Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Arthur's New Puppy (Brown)
Learn new words as you read Marc Brown's story, Arthur's New Puppy. This is focused as a vocabulary-in-context activity (though this strategy could be used with any book and set of words). Introduce the new words you will focus on:...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Blueberries for Sal (McCloskey)
Take your budding readers on a literary trip to pick blueberries as they learn vocabulary from Robert McClosky's book, Blueberries for Sal. By pre-teaching the words pupils are prepared to raise their hands when they hear the words in...
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: Clifford the Big Red Dog (Bridwell)
Clifford the Big Red Dog is here to introduce some new vocabulary terms in context to young readers. Although this activity is designed around Norman Bridwell's picture book, the strategies are applicable for any text. Introduce the new...
Curated OER
A Monster of a Metaphor
What do Jeep advertisements and Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath have in common? They both employ the art of the extended metaphor! Using the Six-Trait Writing model, learners begin to work on their own extended metaphors. Development...
Curated OER
Reading Poetry in the Middle Grades
Bring the beauty of "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost to middle school language arts. After learners read a copy of the poem, they follow an instructional sequence that focuses on sound, figurative language, and theme.
EngageNY
Video and Close Reading: “Developing a Vital Resource for Canadians and the World”
Scholars watch Developing a Vital Resource for Canadians and the World to learn about the supplement potash that helps plants grow. They watch the video several times, completing a note catcher to record key ideas along the way. Pupils...
EngageNY
Read Expressions in Which Letters Stand for Numbers II
Reading and writing take on a whole different meaning in math class. Young mathematicians learn to read verbal phrases by focusing on operation words. They write equivalent algebraic expressions for both mathematical and contextual...
Curated OER
Bucket List Poetry
What is on your pupils' "Bucket Lists" - the list of things they want to do before they die? Their choices of activities for this list could be very revealing, and is a great source of inspiration for a personal poem. The lesson prompts...
Illinois State Board of Education
Common Core Teaching and Learning Strategies
Here's a resource that deserves a place in your curriculum library, whether or not your school has adopted the Common Core. Designed for middle and high school language arts classes, the packet is packed with teaching tips, materials,...
Curated OER
Predicting a Mystery's Solution
Practice making informed predictions. Have your class create a paper fortune-teller and ask questions about the future. They compare the fortune-telling process to the more informed kind of predictions they make while reading. They...
Curated OER
During Reading Strategies
"How important is freedom to you and your family?" The guiding question becomes much more powerful after your class reads and responds to a passage from a historical novel. While reading the passage, they complete a graphic organizer...
Bantam Books
The Martian Chronicles: K-W-H-L Activity
Prepare your class for a unit on Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles with an activity that works for pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading. Learners fill out a K-W-H-L chart to reflect on what they already know, what they'd...
University of Florida
Unhealthy Forests and the News
Everyone knows a tree makes a sound when it falls, but what do we know about dying trees? Class members learn background information about Laurel wilt disease from a teacher-led presentation. Team members work with partners to read and...
Curated OER
Build Mastery: Making Inferences
Do your youngsters realize that they are constantly making inferences? Expose this inner process by bringing out the book they will be reading. Ask scholars what they think the plan is, and explain that their answers are the product of...
Curated OER
Graphic Organizers
Students complete graphic organizers. In this graphic organizer lesson plan, students fill out various graphic organizers in order to better understand a comprehension skill. Eighteen graphic organizers are included.
EngageNY
Planning Writing: Bullfrog Information Paragraph
Lesson ten in this unit for the book Bullfrogs at Magnolia Circle, prepares third graders to begin writing an informational paragraph about the adaptations of bullfrogs. First, young writers work either independently or in pairs to...
EngageNY
Documenting Research: Sorting and Recording Information About the Wheelwright
Fourth graders practice using a graphic organizer to record their notes and answer text-dependent questions while supplying evidence of how they found their answer. They focus on a machine called the wheelright, which was commonly used...
Curated OER
The Man Who Went to the Far Side of the Moon
Practice comprehension skills using the story, The Man Who Went to the Far Side of the Moon by Bea Uusma Schyffert. Learners answer questions, fill out graphic organizers, and engage in extension activities involving writing and...
Curated OER
Using a Title to Determine the Main Idea
Use the title of a book to determine the main idea. Readers will view the cover of The Wedding and predict what the story will be about. Graphic organizers help chart important information and build new vocabulary. Other stories are used...
EngageNY
Inferring from a Primary Source: Close Read of Colonial Times Inventory
Teach your class about colonial America through an examination of primary documents. First though, start vocabulary notebooks for content-specific and academic vocabulary. Pupils can keep this record during the entire module. Once this...
EngageNY
Reading Closely: Introducing Chávez’s Commonwealth Club Address and Considering the Plight of the Farmworker
How can a persuasive speech help inspire social change? Scholars read along as they listen to the first half of César Chávez's 1984 speech, "Commonwealth Club Address." Next, pupils use graphic organizers to analyze one of Chávez's...
EngageNY
Practicing Structures for Reading: Gathering Evidence about Salva’s and Nya’s Points of View (Reread Chapter 3)
How does an author develop and contrast character points of view in a work of literature? Using a graphic organizer, readers continue gathering evidence about character point of view from Linda Sue Park's A Long Walk to Water. Next,...
Curated OER
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: Graphic Organizer: Venn Diagram
Compare and contrast the characters in John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Using a Venn diagram, kids write in different traits to describe each person, and note their shared characteristics in the middle section.
Curated OER
Verdi
Third graders explore language arts by answering study questions about a book they read. In this reading summary instructional activity, 3rd graders read the book Verdi by Janell Cannon and identify the plot, characters and sequence of...