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Onomatopoeia
This mini-lesson on onomatopoeia introduces the device through a poem and definition. It culminates in drawing an element of nature with the sound associated with it written across the picture.
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Presenting Your Case
Pupils write letter from historical figure's point of view using proper letter writing conventions, write about two props/artifacts that are representative of their subject's life, and use Internet resources to gather images to use in...
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Building Vocabulary
Decode and acquire new vocabulary! Readers use new vocabulary in their writing and use synonyms to determine meanings. Visual learners label pictures and group words together to increase understanding.
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Better Vocabulary Through Derivatives
Learners create a word tree poster that illustrates the way a root word can serve as the basis for many related terms. Although designed for a Latin language class, the concepts here could be used with any class study of Latin or Greek...
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Retelling Information
This scripted instructional activity suggests using the journalist’s five W’s (who, what, when, where, why) to teach readers how to summarize a story and to how to distinguish between significant and supporting details. A template and...
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Exploring Contrasting Story Elements Through Tapestry and Poetry
Young thinkers view two narrative art tapestries and study the images included that tell a story about the Roman Emperor Constantine. As they examine the details of the tapestries, pupils use a Venn Diagram to record the similarities and...
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People Who Make A Difference: American Heroes
Students think about the characteristics of a hero so they can later evaluate which historical figures on the heroes chart meet the criteria.
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"Oh, Kingdom in the Sky"
Learners write a poem. In this historical figures lesson, students learn about Mary Ann Camp, read an interview, read vignettes about life in her host countries and read her poem "Oh, Kingdom in the Sky." Learners answer questions about...
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Creative Writing - Getting Ideas
Learners examine the procedures that writers utilize to obtain and develop ideas for writing. Journal writing is fostered as a primary step in the writing process. Learners are encouraged to pay careful attention to using complete...
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Making Choices
Pupils explore the life of Harriet Tubman. They examine a painting of Harriet Tubman and consider the tools used to communicate information about her. Sudents describe how the color of a painting explains the mood of the illustrator....
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Defining Success
The class defines what it means to be successful by examining the achievements of Rich Wilson. They create headlines for a mock paper, discuss achieving personal goals, and create a scrapbook of his journey. Tip: Use this resource when...
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Give Me Some Expression!
Work to improve oral expression while reading aloud. Young scholars read sentence strips, changing their volume, speed, and tone to match what is written, making the sentence more meaningful. They read an entire story with a partner who...
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Take the Prefix Challenge
Learners form words using prefixes. In this prefix lesson, students compete in a "prefix challenge" to see which team can combine a set of twelve prefixes with a set of twelve words fastest. Learners enter their words in...
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Kites are Slow, Reading is Fast
Speed read with your third, fourth, and fifth graders. Learners pair up and work together to improve their oral fluency. Use the technique of covering up unknown words to isolate the vowel and decode the word. There's a sheet included to...
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Who Wrote That?
Scholars creatively respond to writing prompts. They respond to writing prompts that reveal clues regarding their personalities and then use the prompts written in class to guess the prompts that belong to their classmates.
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Male Image Building Utilizing the Writing Process
Introduce your class to the techniques of proper writing. In groups, they brainstorm their ideas on family structures and discuss the importance of having a male figure in their lives. After listening to an African-American poem, they...
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The Meanest English Teacher Ever
Upper graders will use a reading comprehension learning exercise about the meanest teacher to practice comprehension. They will read a 5 page story titled The Meanest English Teacher Ever and answer 4 comprehension questions about it.
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Wall Reading
Students are given practice in scan reading and in revising verb forms. They are given copies of Worksheet 2. Students are told that they should answer all the questions on the Worksheet and that it is a 'race.' They use thier short-term...
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Identify/Infer Motive
Why do people and characters act as they do? Require your class figure out the motivation of two people or characters they read about in a given text. In the short charts, pupils note down who, what they do, and why they do it. After...
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Amazing Autobiographies
Young scholars read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience. They apply knowledge of language structure,...
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Poetic Devices
For this figurative language worksheet, students read and study examples of simile and metaphor. There are 20 questions to be used with Smartboard and 10 questions in which students identify similes or metaphors.
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Ellis Wilson: An Elementary School Art Lesson
Students study the life of Ellis Wilson. They examine the use of simple shapes when drawing human figures. They examine how to incorporate pattern into a background setting.
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Idioms...not the be taken literally!
Students define common English idioms which they find in books and book excerpts. They use an idiom dictionary and constuct a database of five idioms along with meanings and sentences. They beam this information to classmates.
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The Too Small House: Story and Craft Activity
Engage students in setting and character with this story and craft activity set. To begin the activity, learners read the short story "The Too Small House." They then cut out and color a picture of the house and paper figures of the...