Module 4:

Breaking Barriers

How can sports affect the way we view others?

How can sports create opportunities for change?

How can people challenge or overcome barriers through sports?

How can sports influence individuals and societies?

Reading

Module 4: Breaking Barriers

In this module, Breaking Barriers, students are exposed to the power that sports have to affect how people view each other, to create opportunities for people, and to help people overcome and challenge barriers. Students will read and research a variety of informational texts about individual athletes, coaches, teams, and organizations to answer the question: How can sports influence individuals and societies?

Core Texts:

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, Kadir Nelson
“Afghan Sprinter Tahmina Kohistani Shows What’s Possible for Muslim Women,” Mike Wise
“Finding Common Ground on the Soccer Field,” Todd Tuell ▪ “Guardians of the Game,” Todd Tuell
“Refugees Find Hope, Film Deal on Soccer Field,” Kathy Lohr ▪ “Street Soccer,” Connie Colón
“Raymond’s Run,” Toni Cade Bambara

Class Art, Videos & Other Media:

Joie de Vivre, Mark di Suvero
The Fall of Icarus, Henri Matisse
“Always #LikeAGirl,” Always
“Jackie Robinson,” History.com
“Nelson Mandela Speech that changed the world,” 2000 Laureus World Sports Awards

Books to Extend Learning at Home:

America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle, David Adler
A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin, Jen Bryant
Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman, Kathleen Krull
Who Was Roberto Clemente?, James Buckley, Jr.
Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jonah Winter ▪ Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: The First Computer Programmer, Diane Stanley
Jesse Owens: Fastest Man Alive, Carole Boston Weatherford
Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The Making of a Champion, Russell Freedman
Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille, Jen Bryant
Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way), Sue Macy
Mr. Matisse and His Cutouts, Annemarie van Haeringen
The Bat Boy and His Violin, Gavin Curtis
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, Bette Bao Lord
America Street: A Multicultural Anthology of Stories, Anne Mazer

Writing

Units Focus: Expository Nonfiction

*End with Informative/Explanatory Performance Task

Partner research and write about a nonfiction topic of interest
Explore expository text features to include in report
Take research notes and organize them by topic

Teacher Mentor Texts

I Wonder Why Penguins Can't Fly

I Wonder Why the Sahara Is Cold At Night

Rainforests

Extreme Earth Records

Global Warming

About Seymour Simon

Unit Focus: Poetry

Optional Unit- Time Permitting

Explore imagery, sound, and form in poetry
Tap into creativity

Teacher Mentor Texts

September

Child Frightened by a Thunderstorm

Fireworks

Flamingo

Windshiled Wiper

Gentle Sound of Rain

I Love the Look of Words