Unit 1 — What Makes Us Who We Are?
Description
This unit focuses on how experiences shape identity. Students read poetry, realistic fiction, and fantasy texts to explore themes of personal identity, heritage, and self-discovery. Reading activities emphasize point of view, character analysis, and author's purpose. Writing activities include narrative composition with attention to event sequences, dialogue, and descriptive details. Students practice using context clues for vocabulary development while building phonetic decoding skills with short and long vowel sounds.
Essential Questions
- How do your experiences help shape your identity?
Learning Objectives
- Determine how point of view shapes narrative content and style
- Identify central ideas and supporting details in texts
- Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose
- Write narratives with clear event sequences and sensory details
- Use transitional words to manage event sequences
- Determine meaning of words using context clues
Suggested Texts
- Yes! We are Latinos — poetry
- The Year of the Rat — fiction
- Flora and Ulysses — fiction
- Kitoto the Mighty — fiction
Supplemental Resources
- Lined journals for recording character observations and personal responses
- Graphic organizers for tracking character development and point of view
- Index cards for vocabulary sorting by context and word families
Language
Reading: Literature
Speaking and Listening
Students use digital tools for research, writing, and collaborative learning throughout the curriculum, demonstrating skills in digital citizenship and technological application.
Formative Assessments
- Guided reading groups with focus on central idea and point of view
- Ask-and-answer questions about character experiences and motivations
- Retelling activities with attention to plot and character development
- Vocabulary strategy activities using context clues
- Peer feedback on narrative drafts with focus on sensory details
Summative Assessment
Flora and Ulysses written response question assessing understanding of character identity and narrative elements
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding through oral retelling of a character's experience, supported by visual aids such as character maps or sequence charts. Teachers may scribe student responses or accept drawings paired with verbal explanations in place of written narrative composition.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
Because this unit asks students to track character development and point of view across multiple text types, students with IEPs may benefit from graphic organizers that visually map character experiences to identity traits, reducing the cognitive load of holding information in working memory while reading. For written narrative tasks, provide options for oral responses, dictation, or abbreviated drafts that demonstrate understanding of event sequence and sensory detail without requiring full written output. Vocabulary support such as a personal word bank with context sentences drawn from unit texts can help students access context clue strategies more independently. When assessing comprehension of point of view or central idea, consider allowing verbal explanations or annotated illustrations as alternatives to extended written response.
Section 504
Students with 504 plans should be given extended time on narrative writing tasks and the summative written response to ensure that pacing demands do not interfere with demonstrating comprehension of character identity and narrative elements. Preferential seating during read-alouds and guided reading groups can support sustained attention when exploring point of view across poetry, fiction, and fantasy texts. Providing a printed copy of directions for multi-step vocabulary and writing activities helps students reference expectations without relying on auditory recall alone.
ELL / MLL
For multilingual learners, previewing key vocabulary related to identity, heritage, and character motivation before reading helps build the conceptual foundation needed to engage with this unit's themes across poetry, realistic fiction, and fantasy. Visual supports such as illustrated vocabulary cards, character feeling charts, and simple sentence frames for retelling events in sequence allow students to participate meaningfully in comprehension and discussion activities. When possible, encourage students to draw on their home language to make personal connections to the unit's central question about identity, as this strengthens comprehension and supports narrative brainstorming before writing in English.
At Risk (RTI)
Students who need additional support should begin narrative and comprehension tasks with familiar personal experiences as an entry point, since the unit's theme of identity naturally connects to students' own lives and backgrounds. Offer simplified text options within the same genre types — such as shorter poems or passages — so students can still practice point of view and central idea skills at an accessible complexity level. Breaking the narrative writing process into clearly sequenced steps, with focused feedback at each stage, helps students build confidence with event sequencing and sensory detail without feeling overwhelmed by the full scope of composition.
Gifted & Talented
Gifted students can extend their exploration of identity by examining how different authors across the unit's poetry, fiction, and fantasy texts make deliberate structural and stylistic choices to reveal a character's sense of self, moving beyond identification of point of view toward analysis of craft and authorial intent. In their narrative writing, challenge these students to experiment with an unconventional narrator or non-linear event sequence to deepen their understanding of how structure itself shapes meaning and identity in a story. Students ready for greater depth might also investigate how the same theme of self-discovery is handled differently across genres, constructing a comparative written or oral argument that synthesizes evidence from multiple text types.