This thematic unit provides everything you need to do a thematic study of literature for your ELA course. I use this unit in my Honors English 10 class, but it can be used in any core or Pre-AP® class for 9-12 ELA. Studying literature in a thematic way keeps student engaged and offers a variety of examples and voices for students to examine the selected theme. In this thematic unit, which studies disillusionment, students will analyze, discuss, and write about the following texts and selections: Zootopia (film clip) "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes "APO 96225" by Larry Rottmann "The First Day" by Edward P. Jones "The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury The Truman Show (dir. Peter Weir) "The Last Flower" by James Thurber This resource includes a variety of formative assessments, including graphic organizers, gallery walks, worksheets, and paragraph writing. The summative assessments are a text-based test and analytical essay. Text-based tests emphasize close reading and prepare students for standardized test questions in their future. You can buy this unit as a bundle, which includes materials for Fahrenheit 451, which acts as the anchor text in this unit.
Learn about all aspects of water with the Mother Goose Time Bubbles Boats & Floats Preschool Theme including rivers, bubbles, boats, rafts and rainbows.
The start to the school year for newcomer ELLs can be overwhelming and nerve-wracking. It is our job to set them up with tools to help them feel comfortable exploring a new language in a
Discover the Llamitas Spanish Level 3 Curriculum. 6 thematic units with an anthology of beautiful Latin American folktales.
Here are examples of thematic unit ideas for high school English. Explore thematic units and the best ways to deliver them to your students!
This spring thematic unit for kindergarten is a great way to help students practice writing as they learn more about the science of spring and plants!
"He Iti te Kupu: Māori Metaphors and Similes" is an essential resource for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of te reo Māori. This comprehensive guide presents nearly 500 sayings, each drawn from various elements of the natural world and tied to human experiences, events, or contexts. The dual-language layout, with texts in both Māori and English, makes it accessible to learners and fluent speakers alike. Divided into thematic sections like birds, body parts, and animals, this book not only teaches the sayings but also explores their meanings, uses, and cultural significance. The title, inspired by the proverb "The words are small, yet their meanings are substantial," highlights the profound impact these sayings have in the Māori cultural landscape. Authored by Hona Black, a respected lecturer with deep roots in Māori education and language revitalisation, "He Iti te Kupu" serves as an invaluable tool for educators, students, and anyone passionate about incorporating nuanced Māori figures of speech into their daily communications. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned speaker, this book will enrich your linguistic journey, providing a bridge to both the language and the worldview of te reo Māori. Author Hona Black (Tūhoe, Te Whānau a Apanui, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) lectures on the post-graduate diploma in teaching for Māori medium schools at Te Pūtahi a Toi: School of Māori Knowledge at Massey University in Palmerston North. He has worked as the Senior Māori Adviser on Massey’s Wellington campus, and been Head of Te Reo Māori at Hato Pāora College in Feilding. Publishing Details Publisher: Oratia Media | Oratia Books Authors: Hona Black Published: 4 February 2021 Pages: 232 Format: Paperback Dimensions: 210x148x18mm ISBN: 9780947506919
Welcome to the Harbor + Sprout Human Body Patchwork Study, originally released in October 2022 and updated in August 2024. This unit study features 4 weeks of curriculum, lesson plans, and materials covering all 9 of our core subjects plus a playful supplemental section of thematic activities. This unit study is meant for use by children ages 3-12. This unit is delivered via a secure link as a digital download. Shop our corresponding Morning Basket Pack by Rebecca Clarke of Whimsy Printables here! CONTENT: Handbook Daily, weekly, and monthly planning pages Booklist including stories, poems, and field guides with recommended ages, subject correspondence, and brief summaries for each title Lesson plans for 4 levels of learning Family read-aloud recommendations Character kit- new monthly character illustrated by Stephanie Groves to act as your guide through the unit Unit Recipe Supply List LESSONS