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Grade PreK ELA Units

Unit Plan 31 (Grade PreK ELA): Shared Research Project

PreK research and information-gathering unit: students plan questions, collect facts from books and teacher-guided web sources, and make simple notes with drawings and labels. They collaborate to create a class poster or slide, building early inquiry, vocabulary, and digital literacy skills.

Dr. Michael Kester-Haynes

• 6 min read
Unit Plan 31 (Grade PreK ELA): Shared Research Project

Focus: Plan questions; gather from books/web with guidance; simple notes

Grade Level: PreK

Subject Area: English Language Arts (Research • Information Gathering • Oral Language • Emergent Writing)

Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 30–45 minutes per session (use two short blocks if needed)

I. Introduction

This week children experience a shared research project. As a class, they choose a topic, generate wonder questions, and gather information from books and a teacher-guided website or digital slideshow. Students create simple notes (drawing + dictation/labels), then help produce a class poster or one-slide “mini-report.”

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to…

  1. Help plan questions about a shared topic using picture and sentence frames (W.PK.7).
  2. Gather information from teacher-provided sources (books, printed webpages, projected images) to answer one question (W.PK.8).
  3. Create simple notes (draw + labels/dictation) that capture a fact and match it to a source (book/web icon) (W.PK.8; L.PK.1–2 support).
  4. With guidance, use a digital tool (add a picture or dictate a caption on a class slide/poster) to publish learning (W.PK.6).
  5. Share one finding using a complete sentence and topic vocabulary.

Standards Alignment — PreK

  • W.PK.7 Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books on a single topic).
  • W.PK.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
  • W.PK.6 With guidance and support, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing/drawing.

Success Criteria — student language

  • “Our topic is __.”
  • “My question is __?”
  • “I found a fact: __ (from the book/web).”
  • “My note shows __ (drawing/label).”
  • “I helped put it on our poster/slide.”