Functional Basic Skills in Communications-Elementary   (#5010030)

Version for Academic Year:

Course Standards

General Course Information and Notes

Version Description

This course may be composed of a multilevel classroom with learners from diverse backgrounds at varying proficiency levels using a standards-based curriculum. This course supports students who are struggling to write or communicate orally with others. Each student's curriculum should be defined using the most appropriate standards from those listed below to meet the individual's needs.

General Notes

Special Notes:
Instructional Practices

Teaching from a well-written, grade-level textbook enhances students’ content area knowledge and also strengthens their ability to comprehend longer, complex reading passages on any topic for any reason. Using the following instructional practices also helps student learning:
  1. Reading assignments from longer text passages as well as shorter ones when text is extremely complex.
  2. Making close reading and rereading of texts central to lessons.
  3. Asking high-level, text-specific questions and requiring high-level, complex tasks and assignments.
  4. Requiring students to support answers with evidence from the text.
  5. Providing extensive text-based research and writing opportunities (claims and evidence).

General Information

Course Number: 5010030
Course Path:
Abbreviated Title: FNC BAS SKLS COMMS E
Course Length: Year (Y)
Course Status: Course Approved
Grade Level(s): K,1,2,3,4,5,PreK

Educator Certifications

One of these educator certification options is required to teach this course.

Student Resources

Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this course.

Original Student Tutorials

Diving into Expository Writing:

Learn how to write a topic sentence to introduce a topic, group related information together, develop a topic by adding details, and add an image to support the text with this ocean-themed, interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Detecting Capitals:

Learn to detect words that need capitals with Detectives Sadie, Sam, and Scout in this interactive tutorial. Help fix their secret messages by capitalizing the first word in a sentence, names, the pronoun I, days of the week, and months of the year.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Searching for Similarities - Part 4: Synonyms and Shades of Meaning:

Explore the small differences in the meanings of synonyms in this interactive tutorial. Join Gemma as she compares, orders, and chooses synonyms based on their shades of meaning.

This is part 4 of a 4-part series. Click below to view parts 1, 2, and 3:

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Searching for Similarities - Part 3: Synonyms and Context Clues:

Determine the meaning of unknown words using context clues in this interactive tutorial. Join Gemma as she uses synonyms as clues to figure out what words mean in the observations of her family.

This is part 3 of a 4-part series. Click below to view parts 1, 2, or 4:

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Observing Opposites - Part 3: Antonyms and Context Clues:

Determine the meaning of unknown words using context clues in this interactive tutorial. Join Jake as he uses antonyms as clues to figure out what words mean in the observations of his family.

This is part 3 of a 3-part series. Click below to view parts 1 and 2:

Observing Opposites - Part 1: Adjectives and Antonyms

Observing Opposites - Part 2: Verbs and Antonyms

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Observing Opposites - Part 2: Verbs and Antonyms:

Identify verbs and antonyms in this interactive tutorial. Join Jake as he observes opposites and records his observations using action words with opposite meanings.

This is part 2 of a 3-part series. Click below to view parts 1 and 3:

Observing Opposites - Part 1: Adjectives and Antonyms

Observing Opposites - Part 3: Antonyms and Context Clues

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Observing Opposites - Part 1: Adjectives and Antonyms:

Identify adjectives and antonyms in this interactive tutorial. Join Jake as he observes opposites and records his observations using describing words that have opposite meanings.

This is part 1 of a 3-part series. Click below to view parts 2 and 3:

Observing Opposites - Part 2: Verbs and Antonyms

Observing Opposites - Part 3: Antonyms and Context Clues

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Physical Science Unit: Water Beach Vacation Lesson 17 Video:

This SaM-1 video provides the students with the optional "twist" for Lesson 17 and the Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) they have been working on in the Grade 3 Physical Science Unit: Water Beach Vacation. 

 

To see all the lessons in the unit please visit https://www.cpalms.org/page818.aspx.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Physical Science Unit: Water Beach Vacation Lesson 14 Video:

This video introduces the students to a Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) and concepts related to conducting experiments so they can apply what they learned about the changes water undergoes when it changes state.  This MEA provides students with an opportunity to develop a procedure based on evidence for selecting the most effective cooler.

This SaM-1 video is to be used with lesson 14 in the Grade 3 Physical Science Unit: Water Beach Vacation. To see all the lessons in the unit please visit https://www.cpalms.org/page818.aspx.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 23 Video: MEA Researching Sea Turtle Nesting Temperatures:

In this video Sam-1 introduces a Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) challenge. Students will take their prior experiences from the properties unit and apply their knowledge of investigating sea turtle nesting temperatures.

Students will develop a hypothesis, design an experiment, and support their reasoning to determine how to best study different methods for cooling sea turtle nesting areas.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 22 Video: MEA Animal Meal Planning Part 2:

In this video, SaM-1 introduces a part 2 twist to the Model Eliciting Activity (MEA). In the optional twist, students will need to modify their original diet for a senior chimpanzee. The first video provided meal planning information to add to the knowledge students gained throughout the unit to start the challenge.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 22 Video: MEA Animal Meal Planning:

In this video, SaM-1 introduces a Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) challenge for the students. This video provides meal planning information to add to the knowledge students gained throughout the unit. Students will be asked to develop a varied diet for a chimpanzee at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center based on the color, shape, texture, and hardness of the food.

