ELA  /  4th Grade  /  Alternate Unit 6: Discovering Self: Bud, Not Buddy

Discovering Self: Bud, Not Buddy

Students learn about the Great Depression through the eyes of a ten-year-old African-American boy, analyzing themes of compassion, maturity and the idea of home, through the novel Bud Not Buddy.

icon/ela/white

ELA

Alternate Unit 6

4th Grade

Unit Summary

In this historical fiction unit, students learn about the Great Depression through the eyes of a ten-year-old African-American boy by reading the core text Bud, Not Buddy. In Bud, Not Buddy, students join Bud on his quest to find his father. In doing so, students are exposed to what life was like during the Great Depression, especially for African-Americans. Over the course of the novel, students will grapple with lying, and if lying is always bad or if it can sometimes be a good thing, as they witness Bud lying as a way to survive. Students will also analyze and explore the idea of maturity and what it means to act one's age versus acting more mature as Bud finds himself in situations most ten-year-olds will never experience. The theme of compassion and kindness also arises throughout the novel. Students will analyze how the compassionate actions of others help Bud on his journey while deepening their understanding of why it's always important to help others, even when times are tough. It is our hope that this unit, in conjunction with the rest of the fourth-grade sequence, will help students develop empathy and understanding of the experiences of others.

Students continue to explore how the setting of a story influences the way characters behave, foreshadows events, and provides a window into the society where the character lives. Building on work done in previous units, students also review the different pathways and patterns authors use to reveal the theme of a story. Because Bud, Not Buddy includes a lot of vivid descriptive language, students analyze and unpack the figurative language in the text in order to build a deeper understanding of characters and events. 

This unit also includes two core texts - a fiction text and an informational text. Therefore, over the course of the entire unit, students will work on using the information they learn from the nonfiction text about the Great Depression to confirm and deepen their understanding of what life was like during the Great Depression.  

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 own thoughts and how to engage with the thinking of others to push the discussion to a deeper level. Students also have multiple opportunities to write literary analysis/opinion paragraphs, using what they learned from previous units about topic sentences, supporting details, and elaboration to write multiple-paragraph essays in response to a question. The unit culminates with students writing a final informational report, synthesizing what they have learned about the Great Depression. 

Please Note: In March 2024, we released updated enhanced lesson plans for this unit, which now include answers to key questions and related student supports. You may notice discrepancies in previously downloaded/printed units or lesson plans.

Fishtank Plus for ELA

Unlock features to optimize your prep time, plan engaging lessons, and monitor student progress.

Learn More

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: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (Laurel Leaf, 2014)   —  950L

Supporting Materials

Text Selection Rationale
Purchase Books

Assessment

The following assessments accompany Unit 6.

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.

Fluency Assessment

The Fluency Assessment allows teachers to monitor students' oral reading fluency progress with a reading passage drawn from one of the unit's core texts. Find guidance for using this assessment and supporting reading fluency in Teacher Tools.

Unit Prep

Intellectual Prep

Unit Launch

Before you teach this unit, unpack the texts, themes, and core standards through our guided intellectual preparation process. Each Unit Launch includes a series of short videos, targeted readings, and opportunities for action planning to ensure you're prepared to support every student.

Essential Questions

  • What traits help people succeed in the face of challenge? 
  • Can a person be entirely self-sufficient? 
  • What was the Great Depression? How does the setting of the Great Depression influence the way the story unfolds? 

Reading Focus Areas

  • The setting of a story influences the way characters behave, foreshadows events, and provides a window into the society where the character lives.

  • Authors use figurative language to help a reader build a deeper understanding of an event or idea.

  • Authors reveal a theme of a story using predictable pathways and patterns.

Writing Focus Areas

Opinion Writing

  • Group related ideas together to support the topic sentence or opinion.

  • Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.

  • Link opinions and reasons using words and phrases.

  • Provide a concluding statement or section.

Informational Writing

  • Introduce a topic clearly.

  • Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.

  • Link ideas using words and phrases.

Speaking and Listening Focus Areas

  • Question and clarify to build understanding. Seek to clarify a particular point a peer makes by asking follow-up questions.

  • Build on and challenge a partner's ideas.

  • Synthesize to build deeper meaning. Synthesize everything from the discussion into a coherent statement at the end of the discussion.

Vocabulary

Text-based

acquaintanceconfidentialcontaminateddevourdenydozeevictionexaggeratefosterfumblingglumhardheadedignorantinsistincomejoltjudgmentalkinmeddlingnosypaltryprivilegeproperpunyraidreputationretrieverevengeresourcefulrightfulscoldingscrawnyscoopsufferunemploymentupbringing

Idiom/Cultural Reference

"spitting image""talking someone's ear off"

Root/Affix

-ful-ment-tionin-un-

To see all the vocabulary for Unit 6, view our 4th 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.

Content Knowledge and Connections

Lesson Map

Common Core Standards

Core Standards

L.4.3.a
RI.4.3
RI.4.7
RI.4.9
RL.4.2
RL.4.3
RL.4.4
RL.4.6
RL.4.9
SL.4.1
SL.4.3
W.4.1
W.4.1.a
W.4.1.c
W.4.1.d
W.4.2
W.4.2.a
W.4.2.b
W.4.2.c
W.4.3
W.4.5
W.4.6
W.4.7
W.4.8

Supporting Standards

L.4.1
L.4.1.f
L.4.2
L.4.3
L.4.4
L.4.4.b
L.4.5
L.4.6
RF.4.3
RF.4.4
RL.4.1
RL.4.10
SL.4.2
SL.4.4
SL.4.5
SL.4.6
W.4.2.d
W.4.2.e
W.4.4
W.4.9
W.4.10
W.4.10

Read Next

Discovering Self: Bud, Not Buddy
Lesson 1
icon/arrow/right/large

Request a Demo

See all of the features of Fishtank in action and begin the conversation about adoption.

Learn more about Fishtank Learning School Adoption.

Contact Information

School Information

What courses are you interested in?

ELA

Math

Any other information you would like to provide about your school?

We Handle Materials So You Can Focus on Students

We Handle Materials So You Can Focus on Students

We've got you covered with rigorous, relevant, and adaptable ELA lesson plans for free