October Units of Study

Month of October Units Overview

SEL Topics:

This month, our class will focus on building connections through morning check-ins and engaging in activities centered around acts of kindness. Students will take part in kindness activities such as writing kind notes, helping classmates, sharing compliments, and working in groups that encourage teamwork and care. 

In our talking circles, we will explore Decatur’s Pillars:

• Be Present
• Endure Challenges

• Take Care of Each Other
  
  

Amplify Desmos Math: 

Unit 2: Area and Multiplication

In this unit, students will learn that the Area is the number of unit squares that cover a plane figure without gaps or overlaps, and to solve problems involving areas of rectangles or figures composed of rectangles, multiply the length by the width for each rectangle and add the areas together.

Sub- Unit 1: Sub-Unit 1: Concepts of Area Measurement 

Sub- Unit 2: Relating Area to Multiplication

Sub-Unit 3: Determining Area of Figures Composed of Rectangles 

End-of-Unit Assessment

Below is the link to the caregiver resource that includes explanations of key math concepts and problems to try with your student Link 

Amplify CKLA:

Unit 2: Fur, Fins and Feathers

What’s the story? 

Students will develop scientific skills while they observe and practice identifying important characteristics of organisms and objects. What will my student learn? Students will have the opportunity to engage in discussions with their teacher and classmates, in which they will be asked to respond based on observations and thinking that occurred throughout their reading. Students will focus on an opinion writing piece that will extend their understanding of vertebrates. They will also have many opportunities to work with their peers, share ideas, and provide feedback on their writing. 

Vocabulary:

Vertebrates, invertebrates, warm-blooded, cold-blooded, habitat, zoologist, carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, classify, aquatic, molt, constant, stately, spine, 

Unit 3: Rhythm and Rhyme: Poetry

What will my student learn? 

Students will learn about poetry elements such as stanzas, rhyme schemes, alliteration, personification, anaphora, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, and more. They will recognize how these elements create meaning and enhance the reader’s enjoyment of the poem, and will practice incorporating some of these elements into their own writing. In writing, students will write an original poem about seasons, nature, people, places, or other topics. They will share their poem with the class in a collaborative activity, which will allow them to give and receive feedback. 

Vocabulary:

Poems, stanzas, literal, nonliteral, anaphora, alliteration, simile, onomatopeia, hyperbole, haiku, shed, confidence, resolute, scatter, advancing, trek, reflective

Foundational Skills:

What will my student learn? 

Students will continue to review reading and spelling words with specific spelling patterns. 

This will include words with separated digraphs, such as /ae/ > ‘a_e’ (cape), and words with vowel teams, such as /ae/ > ‘ai’ (aim), ‘ay’ (away), and ‘eigh’ (eight). 

Students will review tricky spellings (book/moon), the hard and soft ‘c’ and ‘g’ (cake/cent, cage/ glass), and words that end in /v/ and /j/ (love, huge). They will review two of the major syllable types, VCe (grape•vine) and vowel team (lay•out), and affixes including re–, pre–, mis–, –ness, –ly, and –ous (redo, pretest, misled, happiness, quickly, dangerous). 

What will my student read? 

In Unit 2, students will read fifteen fiction and nonfiction passages that include words with the target skills they just learned. Students will practice reading with proper speed, accuracy, and prosody. Here are two examples: ● “How to Sketch a Giraffe” is an instructional text about drawing. Students will read the passage and identify words that have a hard ‘c’ and a soft ‘g’, words that use the prefix dis–, and multisyllabic words that have VCe syllables. 

• “Zoila’s Sleigh” is a story about a winter adventure. Students will read the passage and identify words with the /oi/ sound, words with the /ou/ sound, words with the /ae/ sound spelled ‘eigh’, and words that end in –ous.

Social Studies:

Unit 2: People, Places and Environments

In this unit, students will In this unit, children will explore how the place they live influences their identities. By honoring the uniqueness each child brings to the learning journey they will recognize that we all come from somewhere, and that location bonds people with their family, friends, and community. The inquiry unit of study provides opportunities for children to learn how to use various geographic tools to locate and learn about places. They will examine the ways people use and change the land and gain a growing understanding of how the land creates unique opportunities and challenges. They will identify places of personal and geographic importance within the city of Chicago to demonstrate their understanding of the unique relationship between Chicago and the people who live here.

Essential Question: How is the place we live important to who we are?

Lesson 1: Use a Map

Lesson 2: My Location in the World

Lesson 3: How We Use the Land

Lesson 4: Our Environment

Lesson 5: How People Move

Science:

Unit 1: Plant and Animal Relationships

In this unit, students will investigate why new chalta trees aren't growing in the Bengal Tiger Reserve by exploring what seeds need to grow and how they get to suitable locations. Through hands-on investigations, models, and scientific texts, students learn how plant structures support growth, how animals help disperse seeds, and how different types of seeds move within habitats. By the end of the unit, students use evidence to explain the interdependence of plants and animals in ecosystems.

Chapter 3: Why Aren’t the Chalta Seeds Getting to Places Where They Can Grow?

In this chapter, students take on the role of habitat scientists to investigate why chalta seeds are not spreading effectively in the reserve. Topics explored include: How seeds move through different dispersal methods, Investigating factors that affect seed movement, Diagramming the seed dispersal system, Explaining the environmental problem affecting the chalta seeds in the reserve

Chapter 4: How Are Other Seeds in the Reserve Able to Get to Places Where They Can Grow?
This chapter focuses on understanding how other plant species successfully disperse their seeds. Topics include: Investigating different types of seeds and their characteristics, Planning and conducting a seed dispersal investigation, Analyzing the results of the investigation, Completing the end-of-unit assessment to demonstrate understanding