Steps to Success
K-6 Lesson Plan Companion Materials
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Growth Mindset
Have you heard that no one is perfect? It’s true! And, this idea is part of a growth mindset. A growth mindset is believing that working hard and getting better is most important. When you focus on trying your best and learning from your experiences, you can keep getting better at whatever you do. For example, you might not be perfect at first when you try a new skill like drawing or playing a sport. That’s fine, you can get better! If you practice and try it more, you will improve. In school, challenges are chances to grow, not problems to avoid.
If you only focus on success, like getting the highest score or always winning, you might miss out on important lessons. Sometimes, people who only care about success can get discouraged if they don’t do well. Then, they might give up instead of trying again. This can stop them from learning new things. Success is great, but it’s not the only thing that matters. What’s more important is what you learn along the way and how you get better over time.
When you have a growth mindset, you become a lifelong learner. This means you’re always ready to try new things. And, you’re excited to keep improving, even when things are tough. You understand that mistakes are part of learning, and that each step forward is a way to grow. This mindset helps you stay curious and open to new experiences. Even if you do not succeed at first, you can always succeed with more hard work. This helps you succeed throughout your life.
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Growth Mindset Questions 1-3
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Growth Mindset Questions 4-7
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Growth Mindset Questions 8-9
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Main Idea & Details �Graphic Organizer
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
What Sleep Does for Your Brain
Sleep is very important for learning! Sleep helps your brain stay sharp. It helps you be ready to take in new information. When you sleep, your brain gets a chance to rest and recharge. It is just like how you need to rest after playing outside. This makes it easier to remember what you learned in school and to understand new things the next day.
When you sleep, your brain also organizes everything you learned during the day. It sorts through your memories from the day. This sleep helps you keep the important stuff while getting rid of things you don’t need to remember. Dr. Robert Stickgold of Harvard Medical School explains how our brain sorts memories. He says, “sleep seems to be a privileged time when the brain goes back through recent memories and decides both what to keep and what not to keep.” This means that sleep is a special time when your brain reviews memories. It stores some of them and gets rid of others. This helps you remember things better, like how to solve math problems or the new words you learned in a book.
Lastly, getting enough sleep makes you feel better and more focused. When you’re well-rested, it’s easier to pay attention in class, think clearly, and solve problems. Tired students miss key points. They also don't have enough energy in their brain to make key connections. A rested brain locks new facts into a web of other facts so you can remember them for a long time!
Getting a good night’s sleep is like giving your brain a big hug and telling it, “Thank you for all the hard work!”
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
What Sleep Does for Your Brain Questions 1-5
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
What Sleep Does for Your Brain Questions 6-8
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Cause and Effect Graphic Organizer
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Figuring Out Unknown Words
You will always come across words you don’t know when you read new, exciting things. When you read an unknown vocabulary word, you can use strategies to figure it out. These strategies can help you learn new words when you read for fun. And, they can help you do well on readings for class or tests.
One strategy is to break the word into smaller parts. These parts could be prefixes, suffixes, or root words. For example, the word “unhappy” has a prefix in front of a root word. You know what the root word “happy” means. You might also recognize that “un-” means “not,” so “unhappy” means “not happy.” Breaking the word down helps you understand its meaning.
Another way to figure out unknown words is by looking at the parts of speech. Knowing whether a word is a noun, verb, or adjective can give clues about its meaning. For example, if the word is a verb, it’s something someone does, like “run” or “jump.” This helps you understand how the word fits into the sentence.
You can also use context clues to figure out what a word means. Context clues are hints in the phrases and sentences around the unknown word. You might not know the word “enormous,” when you see it by itself. But, if the sentence says, “The enormous elephant took up the whole room,” you have context. With these clues, you can guess that “enormous” means “very big.” This strategy can also help with words that have more than one meaning.
Finally, if the other strategies don’t help, you can use a dictionary. Dictionaries let you look up the word’s definition. You can learn exactly what it means and how to use it.
New vocabulary words are everywhere! You might read them in a book for fun, or on a big test. When you find an unknown word, don’t just skip it—use a strategy. Using these strategies helps you understand new vocabulary and become a better reader.
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Figuring Out Unknown Words Questions 1-4
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Figuring Out Unknown Words Questions 5-7
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Problem and Solution Graphic Organizer
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Choosing a Strategy to Answer Questions
Teachers ask questions about what you just learned to see how well you understand the lesson. When your teacher asks the questions, you might know what to expect. You’ve been listening to how they explain things. But, it can be hard to answer questions from other people.
When people write questions in a test or a worksheet, be careful with your answers. They might mix up the types of questions or use different words. So, it is important to read each question carefully. And, think about what strategy you should use to answer it. This helps you choose the best way to solve the problem or explain your answer.
Some students like to use strategies that are not connected to the questions they answer. Those students don’t read carefully. People who write tests know these strategies. Some of those strategies are: “the answer is usually C,” “if there are 3 numbers, add them up to get the answer,” and “the longest answer is always right.” Tests are written so students who use these ideas do not score well. To do well, students should choose a strategy that comes from the question. Read carefully, think hard, and choose the best strategy for each question.
When you read carefully to answer a question, take your time to understand what the question asks. For vocabulary questions, look for clues around the word to figure out what it means. For main idea questions, think about what the whole story or passage is mostly about. For key detail questions, go back and find the part of the text the question is asking about. Reading slowly and paying attention will help you pick the best strategy to find the answer.
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Choosing a Strategyto Answer Questions Questions 1-3
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Choosing a Strategy to Answer Questions Questions 4-6
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Choosing a Strategyto Answer Questions Questions 7-8
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Persuasive Paragraph �Graphic Organizer
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Persuasive Writing Rubric
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025
Presentation�Rubric
edMe Learning’s Strategy Curriculum 2025