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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce Vocabulary: Animal Tracks (Dorros)

For Teachers K - 3rd
What kind of animal made those tracks? Explore some wild vocabulary in context as learners listen to Arthur Dorros' book, Animal Tracks. Before your read this, introduce the new words like bother, dam, reed,...
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Lesson Plan
Personal Genetics Education Project

Introduction to Personal Genetics

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Adolescents have the opportunity to consider how they feel about the possibilities presented by the current availability of genetic sequencing. After some instruction, they participate in a four-corners activity in which you read a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Lightning Thief: Directed Reading-Thinking Activity

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Before diving into the engaging tale of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, conduct this directed reading and thinking activity. Assess your pupils' knowledge of Greek gods and mythology through a knowledge web, and...
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Organizer
Curated OER

Tunes for Bears to Dance to: Graphic Organizer Strategy

For Teachers 6th - 8th
"What are Henry's options?" "What do you think Henry will do?" To better understand the central conflict for the main character in Robert Cormier's Tunes for Bears to Dance to, class members engage in a compare-and-contrast activity that...
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Lesson Plan
Maine Content Literacy Project

Introduction to Short Story Writers Say

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
There are so many authors of short stories, and your class can have the chance to study quite a few. This seventh lesson in a series of fourteen continues the decision-making process for the final assessment: a short story author study....
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Activity
University of California

Jewish Holidays

For Teachers 6th Standards
Modern Jewish holidays have ancient roots with many connections to today. Using photographs of primary sources, such as fragments of a shofar, as well as texts, such as the Hebrew Tanakh, learners explore how Jewish holidays reflect...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce Vocabulary: One Tiny Turtle (Davies)

For Teachers K - 3rd
The loggerhead turtle is a fascinating species, and budding readers learn all about it in Nicola Davies' account One Tiny Turtle. This informational narrative offers excellent vocabulary in context, and you'll find guidance here to...
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Printables
Fun in First

Help Your Child Become a Better Reader

For Parents 1st - 6th
Ensure that your learners can read both fiction and nonfiction texts with ease! This resource includes questions that individuals can ask themselves while reading either type of text to help learners comprehend the text, make...
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Lesson Plan
Maine Content Literacy Project

Introduction to Ernest Hemingway

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
What is a white elephant, and what does it have to do with Ernest Hemingway? Study "Hills Like White Elephants" in-depth by following the procedures outlined in this lesson, the fifth in a series of fourteen. Learners start the day with...
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Performance
Curated OER

The Odyssey: Narrative Writing

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Help readers make a personal connection to Homer's The Odyssey with a narrative writing assignment. Scholars select one of three prompts and craft a first-person narrative rich in sensory details that describes an experience they had...
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Lesson Plan
Maine Content Literacy Project

Introduction to the Short Story

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How should pupils read short stories? Set them up for this unit with an introductory lesson that goes over the main characteristics of a short story and starts learners off reading their first short story of the unit. In order to get a...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 16

For Teachers 9th Standards
Was Oedipus' destiny determined by fate or by his actions? Using details from the text, ninth graders delve into a critical thinking exercise based on Sophocles' Oedipus the King. Now that Oedipus has learned his true identity, readers...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce Vocabulary: Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King (Marzollo)

For Teachers K - 3rd
Looking for a vocabulary lesson relevant to MLK Day? Try this reading comprehension idea designed around Jean Marzollo's biography Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King. Go over new terms (freedom, justice, leadership, and talent) before...
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Organizer
Murrieta Valley Unified School District

Review and Assess: “The Inn of Lost Time”

For Students 6th - 8th
Check out a resource made up of two separate exercises. The first page lists a series of higher-level questions about "The Inn of Lost Time" by Lensey Namoika. Use the questions to encourage discussion or as an assessment. Since they...
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Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

The Trumpet of The Swan: Novel Study

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
What lengths will one go to for love? Louis, a swan in The Trumpet of The Swan, struggles to gain the attentions of a girl because he cannot trumpet. Thankfully, his father creates a plan that may work. Scholars discover Louis's attempts...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Maniac Magee: Problematic Situation

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
As part of their reading of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee, class members consider what it would take to survive living on their own. Using the provided worksheet, individuals list their needs and decide where they would seek shelter.
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Unit Plan
Penguin Books

An Educator's Guide to Al Capone Does My Shirts

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
It's hard to imagine that life on Alcatraz could be dull. A series of intriguing lessons take readers through the novel Al Capone Does my Shirts. Pre-reading questions introduce the text and a range of suggestions, from comic strips to...
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Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Little House In The Big Woods: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
Author Laura Ingalls Wilder takes readers back to the good ole days. In Little House in the Big Woods, she tells scholars about a family living in the woods during the 1870s. While reading, they complete sentences with vocabulary words,...
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Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

We All Fall Down: Novel Study

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day? Will, a ninth grade student in We All Fall Down, was at work with his father in the World Trade Center. Scholars read Will's story of the accounts told in first person....
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Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

The War That Saved My Life: Novel Study

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Most people think of war when they think of casualities. However, Ada used war to regain her life. A ten-year-old girl in The War That Saved My Life is a prisoner in her own home. However. when her brother goes to war, she takes the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Teach Text Structure for Nonfiction

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students explore the patterns of text structure to anticipate the kind of information that a reading might present. The instructional activity examines some of the components of reading writing and using nonfiction.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The First Strawberries

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars explore Cherokee legends. They read The First Strawberries by Joseph Bruchac, and then do several activities to help comprehension. They discuss the book and answer comprehension questions. In addition, they retell the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Blogging to Create a Community of Writers: Lesson 2 of 6

For Teachers 6th
Using this lesson on blogs, you can lead your class through the process of setting up a blog, writing a blog entry, editing their work, and more. There is a link to the blog site used, and attachments of blog entries.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Back to School: Style Analysis

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Jump back into expository writing and analysis at the start of a new school year! Start with a review of an authors' stylistic choices in diction, syntax, treatment of subject matter, and figurative language. Writers choose a text to...