Curated OER
Lesson Five:Determining Ideas and Adding Details
Second graders create their own writing pieces. In this narrative lesson, 2nd graders use a graphic organizer to come up with ideas and details. They practice writing topic sentences.
Curated OER
Narrative Strategies
Sixth graders explore strategies authors use to make characters and setting seem real to readers. They develop characters and describe setting in original narratives. Students read myths and determine common themes found in myths from...
Curated OER
Point of You
Sixth graders study point of view by rewriting an existing narrative paragraph (using a different point-of-view). They expand this knowledge by writing an expository paragraph, then rewriting it to reflect a different point-of-view.
Curated OER
Lesson Eight: Revising
Second graders practice revising their narrative writing. In this editing lesson, 2nd graders revise a narrative paper with the teacher by focusing on re-reading and finding mistakes. They revise their own writing and then have a...
Curated OER
Monster Voices
Students create stories based upon the techniques of author Maurice Sendak in Where the Wild Things Are. They use a word processing program and the Apple software program GarageBand to create new voices for the story. ...
Curated OER
Historical Agency in History Book Sets (HBS)
Study historical events by combining the study of historical fiction and non-fiction. Learners read about true past events in historical fiction novels and then research non-fiction accounts of the same events. What are some differences...
Curated OER
Investigating Fables
Time for a story! Learners of all ages enjoy listening to stories, so read them some common fables and have them work cooperatively to create a fable. Differentiate for varying ability levels by providing sentence frames, graphic...
Curated OER
Flowers for Algernon: RAFT
Should Charlie undergo an operation to increase his intelligence? A mini-lesson for a unit on Daniel Keyes novel Flowers for Algernon uses a RAFT activity, which prompts students to write a letter to Charlie's doctors explaining why they...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Author’s Craft: Analyzing Shakespeare’s Craft: Part 2
Annoyed or bewitched—how does an author's word choice affect a text? Scholars begin the instructional activity by analyzing word choice in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Next, learners take a closer look at the narrative...
EngageNY
Analyzing Douglass’s Purpose
Class members continue analyzing text excerpts from Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass. They read and draw conclusions to determine Douglass's view on slavery. Learners finish by discussing with partners how the excerpts...
Curated OER
Creature From The Deep
Students become familiar with oceanography terms by writing an oceanography horror story.
Curated OER
Castles With Character
Students read historic or contemporary fiction that is set in and around castles. Then they build castles and characters to use in retelling stories, demonstrating their understanding of fiction texts and period architecture. Students...
Scholastic
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Practice sequencing events using Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's narrative poem about the famous revolutionary hero. Learners read Revere's own account of the event, and compare/contrast the two texts using a t-chart. Finally, they imagine...
EngageNY
Understanding Douglass’s Words: Learning to Read
How is a sentence like the human body? Scholars think about the comparison as they view an image of the human anatomy and begin to complete an Anatomy of a Sentence anchor chart. They review roots, prefixes, and suffixes and then begin...
EngageNY
Analyzing Powerful Language: Learning to Read
The power of a word. Readers learn the importance of word choice in shaping a text by using a Powerful Language T-chart to separate strong words and phrases from those that are more bland. They then complete a third read and question set...
Novelinks
The Hobbit: Biopoem
As part of their reading of The Hobbit, readers create a biopoem for one of Tolkien's characters.
Curated OER
Storytelling: Performance and Art Learning Center
Tenth graders explore the process of telling stories without words. In this literature lesson, 10th graders watch a music video performance made by Alaska Native students, and then examine art objects that may be used to tell a...
Curated OER
Michelle Kwan: Heart of a Champion
Who is a champion to your class? Elementary and middle schoolers think of a role-model from their lives. Then, in their journals, they write evidence of that person's perseverance. They identify the character trait of perseverance with...
Curated OER
What's that Mammal?
Learning by example is always effective if it's paired with independent practice opportunities! Model good reading practices for your class. Learners listen to the teacher model examples of reading with voice, expression, and tone...
Curated OER
Introducing Literary Elements in Fiction
Identify literary elements in fiction. In this reading comprehension lesson plan, learners read the book Pigsty and record literary elements onto a graphic organizer. They specifically discuss the main characters and events in the text.
Curated OER
Elmer by David McKee
Students explore individual differences. In this literacy and self-esteem lesson, students listen to the story Elmo by David McKee, then describe what characteristics make Elmo special. Students complete a T chart showing how Elmo looked...
Curated OER
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
Do your young readers know that poems can be performed as a team? They listen to a few examples from Paul Fleischman's book Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, paying attention to how the how readers work together....
Curated OER
Saturday Sancocho
Second graders identify the economic principles and processes that are helpful to producers and consumers when making good decisions. Students will read, comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate literary text as well as explain how...
Curated OER
Publish Your Daily Dilemma Results
Young scholars fill out an outline and write an expository text on a dilemma that they read about. They brainstorm how they can solve the dilemma, write about it, then submit their suggestions to the Wilderness Classroom Expedition Team.