ReadWriteThink
Living the Dream: 100 Acts of Kindness
Inspire kindness in and out of school with a lesson that challenges scholars to perform 100 acts of kindness during the time between Martin Luther King Jr. Day to Valentine's day. Leading up to a celebration of friendship, learners...
Curated OER
Who Would Win? Killer Whale vs. Great White Shark Storia Teaching Guide
Teacher guides are wonderful tools with tons of ideas that help you relate content in many different ways. Using the high-interest book, Who Would Win? Killer Whale vs. Great White Shark, learners hone their discussion and reading...
Pace University
Urban Communities
Urban communities are the focus of a series of lessons created to meet specific needs using differentiated instruction. A pre-assessment designates scholars into three groups based on their ability level. Small groups take part in...
Southern Poverty Law Center
Choosing Reliable Sources
It is more important than ever that 21st-century learners develop the skills they need to become savvy consumers of media. Young learners locate and identify reliable sources of information with a helpful media instructional activity.
Walt Disney Company
Elizabeth Started All the Trouble
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a famous suffragette that paved the way for equal rights for women. Readers respond to before, during, and after reading questions based on her story. The resource is a great addition to a lesson during Women's...
Frank Macias Elementary School
Preparing for Guided Reading
Take your guided reading lesson plans to the next level with a collection of printables, templates, and reference tools equipped to support the reading needs of your readers. Included is a detailed information page, grouping sheet,...
For the Teachers
Main Idea Outline
Find the main idea in an informational text with a versatile lesson. Three levels of differentiation help you implement the strategy in any age or class level, based on the ability and objectives of your learners.
AtoZ Teacher Stuff
Pumpkin Life Cycle
From seed to jack-o-lantern, young scholars walk step-by-step through the life cycle of pumpkins with this fun art and science activity. After first participating in a shared reading of the children's book Pumpkin, Pumpkin children color...
Scholastic
Ruby Bridges: A Simple Act of Courage, Grades K-2
A civil rights movement lesson designed specifically with the Common Core State Standards in mind, young learners are introduced to the story of Ruby Bridges as the first African American child to attend an all-white elementary school....
Center for Civic Education
What Is Authority?
Young scholars examine the concepts of power and authority as they begin learning about government in this elementary social studies lesson. Through a series of readings, discussions, and problem solving activities, children learn about...
Earth Day Network
Healthy Earth, Sick Earth
Earth is sick and needs our help! Read the children's book Planet Earth Gets Well to explain the various problems facing the planet, discussing what young conservationists can do to heal the planet along the way. A great Earth Day...
California Academy of Science
What Kind of Geologist Am I?
Transform your class into young geologists as they learn about six different branches of geology. Using the included geology career descriptions and picture cards, learners work in small groups deciding which tools and locations fit...
Curated OER
Using Compare and Contrast Key Words
Compare and contrast while challenging your class with this higher-level thinking and reading comprehension lesson. After observing the teacher model comparing and contrasting bats and birds, learners read passages about two towns. They...
Pace University
Community Helpers
Differentiate instruction with a unit focused on community helpers. A pre-assessment levels scholars into three groups. Learning contracts offer participants the choice of activities to complete and show what they know about specific...
California Academy of Science
Guess That Spice
From medical treatments to cooking, people have been using herbs and spices for thousands of years. Perform a blind smell test of household herbs and spices to engage students in learning about ancient spice trading. Research the history...
Curated OER
Farm Animals
Why are farm animals important to the community? Expand young farmers' knowledge of furry and feathered friends through stories and a video. There are several books recommended; however, you could use any book about farm animals. A video...
Curated OER
Lesson 1:Using Headings to Determine the Main Idea (nonfiction)
Sometimes all you need is a good heading to determine the main idea in a block of text. Young readers learn how to use headings to guild them to determining the main idea. They practice as a class, in pairs, and then on their own. The...
Curated OER
Distinguish Fact from Opinion in Passage
Is it a fact or is it an opinion; readers need to know. Second graders learn a new technique to determine if a sentence or reading passage is fact based or opinion based. They read and then ask evidence based questions to determine if...
Scholastic
Thanksgiving Lessons Grades PreK-2
A quintessential resource for teaching an elementary unit on the first Thanksgiving addresses a variety of skills, including informational reading, critical thinking, comparing and contrasting facts, technology tools, and historical...
Curated OER
The Fable of Franny And Her Fabulous Fainting Goat
Mix the art of reading comprehension with the skill of telling time. Children in grades two and three will discuss the importance of goats throughout history based on the provided background information. They'll create cute goat clocks...
Curated OER
Plant Parts We Eat
I bet the kids in your class will love to eat their vegetables after an engaging lesson about edible plants. They read information about vegetables and edible plants, sort vocabulary words, identify plant parts, measure and graph the...
Curated OER
Garden Grid
Basically, your class reads about different garden plants from an included handout and seed packets that you provide, and then uses a grid to plan out where to place the plants. They can practice counting with the seeds, grouping,...
Curated OER
Lesson 3: Encyclopedias
After being introduced to non-fiction texts, second graders meet a different type of non-fiction text that can help them locate factual information. They discuss and examine all of the features found in typical encyclopedias such as,...
Curated OER
Lesson 2: Distinguish Fact from Opinion in Books
An important part of reading informational text is being able to discern fact from opinion. The class reads chapter one from the book, Penguins by Lynn M. Stone. They analyze specific sections of the text to determine if what is being...