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Media Literacy Skills
You're on camera! Third graders find a news story and research it to get more information. Everyone uses their found information to write a script and create their own news broadcast!
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.9
Guided by close-reading questions, groups examine the similarities and differences between the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. In addition, they look at how the principles are presented in these two foundational US...
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Historical Agency in History Book Sets (HBS)
Study historical events by combining the study of historical fiction and non-fiction. Learners read about true past events in historical fiction novels and then research non-fiction accounts of the same events. What are some differences...
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Forming Open-Ended Questions
Help readers learn to create their own open-ended questions for any text you are working with. Using Bloom's Taxonomy, learners begin on the lower levels and work their way up to form questions that focus on synthesis instead of simple...
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Enrichment Activities - "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH"
Fifth graders read the novel "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH." They discuss the various characters in the book, and the different types of conflict that take place within the book. They also research owls and rats to make comparisons...
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Recreation Book- Book Report
In this literature learning exercise, student read a non-fiction book about a recreational activity that includes the rules and regulations. They write a dictionary of terms, teach others how to play, make a "play safe" poster, videotape...
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5 W Questions
Second graders practice asking the 5 W questions by reading a Boxcar Children book. In this journalism lesson, 2nd graders read a single story from the Boxcar Children series and answer the 5 W's about each specific chapter....
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Food and Dialect
The dialect words for types of food from across the British Isles get pupils thinking about native dialects and how they differ from Standard English. Class members create a dialect dictionary and discuss the difference between accent...
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Heroes and Legends
Students use print and nonprint sources of different heroic myths to generate a definition of the word "hero." They conduct a character study on three mythological heroes and formulate a definition of the word "hero" based on...
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Scribe of Self
Seventh graders read "Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank. In groups, they discuss the reasons why people would write an autobiography and identify their own identity crisis. After reading excerpts of other autobiographies, they...
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Stacy Bodin's "Digesting a Story" Unit
Second graders create a story and role-play the story using edible items to create a final story-video project. For this edible story lesson, 2nd graders write their own stories using literary format and elements. Students then create a...
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Take Apart Sentences
Fourth graders explore the two main parts of sentences, subject and predicate. They, in groups, mix up their sentence strips and then place them face down and have a contest to see which group can rebuild the sentences correctly in the...
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Spelling - Compacting (Grades 3-5)
Students use compacting when learning spelling words. In this spelling instructional activity, students take a pre-test on their weekly spelling words. Students who score 100% are exempt from spelling and those who miss 0-2 words compact...
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The Art of Charity in Characterization
Students garner knowledge of characterization of the pilgrims in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and see that even the less savory characters must be flushed out in description of personality and physical traits.
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Deduction
Pupils investigate the linguistic devices used by writers to create meaning. In this writing lesson, students discover why writers write in different ways showing examples of different types of text. After reading each type pupils review...
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Impromptu and Extemporaneous Speeches
Students brainstorm and agree on a topic that is interesting to both the speaker and the audience and research it with both tradition and non-traditional sources. They write and outline the body of the speech and translate the speech...
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Strength in Summarizing
Third graders practice summarizing passages while creating a fishbone map of important details in non-fiction text. They examine how to tell the difference between important and less important details by highlighting them in reading...
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Speedy Reading
Pupils observe and demonstrate a variety of strategies to improve their reading speed. They observe the teacher model a book talk for the book "Just My Luck," and observe the teacher modeling how not to read. In pairs they time each...
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Interview With A Legend
Eighth graders investigate how Language Arts and Social Studies can be integrated in the curriculum. They conduct research about a famous person in history. Then students use the information to write a report for the class. Then students...
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Finding Yourself Through Autobiography
Students read the writings of individuals whom they know and admire. They see that writing about themselves is worthwhile and important and helps them become better writers. They share their own life experiences, write about personal...
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Our Class
Students discuss what they expect out of their education. After reading a story, they answer comprehension questions and match the meaning of the word to the vocabulary word. To end the lesson, they write a story about a time in which...
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Journey Through Wonderland: Real or Fantasy
First graders recognize the difference between fact and fiction, real and fantasy. After listening to Rip Van Winkle, retold by Lara Bergen and a version of Jack and the Beanstalk, 1st graders demonstrates their understanding of fiction...
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Incident
Students gain insight into human behavior from the study of literature. They read a poem and respond by creating a poem of their own. After a lecture/demo, students utilize a worksheet imbedded in this plan to help them compose an...
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A Cultural Study of Arkansas and Saline County for Eleventh Grade Non-College American Literature
Eleventh graders divide into research groups and select a topic to pursue from a list that ranged from historical sites to local ghost stories to the nearby aluminum plant.