Curated OER
Mini-Lesson Planning for Inferences
Making inferences and drawing conclusions is a key component to successful active reading. Encourage your class to use context clues and prior knowledge to infer different elements of a story, including the setting, plot, and character...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension 5: Level 10
Whether used as a reading comprehension assessment, as the basis of a mini-lesson on reading strategies, or as extra practice, this exercise will prove to be valuable because of the answers and explanation key that accompanies the...
Channel Islands Film
Once Upon a Time (Saxipak’a): Lesson Plan 4
How did the environment and natural resources found on the Channel islands influence the culture of the Chumash? Archaeology meets technology in an activity designed for middle schoolers. After viewing West of The West's documentary Once...
Teacher's Corner
Hey Batter, Wake Up!
Does jet lag affect a baseball team's performance in games? Read about how a baseball team's chance of winning a game can be affected by traveling over one, two, and three time zones. Readers then respond to five short answer questions...
2012 Teaching Resources
Analyzing Character Traits
Character analysis becomes easy with a 24-page packet packed with mini-lessons, graphic organizers, and activities. A must-have for your curriculum library.
Curated OER
Analyzing Atmosphere: Macbeth Murder Scene and Dagger Speech
Shakespeare's Macbeth (Act II, Scenes I and II) lacks explicit details of the murder of King Duncan, yet the author creates an atmosphere that allows us to visualize the event. Readers interpret the "Dagger Speech" by writing stage...
Trinity University
Explain Yourself: An Expository Writing Unit for High School
Introduce expository writing with a unit that asks writers to craft an essay to explain a belief, value, or priority that is important to them. Mini-lessons within the unit focus on crafting thesis statements and conclusions, selecting...
Curated OER
Literature and the Language Arts
Reading involves more than simply picking up a text and saying the words aloud. A practice guide introduces readers to key skills such as making inferences, finding the main idea or theme, and using context clues. Each skill contains a...
Radford University
Are We Normal?
Develop a sense of normal. Learners develop two questions to ask classmates to gather numerical data before creating a box and whisker plot and a histogram to display their data. Class members make inferences and investigate the data...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Dueling Telegrams: 1963 Verbal Power Play Between Wallace and JFK
Information, inferences, and innuendos. Text and subtext. Class members examine telegrams exchanged between President John F. Kennedy and Alabama Governor George Wallace, studying both what is stated and what is implied by the diction...
Curated OER
Solar Kit Lesson #1 - Solar Cell Inquiry
Give youngsters the components of a solar-powered electric circuit and turn them loose to figure out how to connect them in order for a light to shine or motor to turn. They compare energy output of a solar panel to that of a battery. On...
Curated OER
Week 8 - Sea Life
Using a magnifier, mini marine biologists examine the barbules of a bird feather. They swirl the it into a mixture of oil and water and then re-examine the feather. After the activity, discuss how the oily feathers pose a problem to sea...
Walters Art Museum
The Symbolism of Allegorical Art
Introduce learners to allegorical art with four bronze sculptures by Francesco Bertos. After modeling how to recognize bias and allegory in Bertos' Africa, class groups examine the other three sculptures in the series before creating...
California Education Partners
Tuck Everlasting
An assessment takes a close look at the story, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, and tests writing abilities. Over the course of two days, scholars read an excerpt, answer questions on a learning exercise pertaining to the author's...
California Education Partners
Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
A 3-day exam assesses readers' comprehension. After hearing a passage from the story Kittens First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes, scholars work with a partner to discuss and sketch what they found memorable. Peers share their final products...
Pottsgrove School District
Tall Tales
Young readers compare and contrast digital and print versions of tall tale text. The resource includes a character analysis in which pupils compare and contrast traits, and make inferences about what the characters do and say. They...
Curated OER
Reflecting on Reflectivity
Students plan and construct a "mini-lab" to measure the reflectivity of different earth surfaces. They measure reflectivity of materials, including ice, soil, rocks, etc., and then extrapolate from what they have learned to consider the...
Curated OER
Solar Kit Lesson #1 Solar Cell Inquiry
Students use a selection of solar panels, lamps, motors, and an AA battery to get as many motors or lights to operate as they can in an allotted time period. For each successful arrangement, they draw a diagram of their setup, label the...
Curated OER
Roll With the Punches: Oprah's On!
Sixth graders prepare questions for an Oprah Winfrey talk show featuring the characters from Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, the amazing novel by Mildred D. Taylor. Selected students role-play the characters and answer questions Oprah...
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Analysis of the Tuck Everlasting and The Birchbark House Text Exemplars
Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day lesson, day one...
California Education Partners
Telescopes
An assessment challenges scholars to read an informative text then respond with an explanatory essay. The exam begins as participants read a text passage twice then take notes, making sure to jot down key details. Following the...
Curated OER
Frindle: A Guiding Reading Unit
Guide your class through a reading of the popular children's book, Frindle, with this comprehensive literature unit. Starting with a brief introduction to the guided reading process, the class goes on to read the story two chapters at a...
Curated OER
Questioning NASA
Space science and math collide in this inquiry that investigates launching times for antacid-tablet rockets! Upper elementary or middle school learners collect data as they launch these mini rockets. They apply concepts of place value...
Curated OER
What's the Best Deal?
Students explore number sense by solving consumer math problems. In this pattern identification lesson plan, students analyze a list of numerical and geometric patterns while predicting the future outcome. Students utilize inference...