Penguin Books
Gulliver's Travels Teacher's Notes
Who are "the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth”? Readers of Gulliver’s Travels will learn the answer, as the journey with Lemuel Gulliver to Lilliput,...
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What is an Expository
Students explore what qualities an expository has. They identify qualities of an expository in TEAMs after each book has been read. They explain the definition of an expository and why we write them.
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Nonviolent Conflict Resolutions with Cesar Chavez
Third graders investigate nonviolent conflict resolution strategies. In this interpersonal communication lesson, 3rd graders explore conflict resolution. Students construct a newspaper/magazine article detailing nonviolent conflict...
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What are Numbers?: Learning to Add
Students identify numbers from 0-20. They show quantities to 20. Students work in small groups and take pictures of items demonstrating the numbers that they have beeen taught. They form the number shape using their bodies and take...
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Oil and Natural Gas Formation
Students complete a narrative paper and a drawing depicting how the formation of oil and natural gas taken from the Earth's crust were once plants and animals millions of years ago. In this oil and natural gas lesson plan, students read,...
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Bunyan, Appleseed, and More
Ninth graders listen to a variety of tall tales and compose their own tall tale. In this tall tale lesson plan, 9th graders complete KWL chart about tall tales. Students discuss the elements of tall tales and then read example...
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Suspense-Around
Young scholars participate in round-robin cooperative writing groups to develop a variety of possible stories around a single prompt.
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Freedom Train North
Fourth graders conduct a novel study of the book Freedom Train North. They identify the parts of a story that include beginning, middle, and end. Students also recognize the setting, plot, and theme after reading a part of the book daily.
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Ocean Mysteries, Legends, and Customs
Students conduct Internet research to investigate mysteries, legends, and customs related to the ocean. They select a topic, and write and illustrate a short story.
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Past and Future Heroes
Third graders view various murals and explore the characteristics of heroes and how heroes can be represented in art. They choose a hero, then write and illustrate a short report on his or her life.
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Navigating Your Community
Learners draw a map from memory describing the route between their classroom and the gym including a legend, a compass rose, a map scale, symbols, and a landmark at every change of direction. They then retrace their steps in their maps...
Illustrative Mathematics
Bike Race
A graph not only tells us who won the bike race, but also what happened during the race. Use this resource to help learners understand graphs. The commentary suggests waiting until the end of the year to introduce this topic, but why...
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Contemporary Fairy Tales
Eighth graders listen Steven Kellog's, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Raymond Briggs, Jim and the Beanstalk. They use a Venn diagram to compare the two elements of the two stories. They write and publish an original contemporary fairy tale...
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Gingerbread Baby Final Activity #11
Students are read the story "Gingerbread Baby". They write their own letter to the author telling her about their favorite part. They ask questions and hopefully they will receive the answers from her as well.
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Simple Machines
Third graders listen to a short story entitled, "Phil's Adventures" from a book called Animal Stories. They stop at each obstacle in the story and do a quick write about how they would overcome the obstacle and draw a picture to...
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Kissing Coyotes
Fourth graders are read the book "Kissing Coyotes". During the story, they make predictions about what they believe might happen next. After the story, they create their own story using their imagination and draw illustrations.
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Language Arts: A Hoe-Down Wedding Invitation
Students write wedding invitations for the fairy tale, Bubba, the Cowboy Prince. Once they assess the components of the original Cinderella story, they compare and contrast it with the fractured fairy tale. Students decorate their...
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If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...
Fourth graders take three different photographs representing the beginning, middle and end of their story. They use the Tool Factor program Fresco to add elements to enhance their creativity and make their writing come alive. They then...
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Tell Me a Whopper!
Sixth graders investigate tall tales as a literary genre. They listen to a number of tall tales to discover how exaggeration is used as a story element. They write and publish a tall tale using word processing software. They illustrate...
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Grouchy Ladybug
Second graders listen to a read aloud of Eric Carle's, The Grouchy Ladybug and do a rewrite using a software program. They create an original graphic, insert text boxes, keyboard sentences and set time on a clock face while writing a...
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Hyperbole
Learners define the term hyperbole and determine when it is appropriate to use hyperboles in writing. They work in pairs to develop short stories and poems with examples of hyperboles.
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Identify That Culture
Students view various types of artwork and try to identify the culture being represented. Using a worksheet, they answer questions based on the artwork and the artist's use of color and technique. They research the artist's country of...
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Using the Correct Vocabulary to Solve Problems
Third graders examine the vocabulary and strategies to be used with addition, subtraction, and multiplication word and story problems. They observe the teacher solve a variety of problems, then write and illustrate their own original...