Syracuse City School District
Summary of Fiction and Non-Fiction Text
Somebody Wanted But So Then (SWBST)? Yes! Here's a great strategy for teaching young readers how to summarize narrative text. In addition, the packet includes exercises that show kids how to summarize nonfiction text using the classic...
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Controlled Narrative Writing
Students examine a short story and add possible adjectives. They re-read the story and add adverbs. They also add other information to make the story interesting.
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Describing Paintings: Calm or Stormy
Young writers use nouns, verbs, and adjectives to describe details in two paintings. One depicts a sunny landscape, and the other shows a cloudier view. They write a narrative inspired by the paintings, paying attention to transitional...
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Word Pairs
Fifth graders practice the trait of word choice and create a narrative writing with appropriate word choices. They work in pairs to write a story using as many word pairs from their imaginations as they can.
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Class Mascot
Students create their own tales to tell using a class mascot and their imaginations for inspiration. They each take turns bringing home the mascot and a notebook. In the notebook, they write their own tale about an adventure the mascot had.
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Guided Writing: Writing a Story on the OHP
Pupils practice fluency as well as story-writing skills. They work together to prepare and write their stories. Students are told that they are going to write a story entitled 'A Wonderful Day' and that they are going to be the...
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Fractured Fairy Tales
Students use familiar characters, plots, and settings from traditional fairy tales to create "fractured" versions, while experimenting with satire, irony and parody. A fractured fairy tale is designed to be humorous by changing the story...
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Environmentally Friendly
What can your pupils do to promote better conditions for wildlife? After researching issues around wildlife management, class members use the Internet to locate three different organizations devoted to protecting wildlife. They then...
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Using Children's Literature to Teach Writing: No, David!
Learners review beginning, middle, and end of a story and how details add to a story.
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Interpreting a Story from a News Article
Students read and retell a story form out of the newspaper. They write to communicate ideas, stories, letters, simple explanations, and short reports. They edit and perfect their projects for homework, and they share their work with the...
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Heading West
Students study the concept of the westward expansion. In this exploration of the western U.S. instructional activity, students participate in different activities that explain economic hardships, jobs, and land opportunities. Students...
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Summary Lesson Plans
Students can learn how to write summaries with the help of graphic organizers, and summarization lessons.
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The Desert is Theirs: Adapting to Our Environment
Students determine how animals and people adapt to the desert environment. In this desert lesson, students review vocabulary about the desert and how humans have to make changes to accommodate their environments. They listen to and...
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The Declaration of Independence
Fifth graders participate in a discussion about the Declaration of Independence. In this Declaration of Independence lesson, 5th graders write imaginary stories in the voice of a member of the committee at Independence hall. Students...
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Creating and Acting Mammal Stories
Fifth graders write and perform stories on mammals. They review the parts of a narrative story and write stories. They rehearse their stories and present them to the class. They make mammal cookies after their peformance.
Museum of Tolerance
Oral History Activity
Oral history has brought a multitude of lessons, stories, and factoids to our current knowledge of the past. Let us continue to use oral history traditions through a activity that encourages pupils to discover and appreciate where they...
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Poetry
Learners write a poem. In this language arts lesson, students discuss what they hear and see in a garden. Learners write a poem about the sights, sounds and smells of the garden.
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Digital Storytelling
Students write a personal narrative and convert the story into digital format. In this digital storytelling lesson, students write a personal narrative, record the story, create images for the story, add animations or transitions, and...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
6 Traits: Word Choice
Students explore language arts by participating in a vocabulary usage activity. In this word choice lesson, students read examples of great word usage in literature and discuss with the class why some words appear stronger than others....
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Robert Munsch: Author Study
Students study Robert Munsch's style of writing. For this literature lesson, students read many of Robert Munsch's books, write a list of the characteristics found in his books, and write or orally tell a story using some of these...
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Families: Different and the Same
Learners compare varying family structures. In this family structures lesson, students write a book about their family. Learners read The House on Mango Street.
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Ugly? Says Who?
Students explore biology by writing animal poetry in class. In this animal characteristics lesson plan, students research the Internet for facts about an "ugly" animal such as a bug or small critter. Students complete worksheets about...
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One Thing Leads to Another
Students analyze the storytelling methods in wordless books. In this visual storytelling lesson, students write a story that correspond to a specific wordless picture book. Students create their own wordless picture book after...