Unit 1

The purpose of this unit is to help students gain an understanding of where food comes from and how making healthy food choices help people grow. Through reading, writing, speaking and listening, students learn about various types of foods from different countries and how food is connected to family, friends and culture. They identify food preferences and what foods they like and dislike. Through the exploration of texts, they come to understand that making healthy food choices is important and are given the skills to make healthy food choices for themselves. Students apply their phonics skills to reading and writing about texts, focusing particularly on the components of a story and writing a narrative. Students engage in discourse about how everyone deserves and needs access to healthy and delicious foods.

In order to access the information in this unit, students need to understand the connection between the food we eat and the plants and animals that produce this food. Prior knowledge of urban or traditional farming should be activated. Space should also be made for students to share the foods they eat in their homes and their cultures. Diversity of food exposures and preferences should be celebrated.

In order to promote learning for all students, strategies have been incorporated into the day to day lesson design. For ELs, strategies such as (1-2 strategies) will promote language acquisition. For students with IEPs, (1-2 strategies) can be used to scaffold to provide access to the grade level text.

As designed the unit is paced for 35 number of days. Teachers use additional time in the quarter for reteaching, reviewing or enrichment activities aligned to the unit’s goals. Additional time may also be used to develop the performance tasks and allow for district based assessments.