Instructional Goals
Dunkirk Middle School/ Intermediate ESL
Unit 1: New Beginnings
Instructional Goals
PATHWAY 1: Early Times
Suggested Activities
Time
Frame
1. Age of Dinosaurs & Fossils: ‘Digging Up Fossils’ SF 6 Ch.1 (pp.4-25)
1. To make predictions
about how dinosaurs
lived.
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2. To gain information
about how scientists
use fossils from a
non-fiction text.
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3. To sequence
appearance of
mammals, dinosaurs,
& humans on
timeline/chart
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Introduce word “dinosaur”
Activate prior knowledge using unit poster
Start a K-W-L chart
Do picture walk p. 2-3 ‘Digging Up the Past’ SF 6 text
Discuss possible answers to questions on p. 2 SF6 text based on
physical characteristics of dinosaurs (Word Bank - fast, slow,
large, small, meat-eater, plant-eater)
View video: ‘Digging Up the Past’
Play dinosaur guessing game pT2
Assessment: dinosaur drawing game – draw a dinosaur that
matches the characteristics (carnivore, land-living, fast vs.
herbivore, water-living, slow)
TPR – human body parts/ dinosaur body parts(claws, teeth,
bones)
Read intro ‘ Digging Up Fossils’ pp.4-5 SF6 text
Discuss ‘Talk About It’ questions on p.5
Complete Activity Book pp. 2-3‘Classifying Body Parts’ and
‘More Than One’
Add to K-W-L chart
Read ‘ Dinosaur Fossils’ pp.6-7
Discuss ‘Think About It’ questions p.7
Complete ‘Think Like a Paleontologist’ activity (ex. Bone fossils
tell us…
Introduce Idiom: ‘turn into’ see p. T-7
Complete p. 4 Activity Book – ‘Dinosaur Puzzle’
Optional: Complete fossil-making activity pp.10-11
Assessment: Create footprints and draw conclusions based on
each other’s prints (see p. T- 7)
Review ‘time’ words using clocks and calendars
Intro text p.8 ‘When did dinosaurs live?’ SF-6 text and
vocabulary: era, period…
Practice reading the chart on pp. 8-9 using ‘Which came first?’
Complete ‘When did they appear?’ activities book p.5 – before/
after
Assessment: Answer ‘ Talk About It’ questions on p.9 SF6
text and write 3-5 more questions
DMS ESL Curriculum, 7/06
C. Carlson & L. Valone
Instructional Goals
Dunkirk Middle School/ Intermediate ESL
Unit 1: New Beginnings
 Review K-W-L chart and add to K and W as appropriate
 Introduce ‘News About Dinosaurs’ pp.13-23 SF6 text
 Listen to audio tape and read along filling in graphic organizer
together (old ideas vs. new ideas)
 Practice ‘Was or Were?’ using Activity Book p.7 and find
‘was/were’ in text
 Re-read photo-copy of text and scan for and highlight synonyms
and antonyms, then complete Activity Book p. 8 ‘Same and
Different’ (T16-17)
 Assessment: Summarize as appropriate on K-W- L using
mixed ability activity on T 20-23 used to think, now they think
etc.
 Listen/ read poem ‘Seismosaurus’ p. 24 SF6 text emphasizing
5. Assessment: To
synonyms for ‘big’
summarize
 Complete Standardized Test Practice Activity Book pp. 10-11
conclusions about
dinosaurs
 Assessment: Use p. 25 SF6 text and pp. 40-41 Teacher’s
Resource Book``
2. Egypt: ‘Digging Up Ancient Objects’ SF6 Ch.2 (pp. 26-39)
6. To activate prior
 Show a variety of old & new photos of Dunkirk & have students
knowledge of how
sequence by age. Discuss reasons for order choices focusing on
clothing and other
changes in ‘artifacts’ over time.
everyday objects
 Look at pictures of ancient Egyptian artifacts on pp. 26 & 27 SF6
change over time
text and categorize artifacts as: furniture, jewelry, toys, or
weapons. Do the same with modern items from a catalog. Make
inferences about how life then compares to life now.
