Curated OER
Writing a Personal Letter Using the Short Story "Eleven"
Challenge your class to connect to the text of "Eleven" by Sandra Cisneros with this activity, which prompts them to write a personal letter from the main character's point of view. The story, prompt, and letter template are all included...
Core Task Project
Whatif by Shel Silverstein
What a skillful way to incorporate Shel Silverstein, a wonderful author, into the classroom. Composed of three tasks, children are led through a series of text-dependent questions that force them to unveil the meaning of Silverstein's...
Curated OER
Second Graders Create Their Own Social Studies Book (Part I, The 5Ws of the Constitution)
Students develop their own social studies textbook using a blank theme book as they complete activities and learning experiences throughout the year. The activities are in art, music, simulations, read alouds, shared writing and a class...
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Create a BIG Book
Students explore about big books. They create a big book version of a favorite story or an ABC book about a favorite topic. Students describe the size of a book. Students are explained that big books are books that have large pictures...
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Introduce Vocabulary: A Picture Book of Abe Lincoln (Adler)
The story of Abe Lincoln serves as the backdrop to this vocabulary-in-context activity as you read David Adler's A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln. Scholars learn these politically themed words before listening to you read the story...
Curated OER
Where Is Saturn in the Solar System? Where Am I in the Solar System?
Students engage in a solar system activity, In this activity, students will read aloud as a class about the solar system. The students will then listen to the teacher read a solar system book prior to filling out a worksheet about their...
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The Pirates of the Caribbean
Third graders participate in a demonstration lesson that shows a map of the Caribbean Islands. They examine a natural resource that each island is known for. Next, they listen to a read aloud of Gail Gibbons, "Pirates: Robbers of the...
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My First Book
Introduce young writers to the process of writing a book. Start by reading a book of your choice and discussing the essential elements of any book such as the cover, story, and illustrations as well as who is responsible for each...
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Why Thank You!
Fifth graders listen to a read aloud of Patricia Polacco's, Thank You, Mr. Falker! students examine the use of voice in the book, discuss the writing and theme ideas. They write a thank you not to their hero.
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Stepping Stones
Students listen to stories read aloud. They examine a work of art by a known artist. Students take a picture using the digital camera. They listen as the teacher reads "Where the Wild Things Are." Students compare and contrast the...
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Relevance
Learners read a passage from an article and sort out irrelevant facts leaving only the information that is relevant to the the headline. They then read aloud their edited stories and compare them with the versions on CBBC Newsround.
Curated OER
Interpersonal Communication
Pupils identify and practice the skills necessary for effective communication including reading, listening, and non-verbal. They read aloud and discuss, "They Water Closet Story" to determine which characters did not adequately...
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Vacation Matrix-Integrated Core
Students read aloud, "The Best Vacation Ever," by Stuart Murphy locate vacation spots on a map and describe their own vacations. Students illustrate their summer vacation spot and describe the vacation, placing it on a "vacation matrix"...
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Counting Up/Down Stories
Mirroring Jerry Spinelli's style in Wringer, chapter 5, pupils use the "counting up/down technique" to recall an important moment in their lives. In the book, the character is being punched, and between blows he remembers details that...
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Spiders - KidPix
Students answer questions after a story is read aloud, identify and recall the three major body parts of a spider (head, body and 8 legs), construct a spider when given parts of a spider on a handout, and draw and decorate a spider using...
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Poetry Immersion
Young scholars explore the genre of poetry through centers. They listen to the sound of poems being read aloud, visualize individual poems and observe and apply line breaks in poetry.
Library of Congress
George Washington: First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of His Countrymen
Does the lens of history portray George Washington as a good leader? A three-lesson unit looks at Washington's early military career as the commander of the Virginia Regiment, his role in the fight for independence from England, and his...
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The Outsiders
Are you working on an Outsiders unit? Use this list of activities to deepen your middle schoolers' understanding of the novel. After reading S.E. Hinton's novel, young readers work on three required activities, including participating in...
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Vocabulary Building
Use primary text documents to learn word roots. Learners listen to a reading of the Declaration of Independence and highlight words they don't know. They compile these words and guess their meanings. They discuss roots, prefixes,...
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Heartsongs Poetry by Mattie Stepanek
Use Mattie Stepanek’s Heartsongs book of poetry to inspire young poets to write about their own lives, experiences, and feelings. After reading the introduction to Mattie’s book, in which he talks about himself and his reasons for...
Curated OER
An Author Report on Beverly Cleary
Students examine Beverly Cleary as a reader and an author. They write a letter to Beverly Cleary that details their personal journey as readers and writers after reading her work and keeping a reading journal.
Curated OER
Family Pictures (Cuadros de Familia)
Designed to be spread across multiple days, this mini-unit gives learners an opportunity to develop family related vocabulary. Start by reading selected pages from "Family Pictures-Cuadros de familia" by Carmen Lomas Garza, and then...
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Animal Habitats
Students explore animal lifestyles by researching their characteristics. In this animal habitat lesson, students read the story Over in the Jungle and analyze the animal illustrations in the book. Students create clay animal characters...
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The Things That Bothered Farmer Brown
Link language development to literacy skills. This lesson template provides a comprehensible way to use the Braidy Web to maximize language and reading skills. It would be appropriate for developmentally disabled pupils reading at a K-2...