Summary of Skills

Unit 1: The Living Seas [S]

Science

• Classify animals into groups according to their characteristics.
• Identify food chains in a variety of habitats.
• Know how moving water erodes landforms, reshaping the land by taking it away from some places and depositing it as pebbles, sand, silt, and mud in other places.
• Know that most of Earth's water is present as salt water in the oceans, which cover most of Earth's surface.
• Know when liquid water evaporates, it turns into water vapor in the air and can reappear as a liquid when cooled or as a solid if cooled below the freezing point of water.
• Learn how water vapor in the air moves from one place to another and can form fog or clouds, which are tiny droplets of water or ice, and can fall to Earth as rain, hail, sleet, or snow.
• Recognize changes in the earth are due to slow processes, such as erosion, and some changes are due to rapid processes, such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.
• Recognize that a food chain is a series of plants and animals linked together because each is a source of food for the next one on the chain.
• Recognize that energy from the Sun heats the earth and causes changes in the weather.
• Recognize that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some do not survive as well, and some cannot survive at all.
• Recognize that most of Earth's surface is made up of water.
• Recognize that most of Earth's water is present as salt water in the oceans, which cover most of Earth's surface.
• Recognize that waves are a form of energy.
• Recognize that weather can directly impact communities.
• Recognize that weather shapes the geography of the land.
• See the influence that the ocean and the water cycle have on the weather patterns.
• Understand that living things differ in their characteristics, and these differences can give them advantages in surviving and reproducing.
• Understand that most of Earth's water is present as saltwater in the oceans, which cover most of Earth's surface.
• Understand that water vapor moves from one place to another and can form clouds.
• Understand that when liquid water evaporates, it turns into water vapor in the air and can reappear as a liquid when cooled, or as a solid if cooled below the freezing point of water.
• Understand the process by which water vapor in the air moves from one place to another and can form fog or clouds, which are tiny droplets of water or ice, and can fall to Earth as rain, hail, sleet, or snow.

Social Studies

• Locate geographical places on a map.
• Recognize that the geography of water and land impacts living things.

Unit 1: The Cay [LA]

Language Arts

• Analyze and integrate information from one or more sources including graphs, charts, and maps to expand understanding of text.
• Analyze character's thoughts and actions.
• Analyze characters, events, and plots and cite supporting evidence.
• Combine short, related sentences with appositives, participial phrases, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases.
• Compose multiple paragraphs with topic sentences, specific and relevant details, and elaboration.
• Conduct research using a variety of sources.
• Consider the ways language and visuals bring characters to life, enhance plot development, and produce a response.
• Demonstrate an understanding of literary work.
• Develop drafts by categorizing ideas and organizing them into paragraphs.
• Draw inferences, such as conclusions or generalizations, and support them with text, evidence, and experience.
• Emphasize ideas in ways that help the listener or viewer to follow important concepts.
• Employ elaborate information and ideas in writing and speaking by using simple and compound sentences.
• Focus writing on elements, such as sentence patterns.
• Identify and analyze the plot of a fictional story.
• Identify and interpret authors' word choices.
• Identify and interpret elements of fiction and nonfiction and support by referencing the text.
• Identify and use prepositions.
• Infer word meanings from roots, prefixes, and suffixes to assist comprehension.
• Interact with text by formulating questions after reading.
• Interact with text by locating relevant information.
• Listen actively to interpret the speaker's purpose or intent.
• Make oral presentations using personal writing.
• Make written presentations using visual aids.
• Proofread and correct most misspellings independently with reference to resources.
• Read a variety of text including nonfiction informational books
• Respond to fiction using critical, evaluative, and interpretive processes by examining reasons for characters' actions.
• Respond to literature considering situations and problems from different points of view.
• Respond to literature using interpretive and evaluative processes by identifying and examining characters' motives.
• Summarize major points from fiction to clarify ideas.
• Use commas in a direct address.
• Use correct subject/verb agreement in speaking and writing.
• Use details, examples, anecdotes, or experiences to explain or clarify information.
• Use established criteria to edit for language conventions and format.
• Use knowledge of the situation and setting and of a character's traits and motivations to determine the causes for that character's actions.
• Use mapping and webbing to organize ideas.
• Use oral and written language to solve problems and make decisions.
• Use planning strategies to generate topics and organize ideas.
• Use prepositional phrases to elaborate written ideas.
• Use volume, pitch, phrasing, pace, modulation, and gestures appropriately to enhance meaning.
• Use word identification strategies appropriately and automatically when encountering unknown words.
• Use written language to present information in a clear, concise manner.

