Curated OER
Shaking Things Up In Summarization
Students practice several techniques and strategies to become better at summarizing a piece of writing. They emphasize the five "W's: who, what, where, when and why. A book of Earthquakes is read and then summarized by each of the students.
Curated OER
Thumbs Up For Expert Readers!
Students use the cross check strategy to increase reading comprehension in this lesson. They listen as the teacher reads "Where the Wild Things Are." The teacher purposely reads some words wrong so that the story does not make sense. ...
Curated OER
Guided Reading with Confetti Eggs
First graders read the book, Confetti Eggs. Working in guided reading groups, they discuss making crafts with eggs and preview the book by looking at the pictures and making predictions. After reading the book aloud, they discuss how to...
Curated OER
Easy Steps for Summarization
Students practice techniques and strategies to assess mastery on the concept of summarization. They read, discuss and summarize the story, "How Goose Got Ready for Winter," by David Wingfield. Each student picks out the most important...
Curated OER
No Title
Fourth graders identify and practice a variety of prereading strategies to assess how to ask questions that a new reader might ask about the book, "One Day in the Woods." They skim the book, brainstorm the topic of the book and preview...
Curated OER
Around The Town
Students participate in alphabetizing letters, coming up with questions and concepts, and show the rules of phonics by playing a game for a unit opener. In this language arts lesson plan, students also come up with thinking maps.
Curated OER
The Mysterious Tadpole
Second graders examine books written by Steven Kellogg, looking for similarities in his illustrations. They also look at images found on the Internet. They listen to a read aloud of The Mysterious Tadpole up to the point where the eggs...
Curated OER
Messages and Viewpoint in Media
Explore media point of view. In this literacy and current events lesson, pupils identify examples of first and third person point of view in media articles. They analyze examples of media, interpret the messages, and determine purposes...
Curated OER
Nonfiction Genre Mini-Unit: Persuasive Writing
Should primary graders have their own computers? Should animals be kept in captivity? Young writers learn how to develop and support a claim in this short unit on persuasive writing.
Curated OER
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse: Kevin Henkes
Kevin Henkes has composed a series of books in which Lilly the mouse is a main character. Third graders use illustrations and key details as they compare and contrast the books, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and another story staring the...
Curated OER
Elements of Fables
Students explore the attributes of fables. In this literature instructional activity, students read several fables and identify the moral instructional activity, characterization, and figurative language in each. Students then retell...
Scholastic
Summarizing: Using Hand Motions for Key Words or Points
Learning to summarize texts takes practice. Jump into the training ring and guide your learners through a summarizing practice session. The classic direct instructional practice of "I do, you do, we do" is used to help them identify key...
Curated OER
Lesson One: Decoding Strategies
Review decoding strategies to read a chosen text. Readers tape themselves reading out loud, listen to the recording, and mark where they have misread words or phrases. They then discuss which words were misread and review how to correct...
Curated OER
Comparing and Contrasting Fiction and Nonfiction Using Graphic Organizers
Students compare and contrast fiction and non-fiction selections. In this writing skills activity, students use different forms of graphic organizers to compare "The Three Little Pigs," to Wiesel's Night.
Curated OER
Analysis Through Character Action/Beliefs
Students explore characterization. In this characterization lesson, students give analytical responses to questions and determine a character's beliefs. Students use the school mission statement to develop two beliefs that the statement...
Curated OER
Lesson Plans That Boost Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is a cyclical process that can be supported with lesson plans that build students' knowledge and cognition.
Curated OER
Poetry and Visualization
Students use visualization techniques when reading poetry. In this visualization and poetry lesson, students work in groups to present a tableau that depicts a word from the poem as classmates guess the word. Students then read the...
Curated OER
Lesson Plans for "A Christmas Carol"
Lesson plans for "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens can help students better comprehend this Christmas classic.
Curated OER
Science Questions
Explore the concept of generating questions. Your curious learners choose a scientific question from a bowl and, as they listen to an article being read, they use that question starter to come up with their own questions. Then, they have...
Curated OER
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Poems for Two Voices
"That man is not truly one, but truly two." The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde offers readers a change to craft a poem combining words and phrases from Robert Lewis Stevenson's novella to create a poem for two voices. The...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Benjamin Franklin and Learning a Lesson
Examine stories with a moral in a character development instructional activity. The class reads a short story written by Benjamin Franklin in which he pays too much for a toy whistle. Individuals then make text-to-self connections and...
Curated OER
Dandelion Wine: Socratic Seminar
There are “a million things to talk about. . .” in Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine; however, the focus of this socratic seminar is the issue of living and dying. Class members prepare for the discussion by writing about their own views of...
Bantam Books
The Tempest: Four Corners
Forgiveness can be a difficult step to take in any circumstance, but is it more difficult if the offense is more egregious? High schoolers consider the concept of forgiveness before reading William Shakespeare's The Tempest. As kids read...
Curated OER
Using Non-Text Features
Second graders examine graphs and charts from their local newspaper. As a class, they discuss what the data means and how it relates to the article. In groups, they are shown two sets of graphs or charts and they practice explaining...