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Lesson Plan Index
Sort ReadWriteThink Lessons by Title, Grade, or Date by clicking on the appropriate header. You may also use the Lesson Plan Selector above.
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| TITLE | ABSTRACT | GRADE | DATE |
Name Talk: Exploring Letter-Sound Knowledge in the Primary Classroom |
Invites primary students to share their letter/sound knowledge in a small group and gives teachers an opportunity to assess knowledge in a meaningful context. Working with name cards, students share observations about their names and the names of their classmates. Extensions are appropriate for a range of primary-aged students. | K-2 | 3/16/07 |
Sentence Quest: Using Parts of Speech to Write Descriptive Sentences |
Working with class-generated word lists categorized by parts of speech, students learn the criteria for a sentence by manipulating word cards, then collaborate to write and illustrate complete, descriptive sentences. Finally, students work in groups using descriptive words and phrases to try to create the longest sentence they can. | K-2 | 3/1/04 |
The Frog Beyond the Fairy Tale Character: Searching Informational Texts |
Students consider their prior knowledge about frogs by predicting whether eight statements are true or false. Students verify their predictions through the guided use of the website The Somewhat Amusing World of Frogs. This lesson is best used for grades 1 and 2 and can be connected to the study of amphibians or to the reading of Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad series. |
K-2 | 6/25/07 |
Listen, Look, and Learn: An Information-Gathering Process |
After listening to and discussing the story Score One for the Sloths, primary students will work together as a class group to seek for information on the sloth. This introductory lesson on information gathering features a variety of resources and formats to be used with notes recorded on an information wheel graphic organizer. | K-2 | 10/13/04 |
Word Recognition Strategies Using Nursery Rhymes |
This lesson uses familiar nursery rhymes to draw attention to words that end with the same letters. Kindergarten and first-grade students are encouraged to create word family lists and compare them to words in different word families. | K-2 | 12/18/08 |
Text Talk: Julius, the Baby of the World |
This lesson helps young readers interact with and interpret text using Julius, the Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes. The text talk strategy provides students with open-ended questions, which allow them to interpret the language, plot, and characters of the story. | K-2 | 6/25/07 |
A Journal for Corduroy: Responding to Literature |
This lesson leads first-grade students to reflect on and respond to literature through journal writing. Students read books in the Corduroy series and interact with a stuffed bear to personalize their experiences. They also record their own adventures with Corduroy, share their stories with the class, and create a class book using the computer. | K-2 | 10/20/09 |
From Stop Signs to the Golden Arches: Environmental Print |
Teachers have long surrounded young students with a print-rich environment within the classroom, but the purpose of this lesson is to bring the print-rich environment of the community into the classroom through the use of environmental print, enabling emergent readers to delight in the realization that they are indeed readers. | K-2 | 9/24/07 |
Active Reading Using The Enormous Watermelon |
Students engage in word recognition activities using character names and high-frequency words from the predictable texts of rebus versions of nursery rhymes online and the Big Book The Enormous Watermelon. Students also identify the main characters in these texts. | K-2 | 9/17/09 |
What’s in a Name? Teaching Concepts of Letter and Word |
The purpose of this lesson is to help kindergarten children understand the concepts of letter and word by using their names as a starting point. Ideas will also be given to help assess student progress in becoming readers and writers. What can you do with names? Just see! | K-2 | 12/4/05 |
Have Journal...Will Travel: Promoting Family Involvement in Literacy |
This project is designed to engage families in shared literacy activities. The students take turns taking home a book bag that includes a stuffed toy, a book, art supplies, a topic to discuss with their families, and a journal to share their thoughts and ideas. Through the experience they build positive memories of literacy activities. | K-2 | 5/9/06 |
Literature Circles with Primary Students Using Self-Selected Reading |
After reading self-selected books, students respond to reading in a journal and talk about their books daily in small, heterogeneous groups. The teacher guides and assesses students’ work by rotating among the groups, offering suggested response prompts and writing with them in their dialogue journals. | K-2 | 6/30/05 |
Draw a Story: Stepping from Pictures to Writing |
Students draw a series of pictures that tell a simple story that includes character action, problem and solution. They ‘read’ their story to others, transcribe it into writing, and create an accordion book with the drawings and writing. The activity supports the transition from oral to written storytelling. | K-2 | 11/14/06 |
Composing Cinquain Poems: A Quick-Writing Activity |
Cinquain (pronounced "cin-kain") is a five-line poetic form, using a wavelike syllable count of two-four-six-eight-two. In this lesson, students write simple cinquain of their own as a follow-up to a subject they have been exploring in class (for instance, units on animals, community, rainforest, or on a particular picture book, such as Amazing Grace). | K-2 | 5/1/09 |
Using Children’s Natural Curiosity to Lead to Descriptive Writing |
Inspired by the book It Starts with an A, kindergarten students are invited to turn their curiosity and guesswork into a class book, complete with illustrated objects and descriptive language. Students can share this book with family members and peers before adding it to their classroom library. | K-2 | 12/4/05 |
Let's Talk About Stories: Shared Discussion With Amazing Grace |
Make space for critical literacy in your classroom and engage your students in meaningful and thoughtful discussions. This lesson uses Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman, as an example, to dig deep into themes such as prejudice, courage, and self-confidence. | K-2 | 4/14/09 |
Student of the Day: Create Sound/Letter Understanding With Names |
This lesson uses students' names and other concrete words to teach the conventions and terminology of print. Kindergarten and first-grade students explore each other's names, making comparisons between initial sounds, ending sounds, syllabication, and letter shape. | K-2 | 3/21/07 |
Using Folk Tales: Vowel Influences on the Letter G |
Using the folk tale genre, students are introduced to the irregular spelling pattern of hard and soft g at the beginning of words. Students use the Internet to find and categorize animal names that begin with the letter g, and they also read a story about a giant. | K-2 | 12/16/08 |
Using Repetition and Picture Cues to Foster Independent Young Readers |
This lesson invites kindergartners to share their knowledge of letters and sounds in a large group setting and gives teachers an opportunity to assess student’s knowledge in this area. Each student contributes a page to make a classroom book that is repetitive in nature. | K-2 | 9/11/03 |
Writing Reports in Kindergarten? Yes! |
This lesson encourages young students to see themselves as writers who have a message to convey. Three different types of reports are provided to show just what kindergartners and other young writers can do. Reports in kindergarten? Absolutely! | K-2 | 3/1/04 |
Launching Family Message Journals |
This lesson introduces Family Message Journals, a tool for encouraging family involvement and supporting writing to reflect and learn. First and second graders are led into composing through demonstration, guided writing, and finally independent writing of messages that they will bring home for family to read and write a reply. | K-2 | 3/28/07 |
Family Message Journals Teach Many Purposes for Writing |
Family Message Journals are tools for learning, thinking, and self-expression. By writing several messages with varied purposes, students begin to experience that journal writing can serve many purposes—it can help them remember; make sense of new information and ideas; and recognize, develop, and share personal thoughts and reactions. | K-2 | 9/22/04 |
Growing Readers and Writers with Help from Mother Goose |
Children can learn rhythm and rhyme from nursery rhymes. But those same poems can be used to help young students make connections to letters, sounds, and word chunks. Let Mother Goose help children grow as readers and writers! | K-2 | 7/13/07 |
It Doesn’t Have to End That Way: Using Prediction Strategies with Literature |
After listening to the beginning of a story, students use details in the text, personal experience, and prior knowledge to predict the way the story will end. Students create illustrations of the story’s ending that reflects their predictions. | K-2 | 5/8/07 |
Persuasive Writing: What Can Writing in Family Message Journals Do for Students? |
Composing messages with varied purposes helps children discover the power of writing. When students recognize what writing can do for them, motivation to write increases. This lesson engages children in using writing to their families as a persuasive tool to get what they want and need. | K-2 | 3/17/08 |
Weekend News! A Weekly Writing Activity |
The Weekend News writing activity gives students the opportunity to recall and write about personal events on a weekly basis. The writing is done in an encouraging environment, which helps students develop writing fluency and apply what they know about the writing process, spelling, and language conventions. Students also create criteria to self-assess their writing. | K-2 | 11/21/08 |
Getting the ig in Pig: Helping Children Discover Onset and Rime |
This phonics lesson offers a clear instructional format for teaching onset and rime. The ig rime is demonstrated through the use of literature, independent and cooperative learning, critical thinking, and hands-on activities. Instruction is conducted in both an explicit and implicit manner. | K-2 | 4/25/08 |
Dr. Seuss’s Sound Words: Playing with Phonics and Spelling |
Boom! Br-r-ring! Cluck! Moo!—you are bound to find exciting sounds everywhere. Whether you visit online sites that play sounds or take a sound hike, ask your students to notice the sounds they hear then write their own poems, using sound words, based on Dr. Seuss's Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You? | K-2 | 2/19/09 |
Reading Everywhere with Dr. Seuss |
Using Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham as a model, students create a book and a PowerPoint or HyperStudio slide show to help them see all the wonderful places they can read. Where do you like to read? By the pool? At school? In a car? Beneath a star? Here? There? Everywhere! | K-2 | 3/1/09 |
From Fact to Fiction: Drawing and Writing Stories |
Involving students in drawing activities prior to writing helps them to visualize what they want to express in their writing. Drawing before writing makes writing an easier process. In this lesson, students learn story elements, use graphic organizers, and access the Internet to gather factual information about frogs and toads. | K-2 | 6/25/07 |
Teaching Short-Vowel Discrimination Using Dr. Seuss Rhymes |
Students develop phonemic and phonetic awareness through word study of common short-vowel word families. Students will use Dr. Seuss rhymes to discover and explore the sounds and spellings of different short vowel word families. | K-2 | 12/16/08 |
Gingerbread Phonics |
The Gingerbread Man, a familiar folk tale, is used to help early readers learn letter-sound correspondence in a meaningful context. Students then use their new skills to write an online story. | K-2 | 11/15/07 |
Phoneme Isolation: Building Phonemic Awareness |
Phoneme isolation is an important aspect of phonemic awareness and an essential early reading skill. This lesson helps students isolate beginning and ending sounds and connect them with their written symbol (grapheme) through games and chants. | K-2 | 3/6/09 |
Generating Rhymes: Developing Phonemic Awareness |
Phonemic awareness instruction is an integral part of any early reading program. This lesson incorporates song and poetry to help students recognize and generate simple rhymes. | K-2 | 4/25/08 |
Guess What’s in the Bag: A Language-based Activity |
"Guess What's in the Bag" gives students opportunities to interact and play with language. It challenges them to develop and use descriptive language when communicating. This lesson helps not only the speakers, but also the listeners who process the clues given and make predictions about the item in the bag. | K-2 | 11/19/08 |
Using a Predictable Text to Teach High-Frequency Words |
This lesson uses a predictable text (Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carle) to help students learn high-frequency words. After reading the story, students form their own sentences using words from the text. | K-2 | 4/25/08 |
A is for Apple: Building Letter-Recognition Fluency |
This lesson, which is most appropriate for kindergartners, provides multiple and varied opportunities for students to work with letters. Students play games, work online, and create an ABC book to become more fluent at letter recognition. | K-2 | 4/14/09 |
Creating Class Rules: A Beginning to Creating Community |
On the first days of school, students are led through a process for establishing year-long goals and needs for the classroom. These become the classroom guidelines which are used as a foundation for continuous community-building in the classroom. | K-2 | 11/19/08 |
Draw a Math Story: From the Concrete to the Symbolic |
When students draw first, write second, and then use equations to symbolize their stories, they start from the concrete and move to the symbolic, helping to improve reading comprehension as well as mathematical understanding. Students' higher-level thinking skills are developed by comparing, sequencing, writing and drawing to support their reading, and using symbols to represent meaning. | K-2 | 3/21/07 |
Book Sorting: Using Observation and Comprehension to Categorize Books |
This sorting lesson supports the development of critical-thinking and vocabulary skills through observation and discussion of text illustrations and content. With the whole group and then in pairs, students sort books into three or more groups using their own criteria, then explain in writing how they sorted the books. | K-2 | 11/19/08 |
Giant Story Problems: Reading Comprehension through Math Problem Solving |
Students solve "oversized" story problems using drawings, equations, and written responses, helping them understand the links between the language of story problems and the numerical representations of matching equations. The activity also includes oral language and reflective writing, thus bringing together a variety of language experiences into mathematics work. | K-2 | 11/19/08 |
Word Wizards: Students Making Words |
This lesson is based on an instructional strategy developed by Patricia Cunningham called "Making Words." Students in first and second grade manipulate a set of letters to construct words dictated by the teacher. Students then apply the strategy using an online, interactive game. | K-2 | 7/10/07 |
Poetry Portfolios: Using Poetry to Teach Reading and Writing |
Teach your students about sentence structure, rhyming words, sight words, vocabulary, and print concepts using a weekly poem. These important skills for reading and writing are demonstrated in a whole-to-parts approach using engaging poems, shared reading, and independent activities. | K-2 | 3/6/09 |
Engaging Students in Read-Alouds Using Fractured Texas Tales |
This lesson involves read-alouds of traditional fairy tales and their Wild West counterparts to engage students in reading responses. Each session also includes suggestions for supporting English-language learners. | K-2 | 4/14/09 |
Whole-to-Parts Phonics Instruction: Teaching Letter-Sound Correspondences |
In this lesson, students are exposed to whole-to-parts phonics instruction. After a story has been read to, with, and by children, the teacher assists them in analyzing spoken words by focusing on onset and rime. Students use onset-rime analogies to identify words that belong to the same word family. | K-2 | 12/18/08 |
Book Buddy Biographies: Intermediate and Primary Students Working Together |
The success of a year-long Book Buddy program hinges on those first few days at the beginning of the year. As intermediate and primary students are first introduced, they have the opportunity to get to know each other on a more personal level by creating personalized biographies by interviewing each other, recording responses, putting the information into book format, and illustrating their books. | K-2 | 4/3/06 |
Between the Lions: Exploring Short-Vowel Sounds |
Not only is "Between the Lions" an exciting, educational television program by PBS, it also has a captivating website with a variety of activities that students will enjoy. This lesson provides examples of how the "Between the Lions" website can be used by a first-grade class studying short-vowel sounds. | K-2 | 6/26/07 |
A Getting-Acquainted Activity Using My Teacher’s Secret Life |
The first days of school are filled with excitement and uncertainty. Here, in this kindergarten lesson, is a creative way for students to become familiar with the teacher and each other. The students will listen to Stephen Krensky's My Teacher's Secret Life, discuss the content, and make predictions about what everyone does when they are away from school. | K-2 | 12/2/05 |
Phonics Through Literature: Learning About the Letter M |
With a balance of teacher-directed, student-initiated, and home activities, kindergarten students learn about phonics and the letter m. This lesson uses children's literature, learning centers, and activities that emphasize interactive learning across the curriculum to encourage students to "monkey around" with their knowledge of letters and sounds in a fun, whole-language environment. | K-2 | 4/14/08 |
Learning Centers: From Shared to Independent Practice |
In this lesson, a number of literacy learning centers are developed within the context of a shared reading experience, allowing students to practice skills at their own level (both in interest and ability), within the authentic context of a rich literacy experience. | K-2 | 11/18/08 |
Phonic Generalizations in Chrysanthemum |
Using the book Chrysanthemum, this lesson teaches first- and second-graders the phonic generalizations for ow, aw, and ew. Based on the strategy "Letterbox Lessons" by Murray and Lesniak, students manipulate letters to construct words. Students then apply the strategy by spelling the words, reading the words in selected nursery rhymes, and playing an online, interactive game. | K-2 | 12/18/08 |
Adventures in Nonfiction: A Guided Inquiry Journey |
Students are guided through an informal exploration of nonfiction texts and child-oriented Web sites, learning browsing and skimming techniques for the purpose of gathering interesting information. They share learned facts with others, develop follow-up questions, and seek answers using Internet search engines in addition to print resources. | K-2 | 7/2/06 |
Investigating Animals: Using Nonfiction for Inquiry-based Research |
Students document their discoveries as they explore nonfiction, informational texts to investigate favorite animals. The lesson includes whole-group explorations and paired experiences between kindergarten students and upper-grade students. | K-2 | 4/14/09 |
Reading and Writing About Whales Using Fiction and Nonfiction Texts |
This lesson uses fiction and nonfiction texts to teach first- and second-grade students about blue whales and the parts of a letter. Students learn how to formulate research questions and incorporate their questions in the form of a letter. They then send their letters to an online scientist. | K-2 | 7/18/07 |
Hey Diddle, Diddle! Generating Rhymes for Analogy-Based Phonics Instruction |
First-grade teachers can use analogy-based phonics (i.e., learning words based on word families) before other phonological skills, such as rhyme, are in place. This lesson focuses on an informal assessment of students' identification of rhyme in the context of a poem and manipulation of online picture cards. | K-2 | 4/25/08 |
It's Too Loud in Here! Teamwork in the Classroom |
This lesson meets first- and second-grade students' natural need to socialize when creating meaning about the world. The cooperative learning activities allow students to collaborate and develop an understanding of teamwork while developing classroom rules. It's okay to be LOUD in this lesson! | K-2 | 7/24/07 |
Weather: A Journey in Nonfiction |
This lesson outlines a research project designed to allow primary students to engage in nonfiction text, both in print and digital forms. The content focus for resources is weather, but the lesson can be adapted to other content areas. | K-2 | 7/19/07 |
Collaborative Stories 1: Prewriting and Drafting |
Students participate in two small-group prewriting activities to gather ideas for a story to be written collaboratively by the whole class. After listening to the beginnings of several children’s stories, students work in groups to brainstorm plot ideas and story beginnings. Students then write a collaborative story on chart paper, working individually or in pairs to add to the story sentence-by-sentence, honing their teamwork skills and playing off each other's writing strengths. | K-2 | 2/28/04 |
Collaborative Stories 2: Revising |
Using a story which has been written collaboratively by students, the teacher leads a shared-revising activity to help students consider content when revising, with students participating in the marking of text revisions. | K-2 | 5/9/06 |
Playing Name Bingo with Chrysanthemum |
The Name Bingo Game is sure to be popular with your students, whether it's early in year and you're still learning each other's names or you've had a new student join the class. After listening to Kevin Henkes' Chrysanthemum, or a similar book, each child develops a Bingo card and the whole class plays the game, learning one another's names and getting to know on another better. An added plus is this activity can become a reading center for your classroom. | K-2 | 10/8/03 |
Let's Build a Snowman |
Using both fiction and nonfiction books on the same topic can boost students' understanding of the topic and enjoyment for reading. In this lesson, students use both types of texts, the Internet, and a K-W-L chart to learn about how animals survive during the winter. | K-2 | 1/23/07 |
Catching the Bug for Reading Through Interactive Read-Alouds |
Interactive read-alouds can help beginning readers learn good reading strategies. By listening to, discussing, and analyzing Miss Bindergarten Stays Home from Kindergarten by Joseph Slate, students construct meaning and explore the reading process. As an added bonus, they also learn how to prevent the spread of germs in the classroom. | K-2 | 3/8/06 |
Teaching Audience Through Interactive Writing |
This lesson teaches first-grade students how to think about audience when writing. By interacting with one another during the writing process, students create invitations for a genuine purpose. | K-2 | 8/2/07 |
The Big Green Monster Teaches Phonics in Reading and Writing |
This lesson incorporates a shared and paired reading of the story Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley to build reading fluency and word recognition skills. Students also examine onset/rime patterns by generating word families, review high-frequency vocabulary through a memory card game, and apply phonics skills during a writing activity. | K-2 | 4/25/08 |
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Me: Identifying with a Hero |
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day provides a great opportunity to teach about heroes. But how do we help our youngest students identify with an American hero like Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who lived and died long before they were even born? This lesson provides lots of ideas by encouraging students to explore the connections between Dr. King and themselves in journals and inquiry-based research. | K-2 | 8/17/09 |
Living the Dream: 100 Acts of Kindness |
After studying about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and what he believed in, students need the chance to apply those lessons. This is the action piece. This project allows students to participate in Dr. King’s dream by doing 100 acts of kindness. What better way to prove that we can make a difference? What better way to live the dream? | K-2 | 4/14/09 |
Building a Matrix for Leo Lionni Books: An Author Study |
In this author study, students listen to four books by Leo Lionni and discuss the literary elements of each story. With each new read-aloud story, students identify similarities and differences in the stories and work in groups to add illustrated information to a story matrix. Finally, students compare two stories of their choice. | K-2 | 8/17/09 |
A-Hunting We Will Go: Teaching Rhyming Through Musical Verse |
Rhyming is a natural skill when used in the context of singing songs. This lesson engages children by teaching rhyming concepts through music. Students gain an understanding of rhyming verse by creating new rhyming pairs for a familiar song and support these skills with an online interactive tool. | K-2 | 4/25/08 |
Writing Poetry with Rebus and Rhyme |
This lesson encourages young students to use their developing knowledge of rhyming words to write rebus poetry modeled on rebus books, which substitute pictures for the harder words that young students cannot yet identify or decode. | K-2 | 5/9/06 |
Using Songwriting to Build Awareness of Beginning Letter Sounds |
This musical lesson, focusing on beginning letter sounds, is an engaging way for students to practice using selected letters by creating verses to a song. Students think creatively to develop and sing song verses and then illustrate the verses to be included in a class songbook. | K-2 | 12/16/08 |
Note Writing in the Primary Classroom |
Focus on authentic writing in your classroom by visibly using everyday notes in the classroom and inviting students to write short notes to themselves, friends, teachers, and family. This lesson invites students to write short everyday notes, to remind, plan, request or compliment, providing many natural opportunities for meaningful writing and lots of practice in encoding/decoding written text, drawing them into the world of real writing for real purposes. | K-2 | 6/15/06 |
Animal Study: From Fiction to Facts |
Students listen to matching fiction and nonfiction read-alouds and explore selected Web sites to identify factual information about animals. To complete their exploration, students predict, question, confirm, and record information about one animal. This lesson plan focuses on ants, but the project can easily be adapted to any animal of interest. Resources are included for ants, black bears, fish, frogs and toads, penguins, and polar bears. | K-2 | 4/14/09 |
Authentic Writing Experiences and Math Problem-Solving Using Shopping Lists |
This activity allows students to use their emerging writing skills to write their own shopping lists. Students are highly motivated to work within a budget, use their problem-solving skills to create shopping lists, and buy their favorite treats at the class store. | K-2 | 11/19/08 |
What’s the Difference? Beginning Writers Compare E-mail with Letter Writing |
E-mail is increasingly popular among beginning writers who find electronic communication highly engaging. Educators also consider e-mail a powerful medium for literacy learning, but e-mail style and conventions differ from traditional writing. Students explore the differences between e-mail and letter writing and experiment with their own messages. | K-2 | 11/6/06 |
Write Right Back: Recognizing Readers’ Needs and Expectations for E-mail Replies |
Beginning writers find electronic communication highly engaging, and educators recognize the power of e-mail as a tool for literacy learning. E-mail is well-suited to teaching audience awareness—understanding what readers need to know to make sense of a reply message and using the reply function as a way to contextualize replies. | K-2 | 1/12/07 |
Learning Vocabulary Down By the Bay |
Students learn high-frequency vocabulary words as they engage in singing and reading the song "Down By the Bay." Activities involve recognizing, reading, and writing the words in the song. | K-2 | 7/9/07 |
Phonics In Context |
Many phonics elements can be introduced and taught using the read-aloud framework and quality children's literature. This lesson introduces and reinforces the letter-sound relationship for the short /u/ sound within a meaningful, familiar context. The lesson can easily be adapted for other phonics elements. | K-2 | 4/25/08 |
Acrostic Poems: All About Me and My Favorite Things |
Students write two free-verse acrostic poems about themselves. One uses the letters of their names to begin each line; the other uses a word from in their name poem for the letters beginning each line. Both poems are recopied, illustrated, and mounted for display. | K-2 | 7/1/09 |
Writing Workshop: Helping Writers Choose and Focus on a Topic |
In this lesson, students construct timelines as a way of choosing and focusing on a writing topic. Afterward, each student selects an event from the timeline, draws an illustration to further explore his or her thoughts, writes about the event in detail, and shares and confers during revisions. | K-2 | 9/14/07 |
Predicting and Gathering Information With Nonfiction Texts |
The purpose of this lesson is to introduce second-grade students to nonfiction with an African Savanna theme. The lesson focuses on the purposes of nonfiction texts and how to use them to gather information. | K-2 | 4/14/09 |
Using Personal Connections to Build an Understanding of Emotions |
In this lesson, students concretely define the abstract concept of emotions by using their own facial expressions as models, creating happy and sad masks, and discussing their personal experiences. The lesson is appropriate for prekindergarten through first-grade students. | K-2 | 9/14/07 |
Creating Question and Answer Books through Guided Research |
Students investigate one topic, recording details on KWL charts, through whole class read-alouds as well as individual reading of nonfiction text. The activity concludes with a collaborative writing project as students compose a class question and answer book. This lesson can be easily expanded for any grade level. | K-2 | 12/8/08 |
Introducing the Venn Diagram in the Kindergarten Classroom |
Graphic organizers are valuable learning tools, but can a Venn diagram be used by kindergarten kids? Yes, if you make it hands-on and user-friendly! In this lesson, students use hula hoops and real objects, as well as online interactives, as they use Venn diagrams to problem solve, explore, and record information to share with others. | K-2 | 11/19/08 |
Mail Time! An Integrated Postcard and Geography Study |
Children love to receive mail. Can you imagine their excitement if they received a picture postcard at school? That’s what happens in this project! Children will write and receive postcards from friends and family, and then chart where all those postcards come from on their classroom map. | K-2 | 3/5/09 |
Packing the Pilgrim’s Trunk: Personalizing History in the Elementary Classroom |
How can young students relate to historical events? How can they make connections to the past? The purpose of this theme is to help primary students form connections between their own lives and the lives of the Pilgrims—making history relevant. | K-2 | 3/11/09 |
Junie B. Jones Introduces Literacy Mystery Boxes |
This read-aloud lesson, using Junie B., First Grader (at last!) by Barbara Park, invites students to discuss the story with their classmates, record key events, make personal connections, and create literacy mystery boxes to aid in retelling the story. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Collaborating on a Class Book: Exploring Before-During-After Sequences |
In this classroom project, students and the teacher produce a class book through a group-writing activity, focusing on a basic before-during-after sequence of events. In this case, the book focuses on the carving of the class jack-o-lantern, though the lesson plan could be customized for explorations of other items in the classroom. | K-2 | 10/23/07 |
Readers Theatre With Jan Brett |
In this lesson, first- or second-grade students interact with the story Hedgie's Surprise by Jan Brett. They then participate in a Readers Theatre experience that develops oral fluency in English, reading comprehension, and a richer understanding of text structure and literary elements. | K-2 | 11/21/08 |
Telling a Story About Me: Young Children Write Autobiographies |
Drawing inspiration from personal photographs, students write and publish autobiographies to share with the class and their families. First and second graders practice sentence composition, writing, and group work. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Going on a Shape Hunt: Integrating Math and Literacy |
After a read-aloud session with a geometry-themed book, students participate in a scavenger hunt for shapes in their school environment. Reading, writing, and discussion encourage literacy and verbal skills; the search for shapes integrates mathematics. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Fact or Fiction: Learning About Worms Using Diary of a Worm |
