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Summarizing with James and the Giant Peach
Elementary readers in literature groups practice summarizing chapter-by-chapter with Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. Focus on main idea, supporting details, and the 5 Ws. Unfortunately, a clever "peach" graphic organizer to which...
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Beowulf: Songs of Ancient Heroes
Introduce your class to epic heroes with these activities for Beowulf. After watching a video clip, taking notes on heroes, and tracking characteristics of heroism throughout Beowulf, class members retell an episode of Beowulf using a...
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Extreme Poetry Vocabulary
Challenge your class with this comprehensive list of literary vocabulary words. Learners take a pre-test, look up definitions, come up with an example, and then take a post-test. You might use this prior to a unit about poetic devices in...
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Book Stars
Students create a Star Book report in 30 minutes or less using exactly 15 words, computers, and the Kidspiration or Inspiration educational software. This quick Language Arts lesson plan is ideal for assessment of each student's reading...
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Celebration of Trees
Second graders listen to various, grade appropriate stories about trees. They create their own construction paper trees and discuss the importance of trees to the ecosystem and the importance of taking care of them. Finally, 2nd graders...
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Road To Roota
Did you know that there are comic books that can help learners discover economic concepts like supply and demand. The format of this lesson is highly engaging and enables them to discover how economics can be an exciting field of study....
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Not So Much a Lesson, More a Song and Dance
Inspired by Britain's National Poetry Day, this resource will help your class analyze poetry. You will find a variety of poetry analysis methods to work through with your class. Finish by having each person compose an original poem.
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Drama from Animal Characters
Learn about animal habitats, characteristics, and writing in a different perspective. The class composes a narrative from the perspective of a fresh water animal, they include a problem and the animal's reaction to the problem. The...
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A Month of Mapping Literature
Explore the world through literature! With push pins to mark where each story came from, learners examine cultural differences, geographical location, and how those elements affect story content. This lesson could use deeper development,...
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"I'm Thankful For..." Placemat
Students discover the story behind Thanksgiving through comparing and contrasting what pilgrims were thankful for, memorizing Thanksgiving poems, and creating a placemat that depicts the poem.
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Whale Is Stuck
Students engage in the process of problem solving with the help of children's literature story of how the whale was trapped and then freed. The story illustrates the power of teamwork and commitment. The students practice the skill of...
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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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Reading Fiction
Explore how a writer's choice of words can convey meaning to the reader. Learners read selections and write questions about the content. Each question is answered by two groups of students and the differences in interpretations are...
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Writing Process
Students read "The Great Kapok" and choose to agree or disagree with the main character's decision. They gather and organize details from multiple sources to defend their standpoints. They begin prewriting steps of process writing.
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Point of View
Learners explore point of view. In this acceptance lesson, students listen to a story in which six people didn't listen to the other's point of view and lost out in the end. The learners discuss why we all think and feel differently and...
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Multiple Perspectives
Analyze multiple perspectives in short stories. Sixth graders examine the point of view of each major character in three different short stories. After reading the stories, they role-play characters and hypothesize about the character's...
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Drama with Children 2
Students participate in a variety of activities designed to integrate drama into the classroom. They play charades, mime, practice visualization, active and passive improvisation, develop characters using puppets, etc.
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The Children of Eric the Red Explore the West: The Norsemen Encounter Indigenous People of North America
Students read about Viking exploration and complete activities based on the Indigenous people they encountered. In this Viking exploration lesson plan, students compare and contrast stories, write a character sketch, and more.
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Discussing Poetry In Class
Students investigate syllabic metre and rhyming techniques by analyzing poetry. In this language arts lesson, students read the poem Considering the Snail and discuss the nature and mood of the poem with their classmates. Students...
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Reading Comprehension
After listening to a story learners engage in a kinesthetic activity to answer comprehension and critical thinking questions. Finally, the students identify three main facts about the story. Extensions include a fact and opinion...
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Fairy Tales Retold
Students use writing processes effectively to adapt and retell stories. They reread a favorite fairy tale, then adapt and retell in a PowerPoint or other multimedia presentation. They present their rewritten and edited presentations to...
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Popcorn Book Report
Students retell story events on a lunch bag filled with popcorn. They illustrate the story events and enjoy the popcorn snack.
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Different People/Different Times
Learners read and compare two selections by two different authors with the theme man vs. nature. They complete a literary analysis paper comparing and contrasting the author's treatment of the topic with emphasis on setting, historical...
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Literary Skills
Develop their literary skills. In this literature lesson, students collaborate to read portions of books and examine settings, plots, main ideas, and conclusions.