Science Week 1: What Are Bones?: Bones are a very important part of your body. Discover why you need bones in your body and what bones are made of. Use this knowledge to imagine what life would be like without bones. Complete an experiment to find out what happens to bones if they become too brittle or too bendy. Week 2: Bones of the Body: There are 206 bones in your body. Learn the names of some of the bones. Find out where they are located and what they are called. Label the skeleton page using the provided labels or write the answers in yourself. Enjoy a skeleton coloring page. Complete Matching Bones and Skeleton Study worksheets. Week 3: The Skull: Study the many different bones that make up the skull. Find out where each bone is and what it does. Cut out the labels and label the skull with the correct names. Complete the coloring page. Put together a skeleton puzzle and fill out the Skull Study worksheet. Week 4: The Way We Walk: Learn about the different ways that our bone structure makes it possible for us to walk upright. Compare the way humans walk to the way other animals walk. Explore the benefits of walking upright. Identify human footprints. Study your own footprint. Nature Study Week 1: Air: Immerse yourself in a comprehensive study of the oxygen cycle and the respiratory cycle. Learn how these two cycles are connected and how important oxygen is to our bodies. Complete a respiratory system model activity. Make a working model of your lungs. Compare the vital and tidal lung volumes of different members of your family. Week 2: Water: Study the water cycle of our planet. Follow a water molecule through the digestive system and learn what happens at each stop along the way. Learn the different ways our body uses water. Create a model of the human digestive system using play dough. Complete a digestion demonstration activity. Start a new, healthy habit with your family by completing the water challenge! Week 3: Sun: Learn about the Sun and the different kinds of light it produces. Find out why our bodies need sunshine. Discover what a circadian rhythm is. Study the parts of the eye and learn what each part does. Create a hands-on play dough model of the human eye. Conduct an experiment to study your body's circadian rhythm. Week 4: Earth: Discover the most common microbes that live in and around you. Find out about your personal microbiome and how to have a diverse, healthy microbiome. Learn the difference between bacteria, prebiotics, probiotics, and pathogens. Play the Gut Gains card game. Create a model of an E. coli bacteria. Language Arts Week 1: Anatomy Words: Learn about anatomy vocabulary words through the provided activities. Study the -one family of words. Explore the definitions of the words provided. Practice spelling anatomy vocabulary. Have fun unscrambling the anatomy words and completing the word search. Study the etymology of vocabulary words. Week 2: Ode to my Skeleton: Discover what an ode is. Get comfy and enjoy a poetry tea time while reading or listening to "Ode to my Skeleton." Draw a picture or write about the thoughts and feelings you had while listening to or reading the poem. Complete the poetry study worksheet. Write your own ode to your skeleton! Fill the letter "S" with skeleton parts. Practice writing or tracing the word skeleton. Week 3: Comparatives and Superlatives: Discover what comparatives and superlatives are. Learn how to make superlatives and comparatives out of adjectives. Use the sight word cards to practice. Draw a family picture and assign some fun superlatives to your family members. Complete the comparatives and superlatives worksheet. Week 4: Latin Plurals: Many of our body parts have Latin names. Discover how to pluralize these Latin words. Practice pluralizing words with the Latin noun cards. Sort the singular and plural bone cards. Complete the Latin noun worksheet. Writing Week 1: How to Solve a Problem: Discover what persuasive writing is and how it is used. Learn about the elements involved in an essay to solve a problem. Brainstorm about a problem you want fixed! Write an essay about your problem and solution to that problem. Week 2: Opinion Writing: Learn about opinion writing. Explore what a position statement is. Practice writing position statements. Learn about concluding sentences. Brainstorm about an opinion you have. Write down a position statement, reasons you feel this way, and a concluding sentence. Write an essay about your opinion. Week 3: Writing for a Change: Study how to write to achieve a change. Explore emotional appeal. Practice adding positive and negative emotional appeal to your writing. Brainstorm changes that you want to see, including