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Unit 4Unit Name: Light and Sound
BIG IDEA: How do you experience light and sound?		Unit pacing: 3 weeks
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Unit Overview and Enduring UnderstandingsIn Unit 4, students continue to develop as fluent readers and writers while exploring the science of light and sound. Phonics instruction focuses on blending and segmenting sounds with advanced spelling patterns, including r-controlled vowels, long vowels, and final consonant blends like ng and nk. These skills support more accurate decoding and fluent reading.

Through engaging literary and informational texts, students will apply key comprehension strategies such as summarizing, predicting, visualizing, and asking and answering questions. They will also explore text structures like cause and effect and fact vs. opinion, while analyzing story elements such as plot, setting, and the author’s purpose.

In writing, students will build their fluency and legibility through handwriting practice, focusing on correct letter formation, size, and spacing. They will write clear, step-by-step instructions, use exclamatory sentences with correct punctuation, and apply grammar skills like using articles, demonstratives, and other determiners to strengthen sentence construction.

By the end of this unit, students will be able to decode more complex words, understand how texts convey meaning, and express their ideas clearly in writing—all while learning how light and sound affect their daily lives.
LESSON 1: October 20- 24, 2025
LESSON 2: October 27- 31, 2025
LESSON 3: November 3- 7, 2025
HOLIDAY BREAK (NO SCHOOL): November 10, 2025
VETERANS' DAY (NO SCHOOL): November 11, 2025

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Essential Questions		Foundational Skills:
1. Why is it important to break a word into beginning, middle, and ending sounds when reading and spelling?
2. When can we say a vowel is r-controlled, and what happens to the vowel sound when it is?
3. How do we know when a vowel makes the schwa sound?
4. How can we tell if a vowel is making a short or long sound, and what clues in the word help us decide?
5. Why do we use spelling patterns like qu, y, v, a, and a_e, and how do they help us read and spell new words?
6. Why does reading the same text more than once help us read more fluently and with fewer mistakes?		Reading Elements & Comprehension Strategies:
1. What reading strategies help you understand nonfiction or informational texts?
2. What can you do when a story or text is hard to understand?
3. How do pictures, headings, and punctuation marks help you understand what you read?
4. What parts of a story (like the setting, characters, or plot) help you understand what the author is trying to tell you?
5. How can you tell if something in a text is a fact or just someone’s opinion?
6. What makes a poem different from other things we read, and how do poems help us feel or imagine something?		Writing:
1. Why is it important to leave the right space between my letters and words?
2. What can I do to write faster and more smoothly while keeping it neat?
3. How do I know if a sentence shows strong feeling and needs an exclamation mark?
4. How does a sequence map help me plan and write steps clearly?
5. How do I know which article or demonstrative word to use with a noun?

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Content DomainEssential StandardsSupporting StandardsConceptsSkillsStrategies/ ModelsVocabularyEvidence of MasteryAssessmentsDistrict Aligned Resources
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Foundational Skils1.RF.2 Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

1.RF.3 Know and apply phonics and word analysis skills in decoding one-syllable or two-syllable words.

1.RF.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

1.RF.2.b Orally produce single‐syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.

1.RF.2.c Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.

1.RF.2.d Segment spoken one-syllable words of three to five phonemes into individual phonemes (e.g., /s/p/l/a/t/).

1.RF.3.b Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.

1.RF.3.f Recognize and read grade‐appropriate irregularly spelled words.
1.RF.3.b Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.		We can break words into beginning, middle, and ending sounds to help us read and spell them.

When a vowel is followed by the letter r, like in the word her or bird, the r changes the vowel sound, making it an r-controlled vowel.

Some words end with special sounds like /ng/ in sing or /nk/ in sink, and we can blend and spell them together.

Sometimes, a vowel doesn’t make its usual sound because it’s in the quiet part of the word. We call that sound schwa, and it sounds like ‘uh’—like in the word banana.

We can read and spell sounds like /kw/ spelled qu, /y/ spelled y, /v/ spelled v, and long /ā/ spelled a and a_e by learning common spelling patterns.

Short vowels like /a/ in cat say their sound, and long vowels like /ā/ in cake say their name, often because of a silent/ magic e.

Reading the same text more than once helps us read faster, more smoothly, and with better understanding.		Segment initial, medial, and final sounds in words to build stronger phonemic awareness.

