In this unit, students learn about United States history by reading the core text, Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African-Americans, and excerpts from Let It Shine: Stories of Black Freedom Fighters and Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America. Throughout the unit, students grapple with the discrimination and broken promises African Americans faced, paired with the endless determination and perseverance that fueled countless triumphs to overcome unfair and unjust treatment. Through a study of slavery up through the civil rights movement, students will be challenged to think critically about different events, influential people, and how they have had a lasting impact on the America we know today. This is incredibly important for helping students not only understand America’s past, but also to understand the realities of America’s present. It is our goal that this unit, combined with others in the curriculum, will inspire a passion within students to stand up for what is right and to fight for civil rights in order to attain equality and justice for all human beings, regardless of race. The goal of this unit is not depth; rather, the focus is more on exposure and building student understanding of the history behind the civil rights movement while simultaneously building a sense of empowerment and empathy. In fifth grade, students will study the civil rights movement in depth, learning about a wider variety of influential leaders, groups, and events, especially those in which youth advocacy and fight inspired and drove change. It is our hope that the combination of both units will equip students with the tools necessary to begin to challenge injustice in their own lives.

The unit requires students to deeply analyze a text to see how an author develops different ideas and points using vivid evidence in both the text and illustrations. Students will analyze author’s word choice, the different details an author includes, and the way in which an author presents information in order to build a deeper understanding of the time period and the text. Students will also be challenged to carry information across multiple texts in order to build a deeper understanding of content and themes.

Students learn about the underlying engineering principals in the inner workings of a simple household object -- the faucet. Students use the basic concepts of simple machines, force and fluid flow to describe the path of water through a simple faucet. Lastly, they translate this knowledge into thinking about how different designs of faucets also use these same concepts.

Identifying Media Bias in News Sources through activites using relevant news sources to answer the following essential question:Why is this important and relevant today?Students are engaging with a growing number of news sources and must develop skills to interpret what they see and hear.Media tells stories with viewpoints and biases that shape our worldviews.Students must become critical consumers of media which is essential for being an informed citizen.

Every media source has a story to tell--a driving purpose. The media that people consume largely shapes their world views. The US public is becoming more divided partially due to the consumption of increasingly biased news. As a critical consumer of media, It is important to be able to separate fact from opinion. In this unit, adapted from the high school version, students will become critical consumers of news, by identifying media bias in order to become better informed citizens.  NOTE: This unit has been adapted for use at the middle school level from the resource Identifying Media Bias in News Sources by Sandra Stroup, Sally Drendel, Greg Saum, and Heidi Morris.

Learning to Share Information (5 days)
1.Today we are going to start a research project on Greek gods. We started reading A True Book: Ancient Greece in shared reading today. One of the things that was really important to the ancient Greeks was religion. They believed in many gods and they believed that their gods looked and acted like humans, but had incredible powers and lived forever.
2. Yesterday you chose which god you were going to be an expert on. I have the list up here. Also, you started to research and write notes on your graphic organizer. I showed you how to make sections to take notes in and how to add more to each section as you read through different sources.
3. For the past two days, you have been working hard to gather information about your gods. All of you have several sections filled in. Some of those sections have lots of information and some of those sections only have one or two facts. Today we are going to talk about deciding which information to keep and which information to get rid of.
4. Yesterday you worked on choosing information to share in your infographic. Today you will need to begin planning how you will want your infographic to look.
5. Yesterday you used your graphic organizer to plan your infographic. Today you can start making your infographic.
Sharing

WEEK 9, DAY 1
Learning about Informative Writing
WEEK 9, DAY 2
Learning to Evaluate Informative/ Writing
WEEK 9, DAY 3
Learning to Write Informative Pieces
WEEK 9, DAY 4
Learning to Write Informative Pieces
WEEK 9, DAY 5
Learning to Write Informative Pieces

In this unit, second graders learn about insects and the impact insects have on the natural world. Building on what students learned in Unit 1 about habitats, they will explore how different insects rely on the environment, or habitat in which they live, for survival. Through this exploration, students will learn the unique characteristics of insects, how insects can be both beneficial and destructive, and the stages of an insect’s life cycle. By the end of the unit, students will have a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the beauty of the insect world.

This unit is comprised of predominantly shared reading experiences to help students practice different reading strategies and skills. Building on unit one, students will continue to be inquisitive, active consumers of texts by asking and answering questions, and they will continue to deepen their understanding of the role text features and illustrations play in helping a reader better understand the content of a text. Students will also begin to explore the connections between scientific ideas and concepts using cause-and-effect language and will continue to strengthen their habits of discussion as they debate and analyze key ideas of the unit.

The role of interest groups in politics and government is a hot topic in the media today. This lesson uses the battle over school lunch ingredients to illustrate how interest groups and lobbying affect public policy. Take a side in the battle, create an interest group, and try to influence public policy.

