KG2 Reading

Reading: Learning All About Books

Unit Sketch

This is our first unit of KG2 reading. Students learn to point to pictures and words. Students learn how to read with a partner and discuss fiction and nonfiction text. They learn strategies for planning, sustaining and utilizing reading partnerships. They see that it is essential to share their reading and thinking with others. Students build their reading stamina by reading a bit more each day.

Enduring Understandings

Students will understand that...

  • Analyzing texts for structure, purpose, and viewpoint allows an effective reader to gain insight and strengthen understanding.

Skills

Students will be able to...

  • identify the front cover of a book

  • identify the back cover of a book

  • identify the title page of a book

Emergent Story Books

Unit Sketch

In this unit children read emergent storybooks. Emergent storybook reading comes from Elizabeth Sulzby’s work on emergent literacy. The premise behind emergent storybook reading is that as students are exposed to the multiple readings of the emergent storybooks they begin to read these books on their own. Through these readings and familiarity of the emergent storybooks students’ begin to develop deeper understandings of the text, a strong sense of language and an increased desire to read independently.

Enduring Understandings

Students will understand that...

  • Effective readers use a variety of strategies to make sense of key ideas and details.

  • Analyzing texts for structure, purpose, and viewpoint allows an effective reader to gain insight and strengthen understanding.

  • To gain keener insight into the integration of knowledge and ideas, effective readers analyze and evaluate context, reasoning, and claims in diverse formats.

  • Fluent readers accurately process print with expression at an appropriate rate.

Skills

Students will be able to...

  • ask and answer questions about a text.

  • ask and answer questions before, during, and after reading a text.

  • name what the author and illustrator of a book do.

  • read a text with common sight words.

  • use the pictures in a text to help them understand it.

  • retell the story they read.

  • identify rhyming words.

  • name each letter of the alphabet and the corresponding sound.

Using All Our Powers to Read

Unit Sketch

In this unit, students recognize their powers related to reading strategies for decoding, comprehension, stamina and fluency. They practice using multiple strategies while reading and build oral fluency through peer sharing and book performances.

Enduring Understandings

Students will understand that...

  • Analyzing texts for structure, purpose, and viewpoint allows and effective reader to gain insight and strengthen understanding.

  • Foundational elements of literacy require a working knowledge of the organization and basic features of print.

  • Recognizing the relationship between sounds, syllables, and spoken words is foundational for future success as a reader.

  • Word analysis and decoding skills are foundational for success as a reader.

Skills

Students will be able to...

  • listen to and look at a different types of text.

  • say the most common sound of each consonant.

  • read common words without having to sound them out.

Reading for Information

Unit Sketch

This unit of study is written to support kindergarten readers in learning how to explore their world through information text. Although previous units have included information books the focus was more on learning how to read these books. This unit will focus not only on how to read these books but also on how to learn from these books.

In the first part of this unit students will be explorers of informational books. The first part of this unit provides lessons on how informational books are different than fiction and sets them up for reading longer stretches of engaged reading time. Readers will learn how to get their minds ready to read informational text by using what they already know about a topic and their reading strategies to support this new learning.

Enduring Understandings

Students will understand that...

  • Effective readers use a variety of strategies to make sense of key ideas and details presented in text.

  • Analyzing texts for structure, purpose, and viewpoint allows an effective reader to gain insight and strengthen understanding.

  • To gain keener insight into the integration of knowledge and ideas, effective readers analyze and evaluate content reasoning, and claims in diverse formats.

Skills

Students will be able to...

  • ask and answer questions about the key details of a text.

  • ask and answer questions before, during and after reading a text.

  • retell the key details of a text.

  • ask questions about words they do not know in a text.

  • answer questions about words in a text they do not know.

Words Words Words

Unit Sketch

In this unit children are immersed into an exploration of word relationships and the nuances in word meanings. They are introduced to antonyms, words with similar meanings, homophones and their different meanings, and inflections and affixes.

Enduring Understandings

Students will understand that...

  • Readers actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.

  • Readers explore word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

  • Readers determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words and phrases.

Skills

Students will be able to...

  • Point under each word as it is read

  • Identify spaces between words

  • Recognize rhyming words

  • Produce rhyming words

  • Add or substitute individual sounds in simple, one syllable words to make new words

  • Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ

Performing Our Books

Unit Sketch

There are many reasons to have students read books with a focus on character. This unit builds on readers’ natural instinct to imitate and role-play by asking them to watch their characters closely, in order to walk in the character’s shoes. Readers will take on many roles across the unit as they read and reread an abundance of narrative text which features relatable characters. It is supportive, but not necessary to supply readers with books in a series. In other words, readers may read numerous different text featuring varied characters during independent reading or they may study one character across numerous titles in that series. The route taken by teachers will most likely depend on resources available given reader’s reading levels.

Enduring Understandings

Students will understand that...

  • Effective readers use a variety of strategies to make sense of key ideas and details presented in text.

  • To gain keener insight into the integration of knowledge and ideas, effective readers analyze and evaluate content, reasoning and claims in diverse formats.

  • Recognizing the relationship between sounds, syllables, and spoke words is foundational for future success as a reader.

  • Effective readers and writers use knowledge of the structure and context of language to acquire, clarify, and appropriately us vocabulary.

Skills

Students will be able to...

  • listen to a story and tell the key details.

  • retell (put into my own words) stories using key details.

  • break words into syllables by clapping, snapping, or counting.

  • say each syllable sound in a word.

  • blend syllables to say a complete word.

  • blend letter sounds to say a single-syllable word.

  • discover new words and phrases through reading, listening and conversation.

  • use my new words and phrases when speaking and writing.