Teaching With Thematic Units

As many of you know, one of my favorite things to teach in my classroom is thematic units. For me, this is the simplest way to teach by incorporating all the curriculum together. You may be teaching reading, but you can certainly read a science or social studies book during your reading time, or you may be teaching social studies, but the students may be writing an expository piece during that time.  In my mind it's just good teaching and it just makes sense. I've taught this way for 22 years now, and my students learn so many skills and much much more by me teaching through the themes. Before I plan my thematic unit, I ask myself these questions:

1.) What are my science/social studies TEKS and what part of the semester do I need to teach them?
2.) What are my reading/writing TEKS and what part of the semester do I need to teach them?
3.) What kind of hands-on and engaging science investigations and experiments can I add to this thematic unit to make it meaningful?
4.) What mentor texts do I need to incorporate into my reading/writing/science/and social studies time that go with my theme?
5.) What kind of craftivities can I have the students make to ensure that they are learning the TEKS and skills?
6.) Are there interactive notebook activities that I can incorporate to assess my students?
7.) What holidays or special occasions are coming up that I can incorporate my themes with?
8.) Does this theme require an outside lesson and what materials do I need to gather?

Wow! That's a lot of things to consider when planning a thematic unit! But, let me reassure you, after you have taught one thematic unit for several years, it becomes second nature to you. You get better at incorporating your subjects, and you can do more with it. This is where I am now, so I can teach outside the box and go above and beyond than I used to do. I can do more hands-on activities, more in-depth questions, and more technology.

In my classroom I have a theme center. This is where I change out the center according to what theme I'm teaching. I change it out every two weeks. My students get SO excited when they walk in the door Monday morning and notice I have changed my theme center. They cannot wait for me to show them all the new and exciting games, books and materials that they can interact with at the new center. It's like Christmas every two weeks for them! Here are some of my theme centers from my classroom:

All About Me/What is a Scientist: August 

Apples/Community Helpers: September

Maps and Columbus/Owls/Bats: October

Native Americans/Rocks and Soil: November

Christmas Around the World: December

Obects in the Sky/Weather: January 

Presidents: February 

Texas: March

Rainforests: April 

Oceans: May 

Other things to consider when teaching in themes is what kind of math manipulatives can I incorporate? For example, when teaching about apples, have the students use apple erasers and real apples to sort properties. Or, plastic animals, holiday counters or food! 

When teaching Rainforests, use plastic rainforest animals to sort, graph and measure.
When teaching Christmas Around the World, use candy canes, marshmallows, or assorted nuts to count, add, subtract and problem solve.

Another important hands-on and FUN way to incorporate themes is by having an end of unit celebration! This is where the students get to have a TASTE of the THEME!
For Columbus, the students can celebrate by eating
Sailboat Jell-O.

For Rocks and Volcanoes, the students can celebrate by eating Dirt in
a cup! 

  

For Fairy Tales, have a Fairy Tale Ball and the students can eat a castle cake! 
 

Or, you can have the students celebrate by making a project that they can take home!
For Oceans, the students can make an Ocean in a Jar.

I hope you have gotten some great ideas about how to incorporate your TEKS or standards into themes. Your students will LOVE it and they are so fun and create a lifelong passion for learning. By teaching themes cross-curricular you are free to mix and match the subjects as you see fit and have fun at the same time!

If you are interested in checking out my thematic units, click below. These units include craftivities, investigations, vocabulary cards, lesson plans, mentor texts, interactive notebooks, edible experiments, and much more.

 Enjoy!

From Seed to Pumpkin: Thematic Unit

Birds of a Feather: An Owl Thematic Unit 

1492: A Maps and Columbus Thematic Unit 

All About Me: A Back to School Thematic Unit

It's Raining Cats and Dogs! A Weather Thematic Unit

Rockin' Inside the Earth: A Rocks and Soil Thematic Unit 

Once Upon a Time: A Fairy Tale Writing Unit 

Ocean Commotion: A Thematic Unit 

What's Buggin' You? An Insect Thematic Unit

How Does Your Garden Grow? A Plant Thematic Unit 

Apples are A Peeling: A Thematic Unit 

Rainforest Research: A Thematic Unit 

Texas Our Texas: A Thematic Unit 

How Cold Can You Go? An Arctic Thematic Unit 

Love, Kara