced and detailed events, temporal words, and use of details to provide some sense of closure.
Throughout the unit, your student will read, think, listen, talk, write, and ask questions about the topic of what the moon and sun “see” while in the sky. Students will participate in these activities, among others, to build their literacy skills:
Closely observing and examining pictures of the sun and moon to generate noticings of what the sun and moon “see” in the sky
Singing songs and engaging in movement routines about the sun and moon
Engaging in role-play with peers to aid in the planning process of writing
Participating in shared and independent writing practices to craft a narrative poem about the sun and moon
Giving and receiving kind, specific, and helpful feedback regarding their narrative poems
Here are a few activities that you can do at home with your student to support his or her learning:
Ask your student to talk with you about this question: How do writers use their knowledge and observations to write a story?
Continue to read books and sing songs about the sun, moon, and stars from home or at the library.
Observe the sun, moon, and stars at different times of the day and discuss what each “sees” at this time of day.
Encourage your student to read the weekly Decodable Student Reader or a letter book to you every night.
Books to check out or you can type in their name and the word read aloud to see if it a read aloud on YouTube or sora.
Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky
Dayrell, Elphinstone
Sun and Moon
Yankey, Lindsey
Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me
Carle, Eric
Does the Sun Sleep?: Noticing Sun, Moon, and Star Patterns
Rustad, Martha E.H.
Kitten’s First Full Moon
Henkes, Kevin
Summer Sun Risin’
Nikola-Lisa, W.
What Makes Day and Night
Branley, Franklyn M.
What the Sun Sees, What the Moon Sees
Tafuri, Nancy
Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti
McDermott, Gerald
Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale
McDermott, Gerald
Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars: Space Poems and
Florian, Douglas
Coyote in Love With a Star: Tales of the People
De Montano, Marty Kreipe
Coyote Places the Stars
Taylor, Harriet Peck
Fly Guy Presents: Space (Scholastic Reader, Level 2)
Arnold, Tedd
Gravity
Chin, Jason
Henry's Stars
Elliott, David
How the Stars Fell into the Sky: A Navajo Legend
Oughton, Jerrie
I Wonder Why the Sun Rises: and Other Questions About
Walpole, Brenda
Kitten's First Full Moon
Henkes, Kevin
Many Moons
Thurber, James
Moon Rope / Un lazo a la luna
Ehlert, Lois
Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11
Floca, Brian
Our Seasons
Lin, Grace
Owl Moon
Yolen, Jane
Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest
McDermott, Gerald
Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei
Sis, Peter
Sun Up, Sun Down
Gibbons, Gail
Sun Up, Sun Down: The Story of Day and Night (Science
Bailey, Jacqui
Sunshine Makes the Seasons (Let's- Read-and-Find-Out
Branley, Frankyn M.
The Earth Under Sky Bear's Feet: Native American Poems of
Bruchac, Joseph
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth
Lasky, Kathryn
The Moon Book
Gibbons, Gail
The Moon Seems to Change (Let's- Read-and-Find-Out
Branley, Frankyn M.
The Reasons for Seasons
Gibbons, Gail
The Sun Our Nearest Star (Let's Read and Find Out Science
Branley, Frankyn M.
Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back: A Native American Year of
Bruchac, Joseph and Johnathan
What Makes Day and Night (Let's- Read-and-Find-Out
Branley, Frankyn M.
What the Moon is Like (Let's-Read- and-Find-Out Science 2)
Branley, Frankyn M.
Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky
Dayrell, Elphinstone
Zoo in the Sky: A Book of Animal Constellations
Mitton, Jacqueline
If You Were the Moon
Salas, Laura Purdie
Mae Among the Stars
Ahmed, Roda
Many Moons
Courgeon, Remi
Moon: A Peek Through Picture Book
Teckentrup, Britta
My Light: How Sunlight Becomes Electricity
Bang, Molly