The Seven Continents

Students read informational texts about the seven continents, and what makes each of them unique, while working to understand text features and develop skills in writing about informational texts.

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ELA

Unit 1

1st Grade

Unit Summary


In this unit, students learn about the seven continents and what makes each continent unique. A part of the 1st grade English Language Arts curriculum is focused on communities and understanding communities around the world. To understand the differences between communities around the world, students need to understand what the world is, identify the different continents, and explain some of the differences between continents. Students will use the facts learned in this unit to deeply connect with the characters and information they learn in later units.

This unit will serve as the foundational unit for creating a strong Read Aloud culture. In this unit, students learn to be active readers who ask and answer questions about key details in order to learn new information about each continent. Due to the structural demands of the texts, students also learn how to use different text features to locate and understand key information in a text. Finally, in this unit, students begin to understand the idea of the main topic and how key details tell more about the main topic. Throughout the unit, students learn how to use discussion and oral discourse to show their understanding of the texts and the content. Since this is the first unit of the year, the goal is to establish clear routines and procedures that allow students to share their thinking and ideas.

In writing, students will write daily in response to the text. The focus for this unit is on building student stamina and routines regarding writing about reading. Students will learn how to construct simple sentences, both orally and in writing, in order to effectively communicate their understanding of the text. Students will also be introduced to both informational and opinion writing. Over the course of the unit, students will write short informational pieces to teach others about each continent focusing on stating a topic and supplying facts about the topic. At the end of the unit, students will share their opinion about which continent they would most like to visit and why. 

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Texts and Materials


Some of the links below are Amazon affiliate links. This means that if you click and make a purchase, we receive a small portion of the proceeds, which supports our non-profit mission.

Core Materials

  • Book: Explore North America by Bobbie Kalman (Crabtree Publishing Company, 2007)   —  IG720L

  • Book: Explore South America by Bobbie Kalman (Crabtree Publishing Company, 2007)   —  IG700L

  • Book: Explore Africa by Bobbie Kalman (Crabtree Publishing Company, 2007)   —  IG650L

  • Book: Explore Antartica by Bobbie Kalman (Crabtree Publishing Company, 2007)   —  IG700L

  • Book: Explore Australia and Oceania by Bobbie Kalman (Crabtree Publishing Company, 2007)   —  IG640L

  • Book: Explore Europe by Bobbie Kalman (Crabtree Publishing Company, 2007)   —  IG690L

  • Book: Explore Asia by Bobbie Kalman (Crabtree Publishing Company, 2007)   —  IG610L

Supporting Materials

Assessment


These assessments accompany this unit and should be given on the suggested assessment day or after completing the unit.

Unit Prep


Intellectual Prep

Unit Launch

Prepare to teach this unit by immersing yourself in the texts, themes, and core standards. Unit Launches include a series of short videos, targeted readings, and opportunities for action planning.

Essential Questions

  • What makes each continent similar? Unique?

Reading Focus Areas

  • Readers ask and answer questions about key details in a text to learn more about a specific topic.

  • The main topic is what a text is mostly about. Key details tell more about the main topic.

  • Readers use text features to locate and understand information in a text.

Writing Focus Areas

Sentence-Level

  • Writing and speaking in complete, simple sentences.

  • Using specific details to describe something, particularly proper nouns.

Informational Writing

  • Name a topic.

  • Supply facts about the topic.

Opinion Writing

  • State an opinion. 

  • Include two to three reasons to support the opinion.

Speaking and Listening Focus Areas

  • Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions.

  • Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.

  • Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation.

Vocabulary

Text-based

architecture climate continent culture desert forest grassland island lake landform mountain natural resource ocean river rural sea tundra urban

To see all the vocabulary for Unit 1, view our 1st Grade Vocabulary Glossary.

Content Knowledge and Connections

  • Identify major oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic
  • Identify and describe two to three familiar features of the seven continents: Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, and Australia
  • Define these geographical terms and features:  island, mountain, rivers, lakes, country, border, government, island, climate, landform, volcanoes, coast, rivers, lakes, forest, grasslands, prairies, deserts, city, village, resources, ocean, continent

Supporting All Students

In order to ensure that all students are able to access the texts and tasks in this unit, it is incredibly important to intellectually prepare to teach the unit prior to launching the unit. Use the intellectual preparation protocol and the Unit Launch to determine which support students will need. To learn more, visit the Supporting all Students teacher tool.

Notes for Teachers

The texts in this unit were selected because of the text features and broad overview of the continents. Reading books with the same structure and author allows students to build a deep understanding of the author's craft and why they use certain structures. We believe the content of this unit is important, but we also acknowledge that there are some problematic representations of the people living on each continent in some of the texts. Instead of removing the texts we have added notes throughout the unit to help lead students in critically analyzing the text. See notes in each lesson about how to address these stereotypes with your students. You may choose to omit certain sections of text, or you may choose to call out the text intentionally with your students. Here are some suggestions for how to do this:

Using the Creating Questions to Engage Critically with Texts guide from Learning for Justice, develop a set of questions to ask with each continent text. For example:

  • What group of people is portrayed in this text? How are they portrayed?
  • What kind of language does the author use to describe the people who live here? 
  • What do you think the author is trying to tell you about a group of people or about an individual?
  • Do you agree or disagree with what the author is representing? Why or why not?

Include supplemental texts about the continent that include more details about the people who live there. Ask students to compare the details they read in each text.

Lesson Map


Common Core Standards


Core Standards

L.1.1
L.1.1.b
L.1.1.j
L.1.2
L.1.2.b
L.1.4
L.1.6
RI.1.1
RI.1.2
RI.1.3
RI.1.4
RI.1.5
RI.1.9
SL.1.1
SL.1.1.a
SL.1.2
SL.1.5
SL.1.6
W.1.1
W.1.2
W.1.5
W.1.8

Supporting Standards

RI.1.10
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Unit 2

Amazing Animals

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