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Introduce Vocabulary: Peter's Chair (Keats)
A new baby means a lot of changes for Peter! Ezra Jack Keats presents this common childhood experience in his story Peter's Chair, the context of a detailed vocabulary study. Before you read, introduce the three new words scholars will...
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Against the Odds
What factors help people achieve goals? What factors prevent people from achieving goals? What are the elements that need to be in place to make a team function well? Using Damien Lewis’ Desert Claw and John Francome’s Winner Takes All,...
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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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Writing Fables
Students develop a working skill of using graphic organizers for writing. The lesson notes that the best kind of organizer is one that is engaging to the appropriate audience. The assessment follows the rubric given in the lesson.
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Lesson Plan 7: The Elements of Story
Budding novelists work on character development by relating to the characters in their stories. They imagine their own hopes and dreams and recall those of characters from books they've read. Learners also consider struggles the...
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Summarizing Key Information
Imagine the surprise when small groups present their Evidence Charts to the class and discover that each group has studied a different version of the Cinderella story. Irish, Ojibwa, Egyptian, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Mexican, and...
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The Tell-Tale Heart
Readers listen and critically read fictional prose to answer prediction questions at designated stopping points, and then they give a summary of the short story. This lesson is ideal for English language learners developing English...
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Genres, Genres Everywhere
Young readers assume the role of Genre Sleuths to investigate the characteristics of folktales, fantasies, and mysteries. For this session you will need to collect a variety of books on a topic you have been studying. Groups then examine...
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Analyzing Sequence with Exception Questions
Can you build comprehension by reading about sports? Third graders read and analyze the story, Game Day. They work through the book to better understand the sequence of events, they practice eliminating incorrect answers to questions...
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Review Parts of a Book
Begin the year with a review of the parts of a book. Exercises in the unit plan ask emergent readers to identify the information on the cover of a book and on the title page, to explain the purpose of a table of contents, and to describe...
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Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers
Learn about the events that helped shape the United States of America. Elementary schoolers explore the Civil War with six different activities. Each activity has a different focus: literature connections, primary sources, vocabulary,...
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Measuring Comprehension in First Graders
Make a prediction! Read The Very Cranky Bear with your first graders, making predictions and asking questions. Consider creating a list of comprehension questions to post while readers are listening to the story. Also consider making a...
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Reading Comprehension: Fiction and Nonfiction
This resource is made up of a series of reading passages with accompanying questions. On the first page, learners read the definitions of both fiction and non-fiction. They examine four short selections before writing either fiction or...
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Story Questions
In this worksheet, writers respond to three short-answer questions. Explain what is funny in the story, how the story makes them feel, and whether they liked the story. This is a great resource to send home for independent reading or to...
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Goldilocks Live!!!
Study story elements with your young learners. Read Goldilocks and the Three Bears and discuss the order of events by making a story panel out of butcher paper. Sentences are given as suggestions for the panel, though you may compose...
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Character Baseball Cards
Create baseball cards for literary characters with this lesson plan. It introduces students to baseball cards, their components (stats, picture, etc.), and prompts them to draft and publish their own cards based on figures from...
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Who Wants to Be a Media Center Millionaire?
Challenge your readers with a fun game of "Who Wants to Be a Media Center Millionaire?" Questions cover the novels A Long Fatal Love Chase, The Last Years of Merlin, and Out of the Dust. The first eight slides compose all the questions;...
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In The Shadow of the Pines: Sugar Cane Time
This resource provides a short reading passage, an excerpt from In The Shadow of the Pines by Karen K. Newell, about a family and their sugar cane harvest during the Great Depression. After the reading, there are four multiple choice...
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Story Problems: Conflict
In this story questions activity, students respond to 3 short answer questions that require them to explain what was the problem is in a story, who fixed the problem in the story, and whether they liked the story.
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Writing Skills: Fables
Use fables as a fun way for English Language Learners to gain confidence and fluency in their reading and speaking skills. After reading a fable in class, they retell their story to a group of their peers. When this jigsaw activity is...
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The Mythology of Munich
Students listen to a story read by their teacher and identify the pictures inside it to be real or make believe. For this fiction and non fiction lesson plan, students also write a real or make believe story of their own.
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Marjorie Morningstar Book Quiz
In this fiction books instructional activity, students complete seven multiple choice questions about the book, "Marjorie Morningstar." These questions contain concepts such as choosing the correct author, who published the book, when it...
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Midnight Bayou Book Quiz
In this fiction books learning exercise, students complete seven multiple choice questions about the book, "Midnight Bayou." These questions contain concepts such as choosing the correct author, who published the book, when it was on the...
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Metro Girl Book Quiz
In this fiction books worksheet, students complete seven multiple choice questions about the book, "Metro Girl." These questions contain concepts such as choosing the correct author, who published the book, when it was on the New York...