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Understanding Character
Readers practice character analysis by reviewing Gary Soto's short story "La Bamba" with the whole class (anything you've read together will work). They design t-shirts that feature traits and story elements to reveal the nature of a...
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Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Eighth graders read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and participate in whole class discussions. They evaluate, analyze, and synthesize information in the text in order to explain character motivation and action. Students produce an essay...
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Native Americans - Searching for Knowledge and Understanding
What do you know about American Indians? Upper graders compose an informational essay based on the research they conduct. They choose a Native American group to study and, using the provided list of web links, gather information and...
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The Power Of Possessives
The whole class with get when to use an apostrophe after this activity. They use apostrophes to show possession or ownership. This activity includes a discussion starter, a practice exercise, a story activity, and a practice...
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Discussion Web
Get your class talking, even debating, about Gary Paulsen's popular novel Canyons. As they finish chapters 10-12, they complete the following discussion web concerning Brennan and the skull. They fill out the graphic organizer provided...
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Create Your Own Hero
Chinese legends are the focus of an interesting instructional activity that combines social studies with writing. Learners read the Chinese folk tale, "Li Chi Slays The Serpent." After the story is over, they make a list of the...
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Gift of the Magi Lesson Plan 3
Explore the literary concept of theme through the The Gift of the Magi. Starting with a class discussion, the concept of theme is explored through examples from famous stories and movies. Next, the class analyzes the possible themes of...
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Phonemic Awareness: Syllables
Count the syllables in your name, now count the syllables in your friend's name. Kids count syllables as they clap out and segment words. This activity is done as a whole class and has the potential of being highly engaging. The engaging...
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Foods and Languages of the World
Students study world cultures with an emphasis on languages and cultures. For this world cultures lesson, students study the countries of Spain, China, Italy, and the United States. Students read the story Everybody Cooks Rice and move...
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Plan a Read-All-Day Day
Students celebrate Read Across America Day by holding a Read-All-Day Day. they spend an entire day involved in fun reading-related activities.
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Fiction or Nonfiction? Considering the Common Core's Emphasis on Informational Text
Nothing aids in comprehension more than an explanation and understanding of why things are done. Address why the Common Core requires the reading percentages that it established and analyze how this affects your readers. Learners read...
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All in a Day's Work
Who is Herman Melville? Read and discuss "Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street." Then, discuss the film adaptations of Melville's work and translate a passage of the text into modern-day English. Discussion questions are...
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Myths, Folktales, & Fairy Tales
Introduce the concept of myths to your class. Using the link to "Myths Around the World," read a story aloud and have learners list characteristics of a myth. Readers then choose their own myths from the site and work in groups to answer...
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Veterans' Voyages
Introduce your middle and high schoolers to a different perspective on war: that of soldier's. Read Guisseppi Ungaretti's poem "Vigil" to kick-start this lesson. After discussing his perspective, read "The Screaming Eagles Fly to...
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It's Your Opinion
Everyone has a different opinion about the characters they read about in books. Have your class explore forming an opinion and finding evidence to support it as they read and discuss what they think about a particular character. They...
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"Flying to Fluency"
Pupils become fluent readers by decoding words and practicing mastery of phoneme correspondences. They also practice repeated readings of texts along with timed readings of the book, "Pat's Jam." Each student interacts with a bulletin...
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Successful Reading Strategies for ELL Students
Learners improve their reading comprehension through predicting, connecting with text and summarizing. Students should have already read the book Seedfolks and made predictions based upon what they had seen from the cover and pictures...
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Language Arts: Native Americans and Onomatopoeias
Fifth graders read the Native American tale, "The Frog and the Crane," focusing on the use of onomatopoeia in it. In groups, they brainstorm list of words that are examples of the device. Finally, 5th graders write their own stories...
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Word-O for Fluency
First graders are introduced to the game of Word-O to increase their fluency while reading. Individually, they look, say and write at their high frequency words and practice spelling them. To end the lesson, they are introduced to new...
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Ribbit, Ribbit: Leap into Speedy Reading
Students explore reading with fluency. They use repeated reading in order to improve their reading fluency. Students read "Frog and Toad are Friends." They discuss why it is important to read with fluency and explore what reading with...
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Read Aloud/ Narrative Analysis
Fourth graders read passages of Koya's Cousin Del before answering questions in a discussion setting. They listen to a variety of musical pieces before detailing how the music makes them feel in a short piece of writing. They share their...
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Aiming For Fluency
Student increase their reading fluency through the use of various strategies. After reviewing good reader strategies, 3rd graders complete an initial read of a novel text. After recording a baseline words per minute, students complete...
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Flying To Fluency
Students increase their reading fluency through the use of various strategies. After reviewing decoding and rereading strategies, students complete an initial read of a novel text. Working with a partner, they read complete a timed...
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Climbing the Mountain of Fluency!
Students work to improve their reading fluency. They read and reread sentence strips to improve their speed and accuracy. They complete timed readings with a partner--one student reads and the other times him using a stopwatch. They...