Curriculum

Children will know and use various text features to locate key facts or information in a text. This means they will learn to look at headings to see what a section is about, use the table of contents to find the right page for a topic, check the glossary to understand the meaning of new words, and click on icons in digital texts to get more information.

With prompting and support, children will learn to name the author and illustrator of a story and understand the roles each plays in telling the story. For example, a teacher might read a book like "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak to the class and then discuss it. The teacher could start by asking, "Who wrote the words in this book?" and "Who made the pictures?" As the children respond, the teacher will explain, "The person who wrote the words is called the author, and that's Maurice Sendak for this book. He thought of the story and told it with words. The person who made the pictures is called the illustrator, and in this book, it's also Maurice Sendak. He helped tell the story by creating pictures, so we can see what the characters and places look like."

Children will use illustrations and details in the story "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak to describe its characters, setting, or events. For instance, a teacher can ask, "Can you describe where Max sails to using the pictures?" Children might talk about the wide ocean and the forest of the Wild Things seen in the illustrations. They could also describe Max and the Wild Things from the way they are drawn, noting emotions and actions like Max's king costume and the Wild Things' wild dances.

Children will distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text. This means they will learn to notice what details come from the images and what details come from the written text. For example, if they see a picture of a dog playing in a park and read the sentence "The dog is running fast," they will understand that the picture shows how the dog looks and where it is, while the words describe what the dog is doing

With prompting and support, children will describe how illustrations relate to the story they are in. For example, using "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle, a teacher might show the page where the caterpillar eats an apple and ask, "What part of the story does this picture show?" This helps children see how pictures help tell the story, enhancing their understanding and enjoyment of the book.

(Not applicable to literature)

Children will use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas. This means they will look at the pictures and read the text to understand the main points. For example, if they see a picture of a butterfly and read about how it grows from a caterpillar, they will use both the image and the words to explain the life cycle of a butterfly.

(Not applicable to literature)

Children will, with prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear. For example, after reading a story, the teacher might ask, "What does this picture show?" The children could respond, "It shows the bunny and the carrot." The teacher might then prompt them to connect that illustration to the text by asking, "How does this picture help us understand what happens in the story?" The children might answer, "It helps us see what the bunny looks like and where he is."

Children will compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in different stories. For example, using Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" and Ezra Jack Keats' "The Snowy Day," a teacher might guide a discussion on how each character's adventure differs. They could discuss how Max sails to an island of Wild Things and becomes their king, full of wild rumpuses, while Peter explores his neighborhood after a snowfall, experiencing the quiet and peaceful scenes of winter.