Unit 1: Multiplicative Thinking

Learning Targets

• Students find all factor pairs for a whole number between 1 and 100
• Students identify the relative sizes of centimeters, meters, and kilometers; grams and kilograms; ounces and pounds; milliliters a liters; seconds, minutes and hours
• Students write and solve multiplicaiton equations 

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Family Resources

• Family Unit 1 Overview English

• Family Unit 1 Overview Spanish

 

Unit 2: Multi-Digit Multiplication & Early Division

Learning Targets

• Students multiply a 2- or 3-digit whole number by a 1-digit whole number using strategies based on place value and the properties of operations
• Students multiply two 2-digit numbers using strategies based on place value and the properties of operations
• Students apply the area formula for a rectangle to solve problems

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Family Resources

• Family Unit 2 Overview - English
• Family Unit 2 Overview - Spanish

Unit 3: Fractions & Decimals

Learning Targets

• Students write fractions with denominators 10 and 100 in decimal notation
• Students compare two decimal numbers with digits to the hundredths place
• Students express a fraction with denominator 10 as an equivalent fraction with denominator 100

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Family Resources

• Family Unit 3 Overview - English
• Family Unit 3 Overview - Spanish

Unit 4: Addition, Subtraction, & Measurement 

Learning Targets

• Students solve multi-step story problems involving whole numbers using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
• Students read and write multi-digit whole numbers represented with base-ten numerals, number names and expanded form
• Students round multi-digit whole numbers to the nearest hundred, thousand, and ten thousand
• Students use the standard algorithm with fluency to add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers
• Students record equivalent measurements in different units from the same system of measurement

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Family Resources

• Family Unit 4 Overview English
• Family Unit 4 Overview Spanish

Unit 5: Geometry & Measurement

Learning Targets

• Students identify an angle as a geometric figure formed where two rays share a common endpoint
• Students use a protractor to measure angles in whole degrees
• Students identify and draw lines of symmetry
• Students classify 2-D figures 
• Students apply the area formula for a rectangle to solve problems

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Family Resources

• Family Unit 5 Overview English

• Family Unit 5 Overview Spanish

Unit 6: Multiplication & Division; Data & Fractions

Learning Targets

• Students divide a 2- or 3-digit number by a 1-digit number
• Students solve single-step story problems involving division with remainders
• Students solve multi-step story problems involving whole numbers using addition, multiplication and division
• Students add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers with like denominators
• Students apply the area and perimeter formulas for a rectangle to solve problems

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Family Resources

• Family Unit 6 Overview English

• Family Unit 6 Overview Spanish

Unit 7: Reviewing & Extending Fractions, Decimals & Multi-Digit Multiplication

Learning Targets

• Students read, write and compare two fractions with different numerators and different denominators
• Students multiply a fraction by a whole number 
• Students write equations with a letter standing for an unknown quantity to represent a multi-step story problem
• Students explain why one fraction is greater or less than another fraction
• Students are introduced to the standard multiplication algorithm with particular focus on the use of the are model

Family Resources

• Family Unit 7 Overview English

• Family Unit 7 Overview Spanish

Unit 8: Playground Design

Learning Targets

• Students use measurement and geometry skills to collect and display data about playground equipment
• Students analyze data to make decisions about their playground design
• Students research the cost of playground equipment, find the total cost, and create a final design
• Students use scale factors to make measurement conversions and draw a scaled map of their playground design
• Students use their scaled maps to determine the dimensions of each of their playground items and build 3D models

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Family Resources

• Family Unit 8 Overview English

• Family Unit 8 Overview Spanish

Unit 1: The Classroom Community

Topic and Learning Targets

• Comprehension

  • Students will learn about genre

  • Students discuss their reading lives and share with the class what they like to read

  • Students use the reading strategies of questioning, making connections, and visualizing

  • Students explore themes in fiction and narrative nonfiction

  • Students explore nonfiction text features

• Independent Practice

  • Students learn about Individualized Daily Reading (IDR)

  • Students learn a procedure for selecting appropriate books

  • Students practice choosing books on their own

  • Students learn a procedure for self-monitoring and practice it as they read

  • Students learn and use “fix-up” strategies

  • Students learn about the purpose of reading conferences

  • Students write about their ideas in their reading journals

  • Students notice what they are thinking about as they read

• Word Study

  • Students discuss, read, and analyze polysyllabic words

  • Students learn about etymology, morphemic analysis, word webs, word families, and morphemic transformations

  • Students review the prefixes in the "not" family

  • Students review the suffixes -y, -ous, -able, and -ible and sort words that use them

