Unit Plan 25 (Grade K ELA): Reading Biographies & Picture Timelines
Kindergarten informational text unit: students explore simple biographies, identify main topics and key details, describe how photos and captions add meaning, and build picture timelines to show connections between events and people.
Focus: Connections among events/people; photos/captions
Grade Level: Kindergarten
Subject Area: English Language Arts (Informational Text • Speaking/Listening)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 45–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
This week, children explore biographies through short, highly visual texts. They will identify the main topic and key details, learn how photos and captions add information, and build a picture timeline to show how events and people are connected.
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to…
- Identify the main topic of a simple biography and retell key details (RI.K.2).
- Describe how photos and captions show information that supports the text (RI.K.7).
- Describe connections among events (what happened first/next) or people (who helped whom) in the biography (RI.K.3).
Standards Alignment — CCSS Kindergarten
- RI.K.2 Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
- RI.K.3 Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
- RI.K.7 Describe the relationship between illustrations and the text (what person, place, thing, or idea the illustration depicts).
Success Criteria — student language
- I can say the main topic (“This book is about ___.”).
- I can tell two key details from the biography.
- I can point to a photo and tell what it shows and how it helps me know more.
- I can tell how two events/people are connected (“___ helped ___,” “First ___, then ___.”).