Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Countdown to Kindergarten (McGhee)
Budding readers will relate to Allison McGhee's story Countdown to Kindergarten in which a young girl is worried about not being able to tie her shoes once she gets to school. This is a fun way to teach vocabulary in context, although...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Dandelion (Freeman)
Dandelion the lion is dapper and elegant; young readers learn these and more vocabulary words as they read Don Freeman's story Dandelion (hint: this strategy can be applied to any book). Familiarize pupils with the new words before...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Dinosaur Bones (Barner)
Dig into some prehistoric vocabulary in Bob Barner's informative book Dinosaur Bones. This works best if you introduce the primitive words before reading the story. These are the focus terms in the text: ancient, climate, extinct,...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Dolphin's First Day (Zoehfeld)
Travel out to sea as scholars learn vocabulary in context through Kathleen Zoehfeld's informational book Dolphin's First Day. Go over the new words scholars will hear before reading: approach, coast, expert, feeble, gaze, murky, propel,...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Firefighters (Mitten)
Your budding readers know what it's like to get to a word and think, "What does that mean?" Expand their vocabulary in context using Christopher Mitten's nonfiction picture book Firefighters. Get them ready by pre-teaching the new words...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Franklin Goes to School (Bourgeois)
Join Franklin the turtle at school as youngsters learn new vocabulary in the context of Paulette Bourgeois' story (or apply this strategy to any book). Scholars are acquainted with new words before reading and raise hands when vocabulary...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Franklin's New Friend (Bourgeois)
Franklin the turtle makes a new friend as youngsters learn vocabulary in context using Paulette Bourgeois' story (tip: this strategy can be applied to any book). Brief kids on the new words so they can raise their hands when they hear...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Grandfather's Journey (Say)
Read Allen Say's classic tale Grandfather's Journey as scholars expand their vocabulary in context (note: this strategy could be done with any text). Wondering what words they will learn here? Although you could easily include more,...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: How Do Dinosaurs Go To School? (Yolen)
Dinosaurs don't go to school...but what if they did? Use Jane Yolen's book How Do Dinosaurs Go To School to explore vocabulary in context. Find this on YouTube if you don't have the text on hand. These in-text words give some ideas of...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Kindergarten Count to 100 (Rogers)
Combine counting and vocabulary in context using Jacqueline Rogers' Kindergarten Count to 100. Suggested words for this text are: first, fountain, salute, second, and third. By introducing the terms before reading the text, you're...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Seasons and Weather: Read-Aloud Anthology
Kindergartners explore the cycle of the seasons in a 10-lesson language arts unit. Through a series of picture-supported read-aloud activities, children are able to identify the sequence of seasons and the types of weather associated...
Curated OER
When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry
Students explore feelings. In this language arts lesson, students realize that books help in talking about feelings. Students discuss how they feel during the reading of a story and listen to each other in answering various comprehension...
David Suits
“Wild Readers” Decoding Skills Lesson Plan
Set young readers on the path toward fluency with this phonemic awareness resource. Based on the award-winning children's book, Where the Wild Things Are, this lesson plan allows beginning readers to practice isolating phonemes and...
Curated OER
Reading The Flag Maker
Students explore The Flag Maker. In this reading comprehension instructional activity, students listen to the book The Flag Maker, making predictions and answering questions during the reading. Students locate facts and opinions within...
Social Studies Coalition of Delaware
Urban Mouse Rural Mouse
Explore rural and urban environments over the course of four days. Each day offers a new look into how both environment compare and contrast. Activities include the observation and analyzation of images, a read aloud and grand discussion...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Mama, Do You Love Me?
Youngsters analyze tier two vocabulary words. Learners explore their comprehension of tier two vocabulary words found while reading Mama, Do You Love Me? and record their vocabulary using a word journal or discovery chart.
Core Knowledge Foundation
Plants Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology
A 190-page anthology explores the life and parts of plants, flowers, and trees while boosting reading comprehension skills. Literature and informational texts showcase Johnny Appleseed and George Washington Carver. Lessons follow the...
Clark County School District
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
A thorough lesson plan takes your first grade class through Jane Yolen's beautiful Owl Moon. It crafts the unit with clear objectives, high-level guiding questions, cloze activities and sentence frames, and extension activities at the...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Kindergarten Skills Unit 10
A six-week unit wraps up kindergarteners' skills practice in beginning reading skills. Twenty-nine lessons focus on long vowel sounds and 11 tricky high-frequency words. Scholars participate in warm-up activities, introductions to sounds...
Teaching Oasis
Gingerbread Baby Lesson Plan Guide
Reinforce reading comprehension and story mapping skills with the help from a story, Gingerbread Baby by Jen Brett. Individuals discover new vocabulary, make predictions, retell main events, respond to reading using a graphic organizer,...
Museum of Disability
Can You Hear a Rainbow?
Teach your class about compassion and empathy with Jamee Riggio Heelan's Can You Hear a Rainbow? As kids read about Chris, a boy who is deaf, they discuss the things he likes to do, as well as the ways he communicates with the world.
Museum of Disability
Taking Down Syndrome to School
Teach your class about the ways they can befriend and understand people who are different from them with a reading comprehension instructional activity. As youngsters read Taking Down Syndrome to School by Jenna Glatzer, they answer a...
Curated OER
Zoom Broom
Learners explore comprehension strategies as they listen to Zoom Broom by Margie Palatini. As the story is read, teacher and pupils will stop occasionally to make text-to-text, text-to-self, or text-to-world connections. They also...