how you feel about that change. Use your brainstorm sheet to write an essay about a change you want to see. Week 4: Persuasive Writing Project: Learn about places where we encounter persuasive writing every day. Discover different ways to publish persuasive writing. Choose a persuasive writing project to publish. Have fun creating a fun, creative project that includes a topic, supporting reasons, and a conclusion. History Week 1: Inside the Human Body: Review who a doctor is by filling out the Who is a Doctor? worksheet. Find out how the study of medicine has evolved. Learn what an x-ray is and the way that x-rays were accidentally discovered. Study about the inventor of the x-ray, then complete the Invention Report worksheet. Week 2: Listening to the Body: Find out what a stethoscope is and what it is used for. Discover how it was invented and who invented it. Learn how to measure your own heart rate by counting your pulse! Compare your heart rate when you're at rest to your heart rate when you've been exercising. Complete the Invention Report worksheet. Week 3: Helping You See Better: Learn about the invention of eyeglasses and the many improvements that have been made on eyeglasses through the centuries. Read about Benjamin Franklin and his contribution to eyeglasses. Test your own eyesight with the included sheet. Complete the Eyeglasses Matching worksheet. Fill out the 5 W's Invention Report. Week 4: Getting Your Vitamin C: Study the history of scurvy and how it can be prevented. Learn about the importance of getting enough vitamin C and which foods are high in vitamin C. Color in the Vitamin C Coloring Page. Taste test fruits and vegetables high in vitamin C then rate them on the Vitamin C Taste Testing Sheet. Complete the 5 W's Invention Report about the study of the prevention of scurvy. Geography Week 1: Greece: Find Greece on the world map. Discover some interesting facts about Greece including its national flower, national capital, its geographic formations, and many more. Color the Greek flag, and study the trivia cards included. Week 2: Maps: Trace the continent of Europe and the country of Greece. Identify Europe and Greece on the world map. Locate the Aegean Sea. Cut out the labels and use them to label the map of Greece. Week 3: Greek Culture and Traditions: Learn about the culture of Greece. Find out which language is spoken, what kind of food they eat, and how they celebrate big events. Study the Greek alphabet. Complete the alphabet matching page. Trace the Greek proverb. Week 4: Hippocrates: Explore the history of Hippocrates. Learn about some of the Greek roots that make up common medical terms. Match the medical terms to their definitions. Complete the tracing sheets. Music Week 1: Body Percussion: Learn about body percussion. What are some different ways that you can use your body to make music? Find out about how different cultures and groups around the world use their bodies as instruments to make music. Enjoy one or all of the body percussion activities. Week 2: Ostinato: Learn what ostinato means. Listen to the song "Bittersweet Symphony" and see if you can hear the ostinato in that song. Draw or write your thoughts in the space provided. Experiment with ostinatos and body percussion. Create your own body percussion ostinato. Have fun with pots and pans percussion! Week 3: Music and the Five Senses: If music could make us see, taste, hear, smell, or feel, what would that song sound like? Different songs help us experience different sensations. Listen to the songs provided and consider how they relate to your five senses. Write down your thoughts on the worksheets provided. Week 4: The Greek Lyre: Discover what a Greek lyre is. Find out its significance in Greek culture. Enjoy creating your own lyre. Write your own original poem or copy down a poem you know to recite while you play your lyre. Have fun performing a lyre concert! Art Week 1: Body: Learn about Leonardo da Vinci and how he studied and drew the human body. Create your own Vitruvian Man. Practice blind contour drawing by making a blind contour self portrait. Explore the human organs with cardboard organ stamping. Study the different body systems with Kirigami body systems dolls. Week 2:Skeleton: Read the artist spotlight on Jean-Michel Basquait. Learn about his famous and colorful art. Create a Basqua
Wondering what a world literature high school curriculum could look like? Curious how you can build world literature thematic units? Are you trying to get together your World Literature pacing guid…
Here are examples of thematic unit ideas for high school English. Explore thematic units and the best ways to deliver them to your students!
