Whole-class instruction is organized into ten topic-based units. These units are designed to be taught sequentially, as the content of each unit builds upon the previous one.
- Duration: The entire program covers 30 weeks of instruction, with each whole-class unit lasting three weeks.
- Ten unit topics: Unit 1 School and Me, Unit 2 Family and Friends, Unit 3 Feelings, Unit 4 Birds, Unit 5 Community Helpers, Unit 6 Plants, Unit 7 Transportation, Unit 8 Folktales, Unit 9 Caring for the Earth, and Unit 10 Our School Year.
- Three whole-class lesson types found in the unit Teacher’s Manuals:
- Morning Meeting lessons (taught five days a week).
- Reading lessons (taught five days a week). This includes Repeated Read-Aloud lessons and Shared Reading lessons.
- Vocabulary lessons (taught four to five days per week after that day's Reading lesson).
- Pacing: Whole-class lessons are intentionally designed to be short, approximately 12 minutes each, to match the attention span of four- and five-year-olds. They should be scheduled throughout the day with breaks in between (such as recess, snack, or play centers) so that students are not sitting for long periods.