Ken Baker
Phonemic Alliteration Lesson Plan
Old MacDonald had a ... dragon? A shared reading of this funny take on the classic children's song engages beginning readers as they learn about phonemes and alliteration.
Curated OER
Race into Fluency!
Elementary learners practice reading short passages to increase their fluency. They work in pairs to do repeated readings of Jane and Babe, recording their times. They switch roles and time one another in an effort to decrease the amount...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension Exercise
Looking to increase reading comprehension? Teach this lesson, which is flexible enough to use with either informational texts or with literature. Teams of boys and girls work together to answer a comprehension question after listening to...
Curated OER
Guided Reading: Main Idea
Readers are presented with a list of three questions and asked to actively listen to a story or article to answer them. They verbally answer the questions to learn the strategy. Next, read a story to them or have them silently read a...
National Woman's History Museum
Women of Wonder: Who Do I Admire?
Celebrate superwomen during Women's History Month with a instructional activity that showcases a variety of female role models. Following a whole-class discussion on superheroes, role models, respect, and admiration, scholars listen to...
Curated OER
The Palm of My Heart: Poetry By African American Children
Elementary students explore African American culture by reading children's poetry. They read the book, The Palm of My Heart which features poetry by an assortment of young African American boys and girls. Students define several...
Curated OER
Description of People and Things
Elementary schoolers use adjectives correctly in their speech. They demonstrate adjectives using familiar objects. (For example, they might show narrow by walking between two chairs placed closely together.) Then they play antonym Bingo...
Curated OER
Sound Search (Elementary, Reading/Writing)
Students learn initial sound recognition by walking through the school and its grounds looking for items that begin with the same sound as their first name.
Curated OER
All About Aesop
First graders explore the genre of fables. In this fables lesson, 1st graders use various reading strategies to raise comprehension skills. Students make prediction and complete a prediction journal. Students understand that fables have...
Curated OER
Express Yourself!
Elementary learners practice reading with expression to understand text better. They identify punctuation marks to see how each sentence is to be expressed with a certain emotion. Then they practice their new skills by working through...
Curated OER
Learning Sight Words with Picture Me Reading and the Document Camera
First graders identify sight words. In this learning sight words lesson, 1st graders view flash cards to practice the words and identify them in a poem.
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
What’s the Smallest Thing You Know?
Elementary learners listen to a story, then sort objects from largest to smallest at six different stations around the classroom. Adaptable for a large range of age and ability groups.
Curated OER
We Flew With a Baboon
More vowels? Elementary schoolers recognize how vowel patterns change a short vowel sound into a long vowel sound. With an emphasis on the /oo/ that makes the long U sound, kids identify the phoneme and letter combination through...
Curated OER
Listening/Reading Transfer - Guided Reading
Students are read "Danny the Dinosaur" and explore alternate endings. They answer questions about the story to answer as they go.
Curated OER
"Spring" into Step
Students practice the strategy of reading independently to encourage them to read material on their own. They choose a book of their choice to read by themselves to have a positive effect on their comprehension, vocabulary and reading...
Curated OER
The Ladybug Lesson
Students explore the traits of ladybugs. In this ladybug lesson, students read books, sing songs, and learn fingerplays about ladybugs. Students also create their own ladybugs.
Curated OER
Do You Know What You Just Read?
Students answer reading comprehension questions using the "story grammar" technique. They listen to a story and then answer questions using the technique: main character, setting, main events, and resolution. Students complete an...
Curated OER
Exploring Gullah Culture...Through Language and Numbers
First graders examine the culture of the ancient Gullah people. As a class, they practice saying and writing the days of the week and numbers in Gullah. They are read a Gullah folktale and put the events of the story into the correct...
Scholastic
Ruby Bridges: A Simple Act of Courage, Grades K-2
A civil rights movement lesson designed specifically with the Common Core State Standards in mind, young learners are introduced to the story of Ruby Bridges as the first African American child to attend an all-white elementary school....
Curated OER
Writing as a group activity
Did you know that 50% of all Americans can trace a relative who traveled through Ellis Island? Relive these journeys with your class and then provide sentence strategy templates for them to use to compose their own informative...
Curated OER
Quarter Rest Lesson
First graders indicate the silent beats (rests) with an outward motion of the arms. They indicate a measure clapped out with a quarter rest, and a measure clapped out without a quarter rest.
Curated OER
Story Stew
Young scholars identify the elements of a story. In this reading and writing lesson, pupils read the book, Tyrone the Horrible by Hans Wihelm and then identify the characters, setting, and plot of the story.This lesson includes...
Curated OER
What Can I Do?
Young scholars explore ways to handle conflict. In this mental health lesson, students investigate ways to tell others how they feel and discover that identifying their emotions can help them resolve conflict.
Curated OER
Hanukkah Fun: The Dreidel Game
Celebrate Hanukkah with an engaging lesson about the history of the dreidel! After reading or listening to a short description of the dreidel's place in the Hanukkah celebration, young learners work on their own dreidels from classroom...