At-a-Glance Chart | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA G4:M2

Researching to Build Knowledge and Teach Others: Animal Defense Mechanisms

Each module is approximately 6-8 weeks of instruction broken into 3 units. The "week at a glance" chart in the curriculum map gives the big picture, breaking down the module into a detailed week-by-week view. It shows how the module unfolds, the focus of each week of instruction, and where the six assessments and the performance task occur.

Weeks 1-3 Unit 1: Building Background Knowledge: Animal Defenses and the Research Process

Instructional FocusCCS StandardsAssessments
  • Building Background Knowledge: What Are Defense Mechanisms, and How Do They Help Animals Survive?
  • Building Background Knowledge: What Do Researchers Do?
  • Listening Closely to Paraphrase Information about Animal Defenses
  • Reading Closely about Animals and Their Defenses
  • Science Talk: Synthesizing What We Know about the Animal Defense Mechanisms
  • Listening Closely: Learning about Millipedes and Their Defenses
  • Reading Closely about Millipedes
  • Science Talk: Synthesizing What We Know about the Millipede
  • Setting the Purpose for a Deeper Study of Animal Defense Mechanisms
  • RL.4.10
  • RI.4.1
  • RI.4.2
  • RI.4.4
  • RI.4.7
  • RI.4.8
  • RI.4.10
  • W.4.5
  • W.4.7
  • W.4.8
  • SL.4.1
  • SL.4.1a 
  • SL.4.1b
  • SL.4.1c
  • SL.4.2
  • SL.4.6
  • L.4.4
  • L.4.4a
  • L.4.4b
  • L.4.4c
  • Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Reading about Caterpillars, Answering Questions, and Determining the Main Idea (RI.4.2 , RI.4.4, and RI.4.7)
  • End of Unit 1 Assessment: Answering Questions and Summarizing Texts about Animal Defense Mechanisms (RI.4.1, RI.4.2, and SL.4.2)

Weeks 4-5 Unit 2: Using Writing to Inform

Instructional FocusCCS StandardsAssessments
  • Reading Scientific Text: Reading Closely about a Chosen Animal
  • Science Talk: Synthesizing What We Know about Our Researched Animal
  • Setting a Purpose for Writing: Creating a Rubric for Informative Paragraphs
  • Writing Informative Texts: Sequencing Ideas and Using Research Notes
  • Writing Informative Texts: Revising Paragraphs for Organization, Concrete Details
  • RI.4.1
  • RI.4.2
  • RI.4.4
  • RI.4.9
  • RI.4.10
  • W.4.2
  • W.4.2a
  • W.4.2b
  • W.4.2d
  • W.4.2e
  • W.4.4
  • W.4.5
  • W.4.7
  • W.4.8
  • W.4.9
  • W.4.9b
  • SL.4.1
  • SL.4.1b
  • L.4.1
  • L.4.1c
  • L.4.2
  • L.4.2a
  • L.4.2c
  • L.4.2d
  • L.4.3
  • L.4.3a
  • L.4.3c
  • L.4.4
  • L.4.6
  • Mid-Unit 2 Assessment: Reading and Researching the Defense Mechanisms of the Pufferfish (RI.4.1, RI.4.2, W.4.7, and W.4.8)
  • End of Unit 2 Assessment: Writing an Informative Text about Pufferfish Defense Mechanisms (RI.4.9, W.4.2a, W.4.2b, W.4.2d, W.4.2e, W.4.4, W.4.7, W.4.8, 4.9b, L.4.2a, L.4.2c, L.4.2d and L.4.3a)

Weeks 6-8 Unit 3: Using Writing to Entertain

Instructional FocusCCS StandardsAssessments
  • Writing Informative Texts: Revising Paragraphs Based on Peer Critique
  • Introducing the Format: Choose-Your-Own-Adventure
  • Setting a Purpose for Writing: Understanding the Performance Task
  • Setting a Purpose for Writing: Creating a Rubric for Narrative Writing
  • Writing Narrative Texts: Creating a Character Profile
  • Writing Narrative Texts: Orienting the Reader and Introducing the Characters
  • Writing Narrative Texts: Including Dialogue and Description
  • Writing Narrative Texts: Using Transition Words
  • Writing Narrative Texts: Using Concrete Words and Phrases and Sensory Details
  • Publishing the Performance Task: Citing Sources and Authors' Celebration
  • RL.4.10
  • RI.4.9
  • RI.4.10
  • W.4.2
  • W.4.3
  • W.4.3a
  • W.4.3b
  • W.4.3c
  • W.4.3d
  • W.4.3e
  • W.4.4
  • W.4.5
  • W.4.6
  • W.4.7
  • W.4.8
  • W.4.9
  • W.4.9b
  • W.4.10
  • SL.4.1
  • SL.4.1b
  • L.4.1
  • L.4.1d
  • L.4.2
  • L.4.2a
  • L.4.2b
  • L.4.2d
  • L.4.3
  • L.4.3a
  • L.4.3b
  • L.4.3c
  • L.4.6
  • Mid-Unit 3 Assessment: Planning for and Drafting an Introduction for the Choose-Your-Own Adventure Animal Defenses Narrative (W.4.3a W.4.3d and W.4.4)
  • End of Unit 3 Assessment: Writing Choice #2 of the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Animal Defense Mechanisms Narrative (W.4.3b, W.4.3c, W.4.3d, W.4.3e, W.4.2a, and W.4.4)
  • Performance Task: Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Animal Defense Mechanisms Narrative (RI.4.9, W.4.2, W.4.3, W.4.7, W.4.8, and W.4.9b)

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