Thematic Unit Topics?

Question

What are some good topics for thematic units at an elementary school level?

Answer 1

Ancient Egypt

China

Colonial Life

Cultural Diversity: Immigration and Citizenship

Dinosaurs

Ducks

Endangered North American Birds

Folk Art

Fruits and Vegetables

Holidays -- Chinese New Year, Kwanzaa, and Mexican Christmas

Insects

Mammals and Their Habitats

The Middle Ages

The Music Appreciation Page

Native Americans

Nutrition

Oceans

Penguins

Plants

The Rainforest and Planet Ecology

Reptiles and Amphibians

Rocks and Minerals

Seasons

The Solar System

Transportation I

Transportation II

Transportation III

Weather

Westward Expansion in the United States

Whales






Australia
Author Study of Jack Prelutsky
Author Study of Chris Van Allsburg
Back to School
Chemistry
Chocolate
Colonial America
Earth Day
Ecosystems - Biomes
Elections
End-of-Year Fun

Explorers
Fun In & With the Sun
Tall Tales - Fables - Myths
Geography
Health & Nutrition
Holidays Around the World
Ice & Snow
Insects
Magnets & Electricity
Mammals
Math Games
The Millennium
Money
Nouns, Verbs & Adjectives
Ocean
The Olympics - Summer
The Olympics - Winter
Penguins
Plants
Poetry
Popcorn
Rainforests
Remembering September 11th
Reptiles & Amphibians
Respiratory System
The Revolutionary War
Simple Machines
Solar System
State Studies
Summer Fun
Water
Weather



Reptiles & Amphibians
Frogs
Snakes
Turtles

Mammals
Bats
Bears
Whales
More...

Creepy Crawlies
Spiders
Insects
Worms

Dinosaurs

Ecosystems
Oceans
Rain Forests
Desserts
Wetlands
Coral Reefs

Environment
Trash and Recycling
Air Quality
Global Warming
Ozone Depletion

Volcanoes

Weather
General Weather
Tornadoes
Hurricanes

Earthquakes

Space
Native Americans
Early America
Colonial America
American Revolution
Moving and Exploring West

The American Civil War

R.M.S. Titanic

Holidays & Celebrations
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Black History Month

End of the Year

On The Farm

Aviation



sorry if some of them are repeated!!

Answer 2

Any holiday, country, animal, or sport. Really anything you can find 2 or 3 books about. Anything the children are interested in can be turned into a theme unit with a little creativity and a good clip art program. Just pick a topic and then gear everything around that.

For example, you could read a story about how a caterpillar turns to a butterfly for reading, have grammar lessons using sentences about butterflies, vocabulary and spelling are words like butterfly, caterpillar, cocoon, change, flitter... math can be adding flowers and butterflies. Subtacting leaves the butterfly ate, fractions based on how many butterflies of a certain kind out of all the butterflies, measuring the time is takes to mature to a butterfly. Science is way easy...names of the parts of a butterfly, name different kinds of butterfly, match caterpillars to the type of butterfly they become, research what caterpillars and butterflies eat, get a butterfly habitat and "hatch" butterflies and release them.

The biggest thing is to have fun with it and go until the child is bored. One year my 6 year old had a good time with plants. He learned deciduous and evergreen, which were bulb plants which were seeds, and every trip to the park was a botony lesson. Last year he was facinated with dinosaurs, this year it is space. Some times the knowledge is a short time memory, but some of it sticks. The biggest thing he learned is that learning can be fun, and that is the greatest lesson any child can learn.

Answer 3

That is such a broad question... The way I choose my "units" are based on the required subject matter for that particular year.
As a matter of fact, I've begun looking at novels to complement my Social Studies for next year (6th grade).

For example:
First quarter - Stone Age (An Acceptable Time) and Ancient Egypt (The Golden Goblet)
Then I look at my other objectives for reading, math, and science and look for relationships within those core subjects to develop my actitivies.
If you decide to teach other subjects via novels, you can find tons of resources (novel study guides) to help you along the way and many include cross-curricular activities.

Step by step...
1. Look at the content that needs to be covered then find some grade-level novels. (If you need to do differentiated instruction, you can have separate lit circles based by reading level.) Site for ideas on historical fiction:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/instructor/social1.htm
2. Finding multiple copies of books? Some public libraries or your district's instructional resource center will have multiple copies. Buy in bulk via Scholastic, Troll, etc. If you can get an audio version, great as a literacy workstation.
3. Use your internet resources or invest in some good novel study teacher guides. This place has some AWESOME stuff; great for different levels (remediation to challenging):
http://www.mariinc.com/ or http://www.edhelper.com/ (I have a subscription and use it at least three times a week. Their lit units are great! Just print them off, they include student worksheets, vocab, puzzles, tests, etc.)

4. Keep everything in a binder. As I find stuff on the internet relating to that particular unit of study, I print it off and stick it in the binder. This is also great if you need to share with other teachers. Let them borrow, copy, and return.

I know this is a lot but hopefully someone will be able to use it if you can't...

Best of luck... only a few months to go!!
Mon :-)

Answer 4

A lot depends on the grade level.

When I taught 4th grade, I liked "Bigger Picture" themes.

For example: EXPLORATION. We would look at it from several angles that all fit in with exploration. We looked at the traditional historic explorers (social studies), we looked at how we explore now (current events), we looked at the future of exploration as part of our space unit. We talked about exploring your talents, etc.

We talked about why people explore, how people explored, we compared the reasons people explored in the past with why we explore now.

With the older kids, it is fun to really let them look at a topic from a range of ideas.

COMMUNITIES is another topic that you can explore from many angles.

Try to expand yourself a bit and stay away from the more shallow themes. Your kids will gain a lot more. And don't underestimate what the kids can grasp.

Good Luck

Answer 5

Try these websites. They've all got links and info on elementary thematic units.

http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/

http://teacherhelpers.homestead.com/

http://www.theteacherscorner.net/

Answer 6

There are so many to choose from! You can find many already made by doing an Internet search. Make sure that the unit aligns to your states standards before you teach it in your classroom.

Answer 7

Sensory obstacle course.