  • Students learn about the features of dictionaries

  • Students begin a word collection

  • Students review Greek roots

  • Students learn syllabication strategies

  • Students read polysyllabic words

  • Students learn about the schwa

• Social Skill Development

  • Students listen respectfully

  • Students share ideas

  • Students build and reflect on the classroom community

  • Students learn and practice classroom procedures

  • Students take responsibility for their learning and behavior

  • Students handle materials responsibly and share them fairly

  • Students ask clarifying questions and confirm each other’s thinking

  • Students share their partners’ thinking with the class

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Texts

• Anita and the Dragons • Little Libraries, Big Heroes 

• “The Benefits of Reading for Pleasure” 

• Ho'onani Hula Warrior 

• My New Home After Iraq 

• Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon 

• Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln 

• “Collecting Words”

Unit 2: Strategy Development & Generating Independent Thinking

Topic and Learning Targets

• Comprehension

  • Students use the thinking tools “Stop and Ask Questions” and double entry journals 

  • Students make and confirm predictions 

  • Students learn about and discuss the story elements of character, setting, plot, theme, and challenges 

  • Students use reading strategies including making inferences, making connections, questioning, visualizing, determining importance, summarizing, and synthesizing

  • Students identify important events and use these to identify main ideas in the text 

  • Students discuss the organization of nonfiction: description and compare/contrast 

  • Students use text features 

  • Students write a shared summary of a text 

  • Students consider what they think about the topics and how their thinking might have change

• Independent Practice
  • Students self-monitor and use “fix-up” strategies 
  • Students complete a reading self-assessment and establish reading goals 
  • Students generate independent thinking 
  • Students write a reading journal entry
• Word Study
  • Students discuss, read, analyze, and spell polysyllabic words 
  • Students learn about the suffixes -en, -ion, and -ation 
  • Students learn about the prefixes ex- and de- 
  • Students use morphemic analysis to read and analyze words 
  • Students notice and discuss spelling changes that take place when the suffixes are added to base words that end with a silent e 
  • Students relate words with prefixes to their antonyms
  •  Students identify and generate synonyms 
  • Students learn about semantic gradients 
  • Students use print and online thesauruses 
  • Students learn about the Latin root port 
  • Students analyze and spell words with the Latin root port 
  • Students create a word web 
  • Students revisit word collections
• Social Skill Development
  • Students listen carefully and actively 
  • Students use discussion prompts to build on one another’s thinking and extend conversations
  • Students share their partners’ thinking with the class 
  • Students take responsibility for their learning and behavior 
  • Students agree and disagree with one another in a caring and respectful way 
  • Students ask clarifying questions 
  • Students confirm they understand each other's thinking 
  • Students give reasons to support their thinking 
  • Students reach agreement with their partners before making decisions

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Texts

• “Demeter and Persephone” 

• “Co-chin and the Spirits” • Ojiichan's Gift 

• “Mother's Day” 

• Magnificent Homespun Brown 

• Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker's Story

• “Code Talkers” 

• Navajo Code Talkers 

• “My Cat Likes to Sleep”

Unit 3: Fiction

Topic and Learning Targets

• Comprehension

  • Students learn about the characteristics of fiction, including story structure 

  • Students use reading strategies, such as questioning, making inferences, making connections, visualizing, synthesizing, and summarizing

  • Students discuss story elements including character, setting, plot, themes and narrator 

  • Students identify important events 

  • Students use “Stop and Jot” 

  • Students participate in close reading

  • Students write a summary of a novel 

  • Students build fluency

• Independent Practice
  • Students self-monitor and use “fix-up” strategies 
  • Students think about story elements, including setting, character, plot, and theme 
  • Students use reading strategies, including making connections and summarizing 
  • Students generate independent thinking
• Word Study

  • Students discuss, read, analyze, and spell polysyllabic words 

  • Students read and discuss homophones 

  • Students learn about the prefixes trans-, sub-, and super- 

  • Students use word-part and sentence clues to analyze words 

  • Students discuss figurative language, similes, and metaphors 

  • Students learn about the Latin root aud and tract

  • Students learn about the Greek root phon • Create a word web 

  • Students create a blackout poem 

  • Students revisit word collections

• Social Skill Development

  • Students take responsibility for their learning and behavior 

  • Students use clarifying questions

  • Students listen carefully and respectfully 

  • Students confirm one another’s thinking 

  • Students share their partners’ thinking with the class 

  • Students give feedback in a helpful way 

  • Students agree and disagree in a caring way 

  • Students use discussion prompts to build on one another’s thinking and extend conversations 

  • Students share partner time 

  • Students support one another’s independent work 

  • Students contribute ideas that are different from other people’s ideas 

  • Students reflect on their partnerships

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Texts

• Dragons in a Bag 

• “Birds” 

• “Sisters” 

• “Thank You, Sleep!” 