 Assessment: Answer questions on p. 27 SF6 text as a T-list
7. To describe the role of
 Brainstorm jobs in our society & explain why each is important.
artifacts in learning
 Read p. 28 SF6 text to learn about jobs in ancient Egypt
about past
 Focus on job of archeologist p. 29 SF 6 text
civilizations and the
 Complete Activity Book p. 12
process archeologists
 Show photos of Egyptian pyramids & compare to diagram on p.
use to uncover them
31 SF6 text (compare to Mexican & other pyramids)
 Read pp. 30 & 31 SF6 text, & discuss questions on p. 31
 Scan text for examples of past tense verbs & list on board.
 Complete Activity Book p. 14.
 Make individual lists of ‘precious’ objects you’d like to ‘take with
you’.
 Make inferences about King Tut and his life based on artifacts
shown on pp. 32 & 33 SF6 text.
 Read text focusing on ‘years old’ vs. ‘years ago’.
 Complete Activity Book p. 16.
 Review vocabulary of large numbers and Egypt facts using p. 15
Activity Book.
 Assessment: Complete language & listening assessment
activities pp. 42 & 43 T resource book.
4. To compare old ideas
about dinosaurs with
new ideas
DMS ESL Curriculum, 7/06
C. Carlson & L. Valone
Instructional Goals
Dunkirk Middle School/ Intermediate ESL
Unit 1: New Beginnings
3. Incas: ‘Mysteries in History’ SF7 Ch.9 (pp.154-177)
8. To activate prior
knowledge of
‘mysteries in history’
9. To use informational
text to gain
knowledge about the
ancient Incan
civilization
10. To describe cause &
effect using so and
since
11. To analyze an
informational text
12. To brainstorm
components of a city
 Introduce word ‘mystery’
 Look at photos on pp. 154 & 155 SF7 text & discuss questions on
p. 154
 Find locations of each on world map
 Fill in 2 columns of 3 column chart: ‘What is it?’, ‘Where is it?’.
 Fill in 3rd column ‘Why was it made?’ with guesses from word
bank list.
 Assessment: Jigsaw: Each pair reads short text with answer
to ‘why’ and provides answer to whole group.
 Preview texts with a picture walk of illustrations and maps on pp.
156 & 157 SF7 text
 Read text, filling in T-list: what Inca’s had/didn’t have.
 Review position of adjectives in English & locate examples in
text.
 Assessment: Complete p. 82 in Activity Book.
 Locate Peru & Spain on a map.
 Read text on pp. 158 & 159 SF7, focusing on technological
advantages of Spanish explorers.
 Review text by completing p. 83 Activity Book.
 Do language awareness activities on p. T159 on the passive voice.
 Complete p. 84 in Activity Book.
 Introduce cause & effect using since & so with examples from the
events of 1527 & 1532. Have students write sentences based on
teacher models.
 Read the article about Machu Picchu on pp. 160 & 161 in SF7
text, modeling ‘keeping track of the main idea’ strategy p. T160.
 Do ‘cause & effect’ language awareness activity p T161.
 Complete p. 85 Activity Book.
 Skim Andes article pp. 162 & 163 SF7 for information to
complete cause & effect T-list. Write several cause & effect
sentences using ‘since’ or ‘so’.
 Assessment: Language assessment p. 80 T resource book
 Read ‘Reader’s Tip’ on p. 164 SF7 text.
 Read/listen to ‘The Nazcas’ Secret’ pp. 164-175 SF7 text (several
times) and take notes, in a web, about the hypotheses concerning
the Nazca lines.
 Do language awareness activity on p. T168-171.
 Complete p. 87 Activity Book.
 Students write about their own opinion/support in a step-up to
writing paragraph.
 Assessment: Listening assessment p. 81 T resource book
4. Romans: ‘The Roman Empire’ SF 6 Ch.7 (pp.116-129)
 Brainstorm components of a city (ie. Housing, commerce,
religion, sport/entertainment, transportation, government)
DMS ESL Curriculum, 7/06
C. Carlson & L. Valone
Instructional Goals
Dunkirk Middle School/ Intermediate ESL
Unit 1: New Beginnings
13. To describe the
growth of the
ancient Roman
empire
14. To describe
contributions of
ancient Romans
15. Discuss the nature of
Roman law
16. Identify Latin words
in English
17. Optional: To discuss
contributions of the
ancient Romans
 Show pictures of ancient Rome & compare to modern cities using
pp. 116 & 117 SF6
 Look at maps and pictures on p. 118 SF6 to preview
informational text on the Roman Empire.
 Read the text ‘The Growth of Rome’ on p. 118 and discuss.
