Unit 1: Growing Text Based Ideas

Why do readers need to pay attention to the details in the text?

Students understand that authors use specific details in literature to describe characters, settings, or events and readers interpret those details to grow text based ideas that help create meaning.

The focus of this unit is for teachers and students to establish a community of readers by setting structures and routines of a reading workshop. Through various forms of literature (e.g., stories and dramas), students will draw inferences about characters from the details provided in the text and begin to recognize how a character's thoughts, words or actions play a role into the development of the plot. Additionally, while reading dramas, students will identify the structural elements, noticing how they may differ from elements of a story. The work around the structural element will be necessary in order for students to be able to compare and contrast the elements of poems and dramas in the following unit. By the end of the unit, students will be able to draw evidence based conclusions around characters in literary texts, revise their ideas as they integrate new information, in order to create interpretations that can be threaded across the entire text.

Unit 2: Comparing Literary Texts

How do structural elements influence the way readers comprehend various literary genres?

Students understand that author’s choice of text structure vary according to the genre and readers understand the structure of a text and use this information to make sense of what they read.

The focus of this unit is for students to analyze the different literary genres and make comparisons with the structural and applicable story elements using evidence from the texts to support their thinking. Students begin by identifying the structural elements unique to stories, dramas, poems, and prose, folding in some of the work done during the previous unit. Students will build onto the character development with an introduction to words and phrases in our language that were derived from myths, fables and legends and mythological characters (e.g.,Herculean Effort, A Titan, Opening Pandora's Box, Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts, Achilles Heel, The Midas Touch, An Odyssey, A Trojan Horse...etc). The work of the unit is not around reading myths, but for students to understand the meaning of these common phrases and how it might impact their interpretations of a character when the author describes the character using phrases or words that allude to characters found in mythology. By the end of the unit, students will be able to explain major differences between poems, dramas and prose, referring to the structural elements when writing or speaking about a text.

Unit 3: Interpreting Information Through Text Features

How do readers use text features to support an interpretation?

Students understand that authors choose text features to include in an informational text in order to convey meaning and readers use the text features available to make meaning of the text(s).

The focus of this unit is for students to analyze and interpret information from charts, graphs, diagrams, timelines, animations, or interactive elements of a webpage and explain how those text features contribute to the understanding of the text in which they appear. Students read multiple informational texts on a topic, using skimming and scanning strategies to develop a general overview and use text features to locate, organize and categorize information. Students will determine the main idea(s) of the text and explain how an author intentionally selects text features that support a particular message they wish to convey. Throughout the unit, students work towards being able to integrate information from multiple texts or parts of texts on the same topic to write or speak knowledgeably about the subject.

Unit 4: Tools for Uncovering Theme and Main Idea

How do readers determine theme and main idea?

Students understand that readers use key details from the text to determine the theme or identify the main topic.

The focus of the unit is for students to determine a theme or identify the main idea in both literary and informational texts. Students will know that main idea is often implied by the author and inferred by the reader. Students will use multiple reading strategies and skills to identify the main idea. They will continue to determine importance along with other comprehension skills to uncover the main idea while supporting their thinking by citing textual evidence. In literary texts, students will also begin to identify the theme of the story and understand the difference between theme and main idea. They will know that main idea of a text is specific to the text, whereas the theme is more general and addresses a lesson or message that the author is communicating to the reader. This builds on the work in previous units around character development and the perspective of the character will be important in understanding theme. Teachers will intentionally choose texts such as stories, myths, or traditional literature from different cultures for students to compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics. In informational texts, students will begin to discuss the relationships between things in scientific, historical or technical texts. They will use examples, causes, parts, reasons, results or kinds of a topic to explain the relationships within a piece of text and across multiple texts.

Unit 5: Analyzing Text Structures to Support Comprehension

How does determining the primary text structure an author uses help me as a reader?

Students understand that authors of informational text use various structures to share information and readers understand the relationships between and among events, ideas/concepts, or steps/procedures and use that information to make sense of what they read.

The focus of this unit is for students to recognize the underlying structure of informational texts can support students in identifying things such as key concepts, main idea(s), relationships between and among events, ideas/concepts, or steps/procedure. Students will use the identified text structure to organize, categorize, and summarize information, orally and in writing. As readers interact with text to construct meaning, their comprehension is facilitated when they organize their thinking in a manner similar to that used by the author. Students will analyze multiple texts on the same topic, taking into account whether the information presented is a firsthand account or secondhand account. They will note the perspective an author might bring to the event or idea depending on the account, along with evidence the author uses to support their point of view.

Unit 6: Synthesize to Summarize

Why would a reader summarize? Students understand that while reading longer texts, readers periodically summarize the text to aid understanding.

The focus of this unit is for students to use a combination of comprehension skills, such as visualizing, inferring, determining importance, and synthesizing,to summarize both literary and informational texts. Students will continue to identify both main idea and determine theme when applicable, and draw conclusions from the text supported by textual evidence. They will summarize text using learning from previous units, such as using story elements and theme in literary texts, and using primary structures and features to determine the main idea in informational texts. Students will also integrate information from graphics, images, and illustrations from the text to make meaning, explaining how the information contributes to an understanding of the text. Additionally, students explore the information presented in a multimedia. By the end of the unit, students will be able to integrate information from multiple text, features and multimedia on the same topic to develop new understanding and to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

Unit 7: Finding Connections Across Texts

How do readers use multiple strategies at the same time?

In literary texts, students understand that authors make choices which can result in multiple interpretations of the same text, and readers make connections between the written and visual or oral presentations to enhance their understanding. In informational texts, students understand that authors provide information and key details on topics in different way and readers integrate important information presented in two texts in order to present it for a specific purpose.

The focus of this unit is for students to independently apply multiple strategies at the same time in literary and informational texts. In literary texts, students will be able to analyze the text to determine and describe the point of view in which the story is told from (e.g., first person, third person narration) and the perspective that character brings to influence the story, then begin to compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated. Students will explore a visual or oral version of a text, recognizing unique tools used such as lighting, props, sound effects, music and/or voice. They will compare and contrast by making connections between the text of a story or drama, and a visual or oral presentation of the text, noting where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text. In informational texts, students will continue the work around analyzing the text to determine the author’s point of view and perspective, so that they can integrate information from two texts on the same topic, identifying the reasons and evidence the author used to support that particular viewpoint.

Unit 8: Exploring Deeper Connections

How does reading influence us?

Students understand that as readers comprehend, they interpret and respond differently to texts, influencing every reader in different ways.

The focus of this unit is for students to compare and contrast multiple forms of texts. In order to do this, students need to independently select and apply reading strategies and continually monitor their thinking and understanding. Students need to be able to demonstrate their thinking and understanding in writing and orally.

Grade level texts at this time of the year display many complexities, now requiring the reader to develop and visualize concepts (e.g., hardship, persecution, or determination), infer and provide evidence that supports the theme, clarify and understand technical vocabulary and/or concepts, and understand text features that are not fully explained in the texts. By the end of the unit, students will be able to read and comprehend both literature and informational texts in the grades 4-5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.