Themes

Theme One:

You Can Do It! 

• The Gardener by Sarah Stewart

•  Donovan’s Word Jar by Monalisa DeGross 

•  I Love the Look of Words (a poem by Maya Angelou)  

•  My Name is María Isabel      by Alma Flor Ada   

•  Lou Gehrig by David A. Alder

•  Wings of Hope (a poem by Marianne J. Dyson)

•  On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder 

•  Searching for Laura Ingalls Wilder (a poem by Kathryn  Lasky and Meribah Knight)

• NarrativeElements  

• Characters’ Feelings and Actions

• Prefixes and Suffixes

• Using the Library/ Media Center

• Word Identification Strategies

• Point of View

Theme Two:

Side by Side

• The Seven Children by Linda and Clay G

• The Garden of Happiness by Erika Tamar

• I do not plant my garden (a poem by Lynne Cherry)

• The City (a poem by David Ignatow)

• Nights of the Pufflings by Bruce McMillan

• Charlotte’s Web adapted by Joseph Robinette

• How to Baby-sit an Orangutan by Tara Darling and Kathy Darling

• Predict Outcome

• Figurative Language

• Cause and Effect

• Theme

• Note Taking

•  Outlining

Theme Three:

Make Yourself at Home

• Sarah, Plain and Tall  by Patricia Mac Lachlan

• Stealing Home by Mary Stolz

• Grandfather Is a Chinese Pine (a poem by Zheng Xu)

•  The Cricket In Times Square by George Selden

• Look to the North: A Wolf Pup Diary by Jean Craighead George

• Moon of Falling Leaves (a     poem J. Bruchac & J. London)

• Saguaro Cactus by Paul and Shirley Berquist

• Saguaro (a poem by Frank Ash)

• Drawing Conclusions

• Determining similarities and differences

• Sequencing events

• Applying Study Strategies

• Recognizing Elements of Nonfiction

• Using context clues to confirm meaning

• Creating mental images of the text

• Using text structure and format to understand nonfiction

•   Using graphic aids

Theme Four:

Creative Minds

• The Kids’ Invention Book byArlene Erlbach

• The Case of Pablo’s Nose by Donald Sobol

• The Hen and the Apple Tree (a poem by Arnold Lobel)

• In the Days of King Adobe retold by Joe Hayes

• Red Writing Hood  by Jane Tesh

• One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale Retold by Demi

• It’s Just Math (a poem by Linda George

• Identifying the main idea and supporting details
• Analyzing the plot and problem solving
• Summarizing and paraphrasing
• Using several decoding strategies
• Accessing prior knowledge
• Making critical evaluations and judgments
• Making and confirming predictions

Theme Five:

Community Ties

• Fire!   by Joy Masoff

• A Very Important Day By Maggie Rugg Herold

• House, House by Jane Yolen

• Blue Willow by Doris Gates

•  Horned Lizard (a poem by Pat Mora)

• In My Family by Carmen Lomas Garza

• My Village (by Isaac Daigle)

• Distinguishing between facts and opinions

• Making generalizations

•  Recognizing the author’s purpose and perspective

• Using context to determine multiple-meaning words

• Skimming and scanning nonfiction texts

Theme Six:

New Lands

• I Have Heard of a Land By Joyce C. Thomas

• Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox by Robert D. San Souci

•  Geography (by Donald Graves)

• Two Lands, One Heart: An American Boy’s Journey to His Mother’s Vietnam by Jeremy Schmidt and Ted Wood

• Fly Traps! Plants That Bite Back by Martin Jenkins

• A Visit to a Dreamy Place (by Betsy Mizell)

• The Down and Up Fall by Johanna Hurwitz

• Using context to understand vocabulary

• Making inferences

•  Interpreting and using graphic sources

• Classifying and categorizing information

• Using referents

• Creating mental images of the text

•  Using reference sources

• Self-questioning to monitor comprehension