Unit 7 — Make a Difference
Description
Students engage with informational and narrative texts about people and communities making a positive impact. The unit develops skills in asking and answering questions to understand texts, gathering facts to formulate educated opinions, and making and confirming predictions. Students recognize characteristics of narrative nonfiction and identify different text structures. They build academic vocabulary through guided discussions and use context clues to determine word meanings. The writing focus is argument and opinion writing where students develop opinion pieces supporting claims with reasons and linking words. Students research people who made a difference and write about why they deserve recognition.
Essential Questions
- How does asking and answering questions help me understand what I am reading?
- How can I gather facts on a topic in order to formulate my own educated opinion?
- How can I make and confirm predictions?
- How can I make inferences?
- How can I recognize the features of an opinion essay as a form of an argumentative text?
Learning Objectives
- Answer a research question
- Gather information from multiple sources
- Identify author's purpose
- Make and confirm predictions
- Identify point of view in texts
- Recognize text structure (problem/solution, sequence, description, compare/contrast)
- Recognize characteristics of narrative nonfiction
- Make correct and confirm predictions using evidence
Suggested Texts
- What if Everybody did that? — nonfiction
- Let's Build a Park — nonfiction
- Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table — nonfiction
- One Plastic Bag — nonfiction
- Energy Island — nonfiction
- The Storyteller's Candle — nonfiction
- Out of my Mind — fiction
- Wonder — fiction
Supplemental Resources
- Graphic organizer for opinion writing with spaces for opinion and supporting reasons
- Printed article excerpts about people making a difference for close reading
- Sticky notes for marking text evidence
- Index cards with linking words for opinion writing
Language
Reading: Informational Text
Writing
Students examine historical documents, symbols, and civic ideals related to American freedom and identity. Students explore community contributions and environmental action through opinion writing and research.
Formative Assessments
- Question generation activities about research topics
- Prediction check-ins during reading informational texts
- Fact and opinion identification activities
- Text structure mapping exercises
- Discussion about author's purpose in different texts
Summative Assessment
Argument Writing / Opinion Writing Piece
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding through oral responses to teacher questions about texts, dictation of opinions and reasons to an adult scribe, or a recorded audio explanation of their research findings. Visual aids such as picture cards, highlighted text passages, or graphic organizers with word banks may be provided to support comprehension and response generation.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
During reading of informational and narrative nonfiction texts, provide graphic organizers that visually scaffold text structure (such as problem/solution or sequence frames) to support comprehension and note-taking. For the opinion writing piece, allow students to dictate their claims and supporting reasons before writing, or offer sentence starters and linking word banks to reduce the cognitive load of generating and organizing ideas simultaneously. When working on prediction and author's purpose tasks, offer guiding question prompts with visual cues to help students process and respond at their own pace.
Section 504
Provide extended time for reading tasks and the opinion writing piece, and allow access to a low-distraction workspace during independent research and writing. Offer printed copies of any directions or graphic organizers displayed digitally so students can reference them without switching attention. Preferential seating near the teacher during discussions about author's purpose and text structure can help students stay engaged and receive immediate clarification.
ELL / MLL
Pre-teach key academic and domain vocabulary related to community, impact, and opinion writing before students encounter these words in texts, and provide a visual word bank with simple definitions and illustrations throughout the unit. Use picture-supported texts and visual text structure maps to help students access informational content and understand how nonfiction is organized. When asking students to share opinions or respond to research questions, allow home language use during the drafting or brainstorming stage as a bridge to composing in English.
At Risk (RTI)
Begin research and opinion writing tasks by connecting the unit theme to students' own communities and personal experiences with people who help others, offering a familiar entry point into more abstract concepts like author's purpose and point of view. Provide partially completed graphic organizers for text structure and opinion writing frames so students can focus on building understanding rather than managing blank-page tasks. Offer chunked reading passages and focused guiding questions to help students locate evidence and build confidence before working with longer texts.
Gifted & Talented
Invite students to analyze how different authors use text structure and point of view strategically to persuade or inform readers, moving beyond identification toward evaluating the effectiveness of those choices. For the opinion writing piece, challenge students to consider counterarguments and address opposing viewpoints within their writing, strengthening the complexity of their claims. Students may also extend their research by seeking multiple perspectives on the person or community they are writing about, synthesizing sources to develop a more nuanced and evidence-rich argument.