Science

• Classify organisms according to similarities and differences.
• Recognize dangerous weather conditions and appropriate safety measures.

Social Studies

• Analyze various issues and events of the 20th century.
• Identify the similarities and differences within and among selected racial, ethnic, and religious groups.
• Recognize the impact of war on a nation.

Unit 2: Immigration [SS]

Social Studies

• Create visual aids including graphs, charts, tables, timelines, illustrations, and maps.
• Describe how individuals, events, and ideas have changed communities over time.
• Describe the ethnic impact of settlement on different regions of the United States.
• Describe the patterns of and motives for the migrations of people, and evaluate their impact on the political, economic, and social development of selected societies and regions.
• Describe the religious and ethnic impact of settlement on different regions of the United States.
• Develop historical comprehension through drawing upon diverse sources for historical learning.
• Engage in historical analysis by considering multiple perspectives.
• Examine how changes in the movement of people, goods, and ideas have affected ways of living in the United States.
• Explain the significance of selected ethnic or cultural celebrations in the community and the nation.
• Explain when, where, and why groups of people colonized and settled in the United States.
• Hypothesize how the differences and similarities among people have produced a diverse American culture.
• Identify challenges, opportunities, and contributions of people from immigrant groups.
• Identify examples of cultural interaction within and among the regions of the United States.
• Identify scientists and inventors who have created or invented new technology.
• Identify the challenges, opportunities, and contributions of people from immigrant groups.
• Identify the economic motivations for European exploration and settlement and identify their challenges, opportunities, and contributions.
• Identify ways of earning, spending, and saving money.
• Locate and describe people of diverse ethnic and religious cultures, past and present, in the United States.
• Summarize the contributions of people of selected racial, ethnic, and religious groups to our national identity.

Unit 2: A House of Tailors [LA]

Language Arts

• Analyze characters and events and cite supporting evidence.
• Analyze characters and their actions.
• Analyze characters' motivations.
• Analyze characters, including their traits.
• Analyze differences among genres.
• Answer different types and levels of questions such as open-ended, literal, and interpretative.
• Compare text events with personal and other readers' experiences.
• Compose a draft that conveys major ideas by using preliminary plans.
• Connect personal experiences with those of others.
• Demonstrate effective communication skills when sharing information orally.
• Describe mental images that text descriptions evoke.
• Determine usefulness of information and ideas consistent with purpose.
• Draw conclusions and support them with text evidence.
• Identify and interpret elements of fiction and nonfiction and support by referencing the text.
• Identify key words and discover their meanings and relationships through a variety of strategies.
• Identify the main events of the plot, their causes, and the influence of each event on future actions.
• Increase reading and writing vocabulary by examining the author's craft.
• Interact with text by making connections with previous experiences.
• Interpret text ideas through such varied means as journal writing.
• Maintain focus on a topic with specific, relevant, supporting details.
• Make inferences, draw conclusions, make generalizations, and support by referencing the text.
• Proofread and correct most misspellings independently with reference to resources.
• Provide a context that enables the listener to imagine the circumstances of the event or experience.
• Provide insight into why the selected event or experience is memorable.
• Recite brief poems (i.e., two or three stanzas), soliloquies, or dramatic dialogues, using clear diction, tempo, volume, and phrasing.
• Recognize cause and effect relationship in text.
• Relate ideas, observations, or recollections about an event or experience.
• Respond to fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama using interpretive, critical, and evaluative processes.
• Share written texts from a variety of genres, including letters.
• Speculate and interpret in response to text.
• Use a thesaurus to determine related words and concepts.
• Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.
• Use commas in a series.
• Use commas when combining independent clauses with a conjunction.
• Use concrete sensory details in writing.
• Use correct punctuation, including commas, when needed.
• Use effective rate, volume, pitch, and tone for the audience and setting.
• Use multiple reference aids, including a thesaurus and a dictionary, to clarify meanings and usage.
• Use the text's structure or progression of ideas, such as cause and effect or chronology, to locate and recall information.
• Use various reference materials (e.g., dictionary, thesaurus, card catalog, encyclopedia, online information) as an aid to writing.
• Write complex sentences.
• Write to describe and express.
• Write to express and reflect on ideas.

