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What is Justice?
Students revel in the joy of celebrating individual differences, serving as a launch for discussions about fairness and how people worked together in the past to create more fair and just rules during the Civil Rights Movement.
ELA
Unit 6
Kindergarten
Unit Summary
This unit was re-revised in January 2026 to be more developmentally appropriate, center joy, and better address the complexity of some of the unit texts. As such, these texts have been removed from the unit:
- Let’s Talk About Race
- How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee
- This Is the Dream
In addition, please note the adjustments to the Essential Questions and Reading Focus Areas. We recommend that you re-download this unit and closely review before beginning to teach.
In this unit, students learn that everyone has a mix of unique qualities that make them special. This can include differences in age, interests, family roles, preferences, languages spoken, experiences, skin color, and more. Students gain comfort with voicing some of their own unique qualities by writing and publishing an All About Me informational text. Through discussion and sharing their informational texts, students revel in the joy of being around people who are both similar and different from them. As a result, students come to the understanding that acknowledging and celebrating said differences helps to build a vibrant, joyful, and interesting community.
Students go on to recognize unfairness on an individual level and to consider what steps they can take when something feels unfair. To do this, students read multiple stories where the characters face unfair circumstances or interactions. While reading, students identify the characters' feelings in response to biases and injustices. With support, students analyze the harmful impact of unfair interactions and rules on individuals.
Finally, students learn about people who helped to bring more fairness into the world during a time in United States history, the Civil Rights Movement. While reading multiple books about key events of the Civil Rights Movement, students notice how one event impacts another. At this level, students do not need to explain the Civil Rights Movement, but rather feel empowered knowing that people have worked together to achieve fairer rules for everyone.
To prepare for this unit, we recommend studying the following resources:
- To learn why Kindergarteners should learn about differences, identity markers, and fairness, read "Teaching Young Children About Bias, Diversity, and Social Justice" by Jinnie Speigler
- To learn more about how to facilitate conversations about identity, race, and racism with a social emotion lens, read "Let's Talk! Facilitating Critical Conversations" by Learning for Justice
- In the U.S., many are taught to be "color-blind." Watch "'Color-Blind' or Color-Brave? Two Views on Race & Kids" and use the "Color-Blind" or Color-Brave Breakdown as a tool to gain an evidence-based alternative to the "color-blind" ideology.
- To learn more about whiteness and its role in teaching about differences, race, and identity, read "Why Talk About Whiteness?" by Emily Chiariello
- Gain adult-level background knowledge about the Civil Rights movement by reading "The Civil Rights Movement: 10 Key Concepts" by Learning for Justice
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Texts and Materials
Some of the links in the sections 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 Texts
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Book: All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman (Knopf Books for Young Readers; Illustrated edition, 2018) — AD370L
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Video: “We're Different, We're the Same” by Sesame Street
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Book: Mixed Me! by Taye Diggs and illustrated by Shane W. Evans (Feiwel & Friends, 2015) — AD540L
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Book: Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman and illustrated by Caroline Binch (Dial Books, 1991) — AD680L
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Book: The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by E. B. Lewis (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2001) — AD490L
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Book: Rosa by Nikki Giovanni and illustrated by Bryan Collier (Square Fish; Reprint edition, 2007) — 800L
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Book: Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Bryan Collier (Jump at the Sun, 2007) — 410L
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Book: A Sweet Smell of Roses by Angela Johnson and illustrated by Eric Velasquez (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition, 2007) — AD480L
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Book: I Have a Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and illustrated by Kadir Nelson (Dragonfly Books, 2024) — 1030L
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Book: Be A King: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream and You by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by James E. Ransome (Bloomsbury USA Childrens; Illustrated edition, 2018) — 360L
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Assessment Text: “We March” by Shane W. Evans (Square Fish; Reprint edition, 2016) — BR290L
Supporting Texts
Rubrics
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.
Unit Prep
Intellectual Prep
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 makes me unique? Why is it important to celebrate our differences?
- What can I do when something feels unfair?
- How have people worked together in the past to create fairness?
Reading Focus Areas
- Readers determine how a character is feeling by noticing what they say, what they do, and any clues in the illustrations (facial expressions, body language, etc.)
- Noticing character feelings and actions helps the reader better understand what happens in the story.
- To understand an informational text, readers think about how details are connected.
Writing Focus Areas
Informational Writing Focus Areas
- Name the topic and write 2–3 supporting details about the topic.
- Use the word "I" when writing an informational text about yourself. The word "I" is always written with an uppercase letter.
- Include a title to tell the reader the topic of the text.
Emergent Writing
Use the Emergent Writing Teacher Tool to regularly study students' Target Task responses. During Independent Writing, prompt students using the supports relevant to their individual Emergent Writing phase. By the end of Unit 6, students should demonstrate mastery of some skills within Phase 4: Conventional Writing.
Speaking and Listening Focus Areas
- Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges.
- Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.
Vocabulary
Text-based
diversitydreamequaIfairfreedomhopefulinspirepeacewelcome
To see all the vocabulary for Unit 6, view our Kindergarten 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
This unit builds a deeper understanding of the following Social Justice Standards: The Learning for Justice Anti-bias Framework (Learning for Justice):
- Identity 1: I know and like who I am and can talk about my family and myself and name some of my group identities.
- Identity 2: I can talk about interesting and healthy ways that some people who share my group identities live their lives.
- Diversity 7: I can describe some ways that I am similar to and different from people who share my identities and those who have other identities.
- Diversity 8: I want to know about other people and how our lives and experiences are the same and different.
- Justice 12: I know when people are treated unfairly.
- Justice 13: I know some true stories about how people have been treated badly because of their group identities, and I do not like it.
- Justice 14: I know that life is easier for some people and harder for others and the reasons for that are not always fair.
- Justice 15: I know about people who helped stop unfairness and worked to make life better for many people.
- Action 17: I can and will do something when I see unfairness; this includes telling an adult.
- Action 20: I will join with classmates to make our classroom fair for everyone.
