Curated OER
Reading Comprehension Strategy Ideas
Students participate in pre-reading activities, journal keeping, vocabulary lists and other reading comprehension boosters. These activities can be applied to many genres.
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Responding To Rembrandt's Work Through Poetry
Students write poetry in response to Rembrandt's landscapes and portraits. They create accompanying illustrations based on interpretations of Rembrandt's work and present them along with the poems in book format.
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Fantasy, Fables, Myths, Legends & Fairy Tales
Students identify the differences between fantasies, fables, myths, legends and fairy tales. In groups, they create their own versions of the different genres. They practice identifying the examples, as well.
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Slave Narratives
Young scholars use a database to find and read examples of slave narratives. In groups, they read the various narratives and discuss their feelings about them. They also research the time period in which the narratives were written to...
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Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!
Students examine the life and works of Theodor Seuss Geisel. In groups, they compare and contrast the stories, characters and illustrations he used. They complete a book review on one of the books and share them with other students in...
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Poetry
Fifth graders preview different poetry selections form different poets to narrow their criteria for a favorite poem. They use the web and written sources to find a favorite poem and then give an oral interpretation of their poem in class...
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My Favorite Things
Students identify "masterpieces" and mass-produced objects. They explain why they value a given object and determine what physical materials were used to create the objects. They create a class book featuring objects that they value.
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Mice Squeak; We Speak
Students create a poster. In this vocabulary instructional activity, students use vocabulary words such as squeak, creak, squeal, squawk and quack to identify the sounds and noises of each word. Students come up with rhyming...
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Pizzeria (reading Encouragement)
Students create a pizzeria atmosphere in the classroom with Italian music, pizza menus and checkered table cloths. They compare their different tastes in pizza toppings to different tastes in reading. Then they use a reading menu to...
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Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills
Young scholars explore a content area by reading both fiction and nonfiction texts on the topic. They do more research online about the topic. After comparing the texts, they create their own written original work, using both narrative...
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Making Steel: An Awesome Process
Students identify the six basic stages used to create a steel component, and explain how each stage influences or interacts with another. They give examples of how technology has improved human lives.
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Twenty-one Balloons
Fifth graders determine what the Newbery Award is and why it is importance. They examine a number of Newbery Award winning books and listen to a book talk about William Pene DuBois', Twenty-One Balloons while watching a PowerPoint...
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Autobiographical Postage Stamp
Students design a postage stamp that communicates to the world who they are, what they hope to be, what they are good at, and factual information. They use, "My Great Aunt Arizona" by Gloria Houston as a model for a biography.
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Find a Book
Student receives one book description card and in less than 2 minutes, they walk through the Media Center to find a book matching that description. After a matching book is found, each student evaluates the book.
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Lesson Ideas for Comparing and Contrasting Content
Here are three lesson ideas to help students learn how to compare and contrast information in any content area
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Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Still Teaching Lessons To This Generation
Discuss Laurence Yep's novella, Hiroshima, to inspire future historical fiction writers.
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Research Famous People in History
A research project about famous people in history can be an interesting, and motivating assignment for students.
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Character Bust: Ceramics Lesson
Whether it is a protagonist, antagonist, hero or heroine, characters are a must in any story. Learners analyze a character from a narrative they are reading, then use that character as inspiration. They create a ceramic bust depicting...
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Students Information And Interest Survey
In this personal information worksheet, students fill out this form to give details about their personal history, prior experiences and preferences. This could be used for information gathering or as an icebreaker activity.
University of Illinois
University of Illinois Extension: Character Education "Two Sides"
Excellent resource for empowering students to become better learners. This lesson includes promoting the love of reading, helping students understand different points of view, different genres in literature, and critical thinking skills....
Other
Database of Award Winning Children's Literature
This is a phenomenal resource. It allows the user to create a reading list of quality children's literature based of choices such as reading level, type of book, genre, ethnicity, gender, etc. In addition, one can determine if a book won...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Fable and Trickster Tales Around the World
The lessons presented in this website "introduce children to folk tales" and how these folktales are changed and affected by generational and cultural values. Includes several links to further related information on folktales, fables,...
Georgetown University
Georgetown University: Edgar Allan Poe (1809 1849)
This site is a professor's guide for students. This guide features information on how to distinguish between Poe and his narrators in his stories.
Read Works
Read Works: A Wrinkle in Time 6th Grade Unit
[Free Registration/Login Required] This ReadWorks Unit engages learners in a deep study of Madeleine L'Engle's science fiction work, A Wrinkle in Time. Students will investigate the following topics: the book's theme, the science fiction...