This lesson uses the text Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin to introduce effective reading comprehension strategies. Students learn strategies to help them differentiate fact from fiction while reading. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Diagram It! Identifying, Comparing, and Writing About Nonfiction Texts |
This lesson introduces second-grade students to nonfiction by focusing on the differences between fiction and nonfiction and by looking at distinctions among three types of nonfiction. Students create Venn diagrams to categorize the types of nonfiction and compare their characteristics. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Connect With Low-Literate Families: A Three-Tiered Approach |
Teachers working in schools with a high proportion of at-risk children may send home family literacy activities that are inaccessible to parents and caregivers who struggle with their own literacy skills. This lesson plan suggests a three-tier scaffolding model to help overcome this problem. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Improving Fluency through Group Literary Performance |
Repeated readings and literary performances help students with their reading accuracy, expression, and rate. In this lesson, students participate in shared reading, choral reading, and readers theater, focusing their exploration on picture books by Bill Martin, Jr. | K-2 | 11/20/08 |
Word Sorts for Beginning and Struggling Readers |
This lesson uses a hands-on word sort to introduce beginning and struggling readers to short-vowel word families. In addition to learning onset and rime, students practice fluent reading and spelling of the words. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Teaching Shapes Using Read-Alouds, Visualization, and Sketch to Stretch |
This lesson helps students learn about the math concepts of shape and pattern using a combination of strategies including interactive read-alouds of books centered on a winter theme, visualization, and sketch to stretch. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Word Study With Henry and Mudge |
This lesson for second- and third-grade students uses a model that incorporates different reading stages and research-based strategies for teaching reading to provide direct instruction for the past tense marker –ed. Students also practice real reading and writing using books from the Henry and Mudge series. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Integrating Language Arts Using If You Give a Mouse a Cookie |
This lesson integrates reading, writing, listening, and speaking to boost students' comprehension skills. Students explore Laura Joffe Numeroff 's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie using a variety of techniques, beginning with a picture walk and ending with the creation and publication of their own versions of the text. | K-2 | 3/6/09 |
Exploring Sets through Math-Related Book Pairs |
After reading and discussing a book pair of two math-related books, students investigate their home and school environments to find examples of objects that come in sets of twos, threes, fours, fives and sixes. Working either collaboratively or individually, students then create their own books on sets, highlighting their inquiry study. | K-2 | 10/21/05 |
Digging Deeper: Developing Comprehension Using Thank You, Mr. Falker |
Good readers demonstrate deep comprehension of text using a wide variety of strategies. In this lesson, a read-aloud of a story (Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco) helps promote deeper comprehension through teacher modeling of questioning to achieve personal connection and discussions of character and theme. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Completing the Circle: The Craft of Circular Plot Structure |
After exploring the organizing structure and writer’s craft of picture books, students identify, explore and apply the elements of circle plot structures to their own stories. Students use graphic organizers, read and write stories, and use checklists to assess their work. | K-2 | 2/13/09 |
Ferocious Fighting Fish: An Ocean Unit Exploring Beginning Word Sounds |
Focus students’ attention on alliteration, or repeated beginning word sounds, in this unit which explores an ocean theme. Students explore alliteration in framing texts then compose their own class book to explore figurative language in their own writing. The lesson includes a revision worksheet to apply the technique to another piece of writing. | K-2 | 2/13/09 |
As Slippery as an Eel: An Ocean Unit Exploring Simile and Metaphor |
After reading ocean-themed books, students examine the ways that the books use simile and metaphor, creating their own names and definitions of these figures of speech. Using the picture books as framing texts, students then revise a piece of their own writing, to increase its use of figurative language. | K-2 | 1/31/08 |
A Bear of a Poem: Composing and Performing Found Poetry |
Using familiar childhood stories, students will work together to create a poem that is “found” in the language presented in the picture books they read. Children will look in texts for writing that inspires them—looking for favorite words, phrases, and sentences. Working together, students will combine their words and phrases to create a class poem. When complete, the new piece will be shared as performance poetry. | K-2 | 6/11/08 |
Our Community: Creating ABC Books as Assessment |
What is one way we can we assess mastery of content standards with our youngest students in creative and engaging ways? By helping them create alphabet books! This integrated assessment can be used with science, health, social studies, and any other content area. This lesson plans looks at the theme of community. | K-2 | 11/20/08 |
How Does My Garden Grow? Writing in Science Field Journals |
While scientists are working, they often keep journals to document observations, gather information, sketch pictures, write down questions, form a hypothesis, and record reactions. In this lesson plan, students will be keeping their own science field journal as a log of a classroom gardening project. | K-2 | 11/6/06 |
Click, Clack, Moo: Reading Word Family Words |
The Caldecott-winner Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin provides practice with and a purpose for learning word identification strategies. Using the notes from Farmer Brown and the animals as shared readings, first-grade students learn word families and how to decode new words in a word family. | K-2 | 10/15/09 |
Alphabetizing With Original Stories |
Students familiarize themselves with alphabetical order while writing original stories, which can then be showcased in the classroom. Following a brainstorming session, students are challenged with the task of making books solely composed of words in alphabetical order. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
I Wonder: Writing Scientific Explanations With Students |
Students ask questions all the time. This lesson takes advantage of students' natural curiosity, encouraging them to research a scientific question and write an answer. Second-grade students will learn to research, sort and classify information, and collaborate to write a class scientific explanation. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Teaching About Story Structure Using Fairy Tales |
This lesson for second-grade and late first-grade students uses familiar fairy tales and nursery rhymes to teach about story structure. These stories ultimately serve as inspiration for student writing, which is scaffolded through three levels: shared writing, guided writing, and independent writing. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
From Little House to My House: Exploring History and Family Roles |
This lesson introduces first- and second-grade students to the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, using a story adapted from Little House in the Big Woods. A read-aloud followed by questions helps students explore the book. Students then use a graphic organizer to connect the characters and events to their own lives. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Shared Poetry Reading: Teaching Print Concepts, Rhyme, and Vocabulary |
This lesson encourages successful reading by introducing kindergarten students to concepts about print, vocabulary acquisition, and rhyme. Students actively engage in a nursery rhyme, pointing out examples of the concepts being taught and following along during several shared readings. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Comparing Fiction and Nonfiction with Little Red Riding Hood Text Sets |
Beginning with a comparative study of retellings of “Little Red Riding Hood” and modern revisions of the folktale, this literature unit continues with a study of fantasy, realistic fiction, and nonfiction texts. As students explore various depictions of wolves, they gain another perspective of the “villain” in the traditional tale. | K-2 | 11/20/08 |
It's Okay to Be Different: Teaching Diversity With Todd Parr |
This lesson for first- and second-grade students uses Todd Parr's book It's Okay to Be Different to introduce the topic of diversity. Students participate in discussions designed to encourage empathy and explore the idea of what makes us diverse. They then create books that are meant to help educate their peers. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Descriptive Writing and the 100th Day of School |
To mark the 100th day of school, students will work at home with their families to create 100th day bottles filled with 100 matching items. They will practice descriptive writing as they write about the items in their bottles. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Choosing One Word: Summarizing Shel Silverstein’s “Sick” |
After reading a text in the classroom, students work together to determine the one word that summarizes that text. This comprehension activity requires students to work together and highlights their ability to justify their word choice. | K-2 | 2/13/09 |
Shhh! Bear's Sleeping: Learning About Nonfiction and Fiction Using Read-Alouds |
In this lesson, interactive read-alouds introduce students in grades K–2 to the concept of fiction and nonfiction using the hibernation of bears as a topic. A variety of books and poems engage students who actively participate through songs and finger play. Students then write a class book. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Rain, Ice, Steam: Using Reading to Support Inquiry About the Water Cycle |
This lesson for students in first and second grades uses read-alouds, websites, and hands-on experiments to help students discover and understand the three parts of the water cycle that most often affect their lives. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Is This the Right Book for Me? Strategies for Beginning Readers |
In this lesson students are introduced to the idea of making purposeful choices when selecting reading material. They learn to take their reason for reading into account and how to use some beginning strategies to match the book to their abilities. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
Digging Up Details on Worms: Using the Language of Science in an Inquiry Study |
Foregrounding scientific vocabulary, this integrated lesson invites students to research worms in order to create a classroom habitat. The project incorporates reading and writing across the content areas as well as specific activities in the areas of math and science. | K-2 | 12/9/08 |
Action ABC's: Learning Vocabulary With Verbs |
Having a well-developed vocabulary is important to help students become successful speakers, readers, and writers. This lesson guides students in exploring and learning about verbs, culminating in the creation of an Action Alphabet book. Each page includes a word and sentence describing an illustration of the verb. | K-2 | 11/18/08 |
Using Web-Based Bookmarks to Conduct Internet Research |
In this lesson, students participate in a read-aloud, and then use the format of the text to write poems about themselves. They then conduct Internet research using Web-based bookmarks and write a poem about a content area topic (in this case, butterflies). The lesson is designed for grades 2 and 3. | K-2 | 2/12/09 |
3, 2, 1...Blast Off! Vocabulary Instruction Using a Virtual Trip to the Moon |
Capture the qualities of field-trip learning in the classroom. Working independently and in groups students learn vocabulary about the moon; however, the activities can be applied to any content area topic. | K-2 | 11/21/08 |
Stop Signs, McDonald’s, and Cheerios: Writing With Environmental Print |
Purposeful instruction with high-profile text can serve as a springboard for literacy instruction. This lesson encourages early readers to look beyond the color and context clues of environmental print to identify individual letters, to read words, and to write them. | K-2 | 2/25/09 |
Reading Informational Texts Using the 3-2-1 Strategy |
This lesson teaches students in grades K–2 how to use the 3-2-1 strategy while reading magazine articles. The 3-2-1 strategy involves writing about three things they discovered, two things they found interesting, and one question they still have. | K-2 | 2/25/09 |
I Know That Word! Teaching Reading With Environmental Print |
Signs and labels provide even the youngest students with reading opportunities. In this lesson, students practice reading various types of print, starting with contextualized logos and moving on to words with no color or graphics. Students are encouraged to move from whole-word identification to alphabetic decoding. | K-2 | 2/25/09 |
Bingo! Using Environmental Print to Practice Reading |
This lesson assumes that students have some practice reading and writing environmental print and encourages them to use the things they have learned to create Bingo cards and play environmental print Bingo. | K-2 | 2/25/09 |
The Wonder of Leo Lionni: Increasing Comprehension with Prediction Statements |
Creating a sense of wonder when reading can help students build their comprehension and relate texts to their own experiences. In this lesson, students read books by author Leo Lionni books and compose “I wonder” statements to help increase their understanding of the story. | K-2 | 1/31/08 |
Involving Students and Families in Ongoing Reflection and Assessment |
In this lesson, students begin by writing a sentence or two each week and progress to daily reflections and records of their school activity. Families respond to these student reflections, which become the basis for discussion among family, teacher, and students. The reflections are also a key resource in regular student-family-teacher conferences that take place during the term. | K-2 | 11/19/08 |
Two Thumbs Up! Get Students Writing and Publishing Book Reviews |
In this lesson, students learn the components of a book review and how to write one. To spark excitement and provide a purpose for writing, students publish their reviews either through video recording or on the Internet. | K-2 | 10/20/09 |
A–Z: Learning About the Alphabet Book Genre |
Using a collection of alphabet books and websites, this lesson for second graders builds and extends students’ knowledge of alphabet books. After the class generates a sample book together, students work in flexible groups to write their own alphabet books and share them with an audience. | K-2 | 2/25/09 |
Taking Photos of Curious George: Exploring Character Through Images |
In this lesson for first- through third-grade students, a read-aloud and a graphic organizer help students to explore Curious George’s character. After exploring other books about the funny monkey, they imagine what would happen if George visited their school before creating a digital storybook of his adventures. | K-2 | 2/25/09 |
Protecting Our Precious Planet: Sharing the Message of Earth Day |
Show students how their ideas can make a difference by having them participate in the Earth Day Groceries Project. Students design grocery bags with environmental messages to distribute in local supermarkets. After completing the project, students can share their work online. | K-2 | 5/1/09 |
Creating a Class Pattern Book With Popular Culture Characters |
As a class, students create a digital pattern book by first taking pictures of popular culture characters in various situations throughout their school and then writing accompanying text about them in a pattern book structure. | K-2 | 2/25/09 |
Safety Tips With Officer Buckle and Gloria |
This lesson uses the book Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann to encourage students to recognize potentially dangerous situations and decide upon safe solutions. They then create posters to communicate their messages. | K-2 | 11/18/08 |
Whose Shoes? Using Artifacts to Teach Reading and Rhyming Patterns |
In this lesson first- and second-grade students analyze an artifact and read books about it. They learn to recognize the importance of simple items and further develop their rhyming skills using a poetic book. | K-2 | 2/25/09 |
Casting Shadows Across Literacy and Science |
As they read about shadows in fiction, informational text, and poetry, students bring their own background knowledge and experiences to the text and extend their understanding of concepts. Lesson activities encourage students to use their observational skills, both in science and in literature, and to create their own shadow poetry. | K-2 | 2/25/09 |
Creative Problem-Solving with Ezra Jack Keats |
Students explore problem-solving in this lesson, which explores the challenges faced by characters in Ezra Jack Keats’ picture books. After reading a variety of Keats’ books, students explore the problems that the characters face and solutions that they choose through classroom discussion, story mapping, and comparison and contrast of several Keats’ books. | K-2 | 12/8/08 |
Read a Song: Using Song Lyrics for Reading and Writing |
While exploring well-known songs, students learn that they consist of music and lyrics and make the connection between the words that are sung and the words that can be read. | K-2 | 10/14/09 |
The Day Jimmy’s Boa Taught Cause and Effect |
Students can often better understand cause and effect if they look at the effect first and then ask, “What caused this?” Trinka Hakes Noble’s books about Jimmy and his boa constrictor are a wonderful way to introduce the concept of cause and effect since the stories are often told in reverse order. | K-2 | 7/15/08 |
Let's Read It Again: Comprehension Strategies for English-Language Learners |
This adaptable lesson for Spanish-speaking second graders learning English uses a bilingual picture book and a variety of reading strategies to help students improve fluency and retain what they have learned. | K-2 | 2/26/09 |
Vocabulary With Franklin: Helping Students Become Word Wizards |
In this lesson, first- and second-grade students learn new vocabulary words, their definitions, and how to spell them. Starting with a read-aloud of Franklin in the Dark by Paulette Bourgeois, students then participate in a wide range of activities from using an online Word Wizard game to performing a script. | K-2 | 7/16/07 |
Shared Experiences, Individual Impressions: Buddies Create PowerPoint Stories |
This lesson combines the Language Experience Approach with digital features of PowerPoint software. Following a field trip or classroom experience, students respond individually with words and photos. They then create a collaborative timeline online before working with older buddies to organize photos and text into a story on the computer. | K-2 | 7/1/09 |
Using Greeting Cards to Motivate Students and Enhance Literacy Skills |
Motivate your students to read and write through a study of greeting cards! Greeting cards can be used to enhance your literacy instruction in reading, writing, speaking, visual arts, and listening. Students explore greeting cards and identify crafting techniques authors use when creating greeting cards. | K-2 | 4/26/07 |
Family Ties: Making Connections to Improve Reading Comprehension |
Build a connection! The strategy of making connections can improve reading comprehension. Students listen to three realistic picture books, Bigmama’s by Donald Crews, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, and The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant, and make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections. | K-2 | 5/15/07 |
Combining Read-Alouds With Economics in the Primary Grades |
This lesson combines the benefits of reading aloud to children with exposure to economic concepts. After hearing two storybooks read aloud, students compare them and discuss the economic terms natural resource and producer. This lesson also helps students relate stories to the world around them. | K-2 | 8/29/07 |
Literacy Centers: Getting Started |
As a teacher engages in individualized guided reading activities in the classroom, what does the rest of the class do? This lesson provides a starting point for creating Literacy Centers in the primary classroom. The centers are easy to launch and provide students meaningful, independent learning experiences. | K-2 | 3/11/09 |
Four Simple Steps to Small-Group Guided Writing |
This lesson describes small-group, guided writing instruction for the construction of information-based texts. Guided writing instruction, taught in four steps, expands students’ linguistic resources, knowledge of text structure, content knowledge, and strategies for writing. | K-2 | 12/9/08 |
“America the Beautiful”: Using Music and Art to Develop Vocabulary |
Students learn the song “America the Beautiful” and the meanings of its words through shared reading, context clues, images, and a mural project. | K-2 | 10/8/09 |
Using the Internet to Facilitate Improved Reading Comprehension |
This lesson introduces students to Really Simple Syndication (or RSS) feeds and guides them in developing inferential language skills that foster better reading comprehension. | 3-5 | 8/17/09 |
I Used My Own Words! Paraphrasing Informational Texts |
Paraphrasing is a powerful strategy to monitor comprehension and integrate new information with old. This lesson demonstrates how to teach students to use this comprehension strategy with informational texts. | 3-5 | 9/16/09 |
Cultural Connections and Writing for Change |
While reading a story set in Palestine, students “meet” an Arab family, analyze book illustrations, and note cultural contrasts. They then collaborate to identify a social issue of concern and take action by writing and mailing a letter to an appropriate official. | 3-5 | 10/30/08 |
Website Planning in a Bilingual Classroom |
Students build upon their linguistic and cultural knowledge to develop and plan a website by completing and discussing a family survey and making a flow chart. | 3-5 | 10/7/09 |
Prompting Revision through Modeling and Written Conversations |
Students create a checklist outlining what effective writers do after watching online videos of authors Kate DiCamillo and Debra Frasier revise their own work. The teacher then models how to revise his or her own writing using this checklist, and the students read their peers’ work and engage in a written conversation to help one another with the revision process. | 3-5 | 9/29/09 |
Moving Toward Acceptance Through Picture Books and Two-Voice Texts |
Using provocative picture books, Whoever You Are by Mem Fox, by Weslandia Paul Fleischman, and Insects Are My Life by Megan McDonald, students discuss diversity in literature and in their school. Students then study, create, and perform two-voice texts that try to solve the problem of intolerance and move toward acceptance. | 3-5 | 5/1/09 |
Earth Verse: Using Science in Poetry |
Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith's picture book, Science Verse, serves as a model for students to use poetry to improve content area knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension—in this case, for the science curriculum. |
3-5 | 10/15/08 |
BioBags: Linking Literature and Life |
In this lesson, which is also appropriate for older students, each student creates a BioBag, a collection of texts that mark special times in his or her life. BioBags provide a unique way for students to share memorable events—and a variety of texts—with one another. | 3-5 | 4/12/07 |
Exploring Cost and Savings Using Children's Literature |
Help students learn the value of saving money. In this lesson students read, discuss, and evaluate A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams. They then explore the concept of saving for a self-selected item. | 3-5 | 5/15/08 |
Solving the Math Curse: Reading and Writing Math Word Problems |
This lesson integrates math word problems with paragraph writing using the book Math Curse. Students create math word problems, read their problems to the class, and listen to and solve their classmates’ math word problems. |
3-5 | 6/9/08 |
Make a Splash! Using Dramatic Experience to “Explode the Moment” |
In this lesson students learn to elaborate their writing by using descriptive language. They explore models of good writing and engage in shared writing about a surprise dramatic experience. Students complete a graphic organizer to brainstorm sensory details and use the writing process to publish short personal narratives. | 3-5 | 7/1/08 |
Thoughtshots Can Bring Your Characters to Life! |
Flashbacks, flash-aheads, and internal dialogue help writers create realistic characters that hold readers' interests. Students learn to recognize these techniques, called thoughtshots, and practice using them in their own writing to create characters with more depth. |
3-5 | 6/26/08 |
Promoting Cultural Values Through Alphabet Books |
Students embark on a cultural research project by first reading a variety of alphabet books about world cultures. Groups then self-select a culture and conduct research into the history and symbols of that culture. As a final project, students construct their own cultural alphabet books and share them with an audience. | 3-5 | 8/14/08 |
Reading, Writing, Haiku Hiking! A Class Book of Picturesque Poems |
Students make reading and writing connections as they record their observations of their environment, learn about haiku, and write original haiku poems. They work collaboratively to plan and publish a class book of their poetry and related factual notes. | 3-5 | 11/7/08 |
Story Elements Alive! |
The lesson introduces four story elements—setting, characters, problem/solution, and plot—to students via a purpose-driven read-aloud. The whole class identifies a story element in each book, and then students work independently on a story element activity. | 3-5 | 11/1/07 |
Using Pictures to Build Schema for Social Studies Content |
Student groups analyze images of the Boston Massacre. They study Paul Revere’s engraving of the massacre and compare it to the other images. This activity leads to a discussion on propaganda. Students demonstrate understanding of the Boston Massacre and propaganda through poetry writing, artwork, expository writing, and oral presentations. | 3-5 | 6/26/07 |
Critical Perspectives: Reading and Writing About Slavery |
Through reading fiction and nonfiction children’s literature about the Underground Railroad, students critically explore the moral issues of slavery and the perspectives held by slaves and slave owners. They then use online, interactive tools to extend their understanding through creative writing projects. | 3-5 | 7/1/08 |
Exchanging Ideas by Sharing Journals: Interactive Response in the Classroom |
Pairs of students alternately respond to literature in literature journals, developing ongoing written dialogues that include making connections and predictions, stating opinions, asking and answering each others’ questions, and enhancing responses with drawings. The lesson works well with independent reading and/or literature group structures. | 3-5 | 3/6/07 |
Gabbing About Garfield: Conversing About Texts With Comic Creator |
While critiquing Garfield comics, students search for conventions specific to the comic strip genre. Using the interactive Comic Creator, they record their own written conversations, incorporating elements of the comic strip genre. | 3-5 | 3/21/07 |
Once Upon a Link: A PowerPoint Adventure With Fractured Fairy Tales |
Fractured fairy tales with hyperlinks offer multiple pathways to happily ever after. Students use the Fractured Fairy Tales tool and a PowerPoint template to create stories that offer alternate plotlines and endings. In composing and editing these tales, students focus on the six traits of writing. | 3-5 | 2/26/09 |
Reading and Writing About Pollution to Understand Cause and Effect |
This lesson uses a variety of reading and writing strategies and a hands-on experiment to help third-grade students learn that pollution in our oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams is a very serious problem. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
Skimming and Scanning: Using Riddles to Practice Fact Finding Online |
Skimming, scanning, and navigating websites are increasingly important media literacy skills. Introduce and demonstrate them using a think-aloud approach. Then ask students to practice using them by solving riddles. | 3-5 | 4/14/09 |
A Musical Prompt: Postcards From the Concert |
Using music as a writing prompt, students engage in the sentence-combining strategy to enhance their writing skills while creating postcards to share with family and friends. | 3-5 | 1/4/08 |
Write-Talks: Students Discovering Real Writers, Real Audiences, Real Purposes |
This lesson introduces students to a wide world of writing by inviting people into the classroom to talk about what, why, and how they write in their day-to-day lives. Students then reflect on how these varying purposes and processes can apply to their own lives. | 3-5 | 3/17/08 |
The Solution Square: Strategies for Conflict Resolution |
This lesson uses literature as a springboard for conversation about friendship and conflict resolution. Students reflect on the strategies that good friends use to resolve conflict and role-play strategies for problem solving. | 3-5 | 1/29/08 |
Spelling in Parts: Learning to Spell, Write, and Read Polysyllabic Words |
Spelling in Parts (SIP) is a strategy that helps students learn to spell polysyllabic words from spelling and vocabulary lists or from environmental print. This lesson can be easily adapted for any grade level. | 3-5 | 3/28/08 |
Descriptive Video: Using Media Technology to Enhance Writing |
Grab a pencil, turn on a movie, and introduce your students to a new technology! Descriptive Video can build vocabulary and enhance descriptive writing. During this lesson, students watch a described segment of The Lion King and write an enhanced description. |
3-5 | 3/28/08 |
Strategic Reading and Writing: Summarizing Antislavery Biographies |
Students discuss the strategy of summarizing and why it is essential for making meaning from text. Using a graphic organizer and the Bio-Cube tool, they read and summarize short biographies about antislavery heroes and then present their heroes in mixed-ability jigsaw groups. | 3-5 | 10/14/09 |
Let's Get Cooking With Words! Creating a Recipe Using Procedural Writing |
This lesson focuses on procedural writing, which relies heavily on the effective use of wide-ranging nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Because word choice is vital to the genre, students explore this writing trait before practicing procedural writing. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
Writers’ Workshop: The Biographical Sketch |
This lesson, which is targeted specifically to fourth grade, gives students the opportunity to practice writing short biographical sketches in a workshop setting. The classroom exercises help students develop critical writing skills and complement their content area learning. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
Zines for Kids: Multigenre Texts About Media Icons |
Using ReadWriteThink.org online tools, students write short pieces in a variety of genres about a favorite media icon. After working with each tool, students print out their work and assemble the documents into their own zines. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
Book Report Alternative: Creating a New Book Cover |
This lesson plan invites students to critically observe book covers and dust jackets and learn more about what they include. Students are then given the opportunity to recreate a cover or a dust jacket for a book and compose an accompanying rationale for the changes they make. | 3-5 | 6/1/06 |
This is My Story: Encouraging Students to Use a Unique Voice |
Voice is what gives personality to a piece of writing, but it can be difficult to write in a voice that is distinctive. This lesson encourages students to recognize and use their own unique voices by studying the work of other writers before writing on their own. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
History Comes Alive: Using Social Studies to Improve Fluency and Comprehension |
The goal of this lesson, which is also appropriate for second-grade students, is to integrate social studies with literacy. Students research a topic, write a script for a play, and perform the play before an audience. The lesson consists of several stages, each focusing on different skills. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
Is Superman Really All That Super? Critically Exploring Superheroes |
This lesson teaches fourth- and fifth-grade students how to critically analyze superhero characters portrayed in popular culture texts and children’s books. Students identify, compare, and discuss the character traits of superheroes, looking at how perspective or point of view influences their understanding of these characters. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
Building a Learning Community: Crafting Rules for the Classroom |
Most classrooms display rules for behavior that are either teacher made or purchased. Why not start the year by having students create a list of the behaviors they want to see practiced? This process builds community and helps students start the year positively well mannered! | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