Blend, spell, and read words with r-controlled vowels /er/ spelled er, ir, ur, and ear.

Blend, spell, and read words with /ng/ spelled ng and /nk/ spelled nk.

Blend, spell, and read words with the schwa sound, including /əl/ and other unstressed vowel sounds.

Blend, spell, and read words with /kw/ spelled qu_, /y/ spelled y_, /v/ spelled v, and long /ā/ spelled a and a_e.

Listen for and distinguish between short /a/ and long /ā/ vowel sounds.

Build fluency and accuracy by rereading familiar texts with known phonics patterns.		Mystery Sound Bag: Pull out objects and have students identify and sort them by beginning sound.

“I Hear With My Little Ear” Game: Say a word aloud and ask students to identify and categorize the beginning, middle, or ending sound.

Rhyme Time Sing-Alongs: Sing nursery rhymes and pause for students to fill in the missing rhyming word.

Odd One Out: Give three words—two that rhyme and one that doesn't. Students choose the word that doesn't rhyme.

Vowel Sound Sorting: Use pictures of CVC words and sort them by their medial vowel sounds (short a, e, i, o, u).		HIGH FREQUENCY WORDS

Lesson 1 (Week 1):
girl, her, with any, from, like, water, but, do long, my no, where

Lesson 2 (Week 2) :
on, they, she

Lesson 3 (Week 3):
yes, were

TSWBAT segment initial, medial, and final sounds in spoken words with 80% accuracy.

TSWBAT blend, spell, and read words with target patterns (r-controlled vowels, /ng/, /nk/, /kw/, /y/, /v/, long /ā/, schwa) with 80% accuracy.

TSWBAT accurately distinguish and apply short /a/ and long /ā/ sounds in reading and spelling tasks with 80% accuracy.

TSWBAT read familiar decodable texts with improved fluency, 90% word accuracy, and appropriate expression across repeated reads.		Oral segmenting tasks for initial, medial, and final sounds

Phoneme discrimination checks (short vs. long vowel sounds)

Dictation activities for words with:
1.) r-controlled vowels (er, ir, ur, ear)
2.) nasal sounds (/ng/, /nk/)
3.) /kw/, /y/, /v/, and long /ā/ patterns
4.) schwa /əl/ and unstressed syllables

Word sorts and phoneme pattern matching

Timed rereads with WPM tracking

Oral Reading in Whole Group and Small Group (Differentiated)

Use flashcards or worksheets with specific target sounds or blends

GALILEO Tests		Week 1:
Decodable 49: Bird Shirts
Decodable 50: A Blur with Fur
Decodable 51: Earnest’s Search
Decodable 52: Big Bing
Decodable 53: Purple

Week 2:
Decodable 54: The Children Get a Rabbit
Decodable 55: Pump and Pedal
Decodable 56: In the Tank
Decodable 57: Quick Quin
Decodable 58: King Frank

Week 3:
Core Decodable 59: Beth’s Yak
Core Decodable 60: Seven Pals
Core Decodable 61: April’s Bake Shop
Core Decodable 62: Tab
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Reading Elements and Comprehension Strategies1.RI.9 Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).

1.RL.1 Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, why, when, and how about key details in a text.

1.RL.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.		1.SL.2 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.

1.SL.4 Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly.

1.SL.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
Informational texts teach us facts about a topic, and the facts are organized to help us learn and understand.

We can understand the story or text more clearly when we use strategies like summarizing, visualizing, making connections, asking questions, and making predictions,

We can figure out what new words mean by thinking about how they are used in the sentence (context clues) and talking about them.

Text structures like cause and effect, compare and contrast, sequence, and fact vs. opinion help us see how ideas in the text are connected.

Text features like pictures, headings, and labels help explain important ideas and give us extra information.

Authors have a reason for writing. We can look at their words and choices to understand what they want to tell or teach us.

Stories have important parts like the characters, setting, plot, and point of view that help us understand what is happening and why.
Identify the key elements of informational texts, including how facts are organized and presented.

Apply comprehension strategies such as summarizing, visualizing, clarifying, asking and answering questions, predicting, and making connections to better understand what is read.

Develop understanding of vocabulary words through context and discussion.

Recognize and analyze text structures such as cause and effect, compare and contrast, sequence, and fact vs. opinion to understand how ideas are connected.

Identify and analyze text features such as illustrations, headings, and other visuals to support meaning.

