Reading Unit 1- Kindergarten

Unit Theme: We Are Readers at School!

Unit Overview: This unit will introduce students to the structures, procedures, and tasks of being
aware and building upon their schema for reading and writing in school. This unit will integrate literacy
with establishing the foundations of their new learning community. The unit goal is to make reading and
writing real in the students worlds, get students excited and feeling ready to learn, support social
learning, and have them quickly identify themselves as readers. Though embedded in emergent story
books and reading and writing for many purposes, this introductory unit is aimed at building enduring
habits of good reading and writing.

Big Ideas
Students will understand that:
As readers and writers, we go about our
reading and writing with intention and focus
by understanding the variety or purposes
we have.
As readers and writers, we build
relationships around reading and writing,
so that our classroom becomes a
community, which is safe to take risks, to
share ideas, and to ask for help.
As readers and writers, we see,
experience, and understand how books are
filled with information and stories we can
read.
As readers and writers, we utilize our
speaking and listening skills to have
discussions about what we read and write.

Essential Questions

What are the many purposes for writing

that we see in the world around us?
How does our classroom community of
readers and writers work?
What types of ideas are books filled with?
How can we share the ideas weve learned
about, from reading, with others?

Priority Common Core Standards Assessed

RL.K.1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
RFS.K.1 Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.
a. Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page-by-page.
b. Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequence
of letters.
c. Understand that words are separated by spaces in print.
d. Recognize and name all upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
SL.K.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about
kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and
larger groups.
a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns
speaking about the topics and texts under discussion).
b. Continue a conversation through multiple changes.

Secondary Common Core Standards Addressed

Reading-Literature:
RL.K.2, RL.K.3, RL.K.4, RL.K.5, RL.K.6, RL.K.7, RL.K.10
Reading- Informational Text:
RI.K.1, RI.K.2, RI.K.4, RI.K.5,RI.K.7, RI.K.10
Reading- Foundational Skills:
RF.K.3, RF.K.4
Writing:
W.K.2, W.K.8
Speaking and Listening:
SL.K.5, SL.K.6
Language:
L.K.1, L.K.2, L.K.6

Reading Unit 1- Kindergarten

Bilingual Priority Standards

Spanish Language Arts (SLA) Standards
Spanish Language Development Standard 1: Emergent bilinguals communicate for Social and
Instructional purposes within the school setting
Spanish Language Development Standard 2: Emergent bilinguals communicate information, ideas and
concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of
Language Arts

English Language Development (ELD) Standards

English Language Development Standard 1: English language learners communicate for Social and
Instructional purposes within the school setting
English Language Development Standard 2: English language learners communicate information, ideas
and concepts necessary for academic success in the content
area of Language Arts

Reading Strategies and Skills Aligned with Unit Priority Standards (RL.K.1,
RFS.K.1, and SL.K.1)
Solving Words
Recognize easy high frequency words with support of language structure
Locate the first and last letters of words in continuous text
Searching for & Using Information
Read left to right across more than a line of print, and return sweep to the next line of print
Search for and use information in pictures and print
Remember and use language patterns to help reading a text
Summarizing
Remember and use details when discussing a story
Predicting
Use knowledge of language structure to anticipate the text
Make predictions using information from pictures
Oral Communication
Active Listening
Social interaction around texts
Active Speaking
Speech conventions
Phonics, Spelling & Word Study
Early Literacy
Distinguish between print & pictures
Concepts
Understand the purpose of print in reading and writing
Recognize ones name
Using letters in ones name to represent it or write a
message
Understand the concepts of letter
Understand the concepts of first and last in written
language
Understand that one spoken word matches one group of
letters
Use ones name to learn about words and make
connections to words
Phonological
Connect words by sounds
Awareness
Hear and say rhyming words
Hear and segment onsets and rimes
Hear and say beginning phonemes in words
Letter Knowledge
Understand the concept of a letter

Reading Unit 1- Kindergarten

High-Frequency
Words
Word-Solving Actions

Distinguish letter forms

Produce letter names
Categorize letters by features (slanted or straight lines,
circles, tunnels, tails, dots, talls/shorts)
Recognize uppercase and lowercase letters
Understand that words are made up of letters
Recognize letters in words
Recognize letters in continuous text
Using efficient and consistent motions to form letters
*Start word wall with student names to support Name Study
Recognize and locate words (names)
Make connections between names and other words
Say words slowly to hear sounds in sequence

Interdisciplinary Unit Components

Social Science: This unit integrates NCSS theme of People, Places, and School Environment by
introducing the students to the learning community they will be a part of, and the rights/responsibilities of
being a part of that community. The unit will also focus of the theme of Individual, Development, and
Identity, as students begin to create their identity as kindergarten students. This is a primary focus of the
unit, as this is many of the students first experience with being away from their families and creating their
own identities as students.
Science: Through the literature used in this unit, students will explore various animals and their habitats.
Students will discuss the animals realistic habitats and compare them to the environments that the
authors of the mentor texts have placed the animals in.
Writing: Modeled writing will be interwoven throughout the unit to help students focus on the alphabetic
principle. This unit will strive to teach students that oral language has a written counterpart. This unit will
also integrate shared writing and interactive writing to demonstrate to students the patterns and structures
of written language. With guidance and support from the teacher, the students will recall general
information and details from the texts, to answer a question.

