English Language Arts / Reading

Grade 1

• Tomie dePaola Author Study ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does Tomie DePaola's personal life help him think of ideas for his stories?

Grade 2

• Rabbit Hill (GT)...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Did family in Rabbit Hiill really need to plant so many vegetables in order to take care of the animals?
• Country Mouse Comes to Tea; Tales, Real and Fanciful...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: If you could meet two animal characters, which ones would you choose and why?

Grade 3

• "Each Little Bird that Sings" GT Slam Dunk!
  Essential Question: What do your conversations say about you?
• Oz Family Values Wizard of Oz (GT)...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How have people used symbols to preserve and represent the values of the groups in which they live and work?
• Wreck of the Ethie (GT) ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How can we, as humans, continue to enjoy the benefit of dogs helping us, while still exercising our responsibility to keep them safe?
• Booktalk! Intermediate Reading Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do I get a young reader hooked on a book?

Grade 4

• Attitudes Towards Elders Cousins (GT)...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question:How do attitudes toward the elderly differ in different American cultural groups?
• Swan's Call...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does an important learning experience affect a person's life?
• Island of the Blue Dolphins GT ...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How can the power of "one" affect the natural relationships in the Chesapeake Bay?
• Author Luncheon ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: What information about an author would encourage a family to attend an author luncheon?
• Shel Silverstein - Elements of Poetry ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does Shel Silverstein use elements of poetry to enhance the meaning of his works?

Grade 5

• Survival of the Everglades...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Why are the everglades a "test". and why should we, as citizens of Maryland, be concerned about passing this test"?
• Author Luncheon ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: What information about an author would encourage a family to attend an author luncheon?

Grade 1

• Desparately Seeking Symmetry ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Where do we find symmetry in our everyday life?
• Tangrams ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How can the tangram pieces be moved to create a new character for Three Pigs, One Wolf, and Seven Magic Shapes ?

Grade 2

• Desparately Seeking Symmetry ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Where do we find symmetry in our everyday life?
• Movie Money ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: What is the relationship between work and money?
• Tangrams ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How can I slide, flip, and rotate tangram pieces to make a new figure?

Grade 3

• Under ConstructionBuilding a Bridge ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does using the Design Process and building a model help you understand the type of bridge that will hold the most weight?

Grade 5

• GeoPlayground ... Curriculum Alignm,ent
  Essential Question:  How can your knowledge of geometry and physics help you create a safer playground?
• The Shape of a City ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does building a model help you understand the real world?

Pre-Kindergarten

• Nutrituin Mission ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does knowing the differences between healthy and unhealthy foods help us to make choices for healthy snacks?

Kindergarten

• Under ConstructionFrom Cute Caterpillars to Beautiful Butterflies ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do living things change as they grow?
• Under ConstructionKinder Garden Project ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does understanding a living thing's basic needs help you to create an environment that will help it grow?
• Nutrituin Mission ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does knowing the differences between healthy and unhealthy foods help us to make choices for healthy snacks?
• Play-Doh Pets ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: What do living things, like pets, need to survive?
• The Snow Museum...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does your life change when it snows ?

Grade 1

• Aquatic Explorer ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: What living and non-living things do aquatic organisms need to survive?
• Changing Landforms ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do landforms change
• Clouds ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How can clouds help us to predict the weather?
• Desparately Seeking Symmetry ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Where do we find symmetry in our everyday life?
• Life Cycle of a Frog ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Have you ever wondered how a frog starts out as a tadpole and ends up a frog?
• We All Grow and Change ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do the ways frogs grow and change compare and contrast with the ways people grow and change? 
• Whatever the Weather...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do weather changes affect your life?
• Zany Zookeepers ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How can external characteristics be used to classify organisms?

Grade 2

• Choosing a Classroom Pet...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Which animal would make the best classroom pet?
• Desparately Seeking Symmetry ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Where do we find symmetry in our everyday life?
• Fossil Finders (Discovering Fossils) ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do fossils provide us with information about animals that lived long ago?
• Happy Habitats ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does an animal's habitat affect its survival?
• Hide and Seek ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does an animal use camouflage to survive?
• The New Zoo...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: What information does the Zoo Director need to decide which animals should be included in the new zoo?
• Skeeterville GT... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do mosquitoes survive in their habitat? How do they interact with other organisms?