This lesson will introduce students to the topic of designing websites that take web accessibility issues into account and will introduce students to Section 508 Of The Rehabilitation Act.

This collection of lessons represent adapted and remixed instructional content for teaching media literacy and specifically civic online reasoning through distance learning. These lessons take students through the steps necessary to source online content, verify evidence presented, and corroborate claims with other sources.

The original lesson plans are the work of Stanford History Education Group, licensed under CC 4.0. Please refer to the full text lesson plans at Stanford History Education Group’s, Civic Online Reasoning Curriculum for specifics regarding background, research findings, and additional curriculum for teaching media literacy in the twenty-first century.

This course provides a critical analysis of mass media in our culture. Various types of media such as books, films, video games, and online interactions will be discussed and reviewed. This course will also evaluate how information and ideas travel between people on a large scale.

This social media literacy unit introduces students to foundational skills in analyzing images and social media posts. It also reenforces critical thinking questions that can be applied to various forms of media. This unit was taught to 9th grade students but is easily adaptible to a range of secondary classrooms. It was also taught in conjunction with another unit focused on social media platforms and content.

In this lesson, students participate in the Infer the Topic protocol to familiarize themselves with the module topic, using resources from the texts they will be reading throughout the module (RI.3.1, W.3.8, SL.3.1).
Throughout this module, students will revisit the module guiding questions introduced in this lesson. It is important to be sensitive to students' and families' feelings and experiences with regard to education, books, and reading and to acknowledge that these feelings and experiences may differ greatly, from very positive to somewhat neutral to very negative. This issue is discussed more in the next lesson, but it is important to be prepared to handle it sensitively should it arise. The main point students should understand by the end of this module is that education, books, and reading are important for college and career readiness, and that is the reason for the emphasis on education, books, and reading in this module. Students reflect on the module guiding questions at home with their families.
This lesson is the first of two that include built-out instruction for strategic use of the Think-Pair-Share protocol to promote productive and equitable conversation.
During all interaction, be aware that partnering with, looking at, talking with, or touching the opposite gender may be uncomfortable and inappropriate for students from other cultures. In addition, some students may believe it is inappropriate to speak with other students at all during class. Let them know that in the United States, speaking with a peer of either gender when the teacher gives the signal is appropriate, and it is one way that students can become independent learners and develop their content knowledge and language ability. At the same time, tell them you respect their needs, and if necessary, seek alternative arrangements for students according to their cultural traditions.
This lesson uses cold calling, or calling on students without them volunteering, as a total participation technique. Be aware that cold calling may be unfamiliar or embarrassing to some students. Prepare students and their families by telling them that cold calling in the United States is common and is a protocol that helps to ensure that all student voices are heard and respected. The protocol also provides the teacher with one way to assess what students know.
This lesson uses total participation techniques for quick response questions. Some common total participation techniques include cold calling, selecting volunteers, and using equity sticks (a stick or card for each student in the class).

Claims and evidence flow rapidly and with relative freedom online. We aid in the spread of misinformation if we don’t ensure that a claim or evidence is accurate before we share it. Luckily, the Internet also allows us to check claims and evidence by consulting other sources. Although verifying claims and evidence takes time, it’s an important habit to develop to ensure that the information we read, use, and share is reliable and accurate. This lesson introduces students to the importance of checking what other sources say.

This lesson introduces students to the importance of corroborating arguments and verifying information across multiple online sources. Students practice corroborating claims and evidence presented in sources about mandatory Saturday school.

This lesson is designed to be taught after the Intro to Who's Behind the Information? and Intro to What's the Evidence? Saturday School lessons.

We must be able to analyze evidence in order to effectively evaluate online information. In this lesson, students practice evaluating evidence that is presented in three online arguments about mandatory Saturday school. This lesson is designed to be taught following the Intro to Who's Behind the Information? Saturday School lesson.https://cor.stanford.edu/curriculum/lessons/intro-whos-behind-the-information-saturday-school

We must be able to analyze evidence in order to effectively evaluate online information. In this lesson, students practice evaluating evidence that is presented in three online arguments about mandatory Saturday school.

This lesson is designed to be taught following the Intro to Who's Behind the Information? Saturday School lesson.

Since information is always influenced by its author, analyzing who's behind the information should be a priority when evaluating online content. But too often, students attempt to evaluate information based on elements other than the source, such as the contents of a website, its appearance, or the evidence it supplies. In this lesson, students learn why the source of information is so important and practice analyzing information based on who's behind it.

Without learning to investigate who is behind information online, we risk being taken in by sources and arguments that are more complicated or conflicted than we realize. In this lesson, students read arguments about mandatory Saturday school as an introduction to the importance of investigating who is behind information and how a source’s motivation could affect what it presents.

This lesson is part 2 of 4. After learning about the food safety continuum students will learn protocols that assist the farmer/rancher to do their part to ensure a safe and healthy food supply. This lesson covers what farm biosecurity is and the practices that make a farm safe from biological hazards.