EngageNY
Launching The Performance Task: Building Background Knowledge: “War in the Pacific,” Part 1
It's all about a bit of give and take. Scholars silently read War in the Pacific and circle any unfamiliar words. Using context clues, they write each word on a strip of paper along with the inferred definition. After looking the word up...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Vocabulary: Words in Context, Ask-Explain-List
Engage young readers in using context clues with this collaborative vocabulary activity. In pairs, children draw from a deck of cards, with each card asking a question about a context involving a specific vocabulary word. After...
EngageNY
Continued Close Reading of Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle: Text-Dependent Questions and Vivid Words and Phrases
As 3rd graders continue reading Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle, they focus on the concepts of predator and prey in the fifth lesson plan of this unit. Scholars further develop their ability to answer questions using evidence from the text...
Curated OER
Unlocking New Words: Partner Presentations
Following extensive modeling about how to apply word analysis and vocabulary skills to learn new words, partner teams create brief word presentations to teach new vocabulary to the class. Preselect words from upcoming social studies,...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Vocabulary: Morphemic Elements, Make It Meaningful
Scholars learn to find meaning in words using affixes with a language arts activity. In pairs, children sort cards with printed sentences that include words with the prefixes mis- and pre- and the suffixes -er, -ness, and -able. Then,...
EngageNY
Continued Close Reading of Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle: Text-Dependent Questions and Vivid Words and Phrases
In the third activity from this unit based on the book Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle, learners focus on using specific details from the text-to-answer questions about the habitat of bullfrogs. While reading the text, young...
Institute for the Professional Development of Adult Educators
Using Context Clues with Signal Words
When you come across an unfamiliar word in a text, do you skip it and move on? Practice using context clues to identify words you don't know with a thorough set of language arts lessons. The resource reinforces close reading and critical...
Brigham Young University
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead: Word Squares
Encourage your class to use a variety of strategies to learn and retain vocabulary words. The plan suggests that near the beginning of your reading of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead pupils should find words in the text that are...
EngageNY
Point of View: Comparing Esperanza's and Isabel's Perspectives About Life in the Camp (Chapter 7: "Las Cebollas/Onions")
Explore point of view and more with a Common Core-designed instructional activity. Learners experience different points of view by representing one of two characters from Esperanza Rising during a partner discussion. They must use...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment and Discussing Themes in Esperanza Rising: (Chapter 9: "Las Ciruelas/PLums")
Give this skills-based assessment halfway through your unit on Esperanza Rising. After a brief review, class members take the test, which asks them to show that they know how to analyze the novel independently. They are asked to...
BW Walch
Solving Linear Inequalities in Two Variables
Although graphing a linear inequality on the plane is but a few steps added onto the graphing of a linear equation, for many learners the logical leap is quite intimidating. This approachable PowerPoint presentation breaks graphing...
EngageNY
Building Background Knowledge: Vietnam as a “Battleground in a Larger Struggle”
Read. Stop. Think. Scholars use a reading strategy to process the challenging text, "The Vietnam Wars." They read a paragraph and then stop to think about the text and its meaning. Readers then go on to work with partners and make notes...
EngageNY
Identifying Author’s Opinion and Evidence: The Value of Sports in People’s Lives, Part II
Context matters! Using the intuitive resource, pupils decipher context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words from an informational text. Also, in small groups, they practice identifying the author's opinion and supporting...
Curated OER
Man's Search for Meaning: Vocabulary Strategy
Readers of Man's Search for Meaning use context clues, create stories using words from the text, and retype these stories as part of their vocabulary study of Viktor Frankl's book.
Statistics Education Web
Types of Average Sampling: "Household Words" to Dwell On
Show your classes how different means can represent the same data. Individuals collect household size data and calculate the mean. Pupils learn how handling of the data influences the value of the mean.
Prestwick House
Connotative vs. Denotative Meanings
Besides the dictionary definition, words also carry the added weight of meanings that are inferred or implied, meanings conferred on words, or connotations. To gain an understanding the importance of connotation, class members...
North Penn School District
The Catcher in the Rye
Learning more about Holden Caulfield's worldview and state of mind is an integral part of understanding J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. A thorough packet of materials pertaining to the unit allow learners to build prior...
Annenberg Foundation
America's History in the Making: Classroom Applications Two
Reading between the lines helps discover important information! The 11th lesson of a 22-part series on American history has scholars use historical thinking skills to uncover the deeper meaning behind the words on a page. Using backward...
New York State Education Department
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 4
Why is it important to use precise language? Participants explore this question in the fourth activity in a series of 15 on effective instruction. Perfect for all content areas, the activity promotes appropriate language choice through...
EngageNY
Paragraph Writing: The Role of Religion in Colonial America
Informative writing is emphasized in the standards. Help your learners reach that goal with the plan for paragraph writing outlined here. After reviewing the work from the day before and adding to their vocabulary notebooks, class...
Curated OER
Because of Winn-Dixie
Readers analyze an excerpt from Kate DiCamillo's novel Because of Winn-Dixie. They read silently, and then hear it read aloud. Definitions for underlined vocabulary words are in the margin, and other potentially difficult words...
Curated OER
Parrot in the Oven: Word Tree - Bonsai or Banyan
What fun! As part of a vocabulary exercise designed for Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida readers create word trees with the trunk representing the root word and the branches representing prefixes that can be added to the...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Courage “In the Time of the Butterflies”: A Common Core Exemplar
The courage of Las Mariposas, the Mirabal sisters, is the focus of a series of activities designed to accompany a reading of In the Time of the Butterflies that ask readers to consider what it means to be courageous. Beautifully crafted...
EngageNY
Main Ideas in Informational Text: Analyzing a Firsthand Human Rights Account
Although this is part of a series, lesson plan nine has your class take a break from their close study of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) text to read the firsthand account “Teaching Nepalis to Read, Plant, and...