Grade 3

• Under ConstructionChasing the Moon ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: What is the relationship between the Earth and the Moon?
• Eco-Detectives ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How can understanding what happens to dead plants and animals help us solve the problem of too much garbage?
• It's a Jungle in Here! ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does the destruction of the world's rainforests affect our everyday lives?
• It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a Meteor! ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does Earth’s relationship to the sun impact weather and time on Earth?
• Peek at the Chesapeake ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does human use of natural resources affect organisms living in and around the Chesapeake Bay?
• Save the Bay...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How can we save the Chesapeake Bay and its wildlife from extinction?
• Water, Water Everywhere! (Discovering Weather) ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do we get the water that we use in our daily lives?

Grade 4

• Environmental Action ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Which affects the health of everyone who lives in Maryland more - water or air pollution?
• Oh Starry Night (GT) ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does our position in space change the way we perceive other celestial bodies?
• Save the Crabs (GT) ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Questions: What factors are important to the survival of the blue crab in the Chesapeake Bay? What can we do to help improve the Chesapeake Bay environment to better suit the survival needs of the blue crab?
• Schoolyard Habitat... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How can a schoolyard provide the living, non-living, and once-living factors necessary for the survival of a variety of native species?
• Science Is Alive! ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do scientists use the scientific method to conduct an investigation?
• Visit the Planets...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do environments on different planets affect clothing, equipment, and other adaptations necessary for human survival?

Grade 5

• Calling All Rock Hounds! ...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Which force has the most impact in reshaping the surface of the earth?
• Circulatory Circles GT ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: In order to have a well functioning circulatory system, why is it necessary to have a healthy heart?
• The City Inside a Cell (GT) ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How could a single cell be a metaphor for an entire city?
• Dem Bones, Dem Bones are going to walk around --the human body! ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does knowledge of how our body systems function empower us to make changes in our everyday life?
• Forces of Nature (Constructive and Destructive Forces) ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do constructive and destructive forces shape and reshape the earth's surface?
• Hands on Habitat ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do individuals and groups of organisms interact with each other and their environment?  Are the interactions beneficial or harmful to the environment?
• How Loud Is Too Loud? ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How loud is too loud?
• Immunology ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Essential Question:How do the various components of the immune system work together to keep us free from disease?
• Investigating Native Plants ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do non-native plants affect the environment? Are the effects more harmful or beneficial?
• Mysterious Island ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: What types of landforms exist on Earth? What are the characteristics of these landforms?
• Natural Forces ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do natural forces shape and reshape the Earth's surface? Which of these forces has the largest impact on the environment in our area?
• Project Energy ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How will the results of my energy experiment help me to understand the world?
• Science Is Alive! ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do scientists use the scientific method to conduct an investigation?
• 321 Blast Off! ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does building a model rocket help you understand the scientific process and Newton's Third Law?

Kindergarten

• I've Been Working in the Neighborhood...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: If you could spend a day helping a worker in your community, which kind of worker would you choose and why?

Grade 1

• Different, Yet the Same ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How is my culture similar to or different from other cultures? 

Grade 2

• Symbols of American Pride...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question:Why are symbols important to Americans and how do they represent America?

Grade 3

• A Visit to Charm City (ESOL)...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question:Why is Baltimore's nickname "Charm City"?
• Diggin' in the Past ...Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Why was Egypt the gift of the Nile and what impact, if any, did that culture have on ours?

Grade 4

• Celebrate Colonial Maryland ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How were the lives of people living in Colonial Maryland different from our lives today.
• Go Maryland! Our State's Geography and Economy ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How do the physical characteristics of each of Maryland's three landform regions affect the people living in those regions?
• Native to Maryland ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How did the natural habitat help to shape the political, economic, and social characteristics of Native American tribes in Maryland?
• Navigating the Road to the White House ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Questions: How do American citizens decide who to vote for in a presidential election?

Grade 5

• Back to the Age of Exploration ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Which explorer or conqueror had the greatest impact on North American history?
• MD Patr iots and Loyalists (GT) ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: Which aspects of colonists personal lives had the greatest influence on the decision to become a Patriot or a Loyalist?

Grade 3

• Under ConstructionBuilding a Bridge ... Curriculum Alignment
  Essential Question: How does using the Design Process and building a model help you understand the type of bridge that will hold the most weight?