Analyze the author’s purpose and the author’s use of language to understand why the text was written.

Identify story elements including setting, plot, and point of view to support comprehension of narrative texts.

Review and apply vocabulary and comprehension strategies across selections to deepen understanding of literary and informational texts.		Picture Walk Predictions: Before reading, use illustrations to predict causes and effects in a story.

Matching Game: Provide cards with causes and effects and have students match them.

Venn Diagrams: Use for comparing characters, books, or two informational texts on the same topic.

Compare & Contrast Sentence Frames: Provide sentence starters like “____ and ____ are alike because…” or “One difference is…”

Opinion Starters Anchor Chart: Teach words that signal opinion like “I think,” “I feel,” “best,” “should,” etc.

Fact or Opinion Game Show: Present a statement and have students hold up “Fact” or “Opinion” cards.

Character/Setting Graphic Organizers: Use organizers with sections like “What the character says/does/feels” or “Where and when the story happens.”		VOCABULARY WORDS. Lesson 1 (Week 1):
bowed, sewn, shadow, where, light, something, instead, different, really, constant

Lesson 2 (Week 2):
position, continues, phases, idea, invent, experiment, cause, finally

Lesson 3 (Week 3):
sounds, vibrating, signals, bounce, ray, contagious, however, forgot

TSWBAT identify the central theme or message of a text and recognize the important details that support the main idea with at least 80- 90% accuracy.

TSWBAT asnwer WH and open-ended questions that go beyond the text to encourage critical thinking

TSWBAT arrange events in a logical order to create a clear and coherent narrative.

TSWBAT identify and articulate his/her own opinion about the characters, events, or ideas presented in a text.		Provide reading passages.

Close Reading Activities (Ask students to identify the underlined details and explain their significance to the overall passage.)

Provide discussion prompts.

Ask WH and open-ended questions.

GALILEO Tests		Lesson 1(Week 1):
Title: “Me and My Shadow”


Lesson 2 (Week 2):
Title: “Watching the Moon”
Title: "Ben's Bright Idea"

Lesson 3 (Week 3):
Title: “Just Listen”
Title: "The Tale of Lightning and Thunder"

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Writing1.W.4 With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.
1.WF.3.d.1 Irregular words (e.g., said, what, are, they, was).

1.WF.3.e Spell unfamiliar words phonetically, applying phonemic awareness and spelling conventions.
Each letter has its own shape and must be written the right way with the right size.

Letters and words need the right amount of space so handwriting is neat and easy to read.

An exclamatory sentence shows strong feeling and ends with an exclamation mark.

A sequence map helps us plan and put steps in the right order when we write instructions.

The words "a," "an," and "the" are articles that introduce nouns and show whether we are talking about something specific or general.

Words like "this," "that," "these," and "those" are demonstratives. They help tell which noun we are talking about.		Form the letters p, b, d, and g correctly using proper size and shape.

Control the size and spacing of letters and words to make handwriting clear and neat.

Increase writing fluency by writing more quickly and smoothly.

Identify and write exclamatory sentences using correct punctuation.

Use a sequence map to plan and organize steps when writing instructions.

Identify and use determiners like articles (a, an, the) and demonstratives (this, that, these, those) in sentences.
Writing declarative, interrogative, imperative
and exclamatory sentences

Prepare sentence strips and have students sort them by sentence type.

Give students short passages or sentences and ask them to find punctuation clues to determine the sentence type.

Provide a list of sentence starters by type		SPELLING WORDS. Lesson 1 (Week 1) Spelling Words:
girl, her, fur, spur, turn, hurt, sir, blur, burn, heard

Lesson 2 (Week 2) Spelling Words:
sank, quiz, quill, stink, salt, small, rink, hill, eagle, puzzle

Lesson 3 (Week 3) Spelling Words:
made, make, name, bake, game, cake, gate, take, late, lake

TSWBAT consistently write grammatically correct and complete sentences with 80-90% accuracy.

TSWBAT correctly spell at least 80-90% words in the Spelling List.

TSWBAT accurately use the past tense of verbs to indicate actions that happened in the past; choose the correct verb form (singular or plural) that agrees with the subject of the sentence; and identify and use adverbs that tell when something happened (e.g., yesterday, today, tomorrow, last week).		Sentence Writing
Sentence Editing
Sentence Scramble

Weekly Spelling Test

Dictation Exercises		Handwriting without tears ( Students edition)
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