Reading

Students are introduced to the expectations of reader's workshop during this unit. As a whole class, we read picture books and learn how to respond to various styles of writing prompts using graphic organizers. The techniques and strategies students learn are aimed to help students improve reading comprehension levels and will prove to be beneficial for responding to texts in all subjects.

Through whole class and small group lessons, students will investigate concepts of "Point of View". The perspective from which a narrator recounts a narrative and the perspective that different characters may take within a narrative will be explored.

Students will understand that characters (people), as well as the students themselves, have different points of view and can change their points of view over time based on acquired knowledge and understanding.

The hope is that students develop empathy for others by trying to understand the perspective of others; ability to distinguish author from narrator; and identify author's purpose.

We begin this unit by reading short, meaningful picture books as a whole class, followed by working together to identify the challenges (physical, psychological or social) that characters face and the ways the characters overcome these challenges and show resilience.

We continue to practice organizing information into graphic organizers and practice formulating complete written responses. Students are scaffolded to independence and are then assigned chapter books to critically analyze in book groups.

Each book group works together to practice a variety of reading skills, engage in meaningful conversations, and complete written responses to prompts about the three types of challenges and how people remain resilient.

Students will learn to identify the characteristics of memoirs, understand that people learn valuable lessons by reading about the lives and reflections of others, and learn how to reflect on the memoir author's messages.

The goal is for students to learn that memoir authors share feelings, insights, and experiences that are prompted by memories, places, events or objects in their life. Students recognize and learn the value of being to describe and explore their own feelings about memories they hold.

Students will learn that historical fiction is a window into understanding the relationships of historical events and how it impacted real people's lives.

This genre is inherently complex. Readers must attend closely to the setting (location and time period) as well as the historical tensions of the period and the characters’ relationships to that tension.

Historical fiction often features shifting power relations among characters, which mirror real shifts of power in history.