In the optional twist, students will need to modify their original diet for a senior chimpanzee. The optional twist also has a SaM-1 video to introduce the twist challenge.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 21 Video: MEA Entertaining Animals Part 2:

In this video, SaM-1 introduces a part 2 twist to the Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) challenge. In the optional twist, students will need to design a prototype toy suitable for a Florida panther with an injured leg. This first video provides background information on why and how animals need to be entertained.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 21 Video: MEA Entertaining Animals:

In this video, SaM-1 introduces a Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) challenge for the students. This video provides background information on why and how animals need to be entertained. Students will have the opportunity to apply what they learned about physical properties and measuring linear lengths as they are asked to design a prototype toy for Florida panthers housed at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center.

In the optional twist, students will need to design a prototype toy suitable for a Florida panther with an injured leg. The optional twist also has a SaM-1 video to introduce the twist challenge.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 20 Video MEA Animal Habitats Part 2:

In this video, SaM-1 introduces a part 2 twist to the Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) challenge. In the first video, students were asked to design a habitat for an elephant or gorilla that will be housed at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center. In this twist, students will need to modify their design to accommodate a senior elephant or gorilla.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 20 Video: MEA Animal Habitats:

In this video, SaM-1 introduces a Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) challenge for the students. This video provides habitat information to help the students use the knowledge they gained throughout the unit. Students are asked to design a habitat for an elephant or gorilla that will be housed at the CPALMS Rehabilitation and Conservation Center. Students will need to describe the physical properties (color, shape, texture, hardness) of the features they selected for the habitat while explaining the rationale behind their design choices.

In the optional twist, students will need to modify their design to accommodate a senior elephant or gorilla. The optional twist also has a SaM-1 video to introduce the twist challenge.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 17 Video: Sea Turtle Expert Interview :

In this SaM-1 video, students will use their listening and writing skills to watch a video to learn about the affects temperature has on sea turtles' nests, preparing them for an investigation in subsequent lessons within the unit.  

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Lesson 15 Video: Observing Sea Turtles:

In this SaM-1 video, students will use their listening and writing skills to learn about sea turtles, preparing them for subsequent lessons in the unit.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Formal or Informal...You Decide:

Learn when you should use formal English, or speak more formally, and when it’s okay to use informal language as you complete this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

What's the Meaning of This?:

Meet Detective Brown! He and his friends are all detectives.You know, readers are just like detectives. Detectives try to solve mysteries when they're on a case and readers try to solve mysteries when they're trying to determine the meaning of what they're reading. Just like detectives, readers need to look for clues to help them figure out the meanings of unknown words and phrases. By the end of this tutorial, you'll be able to use context clues to help you understand the meaning of a word or phrase.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Stormy Days: Supporting Specific Points in Text:

Identify specific points in text, identify the supporting reasons, and describe HOW the reasons support the specific points that the author makes in a text as you read about stormy weather in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Verb Mania:

Learn all about action verbs, linking verbs, helping verbs, verb tenses, and multiple verbs in compound sentences with Scruff the dog in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

The Best Pet:

Identify the reasons an author gives to support his or her opinion in a text in this interactive tutorial. Then read along as Olivia and Oliver write their opinions and reasons to help their parents choose the best pet for their family.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Dialogue Under Construction:

Welcome! In this tutorial, you’ll be building your knowledge about dialogue. Much like a construction worker follows blueprints to build a building, dialogue in text is constructed in a specific way. By the end of this tutorial, you’ll be able to demonstrate the use of commas and quotation marks in dialogue. Let’s get started!

Type: Original Student Tutorial

What's the Matter in the Galaxy?:

Learn to identify components within a galaxy such as gas, dust, stars and objects that orbit stars with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Captain Capitalization's Treasure Hunt:

Capitalize holidays, product names, and names of places around the world as you hunt for treasure in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Playground Fun: Storybooks and Poems:

Identify the elements of storybooks (characters, setting, and events) and poems (lines and rhymes) and recognize their differences with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Punctuation Play:

Learn to use a period, a question mark, and an exclamation mark at the end of sentences in this interactive soccer-themed tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Cool Context Clues:

Help Pat the Penguin use context clues to find the meanings of unknown words and phrases in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Adages and Proverbs: Revealing Hidden Meanings:

Meet Melvin the Magician! When you’re dealing with magic, things are not always as they appear. That’s what makes magic fun! Similarly, when you’re working with adages and proverbs, things are also not always as they appear. Melvin will never reveal the secrets to his magic tricks, but he will reveal the secret to figuring out what adages and proverbs mean. Learn how to recognize adages and proverbs and explain their meaning.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Seashore of Details:

