Working for Change focuses on the challenges and resilience of working people. The unit focuses on children and young people who work, from the labor movement of the early 20th century up to the recent fight for a $15 per hour minimum wage.

LITERATURE

“A Boy’s Duty” (Sharon Flake)

Kids on Strike (Susan Campbell Bartoletti)

Fifteen and Change (Max Howard)

FLUENCY TOPICS

WWII, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, well-known strikes, child labor, workplace harassment, health insurance, payday lending, homelessness, domestic violence, pizza making, Wisconsin



FOCUS

Literary analysis

• Analyzing how complex characters develop, advance the plot, and interact with other characters
• Features of poetry including line breaks, rhyme scheme, word choice (e.g., figurative language), and theme

Reading comprehension

• Predicting and confirming/disconfirming predictions as a component of Reciprocal Teaching
• Previewing nonfiction using the table of contents, index, and illustrations
• Skimming and scanning as nonfiction reading strategies

Decoding

• Pronouncing vowel teams
• Identifying syllables as units within words
• VC|CV syllable division rule

Debate

• To strike or not to strike?
• Was Zeke successful in bringing about change?