Curated OER
Poems: "The Rabbit"
In pairs or on their own, fourth graders read the poem, "The Rabbit." They then answer eight critical-analysis questions, requiring them to make inferences, and interpret the poem's meaning and use of language. The reading passage,...
Read Works
Signal Words in Expository Text
Signal words are one way that authors make the relationships between their ideas clear. Allow your learners the chance to investigate cause and effect in texts by identifying signal words. They locate and analyze cause-and-effect...
Curated OER
Decision Making: Who Was Right?
Help your class explore the question "Is it ever right to disobey a law?" With a strong base of knowledge about the Civil War, anti-slavery movement, and Underground Railroad, your class explores civil disobedience in Marshall, Michigan...
Curated OER
Reading Fluency
Aid readers in achieving fluency! Hone in on appropriate pacing, accurate pronunciation, and varied intonation through modeling and ample practice. In one-minute bursts, individuals rehearse reading a passage aloud, recording where they...
Curated OER
Race into Fluency!
Elementary learners practice reading short passages to increase their fluency. They work in pairs to do repeated readings of Jane and Babe, recording their times. They switch roles and time one another in an effort to decrease the amount...
Curated OER
No Foot, No Horse
Why do horses wear shoes? Why do people wear shoes? Using worksheets, which are embedded in the plan, learners write descriptive paragraphs about their own shoes, classify a pile of shoes, and also engage in math games about the variety...
Curated OER
Give Me Some Expression!
Work to improve oral expression while reading aloud. Young scholars read sentence strips, changing their volume, speed, and tone to match what is written, making the sentence more meaningful. They read an entire story with a partner who...
Curated OER
Reading Aloud
Reading aloud is a great way to engage learners in pacing and pronunciation! They practice using voice, pitch and intonation correctly. The teacher introduces the lesson by example, correctly stressing punctuation and using appropriate...
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Biography
Familiarize your class with the genre of biography. After some direct instruction about biography, work together to discuss historical facts and significant events from A Picture Book of Anne Frank by David A. Adler. In order to assess...
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Changing An Author's Purpose
Some write to inform, and others to persuade. Show your class the difference between these two purposes with the instructional activity and sample essays provided here. First, model how you might change a few words in order to present a...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Passages
Combine two skills with the activities included here. Pupils not only practice determining the main idea of short passages, they also use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the main ideas of the different passages. Start out...
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Compare and Contrast Editorials
Does your class know what an editorial is? Introduce the genre to them with this plan. First, the teacher models how to read an editorial and compare and contrast. Next, the class has a chance to analyze editorials written by their own...
Curated OER
Oklahoma Stone Soup
Class members complete activities related to the story "Oklahoma Stone Soup." First, pupils read, discuss, and answer questions about the story. Next, to incorporate math into the lesson, learners make stone soup using a variety of...
Curated OER
Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns
What does it mean to grow? To germinate? For the plan detailed here, class members investigate the growth process of an oak tree while focusing on the beginning stages of planting and germination. They plant seeds and record observations...
Curated OER
Make Mine Turkey
Young scholars compare foods available for the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving with contemporary Thanksgiving foods. After reading information about the first Thanksgiving, pupils create a menu and compute the cost of a turkey dinner, using...
Curated OER
Don't Fence Me In
Ensure that your class has a well-rounded understanding of new inventions, in this case barbed wired. Class members, after researching the history and development of barbed wire, assess its impact on cattle and the development of the...
Curated OER
Garden Grid
Basically, your class reads about different garden plants from an included handout and seed packets that you provide, and then uses a grid to plan out where to place the plants. They can practice counting with the seeds, grouping,...
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Cause and Effect Relationships in Historical Fiction
Centered around the book Pink and Say, by Patricia Polacco, the instructional activity presented here should help your class tackle cause and effect. The teacher reads the first few pages aloud and models in a think-aloud style how to...
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Climax of a Story
Demonstrate how to track the elements of plot in a story. After watching you mark down the rising action, problem, climax, falling action, and resolution for Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth, pupils complete a graphic organizer for Sweet Clara...
Read Works
Analyzing Author's Voice
Explore voice in poetry. Focus on several poems by Langston Hughes and identify words and phrases that represent the author's feelings about the topic of the poem. After working through a few poems together, individuals read "Youth" by...
TLS Books
Space Shuttle
What do your pupils know about the space shuttle? They can find out more by reading this information sheet that chronicles the history and function of the space shuttle. The resource includes a brief timeline in addition to the...
Curated OER
Bread in a Bag
This lesson focuses on making bread, but also spends some time on the origins of wheat. In order to make the bread, each class member receives a kit full of the materials they will need. Included here is a detailed list of instructions...
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Ag In The Outfield
Young scholars explore baseball. This is a cross-curricular plan that includes math, history, and agriculture. Pupils use their five senses to observe the materials a baseball is made from and identify the agricultural products used. In...
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Piece by Piece
What do your pupils know about quilting? Read and discuss the information included here before sending class members off to create their own quilt blocks using construction paper. When they have completed their blocks, provide some time...