As we are working on the theme of transportation, this worksheet gives ESOL learners the chance to practice using in, on, by with means of transport. I hope some of you find it helpful. - ESL worksheets
Amelia Earhart Unit Study. Great for use in homeschool setting with mutliple grades from Kindergarten to older. Print and go worksheets with activities, book suggestions and more.
By Presto Plans Understanding and identifying theme is a higher-order skill that often leaves many students scratching their heads. In fact, many teachers are struggling along side their students trying to find ways help them understand this challenging concept. It is no easy task to get students to make text connections and think inferentially, but hopefully these tips, examples, and resources will help you along the way. Don’t Jump In Too Early One mistake that many teachers make is jumping into identifying and analyzing the theme too early after reading a text. Before you ask students, “What is the theme?” they first need to have a solid grasp of the more literal story elements of the text (plot, setting, characters etc.). Not only that, but identifying and analyzing theme is a skill that requires explicit teaching and practice. While it can be tempting to want to dive into discussing the deeper meaning or purpose of a reading, that should be reserved for a later date when students have a solid grasp on the text they are reading as well as on the meaning of theme. Clearly Define Theme Before students can analyze theme, they need to have a deep understanding of the meaning of the term. Ask your students for a definition of theme, and you will probably hear one or more of the following responses: While the main idea, topic, and moral do relate in some ways to theme, they are not correct. Before I define theme for my students, I differentiate between these terms using Little Red Riding Hood as an example: I teach my students that the theme is a significant idea/statement that the story is making about society, human nature, or the human condition. Theme focuses on the deeper meaning or message that the reader is meant to consider, and it is often a statement that people can apply to their own lives or world in some way. Too often I hear people use a one-word topic to label a theme. For example, someone might say the theme of a text is freedom, power, family, love etc. Make sure your students know that a theme can never be just one word. These words are topics that are important to the text, but it does not become a theme until a statement is made about the topic! Start Simple and Scaffold Start with a simple children’s book or film to help your students practice identifying theme (Disney movies or Dr. Seuss books tend to work well). Once students are familiar with the plot, use the following scaffolded approach below to help them develop a thematic statement: 1. Have students develop a list of topics that are examined in the reading/film and choose one. For example, some common topics in literature are family, loyalty, identity, ambition, guilt, fear, power, sacrifice, love, trust, ignorance, freedom etc. 2. Have students write a specific sentence about what the author thinks about the topic you chose. (For example, “The author thinks that… power is a corrupting force”). 3. Remove “The author thinks that” from your sentence and rewrite any necessary parts to form a thematic statement! (For example, “Power is a corrupting force”). Click HERE for a free organizer to help students write a thematic statement using this approach. After students are familiar with the process with a simple text or film, it will more easily translate when they apply it to a poem short story, novel, or play they are reading in class. Prove It To Me Have students put their thematic statement to the test to make sure that it can be supported with direct evidence from the text. If it can’t be supported, ask them to go back and start the process of identifying another theme. Practice Makes Perfect Here are a couple fun activities to help students practice writing thematic statements: Thematic Journals Have 10-15 small booklets with universal theme topics written on the front of each (Courage, Fear, Friendship, Family, Power, Innocence, Justice, Love, Loyalty, Revenge, Pride, Beauty, Fate, Freedom, Prejudice etc.). If students are reading an independent novel that relates to one of the topics in someway, have them respond with a journal about how the theme of their novel relates to this topic. I ask students to complete at least 2 entries per semester. On the inside cover of each booklet, have the following prompting questions to help students get started: 1. What does the author of the novel you are reading think about this topic? 2. What message do you think the author wants you to consider about this topic? 3. How do you relate personally to the theme of the novel? 4. How does the theme of the novel relate to the world or to humanity in general? 