Unit 5 — Lead the Way
Description
Unit 5 examines leadership qualities and what makes an effective leader. Students read about real and fictional leaders who demonstrate kindness, responsibility, and respect. Texts include biographies, realistic fiction, and informational pieces that help students understand how leaders solve problems, make decisions, and inspire others. The unit develops skills in identifying main ideas, understanding text structure, and writing informational text.
Essential Questions
- What are the qualities of a good leader?
Learning Objectives
- Identify main ideas and supporting details in informational texts
- Use illustrations and text features to understand information
- Apply suffixes -y and -ly to understand word meanings
- Use prefixes dis- to understand word meanings
- Identify and describe words that name people (nouns)
- Write informational texts about topics with facts and details
- Decode multisyllabic words with long vowel patterns
Suggested Texts
- Seed by Seed: The Legend and Legacy of John "Appleseed" Chapman — legend (week 1)
- My Dream Playground — realistic fiction (week 2)
- Whoosh! — biography (week 3)
Supplemental Resources
- Graphic organizers for main idea and details
- Printed biographies and informational texts about leaders
- Word cards for suffix and prefix practice
- Chart paper for collaborative informational writing
- Newspaper or magazine clippings featuring leaders and achievements
Language
Reading: Informational Text
Reading: Literature
Speaking and Listening
Writing
Students explore citizenship, community roles, leadership qualities, and cultural traditions through reading and writing. Lessons emphasize responsible citizenship, government leaders, and diverse cultures.
Formative Assessments
- Text feature and illustration interpretation activities
- Suffix -y, -ly and prefix dis- practice
- Main idea and supporting details identification tasks
- Informational writing with fact and detail organization
Summative Assessment
Selection quizzes, weekly assessments, and module assessment measuring informational text comprehension and writing
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding of leadership qualities through oral discussion with the teacher or a partner instead of written responses. Visual supports such as picture cards of leadership behaviors and sentence frames (e.g., 'A good leader is... because...') may be provided to help students organize and express their ideas.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
During reading tasks focused on identifying main ideas and supporting details, provide graphic organizers with visual frames that help students distinguish the central idea from details, and allow oral responses or dictation as an alternative to written output when appropriate. For word study involving suffixes and prefixes, offer visual word-building supports such as color-coded base words and affixes so students can see how meaning shifts. When informational writing is assigned, support planning through picture-supported outlines or sentence frames that scaffold fact and detail organization, reducing the demand on working memory and handwriting without reducing the rigor of the content.
Section 504
Provide extended time for main idea identification tasks and informational writing assignments, and ensure the student has access to a low-distraction workspace during sustained reading or writing activity. Printed copies of any text features, directions, or graphic organizers displayed on the board should be made available directly at the student's desk to support focus and reduce barriers to access throughout the unit.
ELL / MLL
Build background knowledge around the concept of leadership by using visual supports such as photographs, illustrated vocabulary cards, and short video clips that connect unfamiliar vocabulary to concrete meaning before reading begins. Pre-teach key content and word-study vocabulary — including terms related to leadership qualities and words with suffixes and the prefix dis- — using bilingual supports or home-language resources when available. Simplified, step-by-step directions for informational writing tasks, paired with a labeled model of an informational paragraph, will help students understand expectations and produce meaningful written work.
At Risk (RTI)
Connect the unit's leadership theme to students' personal experiences by inviting them to share examples of helpers or leaders they know before engaging with texts, which helps activate prior knowledge and build genuine investment in the content. For main idea and detail tasks, begin with shorter, highly visual texts and provide structured graphic organizers so students can experience early success before moving to more complex informational passages. Word study with suffixes and the prefix dis- can be made more accessible by anchoring new words to high-frequency base words students already know, building confidence and reinforcing decoding skills in context.
Gifted & Talented
Invite students to move beyond identifying main ideas by analyzing how different text structures — such as cause and effect or problem and solution — shape the way an author presents leadership qualities across biography and informational genres. For word study, encourage students to explore how suffixes and prefixes function across a wider set of related words and to consider how shifts in meaning reflect a writer's choices. In informational writing, challenge students to take a clear position on what they believe the most essential leadership quality is and to construct a well-developed piece that uses evidence from multiple sources read during the unit to support that claim.