Do you ever get bored when reading? Mary Ellen does! Grampa knows just what she needs, a trip to the bee tree. With half the town following the chase, Mary Ellen and Grampa go off on an adventurethat leads Mary Ellen to make a sweet discovery of her own.Lexile Level: AD680LGuided Reading Level: MGenre: Fiction

Grandpa, also known as the Beeman, and his grandson will delight audiences with lyrical verse and facts about honey bees. Learn all about where bees live, how they make honey, and the tools of the backyard beekeeper. The author also provides factual bee information at the conclusion of the story.Lexile Level: 430L-530LGuided Reading Level: IGenre: FictionPre-Reading

Scout is a little honey bee with a big mission! She needs to find the last flowers of fall to get the sweet nectar that she and her sisters will turn into honey. With winter on the way, honey will provide the food to keep the hive alive until spring. But she’s got some pretty big obstacles coming her way!Lexile Level: AD840LGuided Reading Level: OGenre: Nonfiction

The Fractured Fairy Tale tool encourages students to create their own fractured fairy tales.

Comprehensive literacy instruction for all students requires the use of tools and strategies that make the instruction accessible. The Unlocking Literacy for Students with Disabilities Modules will build on what you already know about literacy instruction by demonstrating how strategic tools or strategies can make literacy instruction accessible to students with complex communication needs and physical disabilities. Best practices and research-based strategies for literacy instruction, as well as K-2 English Language Arts (ELA) Common Core State Standards (CCSS), will be included throughout all modules. Universal Strategies & Technology ToolsModule 1 will equip educators and parents with foundational tools and universal strategies to improve literacy instruction for students with complex communication needs and physical disabilities.  The foundational tools and strategies will be applied within subsequent Unlocking Literacy modules.

In this 2nd Grade Integrated Unit focused around Social Emotional Learning, STEM, Art, and Language Arts, we present students with the driving question: How can we use art to celebrate each and every one of us? Students read a variety of literature that provides them with the opportunity to talk about and think about how each and every student’s uniqueness is beautiful and valued in the classroom community. Students explore a variety of art forms which are introduced by numerous artists from a variety of BIPOC communities. Through various embedded STEM activities (some FOSS), students explore the ways in which STEM ideas help us better understand and create art. The unit culminates with an art showcase where we invite families and community members to visit an art show where the classroom community is celebrated through art. This unit is intended to help us reimagine the ways in which we teach STEM and to highlight the importance of positive identity development in creating equitable opportunities for all our students.