Once They’re Hooked, Reel Them In: Writing Good Endings |
Effective writing requires a beginning, middle, and end. This lesson provides literary models for effective ending lines and encourages students to plan their own writing to include thoughtful, connected endings. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
A Schema-Building Study With Patricia Polacco |
Help second- through fourth-grade students learn vocabulary and comprehension skills with Chicken Sunday and Rechenka’s Eggs by Patricia Polacco. Students study vocabulary in these books; they then deepen their understanding by making text-to-self and text-to-text connections and by using the vocabulary words to write about the characters and the author. | 3-5 | 4/14/09 |
Getting to Know You: Developing Short Biographies to Build Community |
Learning thrives when we develop classroom communities in which students feel understood, respected, and free to take risks. In this lesson, designed for the beginning of the school year, students will learn about each other’s lives and interests by conducting interviews and developing simple biographies using the interactive Bio-Cube. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
Females in the Spotlight: Strong Characters in Picture Books |
Students read and discuss quality literature featuring strong females as the main characters, then focus on rich vocabulary as they use the online Character Trading Cards tool to describe the traits of one of these characters. A class discussion encourages critical thinking and enhances students’ experiences with the text. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
No Teachers Allowed: Student-Led Book Clubs Using QAR |
Watch out Oprah! Teach your students how to write and discuss meaningful questions using the Question–Answer Relationships (QAR) strategy. In this lesson, which is also appropriate for the sixth grade, students learn to categorize questions and have an insightful, peer-led book discussion. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
Exploring Friendship With Bridge to Terabithia |
In this lesson, which is also appropriate for sixth-grade students, Bridge to Terabithia is used to explore the value of friendship. Students explore the main characters’ relationship and use this inquiry to help develop an appreciation of the many facets of friendship and relate the work to their own experiences. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
Fishing for Readers: Identifying and Writing Effective Opening “Hooks” |
Students collect and categorize effective introductions in a variety of children’s books. They share and rate their favorite “hooks,” compiling a menu of strategies for their own writing. Students write several alternative hooks for a single story topic and use the Flip Book program to publish them. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
Sharing Favorite Books Using Interactive Character Trading Cards |
Sharing books with friends is a literate behavior we want to encourage. What better way is there to motivate students to make reading recommendations than by using interactive character trading cards? In this lesson, students make and use trading cards to recommend books and make book choices. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
Searching for Gold: A Collaborative Inquiry Project |
In this collaborative inquiry activity, the real gold is the inquiry skills and content area knowledge that students develop. Students study the Gold Rush using a collaborative inquiry strategy: each of several small groups research one aspect of the topic and teach that topic to the rest of the class. Students create a project to aid in their oral presentation of their researched topic. | 3-5 | 3/20/07 |
Great American Inventors: Using Nonfiction to Learn About Technology Inventions |
In this lesson, students read several biographies focusing on American inventors who made significant contributions to the development of technology. They then collaborate, research, and develop presentations that highlight how these inventions from the past impacted the future. | 3-5 | 2/25/09 |
My Family Traditions: A Class Book and a Potluck Lunch |
Artistic flare, social skills, and self-esteem are integrated into this lesson that builds awareness of Mexican-American culture in the United States. After a read aloud of Family Pictures/Cuadros de Familia by Carmen Lomas Garza, students write a class book about their family traditions and have a potluck lunch. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Storytelling in the Social Studies Classroom |
This lesson invites third- to fifth-grade students to explore their personal and cultural histories by becoming super storytellers! Students begin by telling personal stories about themselves and their families before moving on to stories about famous Americans. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Using Timeline Games and Mexican History to Improve Comprehension |
This lesson has students participate in a shared reading and conduct online research to gain an understanding of Mexican history. Students choose events, take notes on them, think about how to order them, and create a timeline. They then play a game to learn from each other's timelines. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Planning Story Characters Using Interactive Trading Cards |
Writers often make plans for their characters' development before writing stories; trading cards are a popular culture text that appeal to students and can have valuable literacy applications. This lesson introduces students to the idea of understanding and planning characters for a story using an online Character Trading Cards tool. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Exploring Cause and Effect Using Expository Texts About Natural Disasters |
Understanding the structure of expository texts is an essential aspect of literacy. Students should therefore be introduced to these texts at an early age. By guiding elementary-age students to discover cause-and-effect relationships in books about natural disasters, this lesson helps improve overall comprehension. | 3-5 | 10/14/09 |
A Race With Grace: Sports Poetry in Motion |
Sports are not the only way for students to play! In this lesson, athletics, aesthetics, and poetry writing intersect in new ways as developing literacy learners experiment together with the forms of language. | 3-5 | 7/27/09 |
Talking About Books to Improve Comprehension |
Conversation fosters the acquisition of comprehension from text. In this lesson, students in grades 3–5 learn to develop an idea from text and then deepen their understanding of the text though conversation. Students also learn how to stay on topic and keep a conversation going. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Integrating Literacy Into the Study of the Earth's Surface |
Move beyond textbooks to encourage simultaneous science and literacy learning. In this lesson third through fifth graders learn about the features of the Earth's bodies of water using a variety of literacy genres, culminating with a Readers Theatre performance. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Using Word Storms to Explore Vocabulary and Encourage Critical Thinking |
Using an inquiry model called POWER, this lesson has students learn new vocabulary related to a social issue, explore these vocabulary words in discussions and journals, and create projects that use the vocabulary to reflect their critical perspectives. It can be applied to different content areas. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Alter Egos and More with Avi’s “Who Was That Masked Man, Anyway?” |
Today’s elementary students bring many experiences with a variety of texts to the classroom: print, music, online literacies, technical reading and writing, and so on. This lesson plan uses students’ knowledge of these new literacies to introduce them to similar literacies of the past. | 3-5 | 11/20/08 |
Engaging Students in a Collaborative Exploration of the Gettysburg Address |
Working collaboratively, students learn more about the Civil War through the Gettysburg Address. Teams of students explore multiple resources and actively engage in learning more about this historical document, using words from the Gettysburg Address as their inspiration. | 3-5 | 2/8/09 |
Author Study: Improving Reading Comprehension Using Inference and Comparison |
Fourth- and fifth-grade students read picture books by an author/illustrator, make inferences about the author based on the works, compare two biographies of the author finding discrepancies between them, study the work of another author/illustrator, and compose their own brief author biography. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Rooting out Meaning: Morpheme Match-Ups in the Primary Grades |
By using word-building cards, an online dictionary, and group activities, students determine the meaning of unfamiliar words and increase their understanding of morphemes. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Learning About Research and Writing Using the American Revolution |
In this lesson, students learn note-taking and research skills. They research a figure from the American Revolution, using the Internet, trade books, and encyclopedias to determine the person's significance. They then write an acrostic poem about the person they researched. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Nature Reflections: Interactive Language Practice for English-Language Learners |
Designed for English-language learners (ELLs), this lesson allows students to reflect on the wonders of nature by taking a class walk, observing a plant or animal, and writing and illustrating a short book about it. Students then share, tape-record, and listen to their books for rich language practice. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Dear Librarian: Writing a Persuasive Letter |
Inspire students to write their librarian a persuasive letter, requesting that a specific text be added to the school library collection. As they work on the project, students plan their arguments and outline their reasons and examples. Finally, students write a persuasive letter, which is assessed using a rubric. | 3-5 | 1/12/07 |
Alliteration All Around |
Beginning with Pamela Duncan Edwards' award-winning picture books, students identify the meaning of alliteration. They then put alliteration into practice by creating acrostic poems, tongue twisters, alphabet books, and number books. ReadWriteThink's Acrostic Poems interactive tool and Bruce Lansky's Giggle Poetry article add a technology component to the lesson. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
All About Our Town: Using Brochures to Teach Informational Writing |
In this lesson, students in grades 2–4 practice information gathering by exploring their town or city through interviews, photographs, and websites. They then write and revise paragraphs about their town and collaborate to create a visitor's brochure aimed at students who are new to the area. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Inferring How and Why Characters Change |
One way that readers construct meaning from text is by developing a deep understanding of characters. In this lesson, a short narrative text is used to model strategies for inferring how and why characters change. Students read short stories in small groups and independently to apply these strategies. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Dancing Minds and Shouting Smiles: Teaching Personification Through Poetry |
In this lesson, students reflect on the use of personification in three classic poems, comparing and contrasting how each poet uses it. Students then complete a prewriting exercise before writing their own poems using personification. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Our Classroom: Writing an Owner’s Manual |
The first few weeks of school are all about creating rules, establishing routines, and becoming familiar with the classroom. Engaging students in activities that help them get to know their classroom can make the transition easier while at the same time providing students with a sense of ownership. In this lesson, students write an owner’s manual to help them become more familiar with their classroom as well as to let others know about their classroom. | 3-5 | 7/1/09 |
All About Alliteration: Responding to Literature Through a Poetry Link |
This lesson for third and fourth grade students uses a read-aloud to teach about alliteration. It then has students brainstorm alliterative word lists using a variety or print and online resources. Students create and illustrate a poem using the poetry they have read as a framework for their writing. | 3-5 | 9/17/09 |
What's in a Mystery? Exploring and Identifying Mystery Elements |
In this lesson, students read Nate the Great or a similar mystery and use it to help them identify the elements of mysteries. They then complete a mystery graphic organizer and write their own mystery stories. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Characters in Because of Winn-Dixie: Making Lists of Ten |
Extend students’ brainstormed lists of characteristics for the characters in the novels they read by asking them to develop a list of ten important things about a specific character. Modeled on similar lists created by characters in Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie, this lesson plan can be used as full class activity or can be tapped as a book report alternative. | 3-5 | 11/20/08 |
Buzz! Whiz! Bang! Using Comic Books to Teach Onomatopoeia |
Comic books are one of the tools found in popular culture that can successfully engage children in literacy. This lesson uses comics to teach onomatopoetic vocabulary words and to develop this literary device with students learning to use language. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Delicious, Tasty, Yummy: Enriching Writing with Adjectives and Synonyms |
This lesson for students in grades 3 and 4 teaches them about adjectives and synonyms. Students work in small groups using webs and form poems as their primary tools for developing adjectives and synonyms to describe everyday items. Thesauri, webbing tools, alphabet organizers, and picture books are used to help students identify, organize, and modify descriptors. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Graphing Plot and Character in a Novel |
In this graphical mapping project, students assign a value to the events, characters, and themes in a novel and think about how the elements of the story are all interconnected. By reading and responding in this deeper fashion, students reach a greater level of comprehension for the novel. This lesson uses The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis as an example, but any text used in class can be substituted. | 3-5 | 8/12/05 |
Creating Family Timelines: Graphing Family Memories and Significant Events |
In this lesson plan, students interview their parents and other family members to gather family stories and event information, using questions from a brainstormed list. They create a family-event timeline based on the information from their interviews and display their information using a graphic map. | 3-5 | 3/31/08 |
How-To Writing: Motivating Students to Write for a Real Purpose |
Students are more motivated to write when their writing serves a definite purpose. In this lesson, students write how-to essays about how to succeed in the fourth grade. The essays are then shared with the next year's fourth graders at the beginning of the school year. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Opening the Door for Reading: Sharing Favorite Texts to Build Community |
Students focus on reading and creating classroom displays focused on favorite texts in this lesson plan. The class explores environmental print then focuses specifically on a teacher-created display that focuses on a favorite book. After exploring the teacher’s display, students create presentations on their own favorites. By sharing favorite books in this way, teachers and students build community by getting to know one another while simultaneously exploring works of literature. | 3-5 | 8/3/09 |
Once Upon a Time Rethought: Writing Fractured Fairy Tales |
Using prior knowledge of the genre, students identify common elements of fairy tales. Next, they read and analyze fairy tales, using a story map. The information from the graphic organizer will assist students as they rewrite one of their favorite fairy tales, changing one of the literary elements. | 3-5 | 11/20/08 |
Literature as a Jumping Off Point for Nonfiction Inquiry |
Text sets focus on one topic or subject area, yet include texts of many genres. In this lesson, after reading a novel, here Tuck Everlasting, students choose a topic related to a theme in the novel and work cooperatively to learn more about that topic using a text set. Students will have an opportunity to read and explore many genres, while learning through the content areas. | 3-5 | 11/20/08 |
Question and Answer Books—From Genre Study to Report Writing |
This lesson on genre study explores question and answer books to identify their unique characteristics. Students critically read question and answer books, looking at format and content. Students then compare the format of this genre with other nonfiction texts. After conducting research, students publish their findings in the style of a question and answer book. | 3-5 | 7/1/09 |
Looking at Landmarks: Using a Picture Book to Guide Research |
Using the picture book Ben’s Dream as an inspiration, children put their research skills to work. The book illustrates ten landmarks from around the world, without identifying the names of the landmark. In their related inquiry, students learn more about the monuments presented in the book, publish information about them and share that knowledge with others. | 3-5 | 5/2/08 |
Bridging Literature and Mathematics by Visualizing Mathematical Concepts |
By bridging children’s literature and mathematics, this lesson builds students’ reading, writing, mathematical and scientific proficiency. During interactive read-aloud sessions, students identify and analyze elements of author’s craft in conveying mathematical information about the size and abilities of a wide range of animals. Then, by studying and following the examples in the books, students conduct a research project of their own, focusing on the same mathematical concepts. | 3-5 | 11/20/08 |
Dynamite Diamante Poetry |
This lesson combines grammar and spelling instruction with creative writing. Students review nouns, adjectives, and verbs and are introduced to gerunds. They then write and revise diamante poems using these types of words. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Talking, Writing, and Reasoning: Making Thinking Visible with Math Journals |
By talking, writing, and reasoning in math journals, students shift the emphasis of their work from finding the “right” answer to a metacognitive exploration of how their problem-solving works in ways that encourage them to apply, extend, and adapt their strategies to new situations. This lesson, which uses the Magic Triangle puzzle as an example, includes sample journal prompts and FAQs about math journals. | 3-5 | 3/15/05 |
What If We Changed the Book? Problem-Posing with Sixteen Cows |
After participating in the reading of Sixteen Cows, children are invited to respond to the story. Their responses are both literary and mathematical in nature. Based on their observations and comments, students work together to create mathematical problems based on the literature. The problem-posing and well as the problem-solving integrates both literacy skills and mathematical knowledge. | 3-5 | 8/5/05 |
Building Classroom Community Through the Exploration of Acrostic Poetry |
This lesson explores the genre of acrostic poetry and reinforces positive community practices in the classroom. After looking at various acrostic poetry websites, students participate in a shared writing experience. Students then write an acrostic poem about one of their peers using online resources such as thesauri and an interactive writing tool. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
The Connection Between Poetry and Music |
Music is a close cousin of poetry. Many poems have a strong rhythm and song lyrics may read like poems. This lesson teaches students the connection between poetry and music and encourages them to hear rhythms in both their own poetry and that written by others. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Examining Plot Conflict through a Comparison/Contrast Essay |
This lesson invites students to identify types of plot conflict in literature. Using excerpts from picture books, as well as graphic organizers, students learn to identify plot conflict as well as the ways that the plot develops in relationship to the conflict. The lesson culminates with a comparison/contrast writing activity. | 3-5 | 11/20/08 |
Using Picture Books to Teach Plot Development and Conflict Resolution |
Students explore the concept of plot development and conflict resolution through focused experiences with picture books. As they learn about the connections between reading and writing, students find ways to apply the information they learn to revisions of their own writing. | 3-5 | 1/29/08 |
Shape Poems: Writing Extraordinary Poems About Ordinary Objects |
In this lesson, students learn the characteristics and format of shape poems and write their own shape poems using an online interactive activity. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Peer Edit With Perfection: Teaching Effective Peer-Editing Strategies |
Peer editing is an effective writing strategy for any classroom. However, students need to be directly taught what it means to peer edit and how to do it effectively. In this lesson, students learn a simple, three-step process for peer editing, then practice their new skills in whole-group, small-group, and individual settings. | 3-5 | 12/13/06 |
Identifying and Classifying Verbs in Context |
This lesson focuses on having students identify and classify the three kinds of verbs—action verbs, state-of-being or linking verbs, and helping verbs. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Teaching Point of View With Two Bad Ants |
In this lesson, students use clues from the illustrations and the text of Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg to compare the point of view of an ant with that of a person. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Historical Fiction: Using Literature to Learn About the Civil War |
In this lesson, fourth and fifth grade students integrate art and writing while developing comprehension of a historical fiction text. Inferential comprehension and visualization are discussed as students use the think-aloud questioning strategy to develop a deeper understanding of the historical time period. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Using Snowflake Bentley as a Framing Text for Multigenre Writing |
How can “multigenre” be introduced in the intermediate classroom? Using the Caldecott Medal-winning book Snowflake Bentley as a model, students will create a working definition of multigenre text; then, they will create their own multigenre piece about winter or another pertinent theme. | 3-5 | 1/16/09 |
Weather Detectives: Questioning the Fact and Folklore of Weather Sayings |
Before there were weather tools, people looked to the sky, plants, and animals for hints about what the weather would do. To remember these indicators, people coined weather sayings. But are these sayings true and reliable? By encouraging students to adopt a skeptical stance, this lesson invites students to become weather detectives who ask “Why?” and “Why not?” as they investigate the history and validity of some of the common weather sayings then share their results with their classmates. | 3-5 | 3/20/09 |
Q is for Duck: Using Alphabet Books With Struggling Writers |
Think alphabet books are just for kindergarten? Think again! In this lesson, students examine a variety of alphabet books, some with rather complex structures, and are guided through a structured writing lesson using the book Q is for Duck: An Alphabet Guessing Game by Mary Elting and Michael Folsom. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Using Science Texts to Teach the Organizational Features of Nonfiction |
Throughout this lesson, students examine several nonfiction science texts and generate a list of organizational features that are used. Students then collaborate to create a two-page spread using the organizational features they have been studying to present information on a science topic. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Vote for Me! Developing, Writing, and Evaluating Persuasive Speeches |
Effective persuasive speeches require the logical formulation of solid arguments that are backed by examples. They also need good delivery. This lesson encourages fourth- and fifth-grade students to think critically and write persuasively by focusing on preparing, giving, and evaluating mock campaign speeches. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Looking for the History in Historical Fiction: An Epidemic for Reading |
Historical fiction can provide a powerful way to introduce your students to the large themes of history because of their human approach to the events they cover. In this lesson, students will be reading and responding to historical fiction. Then, they will be using nonfiction sources to verify the “facts” presented in the novels. | 3-5 | 5/13/09 |
Questioning: A Comprehension Strategy for Small-Group Guided Reading |
In this lesson, students observe the teacher modeling the process of questioning and using webs to organize information from reading. Students then experiment with writing thin (factual) and thick (inferential) questions while listening to read-alouds and when reading in small groups. Students further investigate questions at content-related websites. | 3-5 | 2/12/09 |
Mapping Characters Across Book Series |
How does a character change or stay the same through the course of a book? How also does that character grow and evolve through a book series? In this lesson, students will work on a guided characterization project, mapping the “life” of a character from a book series. | 3-5 | 7/1/09 |
A Case for Reading—Examining Challenged and Banned Books |
The purpose of this lesson is to inspire students to critically examine a book, which has been selected from the American Library Association Challenged/Banned Books list. The students will analyze the book and document their findings as they read. They will then write a persuasive piece, synthesizing their view about the book and what should be done with the book at their school. | 3-5 | 8/17/09 |
Demonstrating Comprehension Through Journal Writing |
The use of interesting and appropriate literature can capture and ignite students' interest in a story, thereby increasing overall comprehension. This lesson requires students to respond to journal questions by demonstrating comprehension of and personal connections to the story's plot, characters, setting, and details. | 3-5 | 7/1/08 |
Voting! What’s It All About? |
Students learn about the voting process through read-alouds, partner and independent reading, as well as guided Internet exploration of child-friendly Web sites. Students share information through writing and whole group discussions, explore the difference between fact and opinion, and create a large graffiti wall mural with information they’ve learned. | 3-5 | 3/11/09 |
Creating Classroom Community by Crafting Themed Poetry Collections |
Back to school means new teachers, new classmates and many unanswered questions. In this lesson, students create poetry collections with a back-to-school theme of “getting to know each other.” Students write poetry with the goal of introducing themselves, helping to create a sense of classroom community, while exploring the many and varied types and forms of poetry and constructing and refining their own definitions of poetry. | 3-5 | 2/27/09 |
Writing ABC Books to Enhance Reading Comprehension |
In this lesson, students will use an online interactive, the Alphabet Organizer, to think critically about a piece of literature. Using the alphabet as an organizing structure, students will analyze literary elements in the story, such as characters, setting, and themes, organizing their observations in an alphabet book. | 3-5 | 7/12/07 |
Compiling Poetry Collections and a Working Definition of Poetry |
Students will explore a variety of poems about familiar topics and themes using poetry collections and anthologies. They will further learn about poetry craft elements. Using this as a model and inspiration, students will then create a poetry collection, using already published poems, and creating their own definitions of poetry. | 3-5 | 2/27/09 |
Color Poems—Using the Five Senses to Guide Prewriting |
As JoAnn Portalupi tells us, “Learning to ‘see’ means stretching to use all five senses.” By asking students to avoid visual metaphors, this activity taps students’ memories for images, sounds, and other sensory perceptions as they compose original color poems. This process not only stretches students’ ability to see but also encourages creative development and intellectual growth. | 3-5 | 11/19/08 |
A Bad Case of Bullying: Using Literature Response Groups With Students |
In this lesson, students make personal connections to a humorous back-to-school story (A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon) by writing in their journals and discussing the story in literature response groups. Students also explore the central theme of bullying in the story. | 3-5 | 11/19/08 |
Applying Question–Answer Relationships to Pictures |
In this lesson, teacher modeling is provided in applying question-answer relationships (QARs) to pictures, with an opportunity for students to then work independently. The lesson is designed for third- or fourth-grade students who have not previously used the QAR strategy or who have reading difficulties. | 3-5 | 4/14/09 |
Pourquoi Stories: Creating Tales to Tell Why |
After listening to, reading, and discussing pourquoi stories, which are stories that explain how or why something in nature is the way it is, students work in cooperative groups to create their own stories and then present them to the class. | 3-5 | 4/14/09 |
Developing Students' Critical Thinking Skills Through Whole-Class Dialogue |
This lesson uses the book My Freedom Trip to engage students in conversations that promote critical thinking. The lesson uses a technique called the Dialogical-Thinking Reading Lesson, which requires each student to take a position on a story-specific issue, then identify and articulate supporting reasons for his or her position. | 3-5 | 9/14/07 |
Thundering Tall Tales: Using Read-Aloud as a Springboard to Writing |
This lesson uses the Coretta Scott King Award book Thunder Rose to reinforce the common elements, or text structure, of tall tales. Reading this literature selection aloud supports students as they produce original tall tales for a culminating activity. | 3-5 | 9/14/07 |
Sequencing: A Strategy to Succeed at Reading Comprehension |
Students will strengthen comprehension of the Paul Bunyan tall tale by creating a life-sized timeline. Focusing on the sequence of events in the story, students each write a complete sentence and draw a picture illustrating a certain event and then as a class put these events in sequential order. | 3-5 | 9/14/07 |
Artistic Elements: Exploring Art Through Descriptive Writing |
In this lesson, students become engaged in the studies of both art and written language, as they create descriptive writing pieces in which adjectives are used to describe the artistic elements present within a work. | 3-5 | 9/14/07 |
Investigating Junk Mail: Negotiating Critical Literacy at the Mailbox |
By investigating junk mail, students learn to think about and question texts in ways that develop their analytical capacities and critical reading practices. | 3-5 | 4/14/09 |
A Genre Study of Letters With The Jolly Postman |
In The Jolly Postman, a postman rides his bicycle delivering letters. To whom? Storybook and nursery rhyme characters! After reading The Jolly Postman, the students will learn the attributes of different types of mail. Then, the students will categorize the letters from the book, and finally their own mail. | 3-5 | 11/19/08 |
Exploring the Subtext Strategy: Thinking Beyond the Text |
This lesson, recommended for grades 2–4, allows students to explore the feelings, motivations, and thoughts of the characters in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Students use the illustrations in the story to interpret the characters' thoughts and then act out their subtext. | 3-5 | 9/14/07 |
Developing Inferential Comprehension Through DL-TA and Discussion Webs |
This lesson uses the narrative text Granddaddy's Gift by Margaree King Mitchell to promote inferential comprehension and prediction in reading instruction. The Directed Listening-Thinking Activity (DL-TA) and Discussion Web are used to encourage students to form, state, support, discuss, and adjust their individual interpretations of the story before, during, and after reading. | 3-5 | 11/15/07 |
Book Report Alternative: Writing Resumes for Characters in Historical Fiction |
What if a character from historical fiction came to life and asked your students for help writing a resume? What would your students need to know to help that character? This lesson invites students to put themselves in just this situation. Students explore help wanted ads, in print and online, to see what employers want then draft a resume so the character they’ve chosen can apply for a job. | 3-5 | 9/21/04 |
To, Too, or Two: Developing an Understanding of Homophones |
This lesson uses acting and music to reinforce the meanings and spellings of common homophones. Students listen to a song designed to help them remember the spellings and meanings of many homophones. They then work in small groups to write and create short skits depicting homophones, while their peers determine the correct spellings for the homophones. These skits are later made into comic strips. | 3-5 | 4/21/08 |
