As we have all been adjusting to a new normal, we have been amazed (but not at all surprised) by the creativity and resilience teachers everywhere are showing as they grapple with the challenges of school closures. We’ve all been doing our best to help students feel safe during this transition, and now we are beginning to turn our attention toward creating a sense of routine and finding manageable ways to continue student learning.
In this blog post, we will focus on how to use a few of Fishtank’s ELA units to support our youngest learners. We know young children benefit from a sense of structure and continuity—two things that are particularly challenging to come by at this uncertain time.
Focusing on a unit that builds students’ knowledge about a particular topic or theme over the course of several days, instead of trying to teach something new every day, can help students feel a sense of continuity, consistency and predictability. Knowing that they are going to learn about dinosaurs (for example) for the next week or two helps students, and parents, know what to expect. It will also give students an opportunity to continue building the background knowledge we know is so important for long-term reading comprehension.
Below we have identified a few Science & Social Studies units from our ELA curriculum that can most easily be adapted to this format. To make these units as easy to adapt as possible, we are sharing links to read alouds for the core texts or the texts themselves in case you need them.
But first, here are a few simple ideas for how to use them for remote learning.
1. Decide which lessons you will teach.
- Before launching the unit with students, decide which lessons you will use and which lessons to skip. The goal is to build knowledge and engagement, not to teach the unit the way you would normally. Therefore, many lessons in a unit may need to be skipped depending on student needs or available resources. For example, some of the writing lessons in a unit may need additional scaffolding that would be hard to provide at home. Or, some of the texts may not be available or they rely heavily on background knowledge that will be hard to build virtually. This is okay. It’s better to skip a lesson than to give students a task that will be frustrating or unclear.
2. Build student excitement about the topic.
- Before starting the unit, find a way for students to share what they already know about the topic. If you are meeting with your students virtually, have a conversation with students to help build excitement. If you are not meeting with students virtually, have students write or draw what they already know about the topic as a journal entry.
3. Provide students access to the text.
- In K–2, instead of doing a new read aloud everyday, we recommend focusing on one text per week. Students can have the text read to them either by a parent or virtually. In recent weeks, authors, parents, and book-lovers have filmed themselves reading various books and put them online. We’ve compiled links for read-aloud videos of the texts used in our recommended units for remote learning.
- In Grades 3–5, we want students to be reading texts more independently. Many of the texts can be found online from the library.
- Be flexible. It’s okay if you can’t find all of the texts, if you have to switch out texts, or if you have to skip some lessons. The goal is to build content knowledge, not to teach the entire unit exactly as if you were in your classroom.
4. Introduce the text to students before reading.
- Just like before any lesson, you should plan to introduce that day’s/week’s text to students. This helps focus students’ reading and gives you an opportunity to preview any difficult background knowledge, vocabulary, or text structures students might encounter.
- We suggest filming a short video (no more than 5 minutes) of yourself introducing the text to students. The Teach Like a Champion blog has excellent suggestions for how to do this.
- In Grades 3–5, use our unit-level vocabulary resources to introduce key vocabulary words.
5. Provide students opportunities to respond to the text.
- Each day, we suggest students draw or write after hearing or reading the text. You can decide what or how much students do. See our suggestions for weekly routines for Grades K–2 and Grades 3–5.
- We also suggest having students create a unit journal that they can write in at home. See our sample templates for Grades K–2 and Grades 3–5 (also available as Google Docs). Students who are unable to print at home can use any journal to record their thoughts.
- Encourage students to use new vocabulary in their writing. Or, provide students with additional vocabulary activities to do when responding to the text.
- Remember, the goal is to build content knowledge and to keep students engaged. It’s okay if students don’t understand every aspect of the text. Simply keeping track of facts or things they find interesting is enough!
6. Provide students opportunities to respond to each other.
- If possible, have class conversations about texts on Zoom, Google Hangout, or Google Classroom.
- Or, have individual conversations with students over the phone. During these conversations, ask students to share what they have learned.
- In Grades 3–5, students can respond to each other’s thinking on online forums like Google Classroom, Padlet, etc.
- During conversations, encourage students to use any new vocabulary.
7. Encourage students to continue to explore the topic.
- There is so much learning to be done outside of unit texts! We encourage students to do their own research online, read connected texts, or build on the expertise of family members.
- Provide students with suggestions for projects, websites to visit, or additional ways to do research.
Our Unit Recommendations
Kindergarten
Literature Unit 7 – Exploring Life Cycles
Kids love dinosaurs! Through a combination of engaging fiction and nonfiction read alouds, students can learn about different types of dinosaurs.
- Explore unit resources.
- Use this guide to adapt the unit texts and lessons to cover several weeks of instructional time.
- Find videos of the unit texts being read aloud here.
1st Grade
Science & Social Studies Unit 5 – Movements for Equality
In this social justice based unit, students learn about the concepts of fairness and justice and about people who worked to overcome injustices. By reading a series of biographies and narrative nonfiction, students explore the question of how they can promote justice, fairness, and courage in their daily lives to make a difference in the world.
- Find the unit resources here.
- Use this guide to adapt the unit texts and lessons to cover several weeks of instructional time.
- Find videos of the unit texts being read aloud here.
2nd Grade
Science & Social Studies Unit 4 – People Who Changed the World
In this unit, students learn about people who have changed the world by inventing things, standing up for what they believe in, and making the world a better place for everyone.
- Find the unit resources here.
- Use this guide to adapt the unit texts and lessons to cover several weeks of instructional time.
- Find videos of the unit texts being read aloud here.
3rd Grade
Science & Social Studies Unit 1 – Ancient Rome
In this unit, students explore the rise and fall of the ancient Roman Empire and Roman civilization, and its various leaders, routines, and rituals.
- Find the unit resources here.
- Use this guide to adapt the unit texts and lessons to cover several weeks of instructional time.
4th Grade
Science & Social Studies Unit 3 – Politics and People: US Government
In this unit, students explore the structure of the American government, the three branches of government, the history of women’s suffrage, and read biographies about famous Americans who fought for change.
- Find the unit resources here.
- Use this guide to adapt the unit texts and lessons to cover several weeks of instructional time.
5th Grade
Science & Social Studies Unit 1 – Plastic Pollution
In this unit, students explore how plastic pollution is choking the world’s oceans, and explore a variety of solutions for reducing plastic waste and reducing the amount of plastic that ends up in the ocean.
- Find the unit resources here.
- Use this guide to adapt the unit texts and lessons to cover several weeks of instructional time.
If you are looking for resources to teach other elementary ELA units and need our support, don't hesitate reach out with your questions!
Anne Lyneis is the Managing Director of ELA Curriculum and the author of the Literature and Science and Social Studies curriculum for grades K-5. She began her career in education through Teach for America South Louisiana where she fell in love with teaching. She taught elementary school for 8 years in both public and charter schools in Louisiana, Texas, and Massachusetts before joining the Fishtank team. She has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont and a Master’s degree in school leadership from Louisiana State University.