5. Does the theme of this novel remind you of the theme of something else you have read/watched? Students can also read what others have written before them and discuss how their reading relates. Hashtag the Theme Have students differentiate between topic and theme by having them write a thematic statement in the form of a social media post (140 characters or less) with a relevant topic hashtag. This looks great on display in your classroom and allows students to see a variety of examples of how a topic can turn into a thematic statement. Download this free activity/display HERE. There Is No Right Answer Take a bit of the pressure off your students by telling them that there is no right answer when it comes to identifying theme. Interpretation is based on the readers’ prior experiences and knowledge. As long as their thematic statement can be supported by evidence, it is correct! Want more ideas for teaching theme? Click below to check out these other ideas from The Secondary English Coffee Shop bloggers. Main Idea vs Theme from Presto Plans Theme Focus Lesson for Any Novel from The SuperHERO Teacher Discovering Theme Learning Stations from Room 213 SaveSaveSaveSave
ALL ABOUT EARTH Get ready for a month filled with so many fun activities to teach your kiddos all about our planet Earth . I teach this unit in April so it coincides with Earth Day. I’ve loaded up this blog post post with read aloud book ideas, free videos you can share with your students,
Do your students need a lot of repetition and practice to master skills? Do you have students who need direct instruction in order to generalize their skills? Want to make lesson planning easier? If you answered yes, then thematic units are for you!! My job got so much easier when I began using thematic units […]
Photographs are great for inspiring all sort of essay writing from personal narrative writing to literary analysis writing to creative writing. Photographs serve the purpose of inspiring writing in our classes and can be used for writing workshop.
I use the website 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 to find some good thematic worksheet packets for different units we are doing in the classroom. Click here to go directly to the list of preschool packs. The different themes range in topics from favorite characters (like Mickey Mouse and Cars) to holidays, animals (baby animals, birds, bugs, cats, dogs), fairy tale characters (knights, princesses), community workers, and favorite children's books (Brown Bear, Hungry Caterpillar). Since these copy a variety of motivating topics for our kids, these can be used as a more motivating and exciting to way to work on some basic skills. Most of the packets are at least 15 pages, and some have twice that amount. The worksheets cover everything from flashcards, to tracing, pattern, graphing, color/shape/letter identification, cutting, and spelling. Last year, I used the Ocean worksheets to prep my kids on vocabulary before we went to a play about the ocean last year. Here are some of my favorite worksheets from that pack. I had to cut these out and make them into dice for my kids...but then they did great rolling their dice and recording their answers on the graphs. This year, I want to use the Camping pack with my class, since we are going on a field-trip to a camp next weekend. Here are some of my favorite worksheets from that packet! Here are the flashcards for camping vocabulary (they have these for pretty much all thematic packets) Here is a cute sorting task. And more tracing worksheets based on the vocabulary.
Community Helpers Thematic Unit This is a complete 2-week thematic unit on Community Helpers for Pre-k or preschool with ready-to-use lesson plans! All materials are provided in both SPANISH and ENGLISH making them perfect for the dual language, bilingual, ESL, and regular English pre-k classroom. Community Helpers Download Includes: 10-day Lesson Plans with Big Idea & Essential Questions Sample Pre-K Daily Schedule Community Helpers Story Suggestions for Read-Alouds Community Helpers Writer's Workshop Ideas Community Helpers Arts & Crafts Ideas Community Helpers Targeted Vocabulary Cards 10 Community Helpers Centers Simple Bread Recipe (Science Experiment) Family Homework Letter Community Helpers Thematic Writing Paper Community Helpers Vocabulary Chart These Community Helpers Thematic Unit materials are provided in beautiful full color versions as well as black & white masters for easy printing! This is everything you need to teach your 2-week Community Helpers unit! Happy teaching! ************************************************************************* Click the ★green star★ at the top of my store to follow me to be the first to know when new products are released! I discount all new products 50% for the first 24 hours!!!!! Let's CONNECT! My website Pinterest Facebook Instagram Newsletter Sign up for my newsletter and get immediate access to my growing teaching resources library including how to plan thematic units for pre-k and free Bible Songs printable. Looking for more bilingual pre-k resources? Spring Thematic Unit & Lesson Plans - Bilingual Animal Habitats Match-Up Game & Activity - Bilingual Pre-k Assessment Tool, also available in Spanish Zoo Animals Thematic Unit & Lesson Plans for PreK - Bilingual
Learn about people who help us through these COMMUNITY HELPERS FLASHCARDS Free Printable from The Teaching Aunt.