• “On Monday I Feel Like a Dragon”

Unit 4: Narrative Nonfiction

Topic and Learning Targets

• Comprehension

  • Students learn about the characteristics of narrative nonfiction 

  • Students build knowledge by reading and discussing biographies of people who make a difference by innovating

  • Students discuss elements of biographies, including setting, important events, and theme 

  • Students learn about the structure of biographies 

  • Students discuss the organization of nonfiction: sequence 

  • Students use “Written Conversations” 

  • Students participate in close reading 

  • Students write an outline for a biography 

  • Students build fluency

• Independent Practice

  • Students self-monitor and use “fix-up” strategies 

  • Students determine important events and identify themes 

  • Students use reading strategies, including making connections, making inferences, and summarizing 

  • Students generate independent thinking

• Word Study

  • Students discuss, read, analyze, and spell polysyllabic words 

  • Students build vocabulary connected to the theme of innovation 

  • Students read and discuss homophones 

  • Students learn about idioms 

  • Students learn about the roots bio and mot/mob 

  • Students learn about the prefix auto- and the suffixes -ic and -al 

  • Students analyze words 

  • Students create a word web 

  • Students think of words that are connected to adjectives 

  • Students select a word to illustrate 

  • Students revisit word collections

• Social Skill Development

  • Students learn and practice the procedure for “Heads Together” 

  • Students include everyone in and contribute to group work 

  • Students take responsibility for their learning and behavior 

  • Students contribute ideas that are different from their classmates’ ideas 

  • Students support one another’s independent work 

  • Students analyze the effects of their own behavior on group work 

  • Students reflect on their partnerships 

  • Students build on one another’s thinking 

  • Students listen carefully

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Texts

• Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions 

• Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian Pura Belpré 

• The Storyteller's Candle 

• The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau 

• “Moving Mountains” 

• A Computer Called Katherine

Unit 5: Expository Nonfiction

Topic and Learning Targets

• Comprehension

  • Students learn about the characteristics of expository nonfiction 

  • Students build knowledge by reading and discussing texts about symbiosis 

  • Students use reading strategies, such as determining importance, synthesizing, and summarizing 

  • Students discuss ways authors organize information in nonfiction text, including sequence and cause/effect 

  • Students use text features 

  • Students participate in close reading 

  • Students discuss digital reading 

  • Students review how to find and evaluate credible online sources 

  • Students synthesize and write about what they learned about symbiosis

  • Students build fluency

• Independent Practice
  • Students self-monitor and use “fix-up” strategies 
  • Students determine important ideas 
  • Students use reading strategies, including determining importance and summarizing 
  • Students generate independent thinking
• Word Study
  • Students discuss, read, analyze, and spell polysyllabic words 
  • Students build vocabulary related to the theme of symbiosis 
  • Students read and discuss homophones 
  • Students learn about the prefix multi- and the suffix -ity 
  • Students learn the root vis/vid 
  • Students match words with a suffix to their base words or roots 
  • Students complete a word sort 
  • Students create a word web 
  • Students revisit word collections
• Social Skill Development

  • Students listen respectfully and actively 

  • Students take responsibility for their learning and behavior 

  • Students include everyone in and contribute to the group work 

  • Students give reasons to support their thinking 

  • Students reach agreement before making decisions 

  • Students support one another’s independent work 

  • Students share their ideas with one another 

  • Students give feedback in a helpful way 

  • Students respectfully discuss and solve problems 

  • Students share their partners’ thinking with the class 

  • Students ask clarifying questions

  • Students confirm one another’s thinking 

  • Students reflect on the classroom community and partnerships 

  • Students handle materials responsibly and share them fairly 

  • Students build on one another’s thinking

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Texts

• Symbiosis: How Different Animals Relate 

• “Symbiosis: The Art of Living Together” 

• Polar Bears on the Hunt 

• Ticks 

• When Plants Attack 

• “Casa Iguana”

Unit 6: Persuasive Nonfiction

Topic and Learning Targets

• Comprehension

  • Students learn about the characteristics of persuasive nonfiction 

  • Students use reading strategies, including questioning and determining importance 

