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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Picture Walk and Partner Talk

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
Students will participate in a picture walk through the expository text "Seasons and Weather". The purpose of the picture walk is to prepare the students for reading the story and gives them practice in using picture clues to make...
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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Pictures and Text Work Together Too!

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
The class will read the informational text "Together They Were Better". As the teacher reads the book aloud, she/he will use the illustrations from each page to give students clues as to the text on the page, helping them to see the...
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Lesson Plan
CPALMS

Cpalms: Understanding Key Details by Using Pancakes for Breakfast

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] For this lesson, students will be read Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie DePaola in order to understand and describe people, places, things and events in a text. They will create a book by drawing or...
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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Describing a Memory

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
Students will be able to use a combination of drawing, dictating, or writing to narrate a single event and provide a reaction to what happened. This lesson centers around the book "The Song and Dance Man", a great Grandparents Day activity!
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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Guess My Solid

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
Descriptive details are used as learners develop a guessing game poster for others to try and guess their chosen solid. Included in this detailed lesson plan are videos, samples of student work, a printable worksheet, an assessment...
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Lesson Plan
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Other

Abrams Books: Picture Day Perfection: A Common Core State Standards Aligned

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
This activity and discussion guide uses the book "Picture Day Perfect" to teach multiple common core state standards for language arts. Included in this lesson are discussion questions, a craft project, printable worksheets, and an...
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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Identifying the Difference Between Informational and Literary Text

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
Students will learn the difference between books that tell stories and books that give information. Multiple videos of different level reading groups engaged in this lesson, along with a printable activity sheet are included.
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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Where Did You Learn That?

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
As adults, we explore pictures, captions, diagrams and text, when reading any kind of informational piece. Kids can do this too! In this instructional activity, learners will sort information that was obtained from pictures and diagrams,...
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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Work Out Together

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
Students will read an article and determine the author's point and identify the reasons the author gives to support his or her point. This lesson requires analysis by the students and a great deal of higher-order thinking as they...
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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Many Parts

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
Preparation for reading complex informational texts starts in K and First grade. Knowing the features of the genre, and how to navigate through it is one of the necessary stepping stones. This instructional activity introduces the...
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Lesson Plan
CPALMS

Cpalms: What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] In this instructional activity, students will use What Do You Do With A Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page to identify the main topic and key details using the illustrations and text....
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Lesson Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Lesson 1: Actions

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
In this resource, students will practice identifying and describing the actions of a character. Teachers will model these skills through the use of text and pictures from the story No, David! by David Shannon. Students will then draw a...
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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Speaking and Listening: Collaborative Conversations

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
Students will partner read The Kite, by Alma Flor Ada. Then work together in small collaborative groups to describe the character of the mother, the children, or the kitten. Included in this lesson are video demonstrations, printable...
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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Speaking, Listening and Writing Compound Contrasting Sentences

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
Young scholars will be answering text-dependent questions in which they will have to describe the differences between the different characters, settings, and major events in our stories using complex contrasting sentences. The students...
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Professional Doc
Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets: Using Collaborative Strategic Reading

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
In this article, the Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) technique is explained, along with research to support the use. The technique teaches students to use comprehension strategies, while working cooperatively, as they engage in the...
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Lesson Plan
CPALMS

Cpalms: Wild About Authors and Illustrators

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] In this lesson, students learn about the roles of authors and illustrators through games and book-writing. Students will have an opportunity to act out the roles of illustrators and authors. They will...
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Lesson Plan
CPALMS

Cpalms: Giraffes and Zebras Oh My!

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] For this lesson plan, students will be able to ask and answer questions about key details in a text. Additionally, students will also be able to identify, compare, and contrast characteristics between...
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Article
Other

Smekens Educational Solutions: Expose K 2 Readers to Annotation Strategies

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
This article discusses how to begin teaching students in K-2 to record their ideas about text using highlighters, colored pens, large graphic organizers, and sticky notes. Students can retell a story with a storyboard, use a web to find...
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Lesson Plan
Michigan State University

Michigan State University: Interventions for Reading: Reconciled Reading

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st Standards
This intervention, which is based on Schema Theory, engages young scholars in enrichment activities prior to reading the passage. In this way, students have the opportunity to activate and enhance existing knowledge before reading....
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Lesson Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Vocabulary in Context Kindergarten Unit: Using Sound and Picture Cues

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st Standards
[Free Registration/Login Required] Lesson uses Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert to teach young scholars to use picture cues and initial word sounds to identify unknown words. Ideas for direct teaching, guided practice, and...
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Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: If You Give a Student an Animal

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st Standards
For this lesson plan, the book If You Give a Moose a Muffin, written by Laura Numeroff, is used as a mentor text for word choice. The content focus of the lesson is to teach the students to take ownership of scientific and descriptive...
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Lesson Plan
Florida Center for Reading Research

Florida Center for Reading Research: Expository Fact Strip [Pdf]

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
A lesson plan in which students read a text and identify the topic and four facts presented within the text. Materials are included.
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Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Three Serendipitous Nouns

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st Standards
For this lesson, the book entitled A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink: What Is a Noun? (Words Are Categorical), written by Brian P. Cleary, is used as the mentor text. After learning the basic definition of noun, a person, place, thing, or...
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Lesson Plan
Writing Fix

Writing Fix: Who/what/when/where: Desert Theme

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st Standards
For this lesson, Brooke Bessesen's picture book, Look Who Lives in the Desert!: Bouncing and Pouncing, Hiding and Gliding, Sleeping and Creeping, is used as the mentor text for its use of adverbial phrases. After several exposures to the...