Children playing soccer to color. Soccer Coloring Pages for Kids. Just Color Kids : Coloring Pages for Children
Whether you’re trying to eliminate tons of prep time, save paper, or support ELL students in distance learning, using digital vocabulary units can be extremely helpful activities for ELL newcomers. These digital units target reading,
Teach your students about the parts of a bird with this bird diagram. Help students practice labeling while enjoying a fun coloring activity.
Hello Everyone! It is so nice to have time to put some finishing touches on a couple of units that we have coming up! Another historical figure we will study after Eleanor Roosevelt is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As a nation we celebrate his life daily! Thank you Dr. King! Officially we celebrate on the third Monday of January. I have posted about our activities before, but I went through and cleaned up, and added to my unit. Here are some pics from the updated unit! If you would like the 30 page free printable unit CLICK HERE!! :) My second offering for today is a unit our curriculum team worked on this summer. We had fun integrating reading and social studies and are finding it a natural way to teach and get everything in. This next unit is about other important historical figures. It includes posters about Alexander Graham Bell, Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, Garrett Morgan, and Richard Allen along with reading strategy practice activities. It also includes an invention home project packet for kids. The unit ended up to be over 50 pages! I am excited to include this unit in our curriculum in a few weeks!! Here are a few pics from the unit! For your free 52 page Inventors Unit CLICK HERE!! :) So glad I had time to share these endeavors! Hope you can use at least parts of either one! It is my joy to be able to share and help your journey in the classroom or homefront become a little less stressful. As always, please let me know if this is something you can use, if there are any typos or problems, and if you would like to see something else in particular on this little blog. I hear from teachers and parents from all over the world, and I am so grateful for all of you!! Joyfully! Nancy
Easy way to get students talking, have them fill out this basic cloze activity and then give them 30 seconds to read as much as they can out loud. No younger than 5th grade I think - ESL worksheets
It’s been a crazy 2 weeks here! We just finished up our goal setting conferences, my husband’s best friend from Norway was visiting, my girls (both of them!) were sick, and my hubby is gone again for the weekend. I took my daughter into the clinic yesterday, and the poor thing has pneumonia! Thank goodness for a short school week this week! I’m still catching up on blog posts, so here goes! Here is some of the fun that we had with apples! Math Centers: We practiced patterns with red, yellow and green apple die cuts. The children could decide which patterns they wanted to create – some were ready for more complicated patterns, and others stuck to AB patterns. Counting apple seeds: the children worked on 1:1 correspondence, counting and number writing with this center. 1:1 correspondence and counting again! Number writing and counting Sequencing 1-10. Sorry for the blur! Literacy Centers: My kiddos are LOVING the weekly pocket chart, and I love that parents are seeing the words that we are working on. Thanks, Julie, for introducing me to this idea! Sorting Sounds: Roll and write with beginning sounds: Reading and dobbing sight words: Here are a couple of charts that we did when talking about apples: The pictures are on velcro, so the kids can mix them up and sequence them in the correct order. Again, the parts are on velcro! I forgot to take picture of the kids’ science notebooks, but we also did a taste test, a float/sink experiment, drew an apple tree in each of the four seasons, and labeled the parts of an apple in our science notebooks. This was one of my favorite projects that we did! I saw it on {this blog} first! Thanks, Katie for the great idea! We also did a super cute 10 Apples Up on Top activity that I forgot to take a picture of ….if you look closely in the right hand corner of the above picture you can see a tiny bit of one. Have a great Sunday….all this apple talk makes me want to make some apple pie! It’s too bad our apple tree has not had apples on it yet! I keep my fingers crossed each year for blossoms, but so far, none yet!