Choosing Clear and Varied Dialogue Tags: A Mini-Lesson |
In this mini-lesson, students explore the use of dialogue tags such as “he said” or “she answered” in picture books and novels, discussing their purpose, form, and style. Students identify dialogue tags in stories, collaboratively revise a passage from a novel to add more variety to the tags, and then apply the text structure to stories that they have written. | 3-5 | 8/17/09 |
Unwinding A Circular Plot: Prediction Strategies in Reading and Writing |
This lesson, using circular stories, invites students to use a graphic organizer to explore the plot of the stories while focusing on prediction and sequencing skills. After exploring the features of circular plot stories, students write their own stories individually or in small groups. | 3-5 | 3/20/07 |
Sort, Hunt, Write: A Weekly Spelling Program |
This set of lesson plans provides you with ways to make daily spelling instruction appropriate and engaging. Students will engage in a wide range of activities that will help them deepen their understanding of word patterns. | 3-5 | 9/13/07 |
Genre Study: A Collaborative Approach |
Encourage your students to explore elements of common literary genres, not only as a way to appreciate the wealth of literature available to them, but also to expand their models for effective writing. Using a customized bookmark, students will learn and document characteristics of chosen genres. | 3-5 | 11/19/08 |
Teaching the Compare and Contrast Essay through Modeling |
This lesson uses brainstorming and modeling to encourage young writers to create their own texts. The teacher demonstrates the process of writing a comparison and contrast paper for the class, inviting them to collaborate in the process. Students continue the process of writing the essay on their own. | 3-5 | 6/20/07 |
Behind the Scenes With Cinderella |
This lesson invites students to explore two different versions of Cinderella and to make connections between story background elements (e.g., setting) and cross-curricular topics (e.g., geography and science). Students use literature and the Internet to research and create a variety of language arts activities to showcase their knowledge. | 3-5 | 10/13/09 |
Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills |
This innovative writing lesson integrates fiction and nonfiction to create a blended genre that improves students' critical comprehension and writing skills. Students learn about a content area topic through a text set and Internet research, then blend elements of fiction and nonfiction to create an original piece that demonstrates new knowledge. | 3-5 | 11/18/08 |
Charting Characters for a More Complete Understanding of the Story |
Character Perspective Charting allows students to compare characters and their goals. Students learn to fully understand a story by noticing how characters' goals differ and how problems arise as a result. Setting, problems, goals, and intentions are explored in this lesson. | 3-5 | 6/26/07 |
Figurative Language: Teaching Idioms |
This lesson focuses on introducing idioms to students in the language arts classroom. Through direct instruction of idioms, students gain an in-depth understanding of this form of figurative language. Idioms are presented through read-alouds, literal representations, and the Internet. | 3-5 | 8/2/07 |
Wartime Poetry: Working With Similes |
Using photographs, first-hand accounts, drama, and peer-editing, students write poems about the feelings of children evacuated during World War II. Students are introduced to the term simile and make comparisons to develop strong imagery in their poetry. This lesson can be adapted to suit any time period or topic. | 3-5 | 8/2/07 |
Creating a Classroom Newspaper |
Students love to share their writing. What better way for them to share than by creating a classroom newspaper? This lesson focuses on the newspaper genre of writing. Through the use of the interactive Printing Press or Microsoft Publisher (or another similar software package), students will develop a classroom newspaper while incorporating ICT (Information Communication Technology) into their learning. | 3-5 | 11/14/08 |
Guided Comprehension: Evaluating Using the Meeting of the Minds Technique |
This lesson uses the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen to introduce the comprehension strategy of evaluating using the meeting of the minds technique. Students read The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and learn how to evaluate and debate information from texts. | 3-5 | 7/16/09 |
Guided Comprehension: Knowing How Words Work Using Semantic Feature Analysis |
This lesson uses the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen to introduce the comprehension strategy of knowing how words work using semantic feature analysis. The lesson teaches students how to analyze the characteristics of folktales, myths, and fables to gain a better understanding of these genres. | 3-5 | 7/16/09 |
Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Narrative Structure |
A strong plot is a basic requirement of any narrative. Students are sometimes confused, however, by the difference between a series of events that happen in a story and the plot elements, or the events that are significant to the story. This lesson uses comic strip frames to define plot and reinforce the structure that underlies a narrative, as students write their own original narratives. | 3-5 | 11/19/08 |
Paul Revere: American Patriot |
In this lesson that allows curricular integration, students explore the life and legend of Paul Revere. Websites that describe Paul Revere’s life, his well-known ride, and his occupation are investigated and discussed. Information from these sources is then used for center activities and projects. | 3-5 | 11/21/08 |
Using Writing and Role-Play to Engage the Reluctant Writer |
In this lesson, students use dramatic role-play to further engage their literacy skills. By exploring the characters in a story and writing in role, students use creative means to support their learning and understanding of the writing process. | 3-5 | 7/19/07 |
Research Building Blocks: “Organize This!” |
“Organize This!” is part of a Research Process/Application unit. This lesson focuses on organizing found research information. The unit/activities were created with a School Library Media Specialist about the State of Illinois; however, they can be adapted to any state or other research topic. | 3-5 | 2/17/04 |
Guided Comprehension: Previewing Using an Anticipation Guide |
This lesson uses the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen to introduce the comprehension strategy of previewing using an anticipation guide. Students use the book Teammates by Peter Golenbock, which describes the friendship between Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese, to preview and anticipate elements of the story. | 3-5 | 7/23/07 |
Guided Comprehension: Self-Questioning Using Question-Answer Relationships |
This lesson uses the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen to introduce the comprehension strategy of self-questioning using question-answer relationships (QARs). Students use the book The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles to learn the different question types and how to identify the answers. | 3-5 | 7/23/07 |
Guided Comprehension: Making Connections Using a Double-Entry Journal |
This lesson uses the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen to introduce the comprehension strategy of making connections using a double-entry journal. Students use the book Harvesting Hope by Kathleen Krull to make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections. | 3-5 | 7/23/07 |
Guided Comprehension: Visualizing Using the Sketch-to-Stretch Strategy |
This lesson uses the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen to introduce the comprehension strategy of visualizing using sketch-to-stretch. While reading the books Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles and The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson, students visualize their thoughts and ideas about the texts through drawings. | 3-5 | 10/14/09 |
Guided Comprehension: Monitoring Using the INSERT Technique |
This lesson uses the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen to introduce the comprehension strategy of monitoring using the INSERT technique. The lesson teaches students how to monitor their understanding and thought processes to gain a better understanding of texts. | 3-5 | 7/23/07 |
Guided Comprehension: Summarizing Using the QuIP Strategy |
This lesson uses the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen to introduce the comprehension strategy of summarizing using the QuIP (questions into paragraphs) strategy. Students have the opportunity to read about the Underground Railroad and summarize information both orally and in writing. | 3-5 | 7/23/07 |
Spelling Cheerleading: Integrating Movement and Spelling Generalizations |
This lesson teaches the y spelling rule for adding suffixes and reinforces the rule using a multi-sensory approach called "spelling cheerleading." Students learn kinesthetic movements based on the formations of letters and "cheer" the new words. | 3-5 | 7/23/07 |
Webcams in the Classroom: Animal Inquiry and Observation |
Can't make it to a zoo? Observe animal habits and habitats using one of the many webcams broadcasting from zoos and aquariums around the United States and the world in this inquiry-based activity that focuses on observation logs, class discussion, questioning, and research. | 3-5 | 9/16/09 |
Book Report Alternative: Examining Story Elements Using Story Map Comic Strips |
Comic frames are traditionally used to illustrate a story in a short, concise format. In this lesson, students use a six-paneled comic strip frame to create a story map, summarizing a book or story that they've read. Each panel retells a particular detail or explains a literary element (such as setting or character) from the story. | 3-5 | 7/15/08 |
Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Genre Study |
The combination of the simple, yet complex nature of comic strips and comic books make them an excellent source of teaching material, as they explore language in a creative way. In this lesson, students will be examining the genre and subgenres of comics, their uses, and purposes. | 3-5 | 2/13/09 |
Writing a Movie: Summarizing and Rereading a Film Script |
Writing a Movie is a technique similar to Readers Theatre. In writing a movie, students view a short film segment (5 to 10 minutes) and write a description of the segment. Students read their descriptions expressively as the film's soundtrack plays in the background. | 3-5 | 7/19/07 |
Charlotte is Wise, Patient, and Caring: Adjectives and Character Traits |
In this activity, students define the characteristics of adjectives and find examples of the part of speech in a shared reading. Then students "become" one of the major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using Internet reference tools to compile lists of accurate, powerful adjectives. In class discussion, students support their lists with details from the reading. | 3-5 | 4/10/06 |
Using the Prediction Strategy to Set Purposes for Reading |
The prediction strategy is modeled, practiced, and used independently as students read a trade book. Response journal forms are used by the students to record questions and responses based on predictions made by students before reading. | 3-5 | 7/12/07 |
Acquiring New Vocabulary Through Book Discussion Groups |
This lesson presents a whole-language approach to a social studies topic (i.e., the Civil War) using the trade book Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco. The approach combines reading comprehension with vocabulary development. The lesson can be extended, modified, and reused for other topics at the teacher's discretion. | 3-5 | 11/7/08 |
Readers Theatre |
Readers Theatre gives students the opportunity to develop fluency and enhance comprehension through expressive readings of a text. Students become more enthusiastic in the classroom as they witness how texts can come alive through participatory readings. | 3-5 | 7/12/07 |
Research Building Blocks: “Cite Those Sources!” |
“Cite Those Sources!” is part of a Research Process/Application unit. The focus of this lesson is on creating a bibliography. The unit/activities were created with a School Library Media Specialist about the State of Illinois; however, they can be adapted to any state or other research topic. | 3-5 | 5/13/09 |
Myth and Truth: Independence Day |
Most Americans think of the Fourth of July as Independence Day—but is it really the day the U.S. declared and celebrated independence? By exploring myths and truths surrounding Independence Day, this lesson asks students to think critically about commonly believed stories regarding the beginning of the Revolutionary War and the Independence Day holiday. | 3-5 | 8/17/09 |
Research Building Blocks: Skim, Scan, and Scroll |
“Skim, Scan, and Scroll” is part of a Research Process and Application unit created with a School Library Media Specialist. The focus of this lesson is searching for information on the State of Illinois; however, it can be adapted to any state or other research topic. | 3-5 | 9/10/03 |
QARs + Tables = Successful Comprehension of Math Word Problems |
In this lesson, students identify the question-answer relationship (QAR) for word problems that relate to a graphic or table. They then use the QAR strategy to determine the mathematical and cognitive actions required to answer the word problem. This activity is particularly appropriate for fourth- and fifth-grade students. | 3-5 | 12/15/06 |
Research Building Blocks: Hints about Print |
"Hints about Print," part of a Research Process and Application unit, focuses on selecting print resources. The unit and activities, created in conjunction with a School Library Media Specialist, are on the State of Illinois; however, they can be adapted for any state or other research topic. | 3-5 | 9/10/03 |
Research Building Blocks: Notes, Quotes, and Fact Fragments |
"Notes, Quotes, and Fact Fragments," part of a Research Process and Application unit created in conjunction with a School Library Media Specialist, focuses on taking notes, using materials on the State of Illinois. The lessons can be adapted to any state or other research topic. | 3-5 | 9/10/03 |
Research Building Blocks: Examining Electronic Sources |
"Examining Electronic Sources," part of a Research Process and Application unit, focuses on selecting electronic resources. The unit and activities, created in conjunction with a School Library Media Specialist, are on the State of Illinois; however, they can be adapted for any state or other research topic. | 3-5 | 5/1/09 |
Powerful Writing: Description in Creating Monster Trading Cards |
Description can make a piece of writing come alive. This activity combines art and word play, emphasizing writing for an audience while drawing on multiple intelligences. Peer review and feedback reinforces the revision process as students create trading cards by drawing pictures of monsters and describing and categorizing them in detail. | 3-5 | 1/26/09 |
Book Report Alternative: The Elements of Fiction |
This versatile lesson encourages students to read a fiction book of their choice, analyze what they have read, write and illustrate an alternative book report identifying key elements of fiction, and share their stapleless book with other students in either pairs or small groups. | 3-5 | 11/19/08 |
Alaska Native Stories: Using Narrative to Introduce Expository Text |
This lesson introduces students to comparing and contrasting fiction and nonfiction texts, and provides integration of literature into content area instruction. Students listen to a Yu'pik tale told by a Native person living in Alaska, reflect on it, and then use expository text to find facts about an animal in the Arctic. | 3-5 | 6/26/07 |
Cyberspace Explorer: Getting to Know Christopher Columbus |
Assisting young students in Web research is vital to their literacy development and gives them confidence as they approach digital text. In this lesson, based on the teaching strategies of Sutherland-Smith, teacher modeling and step-by-step handouts guide young explorers through a cyber scavenger hunt. | 3-5 | 8/17/09 |
Escaping Slavery: Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt |
This lesson uses the picture book Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson and an interactive website to enhance third- through fifth-grade students' understanding of the Underground Railroad and slavery, development of reading comprehension skills, and application of mapping skills. | 3-5 | 11/19/08 |
Multimedia Responses to Content Area Topics Using Fact–“Faction”–Fiction |
This lesson focuses on students' development of cooperative learning and inquiry-based skills, as well as the ways that fiction and nonfiction can be blended seamlessly into texts. Students read Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin, and then work in cooperative groups to research and synthesize information about spiders. | 3-5 | 4/14/09 |
Technical Reading and Writing Using Board Games |
In small groups students create board games on a novel they have read. They write directions for the games that clearly explain how to play and to create questions and answers based on their novels. They play each other's games (technical reading) and discuss changes and improvements for the directions and the game layout. | 3-5 | 3/20/07 |
Figurative Language Awards Ceremony |
Figurative language enlivens a text, providing visuals in the minds of readers. This lesson will have students listening to and reading selected texts as they seek out their favorite literary devices. | 3-5 | 11/3/03 |
Literature as a Catalyst for Social Action: Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges |
Students are invited to confront and discuss issues of injustice and intolerance reading a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts. | 3-5 | 9/28/09 |
Using Picture Books to Teach Setting Development in Writing Workshop |
Students explore the concept of setting through focused experiences with picture books. As they learn about the connections between reading and writing, students find ways to apply the information they learn to revisions of their own writing. | 3-5 | 11/16/07 |
Using Picture Books to Teach Characterization in Writing Workshop |
Students explore the concept of character development through focused experiences with picture books. As they learn about the connections between reading and writing, students find ways to apply the information they learn to revisions of their own writing. | 3-5 | 11/16/07 |
Traveling Terrain: Comprehending Nonfiction Text on the Web |
This lesson provides strategic teaching lessons to students for comprehending nonfiction text found in website format. Strategies include locating specific information, identifying text features of nonfiction text, and generalizing information read to related topics. The lesson centers on a science-oriented website, but can be adapted to other content area websites. | 3-5 | 11/16/06 |
Letter Poems Deliver: Experimenting with Line Breaks in Poetry Writing |
Letter poems make poetry accessible, meaningful, and fun. Letter poems are also an apt medium for exploring a defining characteristic of poetry—line breaks. Students explore letter poems and experiment with writing letters as poems, using the placement of line breaks to enhance rhythm, sound, meaning, and appearance. | 3-5 | 12/9/08 |
Exploring World Cultures Through Folk Tales |
Providing students with the opportunity to read about different cultures helps increase their global understanding and fosters tolerance of cultural differences. In this lesson, students read folk tales from Japan, Wales, and Kenya and depict the stories visually for purposes of retelling. Students also research the countries and share a brief synopsis with the class. | 3-5 | 8/17/09 |
How Big Are Martin’s Big Words? Thinking Big about the Future |
Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. tells of King's childhood determination to use "big words" through biographical information and quotations. In this lesson, students explore information on Dr. King to think about his "big" words, then they write about their own "big" words and dreams. | 3-5 | 9/28/09 |
Peace Poems and Picasso Doves: Literature, Art, Technology, and Poetry |
Students and teachers employ think-aloud strategies as they read literature, compose poems, and create artwork related to the theme of peace. This unit is designed for collaborative teaching among classroom, art, and technology teachers, and school librarians. A single educator can also teach this unit. | 3-5 | 4/14/09 |
What Makes Poetry? Exploring Line Breaks |
Learning poetry's special characteristics helps students understand, appreciate, and compose poetry. One defining characteristic of poetry is use of line breaks. Students explore various poems and why the lines are broken where they are. Then they experiment with varied line breaks and how they affect rhythm, sound, meaning, and appearance. | 3-5 | 11/7/03 |
The Two Voices of the ow Spelling Pattern |
As part of a Directed Spelling Thinking Activity (DSTA), students investigate the many sounds a single vowel can represent. In this lesson, students who have previously learned about short and long /o/ sounds will now learn that the spelling pattern ow has two different sounds, as in the words wow and low. | 3-5 | 11/15/07 |
Who’s Got Mail? Using Literature to Promote Authentic Letter Writing |
This activity teaches and reinforces letter writing through read alouds and shared writing. Students discuss and chart letter elements and write their own letters to adults at school. This can lead to ongoing correspondence between adults and students, reinforcing letter-writing skills beyond the classroom lesson. | 3-5 | 3/11/09 |
Native Americans Today |
Through this lesson, teachers can use children's nonfiction books and the Internet to help their students develop accurate, substantive information about Native American people in the present day. | 3-5 | 3/11/09 |
Daily Book Boosts |
Each day at the end of their independent reading time, students give Book Boosts, one-minute raves about books they’ve read. These Book Boosts are easy ways to suggest a multitude of titles to students, and they act as a way for students to have something to think about as they read. | 3-5 | 6/27/07 |
Book Clubs: Reading for Fun |
Students reading on their own and just for fun? Sure! This lesson explores how small groups of students decide to meet every other day to discuss what they've read in a "just for fun" book club they've organized—and that they control. | 3-5 | 11/20/08 |
Playing with Prepositions through Poetry |
Students play with and explore prepositions first in a picture book and then applying their knowledge about the part of speech by composing and publishing prepositional poems. | 3-5 | 8/17/09 |
Multipurpose Poetry: Introducing Science Concepts and Increasing Fluency |
This lesson introduces the study of insects in science by using poetry. Students work in cooperative groups to prepare choral poetry readings and present factual information on an assigned insect to the class. The choral poetry readings also serve to increase fluency in ESL students. | 3-5 | 6/21/07 |
Bright Morning: Exploring Character Development in Fiction |
"If you were going to introduce the character you're reading about to someone who had never read the text, what words would you use to describe him or her?" With this question, students embark on an exploration of character in their reading, identifying traits and pointing to textual support. | 3-5 | 2/27/09 |
My World of Words: Building Vocabulary Lists |
This lesson uses students' areas of interest both in and out of school to generate personalized vocabulary lists. Working in small groups, students select their own vocabulary words and research their meanings. In a culminating activity that uses text and illustration, each student will create a "My World of Words Journal." | 3-5 | 4/21/05 |
Exploring Compare and Contrast Structure in Expository Texts |
Students explore the concept of compare and contrast using expository texts. They learn clue words that signal a compare and contrast structure and how to use Venn diagrams for note-taking and representing new information learned from texts. | 3-5 | 8/17/09 |
A Daily DEAR Program: Drop Everything, and Read! |
The teacher shouts, "Drop Everything and Read!" and students settle into their seats to read books they've selected. This independent reading program is much more than a just-sit-there-and-read experience—it's a program that helps students build the habit of lifelong reading for the love of it. | 3-5 | 11/20/08 |
Can You Convince Me? Developing Persuasive Writing |
This lesson teaches elementary students to write persuasive arguments. Within the context of a game, students are made aware of their inherent knowledge of how to persuade. The lesson then extends their understanding of oral argument into the written word. | 3-5 | 4/14/09 |
Get the Reel Scoop: Comparing Books to Movies |
In today’s culture, students have many opportunities to view movies based upon literature. Instead of assuming that students will watch the movie rather than reading the book, take advantage of the phenomenon by asking students to compare and contrast books with their movie counterparts and then work in groups to design a readers theater response to the film version. | 3-5 | 11/16/07 |
Learning to Learn with Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster |
After reading the picture book Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster, students explore vocabulary from a recent unit and create their own vocabulary parade, modeled on the activities in the text. The activity provides a great alternative to testing students on information from a recent unit. | 3-5 | 11/30/07 |
Fairy Tales from Life |
Students read and analyze fairy tales from several cultural backgrounds, identifying common elements. Choosing common situations and working in small groups, students write original fairy tales, following a process method that includes peer review and encourages using picture books as models. The project concludes with class presentations. | 3-5 | 4/14/09 |
Composing Cinquain Poems with Basic Parts of Speech |
Cinquain (pronounced "cin-kain") is a five-line form, using a wavelike syllable count of two-four-six-eight-two. In this lesson, students learn about cinquain and write simple cinquain of their own. | 3-5 | 1/26/09 |
Poetry from Prose |
Working in small groups, Students compose found and parallel poems based on a descriptive passage they have chosen from a piece of literature they are reading. | 3-5 | 12/9/08 |
Seasonal Haiku: Writing Poems to Celebrate Any Season |
Students listen to a sample of haiku read aloud. Then, using seasonal descriptive words, they write their own haiku following the traditional syllable and line format. Finally, they publish their poems by either mounting them on illustrated backgrounds that support the images depicted in the poems or completing the leaf interactive. | 3-5 | 11/13/08 |
Teaching Science Through Picture Books: A Rainforest Lesson |
A study of the tropical rainforest is introduced through the picture book Welcome to the Green House by Jane Yolen. This science lesson, which incorporates reading, writing, and technology, is a template that can be used with other books by Jane Yolen to teach about the desert, the polar ice cap, and the Everglades. | 3-5 | 11/18/08 |
Flying to Freedom: Tar Beach and The People Could Fly |
Reading with an awareness of intertextuality helps students respond in a dynamic manner to multicultural literature. Students explore themes of liberation and racism as they examine the connections, as well as the disjunctions, between two award-winning children's books. | 3-5 | 6/21/07 |
Biographies: Creating Timelines of a Life |
Studying biographies is of interest and value to young learners. This lesson supports students' exploration of sources to create a timeline about the life of a person. The experience requires students work together and research and resolve conflicting information. Extension activities include developing essays from the research. | 3-5 | 7/13/07 |
Writing and Assessing an Autobiographical Incident |
An autobiographical incident, a story students can tell about an event in their own lives, can be a powerful teaching tool at the beginning of the school year. It is a wonderful way to introduce students to each other because the author shares experiences and feelings about an event. | 3-5 | 3/31/05 |
Exploring How Section Headings Support Understanding of Expository Texts |
We cannot assume that students understand how section headings can help them organize and understand content-specific information in expository texts. This lesson provides a model, practice, and assessment in the sorting and categorizing of main concepts through the awareness and understanding of section headings. Connections to the outline format are made through extension activities. | 3-5 | 6/25/07 |
Poetry: A Feast to Form Fluent Readers |
Students examine elements of fluent reading through oral poetry performance. They use the Internet to identify a poem to prepare and perform for the class. The main objective of this lesson concerns improving fluency. | 3-5 | 10/15/09 |
Teaching Language Skills Using the Phone Book |
What literacy skills are needed to use a phone book? Through multiple activities built around an everyday text, students will not only learn how the book is arranged, but what the contents are and also how it is used. In the process, students will be using their research and organizational skills to build their own class phone book. | 3-5 | 6/28/04 |
Literature Circles: Getting Started |
Students observe and practice different ways of collaborating to read a work of literature in this student-centered lesson. Students work in four different roles as they compose and answer comprehension questions, discover new vocabulary, and examine elements of literature. This lesson provides a basic introduction to the strategy and can be followed with a more extensive literature circle project. | 3-5 | 8/17/09 |
Leading to Great Places in the Elementary Classroom |
A story’s lead begins the reader’s adventure; yet it can just as likely end that odyssey if those opening words do not immediately entrance the reader. This mini-lesson examines types of leads in prominent children's literature and asks students to try their own hand at writing leads. | 3-5 | 12/12/06 |
STAR Search: How Do I Find the Book I Need? |
STAR Search provides a set of steps and thinking processes for intermediate students to use in finding a library resource relevant to a specific information need. Modeling and presenting the process will assist students in becoming confident, independent library users. | 3-5 | 7/15/04 |
Developing a Living Definition of Reading in the Elementary Classroom |
Using the guiding question, "What is reading?" this lesson invites students to interact with a variety of different texts as they attempt to uncover the skills necessary to successfully interact with the text. Based upon the discussion that follows, students will create a living definition of reading. | 3-5 | 11/19/08 |
Fairy Tale Autobiographies |
Students read and analyze fairy tales from several cultural backgrounds, identifying common elements. Choosing common situations and working in small groups, students write original fairy tales, following a process method that includes peer review and encourages using picture books as models. | 6-8 | 1/26/09 |
Writing Alternative Plots for Robert C. O’Brien’s Z for Zachariah |
The science fiction novel, Z for Zachariah, by Robert C. O’Brien is full of moral dilemmas. As a culminating activity for this novel, students write alternative endings for the novel based around the important decisions made by Ann Burden, the main character. | 6-8 | 1/26/09 |
Honoring Our Veterans Through Poetry Prewriting |
This lesson uses the informational power of the Internet for a prewriting activity. Through various Internet sites, students gather information about the history and celebration practices associated with Veterans Day. Following the prewriting activity, students write content-rich poems that honor our veterans. | 6-8 | 11/6/06 |
Creative Communication Frames: Discovering Similarities between Writing and Art |
Build a comparative frame to explore the creative processes of writing and art as communication. Graphic organizers assist the development of comparative vocabulary and generate discussions of analogy and metaphor in art. Apply to a real or virtual tour of an art gallery to develop narrative, expository, or analytical writing. | 6-8 | 1/31/08 |
Developing a Definition of Reading through Investigation in Middle School |
Students will interact with a variety of different texts to uncover a broader meaning of reading as they define reading collaboratively and develop their own Reader’s Profiles modeled after online social networking sites. | 6-8 | 3/11/09 |
Memories Matter: The Giver and Descriptive Writing Memoirs |
Using The Giver, students will discuss the importance of having a recorded history of humanity. This understanding provides context for descriptive writing of students’ own history in a lesson that integrates personal writing, research, and response to literature. | 6-8 | 3/11/09 |
Leading to Great Places in the Middle School Classroom |
Tapping existing texts for models is one of the best strategies for writer’s workshop. This mini-lesson examines types of leads in prominent young adult literature and asks students to search for great leads and then try their own hand at writing leads. | 6-8 | 10/23/08 |
Introducing Each Other: Interviews, Memoirs, Photos, and Internet Research |
