Skip to Main Content
  Menu   Menu
Maryland.gov Home
Agency Logo
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Flickr
  • Social Media Directory
Search Maryland
  • HOME
  • INSTRUCTION
    • Mathematics
    • English Language Arts
    • Social Studies
    • Science
    • Curricular Support Materials (CSM)
    • STEM
    • Health
    • Physical Education
    • Technology Education
    • MD Technology Literacy for Students
    • English for Speakers of Other Languages
    • Fine Arts
    • World Languages
    • Personal Financial Literacy
    • Disciplinary Literacy
    • Early Ed
    • Special Education
    • MD College and Career-Ready Standards Framework
    • Professional Learning
  • ASSESSMENT
    • PARCC
    • Maryland Integrated Science Assessment (MISA)
    • Maryland State Alternative Assessment (MSAA)
    • ACCESS 2.0 WIDA (ESL)
    • Monitoring Student Progress
    • Examining Student Work
  • SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
    • Improving Student Achievement
    • Classroom-Focused Improvement Process
    • School Improvement Planning
    • Data Course
    • Expanding Perspectives
  • USER GUIDES
    • Students' Guide
    • ES Teachers' Guide
    • MS Teachers' Guide
    • HS Teachers' Guide
Home > INSTRUCTION > State Standards and Frameworks > English Language Arts > Unit_Overview

 Gr. 5 Unit: Earth - A Fine Balance


Essential Question:

When nature interacts, what happens to the harmony, or balance, among the species?


Lesson Calendar

DAY 1–2 - PLAN 1

DAY 3–5 - SEED 1

DAY 6–7 - PLAN 2

DAY 8–12 - SEED 2

DAY 13–17 - PLAN 3

DAY 18–20 - SEED 3

DAY 21–25 - SEED 4

CCSS Standards for this Unit

Monitoring Templates

Download Seeds, Plans, and Resources (zip)

Send Feedback to MSDE’s Reading Team

Unit Overview

F1

6 Weeks - "Unit at a Glance" Organizer

Download all unit files (zip)

"The scientific mind does not so much provide the answers as ask the right questions."
Claude Levis Strauss

F1

The lesson models in this unit feature best practices using informational texts and literary texts to address Common Core State Standards and will assist students in the process of close reading and critical analysis of text. Included are examples of text dependent questions and sample responses to guide instruction. Students will engage with technology and practice effective listening and speaking skills in collaborative groups to identify key ideas to build deeper meaning.

F2

In connection with a Life Science, Environmental Science and Environmental Literacy standards, students will read, evaluate, and integrate multiple sources of information including multimedia to demonstrate their understanding of how nature interacts. For this unit model, several articles from The National Geographic Kids Almanac 2013 as well as texts on environmental activists Wangari Maathai and Jacques Cousteau serve as the anchor texts. Students will have to integrate and connect information learned from these texts with videos on the Calvert Cliffs Tiger Beetle, a narrated version of the parable The Flight of the Hummingbird, and an informational video on coral reefs. Throughout this unit, students will have multiple opportunities to conduct short and extended research tasks as they research African Wild Dogs, endangered species, and environmental conservationists and activists. Teachers may select to use this instructional sequence with alternate informational texts tied to life science and environmental literacy topics aligned to curriculum in their district.

To ensure integration and to explicitly connect CCSS ELA, Science, and Environmental Literacy standards, weave the following guiding questions into discussions as students interact with various texts and concepts.

  1. How can examining cause and effect help us understand relationships between organisms, places, ideas, and events?
  2. How can understanding cause and effect help us solve problems and make decisions?
  3. What do living things need to survive?
  4. How do living things adapt to the environment?
  5. How has humankind maintained or upset the balance in our natural environment?
  6. Besides human interaction, what other factors influence the balance in our natural environment?
  7. Can animals and humans interact in the same space with harmony and balance?
  8. How can we safeguard our environment?
  9. What is our role, as individuals, in caring for and protecting our environment?

The unit begins with a guided exploration of The National Geographic Kids Almanac 2013, followed by guided close readings, discussion, modeled note taking, routine writing, investigation, research, and presentation. As students progress through the texts and media sources, they will categorize the positive and negative impact humans have had on selected animal populations and the environment. Students will also investigate how nature itself can affect animal populations and the environment. The next phase of the unit will focus on an investigation of the environmental efforts of Wangari Maathai and Jacques Cousteau. Students will broaden this investigation by independently researching other environmental activists and their efforts to conserve and protect the natural environment.

