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Organizer
School District No. 71

Adding Written Detail: Using Jane Yolen’s Owl Moon as a Mentor Text

For Students 1st - 4th Standards
Access your senses with a worksheet on sensory language. Based on Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, the worksheet prompts kids to find examples of each of the five senses, as well as phrases for inner emotion. 
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Lesson Plan
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Outer Space Creature

For Teachers K - 4th
Students read poems by Shel Silverstein about planets and outer space. As a class, they compare and contrast his descriptions to actual facts which have been discovered through explorations. They write a description of an outer space...
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Lesson Plan
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Valentine Cinquain

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Young scholars review parts of speech by using Inspiration. They brainstorm vocabulary that fit a Valentines theme. Students watch as the teacher demonstrates the parts of a cinquain poem. Young scholars write their own poem and create a...
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Lesson Plan
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Inventors

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students brainstorm a list of inventions that have affected their lives. In groups, they use the internet to research a specific inventor and their invention. They use the information to write two paragraphs and share their information...
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Lesson Plan
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Bunnicula

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students create a dictionary of vocabulary after reading a story. Individually, they create a story web making sure to include all of the basic story elements. They also create a timeline and write a book report of all important events.
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Lesson Plan
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Exploring Literary Genre Through Latin American Literature

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars explore poetry and its meaning. After reading poems, students explore the literary elements such as the setting, character, problem, events and resolution. They compare and contrast descriptions given in poems. Young...
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Lesson Plan
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Geo Jammin' - Day 2, Lesson 6: Rhyme and Reason

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Young scholars listen to the poem "Shapes" by Shel Silverstein in order to accurately and specifically describe shapes' rules/traits in their journals. They illustrate the poem and take turns reading during a creative shared reading...
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Lesson Plan
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Summer Fun! Vacation Destination Postcards

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students design a postcard with a graph and text. They research their favorite vacation spot. Pupils write a friendly letter to their parents requesting to visit this vacation destination. Students use a Circle Map, to help fill in their...
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Lesson Plan
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Grandparents' Day: Family History

For Teachers K - 4th
Students explore Grandparents' Day. They interview their grandparents and select an activity to highlight their interview. They select a project including writing an essay, composing a song, creating a poem or scrapbook, or writing a...
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Lesson Plan
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Waterfalls

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders practice identifying the main idea and supporting details when reading informational text. They read text related to waterfalls and practice note taking skills to identify critical details. Students use their notes to...
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Worksheet
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Wombat Stew

For Students 3rd - 4th
In this Australian animals worksheet, students read one sentence descriptions of 3 animals of Australian animals. Students then draw an Australian animal and write a description. Students also analyze the letters in a grid to find ten...
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Lesson Plan
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Narrative Literature Response Letters

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders write endings to a story that has already been written. They offer alternative endings in their version. The instructional activity includes a rubric that is to be given to the students in order that they know the...
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Lesson Plan
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Decades

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students work cooperatively to research the people, places, events, and things that represent their assigned decade. They creatively, write and present ten minute dramatizations of information about their assigned decade.
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Lesson Plan
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Invent a Critter

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students create a living animal that could survive in at least one specific region and use the digital desert library to gather information. In this invent a critter lesson, students draw a picture of their animal,  describe their animal...
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Lesson Plan
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You Too Can Haiku

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students conduct Internet research and explain the history of Haiku. After listening and reading various examples of Haiku, students use their own vocabulary and practice their math skills to determine the correct number of syllables...
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Lesson Plan
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Celebrating Saturn and Cassini

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Pupils use their notes from previous lessons to write a paper on Saturn or Cassini. They share their writings with the class. They discover how everyone has a different learning style.
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Worksheet
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Nouns Practice

For Students 2nd - 4th
In this noun instructional activity, students read a poem and box in all nouns, write nouns that fit given descriptions, and circle nouns in sentences.
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Lesson Plan
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Electric Light Art

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students write a poem about a single work of art by Flavin.  In this descriptive response instructional activity, students express their feelings about the work and organize words into phrases.  Students arrange word phrases on paper to...
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Lesson Plan
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Putting It All Together

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students organize their daily observation logs to write a nonfiction piece. They compare and contrast Saturn to other planets or write a summary. They use this piece of writing in future lessons.
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Lesson Plan
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When were you selfless today?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learners, after reading and discussing the poem, Selflessness of Mind, by Joe Gutknecht, discuss specific recent acts of selflessness and then write a first draft paper on selflessness. They compare/contrast their own lives to the poem...
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Lesson Plan
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Geo Jammin' By DeSign - Day 1, Lesson 5: Do You Hear What I Hear?

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students listen to a poem that includes directions to use geometric figures to complete a creative task.
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Lesson Plan
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Geo Jammin' - Day 6, Lesson 20: Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Young scholars use shape puppets to review geometry content. They take turns singing songs, reading students poems, reciting class bulletin board notes and choral poems. They prepare for their summative assessments through play and...
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Unit Plan
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Adventures in Wonderland: A Genre Study

For Teachers 3rd
Students explore the concepts of fantasy writing through this nine lessons unit. The unit presents semantic mapping, discussions, comparisons of various works of fantasy, and the opportunity to create their own fantasies.
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Lesson Plan
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Arts and the Olympics/Dance and Athletics

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students study and perform dances with a dance specialist, while others photograph their movements. The resulting slides were used to help both these students and others explain dance and write creatively.