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Life Shields
Young scholars create shields representing what they value most. In this art lesson, students observe shields in the book The Legend of the Bluebonnet and create their own shields depicting the four things they value most in life.
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Peter and the Starcatchers: Concept Analysis
Are you preparing to teach Peter and the Starcatchers? If so, you'll want to take a look at this analysis of the text, which describes plot and literary elements in-depth and explores potential implications related to diversity and...
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Classify By Topic
Students explore and evaluate poetry. In small groups, they read and summarize poems, complete a handout, create and perform a dramatization of a poem, and write a journal entry in response to their performance.
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Expressing Our Thoughts Through Poetry
Students create a poem on about spring. They read final version of their poem chorally. They write reflections of their experience in creating the poem.
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Literacy Lesson: Guided Reading
Here is a wonderful instructional activity designed for students with special needs. This well-thought-out instructional activity uses Big Books, familiar stories, and has a lot of review learning built into it. The book, The Keeping...
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Personal Narrative Paragraphs: Class Quilt
Begin this activity by asking third graders to bring from home pieces of cloth that represent something important to them. (Have extras for students who need them.) They reflect on important events in their lives, compose narrative...
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How to Write an Essay: Secondary ed.
Whether introducing the structure of expository essays or reviewing the format with your high schoolers, take the time to check out this resource. Examples of seven common forms of introductory paragraphs and six types of conclusions, as...
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Lily's Crossing
Students listen to a story, "Lily's Crossing," about life during a World War. After completing worksheets, they compare and contrast characters in the story. Using math skills, students develop a time line of the war, calculate the...
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A Trip to Wonderland: The Nursery "Alice"
Primary learners explore elements of wonder in The Nursery "Alice" by Lewis Carroll. They analyze the plot point after listening to the text. Next, they describe the imagery in various works of children's literature using the given links...
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Childhood Through the Looking-Glass
Junior high learners discuss Lewis Carroll's classic story, Alice in Wonderland. They observe the image of childhood in his photographs and compare them to present-day images. There is a plethora of ideas and links for discussions...
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Message in a Bottle
Students acquire a pen pal in a foreign country and write letters at least twice a month throughout the year to exchange with them. At the end of the year, they write an essay that compares one important difference and one important...
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Asking Shows Respect for Privacy of Others
Fourth graders explore how to hold conversations and respect the privacy of others. They discuss why it is important to ask those in authority for help and to respect others' belongings. They review signs they have observed in public and...
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The Song of the Lark
Using the internet, class members research the biography of Willa Cather, view photographs of Red Cloud, Nebraska, and read the novel, The Song of the Lark. They discuss the film, its setting and characters, and explore the importance of...
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Author's Day
Have your learners choose an author to study. One resource link gives a list of approved authors. Scholars read at least three works produced by that author and produce three separate book reports as well as a two-page author report....
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Cross-Curricular Games
Students participate in exploring and examining several cross-curricular, hands-on games that encourage active learning and exercise at the same time. They assess games like Freeze Tag, Parts of Speech games and a healthy heart game, etc.
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The Birchbark House: Chapters 13 & 14
In this The Birchbark House comprehension check worksheet, learners respond to 23 short answer questions covering chapters 13-14 of The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich in order to help them better understand those chapters and the novel.
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Abstract Nouns
In two similar worksheets contained in this resource, learners circle the abstract noun contained in 13 or 14 sentences. Unfortunately, an example given is "courageous," which is an adjective. This is a resource for home schooling, but...
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Definition Poems
“Hope is a tissue, wiping away your problems and fears.” Use a Definition Poem Web worksheet to model for your class how to craft a free verse poem based on an emotion. After brainstorming topics, groups use the sheet to make comparisons...
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Making Connections
Fourth graders investigate visual imagery to aid reading comprehension. In this reading strategies lesson, 4th graders discover how visual imagery helps in comprehending a story. Students use a reader's notebook to record connections.
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Anticipation Guide Strategy for Gary Paulsen's Canyons (For Teachers)
"Things never change." "It's okay to steal from those who already have a lot." Before reading Canyons, readers respond to an anticipation guide that focuses on issues raised in Gary Paulsen's novel. Groups share their responses, and...
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Flipped: After Reading Strategy
Everyone can be an expert! After finishing Wendelin Van Draanen's book Flipped, divide your class into small groups. Then, assign each group a topic to become experts on. The resource suggests topics such as characters, themes, setting,...
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Hamlet Anticipation Guide
Here's a short anticipation guide for Hamlet. Before reading the text, learners will mark the things they believe will happen in the text. Then, after they read, they will revisit the guide to see what actually happened.
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Anticipation Guide
Start off your study of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with a lesson spent exploring some of the concepts that will be present in the novel. This anticipation guide focuses on honesty and lying. After learners decided if they agree or...
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The Book Thief: Discussion Questions
Expand your study of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak with a question for each level of Bloom's Taxonomy. These questions focus on part four of the novel; each is paired with at least one quote from the text for context and teacher reference.