Students read, write, speak, listen, and research as they interview a partner and write an article, write a personal memoir, take partner photographs, and use the Internet to find pictures and information illustrating their partners’ interests. Results are shared in the form of a poster and a classroom presentation. | 6-8 | 8/15/05 |
Using a Word Journal to Create a Personal Dictionary |
Students keep track of unfamiliar words they encounter while reading various texts. Using a word journal notebook, students explore the perceived meaning and the standard dictionary meaning of these words. Students then create a personal dictionary in PowerPoint® using the words recorded in their word journal notebook. | 6-8 | 6/25/07 |
Critical Literacy: Point of View |
By the sixth grade, most students are able to identify point of view in texts by recognizing writing in the first person, second person, and third person. In this lesson, students learn to look at texts from different viewpoints. Was the "big bad wolf" really bad? Throughout the lesson, students are encouraged to view texts from different angles. | 6-8 | 10/18/06 |
Found Poems/Parallel Poems |
Students compose found and parallel poems based on a descriptive passage they have chosen from a piece of literature they are reading. | 6-8 | 12/8/08 |
Expository Escapade—Detective’s Handbook |
Students will combine reading in the detective fiction genre with expository writing. Embedded in this unit are reading and writing skills such as defining, editing, explaining, illustrating, justifying, revising, supporting, and validating. | 6-8 | 3/14/05 |
Reading and Writing Workshop: Freak the Mighty |
This novel study of Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick includes the modeling and practicing of specific reading comprehension strategies, vocabulary and word study, a figurative language activity, and a selection of final projects which can be used for assessment with the accompanying rubric. | 6-8 | 12/8/08 |
Weaving the Threads: Integrating Poetry Annotation and Web Technology |
This project engages students in meaningful research using poetry as a focal point. Students identify words and phrases in a poem by a Native American and in the process, learn about Native American culture and history. Students create a Web site using the poem as a "launching" space that takes readers into various explanations of words and phrases. | 6-8 | 9/24/07 |
The Reading Performance: Understanding Fluency Through Oral Interpretation |
This lesson presents an adaptation of the oral recitation lesson: students talk in explicit terms about prosody and gain a new appreciation for written literature intended for oral performance. Technology activities are integrated to instill the value of technology in shaping students' life-long appreciation of literature. | 6-8 | 7/27/05 |
Dynamic Duo Text Talks: Examining the Content of Internet Sites |
This introductory lesson exposes students to a variety of online texts about Anne Frank and the Holocaust prior to more extensive study of these topics. Students are encouraged to cooperatively examine Internet sites as a primary source of information, and then share their impressions and opinions of the various sites. | 6-8 | 6/25/07 |
Story Character Homepage |
A project for literature circles or class novels to develop understanding of a character. In groups students will look at examples of homepages on the Internet, note what elements most contain, and use them as models to create a homepage for their chosen character. | 6-8 | 6/2/05 |
Shared Spelling Strategies |
Students increase their spelling accuracy (i.e., standard) and their retention by "constructing" spelling using sound, sight recall, and analyzing strategies, among others, instead of memorizing lists of words. The aim is to deal with spelling during drafting while preserving fluency. | 6-8 | 3/20/07 |
Cosmic Oranges: Observation and Inquiry Through Descriptive Writing and Art |
As a jumping-off point for inquiry and research, students use varied methods of observation, including sketching, to write objective and subjective descriptions. | 6-8 | 6/21/07 |
Comparing Electronic and Print Texts About the Civil War Soldier |
To complete research for any kind of writing project, students need effective comprehension strategies for both print and online text. This lesson has students practice these strategies and compare the similarities and differences in text conventions in print and online texts about the Civil War soldier’s camp life. | 6-8 | 11/21/08 |
Myth and Truth: The “First Thanksgiving” |
Behind every myth are many possible truths allowing us to discover who we were as peoples and who we are today. By exploring myths surrounding the Wampanoag, the pilgrims, and the "First Thanksgiving," this lesson asks students to think critically about commonly believed myths regarding the Wampanoag Indians in colonial America. | 6-8 | 11/20/08 |
Postmodern Picture Books in the Middle School |
Students analyze the structure of a postmodern picture book to uncover how authors form relationships between words and illustrations. An online teacher resource explains the intent of the picture book Black and White and provides background information and suggestions for classroom discussion. | 6-8 | 2/6/09 |
In the Poet's Shoes: Performing Poetry and Building Meaning |
In this lesson, students analyze a variety of poets and their poetry by reading and listening to their work. Students then use information gathered from Internet resources to select a favorite poet and perform one of their poems for the class. | 6-8 | 4/14/09 |
Finding Figurative Language in The Phantom Tollbooth |
This lesson is an exploration of figurative language using the novel The Phantom Tollbooth and various Web resources. Students examine figurative language in the story and create a chart representing the literal and figurative meanings of words and phrases. | 6-8 | 11/20/08 |
She Did What? Revising for Connotation |
Did she walk, skip, amble, dance? In this mini-lesson, students examine the simple sentence "She walked into the room." Students act out ways that the student in the sentence might enter the room, revising the sample sentence to increase the specificity of the word and explore connotation. Students follow this demonstration by selecting words with powerful connotations for their own writing. | 6-8 | 4/14/09 |
Alliteration in Headline Poems |
Students will be introduced to the term alliteration. They will be given examples of alliteration and asked to create their own examples of alliteration. As a project, students will be asked to create a headline poem consisting of 25 words that contain at least three examples of alliteration. | 6-8 | 2/23/06 |
Graphic Life Map |
In this prewriting activity for personal memoir or autobiographical writing, students brainstorm important memories, choose graphics to represent these memories, and construct a life map, connecting drawings and captions of high and low points with a highway. | 6-8 | 3/6/08 |
Avalanche, Aztek, or Bravada? A Connotation Mini-Lesson |
Would you rather drive an Avalanche, an Aztek, a Bravada, a Suburban or a Vue? In this mini-lesson, students examine familiar car names for underlying connotations then proceed through a series of steps, increasing their control over language, until they select words with powerful connotations in their own writing. | 6-8 | 9/16/09 |
Battling for Liberty: Tecumseh’s and Patrick Henry’s Language of Resistance |
This lesson extends the study of Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech to demonstrate the ways Native Americans also resisted oppression through rhetoric and action. Through reading and hearing the speeches of Tecumseh, students develop a new respect for the Native Americans' politically effective and poetic use of language. | 6-8 | 11/20/08 |
Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: Critical Discussion of Social Issues |
Students are invited to confront and discuss issues of injustice and intolerance reading a variety of texts, from Young Adult literature to picture books. | 6-8 | 11/20/08 |
Compare and Contrast Electronic Text With Traditionally Printed Text |
The purpose of this lesson is to familiarize students with the similarities and differences between electronic text and traditionally printed text. Students examine the textual aids included in a textbook and compare them to the textual aids included in an educational website. | 6-8 | 2/6/09 |
Writing a Flashback and Flash-Forward Story Using Movies and Texts as Models |
Flashbacks and flash-forwards are common devices used in literature and films. Students will not only see examples of these devices through movies and stories, they will also create their own stories incorporating these literary devices. | 6-8 | 6/10/09 |
Scaffolding Comprehension Strategies Using Graphic Organizers |
To facilitate comprehension during and after reading, students apply four reading strategies: preview, click and clunk, get the gist, and wrap-up. Graphic organizers are used for scaffolding of these strategies while students work together in cooperative groups. | 6-8 | 6/21/07 |
Critical Media Literacy: TV Programs |
Television programming has a huge impact on the lives of children. This lesson focuses on the stereotypical and racial messages that are portrayed through television programming with a focus on situational comedies. | 6-8 | 6/21/07 |
Critical Media Literacy: Commercial Advertising |
Students investigate the influence of advertising on their daily lives. Choices of clothing, music, and other products can be attributed to what adolescents see and hear on television, radio, and other media. In this lesson, students develop a critical eye toward advertising and investigate the hidden messages that are presented. | 6-8 | 6/21/07 |
Using THIEVES to Preview Nonfiction Texts |
Students are taught how to "steal" information by critically previewing textbooks and other nonfiction texts. This strategy helps students better understand what they read by surveying specific elements identified by the acronym THIEVES: title, headings, introduction, every first sentence in a paragraph, visuals and vocabulary, end-of-chapter questions, and summary. | 6-8 | 6/25/07 |
The Big, Bad Wolf...Is This a Fact? |
This lesson uses nonfiction trade books to increase comprehension, vocabulary, and research skills, and boost students willingness to read. Activities include sustained silent reading (SSR), book discussions, teacher modeling, journal responses, research, and use of multimedia software to create presentations. | 6-8 | 6/25/07 |
A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words: From Image to Detailed Narrative |
The old cliche "A picture is worth a thousand words" is put to the test in this lesson. Distribute or show a picture that tells a story and then encourage students to brainstorm words and ideas about the image before writing a story that tells background on the image or extends details on what has happened. | 6-8 | 1/8/09 |
Character Clash: A Mini-Lesson on Paragraphing and Dialogue |
When writers include dialogue in their stories, one of the questions that frequently comes up is how to structure texts that have changing speakers or thinkers. This lesson helps students identify the structures that will clarify their text by using colored markers or online resources. | 6-8 | 11/19/08 |
Inside or Outside? A Mini-Lesson on Quotation Marks and More |
Does that period go inside the quotation marks or outside them? When a writing activity includes dialogue, you're guaranteed to hear that question more than once. This lesson helps students identify the conventions and apply them to their text. | 6-8 | 9/23/04 |
Peer Review: Narrative |
"I liked the story about you and Paul. I think you should add a little more detail and you should change the end two sentences so it will sound better." Sound familiar? This student response to a peer's draft is all too typical. The PQP technique—Praise–Question–Polish—encourages student writers to find and correct their own errors, using self-editing knowledge to empower them as writers, rather than asking them to make others' corrections. | 6-8 | 7/12/07 |
Choose Your Own Adventure: A Hypertext Writing Experience |
Working in groups, students will read and analyze Choose Your Own Adventure Stories in text or hypertext format and brainstorm to develop setting, characters, and beginning plots for their own adventures. Working in smaller groups and finally individually, students will develop Choose Your Own Adventure Story Web sites. | 6-8 | 9/16/09 |
Fighting Injustice by Studying Lessons of the Past |
This lesson engages students in a study of social injustice using the Holocaust, the Trail of Tears, and the Japanese–American Internment during World War II. Students debate and discuss their responses to assigned readings. | 6-8 | 7/1/09 |
Creative Writing Through Wordless Picture Books |
In this lesson, students develop their own story lines for wordless picture books. Students explore a variety of wordless picture books, develop story lines both orally and in writing, and share their stories with others. Students use an online, interactive Story Map to assist in the development of story lines. | 6-8 | 11/7/08 |
Building Reading Comprehension Through Think-Alouds |
This lesson shows teachers how to use think-alouds in the classroom for improved understanding of texts and as an assessment of reading performance. | 6-8 | 5/16/05 |
Lights, Camera, Action: Interviewing a Book Character |
After reading a novel as a group, students prepare a television talk show that uses the characters from the story as the acting characters on the show. Students develop interview-style questions and answers for a character in the novel, and then act out the interview in class. | 6-8 | 3/28/07 |
Student Contracting |
This lesson will help your students become more engaged and motivated by developing learning contracts in the classroom. Reading and writing is the focus of the lesson; however, contracts can easily be incorporated into all subject areas for a variety of purposes. | 6-8 | 7/28/05 |
Book Report Alternative: Character and Author Business Cards |
When students make business cards for characters in books they've read or for the authors of those books, they're forced to think symbolically in order to create a short, simple text that represents the target appropriately—providing a title, relevant images, and other pertinent information. | 6-8 | 9/21/04 |
Book Report Alternative: Summary, Symbol, and Analysis in Bookmarks |
Students love to make bookmarks on the computer because they get to share their ideas with other readers at their school. Teachers love the project because it gives students practice in summarizing, recognizing symbols, and writing reviews—all while writing for an authentic audience. | 6-8 | 9/15/05 |
Book Reviews, Annotation, and Web Technology |
Integrating technology, research, and the language arts, students work collaboratively on this lesson reviewing books and creating hypertext on the Web. Reading, writing, purpose, and audience are synthesized, resulting in a challenging and creative student project. | 6-8 | 3/20/07 |
Audience, Purpose, and Language Use in Electronic Messages |
With the increasing popularity of e-mail and online instant messaging among today’s teens, a recognizable change has occurred in the language that students use in their writing. This lesson explores the language of electronic messages and how it affects other writing. Furthermore, it explores the freedom and creativity for using Internet abbreviations for specific purposes and examines the importance of a more formal style of writing based on audience. | 6-8 | 4/17/08 |
Inventing and Presenting Unit 1: Analyzing Nonfiction and Inventing Solutions |
Students design, build, and test inventions to solve problems they have identified. All data is recorded using commonly accepted scientific principles, and students propose in writing an appropriate speech for sharing the results of their experimentation. Final speeches, including graphs, brochures, PowerPoint Slides, and demonstrations, are presented before combined classes. | 6-8 | 2/15/05 |
Inventing and Presenting Unit 2: Effective Speeches and Building the Invention |
Students design, build, and test inventions to solve problems they have identified. All data is recorded using commonly accepted scientific principles, and students propose in writing an appropriate speech for sharing the results of their experimentation. Final speeches, including graphs, brochures, PowerPoint Slides, and demonstrations, are presented before combined classes. | 6-8 | 6/23/08 |
Inventing and Presenting Unit 3: Persuasive Speaking and Invention Promotion |
Students design, build, and test inventions to solve problems they have identified. All data is recorded using commonly accepted scientific principles, and students propose in writing an appropriate speech for sharing the results of their experimentation. Final speeches, including graphs, brochures, PowerPoint Slides, and demonstrations, are presented before combined classes. | 6-8 | 2/15/05 |
Using the Check and Line Method to Enhance Reading Comprehension |
Although basal textbooks are often considered a teaching faux pas, they are in fact still purchased and issued to students to supplement lesson materials as well as to reinforce mandated curriculum guidelines. This lesson is intended to assist students in retaining valuable information and grasping difficult concepts addressed in texts. | 6-8 | 7/12/07 |
What Am I? Teaching Poetry through Riddles |
Riddles have a long history dating to antiquity. Riddle poems, which rely upon creative use of metaphor, simile, and metonymy; concrete imagery; and imaginative presentation and description of an object or concept, are an excellent vehicle for introducing students to poetry and poetry writing. | 6-8 | 3/20/06 |
Heroes Around Us |
In this lesson, students collaboratively define heroism and discover that heroes can be everyday people who perform brave and noble deeds, often in service to others. Readings and reports on the lives of those honored as heroes reinforce the concept that anyone can become a hero. | 6-8 | 7/12/07 |
Making Personal and Cultural Connections Using A Girl Named Disaster |
Using A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer, students learn about Africa, Shona traditions, geography, and society. They also develop critical-thinking skills and self-awareness as they examine cultural similarities and differences and make personal connections to the story. This lesson is most appropriate for middle school students. | 6-8 | 8/17/09 |
Teaching Voice with Anthony Browne’s Voices in the Park |
Well-crafted characters, plots, and settings might attract readers to a story. Without a distinctive voice, however, those elements will not keep a reader interested. In this lesson, students analyze Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne to determine how an author creates voice and to apply that knowledge to writing. | 6-8 | 6/28/07 |
E-pals Around the World |
This lesson provides teachers and students with an exciting way to build literacy skills in the classroom. Students learn appropriate formats for writing friendly letters and e-mail messages. Not only will students develop their reading and writing abilities, but they will also learn about other cultures, languages, and geographic areas. | 6-8 | 11/21/08 |
Action Is Character: Exploring Character Traits with Adjectives |
In this activity, students "become" one of the major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using Internet reference tools to compile lists of accurate, powerful adjectives. In class discussion, students support their lists with details from the novel. | 6-8 | 2/15/08 |
Proverbs: An Introduction |
Out of the frying pan and into the fire! A stitch in time saves nine! Look before you leap! In this lesson, students will be introduced to the concept of proverbs and explore how proverbs such as these, meant to convey cultural knowledge and wisdom, are often closely tied to a culture’s values and everyday experience, although their meanings are not always readily apparent to us today. | 6-8 | 3/20/07 |
Proverbs: At Home and around the World |
Proverbs in one culture are frequently similar to proverbs expressed in other cultures. For instance, the French "Qui vole un oeuf vole un boeuf" translates to "He who steals eggs steals cattle"; but your students will likely be more familiar with the American proverb "Give him an inch and he'll take a mile." In this lesson, students work with proverbs from home and from around the world, exploring how these maxims are tied to a culture’s values and everyday experience. | 6-8 | 7/13/07 |
Proverbs: Contemporary Proverbs |
"Don't store all your data on one disk" is a contemporary update of the traditional proverb "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." Such traditional proverbs are often closely tied to a culture’s values and everyday experience. As a result, their meanings are not always readily apparent to us today. This lesson challenges students to craft more apparent meanings for traditional maxims by updating proverbs from around the world and writing proverbs of their own. | 6-8 | 7/20/07 |
Doodle Splash: Using Graphics to Discuss Literature |
Taking advantage of students’ natural tendency to doodle, students keep a doodle journal while reading short stories by a common author. In small groups, students combine their doodles into a graphic representation of the text that they present to the class while discussing their story. Students also do individual graphics and, ultimately, write group essays analyzing the author’s themes. | 6-8 | 11/15/05 |
Using QARs to Develop Comprehension and Reflective Reading Habits |
Using whole-class, small-group, and individual instruction, this lesson shows students how to ask and answer different levels of questions in an effort to enhance reading comprehension. Students use the question-answer relationship (QAR) strategy to become more aware of their own internal reading processes. | 6-8 | 3/8/06 |
Book Report Alternative: Comic Strips and Cartoon Squares |
Students tire of responding to novels in the same ways. They want new ways to think about a work of literature and new ways to dig into it. By creating comic strips or cartoon squares featuring characters in books, they're encouraged to think analytically about the characters, events, and themes they've explored in ways that expand their critical thinking by focusing on crystallizing the significant points of the book in a few short scenes. | 6-8 | 3/16/09 |
Book Report Alternative: Creating Careers for Characters |
What if one of the characters in the book you've been reading was looking for a job? This question is the focus of this activity which bridges technical writing and literary analysis by inviting students to become characters in a novel they have read, find a job for those characters, and write application letters and resumes for their assumed persona. | 6-8 | 5/2/08 |
Biography Project: Research and Class Presentation |
Students improve their comprehension in this biography project through the use of graphic organizers, rubrics, and cooperative learning. They each research a famous person, make a graphic organizer (a web), present main aspects of the person's life to the class, and give feedback to one another throughout the project. | 6-8 | 2/6/09 |
Beyond the Story: A Dickens of a Party |
Students are invited to attend a 19th Century Victorian party, hosted by Scrooge's nephew Fred, to celebrate Scrooge's new outlook on life. The invitation requires that guests assume the persona of a character from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Reading, writing, research, and revelry abound as students explore the internet in search of creating the perfect performance. | 6-8 | 4/8/09 |
Using the Four-Square Strategy to Define and Identify Poetic Terms |
Through online research and follow-up discussion, students define four poetic terms using a four-square graphic organizer. They then locate and record examples of each term and apply their knowledge as they explore the poem "The Esquimos Have No Word for 'War'" by Mary Oliver. | 6-8 | 8/2/07 |
Persuasive Essay: Environmental Issues |
Critical stance and development of a strong argument are key strategies when writing to convince someone to agree with your position on a topic. This lesson focuses on having students create persuasive essays that address environmental issues that are relevant to their lives. | 6-8 | 9/13/07 |
ABC Bookmaking Builds Vocabulary in the Content Areas |
Are you looking for a fun, new way to teach content area vocabulary to your students? How about having them create ABC books? Bookmaking allows students to pinpoint for themselves the words they don't know and to use their own descriptions and illustrations to create an appropriate context for new vocabulary. | 6-8 | 7/21/04 |
Scaling Back to Essentials: Scaffolding Summarization With Fishbone Mapping |
This lesson promotes comprehension of content area texts using a fishbone map graphic organizer for summarization. Through teacher modeling and guided practice, students identify main ideas by generalizing from repeated references. Students also make connections among ideas within the text and write summaries in their own words. | 6-8 | 4/14/09 |
Every Punctuation Mark Matters: A Mini-Lesson on Semicolons |
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" demonstrates that even the smallest punctuation mark signals a stylistic decision, distinguishing one writer from another and enabling an author to move an audience. In this mini-lesson, students first explore Dr. King's use of semicolons and their rhetorical significance then apply the lesson to their own writing by searching for ways to follow Dr. King's model and use the punctuation mark in their own writing. | 6-8 | 7/16/09 |
Childhood Remembrances: Life and Art Intersect in Nikki Giovanni’s “Nikki-Rosa” |
Adapted from Carol Jago’s Nikki Giovanni in the Classroom, this lesson invites students to explore what Jago calls the place “where life and art intersect” by completing a close reading of Giovanni’s poem and then writing about childhood memories of their own. | 6-8 | 11/19/08 |
Using Word Webs to Teach Synonyms for Commonly Used Words |
This lesson uses word webs to introduce synonyms for commonly used words such as good, bad, and nice, and to help students adjust their word usage for different contexts. The lesson was designed for second language learners but can be used with all students, even high school. | 6-8 | 5/14/08 |
Reading and Analyzing Multigenre Texts |
In this lesson plan, students develop a definition of multigenre texts by exploring a multigenre picture book, short chapter books, and, if desired, multigenre novels. Students will brainstorm alone and together what they will need as readers to read and understand multigenre texts successfully. The students will share findings and discuss strategies needed to comprehend, and by extension to write, these texts. | 6-8 | 11/19/08 |
Flip-a-Chip: Examining Affixes and Roots to Build Vocabulary |
Flip-a-Chip is a novel approach to word study that promotes vocabulary development. The activity provides hands-on practice with affixes and roots and promotes comprehension through structural analysis and vocabulary in context. | 6-8 | 9/16/09 |
He Said/She Said: Analyzing Gender Roles through Dialogue |
This lesson provides an opportunity to analyze gender roles and stereotypes by examining dialogue in a short story or novel. By asking students to explore the gender assumptions in their readings, teachers can encourage students to question more fully the “norms” they see and often tacitly accept. | 6-8 | 1/16/09 |
Choosing, Chatting, and Collecting: Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy |
Students self-select new vocabulary and apply context, experience, and conversation to help them understand the meanings and uses of the words. This strategy can be used with any content area, but in this lesson, an online script from Shakespeare is provided as an example. | 6-8 | 9/14/07 |
Child Labor: Giving Voice to Child Laborers Through Monologues |
Students explore child labor conditions during the Industrial Revolution in England and the United States and around the world today. Researching relevant websites, each student prepares and delivers a monologue in the "voice" of someone who lived during the Industrial Revolution. Students compare past and current child labor using an online Venn diagram. | 6-8 | 4/14/09 |
GIST: A Summarizing Strategy for Use in Any Content Area |
GIST is a summarizing technique for use in any content area. This series of lessons guides students through learning and applying the strategy in a format that facilitates transfer. It engages learners through online research and writing activities based on topical news stories. | 6-8 | 9/13/07 |
Tenement Life: Mapping Texts and Making Models |
Students explore conditions of tenement living in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Learning about reformers of the time, students study features of informational text to improve comprehension. After visiting additional websites and writing in journals, students work together to construct tenement apartment models. |
6-8 | 9/14/07 |
Press Conference for Bud, Not Buddy |
This lesson is designed for middle school students reading Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis. The lesson encourages students to use higher-level thinking and discussion skills, as well as to take on the perspectives of different characters. The activities are interactive, and focus on comprehension skills. | 6-8 | 9/14/07 |
Imagine That! Playing with Genre through Newspapers and Short Stories |
Students identify genre characteristics for narrative short stories and journalistic newspaper articles then practice both genres by turning a short story into a news article and an article into a short story. | 6-8 | 5/1/09 |
An Exploration of Text Sets: Supporting All Readers |
Text sets focus on one concept, and include books, Web sites, maps, pamphlets, poetry, photographs, almanacs or encyclopedias. In this lesson, students create text set collections on topics of keen interest. They will explore the texts using three reading strategies. Research strategies from your own repertoire can extend the lesson. | 6-8 | 11/19/08 |
Picture Books as Framing Texts: Research Paper Strategies for Struggling Writers |
In this lesson, picture books give students frames for structuring research projects, freeing them from the language of their encyclopedia sources and allowing them to focus their attention on the content of their papers. Using picture books as models, students are able to think more about what to say and less about how to say it, which leads to better learning experiences and better writing. | 6-8 | 11/19/08 |
Internalization of Vocabulary Through the Use of a Word Map |
Middle school students can internalize vocabulary through the use of a concrete and sequential word map. This multisensory method, which incorporates sketching, is intended as one method that students can choose to increase their personal vocabularies. | 6-8 | 9/14/07 |
Timelines and Texts: Motivating Students to Read Nonfiction |
Using an historical timeline and their prior knowledge of events, students predict when specific inventions were produced. After sharing their predictions in pairs/trios, they revise their timelines for accuracy, using Web resources. Through discussion, they consider the connections between historical events and when inventions were created. | 6-8 | 9/14/07 |
Promoting Diversity in the Classroom and School Library through Social Action |
Students explore the effects of stereotypes by analyzing children’s books; then, they use their findings to promote diversity by matching stereotypical portrayals and coverage of issues with balanced and diverse texts. Students create bookmarks that encourage readers to question the assumptions of stereotyped books and to seek out matching, balanced texts. | 6-8 | 9/13/07 |
Inquiry on the Internet: Evaluating Web Pages for a Class Collection |
In this lesson plan, students explore a class inquiry project, collecting Web-based resources that can be used for further study during the course of the class or for more in-depth projects. Students use Internet search engines and Web analysis checklists and questions to find and evaluate online resources then write annotations that explain how and why the items they have found will be valuable to the class. | 6-8 | 11/19/08 |
Analyzing Advice as an Introduction to Shakespeare |
Popular culture provides an introduction to Shakespeare’s poetic devices in this lesson, which asks students to explore an excerpt from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. | 6-8 | 11/19/08 |
Exploring Free Speech and Persuasion with Nothing But The Truth |
After reading Avi’s Nothing But The Truth and examining the resources related to First Amendment and student rights, students will decide whether the rights of Philip, the protagonist in the novel, are violated. After making their decision, students compose and present position statement and supporting evidence to the class. | 6-8 | 7/16/09 |
You Can't Spell the Word Prefix Without a Prefix |
Spelling is a form of word study or etymology. Through organized interaction, students explore the role of prefixes, as well as their origins and meanings, and examine how the understanding of prefixes can improve comprehension, decoding, and spelling. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
Modeling Reading and Analysis Processes with the Works of Edgar Allan Poe |
Explore reading strategies using the think-aloud process as students investigate connections between the life and writings of Edgar Allan Poe in this lesson plan, which begins with an in-depth exploration of “The Raven.” Students move from a full-class reading of the poem to small-group readings of Poe’s short stories and conclude the unit with individual projects that explore the readings in more detail. The lesson includes options, including direct instruction and an inquiry-based model. | 6-8 | 11/20/08 |