Text Resources (Read aloud texts varying between literature and informational)
English Anchor Texts:
Will I Have a Friend
Owl Babies
Look Out, Kindergarten, Here I come!
This is the way we go to school
Splat, the Cat Goes to School
First Day Jitters
Kissing Hand
No, David!
Chrysanthemum
Wemberly Worried
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom ABC
If You Take a Mouse to School
Always Thinking About You
I Dont Want to go to School

Spanish Anchor Texts:

Las Lechucitas = Owl Babies
Preparate, Kindergarten! Alla voy!
Asi Vamos a la Escuela
El Gato Splat
Que Nervios! El Primer Dia de Escuela
Un Beso en Mi Mano
No, David!
Crisantemo
Prudencia Se Preocupa
Chica Chica Bum Bum ABC
Si Leevas un Raton a la Escuela
Siempre Pienso en ti
No quiero ir a la escuela

Academic Vocabulary Necessary for Understanding the Content

letters, print/text, uppercase, lowercase, first, last, words, title, author, illustrator, illustrations/pictures, details, fiction,
beginning, middle, end, character, school, community, members

Reading Unit 1- Kindergarten

Grouping Strategies

Flexible grouping strategies will be used to team up students with related backgrounds and skill levels, so
they collaborate with each other for learning activities in this unit. A heterogeneous strategy that will be used
is to pair students with low language proficiency levels with students with a higher language proficiency
level.
Social, as well as academic, language modeling opportunities are plentiful in this unit, as a reflection of the
SL.K.1 standard. Students will work in pairs, and small groups, for discussions and activities.

Accommodations for Diverse Learners

Integration of students native cultures and American culture are woven into the lessons and learning
activities in the classroom
Incorporate many possible cultures and references to diverse students and their communities.
Preferential seating for group and partnered discussions
Academic vocabulary will be taught in depth and reviewed frequently, connecting the vocabulary to the
task.
Additional support will be given in a small group
Concepts can be taught in an environment with minimal distractions
During classroom discussions, conduct frequent checks for understanding and allow adequate wait time for
student responses
Emphasize visual images within the story to support comprehension

Unit Learning Activities and Learning Style Addressed

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Group discussion
Think-Pair-Share
Turn and talk
Think and share sheets
Read Alouds: Connecting to Literature
Teaching Printing in a Systematic Fashion
Extending the Learning to Sight Words, Word
Families and Other Concepts
8. Members of a School Community Poster
9. Members of a Classroom Community

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Verbal
Visual
Kinesthetic
Auditory/Verbal
Auditory/Verbal
Auditory/Visual
Kinesthetic/Visual/Verbal/Auditory
Visual
Visual

ASSESSMENT
Summative Assessment of Priority Standards:
RL.K.1.
Students will listen to a book introduction and portion of the story as a whole group. At a designated
stopping point, each student will describe key details from the text in drawing and/or writing, in response
to a text-specific question. At a later point, students will listen to an additional portion of the text as a
whole group. Using their earlier work, students will build upon it by describing more key details from the
text in drawing and/or writing, in response to a text-specific question. A rubric will be used to assess the
students responses.
SL.K.1
The day following the RL.K.1 assessment, the students will meet with the teacher in groups of six,
reviewing their drawing/writing from Task 1. Given an assigned partner and review of the reading and
work from RL.L.1 assessment, students will discuss the key details from the text which is represented in
their drawing/writing, and ask their partners questions about the details represented. The teacher will use
the Speaking and Listening rubric to assess students discussions.
RFS.K.1
In a whole group Shared Reading method and with a big book, each student will take a turn leading the
class in the reading and demonstrate their print concept understanding. The teacher may use specific
prompts to elicit this demonstration. Students will then meet with a partner to explain print concepts that
they have learned throughout the unit to their partner. Teacher will use the RFS.K.1 checklist to assess
students understanding.

Reading Unit 1- Kindergarten

Formative Assessment of Priority and Secondary Standards:
Anecdotal/formative written records of students reading behaviors via teachers and student work