Unit Overview: Read more about the unit and find all unit materials here on the Fishtank website

In this unit, students read a collection of texts focused on what it means to be a good friend. This unit, in connection with beginning-of-the-year culture-building activities, will set a strong foundation for building social-emotional awareness as students navigate making new friendships within the classroom.

This unit will serve as the foundational unit for creating both a strong Read-Aloud culture and a strong culture of discourse. Building on what students learned in Kindergarten, students will practice asking and answering questions about key details in a text, particularly characters. Students will notice a character’s actions, motivations, and feelings and how they influence the sequence of events, while also making connections to their own lives and learning from the experiences of the different characters. Over the course of the unit, students learn how to use discussion and oral discourse to show their understanding of texts. Since this is the first unit of the year, the goal is to establish clear routines and procedures that allow students to share their thinking and ideas. 

Students begin to build their fluency with daily writing in response to the Target Task question, learning how to take their understanding of a story and transfer that into writing. In this unit, students also have their first chance to explore narrative writing by writing about a time they were a good friend. Since this is the first process writing project of the year, the focus is on generating on-topic ideas with a beginning, middle, and end. Students also learn what an opinion is, and write an opinion piece about what it means to be a good friend. 

Unit Calendar:

Unit 1 is 27 instructional days. It is recommended to run from August 20th to September 26th.