Integrating Balanced Literacy and Thematic Units!
What a Perfect Combo!
Did you know that you can integrate Balanced Literacy and Thematic Units to make a "Perfect" combo? Of course it takes a lot of planning, creating, organizing and time, but once you have all of that accomplished, it will help your teaching flow a lot more effectively. I will walk you through it...so keep reading to find out more!
The first thing you need to do is look at your standards for science and social studies. That's where your main drive for your thematic unit will stem from. Decide which thematic units you and your team want to teach. You may be thinking...yuck thematic units are a trend of the past! Well, that may have been true back in the 80's where you would only teach about apples and their life cycle and not use apples to teach properties of matter, adjectives, or 5 senses. The standards have changed a lot since then, and so have our approach to teaching thematically! I've found an easy way to integrate Reader's Workshop, Writer's Workshop, Math Workshop, Guided Reading, Focus Poetry and Word Work together so my students can make better connections! It's amazing and fun!
Let's start with a standard for social studies. I live in Texas, so in March we do a big thematic unit on Texas Symbols and Historical Figures since March 2nd is Texas Independence Day:
Here are the TEKS that help us know what to teach about Texas:
1.) Identify historical figures such as Sam Houston who have influenced the community, state, and nation.
2.) Describe the origins of customs, holidays and celebrations of the community, state, and nation such as San Jacinto Day.
3.) explain state patriotic symbols including Texas flags and the Alamo.
4.) recite and explain the meaning of the Texas Pledge and identify the anthems and mottoes of Texas.
Ok- so now that you selected your standards for your thematic unit, break up your balanced literacy components and subjects. This is helpful to know what genres and what mentor texts you will be reading for each subject:
Reader's Workshop: Fiction Texts
Armadillo Rodeo, The Legend of the Bluebonnet, Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, Click Clack Moo Cows that Type, Who Took the Farmer's Hat?, When the Cows Came Home, The Big Red Barn, Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch and When The Cows Came Home.
Writer's Workshop: Fiction/Procedural Texts
Armadilly Chilly, The Lonesome Star, and How to Be a Cowboy.
Math Workshop: 120th Day Texas Celebration! Texas Counting Books, The Three Little Javalinas, 123 Texas, Counting the Texas Way, and Horse and Hen Count to 10.
Word Work:
Texas ABC Books, Words in ABC Order/Syllables
L is for Lonestar, T is for Texas, and Texas Alphabet.
Guided Reading: Leveled Books about armadillos, rodeos, cowboys, horses, cows, deserts, or The Alamo and Magic Tree House: Ghost Town at Sundown.
Focus Poem: Texas Our Texas-anthem.
Social Studies: Non-fiction Texts
Texas Symbols, Texas heroes, The Alamo, San Jacinto Day, Sam Houston, Texas Pledge, Texas Motto, and Texas State Anthem.
Alamo A to Z, Voices of the Alamo, Cowboys and Cowgirls, B is for Buckaroo, Goodnight San Antonio, Texas Jack at the Alamo, and Susanna at the Alamo.
Science: Non-fiction Texts
Oil Spill - science experiment about how oil and water mix.
Spelling: You can do any word list you want, and I make our challenge words theme related for example: Rodeo, Cowboy, Texas, Oil, Cowgirl, Horse, Alamo...
What a Perfect Combo!
Did you know that you can integrate Balanced Literacy and Thematic Units to make a "Perfect" combo? Of course it takes a lot of planning, creating, organizing and time, but once you have all of that accomplished, it will help your teaching flow a lot more effectively. I will walk you through it...so keep reading to find out more!
The first thing you need to do is look at your standards for science and social studies. That's where your main drive for your thematic unit will stem from. Decide which thematic units you and your team want to teach. You may be thinking...yuck thematic units are a trend of the past! Well, that may have been true back in the 80's where you would only teach about apples and their life cycle and not use apples to teach properties of matter, adjectives, or 5 senses. The standards have changed a lot since then, and so have our approach to teaching thematically! I've found an easy way to integrate Reader's Workshop, Writer's Workshop, Math Workshop, Guided Reading, Focus Poetry and Word Work together so my students can make better connections! It's amazing and fun!
Let's start with a standard for social studies. I live in Texas, so in March we do a big thematic unit on Texas Symbols and Historical Figures since March 2nd is Texas Independence Day:
Here are the TEKS that help us know what to teach about Texas:
1.) Identify historical figures such as Sam Houston who have influenced the community, state, and nation.
2.) Describe the origins of customs, holidays and celebrations of the community, state, and nation such as San Jacinto Day.
3.) explain state patriotic symbols including Texas flags and the Alamo.
4.) recite and explain the meaning of the Texas Pledge and identify the anthems and mottoes of Texas.
Ok- so now that you selected your standards for your thematic unit, break up your balanced literacy components and subjects. This is helpful to know what genres and what mentor texts you will be reading for each subject:
Reader's Workshop: Fiction Texts
Armadillo Rodeo, The Legend of the Bluebonnet, Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, Click Clack Moo Cows that Type, Who Took the Farmer's Hat?, When the Cows Came Home, The Big Red Barn, Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch and When The Cows Came Home.
Writer's Workshop: Fiction/Procedural Texts
Armadilly Chilly, The Lonesome Star, and How to Be a Cowboy.
Math Workshop: 120th Day Texas Celebration! Texas Counting Books, The Three Little Javalinas, 123 Texas, Counting the Texas Way, and Horse and Hen Count to 10.
