Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Gold Collar Jobs
As we expose our students to different ideas, it is important they see that not all words come from books- some of our best ideas come from conversations and things we see or do! A quick, easy and free way to help our students get...
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Better Lesson: The Fox and the Grapes Moral
Learners will get exposure to a folktale and work to understand the moral. This lesson uses two fables "The Fox and the Grapes" and "The Fox and the Hen". The lesson involves guided practice where the students write notes on the left...
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Better Lesson: Say What?
This is a practice lesson designed to excite sports fans in a unit about determining who is speaking in a story. The students practice this specific skill as the teacher models it in the hook. They get guided practice sorting and...
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Better Lesson: Who Said That?
It is important for students to learn how to identify who is telling the story. This instructional activity not only asks students to identify the speaker but also asks the students to start identifying the point of view in the guided...
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Better Lesson: Look Who's Talking
This is an introductory lesson to learning who is speaking in a story. The young scholars do this specific skill after the teacher models it in the hook. They get guided practice sorting and labeling who is talking in the guided practice...
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Better Lesson: Senses
Students will engage in a lesson that teaches them to associate certain expressions and words with specific feelings. Included are a senses PowerPoint, a model of a graphic organizer, and a video and picture of the students engaged in...
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Better Lesson: Identifying the Difference Between Informational and Literary Text
Students will learn the difference between books that tell stories and books that give information. Multiple videos of different level reading groups engaged in this lesson, along with a printable activity sheet are included.
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Better Lesson: Learning About Subheadings and Bold Words
In this lesson, students will use several strategies to learn the meaning of new words they encounter in text. The students will learn specific strategies so when they encounter new words, they can figure out the meaning of those words...
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Better Lesson: Comparing and Contrasting With "Then and Now"
This instructional activity is a great small group reading instructional activity that has a social studies connection. In this instructional activity, learners will be comparing and contrasting schools from long ago and schools of today...
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Better Lesson: Wolves vs. Dogs
Using the book "Is My Dog a Wolf?" learners will find "connections or similarities" in two animals. Included is a printable graphic organizer.
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Better Lesson: Where Did You Learn That?
As adults, we explore pictures, captions, diagrams and text, when reading any kind of informational piece. Kids can do this too! In this instructional activity, learners will sort information that was obtained from pictures and diagrams,...
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Better Lesson: From Seed to Plant
Learners will use the illustrations and details in the text to describe how plants grow. This lesson uses a complex text to allow students to analyze the pictures in From Seed to Plant and From Seed to Pumpkin. Included are videos and...
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Better Lesson: Finding the Author's Purpose
What is autism? How does it affect behavior? Learners will find evidence of the author's tone or purpose for writing the article, as well as hints that show evidence of opinion. Includes a video clip from the movie "Rainman", and an...
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Better Lesson: Similarities and Differences Between Two Text
For this lesson, through guided practice, the students use two texts about Martin Luther King to compare the similarities and differences between those texts. Includes videos of the lesson in action, printable charts, and a graphic...
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Better Lesson: Work Out Together
Students will read an article and determine the author's point and identify the reasons the author gives to support his or her point. This lesson requires analysis by the students and a great deal of higher-order thinking as they...
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Better Lesson: Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?
The ability to identify letters, sounds, words, sentences, and punctuation can help learners become better readers. This lesson utilizes the book "Who Stole the Cookies" for a variety of activities. Included are printable worksheets,...
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Better Lesson: Many Parts
Preparation for reading complex informational texts starts in K and First grade. Knowing the features of the genre, and how to navigate through it is one of the necessary stepping stones. This instructional activity introduces the...
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Better Lesson: Tap and Say an Activity for Segmenting Words
You can add a phonemic awareness activity to your phonics lessons each day and it will only add a few extra minutes to your lessons. You also don't need to buy expensive manipulatives for your students to use. There are lots of low-cost...
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Better Lesson: Writing Our Sloppy Copies and Peer Editing
Students will write a sloppy copy and help a peer to edit their writing. They will use a kid-friendly checklist (included)to help each other find their mistakes. Videos of students engaged in the lesson are provided, along with a...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Writing Our Sloppy Copies and Peer Editing
Students will write a sloppy copy and help a peer to edit their writing. They will use a kid-friendly checklist (included)to help each other find their mistakes. Videos of the lesson in action are provided, along with a teacher's grading...
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Better Lesson: Writing Our Sloppy Copies and Peer Editing Day 4 Honeybees
You mean I have to write my story again, have someone check to make sure it's right, and fix my mistakes? For this lesson, students will peer edit each other's writing. They will use their five-star checklists (included) to make sure...
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Better Lesson: Writing an Opinion Based on Facts From a Text
Students will plan a paragraph that states their opinion and cites evidence to justify their opinion about an informational text. This lesson uses biographies since students can easily be able to write down factual information from the...
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Better Lesson: Identifying and Writing Opinions About Clouds Using Clue Words
It is important to teach learners the difference between facts and opinions. This is the groundwork for getting students to think critically when analyzing a piece of text. This lesson will help to lay the foundation for opinion writing....
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Better Lesson: Dress Code and Me
Make learning relevant as students express their opinion about the school dress code. Students will write an opinion letter to our Superintendent sharing their opinion of the dress code. The guided practice is about the teacher dress...