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Reading Comprehension
First graders listen and read along as a story is read to them. They discuss what they read when finished with the text. Students discuss the story vocabulary and the word meanings. They practice decoding unknown words and complete a...
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Planning Your Essay
Young scholars discover how to organize essays effectively. In this writing instructional activity, students construct a spider map to develop their ideas for an essay.
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The Kite Runner: Anticipation Guide
Introduce Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner with an anticipation guide that asks class members to consider their opinions on a series of statements related to themes presented in the novel.
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Map It Out!
Learners open their Alabama history book to the chapter on the Civil Rights Movement noticing how the chapter is broken into headings. They read a passage and as a class, create a story map focusing on the main ideas and details.
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It's ALL Good!
Learners work on summarization as a skill to increase their comprehension of full texts. They focus on determining the most important ideas from the texts they read by using the four steps to summarization. Using an online article, they...
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Book of the Month - A Technology-Integrated Literacy Project
Students write a paragraph predicting what the book is about after viewing the front cover. They are given a copy of the Story Parts Maps, students are explained each story part. Students are explained that they most take notes on the...
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One Room Schoolhouse
Students study pictures and artifacts of the one-room schoolhouse. For this compare and contrast lesson,students list similarities and differences in schools of today and one-room schoolhouses. Then students use this analysis to...
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Inspector Readers: The 002 Book Club
This unit introduces book clubs/literature circles to lower elementary classes, but could be adapted to higher grades. It outlines the anticipatory activity that includes a WebQuest, a discussion to clarify questions about the unit,...
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Leo the Library Mouse
Second graders share how they should take care of library media center books and display their ideas for others to see. They read the book, LEO THE LIBARY MOUSE and discuss book care rules and reflect on how they compare with the main...
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Friendly Patter Poetry
Students create a free from poem on the topic of friendship. They read examples of free form poetry to gather ideas. Through the use of a graphic organizer, students generate a list of friendship characteristics which is used to create...
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East Asia Country Project
Get your young historians thinking about East Asian culture and history during this partner research project, in which they analyze a variety of East Asian aspects to prepare for a presentation. After an initial "what do we already know"...
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Stringbean Coes Vacation
Third graders first begin the activity by reading Vera B. Williams Stringbean's Trip to the Shining Sea. This book is a collection of postcards that Stringbean Coe and his brother Fred write to their family while they were on a summer...
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Girl Scout Cookie Lesson Plan
Students make a chart of the main categories and supporting details from the article," When chips are down, Girl Scouts order more." They compare their chart with that of a classmate. Students organize their ideas in a logical manner and...
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Freedom Is
Students explore various ideas of freedom by comparing the profiles of seven Mainers from the early 19th century. They discuss freedom and what they think it means to be free. Students complete a Freedom Matrix to explore how seven...
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Outline a Travel Narrative
Fourth graders are taught how to outline a fictional narrative essay. They review the definition and structure of narrative essays. Students use the activity to brainstorm specific ideas for narrative essays. They are given a...
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Every Living Thing
Students read the book "Every Living Thing." They read one story at a time, and participate in various activities. Some of these activities include the following ideas: Students write about a time when they were in a similar situation as...
ReadWriteThink
Biography Project: Research and Class Presentation
I Have A Dream ... that after the lesson, all individuals master the reading, writing, researching, listening, and speaking skills the biography project helps them develop. Martin Luther King, Jr. serves as a topic example for a model...
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Moby Dick Puppetry
Such an ambitious instructional activity! Third graders with special needs listen to an audio recording of the novel, Moby Dick. They stop often to discuss each of the main characters and analyze their actions in the story. They then...
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Semantic Mapping
Young scholars explore semantic mapping. Through teacher modeling and independent practice they complete a variety of semantic (concept) maps to coincide with specific areas of subject matter. They identify the core concept and include...
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Writing From Experience (Grades 7-12)
Students brainstorm in preparation for writing an expressive essay. They review their responses to 'Writing from Experience' and write notes and brainstorm other ideas or details for their essays. They take turns illustrating their life...
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Phineas Gage: “How Do You Get Through Hard Times?” Chalk Talk
Hold a discussion in writing about coping strategies to prepare your pupils for reading Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science by John Fleischman. After journaling, pupils come up in an organized fashion and write...
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Leonardo's Machines
Learners explore Leonardo da Vinci's ideas about design and machines.
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Christmas Bells
Students read and analyze the anti-slavery poem, "Christmas Bells" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. They discuss the content and form of the poem, write an essay, write an original poem, examine how this anti-slavery poem was converted...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to the Short Story
How should pupils read short stories? Set them up for this unit with an introductory instructional activity that goes over the main characteristics of a short story and starts learners off reading their first short story of the unit. In...