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Exploring World Religions
Students build a deeper appreciation and respect for world religions in the aim of better understanding the differences and similarities among the religions and cultures of their classmates.
ELA
Unit 7
3rd Grade
This unit has been archived. To view our updated curriculum, visit our 3rd Grade English Language Arts course.
Unit Summary
In this unit, students build a deeper understanding, appreciation, and respect for the wide variety of religions found in the world by reading two core texts: What Is Religion? and One World, Many Religions: The Ways We Worship. In today’s society, illiteracy regarding religion is widespread and fuels prejudice and bullying. The negative impacts of religious illiteracy and intolerance can be minimized by teaching religion from a non-devotional, academic perspective. Therefore, this unit challenges students to build a broader awareness and understanding of religion by exposing students to a diversity of religious views and educating students about some of the most common religions. It is important to note that this unit is not intended to promote the acceptance of one particular religion or serve as a place to practice religion. Instead, it is our goal that this unit will help students better understand the differences and similarities among the religions and cultures of their classmates, and begin to appreciate and respect differences in religion.
This unit challenges students to synthesize information across two texts to build a deeper understanding of a topic. Students will analyze how authors support points, what structures they include to emphasize key ideas, and how different texts provide different perspectives and information about similar topics. Students will also review how to determine the main idea of a text, determining which details best support the main idea.
When discussing the text, students focus on critiquing and analyzing the reasoning of others, using what they learned from previous units on how to clarify and share their thoughts and how to engage with the thinking of others to push the discussion to a deeper level. In this unit, students also have multiple opportunities to write informational paragraphs, using what they learned from previous units about topic sentences, supporting details, and elaboration.
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Texts and Materials
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Core Materials
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Book: What Is Religion? by Bobbie Kalman (Crabtree Publishing Company 2009) — NC800L
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Book: One World, Many Religions: The Ways We Worship by Mary Pope Osborne (Knopf Books for Young Readers 1996)
Supporting Materials
Assessment
The following assessments accompany Unit 7.
Content Assessment
The Content Assessment pushes students to synthesize unit content knowledge or unit essential questions in writing. The Content Assessment should be used as the primary assessment because it shows mastery of unit content knowledge and standards.
Cold Read Assessment
The Cold Read Assessment tests students' ability to comprehend a "cold" or unfamiliar passage and answer standards-based questions. The Cold Read Assessment can be given in addition to the Content Assessment as a pulse point for what students can read and analyze independently, a skill often required for standardized testing.
Unit Prep
Intellectual Prep
Essential Questions
- What is religion? Why is it important to learn about other religions?
- What are the key beliefs of the major world religions?
Reading Focus Areas
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To determine the main idea of a text, readers think about which details best support the main idea.
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Authors use different text structures to help readers understand and describe ideas or concepts.
Writing Focus Areas
Informational Writing
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Conduct short research projects to build knowledge.
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Introduce a topic and group related information together.
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Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.
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Write a concluding sentence.
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Include text features and visual support to aid comprehension.
Speaking and Listening Focus Areas
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Question and clarify. Seek to clarify a particular point a student makes by asking follow-up questions.
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Build on and challenge a partner's ideas.
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Synthesize to build deeper meaning. Synthesize everything from the discussion into a coherent statement at the end of the discussion.
Vocabulary
Text-based
baptismcovenantcrucifieddescendantdetachmentdenominationenduringenlightenmentenduresfastforbidkarmameditatemonkobservepilgrimageplaguesprophetpresencerevelationresurrectionrepresentresurrectedreligionritualsacredsurrendersynagoguesympathyventureworship
Root/Affix
-ant-ism-mentde-en-re-
To see all the vocabulary for Unit 7, view our 3rd Grade Vocabulary Glossary.
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 questions on this unit's Cold Read Assessment reference pages 28-29 of the core text What is Religion? by Bobbie Kalman. Be sure to include these pages with the assessment.
- Research and learn about strategies for teaching religion in schools. For suggestions and more background information on how to teach religion in school, visit the following resources:
- Prepare for difficult conversations about religion that may arise. For support, there are many great resources at Learning for Justice.
Lesson Map
Common Core Standards
Core Standards
Supporting Standards
Read Next
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