As mentioned in my introduction, my primary goal is to develop student comprehension through the examination and utilization of facts. This goal is well aligned with the goals of the New Haven School System. In addition, there are other more specific areas of the curriculum that this unit targets.
Throughout my unit, students will be reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The New Haven School District’s emphasis on literacy is a focus in all aspects of this unit. Material has been integrated with social development, language arts, and social studies. In everything that is presented, vocabulary development will be stressed through the discussion of words unfamiliar to most students. A specific vocabulary lesson will be found in my section on lesson plans. Emphasis will also be placed on understanding and identifying how authors develop suspense, motivating the reader to move forward. Developing such techniques is part of the third grade empowering writers program and will be explored within this unit.
A more specific list of the major New Haven academic standards covered in this unit may be found toward the end of this paper.
