ELA  /  5th Grade  /  Alternate Unit 1: Shaping Dreams: A Single Shard

Shaping Dreams: A Single Shard

Students explore themes of hard work, growth, and the power of connection through the book A Single Shard, wrestling with how the ways we respond to challenges reveals who we are.

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ELA

Alternate Unit 1

5th Grade

Unit Summary

The unit centers on the award-winning historical fiction text A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. Set in 12th century Korea, the book follows the story of Tree-ear, who dreams of becoming a potter. The unit traces his journey from being a homeless orphan with a big dream to his brave journey across Korea to showcase the talents of his mentor, inviting students to explore themes of perseverance, honesty, and kindness—essential values for beginning a successful school year. In reading, students will engage deeply in thinking about character, particularly how characters' responses to challenges reveal both who they are as a character and important ideas and themes the author wants to convey through their writing. In writing, students will build upon their knowledge of Tree-ear's relationship to the master potter he works for by engaging in a research project about apprenticeships, and will conclude the unit by writing a narrative that imagines an alternative origin story for the famous Thousand Cranes Vase, a real artifact that inspired this novel. 

It is our hope that this unit helps establish a strong classroom community and that the characters and life lessons in A Single Shard can serve as a map for how to create a strong, hard-working, respectful, curious, and creative community.

Throughout the unit, students learn to prepare for class discussions, determining which evidence best supports a particular idea and how to elaborate on that evidence. By writing daily in response to the Target Task question, students build their writing fluency, seeing the power of writing as a tool for understanding what they are reading. This unit also serves as the foundation for learning how to brainstorm and write strong literary analysis/opinion paragraphs, focusing on drafting topic sentences and determining supporting details. At the end of the unit, students write their first narrative, using the mentor text as a guide to writing their own chapter in A Single Shard. They also write their first research report, focusing on learning more about apprenticeships both historically and today. 

Please Note: This new unit was released in July 2025. It is the only 5th Grade ELA alternate unit that contains all of the new writing and language enhancements detailed in our Guide to Fishtank ELA Updates for 2025-26.

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Texts and Materials

Some of the links below are Bookshop 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: A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (HMH Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition, 2011)   —  920L

Supporting Materials

Text Selection Rationale
All Course Materials

Assessment

The following assessments accompany Unit 1.

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

  • How do others help us grow?
  • Why is it important to show up for other people?
  • How do people achieve their dreams?
  • What drives us? What factors drive our actions?

Reading Focus Areas

  • How characters respond to challenges is important to understand plot and theme.

  • Recurring ideas in a text often reflect the theme.

  • Characters' thoughts, actions, and dialogue reveal their traits, feelings, and motivations.

  • Characters' interactions with and responses to one another reveal who they are.

Writing Focus Areas

Narrative Writing

  • Brainstorm a story with a logical sequence of events.

  • Start a story by hooking and orienting the reader.

  • Include details that describe a character's actions, thoughts, or feelings.

Informational Writing

  • Introduce a topic clearly using an introduction section.

  • Summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work.

  • Group related information into paragraphs and sections.

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

Speaking and Listening Focus Areas

  • Prepare for discussion.

  • Elaborate to support ideas. Provide evidence or examples to justify and defend a point clearly.

  • Use specific vocabulary. Use vocabulary that is specific to the subject and task to clarify and share their thoughts.

Vocabulary

Text-based

admirationarduousderisiondeceivingdignitydiligenteagerlyemergedendeavorgruffhonorableimpatiencemishappridepreciousquellshamesurreptitiouslytoil

Root/Affix

-ish-lydis-im-mis-

To see all the vocabulary for Unit 1, view our 5th Grade Vocabulary Glossary.

Notes for Teachers

  • Experience of Homelessness: In A Single Shard, two central characters, Crane-man and Tree-ear, live under a bridge and fret about how they will find enough food to eat or find shelter during the wintertime. Teachers should be intentional about noting and discussing the fact of these characters' homelessness. There are many resources available to support teachers in talking with their students about this topic. As a part of intellectual preparation, consider the following: 
  • Mention of Suicide: In Chapters 10 and 11, there are brief allusions to death by suicide. On page 116, in Crane-man's telling of the fable of the Rock of the Falling Flowers, he mentions it got its name because women jumped off the cliff to die rather than becoming prisoners. While on the same cliff after experiencing disaster, Tree-ear contemplates jumping as well, but then remembers the words of Crane-man: "Leaping into death is not the only way to show true courage" (p. 126). These are noted in the relevant lesson plans with suggestions for how teachers might want to handle these mentions with their students.

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

11
Lesson
Writing

5 days

Overview

Conduct a short research project that uses several sources to build knowledge of different aspects of a topic.

Materials
  • A Single Shard
  • Single Point Research Writing Rubric (G5, AltU1, L11)
  • Editing Checklist 1 (G5, AltU1)
  • Research Brainstorming Template (G5, AltU1, L11)
  • Two Paragraph Outline
  • Three Paragraph Outline
  • “Apprenticeship”
  • “What is an Apprenticeship & How Does it Work?”
  • “How High School Students Can Benefit from Apprenticeships”
  • “Fair Play: Sam Rapoport works to make the NFL more inclusive”
  • “Teen Finds New Planet”
  • “Growing Up Long Ago”
  • “Becoming a Doctor”
  • “How An Apprenticeship Model Engaged Students and Turned a School Around”
  • “Apprenticeships on the Rise”
  • “The Future of Work Needs More Apprentices”
  • “Conquer the Cold”
  • “Deep-Sea Danger”
  • “A Juneteenth Celebration”
  • “A Place to Play”
Day 1 - Brainstorming

Generate strong questions and use reliable sources to research a topic.

