ELA  /  5th Grade  /  Alternate Unit 4: Exploring Mars: Spirit and Opportunity

Exploring Mars: Spirit and Opportunity

Students explore the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, grappling with the complexity involved in space missions through reading, analyzing photographs, and analyzing primary sources from NASA.

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ELA

Alternate Unit 4

5th Grade

Unit Summary

Please Note: In March 2026, this unit and its lesson plans received a round of enhancements. This unit is now 39 instructional days (previously 43 days). The overall content, sequencing, and writing projects of the unit have been adjusted. Teachers should pay close attention as they intellectually prepare to account for the updated pacing, sequencing, and content.

In this unit, students study the rovers Spirit and Opportunity and their remarkable missions to Mars. Through a combination of reading, analyzing images and photographs, and engaging with primary sources in the form of NASA press releases, students begin to understand the complexity, preparation, and diligence involved in space missions. Students learn that continually planning, trying, and evaluating is a crucial part of any successful mission. This unit also allows students to make connections between content learned in math and science, solidifying the importance and value of STEM. It is our hope that this unit inspires students to explore engineering and STEM not only in space, but in the world around them. 

In this unit, students build their skills in consuming scientific and technical texts. Students practice explaining the connection between two or more scientific ideas or concepts in a text. Additionally, students are challenged to draw on and integrate information from two or more texts in order to describe a scientific idea, concept, or process in depth. This unit also continues the study of point of view and analyzes how the point of view influences what and how information is presented to a reader. The Mighty Mars Rovers is written to captivate and engage a reader, while the NASA press releases are written to inform the public of the progress and findings of the Mars rover missions. Students are challenged to compare and contrast the point of view of each text and the strategies each author uses based on the point of view and desired audience. 

When discussing the text, students continue to work on engaging with the thinking of others by building on, questioning, clarifying, and paraphrasing ideas in order to understand. Additionally, students have multiple opportunities to write informational paragraphs and essays, using what they learned from previous units about topic sentences, supporting details, and elaboration to write multiple paragraphs and essays in response to a question. Students also refine their narrative writing by writing a narrative poem from the point of view of the Mars rover. The unit culminates with students researching another planet and presenting their findings in an informative brochure.

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Texts and Materials

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Core Texts

Supporting Texts

Rubrics

Resources for Lessons and Projects

Text Selection Rationale
All Course Materials

Assessment

The following assessments accompany Alternate Unit 4. For more guidance, see the Summative Assessments and Assessments Accommodations & Modifications Teacher Tools.

Content Assessment

The Content Assessment measures students' understanding of the unit's content knowledge and vocabulary. It should serve as the primary assessment for the unit.

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 measures students' oral reading fluency with a passage drawn from one of the unit's core texts. See the Assessing Reading Fluency Teacher Tool for more guidance.

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.

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Essential Questions

  • How do scientists plan for and execute missions to Mars?
  • What challenges did the rovers face on Mars? How did scientists and the rovers respond?
  • What goals did scientists have for the rover expeditions? Were the goals met?

Reading Focus Areas

  • To explain the relationship or interaction between two or more individuals, events, ideas or concepts, readers use cause and effect, sequence, and chronology.

  • Authors use a variety of strategies to engage a reader and communicate particular points.

  • Integrating information from multiple texts on the same topic helps readers build a deeper understanding of the topic.

Writing Focus Areas

Narrative Writing

  • Include a theme, events, and descriptive language in poems.

  • Use rhyme and figurative language to add beauty and meaning to poems.

  • Use punctuation in poetry to support rhythm and meaning.

Informational Writing

  • Synthesize details to craft a topic sentence that introduces a big, thematic idea.

  • Use a text structure and signal words that match the information in a paragraph.

  • Include appropriate background information in the introduction section and leave readers with a final takeaway in the conclusion.

  • Elaborate on main ideas by adding supporting text features.

Speaking and Listening Focus Areas

  • Elaborate to support ideas. Students provide evidence or examples to justify and defend their point clearly. 

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

  • Build on a partner's ideas. Students seek to genuinely understand what their peers are saying, and then build on.

Vocabulary

Text-based

audaciousbewilderingconservedevoteddiligentlyenormityfarefatallygeologisthabitablemagnitudemalfunctionedmicroscopicordealparameterponderedprecursorsquestreplicasimulatestationarytraversedtreacheryunprecedentedvindicated

Root/Affix

-istmicro-pre-un-

To see all the vocabulary for Unit 4, view our 5th 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

12
Lesson
Writing

4 days

Overview

Write a poem that tells the story of exploring another planet from the perspective of one of the rovers, using details from the unit text.
Day 1 - Brainstorming

Brainstorm a theme, events, and key words before writing a poem.

Materials
  • Poetry Brainstorming Template (G5, Alt U4, L12)
  • Poetry Brainstorming Sample Response (G5, Alt U4, L12)
  • Poetry Brainstorming Mentor Response (G5, Alt U4, L12)

Standards

W.5.3W.5.3.aW.5.3.dW.5.5

Day 2 - Drafting

Use rhyme to add meaning, tone, and beauty to a poem. 

