This is a beginning of the year unit for 3rd grade that centers on the meaning of identity, family, and community. In light of the trauma inflicted on so many children in the spring of 2020, the introductory unit is being designed to allow students begin the year from a position of strength -- looking deeply at familiar and, hopefully, meaningful things, people, and ideas. To start, students will look closely at their many identities, abilities, and interests and then share them with each other to gain a deeper appreciation for each other's differences and similarities. The unit will then broaden to the concept of what makes a family and the myriad groupings that make up families. Again students will share about everything from cherished family traditions and to recipes to the countries their family members hail from. Finally, the unit will further broaden to look at the meaning of community both in and out of school. 

The unit is created with culturally reflective teaching practices in mind and will be infused with strategies to help students gain independence as suggested by Zaretta Hammond, author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. She notes three strategies in particular: deepening background knowledge, cultivating cognitive routines, and building word wealth. 

The cognitive routines will in large part be Project Zero thinking routines that stress helping children look closely, think creatively, understand the designed nature of the world, connect the unknown to known and part to whole, and to make connections and find context. 

Additionally, the unit will be infused with explicit strategies specifically designed for anxious students to develop persistence and independence, as suggested by Jessica Minahan, author of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students. Strategies will be targeted toward helping students build accurate thinking, the ability to initiate and seek help when needed, and develop persistence.

Now that students have looked at their own identities, skills, abilities, and interests, they will turn their attention to the next unit: Kids Who are Changing the World.