Unit 6 — Weather Wise
Description
Students investigate how weather affects daily life, the environment, and living things. Through informational texts, narratives, and poetry, students learn about different weather phenomena and seasons. The unit develops skills in gathering information from text, understanding cause and effect, and recognizing how writers use descriptive language to convey weather conditions and feelings.
Essential Questions
- How does weather affect us?
Learning Objectives
- Identify words and phrases that describe weather and feelings
- Describe the connection between events and outcomes in texts
- Use suffixes -er and -est to compare descriptions
- Recognize and use homophones in reading and writing
- Apply prefixes un- and re- to understand words
- Understand and apply inflections -ed and -ing
- Decode words with r-controlled vowels and suffix patterns
Suggested Texts
- Freddy the Frogcaster — fantasy (week 1)
- The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder — nonfiction (week 2)
- Fall Leaves — nonfiction (week 3)
Supplemental Resources
- Graphic organizers for weather tracking and comparison
- Printed images of different weather conditions and seasons
- Word cards for homophone pairs and suffix practice
- Chart paper for recording weather observations
- Sticky notes for labeling descriptive words in texts
Language
Reading: Informational Text
Reading: Literature
Speaking and Listening
Students engage with informational texts about plant growth, weather patterns, habitats, and animal life. Reading and writing skills are applied to scientific topics including plant needs, weather effects, and ecosystem relationships.
Formative Assessments
- Weather observation and descriptive writing activities
- Suffix -er, -est and homophone practice
- Prefix un- and re- application in context
- Cause and effect identification in weather narratives
Summative Assessment
Selection quiz, weekly assessment, and module assessment on informational and narrative text comprehension
Benchmark Assessment
A short task asking students to read a weather-related passage and identify descriptive words, match cause and effect pairs, and use -er and -est suffixes to compare weather descriptors. This measures comprehension of informational text, understanding of cause and effect relationships, and suffix application covered in Unit 6.
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding through oral responses or drawings labeled with words and phrases learned in the unit instead of written responses. Teacher questioning, visual word banks, and pictures depicting weather conditions may be provided to support comprehension and expression.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Students with IEPs may benefit from visual supports such as weather picture cards or illustrated word banks to aid in understanding descriptive vocabulary and word relationships, including homophones and words with prefixes and suffixes. When completing writing activities, allow students to dictate responses orally or use sentence frames so that the focus remains on demonstrating comprehension of cause and effect rather than handwriting fluency. Directions for multi-step tasks, such as applying suffix or prefix patterns, should be broken into smaller numbered steps with a visual model of the expected outcome. Provide highlighted or color-coded text to help students locate key descriptive language and cause-and-effect relationships in informational and narrative passages.
Section 504
Students with 504 plans should be provided extended time on reading and writing tasks, particularly when identifying descriptive language or completing suffix and prefix practice. Preferential seating near instructional materials and away from distractions supports focus during shared reading of weather-related texts. Printed copies of any board or projected text ensure students can reference directions and vocabulary at their own pace throughout the unit.
ELL / MLL
Multilingual learners benefit from a visual weather vocabulary bank featuring pictures alongside English words and phrases, which supports their ability to engage with descriptive language about weather phenomena and seasons. Teachers should use simple, direct language when explaining concepts such as cause and effect or suffix comparisons, and invite students to connect weather vocabulary to their home language or prior experiences with different climates. Pairing text with images, short video clips of weather conditions, and hands-on observation supports comprehension across all reading selections in this unit.
At Risk (RTI)
Students who need additional support should be offered entry points into the unit's vocabulary through concrete, familiar weather experiences before connecting those ideas to text, helping to activate prior knowledge and build confidence. When working with word-level skills such as r-controlled vowels or suffix patterns, reduce the number of words practiced at one time so students can achieve mastery before expanding the set. Cause-and-effect relationships in texts can be supported through simple graphic organizers with sentence starters, allowing students to demonstrate understanding without being overwhelmed by the writing demands.
Gifted & Talented
Students who demonstrate readiness for deeper work can be encouraged to analyze how authors in different genres—informational text, narrative, and poetry—make distinct word choices to convey the same weather conditions, moving beyond identification of descriptive language toward evaluation of craft and effect. Extending their understanding of word structure, students might explore additional prefix and suffix patterns beyond those in the unit to generate and define new words independently. Gifted learners can also investigate how weather influences culture, environment, or community across different regions, connecting the unit's cause-and-effect focus to broader, real-world inquiry.