Unit Planning
Wonders breaks down each unit into three weeks. Each week focuses on a new concept that introduces students to the world around them. For example, in unit one week one, the weekly concept is “make new friends” and students are posed with the question, “how can we get along with new friends?” In unit one week two, the weekly concept is “Get up and Go!” and the question is “How do baby animals move?” Finally, in unit one week three, the weekly concept is “Use Your Senses” and students are asked, “how can you use your senses to help you learn?” Although the weekly concepts are different, the parts of the unit such as word work and comprehension remain the same. The different weekly concepts keep students engaged in the lesson and build upon their knowledge from previous weeks. For example, in unit one week one, students are introduced to phonemes and practice identifying beginning sounds. As they continue through unit one week two and three, they continue to build their phoneme isolation skills but with different letters.
The content of each unit is extensive and can be overwhelming. However, it’s crucial that my students remain engaged because it supports their progress towards their rigorous long-term reading goal of 1.6 years of reading growth. My grade level and I find it helpful to incorporate cross-disciplinary skills during the reading lesson to further engage my students in the applying their knowledge. For example, during unit one week three, students are exploring the weekly concept of using their senses and learning about how their senses help them learn. In collaboration with my grade level, we decided to conduct our science unit on Day and Night Sky during the same time because the science unit challenges students to use their senses to describe the similarities and differences in the day and night sky. Through our understanding of our curriculum, we were able to align different content areas to support student learning and provide them with additional opportunities to apply what they learned.
Wonders Unit Breakdown Example
Pictured Above: Wonders Unit 1 Breakdown
As mentioned in the Long-Term planning section, unit planning helps me understand the goals of each unit and the content that will be covered. Reviewing unit plans is important because I'm able to identify areas that my students may require more support. For example, in unit one week one, students are introduced to category words based on feelings. As the special education teacher in my inclusion classroom, my knowledge of my students informs my planning for that lesson because I know a few of my students struggle with identifying feelings due to their disability. Therefore, to support their acquisition of the content, I'm able to build in more focused support during the lesson. A few ways I can do this is by providing visuals, so they can connect feeling words to pictures and also by acting out feelings with partners who have a more established understanding.
Wonders Unit Weekly Breakdown
Wonders Unit Assessments