Word Work:
Texas ABC Books, Words in ABC Order/Syllables
L is for Lonestar, T is for Texas, and Texas Alphabet.
Guided Reading: Leveled Books about armadillos, rodeos, cowboys, horses, cows, deserts, or The Alamo and Magic Tree House: Ghost Town at Sundown.
Focus Poem: Texas Our Texas-anthem.
Social Studies: Non-fiction Texts
Texas Symbols, Texas heroes, The Alamo, San Jacinto Day, Sam Houston, Texas Pledge, Texas Motto, and Texas State Anthem.
Alamo A to Z, Voices of the Alamo, Cowboys and Cowgirls, B is for Buckaroo, Goodnight San Antonio, Texas Jack at the Alamo, and Susanna at the Alamo.
Science: Non-fiction Texts
Oil Spill - science experiment about how oil and water mix.
Spelling: You can do any word list you want, and I make our challenge words theme related for example: Rodeo, Cowboy, Texas, Oil, Cowgirl, Horse, Alamo...
Next, I like to set up my Theme Center with Texas. This is a center that can be switched between science and social studies depending on your theme. Here is what my Texas Theme center looks like:
I have posters of the Texas Heroes, Regions of Texas, puzzles of Texas, Texas books, an Alamo model and soldiers, stencils, 6 flags over Texas, oil in a jar, pecans, bluebonnets, models of cowboys, cattle and much more. This is the center template that I use for my students to complete at the center after they observe the items there:
Ok- are you still with me? Next you will want to decide which activities, interactive notebooks, craftivities, experiments, shared reading, interactive writing, story templates, etc... that you will be having your students engaged in. I'll give you a couple of examples of some activities:
Reader's Workshop Mini-Lesson: Review Sequencing: BME and Text Connections
My students make craftivities of The Legend of The Indian Paintbrush and Legend of the Bluebonnet during their independent reading time. Click here for The Legend of the Bluebonnet.
I have posters of the Texas Heroes, Regions of Texas, puzzles of Texas, Texas books, an Alamo model and soldiers, stencils, 6 flags over Texas, oil in a jar, pecans, bluebonnets, models of cowboys, cattle and much more. This is the center template that I use for my students to complete at the center after they observe the items there:
Ok- are you still with me? Next you will want to decide which activities, interactive notebooks, craftivities, experiments, shared reading, interactive writing, story templates, etc... that you will be having your students engaged in. I'll give you a couple of examples of some activities:
Reader's Workshop Mini-Lesson: Review Sequencing: BME and Text Connections
My students make craftivities of The Legend of The Indian Paintbrush and Legend of the Bluebonnet during their independent reading time. Click here for The Legend of the Bluebonnet.
Click here for The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush.
Writer's Workshop Mini-Lesson: Procedural Texts
How to Be a Cowboy/Cowgirl
My students write a procedural story about how to be a cowboy/cowgirl and then we watercolor a sunset with silhouettes of a windmill and cowboys.
How to Make Chili:
We make chili in the crock pot and then we write about the procedure:
Writer's Workshop Mini-Lesson: Procedural Texts
How to Be a Cowboy/Cowgirl
How to Make Chili:
Click here for How to Make Chili Craftivity.
Math Workshop: 120th Day Celebration
We have our students dress up like cowboys/cowgirls and we have stations around our neighborhood with 120/Texas games and activities. Here is the 120 Ten Frame Counting activity we use. The students created a trail mix and counted out 10 of each snack. We had goldfish, raisins, pretzel sticks, chocolate chips, gummy bears, marshmallows... it was so much fun!
Social Studies: Texas Maps and Regions, Texas Symbols, and The Alamo. Here are some vocabulary cards that I use:
We made an Alamo using beans and wrote a story about it:
We also made a Texas Map with the Cities and Rivers:
We also make a Texas Symbol Book with a cover page, table of contents, each state symbol, author page, may favorite symbol and a glossary.
Science Experiment: What happens when oil and water mix? We learn about how one of the Texas natural resources is oil and how oil is used in our everyday life. We talk about Spindle Top and how it was the first famous oil rig in Texas. Then we mix oil and water and predict what will happen. Here is an interactive notebook template that my students do:
Then, we end our thematic unit by visiting the Alamo on a Saturday field trip! We have a picnic lunch on the grass and go shopping at the gift shop! So fun!
I hope that I helped give you some ideas about how to plan for a thematic unit. It can be done if you carefully plan. And, the best part is... you'll have it for next year! And, your students will learn so much and make so many great connections!
If you're interested in check out my Texas Thematic Unit, click here . Hope ya'll have a great time! Please comment down below if you have any questions. Happy Teaching! :)
Love,
Kara
We made an Alamo using beans and wrote a story about it:
We also made a Texas Map with the Cities and Rivers:
We also make a Texas Symbol Book with a cover page, table of contents, each state symbol, author page, may favorite symbol and a glossary.
Science Experiment: What happens when oil and water mix? We learn about how one of the Texas natural resources is oil and how oil is used in our everyday life. We talk about Spindle Top and how it was the first famous oil rig in Texas. Then we mix oil and water and predict what will happen. Here is an interactive notebook template that my students do:
I hope that I helped give you some ideas about how to plan for a thematic unit. It can be done if you carefully plan. And, the best part is... you'll have it for next year! And, your students will learn so much and make so many great connections!
If you're interested in check out my Texas Thematic Unit, click here . Hope ya'll have a great time! Please comment down below if you have any questions. Happy Teaching! :)
Love,
Kara
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