Students climb into the mind of a spider in this lesson that asks them to compose a spider diary using spider facts, fiction, and "faction"fiction that sounds like fact.
![Multimedia Responses to Content Area Topics Using Fact-"Faction"-Fiction](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1882_0.jpg?h=e0972972&itok=HuRpZZd1)
Multimedia Responses to Content Area Topics Using Fact-"Faction"-Fiction
![Gingerbread Phonics](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1887_0.jpg?h=790be497&itok=sups0S-c)
Grades
|
Gingerbread Phonics
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
"Run, run, as fast as you can." Students use this refrain from The Gingerbread Man to learn letter-sound correspondence. Students use their new skills to write an online story.
![Using THIEVES to Preview Nonfiction Texts](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1889_0.jpg?h=51a72048&itok=AiuNkh6V)
Grades
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Using THIEVES to Preview Nonfiction Texts
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students become "thieves" in this lesson as they use a previewing strategy to "steal" information from textbooks and other nonfiction texts before actually reading them.
![From Fact to Fiction: Drawing and Writing Stories](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1890_0.jpg?h=84432dc8&itok=XUGt0Dog)
Grades
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From Fact to Fiction: Drawing and Writing Stories
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students gather factual information about frogs and toads to create nonfiction and fiction stories. Drawing is used for prewriting.
![](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/media-icons/generic/no-thumbnail.png?h=52605a11&itok=fTHdOjjP)
Grades
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The Big, Bad Wolf...Is This a Fact?
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Reading is revamped in this lesson in which students use a multimedia approach to study the books by Seymour Simon.
![Getting the <em>ig</em> in Pig: Helping Children Discover Onset and Rime](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1896_0.jpg?h=c2afd079&itok=enV3ASGK)
Grades
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Getting the ig in Pig: Helping Children Discover Onset and Rime
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students will need their language-building hard hats as they construct words using onset and rime, building vocabulary and phonics comprehension.
![Traveling Terrain: Comprehending Nonfiction Text on the Web](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1901_0.jpg?h=29c30e7b&itok=vvR8ZXF_)
Grades
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Traveling Terrain: Comprehending Nonfiction Text on the Web
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students locate specific information, identify text features of nonfiction text, and write to generalize information on related topics.
![Critical Media Literacy: Commercial Advertising](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1902_0.jpg?h=4ad638b8&itok=Oxr_pptV)
Grades
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Critical Media Literacy: Commercial Advertising
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
By looking at advertising and mass media critically, students begin to understand how the media oppresses certain groups, convinces people to purchase certain products, and influences culture.
![Critical Media Literacy: TV Programs](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1903_0.jpg?h=eb567e48&itok=ovpzYfly)
Grades
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Critical Media Literacy: TV Programs
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
By critically analyzing popular television programs, students develop an awareness of the messages that are portrayed through the media.
![Scaffolding Comprehension Strategies Using Graphic Organizers](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1904_0.jpg?h=790be497&itok=sLQZqCvS)
Grades
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Scaffolding Comprehension Strategies Using Graphic Organizers
3 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students learn collaborative strategic reading (CSR). During and after reading, students apply four reading strategiespreview, click and clunk, get the gist, and wrap-upand use graphic organizers for scaffolding.
![Peace Poems and Picasso Doves: Literature, Art, Technology, and Poetry](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1906_0.jpg?h=0d27ee61&itok=x6xYpV1h)
Grades
|
Peace Poems and Picasso Doves: Literature, Art, Technology, and Poetry
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students apply think-aloud strategies to reading and to composition of artwork and poetry. They research symbols of peace as they prewrite, compose, and publish their poetry.
![Exploring World Cultures Through Folk Tales](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1908_0.jpg?h=ba06bdc7&itok=cBqft1KR)
Grades
|
Exploring World Cultures Through Folk Tales
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Journey around the world with students as they read a Japanese, African, or Welsh folk tale, create a visual depiction of the tale, research the tale's culture, and present findings.
![Compare and Contrast Electronic Text With Traditionally Printed Text](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1909_0.jpg?h=8f4b5573&itok=YCnit67D)
Grades
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Compare and Contrast Electronic Text With Traditionally Printed Text
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students become familiar with the similarities and differences between electronic and printed text by comparing the textual aids included in a textbook with those of an educational website.
![The Two Voices of the <em>ow</em> Spelling Pattern](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1910_0.jpg?h=4559bd20&itok=uikChaIu)
Grades
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The Two Voices of the ow Spelling Pattern
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Variable vowels are the focus of this lesson; students use nursery rhymes and ow to study how vowels can change their sounds according to different spelling patterns.
![Finding Figurative Language in <em>The Phantom Tollbooth</em>](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1919_0.jpg?h=6f8e8448&itok=zvRJ30J8)
Grades
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Finding Figurative Language in The Phantom Tollbooth
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students examine figurative language in The Phantom Tollbooth and create a chart representing the literal and figurative meanings of words and phrases.
![In the Poet's Shoes: Performing Poetry and Building Meaning](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1920_0.jpg?h=5b202feb&itok=iMnsn1pS)
Grades
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In the Poet's Shoes: Performing Poetry and Building Meaning
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students take poetic license when they interpret William Carlos William's poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" to help create a poem of their own.
![Multipurpose Poetry: Introducing Science Concepts and Increasing Fluency](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1927_0.jpg?h=1d52376d&itok=moEf84JC)
Grades
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Multipurpose Poetry: Introducing Science Concepts and Increasing Fluency
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Creepy crawlers, hoppers, and fliers are the focus of this lesson in which students chorally read poems about insects and use the Internet to locate facts about their assigned insects.
![Comparing Electronic and Print Texts About the Civil War Soldier](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1928_0.jpg?h=fa1c963e&itok=N1sR-VoZ)
Grades
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Comparing Electronic and Print Texts About the Civil War Soldier
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Which side will win as students investigate both sides of the battle of using print versus online text for research as they learn about the lives of Civil War soldiers?
![Postmodern Picture Books in Middle School](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1930_0.jpg?h=78d7cff1&itok=iPUntl1Y)
Grades
|
Postmodern Picture Books in Middle School
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students analyze the structure of a postmodern picture book, Black and White, to uncover how authors create unexpected plots and connections and form relationships between words and illustrations.
![Using Folk Tales: Vowel Influences on the Letter <em>G</em>](/sites/default/files/styles/focal_point_350x350/public/1934.jpg?h=123294e0&itok=oYU-pg7O)
Grades
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Using Folk Tales: Vowel Influences on the Letter G
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Minilesson
Gentle, gigantic, gracefuldo these g words describe the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk? Students will explore the hard and soft g sounds by studying fairy tales and animals.