Identify key details as you answer questions about informational text in this interactive tutorial. Join Sam as he explores the seashore and answers who, what, where, and when questions about sea stars, sea urchins, hermit crabs, horseshoe crabs, and other sea-related topics.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

The Conjunction Zone:

Use conjunctions to connect words and sentences together in this interactive tutorial. Help Builder Carl build new sentences using common conjunctions.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Buzzing Details:

Answer questions about key details in nonfiction text with this interactive tutorial. Help Bobby the beekeeper answer who, what, and where questions while reading about buzzing bees.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Once Upon a Retelling:

Identify and retell the main elements of a story in this interactive tutorial. Join Walter Wolf to find the characters, setting, and major events in his favorite story, The Three Little Pigs, and retell what happened at the beginning, middle, and end of the story.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Digging Deeper: Inferences:

Learn the difference between explicit and implicit information, make an inference based on the information you read, and refer to details from the text to explain your thinking. This interactive tutorial will also help you learn about the largest turtle on earth, the Leatherback sea turle.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Sweet Details:

Identify story elements by answering who, what, where, and when questions in this interactive tutorial. Help Red Riding Hood find her friends Hansel and Gretel by answering questions about the key details in their story.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Building Meaning:

Learn strategies for understanding new words in this interactive tutorial. Join Handy Hal and learn how to use picture clues, context clues, and word parts to help you determine the meaning of an unknown word.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Series Winners:

Review commas to separate items in a series, then practice placing semicolons to separate items in a series as you complete this interactive, baseball-themed tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Exploring Fables:

Recount the important details using story elements and determine the central message, lesson, or moral of the fable in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Piecing Together Details:

Answer who, what, where, when, why and how questions to demonstrate understanding of the elements of a story in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Life Then, Life Now:

Identify similarities and differences, use a Venn diagram, and describe connections in an informational text in this interactive tutorial. Join Luke as he compares and contrasts life long ago with life today using key details in informational text.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Idioms: Revealing Hidden Meanings:

Learn how to recognize idioms and explain their meanings as you complete this interactive, magic-themed tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Bon Voyage!:

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to state your opinion, organize your ideas, and list relevant reasons for your opinion.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Quote from Text:

Learn to quote accurately from a text when answering explicit questions and when supporting inferences from the text as you complete this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

"Beary" Good Details:

Join Baby Bear to answer questions about key details in his favorite stories with this interactive tutorial. Learn about characters, setting, and events as you answer who, where, and what questions.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Super Writing!:

Learn how to use commas and quotation marks to mark direct speech and quotations from a text.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Capitalization Invasion:

Learn how to capitalize the first word in a sentence with this interactive tutorial. You will also be able to capitalize the pronoun “I” when used in a sentence.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Topical Travels:

Identify paragraphs in a text, use key details to identify the topic of a paragraph, and identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text using the topics and details from each paragraph in this Florida-themed interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

The Places You'll Go!:

Sort and describe words based on categories and key attributes in this interactive tutorial. Visit a circus, zoo, and fire station as you learn to describe and group people, animals, and objects.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Diving into Informative Writing:

Learn how to write a topic sentence to introduce a topic, group related information together, develop a topic by adding details, and add an image to support the text with this ocean-themed, interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

The Preposition Factory:

Learn how to identify special words called prepositions that help you describe where a person or object is located. By the end of this interactive tutorial, you should also be able to use these special words to complete simple sentences.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Exploring the Main Idea:

Learn how to identify explicit evidence and understand implicit meaning in a text, supporting details in informational text and explain how the details support the main idea.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Exploring for Details:

Learn how to identify relevant details in informational texts to answer questions and use text evidence to support your answers with this interactive tutorial. You can also practice making inferences based on the relevant details.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Making Meaning:

Learn how to identify explicit evidence and understand implicit meaning in a text.

You will be able to identify literal and nonliteral words and phrases in sentences and stories. You will also be able to find the meaning or words and phrases by looking carefully at what the author is saying.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Terrific Traits:

Learn to describe characters’ feelings, traits, and motivations using excerpts from Charlotte's Web. In this interactive tutorial, you will also learn how to identify and explain how characters’ actions contribute to the events in a story.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Describe That Character:

Describe characters using key details in a story in this interactive tutorial. Join Police Officer Smith and the Gingerbread Man as they describe characters' appearances, feelings, and actions.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Detail Detectives:

Help Dan the Detective answer questions about a story, using key details from the story to support your answers with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Uncovering the Main Idea:

Learn how to identify explicit evidence and understand implicit meaning in a text

Sometimes the main idea likes to hide out in the texts that you read. Lenny Lizard will give you some pointers on how to uncover the main idea and use key details to support your answers.

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to find the directly and indirectly stated main idea of a text. You will also learn how to identify and explain how key details support the main idea.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Student Center Activity

Edcite: ELA Reading Grade 4-5:

Students can practice answering reading comprehension questions with a text about online learning. With an account, students can save their work and send it to their teacher when complete.

Type: Student Center Activity

Parent Resources

Vetted resources caregivers can use to help students learn the concepts and skills in this course.