The Sequence of Life
Unifying Concept: How the World Works
Overview: In this unit, students explore life cycles of plants and insects to develop an understanding of how challenges and experiences influence the ways they change and grow. Through this study, students will read and listen to a variety of informational texts and literature about plants, animals, and insects, and will develop an understanding of how life cycle changes of various organisms have an impact on people.
Purpose: In this unit, The Sequence of Life, students will examine life cycle changes of various organisms, the challenges they face, and the impact they have on people. Through this exploration, students will understand how various organisms go through changes during their lives, and how those organisms affect our lives.
Enduring Understandings:
Through informational text, literature, and study of science, we develop an understanding of how change and experiences influence how we grow, work, and play. / Essential Questions:
  1. What cycles do living organisms experience as they grow?
  2. How do challenges and change impact living organisms?
Additional Essential Question:
What can we learn about ourselves by looking at the life cycles of living organisms?
Target Standards are emphasized during the quarter and used in a formal assessment to evaluate student mastery.
Highly-Leveraged1 arethe most essential for students to learn because they have endurance (knowledge and skills are relevant throughout a student's lifetime); leverage (knowledge and skills are used across multiple content areas); and essentiality (knowledge and skills are necessary for success in future courses or grade levels).
2.RI.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
2.RI.2 Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text.
2.RI.6 Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
2.W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
Supportingare related standards that support the highly-leveraged standards in and across grade levels.
2.RL.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
2.RL.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
2.RI.7 Explain how specific images (e.g., a diagram showing how a machine works) contribute to and clarify a text.
Constant Standards are addressed routinely every quarter.
2.RL.6
2.RI.4
2.RI.9.
2.W.8
2.SL.2
2.L.1g
Selected Readings of Complex Texts
Extended/Short Texts:
About Insects, A Guide for Children,Cathryn Sill
Big Tree, The,Bruce Hiscock
Bugs, Penelope York
Catherine Stephens
City Green, DyAnne DiSalvo, TE p. 338H
From Seed to Plant, Gail Gibbons
Hey, Little Ant, Phillip and Hannah Hoose
Insects Grow and Change, Elaine Pascoe
Life Cycle of aHoneybee, The, Bobbie Kalman
Maytime Magic, Mabel Watts, TE p. 312P
Milkweed Bugs, Donna Schaffer
Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden ,George Levenson, TE p. 312H
Secret Life Of Trees , The, Barbara Shook Hazen
Tiny Seed, The, Eric Carle
Trees, Harry Behn, TE p. 338P
Ugly Vegetables, The, Grace Lin, TE p. 366H / Multicultural Adoptions:
Isabel's House of Butterflies,Tony Johnston
Lotus Seed, TheTatsuro Kiuchi
Tree Lady, H. Joseph Hopkins
Additional Instructional Resources
Electronic Resources and Alternative Media:
Poems:
Rainbow Tree,Connie Marcum Wong
Trees, Joyce Kilmer
Butterfly Lifecycle Poem,Mr. R.'s Science Poems for Fun and Learning!
The Butterfly Lifecycle Song,Brook Hassmann
Websites:
Shel SilversteinThe Giving Tree(Click on The Giving Tree 50th Anniversary Event Kit)
Introduction to Compare and Contrast, Carrie Carter
Background on the Vietnamese national flower vietnamesetravel.com
The Honey Files - A Bee's Life., National Honey Board
Honey Bee Life Cycle, Science Videos
Anatomy of a Hive, PBS.org Nova Online
Tree Magic, The Annual Cycle, Treewich
Acorn to Oak(filmed over an 8 month period time-lapse), Neil Bromhal
Lotus Seed with Music, Molnar Gy

Monarch Butterfly Metamorphosis Time-Lapse,DS Scott Production

Praying Mantis Life Cycle , Ilse Knatz Ortabasi
Ladybug Life Cycle, Ramona Medina-Gallegos
Close Reading, BuzzFeed.com
Performance Assessments
Formative Assessments:
Response Journal Entry
"A Bean is a Seed!" handout (See attachment)
Compare and Contrast worksheet (See attachment)
Story Rays
Close Reading questions/answers / Summative Assessments:
Life Cycle of A Seed diagram/sequencing writing
Insect Life Cycle Diagram/Writing
Diagram of life cycle of insect of students' choice
Write Your Own Ending to the story, Hey Little Ant, To Squish or Not To Squish?
Book Comparison: Secret Life of Trees, and From Seed to Plant

ELA, Office of Curriculum Development©Page 1 of 3

1This definition for highly-leveraged standards was adapted from the “power standard” definition on the website of Millis Public Schools, K-12, in Massachusetts, USA.

ELA, Office of Curriculum Development©Page 1 of 3