This document provides a description of what each standard means a student will know, understand and be able to do. The "unpacking" of the standards done in this document is an effort to answer a simple question, "What does this standard mean that a student must know and be able to do?" and to ensure the description is helpful, specific and comprehensive for educators.

The NC Kids' Exploration Journals are a fun educational tool to help youth explore their communities and natural surroundings! Each journal contains: 18 multidisciplinary activities with guided prompts, 6 lined journal pages for recording observations and reflections, and 4 blank pages for individual creativity.

The digital versions of the journal are designed to be printed out for students either as individual activities or in its entirety so that they can explore their school yard, local park, or own backyard. Though designed for 1st - 5th-graders, older audiences may enjoy them too! They are also available in both English and Spanish languages.

While supplies last, hard copies of the journals are currently available for free to teachers by contacting karen.ipock@ncdcr.gov.

This is a lesson plan about ocean animals that integrates writing informative texts and technology.

In this activity, students will use their five senses to conduct outdoor observations of the four seasons.

The kindergarten students will develop their writing skills, over time, using pictures (representing themselves, others, and scenery) and letters (strings of letters, phonetically spelled words and/or words) that match in meaning.  Students will be expected to verbally share their writing with others.  They may "read" from their paper or "read" from memory.  This Author's Celebration is the first of many to come throughout the school year.  The focus for this Author's Celebration is that the story is about one topic.

The NC Office of Early Learning strongly encourages incorporating play into the daily routine of each classroom.
Children grow and learn in all developmental domains through their engagement in centers; cognitive, physical, social, and emotional. Authentic learning and meaningful connections are made when a teacher intentionally weaves standards and supports development throughout children’s play. PlaytoLearn Center Posters provide information about common areas of development supported during play centers along with prompts connected to kindergarten standards and NC ELI dimensions.

PlaytoLearn Planning Guides (also shared on #GoOpenNC) provide information on why each center is important to children's development, tips for setting up centers, sugessted materials, actions of an intentional teacher, and common connections children make to content. Although these resources are specifically written for kindergarten, teaching and learning strategies can be applied to many grade levels.

The NC Office of Early Learning strongly encourages incorporating play into the daily routine of each classroom.
Children grow and learn in all developmental domains through their engagement in centers; cognitive, physical, social, and emotional. Authentic learning and meaningful connections are made when a teacher intentionally weaves standards and supports development throughout children’s play. PlaytoLearn Planning Guides provide information on why each center is important to children's development, tips for setting up centers, sugessted materials, actions of an intentional teacher, and common connections children make to content. Prompts connected to kindergarten standards and NC ELI dimensions can be found on PlaytoLearn Center Posters which are also shared on #GoOpenNC. Although these resources are specifically written for kindergarten, teaching and learning strategies can be applied to many grade levels.

This unit was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for Kindergarten ELA.

After reading books about how/why the seasons change, higher-level students will read a fiction book that incorporates season changes and effects of those changes with their parents for homework.  They will then answer questions about the changes and the effects of the changes and bring those answers to class so that students may engage in a discussion seminar.  This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

* This unit is an adaptation of the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Kindergarten Curriculum.  PLTW, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization that develops STEM curricula for US schools.  The source material is copyrighted and schools or districts are required to pay an annual participation fee and agree to the implementation terms of use.  With this in mind, only the adaptations will be explored in this unit document and it is intended to be used only to supplement the purchased PLTW resource.

The Project Lead the Way model uses ebook stories to introduce an engineering problem for students to solve.  Students then work through a series of hands-on challenges as they learn the unit concepts, such as the design process and key terms such as "structure" and "function".  This unit's activities include:

1 - Design and build a beanstalk that can support a small object, inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk.

2 - Design and build a straw (toothpick), stick (popsicle stick) or brick (clay) house that can withstand the wind current from a wolf (a strong fan), inspired by The Three Little PIgs.

3 - Design and build a new a new kind of paintbrush.

In this lesson, students will be able to identify what is inside a pumpkin. Students will author and illustrate books with representations of real pumpkins.

Day 1: draw maps of rooms in the school or the playground

Day 2: write directions of where they are on the map

Day 3: using their bee-bot and grid map, student A will read their written directions and student B will program the Bee-bot with partner A’s directions. The team will problem solve and make notes if the Bee-bot does not locate partner A. Students will then switch roles.

In this lesson, students will learn how to write a question using a question word. This lesson is on page 12 and is part of the 'Informative Writing' unit.

In this lesson, students will apply their knowledge of letters and letter sounds as they play games and interact with letters online, using what they see and learn to create their own ABC book.