National First Ladies' Library
Funding America's School Libraries
Young scholars discuss ways in which their own school library is funded, explore organization and funding of other school libraries, research Laura Bush's initiatives for school libraries, and gain experience planning projects and/or...
Curated OER
Deck the Halls with Literature Trees
Reinforce and assess reading comprehension by having your class make a literature tree! After reading a book, pupils make decorations to represent the book's themes, characters, and setting. Materials for decorating can be as diverse and...
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Celebrate Books: A (Book) Week of Fun!
Students celebrate Book Week by participating in a variety of fun literature-based activities.
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Library Skills: Biography
Biographies deserve special attention when training youngsters how to use the library because they are alphabetized by subject rather than by author. Guide children through the process of finding biographies over a two-visit series. On...
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My Library
In this sentence completion worksheet, students use the words in the word bank and reading comprehension to fill in the blanks and complete the sentences about a library. Students fill in eight blanks.
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Ban That Book!
Take advantage of Banned Book Week to pique students' interest and get them reading! Create a classroom display of previously banned books and allow each member of your class to choose one to read. After they have read their book, get...
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Tomas and the Library Lady
Students practice read aloud comprehension strategies. In this literacy comprehension instructional activity, students listen to Tomas and the Library Lady, stopping to discuss with a partner aspects of the story suggested by the...
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Modesto City Schools Library Lesson Plan
Learners read and understand a variety of genres in a library setting. In this library activity lesson, students act as detectives and use clues in text and pictures to hypothesize the title of the missing book for the library reading...
Story Corps
The Great Thanksgiving Listen
StoryCorp provides a resource that captures and preserves the remembrances of family or community elders. Prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, class members select a person they want to interview, record the conversation, and then upload...
Curated OER
Getting to Know Numbers
Young scholars study the math concepts associated with the calendar including days of the week, months of the year, odd/even numbers and numbers which come before and after. They use handheld computers with the appropriate software.
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Tales with a Twist
Your authors create news stories that share a familiar fairy tale from a new perspective. They review a familiar fairy tale, select a character to "interview," and write original news stories from the perspective of that character.
Nemours KidsHealth
Screen Time: Grades 3-5
Encourage pupils to spend less time in front of a screen with two lessons that challenge them to examine their habits and try to make new ones. In lesson one, the class brainstorms activities to partake in instead of spending time in...
Curated OER
Abigail’s War: The American Revolution through the Eyes of Abigail Adams
Four lessons, performed over four weeks, pay special attention to Abigail Adams. Fifth graders analyze primary and secondary sources, read texts, discuss and write about Adams' experience during the Revolutionary War—the Battle of Bunker...
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America at the Centennial
Students explore centennial America. In this American history lesson plan, students search the Library of Congress digital collections for primary sources regarding the lifestyles and values of Americans in 1876. Students design exhibits...
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Creating a Primary Source Archive: All History Is Local
Students explore personal, local, state, and national history. In this historiography lesson, students search the Library of Congress digital collections for primary sources regarding their family histories framed in local, state, and...
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Book Week Celebration
Students discover the importance of reading. They participate in a school wide book celebration. They participate in activities to get them interested in reading.
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Chain Together A Book Report
Individuals examine a book's components, including key events, characters, and vocabulary and develop "chain book reports" with their peers. Strips of paper containing the book's important events are staples together and hung.
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Is That a Fact?
Investigate popular scientific claims and gather evidence to defend or argue against an author's stance. Writers synthesize information and compose their own "Really?" columns modeled after those found in the weekly "Science Times"...
2012 Teaching Resources
Analyzing Character Traits
Character analysis becomes easy with a 24-page packet packed with mini-lessons, graphic organizers, and activities. A must-have for your curriculum library.
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Children's Literature Across the Curriculum Ideas
You can keep this printable idea sheet and use when you're in a tight spot. It contains cross-curricular ideas that span every subject while relating to the African tale, "Anasazi the Spider." Learners will act, write, move, count, and...
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Children's Literature Across the Curriculum Ideas-If You Made A Million
Students read If You Made A Million by David M. Schwartz. They complete a variety of cross-curricular activities surrounding the study of earning, saving and spending money. Included are reading, art, math, science, writing, social...
Curated OER
Best-Selling Books Bar Graph
Create a bar graph with your elementary school learners. First they read and interpret data, and then they color in the graph (provided) to indicate how many of each were sold. Consider providing them with the data but having them...
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Dewey Decimal Game
Engage all the upper elementary classes in your school in a game to learn Dewey Decimal Classification. On 5 or 6 consecutive visits to the library, teams from each class learn how the system works, locate books in each category, and...
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For the Birds
Second graders observe, identify, and document birds sighted at the library feeder station. They observe and document birds in order to begin their birder's life list. They apply scientific concepts and principles by using library...