Read Write Think
Poetry Portfolios: Using Poetry to Teach Reading
Over the course of five periods, scholars create a poetry portfolio. They begin with a reading of the poem, Firefly. With a focus on vocabulary, learners reread the poem then look for sight words and other skills.
Brigham Young University
The Crucible: Problematic Situations
What would you do? To prepare for the final scene from Arthur Miller's The Crucible, readers are presented with a series of moral dilemmas and asked to consider what they would do in the same situations.
For the Teachers
Cause and Effect Matrix
Study cause and effect in both literature and informational text with a lesson plan designed for several different reading levels. After kids review the concept of cause and effect, they read an article or story and note the causes and...
EngageNY
Researching: Asking the Right Questions
Learners look over the iCare about the iPhone performance task and discuss how it relates to working conditions. They then review the research process and place focus on the step of asking questions. Finally, scholars ask questions to...
Novelinks
The Devil’s Arithmetic: QAR Strategy
Asking questions about the text is an important way for kids to become critical readers. Use a QAR activity based on The Devil's Arithmetic to help learners decipher between questions that are right there, between the author and the...
Curated OER
Giggle Poetry
Poetry can be fun! To set your pupils giggling, have them listen to poems from If Kids Ruled the School by Bruce Lansky. Then, they can study the different types of poetry on www.gigglepoetry.com, and choose one form on which to...
Curated OER
Synecdoche vs. Metonymy: Definitions
Ask your class to lend their ears, and eyes, to a short video that defines and offers examples of synecdoche and metonymy. Whether it be brand names like Kleenex® and Band-aids® that have come to stand for all the products in a category,...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Bingo: Fever 1793
Prior to reading Fever 1793, class members are introduced to vocabulary drawn from the text of Laurie Halse Anderson's novel with a bingo-style activity. The vocabulary list, a teacher copy with definitions, and the bingo template are...
Curated OER
Poetry Cubes
Reading aloud can be scary, but it's an important way to build oral fluency. Break the class into groups of four or five learners. Each learner will roll a cube to determine which poem they read aloud to their small group. Feel free to...
Curated OER
Nursery Rhyme
After reading several types of informational and narrative text involving Nursery Rhymes, have your young readers create a dramatic reading of their selected tale to perform for the class.
Curated OER
The Writing Process- Prewriting Using Collaboration
After a class discussion on strategies pupils can use to pre-write, learners are given a topic which they use to guide them in selecting a book to read. Everyone uses a worksheet, embedded in the plan, to write down information from the...
Curated OER
Honesty in Writing
Help your class construct an honest and clear writing piece. They explore tactics in advertising and identify deceptive language. They then write a statement about a community issue using honest language.
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Using Maps to Inspire Personal Narratives
A solid description of one way to teach narrative writing, this resource outlines the writing process from concept to completion. Class members create concept maps of moments in their lives and follow the writing process to publish their...
Curated OER
Short 'A' and Phoneme Blending
Have your class explore the short /a/ sound. They will pronounce isolated consonant and short /a/ sounds and then blend the sounds to make a word. An assessment sheet is provided.
Curated OER
Writing An Article
Young writers compose an article on the benefits of healthy eating. They are coached on how to use the passive voice in their writing. On the whiteboard, they brainstorm ideas of why healthy eating is important, then use those ideas to...
Curated OER
Stomping and Romping with Shakespeare
Did you know that Green Eggs and Ham is written in iambic pentameter? Model the rhythm of language using Dr. Seuss’s tale. Direct class members to march about the room tapping their right foot on the first syllable and stomping their...
Curated OER
Learning About Homonyms
I don't know why but I love teaching homonym lessons. This one encourages learners to look up and write a definition for a set of 10 different homonyms. Tip: Put new knowledge to the test and have the class fix a story that contains...
Curated OER
Think of an Ending
Good endings are hard to find. And write. This, the final lesson in a six-part series devoted to study of the ingredients of a good story, focuses on crafting endings. Class members draft ideas about what should happen to each of their...
Curated OER
Fever 1793: Anticipation Guide
Introduce the themes of Fever 1793 and determine your class members’ level of background knowledge with an anticipation guide for Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel about the yellow fever epidemic that swept Philadelphia. For each prompt,...
Curated OER
Recycled Greeting Cards
Students create greeting cards from recycled products. They research how paper is recyled and the history of paper. They write free verse and create their own recycled paper. They use Microsoft Word to write their final drafts of verse...
Curated OER
THE BLENDING SLIDE
Your beginning readers will practice blending sounds with this hands-on activity! Each learner gets their own paper slide, cards with consonants, and cards with vowels. Then, after practicing as a class, they can blend consonant and...
Curated OER
Literary Analysis of The Minister's Black Veil
After reading The Minister's Black Veil, by Nathaniel Hawthorne as a homework assignment your class will complete a literary analysis. Learners will analyze important element of the story and take notes to help support their...
Curated OER
Families and Communities
Here is a week-long activity on the roles of family members designed for first graders. In it, learners share stories of their families, listen to books about families read to them by their teacher, complete homework assignments and...
Curated OER
My Antonia: Request Strategy
Can your learners stump you with questions? Find out with this question-centered activity! After reading a portion of My Antonia by Willa Cather, pupils question the teacher. Once the first round is complete, the class reads more and...