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Using Fairy Tales to Debate Ethics
Is trickery ever justified? Is it okay to steal from someone who has stolen from you? Puss, from Puss in Boots, and Jack, from Jack and the Beanstalk, might have some ideas about these ethical questions. After listening to a series of...
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Build Mastery: Sequencing
Writing a summary is much easier once you've laid out the sequence of events. Show readers how these two skills are intertwined using this graphic organizer. Review the meaning of sequencing first, presenting the chart and possibly...
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Introduce Vocabulary: Cows Can't Fly (Milgrim)
Cows can't fly, can they? David Milgrim's whimsical story makes vocabulary fun! Although this strategy can be used with any text, using Cows Can't Fly will be a breeze with this outline. Pupils are ready to raise their hands when they...
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Build Mastery: Visualization
What do you see? Young reader tap into the visualization process as they listen to or read a fiction story and fill out a graphic organizer. Model this first with a think-aloud, showing scholars how you visualize a familiar story. For...
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Build Mastery: Prediction
What do you think will happen? Use a graphic organizer to help learners predict what will happen in a text. Consider modeling the chart using a familiar story, pretending you don't know what happens. Show scholars the book, explaining...
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Introduce Vocabulary: Amigo (Baylor)
Amigo by Byrd Baylor gives learners a chance to practice with unknown words and context clues. Choose several vocabulary words to focus on as you read the picture book, or use the ones provided here (the book is in English despite the...
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Introduce: Cause and Effect
Introduce beginning readers to cause and effect in a story by exploring it together. Learners make predictions about a book based on its cover, title, and a brief flip through the pages. They listen to an explanation of cause and effect...
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Reading Comprehension: Thor and Sif
Expose your readers to the fascinating legends of Norse Gods Thor and Sif. They read a brief introduction about traditional stories and myths then read several paragraphs on these figures, marking unknown words as they go. Learners look...
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Beginning Short Stories w/ Questions - An Adventure
This activity, which could be used in the lower grades for reading comprehension practice or with older students as part of an ESL lesson, has learners read a short story and answer six comprehension and vocabulary questions. As part of...
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Humourous Head Planter Spike: Ceramics Lesson
What a great activity. Kids create humorous ceramic character (heads) spikes to enliven a planter. Modern art is full of expressive and exaggerated forms and your class gets to create them out of clay. This would be a lovely activity to...
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Introduce Vocabulary: Animal Action ABC
Explore the meanings of tier two vocabulary words. In small groups, young learners listen to a read-aloud story and evaluate new vocabulary words for their meaning.
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Reading Comprehension: David Copperfield
Good worksheets are hard to find, but you found one! Your class reads an excerpt from the classic, David Copperfield. They answer four comprehension questions and explore context to complete eight fill-in-the-blank vocabulary words. The...
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Stories! Imagination! Joy!
Rekindle the art of storytelling through imagination and oral tradition.
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Making an Inference from an Implied Message Within a Text
Show your scholars that they make inferences every day and might not even know it. Through scaffolded instruction, they break down the process of drawing information from context. Using example sentences and didactic questioning,...
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Compare and Contrast Two Settings in One Text
Look for the signal words! Scholars get both instruction and practice comparing and contrasting. Although it is completely scripted, it can also serve as a detailed outline. Demonstrate this as you read a passage (included) and search...
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Comparing Poems
Young literary analysts compare two poems by the same author. Readers look for slant rhyme, observe the beat and rhythm of each, and search for repeated vowel sounds. After re-reading, they observe the lack of punctuation and the stanza...
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Reading a Classic Novel
Charles Dickens offers an excellent example of sensory writing in this reading comprehension worksheet. Learners read excerpts from the novel Hard Times in which he describes the New England industrial city of Coketown. They consider why...
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Reading Comprehension: The Mango Tree
Readers examine the traditional Indian story "The Mango Tree" as a literary analysis exercise. The story is broken into three parts, each followed by short-answer reading comprehension questions. While there are referential questions...
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Comparing Two Stories
Compare new and old versions of the classic story Alice in Wonderland in this comprehensive activity packet. Learners read an excerpt from the original, answering several analysis questions. They do the same for a more modern version,...
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Comprehension Instructional Routine: Sequence of Events in Text
If you're looking for a detailed lesson on event sequencing from informational text, you've found it. There is an entire script for you to draw from as you explore order of events and sequence words. Scaffolding is key here; learners...
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The Effects of Character Decisions
Learners explore characters' decisions. They play a card game in which they match a decision card with a direct effect card. Then they examine characters from The Wizard of Oz, record important decisions that they make on index cards,...
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Using Compare and Contrast Key Words
Compare and contrast while challenging your class with this higher-level thinking and reading comprehension lesson. After observing the teacher model comparing and contrasting bats and birds, learners read passages about two towns. They...
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Comprehension: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
If your class will be reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this guided reading worksheet may increase their comprehension. It asks them to re-read passages (provided) from the book and then answer numerous short answer questions. A...
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Mystery Word Wall Game
Practice using words found on the classroom word wall, in vocabulary lists, or on spelling lists with your class. Young readers use clues to find the mystery word in the room. They can tally the points earned from identifying words...