Materials
  • Poetry Brainstorming Template (G5, Alt U4, L12) — Completed on Day 1

Standards

W.5.3W.5.3.aW.5.3.bW.5.3.dW.5.5

Day 3 - Drafting

Use figurative language to add meaning, tone, and beauty to a poem.

Materials
  • Poetry Brainstorming Template (G5, Alt U4, L12) — Completed on Day 1

Standards

L.5.5.aW.5.3W.5.3.aW.5.3.bW.5.3.dW.5.5

Day 4 - Revision & Editing

Use commas and punctuation to support the rhythm and meaning of a poem.

Standards

L.5.1.bL.5.1.cL.5.2W.5.5

16
Lesson
Writing

2 days

Overview

Synthesize and analyze details in order to deepen understanding of a topic.
Day 1 - Planning

Use different sentence types to craft engaging topic sentences.

Materials
  • Discussion Brainstorming Page 1 (G5, Alt U4, L15) — Completed during Lesson 15
  • Discussion Brainstorming Page 1 Sample Response (G5, Alt U4, L16)
  • Two Paragraph Outline
  • Two Paragraph Outline Sample Response (G5, Alt U4, L16)

Standards

SL.5.1W.5.2W.5.2.aW.5.2.bW.5.2.eW.5.5

Day 2 - Drafting

Include the most relevant part of a quotation to support the main ideas.

Materials
  • Two Paragraph Outline — Completed on Day 1
  • Discussion Brainstorming Page 1 (G5, Alt U4, L15) — Completed during Lesson 15
  • Discussion Brainstorming Page 1 Sample Response (G5, Alt U4, L16)

Standards

SL.5.1W.5.2W.5.2.aW.5.2.bW.5.2.eW.5.5

29
Lesson
Writing

5 days

Overview

Synthesize information across multiple sources to convey the main idea about a planet.
Day 1 - Brainstorming

Synthesize details to craft a topic sentence that introduces a big, thematic idea.

Materials
  • Two Paragraph Outline (G5, Alt U4, L29)
  • Two Paragraph Outline Sample Response (G5, Alt U4, L29)
  • Brochure Template 1 (G5, Alt U4, L29)
  • Brochure Template 2 (G5, Alt U4, L29)
  • Brainstorming Page 2 (G5, Alt U4, L29)

Standards

RI.5.9W.5.2.aW.5.2.bW.5.2.eW.5.8

Day 2 - Drafting

Use a text structure and signal words that match the information in a paragraph.

Materials
  • Two Paragraph Outline (G5, Alt U4, L29) — Completed on Day 1
  • Two Paragraph Outline Sample Response (G5, Alt U4, L29)
  • Brainstorming Page 2 (G5, Alt U4, L29) — Completed on Day 1

Standards

RI.5.9W.5.2.bW.5.2.cW.5.2.eW.5.8

Day 3 - Drafting

Include appropriate background information in the introduction section and leave readers with a final takeaway in the conclusion.

Materials
  • Two Paragraph Outline Sample Response (G5, Alt U4, L29) — Completed on Day 1
  • Brainstorming Page 2 (G5, Alt U4, L29) — Completed on Day 1
  • Brainstorming Page 2 Sample Response (G5, Alt U4, L29)

Standards

RI.5.9W.5.2.aW.5.2.e

Day 4 - Revision & Editing

Rearrange sentences so that the writer's ideas are clear and logical to the reader.

Materials
  • Revision Handout (G5, Alt U4, L29)

Standards

L.5.1.cW.5.4W.5.5

Day 5 - Publishing

Elaborate on main ideas by adding supporting text features.

Materials
  • Brochure Template 1 (G5, Alt U4, L29)
  • Brochure Template 2 (G5, Alt U4, L29)
  • Brochure Template Sample Response (G5, Alt U4, L29)

Standards

SL.5.4SL.5.5W.5.6

Projects

These projects are optional and serve as a great way to enrich students' experience and deepen their content knowledge in this unit. If teachers have flex days in their schedules, we strongly recommend any of the below options.

Common Core Standards

Core Standards

RI.5.2
RI.5.3
RI.5.5
RI.5.8
RI.5.9
W.5.2
W.5.2.a
W.5.2.b
W.5.2.c
W.5.2.d
W.5.2.e
W.5.2.e
W.5.3
W.5.3.a
W.5.3.b
W.5.3.d
W.5.5
W.5.7
W.5.8
W.5.9
L.5.1
L.5.1.c
L.5.1.d
L.5.2
L.5.5.a
SL.5.1
SL.5.2
SL.5.3
SL.5.4
SL.5.5

Supporting Standards

RI.5.1
RI.5.4
RI.5.6
RI.5.7
RI.5.10
RF.5.3
RF.5.4
W.5.4
W.5.6
W.5.10
L.5.1.b
L.5.2.d
L.5.2.e
L.5.3.a
L.5.4
L.5.4.b
L.5.5
L.5.6
SL.5.6
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