Materials
  • Research Brainstorming Template (G5, AltU1, L11)
  • “Apprenticeship”
  • “What is an Apprenticeship & How Does it Work?”
  • “How High School Students Can Benefit from Apprenticeships”
  • “Fair Play: Sam Rapoport works to make the NFL more inclusive”
  • “Teen Finds New Planet”
  • “Growing Up Long Ago”
  • “Becoming a Doctor”
  • “How An Apprenticeship Model Engaged Students and Turned a School Around”
  • “Apprenticeships on the Rise”
  • “The Future of Work Needs More Apprentices”

Standards

W.5.7

Day 2 - Researching

Summarize or paraphrase information in research notes.

Materials
  • Research Brainstorming Template (G5, AltU1, L11) — started on Day 1
  • “Apprenticeship”
  • “What is an Apprenticeship & How Does it Work?”
  • “How High School Students Can Benefit from Apprenticeships”
  • “Fair Play: Sam Rapoport works to make the NFL more inclusive”
  • “Teen Finds New Planet”
  • “Growing Up Long Ago”
  • “Becoming a Doctor”
  • “How An Apprenticeship Model Engaged Students and Turned a School Around”
  • “Apprenticeships on the Rise”
  • “The Future of Work Needs More Apprentices”

Standards

W.5.7W.5.8

Day 3 - Planning

Complete an outline that includes the topic sentence, concluding sentence, and supporting details for each paragraph.

Materials
  • Single Point Research Writing Rubric (G5, AltU1, L11)
  • Research Brainstorming Template (G5, AltU1, L11) — completed on Day 2
  • Two Paragraph Outline
  • Three Paragraph Outline

Standards

W.5.2.bW.5.7W.5.8

Day 4 - Drafting

Introduce a topic by stating why it is important and including relevant background information that sets the stage for the main ideas.

Materials
  • Single Point Research Writing Rubric (G5, AltU1, L11)
  • Research Brainstorming Template (G5, AltU1, L11) — completed on Day 3
  • Two Paragraph Outline — completed on Day 3
  • Three Paragraph Outline — completed on Day 3
  • “Conquer the Cold”
  • “Deep-Sea Danger”
  • “A Juneteenth Celebration”
  • “A Place to Play”

Standards

W.5.2W.5.2.aW.5.2.bW.5.7W.5.8

Day 5 - Revision & Editing

Add details to unclear sentences to provide more information to readers.

Materials
  • Editing Checklist 1 (G5, AltU1)
  • Completed drafts from Day 4

Standards

L.5.3.aW.5.2.bW.5.7W.5.8

22
Lesson
Writing

4 days

Overview

Write a chapter for YOUR OWN book about the creation of the "Thousand Cranes Vase" by using a narrative structure to develop imagined experiences appropriate to the setting and subject matter of the text.

Materials
  • A Single Shard
  • Narrative Writing Rubric (G5)
  • Single Point Narrative Writing Rubric (G5, AltU1, L22)
  • Editing Checklist 2 (G5, AltU1)
  • Narrative Brainstorming Graphic Organizer
Day 1

Brainstorm and plan the setting, characters, and plot for a narrative.

Materials
  • A Single Shard
  • Narrative Brainstorming Graphic Organizer

Standards

W.5.3W.5.3.aW.5.5

Day 2 - Drafting

Draft an introduction that orients the reader to the setting.

Materials
  • A Single Shard
  • Single Point Narrative Writing Rubric (G5, AltU1, L22)
  • Narrative Writing Brainstorm Graphic Organizer from Day 1

Standards

W.5.3W.5.3.aW.5.5

Day 3 - Drafting (continued)

Include details about actions, thoughts, and feelings to describe characters.

Materials
  • A Single Shard
  • Single Point Narrative Writing Rubric (G5, AltU1, L22)
  • Narrative Writing Brainstorm Graphic Organizer from Day 1

Standards
Day 4 - Revision

Expand or reduce sentences so that they are clear and informative for readers.

Materials
  • A Single Shard
  • Narrative Writing Rubric (G5)
  • Editing Checklist 2 (G5, AltU1)
  • Single Point Narrative Writing Rubric (G5, AltU1, L22)
  • Narrative Writing Brainstorm Graphic Organizer from Day 1

Standards

L.5.3.aW.5.3W.5.3.aW.5.3.cW.5.5

Common Core Standards

Core Standards

L.5.3.a
RL.5.2
RL.5.3
RL.5.5
SL.5.1.a
SL.5.1.b
SL.5.6
W.5.1
W.5.1.a
W.5.1.c
W.5.1.d
W.5.2
W.5.2.a
W.5.2.b
W.5.3
W.5.3.a
W.5.3.c
W.5.7
W.5.8

Supporting Standards

L.5.1
L.5.1.b
L.5.2
L.5.4
L.5.4.a
L.5.5
L.5.5.a
L.5.6
RF.5.3
RF.5.4
RL.5.1
RL.5.4
RL.5.6
RL.5.10
SL.5.1
W.5.4
W.5.5
W.5.6
W.5.9.a
W.5.10

Read Next

Shaping Dreams: A Single Shard
Lesson 1
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