The unit should last approximately 5 weeks following the suggested sequence below.

  1. Instructional Lesson Plan: Unit Opener
  2. Close Readings - Lesson Seed #1
  3. Instructional Lesson Plan: African Wild Dogs Research
  4. Investigation of Endangered Animals - Lesson Seed #2
  5. Investigations and close readings of Wangari Maathai (Instructional Lesson Plan: Wangari Maaithai) and Jacques Cousteau (Lesson Seed #3).
  6. Lesson Seed #4: Unit Closure and Research/Investigation

Universal Design Principles and Strategies for English Language Learners

  1. Organize the class in groups and pairs for discussion and cooperative work.
  2. Use multiple modes of presentation so that students have different means of acquiring and integrating knowledge as well as increase interest and motivation.
  3. Offer student choice in researching endangered animals and investigating environmental activists and groups.
  4. Consider also using a word processing program or template for students to keep notes digitally such as the following Google note taking document: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ar8TZHMKch3-dFpWNWgtWDBjYmhiRmhXVFZ6T2MtTlE&hl=en_US#gid=0. There are plenty of other online, free note taking programs such as http://trackclass.com/ or http://evernote.com/ where students can take notes and even share them with their peers.
  5. The ongoing field guide could be a paper or electronic journal.
  6. Where appropriate, provide instructional scaffolding. For additional suggestions go to www.marylandlearninglinks.org and click on the Development and Learning Tab at the top of the page.

Text Models for Lessons and Lesson Seeds

Texts:

  1. National Geographic For Kids Almanac articles:
    "Mystery of the Disappearing Frogs" p. 26
    "The Fox Next Door" p. 28-29
    "Panda Shake-up" p. 43
    "Will the Red Panda Survive?" p. 45
    "Wild Dogs of Africa" p. 33
  2. "What's Wild About African Wild Dogs"
    http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/animalsnature/african-wild-dogs
  3. "Endangered Species Act" http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Endangered-Species-Act.aspx
  4. "Endangered Species Act – Myths and Facts" http://www.nwf.org/~/media/PDFs/Wildlife/esamythsfacts.pdf?dmc=1&ts=20130103T2152471148
  5. Flight of the Hummingbird: A Parable for the Environment by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (Greystone, 2008
  6. Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya by Donna Jo Napoli and Kadir Nelson (Simon & Schuster, 2010)
  7. Seeds of Change: Wangari's Gift to the World by Jen Cullerton Johnson and Sonia Lynn Sadler (Lee & Low, 2010)
  8. Wangari quotes from http://takingrootfilm.com/about.htm
  9. The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau by Dan Yaccarino
  10. Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne
  11. Me, All Alone, at the End of the World by M.T. Anderson
  12. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

Other media sources:

  1. http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/wangari-maathai/taking-root-documentary video "Planting Hope"
  2. http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/get-involved/be-a-hummingbird video "I will be a hummingbird"
  3. http://insights.wri.org/news/2012/07/everything-you-ever-wanted-know-about-coral-reefs-four-minute-video short entertaining video about the importance of conserving coral reefs; animated by local cartoonist Jim Toomey and narrated by Celine Cousteau
  4. http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/vanishing.htm - site for researching endangered animals
  5. http://www.wordcentral.com – online dictionary, thesaurus, and rhyming resource
  6. http://www.thinkport.org/Tools/ContentViewer/ContentPreview.aspx?ContentID=ee480c58-33b8-459d-8f07-8b6f214bb743 short Thinkport media clip on Calvert Cliffs Tiger Beetle

*IMPORTANT NOTE: Consider the need for Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) and/or for captioned/described video when selecting texts, novels, video and/or other media for this unit. See "Sources for Accessible Media" for suggestions at http://marylandlearninglinks.org.

Additional Resources

  • Contact Us 
  • Privacy 
  • Terms of Use 
  • Non-Discrimination Statement 
  • Accessibility 
  • siteMap

  • 200 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21201-2595
    Phone:(410) 767.0600
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Flickr
  • MD Social Media Directory

  Last Updated 3/17/2020 1:12 PM