Embedded Files
Unit 1: Launching the Literacy Workshop in Second Grade (Aug-Sept)
What are the critical routines and structures that must be explicitly taught in the first days of school in order for students to successfully navigate the literacy block? How will students navigate the literacy block across the day?
A study in communication and collaboration to build strong literacy foundations. Launching the literacy block is a purposeful time in our school year. Teachers intentionally set up structures, and routines for successful teaching and learning.
This unit is a study in the various ways students engage in oral language activities in order to develop their understanding of language as the vehicle to enhance their communication verbally and nonverbally. Students will engage in dialogue and use active listening in order to construct ideas and engage in purposeful talk. Influenced by their home, community, and First Grade experiences, students will continue to ask questions and build curiosity at varying levels of proficiency. Consider the use of texts that create a classroom community or build social emotional skills. Careful consideration to the specific structures of how the literacy block will operate within the school should be tied to the mission and stance of the building literacy beliefs, and may be guided by building resources (including iCALI). While these structures are established at the beginning of the year, the understandings evolve into routines that are practiced and refined throughout the year.
Establishing classroom routines and expectations will support independence and self-direction.
Unit 2: Informative Texts - Constructing Knowledge of the World for Ourselves (Sept-Oct)
How do I read and gain information about the world I’m a part of? How do I share what I’ve learned about topics to teach others?
A study in informational and explanatory texts: Reading and Writing to construct meaning and make connections.
This unit is a study in the way that readers engage with longer and increasingly complex texts in order to make sense of the world around them and their place in it. Participating in a variety of whole group, small group, and independent reading structures, students will read informational texts with many different kinds of organization. They will identify both the specific topic of a paragraph or section of text and the main idea of the entire piece. To begin to identify a text’s structure, students will draw connections between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text. Students will use text features, ask and answer questions, and locate information about the details in a text utilizing various comprehension strategies and directly referencing the text. Using what they have learned about informational texts, students will write a variety of informational and explanatory texts (not research) on topics they know or have learned about. They will consider the facts they know, organize the information into categories, and provide an introduction and conclusion that effectively conveys their intended meaning. Writing will include appropriate transitions and relevant details when responding to questions about texts. Knowledge of the organization of informational texts in this unit will be used and applied throughout the year.
Unit 3: Narrative Texts - Analyze Structures to Write our Stories (Oct-Dec)
How do readers grow and learn lessons alongside the character in the stories they read? How do writers share the stories and lessons of their lives through the narratives they write?
A study in stories -analyzing narrative structure to understand and construct my own story.
This unit is a study in the ways that readers and writers analyze narrative texts, interpret their messages, and build upon those ideas in their own writing. Participating in a variety of whole group, small group, and independent reading structures, students use information gained from story elements to analyze a variety of narrative texts and develop an understanding of how the characters respond to the events of the text. They use the inferences they make to determine the central message or lesson of a text and analyze how the points of views of characters might be different. Through exposure to a variety of narratives from diverse cultures they make comparisons between texts with different versions of the same story. By becoming familiar with the structure of narrative texts students are able to both comprehend texts and use their knowledge to craft their own narratives. Both real and imagined narratives, as well as poetry, can be constructed with developed characters, precise language, temporal words and a sense of closure. Student writing should take on many forms, (including functional writing) that are taken through various stages of the writing process (not all published).
Unit 4: Research Inquiry and Design - Purposeful Investigation and Inquiry (Jan-Feb)
How can researchers identify a topic and question worthy of investigation? How can we use writing to clearly communicate what we have learned during research?
A study in using multiple texts/sources for purposeful investigation and inquiry.
This is a unit of study in the ways that specific questions can be generated to guide shared research and writing projects. The focus of this unit is for students to use informational writing to share what they have learned during research. Students will identify a specific question for purposeful investigation and inquiry. Using multiple multimedia sources, they will gather information to answer their research questions. Students use text features to locate and interpret information. They compare information from texts to decide which information to use in their writing. They will learn about and use different forms of informational writing. They will select the form and features they believe will best organize their informational texts around their main ideas and details. Research and writing projects are taken through various stages of the writing process (not all published).
Unit 5: Claims and Evidence - Supporting My Opinions (Mar-Apr)
How do authors communicate their purpose and use reasons to support their points? How can texts be written with different points of view?
A study in the expression and support of opinions.
This unit is a study in the ways that readers and writers express and communicate opinions about topics and texts. Students will examine informational texts during small group and independent reading to determine the main purpose of the text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe. They will identify the kinds of reasons (facts, details, examples) that an author might use to support specific points. Students will continue to read literary texts as well, building on their understanding of point of view by acknowledging the differences in the point of view of characters. Second graders work to develop the craft and structure of their opinion writing. They write opinions about topics or books in a variety of types of writing, introducing the topic, stating their opinion and supplying reasons to support the opinion. Their writing will include linking words and a concluding statement or section. The work of this unit continues to build the skills from previous units as students read texts in a variety of genres, attending to the purpose of the author and the craft of the writing.
Unit 6: Under Construction
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