Pennsylvania Department of Education
Stories? Information? What's the Difference?
Students listen to a power point presentation to distinguish between fiction and nonfiction text. In this what's the difference lesson, students identify fact from opinion within a text. Students listen critically and respond to text.
Curated OER
Celebrating 100 Years of Flight
Participate in the 100th anniversary of the first flight. In groups, learners use the internet to research the roles the Wright Brothers and Amelia Earhart played in promoting the use of flight. They use the information to write and...
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...
Curated OER
Foreshadowing and Making Predictions
"What happens next?" Using real-life scenarios, movies, images, and other prompts, pupils practice making predictions based on inferences from clues. A SMART board activity takes them from making predictions to writing a prediction...
Curated OER
Making Connections between Robert Frost's Life and His Poetry
Become acquainted with Robert Frost's life in order to allow your class to fully appreciate how his background influenced his poetry. They analyze specified poems in relation to theme, setting and the use of imagery.
Curated OER
Desert Views: First Impressions
Students are introduced to primary source material and the ways in which early travelers viewed aspects of the desert environment. The instructional activity addresses the geography themes of location, region, and human/environment...
Curated OER
Long Vowel Phoneme - y
The long vowel phoneme /y/ is the star of this language arts lesson. Kindergarteners share the book, I Spy a Little Fly then brainstorm more words that end in /y/. Since so many of our words end in /y/, this would be a very...
Curated OER
Long Vowel Phoneme - ay
Kindergarteners spell patterns of the long vowel phoneme /ay/. After listenting to The Birthday Day, learners work together to construct a class book that utilizes words that end in /ay/. Since the /ay/ phoneme is used so much...
Curated OER
Long Vowel Phoneme - ai
Kindergarteners identify the long vowel sound /ai/ in speech and writing. The whole class shares the book, Daisy the Snail, then brainstorms as many /ai/ words as they can. The class constructs a word wall with the /ai/ words.
Curated OER
Community Ripple
Originally designed to be used along with a text that is not included, this plan contains a graphic organizer and word guessing game to help readers use decoding strategies to gain new vocabulary. A set of questions relating to community...
Curated OER
Using a Magazine/Non-Fiction Texts
Working with magazine articles and other informational texts, middle schoolers identify the parts of a non-fiction work. The learners use SMART board files to guide instruction, as well as a transition to writing their own non-fiction...
Curated OER
Writing as a group activity
Did you know that 50% of all Americans can trace a relative who traveled through Ellis Island? Relive these journeys with your class and then provide sentence strategy templates for them to use to compose their own informative...
Curated OER
Using Words to Work Things Out
Students explore classroom community building. In this character development and community building instructional activity, students listen to Hands Are Not for Hitting and generate a class list of positive ways to handle classroom...
Curated OER
Breezy Energy
Third graders view photos of machines that measure wind energy and chart what they observe in the pictures and the questions they have about the pictures. In this wind energy lesson, 3rd graders make a pinwheel. Students show...
Curated OER
Free at Last: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Students view the "I Have A Dream" speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. They use the Internet to research Martin Luther King's life and work.
Curated OER
Fitting Trash into Yesterday: A Fifth Grade Activity
Fifth graders explore the concept of waste management. In this recycling activity, 5th graders discover the history of waste management and discuss how the U.S. should respond to the issue of ever-increasing waste.
Curated OER
Homophone Cartoons
A terrific lesson on homophones awaits your youngsters. First, pupils access a website that contains lists of homophones. Then, it's time to get creative! Everyone gets a piece of poster board and they create a homophone cartoon -...
Curated OER
Papyrus to PDA
What a great project. Graphic arts young scholars consider the social, political, and economic impact made by a chosen invention. They build an argument to substantiate their reasons for choosing said invention. They create an oral...
Curated OER
Identify Main Idea in a Story
Help your kindergarteners identify the main idea in a story. Small groups work with the teacher to make predictions and draw conclusions. They are able to determine cause and effect relationships. The lesson is divided into several days,...
Curated OER
Finders Keepers: Vocabulary Instructional Routine Guide for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Like Oskar, the curious boy in Jonathan Safran Foer’s story, class members journey through other “stories that the mouth can’t tell” to find another sentence that uses a word found in novel. Individuals create their own vocabulary list,...
EngageNY
Writing, Critique, and Revising: Two-Voice Poems (Chapter 14: "Las Ucas/Grapes")
Continue work on the two-piece poem that compares two characters from Esperanza Rising. Give class members a few minutes to finish their drafts. After they have a complete product, model how to critique and edit the poems with one group....
Curated OER
The Producers
Students design attractive posters to promote the work of Leroy Anderson, an American composer with an unusual style.
Curated OER
I Am Special and You Are Special Too #4
The students listen to a book about being different and investigate that everyone is different, but special in their own unique way. The students draw a picture of themselves using multi-cultural markers. Along with the drawing, the...
Curated OER
Where is the Science?: Design as an Introduction to the Scientific Method
Students work to create a design that will protect an egg from being dropped from a one story floor. They test their prototype after it is completed. They write clear instructions and link aspects of the design process to the scientific...