Reciprocal Revision: Making Peer Feedback Meaningful |
This lesson uses a reciprocal teaching method whereby students use specific strategies (i.e., predicting, summarizing, clarifying, and questioning) to more constructively offer peer feedback during the writing process. | 6-8 | 3/8/06 |
Investigating the Holocaust: A Collaborative Inquiry Project |
As students progress though this inquiry project, they explore a variety of resources—texts, images, sounds, photos, and other artifacts—as they learn about the Holocaust. Working collaboratively, they investigate the materials, prepare response to share orally with the class, and produce a topic-based newspaper to complete their research. | 6-8 | 9/16/09 |
Astronomy Poetry: Combining Poetry With the Content Areas |
Marvel at your students' creativity and mastery of content area topics as they combine science and poetry in this innovative lesson. The lesson can easily be modified for any content area. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
Writing Free Verse in the “Voice” of Cesar Chavez |
After reading a story about an event in the life of Mexican-American labor activist Cesar Chavez, students write free verse poems in Chavez's "voice" based on the event. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
Painting Poetry: Using Visual Representation as a Response to Literature |
This lesson has students read the poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams and respond to the poem's language by creating mixed-media visual representations of its imagery. Students then explain their interpretations in writing and compare them with those of their peers. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
Thrills and Chills! Using Scary Stories to Motivate Students to Read |
Use the popular Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine, or any popular scary story, to motivate even the most reluctant readers to read for enjoyment, explore story elements, and create scary stories. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
Mind Pictures: Strategies That Enhance Mental Imagery While Reading |
This lesson involves having students use visual images to build background knowledge and improve reading comprehension. The strategies lead students toward independent use of skills that enable them to construct mental images using content-related picture books, movie clips, and illustrations. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
Literary Characters on Trial: Combining Persuasion and Literary Analysis |
Using characters from a piece of literature, students choose and portray characters and relevant situations then use textual evidence to try the character in a mock trial. Students exercise their oral and written persuasion skills by playing a role in a mock trial of a literary character. The class will act as a jury for the literary trial. | 6-8 | 11/20/08 |
Everyone Loves a Mystery: A Genre Study |
In this lesson, students read short mystery stories and use Internet resources to examine characteristic of the genre, such as vocabulary and story elements. Students then write their own mystery stories and publish them electronically. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
Let it Grow: An Inquiry-Based Organic Gardening Research Project |
This inquiry-based project is scaffolded for middle school students with low literacy skills. Students plant seeds, observe their growing garden, develop research questions, and do Internet and book research on their chosen plant. They then create signs and present their research to the class. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
Exploring and Sharing Family Stories |
In this lesson, students interview family members about specific life events and write a personal narrative based on shared recollections. |
6-8 | 2/12/09 |
Seeing Integration from Different Viewpoints |
In this Directed Reading–Thinking activity, students read about the first black child to attend an all-white school in New Orleans, Louisiana. Students then use a strategy that has them look at issues from a variety of perspectives to explore different ways of thinking about school integration. | 6-8 | 8/17/09 |
The History Behind Song Lyrics |
In this lesson, students examine the song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel. In groups, students research the items listed in the song, looking at their historical relevance and document their findings using an online chart. The students will then expand their learning by choosing from a menu of related projects. | 6-8 | 5/2/08 |
Cooking Up Descriptive Language: Designing Restaurant Menus |
Students explore the genre of menus by analyzing existing menus from local restaurants, including a review of adjectives and descriptive writing based on the language included in the menu examples. After establishing the characteristics of the genre, students work in groups to choose a restaurant and then create their own custom menus. | 6-8 | 11/6/06 |
Developing Reading Plans to Support Independent Reading |
Students identify books they have read recently and look for patterns connecting those that they enjoyed the most. Once they've analyzed their past readings, students complete a reading plan, a simple wish list of books they hope to read in the future, based on their preferences in the past. The finished list becomes another supporting resource to guide independent readers. | 6-8 | 5/2/08 |
Focusing Reader Response Through Vocabulary Analysis |
Students suggest words that they associate with a novel they have recently read, ranging from details about the plot to feelings about a character; then, small groups of students arrange the collected words into at least four categories, that they then present and explain to the class. | 6-8 | 5/1/09 |
You Know the Movie Is Coming—Now What? |
Students and teachers often get excited when they hear that a movie version of a favorite book will soon be coming to theaters. What can be done in the classroom to prepare for a viewing of that film? In this lesson, students read a literary text with the eye of a director, selecting scenes from the text and putting a cinematic spin on them. | 6-8 | 6/19/07 |
Traveling the Road to Freedom Through Research and Historical Fiction |
In this lesson, students read Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen and True North by Kathryn Lasky to gain an understanding of slavery and the Underground Railroad. They also participate in a WebQuest to explore various historical perspectives and develop a character for their own piece of historical fiction. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
On a Musical Note: Exploring Reading Strategies by Creating a Soundtrack |
Take advantage of students’ interest in music and movies with this lesson that asks students to create a soundtrack for a novel that they have read. As students search for songs and explain their choices, they engage in such traditional reading strategies as predicting, visualizing, and questioning. The activity can be completed as a response to a class-read novel or as a book report alternative. | 6-8 | 1/27/09 |
Robert Frost Prompts the Poet in You |
After an introduction to three Robert Frost poems, students co-create a poetry prompt. They then use the poetry prompt to write their own poems in the spirit of Frost's poetry. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
A Directed Listening–Thinking Activity for The Tell-Tale Heart |
In this lesson, students participate in a Directed Listening–Thinking Activity (DLTA) to improve their listening comprehension and prediction skills. At the end of the lesson, students compose a written response to the story in the form of either an acrostic poem or comic strip. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
Literature Circle Roles Reframed: Reading as a Film Crew |
Capture students’ enthusiasm for film and transfer it to reading and literature by substituting film production roles for the traditional literature circle roles. | 6-8 | 3/10/06 |
Investigating Names to Explore Personal History and Cultural Traditions |
In this lesson, students investigate the meanings and origins of their own names in order to establish their own personal histories and to explore cultural significance of naming traditions. After Internet research and interviews with family or community members, students write about their own names, using a passage from Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street as a model. | 6-8 | 5/28/09 |
Lonely as a Cloud: Using Poetry to Understand Similes |
Students identify similes in poetry and gain experience in using similes as a poetic device in their own work. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to write similes as quick as a wink! | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
Using Children’s Literature to Develop Classroom Community |
These lessons use children's literature to develop and strengthen community in the classroom. The lessons allow students to appreciate their individual strengths and abilities, while simultaneously developing skills for cooperative learning. | 6-8 | 4/25/08 |
Using Technology to Analyze and Illustrate Symbolism in Night |
This lesson, which can also be used for the high school grades, has students explore the use of symbolism in Elie Wiesel's Night. Students synthesize what they have learned by using an online tool to illustrate their ideas and creating a photomontage of images and text culled from Internet sources. | 6-8 | 9/29/09 |
Plot Structure: A Literary Elements Mini-Lesson |
Using a triangle-shaped graphic organizer, Freytag’s Pyramid, students explore the basic literary element of plot. The graphic organizer helps students identify narrative structures that are familiar and compare those structures to those that authors use when composing a story. | 6-8 | 11/20/08 |
Using Classic Poetry to Challenge and Enrich Students' Writing |
Through the reading of classic poetry and through the construction of open-ended writing prompts, students discover and experiment with reading and writing connections. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
Exploring Author's Voice Using Jane Addams Award-Winning Books |
This lesson uses Jane Addams Award-winning books to explore author's voice. After reading and examining The Yellow Star by Carmen Agra Deedy, a Jane Addams Honor Book in 2001, students choose another Jane Addams Award-winning book for personal investigation. | 6-8 | 2/27/09 |
Viking Voyagers: Navigating Online Content Area Reading |
This lesson supports middle school students' understanding of content area reading. Students access prior knowledge about Vikings, practice research and scanning skills, and investigate Viking culture on the Internet using graphic organizers to support their comprehension. Follow up includes a fun assessment tool called the Viking Quest. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
When I Was Young In...A Literature to Language Experience |
This lesson, which can be used with English-language learners (ELLs) and is also appropriate for students in third through fifth grades, provides practice with cultural sharing and using the past tense correctly in English. After reading When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant, students write and share memories of their own communities. | 6-8 | 2/12/09 |
Finding the Science Behind Science Fiction through Paired Readings |
Science fiction offers students opportunities to discuss the “what ifs” within the context of scientific principles. This lesson plan invites students to read science fiction texts and then use nonfiction texts to extrapolate the scientific principles presented. | 6-8 | 12/9/08 |
Play Ball! Encouraging Critical Thinking Through Baseball Questions |
This lesson fosters critical thinking by giving students an opportunity to research and discuss baseball facts and championship moments. Working cooperatively, students form and analyze questions, which they use to create and play a trivia game. Although the lesson uses a baseball theme, it can be applied to any topic. | 6-8 | 9/16/09 |
No More Bullying: Understanding the Problem, Building Bully-Free Environments |
In this lesson, students construct an understanding of bullying by focusing on the causes, prevalence, consequences, and reasons it is unacceptable. They examine local incidents of bullying, report their findings, and explore solutions. Students synthesize their knowledge by planning the first steps of a multifaceted Bullying Intervention Campaign. | 6-8 | 8/17/09 |
Alphabiography Project: Totally You |
Instead of writing their life stories in a linear fashion, students write their biographies from A to Z in this nontraditional autobiography activity, which was inspired by the book Totally Joe by James Howe. After the entry for each letter in their alphabiographies, students sum up the stories and vignettes by recording the life lessons they learned from the events. | 6-8 | 9/16/09 |
My Life/Your Life: A Look at Your Parents’ Past |
When students have opportunities to connect their life experiences with reading and writing, they grow as literacy learners. In this lesson, students explore their parents’ experiences as middle school students, create imaginary diary entries, and develop dramatic skits. | 6-8 | 7/27/09 |
Book Report Alternative: A Character’s Letter to the Editor |
Students assume the persona of a character from a book that they have read and write a persuasive letter to the editor of a newspaper from that character’s perspective, focusing on a specific issue or situation explored in the novel. | 6-8 | 11/19/08 |
Campaigning for Fair Use: Public Service Announcements on Copyright Awareness |
Students explore a range of resources on fair use and copyright then design their own audio public service announcements (PSAs), to be broadcast over the school’s public address system. Work can also be published as podcasts on the Internet. Students tap research and persuasive writing strategies as they design announcements for an audience of their peers. | 6-8 | 8/31/07 |
Book Report Alternative: Creating a Childhood for a Character |
Students will be introduced to familiar characters, from literature and from popular culture, whom readers first encounter as adults, but whose childhood stories are only told later. Students will then create a childhood for an adult character from a book of their choice. | 6-8 | 2/15/08 |
Entering History: Nikki Giovanni and Martin Luther King, Jr. |
Nikki Giovanni’s poem “The Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.” is paired with Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, taking students on a quest through time to the civil rights movement. After completing student-centered vocabulary activities, students perform the speech readers’ theater style and synthesize their learning by writing reflections. | 6-8 | 1/27/09 |
Travel Brochures: Highlighting the Setting of a Story |
When reading a text, readers are often transported to the places mentioned through words and descriptions. This lesson plan invites students to think about the details in the texts they have read and then create a travel brochure about the setting. Students learn more about the places mentioned in the text while researching the setting of their text. | 6-8 | 6/15/06 |
Using Picture Books to Explore Identity, Stereotyping, and Discrimination |
This lesson exposes students in sixth through eighth grade to picture books, which, although intended for younger readers, contain complex stories that explore the meaning of identity, stereotypes, and discrimination. Students discuss the books, practice summarizing them, and compare them before discussing what they can do to fight discrimination. | 6-8 | 2/25/09 |
Girls Read: Online Literature Circles |
Girls develop skills in reading, analysis, and written expression as they share their thoughts about literature with e-mail pen pals and in classroom literature circles. They also explore a larger literacy community when they visit and contribute to a website devoted to adolescent literature. | 6-8 | 2/25/09 |
Once Upon a Fairy Tale: Teaching Revision as a Concept |
Students sometimes have trouble understanding the difference between the global issues of revision and the local ones of editing. In this lesson, students use fractured fairy tales to enhance understanding and then practice revision and editing as separate activities when they write their own versions of other fairy tales. | 6-8 | 8/10/06 |
Comparing and Contrasting: Picturing an Organizational Pattern |
Using picture books as mentor texts, students learn effective strategies for organizing information that compares and contrasts. Students can then apply appropriate organizational strategies to their own papers. | 6-8 | 6/20/07 |
Slipping, Sliding, Tumbling: Reinforcing Cause and Effect Through Diamante Poems |
In this lesson, students practice identifying cause and effect, an important introduction to higher order thinking. Students begin by brainstorming cause and effect statements. They are then introduced to the diamante form of poetry and apply their knowledge by creating cause and effect diamante poems. | 6-8 | 2/25/09 |
Media Literacy: Examining the World of TV Teens |
In this lesson, students compare how characters are portrayed in different forms of media (i.e., books, television shows, and movies) and analyze characters, motivations, problems, and solutions from a television series of their choosing. They then propose a new television series that more realistically portrays teenagers today. | 6-8 | 7/27/09 |
Wading Through the Web: Teaching Internet Research Strategies |
In this lesson, students view an interactive PowerPoint presentation that guides them through the process of research on the Internet. Students then discuss the various types of search engines, how to search for information on the Internet, and how to cite Internet sources. | 6-8 | 1/23/08 |
Digital Reflections: Expressing Understanding of Content Through Photography |
Students make self–text–world connections to a topic related to science (nature) or history as they collaboratively design a multimedia presentation. After writing and recording a two-minute descriptive or persuasive script, they illustrate the text with photographs selected from Internet resources. | 6-8 | 4/14/09 |
Book Report Alternative: Hooking a Reader with a Book Cover |
In this lesson, students select a book to read based only on its cover art. After reading the book, they analyze the cover and use an interactive tool to create a new cover for it. | 6-8 | 7/16/09 |
Letters and Learning Genre |
Combining their prior knowledge of letters with several books containing letters, students learn how genres can flex to accomplish different purposes for different contexts. Students show their understanding of genre by rewriting a story and reflecting on how a traditional story differs from a story told in letters. | 6-8 | 11/19/08 |
Boys Read: Considering Courage in Novels |
Engaging stories featuring acts of courage can inspire boys to read and discuss literature with their peers. In this lesson, boys select, read, and discuss a novel with a male protagonist and write a persuasive essay addressing the ways in which the protagonist showed courage. | 6-8 | 2/25/09 |
Enchanting Readers with Revisionist Fairy Tales |
This lesson asks students to examine three examples of revisionist fairy tales—a book, a graphic novel, and a poem—in which female characters act in empowered roles rather than behaving helpless and submissive, which is often the case in traditional folk or fairy tales. | 6-8 | 11/19/08 |
Supporting Vocabulary Development with EASE |
This lesson plan allows teachers to enrich students’ oral and written language with an easy and systematic routine for teaching academic and robust vocabulary: EASE! Enunciate, Associate, Synthesize, and Emphasize the words you want students to use in classroom writing and conversations. | 6-8 | 8/10/06 |
More than One Way to Create Vivid Verbs |
One way to spice up your verbs is to learn new vocabulary. Or you can just use ordinary verbs in a new way! This lesson teaches students how to use old verbs in a new way, thus creating new and fresh descriptive phrases. | 6-8 | 3/20/09 |
Crit Lit for Kids: From Critical Consciousness to Service Learning |
An award-winning picture book provides the platform for an introduction to reading with critical awareness. Students explore concepts of social justice through discussion and journal responses. The class plans a service-learning project and creates a multimedia presentation to garner community support for their proposal. | 6-8 | 2/25/09 |
Introducing Shakespeare: The Bard's English |
Students are introduced to concepts of language change as they examine how words are borrowed or created and how vocabulary shifts. After exploring the vocabulary of Shakespeare's time and reading scenes from a Shakespeare play, students create original written and spoken dialogue incorporating Elizabethan words and phrases. | 6-8 | 2/25/09 |
Introducing Shakespeare: Exploring Persona and Character Motivations |
Students are introduced to the concept of persona and examine how personality is revealed in a drama. To develop a richer understanding of Shakespeare's characters, students research Renaissance society and customs. After watching a scene from a Shakespeare play, students discuss the motivations of key characters and the relationships among them. | 6-8 | 2/25/09 |
Introducing Shakespeare: Character Journals and Point of View |
Students develop insight into character motivations and personality by writing a journal from the point of view of a specific Shakespeare character. They also explore how personal and cultural preconceptions shape our interpretation of characters and events. | 6-8 | 2/25/09 |
Developing Story Structure With Paper-Bag Skits |
This lesson engages students in an interactive, dramatic activity to enhance their understanding of story structure and story elements. Using paper bags containing props, cooperative groups create semi-impromptu skits. Students use online tools as they develop the story elements in their skits. | 6-8 | 2/25/09 |
Empowered Fiction Writers: Generating and Organizing Ideas for Story Writing |
Prewriting strategies can help students overcome stumbling blocks on the path to written expression. Some students encounter difficulties when attempting to generate ideas for a story; others can produce the ideas but struggle with organization. This lesson provides students with strategies for both generating and organizing narrative writing. | 6-8 | 2/25/09 |
Plotting a Plan to Improve Writing: Using Plot Scaffolds |
Students use plot scaffolds based upon literary genres, historical events, or popular stories to create written narratives. | 6-8 | 4/21/08 |
Cover to Cover: Comparing Books to Movies |
Students explore matching texts—novels and the movies adapted from them—to develop their analytical strategies, drawing comparisons between the two texts and hypothesizing about the effect of adaptation. Students design new DVD covers for the movies, reflecting their response to the movie version. | 6-8 | 11/16/07 |
Tell and Show: Writing With Words and Video |
Written text can enhance—and be enhanced—by adding visuals such as video footage. In this lesson students explore how written and spoken narration enhances video footage, ultimately writing an essay that becomes a series of captions for a teacher-created video. | 6-8 | 12/11/07 |
Polishing Preposition Skills through Poetry and Publication |
Middle grade students deepen and refine their understanding of prepositions through the authentic model of the literature of Ruth Heller. Students publish a poem using the Multigenre Mapper and refine their understanding of more sophisticated preposition use through a Flip Book project. | 6-8 | 12/3/07 |
I've Got It Covered! Creating Magazine Covers to Summarize Texts |
In this lesson, students identify main ideas in textbook chapters and create magazine covers that express those ideas in words and pictures. | 6-8 | 10/31/07 |
Collaborating, Writing, Linking: Using Wikis to Tell Stories Online |
This lesson engages students in the creation and publication of online stories, taking full advantage of the online environment to encourage creativity, connections, and collaboration. Students use wiki technology, which allows users to publish online without specialized skills. | 6-8 | 11/6/07 |
Students as Creators: Exploring Multimedia |
In this lesson, students analyze an online multimedia resource as an introduction to the genre. They then create an original multimedia project. | 6-8 | 2/27/09 |
Solving Word Meanings: Engaging Strategies for Vocabulary Development |
This lesson involves the combined use of two strategies, context clues and semantic gradients, to enhance students’ vocabulary growth and reading comprehension. | 6-8 | 10/31/07 |
Students as Creators: Exploring Copyright |
In this lesson, students learn and use strategies for incorporating multimedia resources in their own works without violating copyright law. The tables then are turned as students contemplate how original works they have created are in turn protected by copyright law. | 6-8 | 2/27/09 |
Viewing Vocabulary: Building Word Knowledge Through Informational Websites |
This lesson encourages students to thoughtfully read a text to identify important words, discuss those words with peers, summarize the text, respond in a variety of ways, and read related texts to identify how those words are used in other contexts. | 6-8 | 2/14/08 |
Exploring Change through Allegory and Poetry |
In this lesson, students explore the theme of change through allegory and poetry. Students read an example of literary allegory, review basic literary concepts, complete a literary elements map and plot diagram, create a pictorial allegory, and write a diamante poem related to the theme of change. | 6-8 | 9/30/08 |
Improve Students’ Writing Using Online Workshops |
Students read a picture book full of fantastical if statements before writing their own. They then conduct an online writer’s workshop focusing on peer review and revision. When their statements are final, students create a page for a class book. | 6-8 | 11/18/08 |
Becoming History Detectives Using Shakespeare’s Secret |
Students read the contemporary mystery Shakespeare’s Secret by Elise Broach and discover how the author’s liberal use of historical details enhances the story and can inspire further exploration of historical facts and the creation of a short dramatic skit. | 6-8 | 2/25/09 |
Guided Comprehension in Action: Teaching Summarizing With the Bio-Cube |
Biographies can engage and motivate students in the classroom, helping them make personal connections to figures both past and present. They can also be used to teach students information about research and summarizing. In this lesson, students use websites to research self-chosen biography subjects and complete an online summarizing tool. | 6-8 | 2/25/09 |
Improve Comprehension Using a Word Card Game With Root Words and Affixes |
This lesson, which is quick, focused, and engaging, has students study common root words and affixes and learn how to improve comprehension and spelling with their new knowledge. Working in small groups, students make and play a card game in which the challenge is to form words with a prefix, root word, and suffix. | 6-8 | 2/26/09 |
Spelling Patterns “Go Fish” Card Game |
Students use sets of words that share a spelling pattern to create a card game similar to “Go Fish,” then play the game in small groups. These activities can help students improve their spelling skills by building awareness of some common yet challenging spelling patterns. | 6-8 | 2/26/09 |
Developing Searching, Skimming, and Scanning Skills With Internet Bingo |
Students gain the media literacy skills of skimming and scanning text and selecting key terms for Internet searches. The teacher introduces these strategies using a think-aloud approach, and students practice them by searching a website to fill in a Bingo board. | 6-8 | 2/27/07 |
Discovering Memory: Li-Young Lee’s Poem “Mnemonic” and the Brain |
In this cross-curricular poetry and biology lesson, Li-Young Lee’s poem “Mnemonic” is used to explore how memory works. Students learn about memory by doing a memory-writing exercise, studying the brain to understand how it affects memory, reading Lee’s poem “Mnemonic,” and creating multigenre projects to demonstrate their understanding of memory. | 6-8 | 11/18/08 |
A World of Readers: Libraries Around the World |
Where can students find the newest and most exciting reading material? Do residents of other countries have access to free public libraries? In this lesson, students visit library websites from diverse places, such as the Bahamas, Ireland, Kenya, and New Zealand, to discuss and compare library services throughout the world. | 6-8 | 3/30/07 |
The Magnetism of Language: Parts of Speech, Poetry, and Word Play |
This lesson integrates the study of grammar with critical-thinking skills and creative writing. Students review parts of speech, looking particularly at their function in poetry. They then identify parts of speech in a nonsensical poem before making magnetic poetry kits and writing their own poems. The lesson can also be used with some high school students. | 6-8 | 4/14/08 |
The Mysteries of Memory: Memorization Techniques That Work |
Memory skills can by improved through techniques that help to integrate new information into long-term memory. Students learn about how memory works and then practice memory strategies involving visualization and making associations, applying these strategies to reading comprehension and memorization tasks. | 6-8 | 3/15/07 |
Exploring Plagiarism, Copyright, and Paraphrasing |
This lesson provides a background for students on copyright, fair use, plagiarism, and paraphrasing. Guidelines for copyright and fair use are discussed, as well as strategies for paraphrasing and the consequences of plagiarism. | 6-8 | 2/27/09 |
Copyright Law: From Digital Reprints to Downloads |
In this lesson, students look briefly at the history of copyright law and generalize about how and why it has changed over time. Students then apply this information to recent copyright issues, look at these issues from the perspective of a particular group, and create persuasive arguments to convince others to see the issue from their perspective. | 6-8 | 9/16/09 |
Examining Island of the Blue Dolphins through a Literary Lens |
This lesson invites students at all English proficiency levels, including English Language Learners (ELLs), to read, discuss, and react to Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins. Students examine Karana’s character development after discussing personal experiences with courage and adversity. Students then look for examples of courage in their community. | 6-8 | 5/1/07 |
Give Them a Hand: Promoting Positive Interaction in Literature Circles |
Students observe, discuss, and practice specific skills designed to facilitate positive and effective discussion among members of a Literature Circle. Students are encouraged to interact with one another in a respectful manner by exchanging meaningful compliments. These skills are valuable for any activity that involves group interaction. | 6-8 | 7/1/08 |
Technology and Copyright Law: A “Futurespective” |
In this lesson, students review some copyright disputes involving new technologies. They write newspaper articles predicting the outcome of current disputes and anticipating disputes that they think may arise in the future with new technologies or new uses for existing technologies. | 6-8 | 2/27/09 |
Young Adult Literature about the Middle East: A Cultural Response Perspective |
Adapted from Sheryl L. Finkle and Tamara J. Lilly’s Middle Ground: Exploring Selected Literature from and about the Middle East, this variation on traditional literature circles exposes students to a variety of young adult fiction from and about the Middle East. Students read and share researcha and responses in collaborative groups. At the end of the lesson, they write a letter to welcome an immigrant student to their school and community. | 6-8 | 3/9/09 |
Persuading the Principal: Writing Persuasive Letters About School Issues |
Adolescents love to share their opinions about the way life “should be.” This lesson gives students the opportunity to examine editorials and write their own persuasive letters on issues that are important in their school community. | 6-8 | 10/15/08 |
Swish! Pow! Whack! Teaching Onomatopoeia Through Sports Poetry |
In this lesson, students will learn about onomatopoeia using the sounds associated with sports. They will read and listen to sports poems, then create their own onomatopoeic sports poems, add illustrations, and compile their work in a flip book. Finally, students will share their flip books with their classmates. | 6-8 | 3/9/09 |
Describe That Face: An Interactive Writing Game |
Students create vivid character descriptions, which are posted on the wall interspersed with pictures that match the descriptions. Then they walk around and take notes on their classmates’ descriptive phrases, similes, and metaphors, picking one description–picture set to share with the class. |
6-8 | 6/18/08 |
Nature Study Outdoor Treasure Hunts (with Spanish language option) |
Following a teacher-modeled treasure hunt, students create their own treasure hunts, incorporating research and imagination. Students write stories from the perspective of an animal, outlining a journey through its habitat. They then hide clues and challenge classmates to find them. Materials and websites are also included in Spanish. | 6-8 | 12/11/08 |
Color of Silence: Sensory Imagery in Pat Mora’s Poem “Echoes” |
Moving from personal experience to practical application, students use their senses to discover new ways to read and write. Pat Mora’s poem “Echoes” is used to demonstrate that our senses are powerful tools for literary analysis and comprehension.
