Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to Al Capone Does My Shirts
It's hard to imagine that life on Alcatraz could be dull. A series of intriguing lessons take readers through the novel Al Capone Does my Shirts. Pre-reading questions introduce the text and a range of suggestions, from comic strips to...
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Pre-AP Strategies for French Language and Culture
Build vocabulary, fluency and confidence in your French speakers by having them participate in some of these engaging activities. Several suggestions are given, but you will have to design the actual lesson yourself.
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: Sentence Structure
Statements can be taken out of context and interpreted or used to support a very different view than the one originally intended. Young journalists start thinking about leading questions, sentence structure, context, and how they all...
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Reading the Play
Do figures of speech enhance a play or story? In small groups, learners locate and describe figures of speech they find while reading a reader's theater play. After making predictions, they describe how the figures of speech make the...
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Chrysanthemum
Our uniqueness should be celebrated, not teased. The story Chrysanthemum addresses having a distinct name and dealing with different perceptions. Pre- and post-reading questions are listed to help your learners understand and make...
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In the Olden Days: Senior Reading Buddies
Students, in pre-selected groups, read and visit with senior citizen "buddies." They write letters to their buddies and discuss "the olden days."
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Strong Descriptive Writing: James and the Giant Peach
Support your writers! Clear procedures and appropriate support make this a superb resource for elementary writing instruction. Ready your class to compose original descriptive paragraphs inspired by the episode in Roald Dahl's James and...
Montana State University
One Mountain, Many Cultures
Americans may think of Mount Everest as a region dedicated to adventurous hikers, but many cultures have flourished there! Learners read informative books, watch videos, participate in classroom discussion, analyze folk tales, and...
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Meat Pies: Teacher's Guide
Pupils complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book Amelia's Road. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, answer short answer questions, have discussions, and more.
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Bein' With You This Way
Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book Bein' With You This Way. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, answer short answer questions, have...
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The Legend of the Blue Bonnet
Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book The Legend of the Blue Bonnet. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, go over vocabulary, answer short answer...
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The Legend of Freedom Hill
Third graders complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book The Legend of Freedom Hill. In this reading lesson plan, 3rd graders complete journal entries, go over vocabulary, answer short...
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Three Huggers
Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book Three Huggers. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, answer short answer questions, have discussions, and more.
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Amelia's Road: Teacher's Guide
Learners complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book Amelia's Road. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, answer short answer questions, have discussions, and more.
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The Jones Family Express
Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book The Jones Family Express. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, answer short answer questions, have...
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Rainbow Joe and Me
Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book Rainbow Joe and Me. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, answer short answer questions, have discussions,...
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Children of Long Ago
Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book Children of Long Ago. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, answer short answer questions, have discussions,...
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Young People and Television
Middle schoolers explore communication by participating in a role playing lesson. In this media analysis lesson, students answer surveys about their own television watching habits and compare them to the rest of the class. Middle...
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We Are All Authors: Create a Book
Every child is an author with this engaging reading activity. First the class reviews the various parts of a book such as the title, author, dedication, and author-biography. Then each individual will choose a story of their own to...
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The Active Learner: "Dia's Story Cloth" Literature Guide
Students discuss pre-reading focus questions and complete a KWL chart. In this language arts instructional activity, students mark passages or words they are unsure of with post-it notes to discuss later and answer comprehension...
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Little Red Hen Bakes Bread
Students investigate the bread baking process through the use of literature. For this reading comprehension lesson, students read the book, The Little Red Hen and discuss the steps the hen followed to bake bread. Students bake the bread...
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Getting to Know You
After going over the five steps of the writing process, pupils fill out "Getting to Know You" worksheets. They trade papers with each other, and have the task of writing a descriptive paragraph about the person whose worksheet they...
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Episodic Writing Using Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
Help your middle-schoolers expand their writing skills with this lesson on episodic writing, which focuses on story details, idea development, and organization. After reading "The Eighth Picture: End of Summer" from Patricia Reilly...
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Let's Sing, Read, and Write
Students sing and read the old favorite song Wheels on the Bus, and write new song text for a poster and a class book.