K-12 lesson plans are a necessary part of K-12 education. It’s these lesson plans that form the base for further studies of the students. Along with these lesson plans another important part of education is the thematic unit.
Understanding thematic instruction
To understand what we mean by thematic units first consider what thematic instructions is. Thematic instruction is the integration of basic knowledge like science, reading, and math that further broadens its horizon by knowledge of broader subjects like river basins, rain forests, different communities use and conserves energy, different cultures, and the list goes on.
Basically a thematic unit is the organization of a curriculum that revolves around a theme. There are various reasons to use thematic units in K-12 education. Here are few of them.
Ten reasons for thematic curriculum
- It mainly condenses the curriculum.
- It has the capacity to increases the student’s interest in education and also increases the time they give to education.
- It features the use of joint and cooperative learning.
- It has taken a stand in the use of computers and technology. Students are able to make better use of computers.
- It forms a model for students to use resources in research work.
- It looks into safety matters for students while accessing the Internet.
- Its main focus is for students to master their objectives.
- It demonstrates the interdisciplinary character of education.
- It lets a student integrate word processing skills into many creative activities.
- It lets a student expand assessment approaches.
Basic parts of thematic units
- Objectives: Identification of objectives that students should master by the end of the unit.
- Theme: Selection of theme reflecting text topics, student interests, and experiences.
- Focus: Development of focus statements that summarize the direction and goal of the unit.
- Grade Level Appropriateness: Content matches level of student work and interest.
- Materials and Resources: Determining all the necessary materials and resources. Here are few appropriate resources to look for: Printed Resources, Computer and CD-ROM Resources, Internet Resources, Audio/Visual Resources, Community Resources, Instructional Television Resources, Literature Resources.
- General Activities: List the most common activities that are to be done during the progress of the thematic unit.
- Culminating Activity: An activity that engages students in significant summarizing of their discoveries that will lead to new ideas.
- Evaluation: Lastly a very important part is evaluation. One needs to devise an appropriate system to evaluate what students are doing and how to measure their progress.
Thematic unit K-12 lesson plans
There are various K-12 thematic unit lesson plan sites that can help to create a thematic unit. A few are listed here.
A to Z Teacher Stuff Thematic Unit Index
Lesson Plans
