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Improving Deductive Reasoning Skills
Students develop a strategy list for problem solving by working with different types of problems. They recognize problems that may be solved using deductive reasoning and solve deductive reasoning problems.
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Fraction Animals
Second, third, and fourth graders explore fraction strategies and division by splitting sets of farm animals into equal numbers. Independently, they read word problems, solve them, and check their answers.
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The Purpose and Power of Persuasion
Examine the power of persuasion and have learners consider how it influences events in their own lives. After reading and analyzing informational texts to understand the author's purpose, class members take a written test and craft a...
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Prince Ibrahima
Sixth graders read and utilize the facts from the story "Abd al-Rahmen Ibrahima" by Walter Dean Myers to analyze the main character's life which is ruined by conflict, jealousy, and greed. Journal entries are created in response to the...
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Narratives
Add to the narrative writing experience. Elementary or middle school writers listen to the teacher read a descriptive passage, then reread the same passage silently. They highlight sensory details and figurative language, then orally...
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Clues to a Character through Text
Readers will read a text and fill out a character map based on the characters in that text. They will explore different qualities of each character for their map. this can be modified to support younger learners. They will learn about...
Novelinks
Count of Monte Cristo: Unsent Letters
To demonstrate their understanding of the relationships in Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, readers are asked to assume the voice of one of the characters and draft a letter addressing another individual in the story.
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Writing Prompts for High School
Are you teaching a high school language arts class and stumped for writing topics? Five pages of writing prompts for all kinds of writing should help you out. Many of these prompts refer to texts that are not included in this resource,...
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Parrot in the Oven: Word Tree - Bonsai or Banyan
What fun! As part of a vocabulary exercise designed for Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida readers create word trees with the trunk representing the root word and the branches representing prefixes that can be added to the...
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Homophones
Here is a terrific lesson on teaching homophones to your upper graders! In it, homophone word cards and homophone bingo cards, which are embedded in the lesson, are used in a game format which reinforces this important part of speech....
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The Civil War--Reading on the Internet
Students grasp how to read from text and retain it. They use reading comprehension strategies specific to the Internet. They search for answers to questions related to the Civil War.
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Helping Children Read
Students read books with younger children, incorporating context clues and vocabulary aids as reading strategies to help the younger children learn to read. They discuss the concept of community capital and how this activity relates.
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Gathering Data to Problem Solve
Students, while using reading and writing strategies (subheads, prediction, skim, details, drawing inferences, etc,), solve math problems that involve gathering and representing data (addition, subtraction, multiplication). They practice...
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Abigail Adams: Integrating Social Studies and Language Arts
Third graders increase reading strategies while learning about Abigail Adams and her role in history. In this Abigail Adams instructional activity, 3rd graders read about the American Revolution and Abigail Adams using all the balanced...
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Lon Chaney: Three Faces of Lon Chaney
Students watch the Lon Chaney episode of American Masters, read chapters from three original books on which Chaney's films were based, and use a reading strategy called Reader's Theater to adapt each chapter into a script. After...
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The Shape of Home
Students define home and understand that home is not the same to everyone. In this homes lesson, students participate individually and in groups to create a classroom definition of home. Students discuss the events in the story the Shape...
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Job Seeking Strategies
Learners analyze how successful job seekers got their jobs and consider which strategies they might use. They access stories about young adults who have successfully mainstreamed into the world of work.
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Kumara From the Farmer's Field
Students discuss the essay, Kumara From the Farmer's Field and examine strategies for organizing facts for future reference. In this reading comprehension lesson, students pretend they are advertising executives who must create a grocery...
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How Can We Keep Our Forests Intact and Have Our Chocolate Too?
Fourth graders explore various methods of growing and harvesting rainforest foods in order to sustain its biodiversity. They discuss the various uses for trees from several viewpoints. Students research chocolate demand and land use...
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The Tell - Tale Heart
Learners read The Tell Tale Heart and practice critical analysis while reflecting on its underlying meanings. In this reading activity, students make predictions, monitor their own comprehension and adjust their reading accordingly....
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A Different View
Readers need to understand how their personal view point may differ or change how they see the view point found in a written text. Third graders read two informational pieces and fill out a graphic organizer to help them differentiate...
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Reading the Periodic Table
Students explore the structure and function of the periodic table of elements. Though memorization drills and games, students working in pairs, identify the elements of the periodic table, their grouping, their properties and their...
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Writing Strategies: Descriptive Words
Students discover the importance of using descriptive words in good writing. They brainstorm words to describe elephants and dogs then watch a video that describes different items. Each student writes a paragraph using descriptive words...