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6-8 | 11/18/08 |
Critical Literacy in Action: Multimodal Texts on Global Warming |
Students use comprehension strategies to understand and interrogate various representations of the effects and possible causes of global warming. They then discuss and evaluate the credibility of different positions on the issue. | 6-8 | 9/30/08 |
Grocery Store Scavenger Hunt: Researching Nutrition to Advertise for Health |
Students learn about the foods they eat, define food label terms, and research healthful alternatives in order to create advertisements for healthful, tasty foods. In preparation for developing their own advertisements, students analyze published advertisements to better understand how companies use persuasion to market products to specific audiences. | 6-8 | 3/10/09 |
Blurring Genre: Exploring Fiction and Nonfiction with Diary of a Worm |
Students often believe that fiction writers make everything up, seldom realizing how research is incorporated into entertaining writing. They may believe that research only applies to school writing. In this lesson, students incorporate facts into a variety of text types, creating a class book similar to Diary of a Worm. | 6-8 | 3/11/09 |
Keywords: Learning to Focus Internet Research |
Today’s students need to be prepared for the new literacies that are central to the use of information technology and the acquisition of knowledge in a digital environment. This lesson focuses on effective strategies for searching for information on the Internet. | 6-8 | 5/29/08 |
Building Vocabulary: Making Multigenre Glossaries Based on Student Inquiry |
This lesson builds vocabulary and encourages active reading by allowing students to choose their own vocabulary words from a text that the class reads. In order to help students absorb and comprehend these new words, they create multigenre glossaries that can then be used as a classroom resource. | 6-8 | 3/11/09 |
Scaffolding Methods for Research Paper Writing |
A research paper scaffold guides students through the process of writing a four- to five-page paper suitable for events such as science or social science fairs. Step-by-step procedures support students as they select a topic using an inquiry-based approach, examine informational text, and practice genre-specific strategies for expository writing. | 6-8 | 2/17/09 |
Textmasters: Shaking Up Textbook Reading in Science Classrooms |
Students will become masters at comprehending content area texts with this spin on literature circles. The Textmasters strategy invites students to adopt roles that promote collaborative learning. | 6-8 | 10/7/09 |
Thoughtful Threads: Sparking Rich Online Discussions |
This lesson, which is also appropriate for fifth-grade students, guides teachers and students through the process of engaging in online literature circles. The focus of the lesson is to increase the quality of students' discussions by promoting effective student-created discussion prompts, thoughtful replies by group members, and the use of self-assessment and reflection. | 6-8 | 5/13/09 |
Accountable Book Clubs: Focused Discussions |
Looking for more focused book clubs with built-in accountability? This lesson guides students’ literature circle discussions and requires collaborative homework on a wiki. Groups read books involving social issues and use Critical Thinking Maps to guide their discussions. | 6-8 | 4/30/09 |
Exploring Careers Using the Internet |
Students use current Web technologies to investigate various occupations and share their findings on a class blog. Lesson activities help students develop critical writing skills and further content area learning. | 6-8 | 7/1/09 |
Learning Clubs: Motivating Middle School Readers and Writers |
Learning clubs draw on strategies and systems common to literature circles and book clubs. They motivate students to engage with multiple types of texts to support learning across content areas. Learning clubs center on locating curricular topics to investigate and encourage students to use literacy as a vehicle for learning. | 6-8 | 5/28/09 |
BOOKMATCH: Scaffolding Independent Book Selection |
By asking themselves a series of questions, middle school students become aware of their own reading preferences, and learn how to match themselves to just-right books for independent reading. | 6-8 | 7/16/09 |
Creating a Persuasive Podcast |
In this lesson, students create and share short podcasts detailing their views on a current event that affects their lives. Students develop the skill of persuasion while practicing critical thinking and improving media literacy. | 6-8 | 7/16/09 |
Texting a Response to Lord of the Flies |
After reading Lord of the Flies, students use text messages to create a summary of the book by choosing various scenes within the novel that prompt them to write a text message from one of the characters to an imagined audience off the island. | 6-8 | 7/27/09 |
Choose, Select, Opt, or Settle: Exploring Word Choice in Poetry |
Students use an online tool to investigate the effects of word choice in Robert Frost’s “Choose Something Like a Star.” The results of the investigation allow them to construct a more sophisticated understanding of speaker, subject, and tone. | 9-12 | 8/30/09 |
Creating Character Blogs |
Character blogs give students the opportunity to combine their creativity, analytical prowess, and love for the Internet. In this lesson, students learn what goes into building a good blog and then create one for a fictional character. | 9-12 | 7/16/09 |
If a Body Texts a Body: Texting in The Catcher in the Rye |
Students imagine the possibilities afforded by text messaging technology in The Catcher in the Rye. They compare and contrast major forms of communication, select points in the novel to represent with text messages, and share and discuss their creative work. | 9-12 | 7/1/09 |
Using Microblogging and Social Networking to Explore Characterization and Style |
Students use microblogging and social networking sites to trace the development of characters and examine writing style while reading a novel of manners such as Jane Austen’s Emma. By assuming the persona of a character on the class Ning and sending a set number of tweets, or status updates, students examine the novel through imitation and transposition. | 9-12 | 9/16/09 |
Latino Poetry Blog: Blogging as a Forum for Open Discussion |
Using a blog as a forum for open discussion, students engage in online interaction about Latino poetry. Students spend time analyzing their poem and then post their analyses to a class blog. They then comment on each other’s posts, reinforcing literacy skills such as reading, writing, and critical thinking. | 9-12 | 4/14/09 |
Language and Power in The Handmaid’s Tale and the World |
Students work in small groups to examine Margaret Atwood’s use of and observations about language in The Handmaid’s Tale. Through this activity, students discover and articulate overarching thematic trends in the book and then can extend their observations about official or political language to examples from their own world. | 9-12 | 5/5/09 |
Tragic Love: Introducing Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet |
The purpose of this lesson is to introduce William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to students prior to reading the play. After reviewing a summary of the play’s plot in a PowerPoint presentation, students will examine the genre and the ideas of tragedy and tragic love by connecting the story to their own lives as teenagers. This framework for lesson could be adapted to introduce any Shakespearean tragedy. | 9-12 | 7/6/09 |
A “Brief, Urgent Message”: Theme in Slaughterhouse-Five |
As a culminating activity for Slaughterhouse-Five, students make a compilation album (a CD with 6–8 tracks) that reflects their analysis, understanding, and reaction to the ideas in Slaughterhouse-Five. Based on discussions of the “Tralfamadorian” view of literature, each song on the compilation is approached as a “brief, urgent message” about the work. | 9-12 | 5/1/09 |
Looking for the Byronic Hero Using Twilight's Edward Cullen |
Using the character of Edward Cullen from the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer as an example, this lesson introduces the Byronic hero and allows students to make comparisons between the Byronic hero and definitions of the traditional hero and villain. Students then apply the definition to a character of their choice and extend their learning with a choice of projects. | 9-12 | 7/16/09 |
Persuasive Techniques in Advertising |
This lesson provides an introduction to persuasive techniques used in advertising: pathos, logos, and ethos. Students will analyze advertising in a variety of sources and explore the concepts of demographics, marketing for a specific audience, and dynamic advertising. The lesson will culminate in the production of commercials intended for a specific demographic. | 9-12 | 5/28/09 |
Creating Better Presentation Slides through Glance Media and Billboard Design |
This lesson introduces the concept of “glance media” through an analysis of billboards. Students apply design concepts by creating a slide presentation to accompany an existing historical speech. | 9-12 | 6/10/09 |
Making It Visual for ELL Students: Teaching History Using Maus |
Through the graphic novel Maus, students begin to learn the important historical lessons of the Holocaust. The lesson is appropriate for English-language learners and reluctant readers. | 9-12 | 9/29/09 |
Reaching Across Time: Scaffolded Engagements With a 19th-Century Text |
This unit incorporates drama, art, and technology to scaffold students’ reading of Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street.” | 9-12 | 9/29/09 |
Creating Psychological Profiles of Characters in To Kill a Mockingbird |
This lesson asks students to explore the motivation behind characters’ actions. After reading To Kill A Mockingbird, groups of students create psychological profiles for characters from the novel, determining what specific factors (such as family, career, environment, and so forth) have the greatest influences on the characters’ decision making throughout the novel. | 9-12 | 10/14/09 |
Brave New Words: Novice Lexicography and the Oxford English Dictionary |
Students will become novice lexicographers as they explore recent new entries to the dictionary, learn the process of writing entries for the Oxford English Dictionary, and write a new entry themselves. | 9-12 | 9/11/09 |
Narrative Structure and Perspectives in Toni Morrison's Beloved |
Using Toni Morrison’s Beloved as a model text of a work with multiple narrative perspectives, students use a visualizing activity and close reading to consider ways in which subjective values shape contradictory representations of a fictional world. | 9-12 | 4/14/09 |
Sonic Patterns: Exploring Poetic Techniques Through Close Reading |
Students will gain a deeper appreciation for the art of poetry as they develop close reading skills connecting sound with sense in the frequently anthologized poem “Those Winter Sundays” and write an original text that reflects their new learning. | 9-12 | 2/27/09 |
Speaking Poetry: Exploring Sonic Patterns Through Performance |
Using their voices as interpretive instruments, students will gain a deeper appreciation of the art of poetry as they prepare a recitation of the frequently anthologized poem “Those Winter Sundays.” | 9-12 | 9/28/09 |
I Remember That Book: Rereading as a Critical Investigation |
Secondary students often resist reading assignments or don’t read with the verve their teachers might wish for. One way to confront this resistance to reading is to draw it out in the open and explore students’ histories as readers. | 9-12 | 11/26/08 |
Recording Readers Theatre: Developing Comprehension and Fluency With Audio Texts |
Printed texts are not the only way to share classic literature with students; many websites now include free audio versions as well. What comprehension strategies can be used with audio texts? What makes them interesting? Students investigate these questions as they create Readers Theatre podcasts. | 9-12 | 1/27/09 |
Preparing for the Journey: An Introduction to the Hero Myth |
In this lesson that prepares them to read or view a larger hero myth narrative, students read a variety of picture books that contain elements of the hero’s journey and use an online interactive tool to analyze the stories. | 9-12 | 3/9/09 |
Joining the Conversation about Young Adult Literature |
Students create a persuasive case calling for the adoption of a particular young adult literature title into their school’s language arts curriculum. They then present their argument in the form of a letter or speech addressing school decision-makers such as the English department chair or the language arts curriculum coordinator. | 9-12 | 1/8/09 |
There Are No Small Parts: Minor Characters in David Copperfield |
After students read David Copperfield, they begin the lesson by reviewing all the characters and sorting them into major and minor characters. Small groups choose a minor character for whom they will develop a “back story” that includes information not present in the text. They share their creative thinking in the form of an online social networking profile for the selected character. | 9-12 | 2/11/09 |
An Exploration of Romanticism Through Art and Poetry |
In this lesson students are introduced to the characteristics of Romanticism through classroom discussion. They use visual literary skills to analyze a work of art and explore its Romantic characteristics. Students then deepen their understanding of Romanticism by analyzing a poem by Wordsworth using the TP-CASTT method and identifying the poem’s Romantic characteristics. As a culminating activity, students write an essay that demonstrates their understanding of Romanticism. | 9-12 | 3/30/09 |
All’s Well that Sells Well: A Creative Introduction to Shakespeare |
This pre-reading activity for Romeo and Juliet or any other play by William Shakespeare compares attending a performance at The Globe Theater to viewing a play on Broadway or seeing a movie at a local theater. It invokes critical inquiry and promotes engagement as students complete a project that contrasts life in the 1600s with products and conveniences available today. | 9-12 | 3/8/09 |
Constructing New Understanding Through Choral Readings of Shakespeare |
After reading The Tempest or any other play by William Shakespeare, students work in small groups to plan, compose, and perform a choral reading based on a character or theme. | 9-12 | 3/9/09 |
Tracking the Ways Writers Develop Heroes and Villains |
After considering how the Star Wars character Darth Vader is cast as a villain, students read novels in small groups and track aspects of character development. After reading, students create a presentation that shares how a trait is developed for a character in their reading. | 9-12 | 3/9/09 |
And I Quote: A Punctuation Proofreading Mini-lesson |
This lesson plan reviews the basic conventions for using quotations from works of literature or references from a research project, focusing on accurate punctuation and page layout. After discussing the rules and analyzing their use in sample passages, students apply the conventions to their texts. | 9-12 | 3/9/09 |
Teaching Student Annotation: Constructing Meaning Through Connections |
Believing that the meaning of text lies in the teacher's notes, not within themselves, students often fail to realize that their experiences and understandings are just as important in constructing meaning. Through annotations, students begin to find ways to make personal connections with text and grow in confidence as they work with text. | 9-12 | 3/19/09 |
Modeling Academic Writing Through Scholarly Article Presentations |
Through modeling, independent research, and presentation, students will learn and apply critical reading and annotation skills to the genre of the academic essay. In addition to gaining exposure to multiple interpretations of a work, they will embark on a genre study of this advanced essay form. | 9-12 | 3/10/09 |
Semicolons and Swift: Analyzing Punctuation and Meaning |
Many students see punctuation as only a set of rules, not as a tool that can help them shape meaning in their writing. This lesson encourages students to analyze and use one type of punctuation—semicolons—as a way to enhance meaning. | 9-12 | 10/14/09 |
Hoax or No Hoax? Strategies for Online Comprehension and Evaluation |
Using research-based online reading comprehension strategies and website evaluation tools, students explore hoax websites to determine their validity. Students then outline their own hoax websites. | 9-12 | 7/1/09 |
Designing Effective Poster Presentations |
Students explore the genre of posters, review informational writing and visual design, and then design poster presentations to share in class or at a school-wide fair. | 9-12 | 11/18/08 |
Poetry Circles: Generative Writing Loops Help Students Craft Verse |
In this lesson, eleventh- and twelfth-grade students engage in poetry writing by using generative writing loops. A type of poetry circle, these writing groups empower students academically, emotionally, and socially as they interact to learn and apply poetic conventions and forms. | 9-12 | 9/6/07 |
Creative Outlining—From Freewriting to Formalizing |
In this lesson students respond to a short story by freewriting. They then determine a thesis idea for a literary analysis essay from their body of freewriting and create an outline for an original essay. | 9-12 | 11/18/08 |
MyTube: Changing the World With Video Public Service Announcements |
Capitalizing on the popularity of self-made videos, this lesson engages students by asking them to create their own public service announcements about social, cultural, economic, and political topics. | 9-12 | 7/23/08 |
Gaining Background for the Graphic Novel Persepolis: A WebQuest on Iran |
To prepare students for reading the graphic novel Persepolis, this lesson uses a WebQuest to focus students’ research efforts on finding reliable information about Iran before and during the Islamic Revolution. In groups, students research and then present information on aspects of Iran such as politics, religion, and culture. | 9-12 | 3/11/09 |
Blogging With Photovoice: Sharing Pictures in an Integrated Classroom |
Make the most of your students’ diverse ability levels and experience in a prewriting activity that has them describe an abstract idea using blogging technology and photographs that they have taken. | 9-12 | 2/13/09 |
Worth Its Weight: Letter Writing with “The Things They Carried” |
The best literature expands our understanding of the human experience. Tim O’Brien’s story “The Things They Carried” allows students to appreciate both the complexity of war and the simple truth that all of life demands courage. This lesson uses a letter-writing activity to build empathy as students examine the weight they symbolically carry in their own lives. | 9-12 | 3/29/07 |
Developing Characterization in Raymond Carver’s “A Small, Good Thing” |
Raymond Carver includes several static characters in his short story “A Small, Good Thing.” After reading the story, students analyze the major characters and then create an episode that develops characteristics for the little-known hit-and-run driver who causes Scotty’s death. | 9-12 | 2/15/08 |
It’s My Life: Multimodal Autobiography Project |
This lesson allows students to express themselves verbally, visually, and musically by creating multimodal autobiographies. Students benefit from the open exchange of ideas with other students and share important events in their lives through a PowerPoint presentation. | 9-12 | 11/18/08 |
Comparing a Literary Work to Its Film Interpretation |
Students read an original piece of literature and view its film interpretation to compare the two works. They then write a persuasive essay about the validity of the adaptation. | 9-12 | 2/13/07 |
The Correspondence Project: A Lesson of Letters |
After exploring business and friendly letter formats, students write letters for various audiences and real-world purposes. | 9-12 | 7/20/07 |
And the Question Is... Writing Good Survey Questions |
Students are introduced to asking questions as a vital part of the research process and everyday life. They practice this skill through a group-based activity in which they analyze and create questions for a survey on reading habits. | 9-12 | 8/8/07 |
Beyond “What I Did on Vacation”: Exploring the Genre of Travel Writing |
This lesson introduces the genre of travel writing. Students read and then write travel articles as a way of going beyond simple personal narrative. | 9-12 | 8/16/07 |
And the Question Is... Evaluating the Validity of a Survey |
By analyzing survey questions and results, students exercise critical thinking skills needed for media literacy and research. | 9-12 | 8/8/07 |
Analyzing Grammar Pet Peeves |
This lesson uses a Dear Abby column to help students analyze a “grammar rant.” Through their analysis of Dear Abby’s grammar pet peeves, students become aware of the ranter’s language biases and gain an understanding of how race, class, and audience’s expectations help determine what is considered acceptable language use. | 9-12 | 12/8/08 |
Ekphrasis: Using Art to Inspire Poetry |
This lesson explores the concept of ekphrasis—writing inspired by art. Students begin by reading and discussing examples of poetry inspired by art. Students then search online for pieces of art that inspire them and, in turn, compose a booklet of poems about the pieces they have chosen. | 9-12 | 9/24/07 |
Exploring Setting: Constructing Character, Point of View, Atmosphere, and Theme |
This lesson uses canonical and non-canonical texts by Dybek, Dickens, Poe, and Morrison to help students understand how authors use language to create setting and, in turn, how setting constructs other elements in a literary work. The lesson offers extension opportunities through formal essays, film reviews, and poetry analysis. | 9-12 | 2/4/09 |
Giving Voice to Students Through “This I Believe” Podcasts |
Have students explore what is most important to them using the format of the popular National Public Radio “This I Believe” series. Designed specifically for disabled students but easily modified for use in inclusive classrooms, this lesson has students create essays that they post as podcasts on a class webpage. | 9-12 | 11/18/08 |
Analyzing and Comparing Medieval and Modern Ballads |
Invite students to explore the genre of ballads by reading medieval ballads to deduce their characteristics, acting out the ballads, comparing the medieval and modern ballads using Venn diagrams, and ultimately composing their own ballads. | 9-12 | 2/15/08 |
Writing Technical Instructions |
To better understand the rhetorical nature of technical instructions, students will analyze existing instructions, write their own instructions using common household items, receive user feedback, and then revise and publish their work. | 9-12 | 2/19/08 |
Pictures Tell the Story: Improving Comprehension With Persepolis |
Graphic novels provide a powerful way for students to study history. This lesson has students explore Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi by learning about cartooning techniques and examining how they work to tell the story of both the main character and the Iranian Revolution. | 9-12 | 2/25/09 |
Having My Say: A Multigenre Autobiography Project |
Students will read Having Our Say, the autobiography of two African-American women who lived through most of the twentieth century. Using this text as a model, students will produce a multigenre project that includes an autobiographical essay and an informational piece that provides historical, familial, or cultural context for their story. | 9-12 | 5/9/08 |
The Ten-Minute Play: Encouraging Original Response to Challenging Texts |
In this lesson, students use both analytical and creative skills to create a ten-minute dramatic adaptation of a section of a complex novel such as Toni Morrison's Beloved. Students participate in peer critiques of the plays, allowing more opportunities for reflection and exploration of the text. | 9-12 | 3/8/09 |
In the Style of Ernie Pyle: Reporting on World War II |
This lesson has high school students use the Internet to enhance their study of World War II and encourages them to model their writing on that of Ernie Pyle, a respected war reporter from that era. | 9-12 | 11/21/08 |
Rummaging for Fiction: Using Found Photographs and Notes to Spark Story Ideas |
“I don’t know what to write about!” is a complaint students commonly make when they are asked to write a creative piece. In this lesson, students use found notes and photographs as prompts to help them identify subjects, settings, characters, and conflicts for pieces of creative writing. | 9-12 | 3/6/09 |
The Importance of Titles: From Big Blank Space to Small Good Thing |
Just as characters’ names reveal much about their identities, so too do titles give us clues to a story’s “identity.” This lesson, focusing on two sets of stories “renamed” by Raymond Carver, allows students to develop an appreciation of the importance of titles. | 9-12 | 5/9/08 |
Help Wanted: Writing Professional Resumes |
Learning how to list one’s experiences on paper is only part of creating a resume. Students also need to see the resume as a professional document that follows certain rhetorical and format conventions. In this lesson, students will learn to create a beginning resume that represents their current work experience and demonstrates their knowledge of rhetorical situations for professional writing. | 9-12 | 8/3/09 |
What Are My Rights? Exploring and Writing About the Constitution |
Engage your students in a study of the First Amendment by exploring issues that directly affect their lives. Using youth curfews as an example, students research a case study, debate the issue, hypothesize if their city or town could pass a youth curfew, and create a blog highlighting their conclusions. | 9-12 | 11/19/08 |
Persuading Readers with Endorsement Letters |
Students explore the genre of commercial endorsements and then write letters of endorsement for products or services that they use. | 9-12 | 3/16/09 |
Weekly Writer’s Blogs: Building a Reflective Community of Support |
In this digital rethinking of the traditional weekly writer’s logs, students analyze example writer’s blog entries then begin the habit of writing their own reflective weekly entries, which focus on the writing that they have done over the past seven days. | 9-12 | 3/6/09 |
Exploring Consumerism Where Ads and Art Intersect |
Advertisements and art send both implicit and explicit messages to their viewers. This lesson encourages middle and high school students to become critical readers of visual texts through observation, discussion, and the creation of their own artwork. | 9-12 | 7/1/08 |
Many Years Later: Responding to Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” |
Students analyze the literary features of Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” and then imagine themselves as one of the characters in the poem many years in the future. Students write a fictional paper that demonstrates how the character’s days in the pool hall influenced who the character is today, nearly fifty years later. | 9-12 | 4/14/09 |
Connecting Past and Present: A Local Research Project |
Students connect to their school’s history by researching one decade of the school’s past. Through their research, students will become archivists, gathering photos, artifacts, and stories. As a culminating activity, students create museum exhibits displaying all the found items for their decade. | 9-12 | 11/18/08 |
Finding Poetry in Prose: Reading and Writing Love Poems |
After reading several poems that expand the definition of love poetry, students compose found poems based on a personal memoir—either their own reminisces or a love story of another writer. | 9-12 | 12/8/08 |
Weaving the Old into the New: Pairing The Odyssey with Contemporary Works |
After exploring The Odyssey and a contemporary epic, students choose paired characters from the texts, complete a graphic organizer, and place their characters in hypothetical contemporary situations. | 9-12 | 1/8/09 |
Critical Literacy: Women in 19th-Century Literature |
Thoughtful exploration of two short 19th-century texts introduces questions of critical literacy: What is the position of the writer and what is the intended audience for a literary work? | 9-12 | 8/17/09 |
Inclusive Stories: Teaching About Disabilities With Picture Books |
This lesson uses picture books, an often-overlooked learning tool at the secondary level, to teach high school students about disabilities and help them discuss differences. | 9-12 | 2/25/09 |
Love of War in Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” |
Students explore texts on camaraderie among soldiers as an introduction to the theme of love of war. As a culminating activity, students compose a visual collage depicting their own beliefs about the relationship between love and war. | 9-12 | 11/24/06 |
Analyzing Character Development in Three Short Stories About Women |
While reading about women who break from their traditional roles, students use comprehension tools to analyze similarities and differences among characters in three different short stories. This lesson fosters critical thinking and discussions about the influence of society’s expectations on a writer’s character development. | 9-12 | 2/25/09 |
When Less IS More—Understanding Minimalist Fiction |
Minimalist fiction, considered the fiction of the 1970s and still popular today, is highly accessible to high school students of all levels. An understanding of this style and its connection to one of the most significant writers in the American literature curriculum–Ernest Hemingway–sparks new interest in literature. | 9-12 | 3/20/07 |
Thinking Inductively: A Close Reading of Seamus Heaney’s “Blackberry Picking” |
This lesson eases students’ fear of interpreting complex poetry by teaching them an inductive strategy with which they determine patterns of imagery, diction, and figurative language in order to unlock meaning. Although the lesson uses Seamus Heaney’s “Blackberry-Picking,” this strategy can be applied to a variety of poems. | 9-12 | 10/12/06 |
Bio-graph: Graphing Life Events |
This writing activity integrates mathematical graphing with writing and can be used to generate a number of different kinds of writing activities, but lends itself well to biographical and narrative writing. Students interview other students, choose significant life events, rate them, graph them, and write about one or more. | 9-12 | 3/20/07 |
The Children’s Picture Book Project |
In this lesson students evaluate published children’s picture storybooks. Students then plan, write, illustrate, and publish their own children’s picture books. | 9-12 | 11/3/06 |
Exploring Irony in the Conclusion of All Quiet on the Western Front |
After reading All Quiet on the Western Front, students discuss the novel’s two-paragraph, ironic ending, which repeats the book’s title. They will then compose alternate titles and endings for the book, modeled on the original, and design new book covers that features their new titles. | 9-12 | 3/22/07 |
The Feature Story—Fifteen Minutes (and 500 Words) of Fame! |
To build connections and community within the classroom, students need to share and celebrate their unique interests and talents. This activity combines interviewing techniques and journalistic writing as it challenges students to write feature stories about their classmates. | 9-12 | 2/14/08 |
The ABCs of Poetry |
This exercise works as an introduction to poetry or as a great word warm-up. Students, as a whole class and later as individual authors, examine a letter of the alphabet from all angles (straight-on, upside-down, and side-to-side) creating image pools of original metaphors on the spot. | 9-12 | 7/18/06 |
Walt Whitman as a Model Poet: “I Hear My School Singing” |
Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” lists participants in the American experience of his day. Students will first analyze the poem then determine participants in their personal educational experience and use Whitman’s poem as a model as they create their own list poems. In reflection, they will identify the people omitted from their poems. | 9-12 | 8/9/06 |
Family Memoir: Getting Acquainted With Generations Before Us |
Creating a memoir of a family member who is at least a generation older than they are allows students both to learn more about their own backgrounds and to learn the power of storytellers. After all, memoirs are at least as much about the writer as they are about the subject. | 9-12 | 11/9/06 |
Pairing Fiction With Poetry and Performance |
This lesson, which is aimed at second-language learners, improves vocabulary and comprehension using dramatic performances of poetry. Student groups read and discuss novels and poetry before developing a performance poem of their own. On completion, students prepare for a formal presentation. | 9-12 | 2/25/09 |
Brochures: Writing for Audience and Purpose |
Using this lesson plan, students create informative brochures that combine visual and verbal texts effectively, improving their ability to interpret other texts they encounter that combine graphics with writing. Additionally, students learn strategies for addressing audience and purpose that transfer into writing for other purposes and audiences. | 9-12 | 11/18/08 |
Assessing Cultural Relevance: Exploring Personal Connections to a Text |
As a class, students evaluate a nonfiction or realistic fiction text for its cultural relevance to themselves personally and as a group. After completing this full-class activity, students search for additional, relevant texts; each choose one; and write reviews of the texts that they choose. Students are highly encouraged to identify a text that is personally relevant to themselves and their peers. This lesson is an especially powerful choice for English language learners. | 9-12 | 8/17/09 |
A Collaboration of Sites and Sounds: Using Wikis to Catalog Protest Songs |
The inherently collaborative nature of wikis—online writing spaces that allow users to freely access and edit content—provides educators with a powerful tool to teach collaborative writing and new media. In this lesson, students work in small groups to catalog protest songs in a class wiki. | 9-12 | 5/13/09 |
Judging a Book by its Cover: The Art and Imagery of The Great Gatsby |
Francis Cugat’s 1925 cover art for The Great Gatsby and artwork by El Greco mentioned in the novel are the focus of prereading and postreading activities in this lesson plan. Students explore the novel’s allusion to art and its use of visual imagery and conclude their study by designing their own cover for the novel. | 9-12 | 1/31/08 |
Stairway to Heaven: Examining Metaphor in Popular Music |
In this lesson students examine metaphors they find in the lyrics of popular music. Using an interactive graffiti tool, students illustrate and explain the metaphor. The lesson has students make connections between the literary texts they read in the classroom and popular culture texts with which they are already familiar. | 9-12 | 11/19/08 |
What’s My Subject? A Subject–Verb Agreement Minilesson |
In this minilesson, high school students explore and discover the importance of subject–verb agreement rules. They identify both correct and incorrect agreements and discuss the difference between formal and informal language using newspapers and song lyrics and by creating their own quizzes to share with their peers. | 9-12 | 2/25/09 |
From Friedan Forward—Considering a Feminist Perspective |
Plato wrote, “You are young . . . time will change and even reverse many of your present opinions.” This lesson tests that maxim through an exploration of feminism. Students write letters expressing personal views on issues like equal pay, equal education/employment opportunity, and gender roles—and receive these letters six years later. | 9-12 | 4/17/06 |
Analyzing Character in Hamlet through Epitaphs |
Students compose epitaphs for characters in Hamlet, paying attention to how their words appeal to the senses, create imagery, suggest mood, and set tone. Using poster board, the students design gravestones that capture the essence of their characters and reflect the themes that support the personality and station in life of the characters they have chosen. The lesson can be easily adapted for other tragedies. | 9-12 | 11/19/08 |
Preparing a Character for a New Job: Character Analysis through Job Placement |
In this lesson, students are counselors working at an employment agency. Their job is to help clients find potential jobs and prepare them for their interviews. In the process of their task, students work in small groups to design a resume for the character as well as a series of potential interview questions and accompanying answers for the character. The examples in this lesson focus on The Glass Menagerie; however, many other pieces of literature will also work for this class | 9-12 | 5/14/08 |
Music and Me: Visual Representations of Lyrics to Popular Music |
In this lesson, students create a photomontage movie of images based on the lyrics of a self-chosen song. After interpreting the lyrics, students choose digital photos to illustrate their interpretation and decide on an order and any special effects they want to use. | 9-12 | 2/25/09 |
Exploring Audience and Purpose with a Single Issue |
Students explore the rhetorical concept of audience and purpose by focusing on an issue that divided Americans in 1925, the debate of evolution versus creationism raised by the Scopes Monkey Trial. Students analyze the audience and purpose of at least one resource on the debate and then consider how audience and purpose might shape other communication on the issue. | 9-12 | 10/14/09 |
Blogtopia: Blogging about Your Own Utopia |
Students work together to create their own utopias, using blogs as the primary source of publication. | 9-12 | 11/25/08 |
A Poem of Possibilities: Thinking about the Future |
Though teenagers are known for living in the “now,” they can easily be persuaded to ponder the future—especially when it’s their own future that they’re asked to imagine. Inspired by John Updike’s poem “Ex-Basketball Player,” students write poems or prose poems intended for a real audience—themselves, five years in the future. | 9-12 | 4/8/09 |
Communicating on Local Issues: Exploring Audience in Persuasive Letter Writing |
Students will research a local issue of personal concern to them then write letters to two different audiences that ask readers to take a related action or adopt a specific position on the issue. | 9-12 | 3/30/06 |
Finding Common Ground: Using Logical, Audience-Specific Arguments |
