ELA / Kindergarten / Unit 7: Exploring Life Cycles
Students study the life cycles of different plants and animals and the characteristics of living, nonliving, and dead things, through multiple engaging informational texts and hands-on activities.
ELA
Unit 7
Kindergarten
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Please Note: The texts by Gerald Legg used in this unit are out of print. We will be replacing these with new texts and corresponding lesson plans by early 2024. If you are using this unit sooner and can't access this text, these lessons can be skipped.
In this science-based unit, students begin to build respect for and understanding of living things by studying the life cycles of different plants and animals. Students continue their exploration of seasons by learning what makes spring the season of growth and the different characteristics of living, nonliving, and dead things. Students observe and learn about plants and what seeds need in order to grow into a plant,the process in which tadpoles turn into frogs and caterpillars transform into butterflies, and how birds grow and change inside of an egg. Throughout the unit, students should be challenged to think critically about how the life cycles of plants and animals are similar and different, and what all living things need in order to thrive and survive.
Students continue to use all of the strategies learned in previous units to understand an informational or literary text. Students build on those understandings by noticing the sequence of events, particularly in informational texts. Because students read a variety of texts on the same topic, students also begin to think about the ways in which texts on the same topic can be similar and different.
Students continue to build writing fluency by writing daily in response to the Target Task. Additionally, throughout the unit students engage in both narrative and informational writing, By this point in the year, students should be using a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing, with more of an emphasis on drawing and writing.
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Book: It’s Spring! by Linda Glaser (National Geographic School Pub; 1 edition, 2010) — AD590L
Book: What’s Alive? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld (HarperCollins; 1 edition, 1995) — 430L
Book: How a Seed Grows by Helene J. Jordan (HarperCollins; Revised edition, 2015) — AD470L
Book: From Seed to Sunflower by Gerald Legg (Children's Press(CT); American ed. Edition, 1998) — 540L
Book: The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle (Little Simon; Reprint edition, 2009) — 500L
Book: Who Will Plant a Tree? by Jerry Pallotta (Sleeping Bear Press, 2010)
Book: Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert (HMH Books for Young Readers; 1 edition, 2001) — AD459L
Book: From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Gerald Legg (Franklin Watts; American ed. Edition, 1998) — 520L
Book: From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman (HarperCollins; Revised edition, 2015) — 490L
Book: Have you Heard the Nesting Bird? by Rita Gray (HMH Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition, 2017) — AD430L
Book: A Nest Full of Eggs by Priscilla Belz (Jenkins, HarperCollins; Revised edition, 2015) — AD630L
Book: From Egg to Chicken by Gerald Legg (Children's Press(CT), 1998) — 560L
Book: The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen and Jerry Pinkney (Morrow Junior Books; 1st edition, 1999) — AD820L
Book: Frogs by Gail Gibbons (Holiday House; Reprint edition, 1993) — AD600L
Book: From Tadpole to Frog by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld (Scholastic Paperbacks, 2011) — 520L
Book: Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian by Margarita Engle (Henry Holt and Co)
Assessment Text: “And the Bullfrogs Sing: A Life Cycle Begins” by David Harrison and illustrated by Kate Cosgrove (Holiday House)
These assessments accompany this unit and should be given on the suggested assessment day or after completing the unit.
Download Content Assessment
Download Content Assessment Answer Key
Download Cold Read Assessment
Download Cold Read Assessment Answer Key
Suggestions for how to prepare to teach this unit
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.
The central thematic questions addressed in the unit or across units
Specific skills to focus on when giving feedback on writing assignments
Literary terms, text-based vocabulary, idioms and word parts to be taught with the text
burst cling hatch lay minerals molt nutrient peck plant produce puzzled shed sprout surround wiggle
To see all the vocabulary for Unit 7, view our Kindergarten Vocabulary Glossary.
Fishtank ELA units related to the content in this unit.
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.
Explain how the little boy knows it’s spring.
RI.K.2
Explain how you can tell if something is alive and what all living things need to survive.
L.K.4 L.K.6 RI.K.2 RI.K.3
Explain how seeds change as they grow and what they need in order to change and grow.
RI.K.2 RI.K.3
Explain how seeds change into sunflowers and what happens at each stage.
L.K.4 L.K.6 RI.K.3 RI.K.4 RI.K.7
Explain how the tiny seed survives.
RL.K.3
Explain how animals are an important part of a plant's life cycle.
RI.K.3
Writing – 3 days
Write a story about a seed that travels from one place to another.
L.K.1 L.K.1.e L.K.2 W.K.3 W.K.5
Retell key details about the stages in a frog’s life cycle.
Identify additional details about each stage of a frog’s life cycle.
RI.K.3 RI.K.9
Writing
Write an informational text to teach about a frog’s life cycle.
L.K.1 L.K.2 W.K.2 W.K.7 W.K.8
Predict the stages in a butterfly’s life cycle and what happens at each stage.
RI.K.3 RI.K.7
Explain what Merian learned about butterflies and why this was important.
Describe the stages in a butterfly’s life cycle and what happens at each stage.
Write a book that teaches about each stage in a butterfly’s life cycle.
Explain why the nesting bird was not making any noise.
Explain what happens at each stage of a bird’s life cycle.
Describe the life cycle of a chicken.
L.K.4 L.K.6 RI.K.3 RI.K.9
Write a story about a baby bird hatching from an egg.
L.K.1 L.K.1.e L.K.2 W.K.2 W.K.3 W.K.5
Explain how the other animals treated the little duckling and how it made him feel.
RL.K.2 RL.K.3
Explain what the duckling learns about himself and what lessons we can learn from him.
Discussion
Discuss unit essential questions.
SL.K.1 SL.K.2
Assessment
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The content standards covered in this unit
L.K.1 — Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
L.K.1.e — Use the most frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by, with).
L.K.2 — Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
L.K.4 — Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on kindergarten reading and content.
L.K.6 — Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.
RI.K.2 — With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
RI.K.3 — With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
RI.K.4 — With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
RI.K.7 — With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts).
RI.K.9 — With prompting and support, identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).
RL.K.2 — With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.
RL.K.3 — With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
SL.K.1 — Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
SL.K.2 — Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.
W.K.2 — Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.
W.K.3 — Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.
W.K.5 — With guidance and support from adults, respond to questions and suggestions from peers and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
W.K.7 — Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).
W.K.8 — With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
Standards that are practiced daily but are not priority standards of the unit
L.K.5 — With guidance and support from adults, explore word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
RI.K.1 — With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
RI.K.10 — Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
RL.K.1 — With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
RL.K.10 — Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
SL.1.1 — Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups
SL.K.3 — Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.
SL.K.5 — Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.
SL.K.6 — Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.
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Unit 8
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
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