Sunburst Visual Media
Respect: It Starts With You!
There are few things as frustrating to a teacher as a disrespectful student. Luckily this collection of activities, worksheets, and writing exercises is here to help eliminate this problem by teaching young leaners what respect really...
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Paraphrasing and Summarizing
Read an article about the migration of our ancestors and write a paragraph. Pupils paraphrase and summarize to restate the information found in a nonfiction text. They write a shortened version of the reading to demonstrate the...
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Can a Mouse Lift an Elephant?
Read Just a Little Bit, by Ann Tompert as an introduction to levers. Discuss playground seesaws and then turn learners loose to experiment with the placement of a fulcrum. Their goal is to determine where to place it in order to lift ten...
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Home Reading Log
Ask your learners to keep track of their independent reading progress on a weekly reading log. There is space to write the title of the book, the pages read, a brief summary of what was read each time, and the minutes read. Each of the...
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In a Nutshell
Students summarize a non-fiction article in this lesson. They review a six step process for summarization. They then read the assigned article, and work as a class to write a summary using the five steps provided. They then write an...
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Let's Get Ready to Summarize
Pupils practice a summarizing strategy in this lesson. They are given a copy of a "National Geographic Kids" article and are encouraged to read it silently. They then use the steps provided to write an individual summary of the article.
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Summing Up SuperCroc
Students read an article in a magazine about crocodiles silently, remembering not to make a sound, and trying hard to understand what the author is trying to tell them. They then write down some important facts they have read on a piece...
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What Did I Just Read
Fourth graders write a summary for each chapter as they read a novel. They summarize the author's purpose and point of view after completing the novel. They also describe about how the author's point of view affected the novel.
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Pumpkin Patch Fun!
Students research a website to find out about pumpkins. In this pumpkins lesson plan, students research the site, make a review sheet for another group to complete, draw a pumpkin, and write a summary about their learnings.
Project SMART
Rocks and Minerals: Touch the Earth
Students complete a unit of lessons on rocks and minerals. They conduct research, write e-mail questions to geologists, write daily journal entries, label maps demonstrating types of rocks/minerals found, and create a web page that...
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Front Page News
Students collect and analyze the front pages of various newspapers and perform research on the Titantic tragedy. They choose a name for their newspaper, a headline, gather photographs, and write a front page article. Using computer...
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Whodunit?
Students bring in a variety of books to be approved for reading outside of class and then complete a book review on each one approved. They remember to include a description of the setting and characters, plot summary and a conclusion in...
Scholastic
Comprehension During Independent Reading
Ideal for a language arts class, literary unit, or independent reading assignment, a set of reading worksheets address a wide array of skills. From poetic elements to nonfiction text features, you can surely find a valuable resource in...
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Meaty Words
Headlines from newspapers launch a discussion of image-rich, meaty words. Just as headline writers choose vivid vocabulary to attract readers, young writers develop headlines that capture the essence of a passage from a book they are...
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Super Summarizer!!!
Emerging readers summarize a nonfiction text using a five step process. After a brief demonstration of the five-step method for summarizing text, they read a nonfiction article and write their own summary. A checklist of each summary is...
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Vocabulary 2c - Life Science: From Parents to Young
This life science vocabulary list and definitions will be useful when teaching a parent and offspring unit. Some nice ideas are included in the plan about the word origins, word structure and definition testing methods. There is also a...
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Animal Diary
Students create a diary of an animal. In this creative writing lesson, students read the book Diary of a Worm and conduct a brief research session on their animal. Students fill in a template with facts and create an animal diary.
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Retelling Information
This scripted lesson suggests using the journalist’s five W’s (who, what, when, where, why) to teach readers how to summarize a story and to how to distinguish between significant and supporting details. A template and rubric are...
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Sense of Hearing
Create a graphic organizer to review parts and systems of the body, then present a new topic. Special education students grades 3-5 learn about the sense of hearing. They draw parts of the ear, sign a song, read Perk Up Your Ears, and...
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Literature Circle Preparation
The secret to a successful literature circle discussion is preparation. Readers prepare for such a discussion by completing a two-page worksheet that asks them to summarize the text, record new words, ask and answer questions, and draw a...
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Autobiography Lesson Plans That Start The Year Off Right
Teaching autobiography or journal writing lessons the first week of school is a wonderful way to get to know your new students.
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Get Dramatic: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Students explain reducing, recycling and reusing. In this science/ arts instructional activity, students create a commercial and display a backdrop made out of recycled goods. Additionally, students write written responses to writing...
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Current Events
Students research current events and simulate a newscast of a current news story. They watch the evening news and write a summary of a story of interest, conduct Internet research and complete a worksheet on a current event, and...
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Masks and Aesop's Fables
Students study and perform Aesop's fables. In this Aesop's fables instructional activity, students read and/or listen to a number of the famous fables. They make masks based on the characters and perform a fable using the masks. They...