Curated OER
Self-Monitoring Strategies and Vocabulary Games
Middle and high schoolers identify how to discover a word's meaning by exploring context clues and any pictures, diagrams, photographs, and charts that might be included. They continue this process with other examples and locate one on...
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Introduce Vocabulary: Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship (Hatkoff & Kahumbu)
The heartfelt true story of Owen the hippopotamus and Mzee the 133-year-old tortoise will have budding readers engaged as they practice vocabulary in the context of Isabella Hatkoff's nonfiction story. Although you could include more,...
Curated OER
Ready-Set-Go-Whoa!
The Apaches: People of the Southwest offers readers a chance to employ the “Ready-Set-Go-Whoa!” strategy (an adaptation of the KWL) to test what they know and summarize what they learn as they read Jennifer Fleischner’s nonfiction...
Curated OER
Louisiana Cinquains
Learners enhance their understanding of parts of speech by writing a cinquain poem about Louisiana. In this cinquain poem lesson, students read example cinquain poems and study the format for a cinquain poem. Learners create a class poem...
Ideas From Suzi
Responding to Literature
Guide your class through a text with resources for before and after reading. Learners ask questions, discuss characters and plot points, point out elements of the reading that stood out, and compose brief summaries.
Curated OER
Inventing and Presenting Unit 1: Analyzing Nonfiction and Inventing Solutions
Students read about and identify patterns in the invention process. Students discuss and write about information learned from research. Students compile a list of problems, choose one, write a problem statement, and compile a list of at...
Curated OER
?Que ser de nosotros? (What Will Become of Us?)
Students discuss uses of a pumpkin. They fill out graphic organizers. Students listen as the teacher reads a story, and participate by repeating sounds the objects make as the story progresses. One student narrates the story while others...
Curated OER
Pre-writing activities for improving students' connections to literature
Students, while reading a novel together in class, jot in their journals any connections to their own lives they can make between the text and self, text to text or text to the world. Various themes are connected to open more doors to...
Curated OER
Glossaries
Explore text structure with a focus on the glossary feature in informational texts. Learners read a brief introduction before examining a glossary from a text about plants. They reference it while completing four comprehension questions....
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Extemporaneous Speeches
Students perform the six steps of writing an extemporaneous speech including, choosing a topic, researching, writing, practicing delivering and processing.
Appalachian State University
What Are Graphic Novels?
To do this engaging and pleasurable activity, your learners should have already read a graphic novel, and produced a piece of writing that can be reproduced into the format of a graphic novel. This exercise provides a script that...
Curated OER
Asking Research Questions
Using discoveries and inventions as the focus, learners complete a research project. First, they come up with research questions. Then, they conduct research on the topic. Finally, they write a research paper.
Curated OER
Literature: Isabel Allende
Students watch and respond to a Bill Moyers Now video on the Chilean author, Isabel Allende. They brainstorm a list of recent events that might inspire writers and choose one to write about in poetic, diary, or short story form.
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Poet Naomi Shihab Nye
Learners read and analyze poetry by Naomi Shihab Nye. They define stereotypes, view and discuss a video interview with Nye, present an oral reading of a poem, and write a persuasive letter to an author.
Curated OER
Life Along the Trail
Students explore the significance of the Louisiana Purchase and the journey of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery. They read to explain a new topic and write to inform readers of the historic events they explored.
Curated OER
Raising the Titanic
Ninth graders research the history of a person who was aboard the Titanic and write about the part he/she played in the world's greatest maritime disaster.
Curated OER
Chameleons Are Cool!
Have your learners review what they know about camouflage using this lesson. Learners fill out a graphic organizer listing what they know or have questions about. This could be enhanced with the addition of a writing assignment in which...
Curated OER
Titanic
Students conduct research with the purpose of writing a report about the Titanic. They use a variety of resources. The students produce a written document that has plenty of documented information. They also compare the information that...
Curated OER
Summarization Superstars
How do you read when you know you're going to be summarizing a text? Summarize a nonfiction text with your upper elementary schoolers. Your pupils independently read a nonfiction article and write a summary paragraph using the six-step...
Curated OER
Creating a Science Fiction Story
As the culminating activity in a unit study of science fiction, young writers demonstrate their understanding of the genre by producing their own graphic novel. After deciding on the main elements of their story, individuals use a comic...
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Citizens for Responsible Change
Third graders write a petition to a school figure, get signatures from other students, share the petition with the appropriate authority, and then work as leaders to carry out the group's solution.
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Freedom and You
Students research the American Revolution. In this Revolutionary War activity, students research facts about the American Revolution, write an expository essay, and peer edit for good content. The paper is suggested to be written after...
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Johnny Appleseed or John Chapman: Which Character is Your Favorite?
Learners study the life of John Chapman and compare it with the fictional character, Johnny Appleseed. Students listen to books about Johnny Appleseed, and watch a video and PowerPoint if available. They make a KWL chart, make an online...
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It's Just a Barn
Investigate Pennsylvania Barns. Have your class consider the elements common to Pennsylvanian barns and why they are significant to the food production process. They write summaries of Frederick Watts and his impact on agriculture.