Unit 7 — Above, Below, and Beyond
Description
Students explore land, sea, and space exploration through biography, informational texts, and persuasive writing. Texts including "A Few Who Dared," "Into the Unknown: Above and Below," and biographical texts about explorers develop skills in making and confirming predictions, identifying author's craft and purpose, and interpreting visual information. Students conduct research on explorers and discoveries, gathering information from multiple sources and taking organized notes. They write research reports that synthesize findings from various texts. The unit emphasizes curiosity and how exploration drives human understanding of the world.
Essential Questions
- What role does curiosity play in exploration?
- How do you write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly?
- How do you identify and utilize an author's craft and purpose in order to better understand an unfamiliar text?
- How do you effectively make and confirm predictions in order to better understand unfamiliar texts?
Learning Objectives
- Make and confirm predictions using text evidence and background knowledge
- Identify author's craft and purpose in biographical and informational texts
- Interpret visual and multimedia information presented in texts
- Determine central idea and explain how it is supported by details
- Gather and organize information from multiple sources
- Write research reports synthesizing information from various texts
Suggested Texts
- A Few Who Dared — biography (week 1)
- Into the Unknown: Above and Below — informational text (week 1)
- Rita Moreno — biography (week 2)
- Play, Louis, Play! — fictionalized biography (week 2)
Supplemental Resources
- Printed maps and timelines of explorations
- Graphic organizers for recording predictions and confirmations
- Note-taking templates for organizing research
- Chart paper for comparing information across sources
- Sticky notes for marking important details
Language
Reading: Informational Text
Speaking and Listening
Writing
Students explore inventions, natural disasters, environmental topics, space exploration, and animal behaviors through reading and writing about scientific phenomena and discoveries.
Students examine historical periods, cultures, geography, economics, and civic themes through literature and informational texts about westward expansion, immigration, inventors, and global perspectives.
Students apply mathematical thinking through data analysis, problem-solving, measurement, and quantitative reasoning embedded in reading and writing activities across units.
Formative Assessments
- Prediction activities before, during, and after reading
- Analysis of author's purpose and craft techniques
- Note-taking from various text types
- Small group discussions about exploration and discovery
- Fluency practice with appropriate reading rate
Summative Assessment
Research Task evaluated with Grade 5 Rubric and Unit Assessment
Benchmark Assessment
— not configured —
Alternative Assessment
Students may demonstrate understanding through oral retelling or recorded explanation of an explorer's life and discoveries in place of written responses. Visual supports such as picture cards, timelines, or maps may be provided to help organize information and support comprehension of texts about exploration.
IEP (Individualized Education Program)
For this unit's blend of informational reading, research, and persuasive writing, students may benefit from audio versions of biographical and nonfiction texts alongside graphic organizers that visually scaffold prediction, central idea, and supporting detail structures. Note-taking templates with sentence starters and partially completed frames can reduce the cognitive load of gathering and organizing information from multiple sources. For the research report, allowing students to dictate responses, use speech-to-text tools, or submit work in sections with teacher feedback between drafts supports writing production without limiting content understanding. Modifications may include reducing the number of required sources or focusing the report on a single explorer or discovery to allow for deeper mastery of key concepts.
Section 504
Students should be given extended time for reading passages, note-taking activities, and the summative research task to ensure full access to informational and biographical content. Preferential seating during read-alouds and small group discussion supports focus and engagement with complex nonfiction texts. Providing a printed copy of any directions or research task prompts displayed on the board reduces barriers to independent work during this multi-step unit.
ELL / MLL
Visual supports such as labeled diagrams, photographs of explorers and environments, and illustrated vocabulary displays help build background knowledge for the land, sea, and space exploration content central to this unit. Pre-teaching domain-specific vocabulary — including words related to biography, discovery, and research — before reading supports comprehension of informational texts. Simplified directions for research tasks, paired with opportunities to discuss ideas with a partner or in home language first, allow students to engage with content meaningfully before moving to English writing production.
At Risk (RTI)
Connecting the unit's exploration theme to students' own experiences of curiosity, discovery, or unfamiliar places provides an accessible entry point into biographical and informational texts. Shorter or chunked reading passages, combined with guided prediction prompts, help students build stamina with nonfiction before tackling multi-source research. Research tasks can be scaffolded so students begin with a single focused source and a structured note-taking template, building toward synthesizing information at a pace that supports confidence and skill development.
Gifted & Talented
Students can extend their engagement with author's craft by analyzing how different authors — writing biography versus informational text — make distinct structural and rhetorical choices when presenting the same explorer or discovery. Research reports can be deepened by requiring students to evaluate the reliability and perspective of their sources, or by incorporating a persuasive element that argues for the significance of a particular exploration in shaping human understanding. Students may also pursue an independent inquiry into an underrepresented explorer or discovery not featured in the unit texts, connecting their findings to the broader theme of how curiosity drives knowledge.