Measurement, Geometry & Inquiry

Your child takes on harder books, both detailed nonfiction like A Drop of Water and the chapter book Charlotte's Web, using fix-it moves when a text gets tricky. In writing, your child revises and edits a piece, types and publishes it with a photo, and works on grammar such as irregular plurals, reflexive pronouns, adjectives and adverbs.

It asks your child to use the question, main-topic and retelling skills of Units 1 to 3 on longer texts with less help. Revising and publishing return in the Author's Celebration at the end of the year.

• RI.2.10 Reads and understands grade-level nonfiction, with some help on the hardest texts.
• RL.2.10 Reads and understands grade-level stories and poems, with a little help on the hardest.
• W.2.5 Goes back to a piece of writing to add details and fix mistakes, with help.
• W.2.6 Types a short piece on a computer or tablet and shares it, with help.
• RF.2.3 Uses phonics to sound out new words, including vowel teams, prefixes, suffixes and longer words.
• RF.2.4 Reads smoothly, at a good pace, with expression and understanding.
• L.2.1 Uses correct grammar: collective nouns, irregular plurals, reflexive pronouns, past tense, adjectives and adverbs.
• L.2.2 Uses capitals, commas, apostrophes and correct spelling.
• L.2.4 Works out unknown words with context clues, word parts and dictionaries.
• L.2.6 Uses new words from books and conversations when talking and writing.

• Uses rereading, the pictures and word parts to make sense of a hard sentence in a nonfiction book.
• Asks thick and thin questions and answers them starting with 'The book says...'
• Retells a story with the five-finger retell and names its central message.
• Revises by adding, removing, moving or swapping words (ARMS) and edits for capitals, usage, punctuation and spelling (CUPS).
• Uses collective nouns, irregular plurals (feet, mice), reflexive pronouns and words collected from reading in their own writing.

revise, self-correct, collective noun, plural, retell, reflexive, linking word, response, lesson

• Reading notebook
• Sticky notes
• Index cards for the ARMS and CUPS lists
• Computer or tablet for typing
• Phone or tablet camera
• Word Collector booklet made from folded paper

• A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder by Walter Wick
• The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks by Joanna Cole
• The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole
• Down Comes the Rain by Franklyn M. Branley
• Penguins! by Gail Gibbons
• Penguins! by Anne Schreiber
• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
• Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
• Weather Words and What They Mean by Gail Gibbons
• The Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron

Keep the read-aloud, since Charlotte's Web runs from Week 22 into the next unit and each chapter depends on the last. Merge two writing days, and let independent reading double as the Friday reading response.

With harder texts, children often keep reading after the meaning breaks down or guess a word from its first letter. Teach the question 'Does that make sense?' and praise every self-correction by name.

This unit is about talking about books: following conversation rules, taking roles, building on someone else's idea and asking for clarification. Your child reads books linked to science and social studies, writes a true recount and a short research paragraph, and plays with shades of meaning like warm, hot and scorching.

It builds on the speaking and presenting of Unit 3 and the research skills of Unit 2. The conversation habits and recordings are used again in the Unit 6 showcase and Author's Celebration.

• SL.2.1 Takes part in real conversations: listening, taking turns, staying on topic and asking questions.
• SL.2.2 Tells the main ideas and details of something heard.
• SL.2.3 Asks a good question after listening to someone.
• SL.2.4 Tells a story or event clearly, in order, loudly enough and with good details.
• SL.2.5 Records a reading and adds pictures to make a story clearer.
• SL.2.6 Answers in full sentences when it matters.
• RL.2.1 Answers who, what, where, when, why and how questions about a story.
• RL.2.2 Retells a story in order and explains its lesson.
• RL.2.3 Explains what characters do and feel when big things happen.
• RL.2.4 Notices how rhyme, repeated lines and beat give a poem or story its sound and meaning.
• RL.2.5 Describes the beginning, middle and end of a story.
• RL.2.6 Knows characters have different points of view and uses different voices for them.
• RL.2.7 Uses both the pictures and the words to understand a story.
• W.2.3 Writes stories in order with details, time words and an ending.
• L.2.1 Uses correct grammar: collective nouns, irregular plurals, reflexive pronouns, past tense, adjectives and adverbs.
• L.2.4 Works out unknown words with context clues, word parts and dictionaries.
• L.2.5 Connects words to real life and notices shades of meaning (mad, angry, furious).

• Follows the talk rules (eyes on the speaker, one voice at a time, stay on topic) and builds on an idea with 'I want to add on...'
• Asks a clarifying question, such as 'What do you mean by...?', when something is unclear.
• Explains what the pictures add to the words and describes a story's beginning, middle and end.
• Writes a recount of a real event with time words, a line of dialogue and a clear ending.
• Orders words by strength (sad, upset, furious) and chooses the one that fits.

conversation, role, build on, point of view, purpose, structure

• Talking Together chart on large paper
• Speaker, Listener and Questioner role cards
• Sticky notes
• Phone for recording
• Research notebook
• Index cards for word sets

• Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
• Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts
• A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
• What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
• Hey, Little Ant by Phillip and Hannah Hoose
• The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! by Jon Scieszka
• The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry
• Nature's Green Umbrella: Tropical Rain Forests by Gail Gibbons
• Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner
• Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst
• The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
• Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall

Keep the conversations, since talking is the skill being taught; a 5-minute stem conversation can replace a written response. Drop one phonics review day and one independent reading block, and keep the Friday conversation, retelling or reading check.

In conversation, children often wait for their turn and then share their own idea without connecting it to what was just said. Ask for a stem at the start of each turn, such as 'I agree because...' or 'I want to add on...'