Science

• Recognize the contributions of scientists throughout history.

Social Studies

• Discuss the waves of immigrants from Europe between 1789 and 1850 and their modes of transportation.
• Hypothesize how differences and similarities among people have produced diverse American cultures.
• Interact with text before reading by making connections with previous experiences, information, and ideas.
• Use the library or online resources as well as interviews to learn about immigration in this country and gather information about cultural and ethnic heritages.

Unit 3: Biomes [S]

Science

• Compare different ecosystems and describe how biodiversity is being reduced.
• Describe and compare several common ecosystems (communities of organisms and their interaction with the environment).
• Determine the interaction of organisms within an ecosystem.
• Discuss and determine the role of light, temperature, and soil composition in an ecosystem's capacity to support life.
• Examine and differentiate between the populations and communities that make up an ecosystem.
• Explain and evaluate some ways that humans affect ecosystems.
• Explain why an ecosystem can support a variety of organisms.
• Identify and analyze the functions of organisms within the population of the ecosystem: producers, consumers, and decomposers.
• Identify how decomposers, including fungi, insects, and microorganisms, recycle matter from dead plants and animals.
• Observe, examine, and record data about ecosystems including living and nonliving things that interact.
• Recognize how materials are recycled in nature.
• Recognize how sugar, water, and minerals are transported and used by plants .
• Recognize plants use carbon dioxide and energy from sunlight to build molecules of sugar and release oxygen.
• Recognize that ecosystems can be characterized by their living and nonliving components.
• Understand that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

Unit 3: My Side of the Mountain [LA]

Language Arts

• Apply knowledge of word origins, derivations, synonyms, antonyms, and idioms to determine the meaning of words and phrases.
• Create multiple-paragraph compositions.
• Identify and interpret elements of nonfiction by referencing the text to find the main ideas.
• Identify key words and discover their meanings and relationships through a variety of strategies.
• Infer word meanings from taught roots, prefixes, and suffixes to decode words in text to assist comprehension.
• Know common roots and affixes derived from Greek and Latin and use this knowledge to analyze the meaning of complex words.
• Make oral and written presentations using visual aids with an awareness of purpose and audience.
• Present information on graphic organizers.
• Quote or paraphrase information sources.
• Read and interpret multiple-step instructions.
• Recognize how the author's perspective or point of view affects the text.
• Respond to fiction by identifying and examining characters' motives.
• Select a focus, organizational structure, and point of view based upon purpose, audience, and format requirements.
• Summarize major plot points from fiction and nonfiction.
• Support judgments through references to both the text and prior knowledge.
• Understand and analyze story plot, setting, and problem resolution.
• Understand the organization of almanacs, newspapers, and periodicals and how to use those print materials.
• Use appropriate strategies when reading for different purposes.
• Use facts and details to support main ideas.
• Use oral and written language to discuss ideas.
• Use technology as a tool to gather information.
• Write to express, discover, record, develop, and reflect on ideas.
• Write to inform such as to explain, describe, report, and narrate.

Science

• Observe, examine, and record data about ecosystems including living and nonliving things that interact.