Unit Title: Our Changing World: Bibliotherapy Add-On

Conceptual Lens: Change

Subconcepts:
Reading/Literature: Socioemotional:

● Relationships ● Relationships
● Meaning ● Identity
● Message ● Systems

Subtopics:
Reading/Literature: Socioemotional:

● Beginning, middle and end (Plot) ● Coping with change

● Character(s) ● Coping mechanisms
● Theme/Main Idea ● Identifying feelings
● Problem and solution ● Empathy and understanding

Unit Overview:
As a continuation from my larger concept-based teaching unit implemented last fall, this
add-on will center on helping young, high-ability students cope with change. Staying with the
same conceptual lens (change), bibliotherapy will be used in tandem with concept-based
teaching. Additionally, the use of bibliotherapy lends itself to include topics and themes related
to literature and reading topics as well as socioemotional. Specifically, students will be listening
and reacting to stories using reading comprehension skills while relating to the characters and
problems of the story.
Originally designed to take place in a general kindergarten classroom with a small
population of high-ability students, the revised add-on will be delivered virtually and still
accessible to all students. Because students have been and will be engaged in exclusively digital
learning, all activities in this unit add-on will be optional. Five video read-alouds will be
recorded and posted for families to access and watch together. Additionally, each lesson will
feature a set of follow-up questions and an activity that goes along with the book and according
socioemotional skills. The read-aloud videos themselves will last no longer than 10 minutes,
with the follow-up questions and activity taking an estimated 15 minutes each day. At the end of
the read-alouds, the culminating performance task will ask students to draw a picture from their
favorite story from the week along with a couple of questions to answer.

Enduring Understandings:
- Change allows the world around us to be different and new.
- Characters change during each part of a story (beginning, middle, and end).
- The main idea of a story tells us what the story is about and can show us what changes in
a story.
 - A story’s problem can make the character feel sad, angry, or scared, while the solution
helps them feel happy, calm, or accepted.
- When something changes in our lives, we can feel lots of different emotions.

Guiding Questions:
● What is change? What does it mean for something to change?
● Can you tell about a story’s beginning, middle, and end?
● What is the main idea of a story?
● How can characters change throughout a story?

Standards:
From the Georgia Standards for Excellence:
- ELAGSEKRL3: With prompting and support, identify characters,settings, and major
events in a story.
- ELAGSEKRL2: With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key
details.
- ELAGSEKRL1: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details
in a text.
- ELAGSEKRL9: With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and
experiences of characters in familiar stories.

From the NAGC Programming Standards:

- 1.5.1. Educators use evidence-based approaches to grouping and instruction that promote
cognitive growth and psychosocial and social-emotional skill development for students
with gifts and talents.
- 3.2.2. Educators design learning experiences for each stage of talent development to
cultivate social and emotional and psychosocial skills that support high achievement and
talent development.

Read Alouds:
1. The Invisible String by Patrice Karst
2. The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright
3. Little Tree by Loren Long
4. Wherever You Go by Pat Zietlow Miller
5. No Matter What by Debi Gliori

Culminating Performance Task: Drawing & Reflecting

For the final task, students will choose their favorite story from the week and draw a
picture of their favorite part. After drawing their picture, students will respond to the following
questions with a complete sentence (with the help from an adult, but the adult should not answer
the questions for them):
1. Why did you choose this book as your favorite?
2. What are the different feelings that the main character feels in this story?
3. If you were in this story, what could you do to help the character feel better?