What is Justice?

• What makes us different? What makes us the same?
• Why was the civil rights movement important?

• Authors include specific reasons and illustrations to support points in a text. 
• To understand an informational text, readers think about how details are connected. 

In this unit, students are challenged to think about how authors include specific reasons and illustrations to help the reader understand a particular idea or point in the text. Students also continue to explore how details are connected, and how understanding the connection between details helps the reader understand the text. 

• Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges.  
• Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly. 

In this unit, students practice using all of the strategies from previous units to hone in on their speaking and listening skills. Based on data from previous units, teachers can decide what support to provide students to ensure they are successful in tiers 1 and 2 of the three tiers of academic discourse. The focus areas and discourse in this unit align with tiers 1 and 2 of the three tiers of academic discourse and all rows of the Academic Discourse Rubric. See the Teacher Tool on Tiers of Academic Discourse to help support students with the focus areas for this unit.

To see all the vocabulary for Unit 6, view our Kindergarten Vocabulary Glossary.

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.

To prepare for this unit, we recommend reading the following resources.

• "What is Race? Having the Conversation with Young Children" by PBS
• "Talking to Young Children About Race and Racism: A Discussion Guide" by PBS
• "10 tips for teaching and talking to kids about race" by EmbraceRace

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.