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

In this unit, students continue to explore the characteristics of chapter books by reading and engaging with the beginning chapter book series, Zapato Power. Building off of what students learned in the Belonging and Friendship: Pinky and Rex unit, students will explore what it means for two people to be friends and how friends are able to help each other by examining the somewhat unusual friendship between Freddie and Mr. Vaslov, an older man who lives and works in Freddie’s apartment building. Over the course of the unit, students will be challenged to think about what it means to be a superhero and the differences between using “super” powers and brain power to solve problems. It is important to note that these books are part of a beginning chapter book series; therefore, there are aspects of the plot that are less developed or not as powerful as other books that students read in the progression. The chapter book series does, however, introduce students to a male Latinx protagonist, something that is often missing from children’s literature and helps students explore similar themes and topics from other units with texts that are accessible. It is our hope that this unit, in connection with other units from the sequence, will set students up for success in reading and understanding longer chapter books.

This unit should be done predominantly as shared or independent reading; therefore, this unit gives students a chance to practice the reading skills they have developed in previous units. As they did in previous units, students will be challenged to think about how authors develop characters throughout a single text and how that understanding builds as they read more books in a series about the same characters. Students will focus on character motivation and what motivates both of the main characters, Freddie and Mr. Vaslov. Students will also begin to notice the different types of descriptive language authors include—specifically figurative language—and how descriptive language helps a reader better visualize the story and bring it to life. Finally, students will begin to notice how chapter titles are a clue for what is important in a chapter and can be used to guide retells and summaries of the key events within a chapter. 

When discussing the text, students use all of the strategies they have learned in previous units to participate in partner, small group, or whole-class discussions. When building on others’ talk in conversations, students continue to work on linking their comments to the remarks of others and asking questions for clarification or further explanation if needed. Students may also begin to critique and analyze the reasoning of others as they build on and respond to their classmates’ comments.

Students continue to build their writing fluency by writing daily in response to the Target Task with an emphasis on using simple and complex sentences. In this unit, students explore using subordinating conjunctions as a way of showing an even more nuanced understanding of the text and task. Students also continue to work on refining their narrative writing skills by writing a variety of narratives that have a strong beginning, middle, and end, and use a variety of precise words and phrases to describe characters and manage the sequence of events.