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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 |
“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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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: 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: 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: 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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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: 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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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