  • Students discuss audience and purpose 

  • Students identify and discuss author’s opinions and the reasons and evidence to support their opinions

  • Students discuss aspects of author’s craft that make texts persuasive 

  • Students discuss the organization of nonfiction: compare/contrast and cause/effect 

  • Students distinguish between facts and opinions 

  • Students participate in close reading 

  • Students discuss how an image conveys information and a message 

  • Students use “Written Conversations” 

  • Students share and discuss their own opinions about topics 

  • Students write a persuasive book recommendation 

  • Students build fluency

• Independent Practice
  • Students self-monitor and use “fix-up” strategies
  • Students generate independent thinking
  • Students use reading strategies, including determining importance and summarizing 
  • Students think about author’s purpose, audience, fact, and opinion
• Word Study

  • Students discuss, read, analyze, and spell polysyllabic words 

  • Students read and discuss homophones 

  • Students learn about the prefixes mid- and semi- 

  • Students read, discuss, and draw idioms 

  • Students learn about the Latin roots fac and spec and the Greek root scope 

  • Students practice morphemic transformations 

  • Students read and discuss proverbs and adages 

  • Students revisit word collections​​​

• Social Skill Development
  • Students share their true opinions
  • Students listen and discuss opinions respectfully
  • Students share their partners’ thinking with the class
  • Students include everyone in and contribute to group work
  • Students build on one another’s thinking
  • Students support one another’s independent work
  • Students give feedback in a helpful way
  • Students use “Heads Together”

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Texts

•  “Should More Cities Make It Illegal to Text While Crossing the Street?” 

• “E-Books Rule!” 

• “Real Books Are Best” 

• “Year-Round School? No, Thank You!” 

• “Benefits of a Balanced School Calendar” 

• “Meat Is Here to Stay” 

• “Move Over, Meat!”

Unit 7: Drama

Topic and Learning Targets

• Comprehension

  • Students listen to and discuss a play 

  • Students use reading strategies, including making inferences, questioning, determining importance, and visualizing 

  • Students discuss the play’s story arc and story elements, including character, setting, challenge or problem, and theme 

  • Students participate in a close reading 

  • Students review and practice fluency skills they have learned, including reading with attention to punctuation, phrasing, and emphasizing certain words

  • Students perform dramatic readings of a play 

  • Students work in groups to write and discuss facts and opinions about the genres 

  • Students compare the play and book version to identify similarities and differences across genres

  • Students reflect on the reading community

• Independent Practice
  • Students self-monitor and use “fix-up” strategies 
  • Students think about story elements, including character, setting, plot, and theme 
  • Students notice dialogue
  • Students use reading strategies 
  • Students generate independent thinking
• Word Study

  • Students discuss, read, analyze, and spell polysyllabic words 

  • Students read and discuss homophones 

  • Students match prefixes with their meanings 

  • Students compare sets of words 

  • Students combine word parts to create and read words 

  • Students discuss an idiom and a proverb 

  • Students generate and categorize words 

  • Students analyze and sort words 

  • Students locate words with suffixes in texts they are reading independently 

  • Students review figurative language, including similes and metaphors 

  • Students make connections among the meanings of roots 

  • Students invent new words 

  • Students think about shades of meaning 

  • Students learn about and discuss riddles called “hink pinks” and puns 

  • Students revisit word collections

• Social Skill Development
  • Students take responsibility for their learning and behavior
  • Students listen respectfully and actively
  • Students share their ideas and explain their thinking 
  • Students contribute ideas that are different from other people’s ideas
  • Students reach agreement before making decisions
  • Students give feedback in a helpful way
  • Students express interest in and appreciation for their classmates’ performances 
  • Students solve problems respectfully 
  • Students agree and disagree in a caring way 
  • Students work responsibly in pairs 
  • Students reflect on partnerships 
  • Students discuss their growth as members of the classroom community

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Texts

•  The Magic Brocade

Life Science: Human Body, Vision, & the Brain Unit (Human Machine)

Learning Targets

• Students construct a model of the human hand to explain how muscles pull on bones to create movement
• Students develop a working model of an eye. They use the model to reason about how light reflects off an object and into the eye, helping an organism process information from the environment
• Students use their eye model to discover that the pupil controls the amount of light let into the eye. In the dark, pupils get larger to let in more light
• Students investigate how their own brain works by testing their reflexes. They discover that the brain receives information from the senses, processes the information, and sends signals to the muscles to enable movement

Earth & Space Science: Earth's Features & Processes Unit (The Birth of Rocks)

