One of our founder's students was a professional surfer, and we always looked for opportunities to connect his learning to his life’s work. A physics lesson contributed to his design of a surfboard, and an entire marketing class helped him market his surfboard. You could say that surfing was the “theme” for many of his learning experiences. 

She had another student who was an aspiring ornithologist; everything was about birds. Art, geography, history, literature, statistics, and more was somehow connected to birds. 

Most students had passing interests, so they might only want to stick with a topic for one unit. Even then, a thematic unit was a meaningful and enjoyable approach to learning. 

A thematic unit focuses on one topic or “big idea.”

The student can read, write, do math, and practice other skills all on this one topic. Thematic units usually cover several subject areas; you can integrate language arts, science, social studies, math, technology, art, and more. 

How do you decide on a theme? In addition to student interests, you can look for inspiration. Select a season or an event; a community project or cause; or perhaps a story or series of stories. 

For example, Carolina’s Story from the Arbordale children’s book collection is about a “critically ill sea turtle as she is nursed back to health” and it comes with a learning unit packet full of activities that include geography, math, an art project, animal classification, a video about sea turtles, and a live sea turtle webcam.

This book can be combined with two other Arbordale books: Turtle Summer, and Turtles in My Sandbox. Each also comes with its own thematic learning packet. Collectively, all three books and their learning activities create one large thematic unit on turtles, and students are learning so much more than just about turtles. In addition, since each of these Arbordale books are available in multiple languages, and their playback interface includes a bilingual reader, we can even tie foreign language learning into the theme.

You can stop there, or you can add more. In the Learn360 part of our library, search for “turtle” to find videos, art projects, printables, and other content for the topic. You can use the advanced search to filter by content type, grade level, or even by whether or not it comes with educator resources. In Learn360, you can also click on the Topic Centers icon to see pre-created collections on topics. Many of their videos come with educator resources that might serve as a good starting point for a thematic unit. 

The curated resources in our Curriculum & Resource library will also have additional items. 

If possible, add real world experiences to your unit. Find a local zoo, aquarium, science center, or park where your student can see turtles, and perhaps talk with a guide who can answer questions. If that’s not possible, look for online options, such as a zoo with a live webcam.