Using a hypothetical situation, students generate arguments from opposing points of view, discover areas of commonality through the use of Venn diagrams, and construct logical, audience-specific arguments in order to persuade their opponents. Students also have an opportunity to role-play with classmates in order to refine their arguments. | 9-12 | 3/1/06 |
From Dr. Seuss to Jonathan Swift: Exploring the History behind the Satire |
After exploring the historical allusions behind Dr. Seuss’s The Butter Battle Book, the whole class discusses the history behind a passage from Gulliver’s Travels. After this group exploration, students research further historical allusions in Swift’s work and share their findings with the class. | 9-12 | 12/13/07 |
Decoding the Dystopian Characteristics of Macintosh’s “1984” Commercial |
This lesson uses the “1984” Macintosh Commercial to introduce students to the dystopian characteristics. Students analyze the techniques used in the commercial and identify the comments that it makes about contemporary society. | 9-12 | 3/6/08 |
Persuading an Audience: Writing Effective Letters to the Editor |
Students write a persuasive letter to the editor of a newspaper, focusing on a current local or national issue and requesting a specific action or response. | 9-12 | 12/9/08 |
Decoding The Matrix: Exploring Dystopian Characteristics through Film |
This lesson uses film clips from The Matrix and other dystopian movies to introduce students to the characteristics found in dystopian works, such as Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and 1984. | 9-12 | 4/3/06 |
The Comic Book Show and Tell |
Students learn about the people involved in making comic books and learn how central the script is to the process. They craft comic book scripts using clear, accurate, descriptive, and detailed writing that shows (illustrates) and tells (directs). After peers create an artistic interpretation of the script, students revise their original scripts. | 9-12 | 1/26/06 |
Outside In: Finding A Character’s Heart Through Art |
Aristotle wrote, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” This activity, inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper and complemented with the stories of Raymond Carver, challenges students to get inside contemporary life and characters through the creation of monologues. | 9-12 | 10/28/08 |
Analyzing the Stylistic Choices of Political Cartoonists |
Students explore and analyze the techniques that political (or editorial) cartoonists use and draw conclusions about why the cartoonists choose those techniques to communicate their messages. | 9-12 | 9/29/09 |
Defining Literacy in a Digital World |
Through listing and observation, students identify the many texts that they read and compose —including books and magazines, television shows, movies, audio broadcasts, hypertexts, and animations. By creating an inventory of personal texts, students begin to consciously recognize the many literacy demands in contemporary society. With this start, they create a working definition of literacy that they refine and explore further as the term continues. | 9-12 | 3/16/09 |
Audio Broadcasts and Podcasts: Oral Storytelling and Dramatization |
Audio broadcasts provide an individualized experience for listeners, who create mental images to accompany the words and sounds they hear. Orson Welles’ broadcast of H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds in October 1938 provides perhaps the most well-known example of listeners’ imaginations leading to a very vivid experience. After exploring Welles’ broadcast, students create criteria for effective audio dramatizations and then compose their own dramatization of a scene from a recent reading. | 9-12 | 5/2/08 |
Draft Letters: Improving Student Writing through Critical Thinking |
Draft letters asks students to think critically about their writing on a specific assignment before submitting their work to a reader. This lesson explains the strategy and provides models for the project, which can be adapted for any grade level and any writing project. | 9-12 | 3/8/06 |
Put That on the List: Collaboratively Writing a Catalog Poem |
The list or catalog poem is the quintessential contemporary poem, used by authors ranging from Walt Whitman to Raymond Carver. Using the structure of the list, students combine creative expression with poetic techniques and language exploration in order to write group poems about what really matters in their lives. | 9-12 | 9/30/08 |
Put That on the List: Independently Writing a Catalog Poem |
In this follow-up to writing collaborative catalog poems, students write individual catalog poems about what really matters in their lives, based on Carver’s poem “The Car.” | 9-12 | 4/14/09 |
You’re the Top! Pop Culture Then and Now |
This lesson uses Cole Porter’s "You're the Top!" to explore pop culture of the past and present and to practice the stylistic writing technique of cataloguing. If desired, students have the opportunity to extend the lesson into a research project. | 9-12 | 3/7/06 |
Writing about Writing: An Extended Metaphor Assignment |
Using Richard Wilbur’s poem “The Writer” as an inspiration, students examine the literary element of metaphor then write their own extended metaphor, describing themselves as writers. | 9-12 | 7/14/06 |
Onomatopoeia: A Figurative Language Mini-lesson |
In this mini-lesson, students are introduced to the literary device of onomatopoeia and explore how the technique adds to a writer’s message. Students examine Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Bells,” looking for examples of these “sound words”; then they apply their knowledge to additional poems, other readings, or their own compositions. | 9-12 | 6/28/07 |
Exploring Language and Identity: Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Beyond |
The interrelationship of language, identity, and power opens up discussions that are important to both the individual and the larger community. By exploring the relationship between language and identity in Amy Tan’s essay, students increase their awareness of language in their family, home, peer, and work communities. Students explore fiction and nonfiction texts and write literacy narratives as a part of their exploration. | 9-12 | 5/1/09 |
Using Student-Centered Comprehension Strategies with Elie Wiesel’s Night |
Working in small groups, students use reciprocal teaching strategies as they read and discuss Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night. Everyone in the classroom takes turns assuming the “teacher” role, as the class works with four comprehension strategies: predicting, question generating, summarizing, and clarifying. | 9-12 | 1/31/07 |
Myth and Truth: The Gettysburg Address |
Did Abraham Lincoln write the Gettysburg Address on the back of an envelope on the train ride from D. C. to Gettysburg? Was the crowd disappointed with his short speech? Did he consider the speech a failiure? By exploring these and other myths, this lesson asks students to explore the “facts” behind this important speech and how history is recorded. | 9-12 | 10/14/09 |
Designing Museum Exhibits for The Grapes of Wrath: A Multigenre Project |
Using The Grapes of Wrath as a backdrop, students conduct research on issues that the novel addresses, publishing their findings in a multigenre museum exhibit. | 9-12 | 9/16/09 |
So What Do You Think? Writing a Review |
Writing a review of an author’s work challenges students to explore a new genre and to develop their own critical thinking skills. It combines analytical writing with personal reflection, providing an opportunity for students to speak their minds—and to enjoy being heard. | 9-12 | 8/17/09 |
Audio Listening Practices: Exploring Personal Experiences with Audio Texts |
This lesson plan asks students to explore the ways that audio texts play a role in their lives. Students keep a daily diary that records how and when they listen to audio texts, such as radio, streaming media, songs on MP3 players, and podcasts. Students then analyze the details and compare their results to published reports on American radio listeners. They conclude by reflecting on their findings and writing a final statement on their audio literacy practices and interests. | 9-12 | 10/15/08 |
Star-Crossed Lovers Online: Romeo and Juliet for a Digital Age |
Explore the modern significance of an older text, such as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, by asking students to create their own modern interpretation of specific events from the drama. The lesson provides a range of possible projects that students can complete, including writing headline news stories, rewriting dialogue or monologues to include one form of interactive technology, and creating digital artifacts for modern-day versions of the characters from the play. | 9-12 | 7/1/08 |
Lights, Camera, Action...Music: Critiquing Films Using Sight and Sound |
Teaching students to "read" media other than text is an important skill that helps boost their critical thinking. This lesson introduces students to film literacy by asking them to contrast a scene's visual impact with the music that accompanies it and by then writing their own scene outline. | 9-12 | 2/12/09 |
Copyright Infringement or Not? The Debate over Downloading Music |
Students discuss their own experiences and conduct further research on the controversial topic of sharing music and other audio content on the Internet. Based on their research, students take a stand on the controversy and develop persuasive arguments on their position that they present in a class debate on the subject of downloading. | 9-12 | 3/5/09 |
Poetry: Sound and Sense |
In this lesson, high school students examine selected poetry and focus on the use of sound devices such as assonance, consonance, and alliteration. After discussion and experimentation, students create original poems using the sound devices they have been studying. | 9-12 | 2/12/09 |
Paying Attention to Technology: Reviewing a Technology |
Students profile a familiar technology to create a technology review that explores when and how the technology might be used. The lesson can be used for literary analysis of a text that highlights a particular technology or for the interrogation and evaluation of a specific technology that the student or others use. | 9-12 | 1/27/09 |
Literary Parodies: Exploring a Writer’s Style through Imitation |
The popular saying “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” coined by Charles Caleb Colton, is the basis for this lesson, which asks students to analyze the features of a poet’s work then create their own poems based on the original model. By exploring sample poems and their parodies, students focus on the language and style of the original writer, all in the process of playing with poetry. | 9-12 | 11/20/08 |
Naming in a Digital World: Creating a Safe Persona on the Internet |
To introduce the connotations attached to names, this lesson begins by asking students to explore the origin of their first, middle, and last names. After considering the ways that people in various situations react to names, explore naming conventions in digital and non-digital settings then choose and explain specific names and profiles to represent themselves online. | 9-12 | 4/14/09 |
An Introduction to Beowulf: Language and Poetics |
While Beowulf is generally considered the earliest major work of English poetry, it is almost always taught in translation and its verse form and poetic techniques are often unfamiliar. This lesson provides an introduction to the language and poetics of the poem. | 9-12 | 11/20/08 |
Reading Literature in Translation: Beowulf as a Case Study |
Using a number of translations of the same passage of Beowulf, this lesson will introduce students to the idea that translation is not an objective practice, but that it an art that involves an act of “imaginative reconstruction.” | 9-12 | 12/9/08 |
Building Vietnam War Scavenger Hunts through Web-Based Inquiry |
After or while reading any book about Vietnam, students research the effects of the war on a specific group of people who were involved (e.g., nurses, soldiers, protesters) using the Internet then create Internet scavenger hunts that are then shared with the rest of the class. | 9-12 | 1/27/09 |
In Literature, Interpretation is the Thing |
"I disagree, that was terrible!" How often have you heard a similar statement from students about a play, poem, or novel? By examining critical material and authorial intent, students can move beyond such subjective comments into deeper understanding and reflection about literature, even that which is culturally and historically distant. | 9-12 | 2/12/09 |
The Pros and Cons of Discussion |
Use Discussion Webs to actively engage all of your students and require them to compare both sides of an issue in order to form a conclusion. You will find that student-led discussions lead to more participation, more student talk, and higher-level questions than those that you direct. | 9-12 | 2/12/09 |
A Significant Influence: Describing an Important Teacher in Your Life |
All of us have had a teacher who has made a profound difference in our lives, like Morrie in Tuesdays with Morrie or John Keating in Dead Poets Society. In this project, students write a tribute to such a teacher then publish their work in a class collection. Because college application essays often ask students to write about a significant influence, the lesson’s extensions include resources for writing more traditional, formal papers. | 9-12 | 9/28/09 |
Analyzing Symbolism, Plot, and Theme in Death and the Miser |
Encourage students to transfer the analytical skills that they use when reading literature to other modalities through an exploration of the underlying meaning and symbolism in the early Renaissance painting Death and the Miser by Hieronymous Bosch. | 9-12 | 4/20/05 |
Focus on First Lines: Increasing Comprehension through Prediction Strategies |
At the beginning of a course or unit, students examine opening sentences from texts that they will read completely in later sessions. Students make predictions about the texts then return to their predictions throughout the course or unit to talk about the prediction strategy and to increase reading comprehension. | 9-12 | 3/20/07 |
Argument, Persuasion, or Propaganda? Analyzing World War II Posters |
In this lesson plan, students analyze World War II posters to explore how argument, persuasion, and propaganda differ. The lesson begins with a full-class exploration of the famous “I WANT YOU FOR U.S. ARMY” poster, featuring a determined Uncle Sam, and progresses to a more detailed analysis of a specific World War II poster chosen from an online collection. | 9-12 | 11/20/08 |
Discovering Traditional Sonnet Forms |
In this introductory lesson, students read various sonnets, charting the basic characteristics of the poem and using their observations to deduce traditional sonnet forms. After this introduction, students write original sonnets, using one of the poems they have analyzed as a model. | 9-12 | 11/10/08 |
Connotation, Character, and Color Imagery in The Great Gatsby |
Students explore the connotations of the colors associated with the characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby by tracking color imagery in the novel and then writing a character analysis based on their findings. The lesson includes a discussion of connotation and denotation as well as discussion of cultural influences on connotation. | 9-12 | 7/16/09 |
Exploring Satire with Shrek |
The movie Shrek, which satirizes fairy tale traditions, serves as an introduction to the satirical techniques of exaggeration, incongruity, reversal, and parody. Students brainstorm fairy tale characteristics, identify the satirical techniques used to present them in the movie, then create their own satirical versions of fairy tales. | 9-12 | 11/20/08 |
Exploring Satire with The Simpsons |
Students identify the techniques of satire (exaggeration, incongruity, reversal, and parody) through an analysis of visual examples of the television show, The Simpsons, and from the show’s Web site. The lesson includes extensions that focus on writing analysis of a complete episode of the cartoon and writing an original satirical piece. | 9-12 | 12/9/08 |
Analyzing the Purpose and Meaning of Political Cartoons |
This lesson invites students in grades 9–12 to evaluate political cartoons for their meaning, message, and persuasiveness. | 9-12 | 9/23/09 |
Id, Ego, and Superego in Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat |
Children’s literature provides a great introduction to literary analysis in this lesson, which uses The Cat in the Hat as a primer to teach students how to analyze a literary work using the literary tools of plot, theme, characterization, and psychoanalytical criticism. | 9-12 | 12/9/08 |
Review Redux: Introducing Literary Criticism Through Reception Moments |
In this lesson, students analyze how societal issues and historic events affect reactions to literature. Students are introduced to literary criticism as one form of reaction and are asked to explore both contemporaneous and current reception of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. | 9-12 | 8/17/09 |
What Did They Say? Dialect in The Color Purple |
Books written in dialect can sometimes be difficult for students to read. This lesson helps students overcome barriers to understanding by discussing how dialects are formed and why they vary, and exploring what dialect reveals about the characters in Alice Walker's The Color Purple. | 9-12 | 2/12/09 |
Literary Scrapbooks Online: An Electronic Reader-Response Project |
Students create computer-based scrapbooks, using PowerPoint or a similar program, to extend their understanding of the concepts and ideas represented in a piece of literature. Using teacher-selected Web sites, students search for “scraps” of information that they feel are important to the selected topic then publish their findings in personal scrapbooks. | 9-12 | 9/16/09 |
Heroes Are Made of This: Studying the Character of Heroes |
Using a variety of individual and group activities, students will analyze the complex ways in which authors use characterization to present and explore heroism and the heroic. | 9-12 | 8/17/09 |
Identifying and Understanding the Fallacies Used in Advertising |
Learning to spot a deliberately misleading advertisement can be challenging to students who are unaware of such manipulations. In this lesson, students develop an understanding of how fallacies are used in advertising. Through multimedia presentations, students exhibit and construct an argument to defend their understanding of fallacies. | 9-12 | 2/12/09 |
Reader Response in Hypertext: Making Personal Connections to Literature |
In this lesson plan, students choose four quotations to inspire personal responses a novel that they have read. Students write a narrative of place, a character sketch, an extended metaphor poem and a persuasive essay then link all four texts to the quotations. If desired, students incorporate photos into their presentation then publish the collected texts on their Web site. | 9-12 | 10/14/09 |
Short Story Fair: Responding to Short Stories in Multiple Media and Genres |
In this activity, students read short stories from a collection in small groups then prepare responses in multiple media and genres that are shared in a culminating Short Story Fair. On the days of the fair, the class explores the displays for the short stories, responding to related questions. | 9-12 | 12/8/08 |
The Year I Was Born: An Autobiographical Research Project |
Ask your students what happened the year that they were born—in their family, locally, nationally, and internationally. Students research the year they were born through interviews with adults and family members and research in the library and online. Next, students weave the details into a newspaper or booklet, written from an older family member’s or another adult’s or friend’s point of view. | 9-12 | 10/17/04 |
Word Maps: Developing Critical and Analytical Thinking About Literary Characters |
Characters come to life when we read. With the help of word maps, students can better understand and analyze the problems, actions, and feelings of the characters in a story and make connections to their own lives. | 9-12 | 2/12/09 |
Propaganda Techniques in Literature and Online Political Ads |
In this lesson, students draw conclusions from an analysis of propaganda techniques used in a piece of literature—such as the novel Brave New World, the play The Crucible, or the movie Dr. Strangelove—and political advertisements posted on the Internet. Students also make connections to their own world by looking for examples of propaganda in other media, such as print ads and commercials. | 9-12 | 3/11/09 |
Freedom of Speech and Automatic Language: Examining the Pledge of Allegiance |
Most students in American classrooms know the words to the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance. The words are a kind of automatic language. We say them easily—perhaps every day, but we may not think in detail about what we are saying. This lesson plan asks students to explore this rote learning and their own right to freedom of speech by examining the Pledge of Allegiance from a historical and personal perspective and in relationship to fictional situations in novels they have read. | 9-12 | 3/6/08 |
Teaching Plot Structure through Short Stories |
Beginning with a fairy tale that many students are familiar with, this lesson asks students to analyze the plot structure of “Jack and the Beanstalk.” Students then read short stories as a whole class, in small groups, and, finally, individually, analyzing the plot of three different short stories using an online graphic organizer to diagram the structures. | 9-12 | 12/8/08 |
Behind the Masks: Exploring Culture and Self Through Art and Poetry |
In this integrated unit of study, a teacher librarian pairs with an art teacher to introduce high school students to mask making around the world. Students research various cultures, make cultural and personal masks, and compose poetry to reveal the meaning behind their masks. | 9-12 | 2/12/09 |
Exploring Literature through Letter-Writing Groups |
This lesson asks students to discuss literature through a series of letter exchanges. It can be used as a one-time assignment in conjunction with any work of literature or it can be used throughout the year with the students discussing, and even making connections among, a number of literary works. | 9-12 | 12/8/08 |
A Biography Study: Using Role-Play to Explore Authors' Lives |
In this lesson, eleventh-grade students read biographies and explore websites of selected American authors. They collaborate in teams to design creative projects and role-play as the authors in a panel presentation. They then synthesize their knowledge into essays about their authors. | 9-12 | 2/12/09 |
A High-Interest Novel Helps Struggling Readers Confront Bullying in Schools |
Reading The Bully—a novel that should be especially appealing to struggling or reluctant readers—students will better understand the bully, the bullied, and the bystander. Students will use reading strategies such as literary analysis, T-charts, Readers Theatre, and reflective journals to help improve fluency and comprehension. | 9-12 | 10/14/09 |
Happily Ever After? Exploring Character, Conflict, and Plot in Dramatic Tragedy |
Students can typically forecast the horrible ending in a tragedy, based on the decisions that the characters make. By exploring the decisions points in a tragedy, this lesson plan asks students to consider how the plot of the story can change if the key characters make a different choice at the turning point. Students identify the turning point, alter the decision that the characters make, and predict the characters’ actions throughout the rest of the now-altered play. | 9-12 | 11/19/08 |
Paying Attention to Technology: Writing Technology Autobiographies |
In this lesson plan, students brainstorm lists of their interactions with technology, map these interactions graphically, and then compose narratives of their most significant interactions with technology. By writing these technology autobiographies, students explore what their stories reveal about why we use the technologies we do when we choose to use them. | 9-12 | 3/30/09 |
Examining Transcendentalism through Popular Culture |
Using excerpts from the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, comics, and songs from different musical genres, students examine the characteristics of transcendentalism. In the course of their exploration, students use multiple genres to interpret social commentaries, to make connections among works they've studied in class, and to develop their own views on the subjects of individualism, nature, and passive resistance. | 9-12 | 5/1/09 |
Paying Attention to Technology: Exploring a Fictional Technology |
Students complete a short survey to establish their beliefs about technology then compare their opinions to the ideas in a novel that depicts technology (such as 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, REM World, or Feed). By exploring the fictional technology, students are urged to think more deeply about their own beliefs and to pay attention to the ways that technology is described and used. | 9-12 | 11/19/08 |
Authentic Persuasive Writing to Promote Summer Reading |
Devote time during your last weeks of school to promote summer reading by inviting students to create brochures and flyers that suggest books and genres to explore during the summer months. This lesson can be customized to focus on another time of year or specific focus. | 9-12 | 7/1/09 |
Renaissance Humanism in Hamlet and The Birth of Venus |
After reading Shakespeare’s Hamlet, students use visual and literary tools to identify, analyze, and explain how elements in Botticelli’s painting The Birth of Venus and examples from the play illustrate the philosophy of Renaissance Humanism. | 9-12 | 11/6/06 |
That's Not Fair! Examining Civil Liberties With the U.S. Supreme Court |
Students work collectively in groups to examine state and federal court cases that pertain to civil liberties. Each group conducts Internet research and creates a PowerPoint presentation to share the details of the case with their classmates and other invited guests. | 9-12 | 11/21/08 |
Seuss and Silverstein: Posing Questions, Presenting Points |
Picture books and short stories by Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein are written on an elementary level, yet they contain powerful social and personal messages. In this lesson, high school students work in groups to read a book or short story by Seuss or Silverstein, prepare thought-provoking questions, and lead a class discussion. | 9-12 | 3/6/09 |
Unlocking the Underlying Symbolism and Themes of a Dramatic Work |
This lesson plan invites students to explore a character from Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and an object associated with that character through story mapping and character-item poems. These graphic organizers and poems then become important keys to unlocking the underlying symbolism and themes in Hansberry’s play. By allowing students to discover these keys on their own, this activity encourages students to take responsibility for making meaning of the texts that they read. | 9-12 | 11/6/06 |
Weaving the Multigenre Web |
Students analyze the elements of a novel in many different genres and then hyperlink these pieces together on student-constructed Web sites. This is a lesson which can be used with either a whole class novel, individual novels, partner books, or small group literature circles. | 9-12 | 6/28/07 |
Choosing the Best Verb: An Active and Passive Voice Mini-Lesson |
For most students, speech and informal writing flow naturally. When it comes to more formal writing, however, students frequently choose passive voice constructions because to them, the verbs sound more academic or more formal. This mini-lesson explores verb choice in a variety of online resources then encourages students to draw conclusions about verb use which they can apply to their own writing. | 9-12 | 12/8/08 |
Making Connections to Myth and Folktale: The Many Ways to Rainy Mountain |
Following the model of N. Scott Momaday’s The Way To Rainy Mountain, students write three-voice narratives based on Kiowa folktale, an interview with Elder, and personal connection to themes in Momaday’s book or a theme that arises in the folktale or interview. Momaday’s model for remembering and personal involvement in folktales, mythologies, and tales of personal heritage is presented as a key to connecting on a personal level with the stories of one’s past. | 9-12 | 4/14/09 |
Exploring the Power of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Words through Diamante Poetry |
Encourage your students to explore the ways that powerful and passionate words communicate the concepts of freedom, justice, discrimination, and the American Dream in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s "I Have a Dream" speech by paying attention to the details of King's speech as they read and as they gather words to use in their own original poems. | 9-12 | 8/27/09 |
Spend a Day in My Shoes: Exploring the Role of Perspective in Narrative |
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus explains to Scout that "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." Make this advice more literal by inviting students to imagine spending a day in someone else's shoes in this writing activity. | 9-12 | 5/28/09 |
I've Got the Literacy Blues |
In this lesson, students read "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry and explore the story's themes using blues music, creative writing, and media study. They then create a graphic organizer, write blues poetry, and create a mural to showcase what they have learned. | 9-12 | 11/16/06 |
The Peace Journey: Using Process Drama in the Classroom |
Process drama is a powerful and motivating teaching tool that engages students in writing. In this lesson, high school students participate in a simulated peace journey as they pursue various literacy activities. They will plan, write, and perform a skit based on their ideas of peace. | 9-12 | 11/7/08 |
Exploring Disability Using Multimedia and the B-D-A Reading Strategy |
In this lesson, students apply the B-D-A (before-during-after) reading comprehension strategy as they explore varied aspects of disability by investigating rich, interactive multimedia resources. Students participate in prereading, during reading, and postreading comprehension monitoring activities as they make predictions, take notes, summarize, and state main ideas. | 9-12 | 7/10/08 |
Discovering a Passion for Poetry With Langston Hughes |
Much like today's youth, poetry can bundle a great deal of passion in a small package. Through close readings and historical research of select poems by Langston Hughes, students identify, illustrate, and present connections between an author's time and place in history and his writings. | 9-12 | 12/8/08 |
A Harlem Renaissance Retrospective: Connecting Art, Music, Dance, and Poetry |
The Harlem Renaissance was a vibrant time that was characterized by innovations in art, literature, music, poetry, and dance. In this lesson, students work in collaborative groups to conduct Internet research and create a museum exhibit that highlights the work of selected artists, musicians, and poets of the Harlem Renaissance. | 9-12 | 5/1/09 |
Manipulating Sentences to Reinforce Grammar Skills |
This lesson reviews and reinforces basic grammar skills through authentic instruction. Using any reading material (e.g., novels, textbooks, magazines, online texts), students find sentences and manipulate them to either change the meaning or enhance the intended meaning. | 9-12 | 8/2/07 |
Is a Sentence a Poem? |
Students use their own poetry to analyze syntax, imagery, and meaning in a one-sentence poem by a canonical author to decide what makes it a poem. This exercise encourages students to dissect a poem while making some poetry of their own and defining the characteristics of the genre of poetry. | 9-12 | 12/15/06 |
Teaching the Epic through Ghost Stories |
Our oral tradition of telling ghost stories, with which most students are familiar, builds a useful bridge to the oral tradition of the ancient epic narrators. In this lesson, students connect to epic storytellers by sharing their own oral tales of ghosts and goblins and monsters. | 9-12 | 11/16/07 |
Ghosts and Fear in Language Arts: Exploring the Ways Writers Scare Readers |
What is scary, and why does it fascinate us? How do writers and storytellers scare us? This lesson plan invites students to answer these questions by exploring their own scary stories and scary short stories and books. The lesson culminates in a Fright Fair, where students share scary projects that they have created, including posters, multimedia projects, and creative writing. | 9-12 | 11/19/08 |
Varying Views of America |
Employing collaborative groups and graphic organizers, students analyze three poems: Walt Whitman's “I Hear America Singing,” Langston Hughes' “I, Too, Sing America,” and Maya Angelou's “On the Pulse of the Morning.” Through this analysis, they determine the influence of perspective on individual’s tone and point of view toward the same or a similar experience. | 9-12 | 6/28/05 |
Name That Chapter! Discussing Summary and Interpretation Using Chapter Titles |
Students name chapters in novels that they are reading, creating a cumulative list for the novel as they proceed. Sample titles are discussed and debated before the class settles on a choice. In the process, students actively explore reading comprehension, summary, paraphrase, accuracy, and connotation. | 9-12 | 2/26/04 |
Book Report Alternative: Characters for Hire! Studying Character in Drama |
Students track one character throughout a play (in this lesson, a Shakespearean drama) to determine the character’s education, skills, extracurricular activities, previous employment, and possible references in order to create a resume for that character. | 9-12 | 3/11/09 |
Novel News: Broadcast Coverage of Character, Conflict, Resolution, and Setting |
This twist on readers theater invites students to prepare original news programs based on incidents in a recent reading. Along the way, students explore standard literary elements of character, conflict, resolution, and setting. | 9-12 | 2/15/08 |
Avoiding Sexist Language by Using Gender-Fair Pronouns |
In this lesson plan, students write a response to a short prompt which includes no information about the participants' gender. Once the writing is complete, students and teacher analyze the narratives for the use of pronouns and what the pronoun choices reveal about language use. | 9-12 | 11/19/08 |
Censorship in the Classroom: Understanding Controversial Issues |
In this lesson, students examine media bias and propaganda, and explore the reasons for censorship of controversial books. Using this information, students create an advertising campaign promoting their position for reading or banning books. | 9-12 | 8/17/09 |
Comic Makeovers: Examining Race, Class, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Media |
Students explore representations of race, class, ethnicity, and gender by analyzing comics over a two-week period and then re-envisioning them with a "comic character makeover." This activity leads to greater awareness of the stereotypes in the media and urges students to form more realistic visions as they perform their makeovers. | 9-12 | 3/16/09 |
Graffiti Wall: Discussing and Responding to Literature Using Graphics |
Students respond to literature in a variety of ways. Here teachers can tap the students' desire to doodle and draw by having them create a Graffiti Wall, using graphics to discuss a piece of literature that they have read in common. After doing both group and individual activities, students write essays analyzing some element of their novel. | 9-12 | 10/12/06 |
Style: Defining and Exploring an Author’s Stylistic Choices |
Exploring the use of style in literature helps students understand how language conveys mood, images, and meaning. In this activity, students will find examples of specific stylistic devices in sample literary passages then search for additional examples and explore the reasons for the stylistic choices that the author has made. | 9-12 | 8/17/09 |
Style: Translating Stylistic Choices from Hawthorne to Hemingway and Back Again |
In this activity, students work in small groups to explore the stylistic choices an author makes by translating passages of one author into the style of another, then translating fables into the style of one of the authors they have been reading. | 9-12 | 9/16/09 |
Discovering Poetic Form and Structure Using Concrete Poems |
This lesson uses concrete poems, which relate the placement of the words on the page to the meaning of the poem, to explore the connection between a poem's layout and its meaning. While an enjoyable activity any time of year, the lesson is especially topical near Columbus Day. | 9-12 | 11/19/08 |
Exploring Literacy in Cyberspace |
This lesson introduces students to the concept of intermediality—the ability to critically read and write across varied symbol systems—to help them broaden their notions of texts and literacies. Students will read print articles and online texts, and record their active reading responses to reflect their different reading experiences. | 9-12 | 9/27/07 |
Critical Reading: Two Stories, Two Authors, Same Plot? |
In this lesson, students read two short stories with the same title ("The Luncheon") that have been written by two famous authors. Students compare and analyze both stories to find differences and similarities among the characters and the plot and draw conclusions as literary critics. | 9-12 | 6/26/07 |
Magazine Redux: An Exercise in Critical Literacy |
Teachers can use this activity as part of a larger unit on media literacy to help students understand how and why they read and respond to different media forms. This lesson focuses specifically on analyzing the differences between print and online magazines. | 9-12 | 7/1/09 |
Exploring Cross-Age Tutoring Activities With Lewis and Clark |
In this lesson, cross-age tutoring is a catalyst for interaction between high school and elementary students as they explore the journey of Lewis and Clark. Using the book How We Crossed the West and online interactive activities, students synthesize knowledge from collaborative sessions to write and share adventure stories. | 9-12 | 7/19/07 |
Become a Character: Adjectives, Character Traits, and Perspective |
In this activity, students "become" one of the major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using Internet reference tools to compile lists of accurate, powerful adjectives. In class discussion, students support their lists with details from the novel. | 9-12 | 2/15/08 |
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