Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to Jan Brett
Prepare to teach Jan Brett stories by taking a look at this teacher resource, which includes text-based questions, writing assignments, discussion ideas, and vocabulary practice for 18 different stories.
Nosapo
Weather and Present Continuous Tense
What's the weather like right now? Is it raining or is it snowing? Using present continuous tense, learners practice describing the weather with weather vocabulary words.
Curated OER
Sequence, Predict, Infer: Pink and Say
Practice sequencing with your 2nd graders via Patricia Polacco's Civil War book Pink and Say. Begin with a blindfold and a bag of mystery items. Connect their use of clues to identify what they can't see with the skill of making...
Curated OER
Can You Find It?
Plan a Parts of a Book scavenger hunt. Begin by giving your young adventurers a book, and asking them to find the title, author, illustrator, and table of contents. After a discussion of the purpose of each of these items, class members...
Curated OER
Thumbs Up For Movie Reviews
If your class loves movies, this lesson is sure to interest them. After discussing the purpose and structure of movie reviews, young writers compose a movie review and discuss why people may read a review before they go see a film. The...
EngageNY
Reading about Freaky Frogs: “The Amazon Horned Frog"
The Amazon Horned Frog is the focus of a activity designed to encourage readers to ask and answer questions. A frog-themed poem opens the door to a whole-group discussion. Following a read-aloud of an informational text, a three-page...
EngageNY
Informative Paragraph Pre-Assessment: What Is One Reason You Want the Power of Reading?
This writing pre-assessment has minimal instruction but maximum support and encouragement. It begins with a review of the book, Rain School, through a think-pair-share and small group discussion. The discussion focuses on the idea that...
All for KIDZ
Building Relationships: The Orphan of Ellis Island
Family and friendship are two very important themes of the historical fiction novel The Orphan of Ellis Island by Elvira Woodruff. From video clips and writing prompts to reader's theater and family interviews, this resource provides...
EngageNY
Close Reading of Nasreen's Secret School: How Do People Access Books in Afghanistan?
Third graders continue to practice the close reading skills of capturing the gist and reading again for important details in the sixth instructional activity in a larger unit. This is a great beginning-of-the-year unit for establishing...
EngageNY
Paragraph Writing About Waiting for the Biblioburro
Ask your learners to synthesize what they know about Waiting for the Biblioburro by writing a well-organized paragraph. Young writers focus on using transition words and including specific details in their paragraphs. The plan allows for...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Changing Scapes
Culture and art are two things that change with time and context. Learners compare and contrast two landscape prints from different time periods. They work through art terminology to help them describe what they see in each piece. The...
Universal Press Syndicate
The Mini Page: Make It a Good New Year
The New Year is a time for reflecting on the previous year in order to make resolutions and set goals for self improvement. With multiple suggestions towards becoming a better classmate, student, friend, and healthy person, the resource...
Curated OER
What Do I Want to Research?
Study the eight slides that detail the steps to writing a research report. The steps include brainstorming for ideas, constructing graphic organizers, and writing the final research product. An example of each step is given on each...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing vs. Explanatory Writing
The class discusses the different purposes an author has for writing. The focus of the discussion is on writing to tell a true story and writing to give information about a specific topic. There are writing purpose sorting cards embedded...
EngageNY
Group Discussion: Accessing Books Around the World
Continue work with an informational text by following the procedures detailed here. The plan, part of a series, focuses on My Librarian is a Camel. Class members complete text-dependent questions and then prepare for and participate in a...
Museum of Disability
A Picture Book of Helen Keller
Teach your class about Helen Keller and her accomplishments with a reading comprehension lesson based on A Picture Book of Helen Keller by David A. Adler. As individuals read, they answer discussion questions about Helen Keller and the...
Curated OER
Reference Materials
After a class discussion where kids share how they find answers to their questions, learners explore the world of reference materials such as, an atlas, an almanac, and an encyclopedia. The Internet is also discussed as a way to access...
K12 Reader
Using Prior Knowledge
Sometimes it's hard to relate to a new text. Teach kids to use their prior knowledge when reading something new with a comprehension exercise. A short passage tells them how to think of their brains like filing systems, and provides five...
Curated OER
The Ancient Art of Shadow Puppet Plays
Shadow puppetry has an ancient past, it is also a great way to build oral expression and reading fluency. Young thespians research folk tales, compare and contrast reality and fantasy, then create and perform a shadow puppet play based...
Curated OER
Organizing Research
Before sending your third graders to the library, help them build a solid foundation for their research with this plan. Following the "I do, we do, you do" method, the teacher starts by modeling how to create a research question and...
Curated OER
The Whipping Boy: Reading Comprehension an Discussion
This outlines steps for reviewing chapters 9-12 of The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleishman. Small groups read the chapters together and then clarify any confusing parts. The class compares 2 different letters to determine which is better and...
SEN Teacher
Literacy Printables : Handwriting 1
Celebrate National Handwriting Day with a variety of worksheets that feature tracing exercises to prime young writers' hands. Tracing moves include curves, spirals, waves, and more.
SEN Teacher
Literacy Printables : Handwriting 2
Celebrate National Handwriting Day with a variety of worksheets designed to warm up young writer's hands. Learners work on tracing figures such as curves, ellipses, mounds, and more.
Curriculum Corner
Fairy Tale Unit of Study
What makes a fairy tale a fairy tale? Use a 27-page packet to supplement your next fairy tale unit. With sequencing activities, story map worksheets, character analyses and story elements graphic organizers, and fairy tale highlight...