Learning Targets

• Students use coordinates to develop a map of volcanoes to discover a pattern of where volcanoes exist on Earth. Students identify the pattern of volcanoes in the “Ring of Fire”
• Students investigate the properties of thin and thick lava by attempting to create air bubbles. Students realize that thick lava will cause a volcano to explode, while thin lava will not
• Students make observations of the effects of weathering to discover that rocks will become rounded and break into small pieces when they tumble down a mountain
• Students create a model canyon and use the pattern of fossils found in each rock layer to support the explanation that the landscape has changed many times over millions of years
• Students generate multiple possible solutions to protect homes from a landslide. Students realize that there are many causes for the erosion that causes rocks to fall in landslides

Physical Science: Sound, Waves, & Communication Unit (Waves of Sound)

Learning Targets

• Students explore how digital devices encode complex information. Students generate their own codes in order to transfer information across the classroom. Then, they compare their codes and evaluate which worked best given the criteria and constraints
• Students investigate sound energy using paper cup telephones. Students figure out that sound is a vibration that can travel through a medium
• Students construct a model of sound vibrations to explain how air is a medium that sound vibrations travel through
• Students make observations of vibrations and sound waves to discover that high pitch sounds vibrate faster and have short wavelengths and low pitch sounds vibrate slower and have long wavelengths

Physical Science: Energy, Energy Transfer, & Electricity (Energizing Everything)

Learning Targets

• Students learn about stored energy and about the relationship between motion and energy. Students build models of an amusement park ride and discover how energy can be stored in materials. Stored energy can be converted to speed
• Students build a model of a roller coaster and carry out an investigation using marbles. Students learn that lifting an object up stores energy in the object. When the object falls, that stored energy is released. They realize that energy is transferred when objects collide
• Students investigate how energy transfers when objects collide. In the activity, Bumper Jumper, students ask questions and make predictions about how far a marble will launch over a jump after colliding with other objects
• Students experiment with ways to store and release energy, creating the beginning of a chain reaction machine with a lever and a ramp. Students figure out that a domino standing on end is storing energy, only requiring a small amount of energy (a tiny push) to release the stored energy
• Students continue to build a chain reaction machine — identifying a goal, brainstorming and testing multiple ideas, and determining an optimal solution. The chain reaction machine uses multiple components to transfer energy from one part to the next
• Students design a flashlight with an on/off switch, using batteries, flights, and tin foil. Students figure out that electricity can be transformed to other forms of energy, such as movement, light, and heat
• Students build a paper spinner and conduct an investigation to explain how heat makes things move. Students realize that heat energy can be transformed into motion energy using a turbine
• Students evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of wind, water, and solar energy to power a town. Students obtain and evaluate information about the needs of each source of energy and analyze and interpret data about the town’s resources

Unit 1: The Writing Community

Learning Targets

• Students get ideas for writing from read-alouds
• Students are part of a caring writing community
• Students draft many pieces in a variety of genres

 

Unit 2: The Writing Process

Learning Targets

• Students select drafts to develop and publish
• Students revise drafts
• Students proofread for spelling and conventions
• Students write final versions and publish

 

Unit 3: Personal Narrative

Learning Targets

• Students write about single, interesting events or topics from students' own lives
• Students use transitional words and phrases
• Students explore strong opening sentences and endings that draw a story's events to a close

Unit 4: Fiction

Learning Targets

• Students develop interesting plots that make sense
• Students use sensory details to develop a story's setting
• Students use interesting objectives
• Students punctuate speech

 

One-Week Narrative Writing Unit

 

Unit 5: Expository Nonfiction (Informative Writing)

Learning Targets

• Students collaborate with a partner to research and write a report about a country
• Students explore expository text features to include in reports (e.g., author, biography sections, tables of contents)
• Students take research notes and organize them by topic

 

One Week Informative/Explanatory Writing Unit

Unit 6: Functional Writing (Explanatory Writing)

Learning Targets

• Students write directions for recipes, drawing cartoons, and games
• Students explore audience, purpose, sequence, accuracy, completeness, and clarity in directions

 

Unit 7: Opinion Writing

Learning Targets

• Students identify audience and purpose for opinion writing
• Students write clear statements of opinion supported by reasons
• Students explore clear, direct openings openings and conclusions that restate the opinion

 

One Week Opinion Writing Unit

 

Unit 8: Poetry

Learning Targets

• Students explore imagery, sound, and form poetry
• Students tab into creativity

 

Unit 9: Revisiting the Writing Community

Learning Targets

• Students reflect on growth as writers and as community members
• Students plan summer writing