Fiction Reading

In this unit, students focus on reading and understanding fiction (made-up stories). They learn how to think deeply about characters, settings, and plot, and how to support their ideas with evidence from the text.

What Students Will Learn:

• Story Elements:
  Identifying characters, setting, problem, and solution.

• Character Thinking:
  Understanding what characters do, think, and feel—and why.

• Theme:
  Finding the big message or lesson in a story.

• Making Inferences:
  Using clues in the story to figure out what the author doesn’t say directly.

• Text Evidence:
  Finding and using parts of the story to support their answers.

• Comparing Stories:
  Looking at how different stories have similar themes or characters.

Why This Unit Is Important:

This unit helps students become stronger readers and thinkers. They learn how to enjoy stories, understand deeper meanings, and explain their ideas clearly.

Bridges Math

Unit 2 – Adding & Subtracting Fractions

What Students Will Learn:

• Add and subtract fractions with different (unlike) denominators

• Solve story problems that use those kinds of fraction additions and subtractions.

• Find common denominators so fractions can be added or subtracted.

• Use greatest common factors (GCF) and least common multiples (LCM) to simplify fractions and help find those common denominators.

Why This Unit Is Important:
This work helps students understand how fractions relate to each other and how to work with them when they have different denominators. These are big ideas in math that students will use again later, not just in this year but beyond. It also builds the idea that math isn’t just numbers but it’s thinking about how parts of things work together.

Unit 1 - Expressions, Equations, & Volume

What Students Will Learn:

1. • How to read and write math expressions 

ex.     3 x (4 + 5)

1. • Using the correct order of operations (PEMDAS)

   • Solving simple math problems with a letter or symbol (called a variable)

   • Finding and continuing number patterns

   • Using tables to show patterns and relationships

   • Understanding volume as the space inside a 3D object (like a box)

   • Using formulas to find volume 

(length x width x height)

1. • Solving word problems about volume

   • Explaining how they solve problems

   • Using numbers, models, and words to show their thinking

Why This Unit Is Important:

This unit helps students build strong math habits, understand algebra basics, and solve real-world problems using volume. It sets the stage for more complex math later in the year.

Earth Systems

In this unit, students explore how different parts of the Earth work together and affect each other. They learn that Earth is made up of four main systems that are always interacting.

The Four Earth Systems:

Geosphere – The solid parts of Earth

(rocks, mountains, land, etc.)

Hydrosphere – All the water on Earth 

(oceans, rivers, lakes, rain)

Atmosphere – The air and gases around Earth 

(weather, clouds, wind)

Biosphere – All living things

(plants, animals, people)

What Students Will Learn:

• How these systems interact (Example: How rain from the atmosphere affects the land)

• How natural events (like earthquakes or hurricanes) change Earth’s systems

• How human activities can affect the Earth, like pollution or farming

• How to use models and data to show how the Earth systems work together

Why This Unit Is Important:

This unit helps students understand how Earth works as a system. It also encourages them to think about how people affect the planet and how we can take care of it.