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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

New Information

For Teachers K - 2nd Standards
Young readers explore informational texts as they read a text entitled Giant Pandas by Gail Gibbons. The teacher will begin by explaining that one characteristic of informational texts is that they teach the reader new information and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Map It Out

For Teachers K - 4th
Explore how illustrations add to a story. Young learners will look at picture books to see how the pictures tell the story. They create illustrations to go with a chosen story, and then flip the activity so they have to write a story to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Only the Facts

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Practice the strategy of summarizing to gain meaning and knowledge from an informational text. Young readers highlight supporting details and main ideas, and then they use this to summarize two articles: "The Great Quake" and "What is an...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Reading Comprehension: History of the Periodic Table

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Although the article that launches this lesson is about the history of the Periodic Table, the objective is reading comprehension. Using the eight-page informational text, learners answer five comprehension questions and craft one essay....
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Lesson Plan
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Alabama Department of Archives and History

"Scottsboro Boys": A Trial Which Defined an Age

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Here's a must-have resource. Whether your focus is racism, the Great Depression, the "Scottsboro Boys" trial, or part of a reading of To Kill A Mockingbird, the information contained in the seven-page packet will save hours of research...
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Lesson Plan
University of Wisconsin

BEAM: Background, Exhibit, Argument, Method

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Thinking of assigning a research paper? Get writers off on the right foot with a lesson that introduces the BEAM research model. Writers brainstorm the background of their topic, explicate the aspects of their topic, consider the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making an Inference from an Implied Message Within a Text

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Show your scholars that they make inferences every day and might not even know it. Through scaffolded instruction, they break down the process of drawing information from context. Using example sentences and didactic questioning,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Adventures in Toyland

For Teachers K - 5th
There are many ways to tell a story; Richard Patterson's three-dimensional painting If serves as the inspiration for some creative storytelling for elementary school writers. They watch a clip from Toy Story (you'll need to bring this),...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

When Is a Noun a Verb? Examining Double Duty Words

For Teachers 6th - 9th
The New York Times' Learning Network provides great lessons! This one uses articles from the paper to help readers understand homonyms like mail (verb and noun). It also includes an exercise in reading informational text. Links to the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce Vocabulary: An Earthworm's Life (Himmelman)

For Teachers K - 3rd
Explore some tier-two vocabulary using John Himmelman's informational text An Earthworm's Life. Recommended words for this slimy text are: bulge, burrow, journey, soil, and underground. After introducing these words, help kids utilize...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce Vocabulary: Dinosaur Bones (Barner)

For Teachers K - 3rd
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,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce Vocabulary: Dolphin's First Day (Zoehfeld)

For Teachers K - 3rd
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,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce Vocabulary: Have You Seen Bugs? (Oppenheim)

For Teachers K - 3rd
Are your scholars interested in bugs? Get future entomologists excited about vocabulary through Joanne Oppenheim's colorful book Have You Seen Bugs? They use the informational text (although this strategy is useful for any book) to learn...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce Vocabulary: Icky Bug Colors (Pallotta)

For Teachers K - 3rd
Get to know the bugs around us with emerging readers who use Jerry Pallotta's informative book Icky Bug Colors to learn vocabulary in context. Address terms before reading the text aloud, preparing kids to listen for them later. Here,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce Vocabulary: It's Pumpkin Time (Hall)

For Teachers K - 3rd
Looking for a Halloween-themed vocabulary activity? Study words in context using Zoe Hall's story It's Pumpkin Time, an excellent informational text for budding readers. The spooky suggested words are: buds, gather, hollow,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce Vocabulary: One Tiny Turtle (Davies)

For Teachers K - 3rd
The loggerhead turtle is a fascinating species, and budding readers learn all about it in Nicola Davies' account One Tiny Turtle. This informational narrative offers excellent vocabulary in context, and you'll find guidance here to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce Vocabulary: Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story (Peters)

For Teachers K - 3rd
Lisa Peters presents macroevolution as a large-scale family tree in her book Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story. She suggests the process from single-celled organisms to modern-day humans, and learners explore new vocabulary through the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Textual Analysis Lesson: Segregation: Past or Present?

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
Are your scholars reading Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee? If so, use this textual analysis packet and lesson guide to drive deeper thinking about the characters, create personal connections, and apply historical contexts to the text....
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Unit Plan
Newspaper Association of America

Critical Thinking through Core Curriculum: Using Print and Digital Newspapers

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
What is and what will be the role of newspapers in the future? Keeping this essential question in mind, class members use print, electronic, and/or web editions of newspapers, to investigate topics that include financial literary,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Evaluating Information on Food Labels

For Teachers 7th - 12th
What kinds of foods include corn? Corn syrup? Start by viewing a clip of Food Inc. with your middle or high schoolers. Then, study a list of corn-derived ingredients, encouraging your class to see how many food products contain corn. A...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The O Zone-Code Read Alert

For Teachers 4th - 5th
What are the effects of an air quality alert? Expert groups receive one component of air quality information resources to study. Pupils then jigsaw into new groups and share their knowledge. Finally, they draft a statement of what they...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Honey Bees and Communication

For Teachers K - 2nd Standards
Did you know that honey bees dance to communicate information? Do you know why bees use hexagons to build their hives? The Honeybee Man, Brilliant Bees, and Show me the Honey provide background information on how honey bees communicate....
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Department of Archives and History

A Worse Death: War or Flu?

For Teachers 4th - 11th Standards
In a instructional activity that integrates history and mathematics, class members create graphs that compare military death statistics from World War I with those that resulted from the influenza pandemic of 1918.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Liberty and Security in Contemporary China

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Upper graders consider contemporary Chinese economics, political viewpoints, and government. This unit covers a span of several class periods or six days, and engages learners in a variety of skills based activities. They conduct...

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