Miss.

DeFazio's ELA unit for 4th grade on

Nim's Island by Wendy Orr
Phone: 412-555-5555
Email: lmdst6@student.mtaloy.edu
Date of unit: 12/1/2020-12/15/2020

The purpose of this unit is for my students to learn new vocabulary and learn to
think critically about the text they are reading. My students will also learn about
perspective and thinking from different character's point of views. The subject of
islands and oceans is integrated throughout this unit because many students may
not know what living on an island is like or some might have never been to the
ocean. Allowing the children to explore the adventures of Nim, Jack, and Alex in
Nim's Island helps them broaden their creative and critical thinking.

The students would already be familiar with creative writing based off of reading
prompts, essays and group discussions. They will already be familiar with
understanding character traits and analyzing character actions in a story. The
students should already have book familiarity and a basic understanding of a
chapter book, so this book should not be intimidating to them!
 Websites for practice Children's literature
1.youtube.com 1.Snail and the Whale by Julia

(students can type in Nim's Island and Donaldson

the chapter to listen to each chapter

being read) 2. The Famous Five by Enid Blyton

2.https://relatedwords.org/ 3. The Little Island by Margaret Wise

Brown

3.https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/expl
4. Nara and the Island by Dan Unureanu
ore/nature/habitats/ocean/

5. There's a Sea in my Bedroom by

4.https://www.weatherwizkids.com/weath
Margaret Wild
er-volcano.htm

5.https://www.wendyorr.com/

At home activities Unit vocab words

1.Read or listen to the chapter at home Machete: A large heavy bladed
with the individual copy of the book, or knife used for cutting down
the YouTube audio.
dense underbrush

2. Have your student draw a picture of

Muddling: A confused mess
what the imagine Alex's room to look
like.
Breakers: The waves that break

3. Visit the National Geographic into foam against a shore or reef

website and learn more about Ocean
life and animals that live in the ocean. Smug: Self-satisfying in an
annoying way
4. Make a list of words the student
does not know, and look up synonyms
Grazing: Feeding on
for each word.

5. Have the student paint or draw their

Correspond: Communicating by

own island as if they were Nim. exchanging letters