 Watch video on Ancient Romans
 Assessment: View video and complete guided-notes study
guide (teacher generated)
 Preview and do the reading on p. 119 SF 6 text
 Write the things that the Romans borrowed from other people and
the items they brought to the people they conquered on T-list
 Re-read photocopy of the text, using highlighter to mark verbs in
past-tense
 Students read the text, ‘The Romans were Builders,’pp120-121,
focusing on the past-tense in an historical text
 Discuss and answer ‘Talk About It’ questions on p.121
 Model a strategy – ‘Find the topic Sentence’ T-121
 Grammar Sentence Structure: The Verb be + an Adjective T-121
was/were + adj. Ex. The Romans were powerful
 Assessment: Listening assessment p. 71 T resource book
 Brainstorm the importance of laws
 Discuss inequities in law (i.e. rights that young people do not
have, including voting rights)
 Read ‘What was Roman Law?’pp122-123 SF6 text, emphasizing
inequities in Roman law
 Quick-write: A School with no Rules
 Discuss how rules and laws help you and your classmates and
compare the two terms
 Assessment: p. 65 in Activity Book
 Read; pp124-125 SF6 text ‘Latin Words in English’ (Identify
cognates in Latin/English/Spanish)
 Identify Latin roots and prefixes.
 Practice determining the meaning of complex words using Latin
words and prefixes.
 Complete pp. 66 & 67 in Activity Book
 Assessment: Language assessment p. 70 T resource book
 Make Roman recipe.
 Make a mosaic.
5. Formation of the Earth & Volcanoes: ‘Volcanoes in History’ SF6 Ch.8 (pp.130-153)
18. To recount the steps
of the process of a
volcanic eruption
 Discuss natural disasters to activate prior knowledge & do KWL
about volcanoes
 Use pictures on p. 130 & 131 SF6 text to gain information about
volcanoes, and add to KWL chart
 Preview bolded vocabulary, and read ‘A Volcano Erupts in A.D.
DMS ESL Curriculum, 7/06
C. Carlson & L. Valone
Instructional Goals
Dunkirk Middle School/ Intermediate ESL
Unit 1: New Beginnings
19. To discuss what
archaeologists
learned from
Pompeii
20. To describe the
characteristics and
types of volcanoes
21. To analyze an
ancient Roman myth
22. To explore the
impact of a volcanic
eruption on people
23. Common Task #1:
Time Capsule
79’ to gain information about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius
 Fill in the ‘before’, ‘during’ & ‘after’ part of p. 72 in the Activity
Book to review the reading
 Assessment: Fill in the ‘before’, ‘during’ & ‘after’ part of p.
72 in the Activity Book again independently
 Study the photo essay on pp. 134-137 SF6 text to find clues on
what archaeologists learned about life in Pompeii
 Compare the experience of the people in Pompeii during the
volcanic eruption to a hypothetical situation in our town
 Create T-list comparing life in Pompeii to modern life-see T134
 Do language awareness activity on p. T135
 Complete Activity Book pp. 73-76 as needed
 Assessment: Listening assessment p. 73 T resource book &
tape
 Do activities on p. T 138 to review steps of an eruption and preview reading
 Read/listen to volcano poem on p. 152 SF6 text & discuss
vocabulary
 Read pp. 138 & 139 SF6 text for information
 Draw and label the parts of a volcano
 Optional: Make a model volcano-see p. T138
 Assessment: Complete p. 77 in Activity Book
 Discuss the characteristics of a myth
 Read/listen to ‘An Ancient Roman Myth: The God Vulcan’ on
pp. 140-143 SF6 text
 Analyze story using personal response, critical response, &
creative response-see p. T 140-143
 Scan text and make T-chart with present & past verbs
 Complete p. 78 in Activity Book
 Assessment: Quick-write: Why is the story of Vulcan
(considered) a myth?
 Read/listen ‘Hill of Fire’ and discuss
 Compare to text on pp. 132 & 133 SF6, and discuss the difference
between a nonfiction text and historical fiction (personal aspect)
 Role play an interview between a news reporter and the characters
 Complete p. 79 in Activity Book
 Assessment: Language assessment p. 72 in T resource book
 Create time capsule with photos or pictures of objects that
represent your life, include reasons for each. Use Activity
Book p. 15 as a draft for ideas.
Common Task #1 Time Capsule
DMS ESL Curriculum, 7/06
C. Carlson & L. Valone