Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Unlocking the Author in You
This lesson is designed to help students develop a love for writing. Students use the attached presentation to guide them in the writing process. They will navigate a variety of websites to help them learn about writing.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Expository Essay: State Trip
After researching a place/event of interest in Alabama, young scholars write a five-paragraph essay. Students include maps and written directions to the location, describe activities and/or events associated with this location, include...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: What Does the Reader Want to Know? Creating Research Questions
In this instructional activity, students will change a research topic into questions that they will specifically answer while doing their research.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Main Idea and Details Cloud
Students practice distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant ideas by identifying relevant details in a video segment about a wild horse roundup. Students watch the video, read the transcript, and identify details they believe are...
Other
Power Up What Works: Conducting Research
This resource describes the first phase of a Grade 6 teacher's lesson plan where young scholars develop a plan for working on a research project and then collect information. Each student has chosen a topic relating to how the economic...
South Carolina Educational Television
Know It All: Summarizing Texts
Fifth graders will review what a summary is and complete a worksheet for practice. They will then write their own informational text and a peer will summarize.
South Carolina Educational Television
Know It All: Sequencing Using Comics
Fifth graders will use comics in order to discover the importance of sequence while writing narratives.
South Carolina Educational Television
Know It All: Non Fiction Text Features
Fifth graders will use non-fiction books to identify and explain how text features help them as individual readers.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Story Add Ons
This is a technology-rich lesson plan which allows students to explore proper language conventions while utilizing portable keyboards for word processing.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Write Your Own Flight Story
Online writing prompt for young journalists to-be. Excellent for diagnostic or even more advanced teaching of journalism.
abcteach
Abcteach: Student Writing Checklist
Excellent printable writing checklist that helps students proofread their pieces and pay attention to elements of strong writing.
Other
Fact and Opinion Quiz
A short interactive quiz on the ability to separate fact from opinion. Complete with answers and scores.
Other
Rubric: Six Trait Assessment for Beginning Writers
Teachers will find this rubric useful in the classroom as a means of assessing student writing skills. It has a printer friendly version.
Family Education
Family Education: Improving Your Child's Thinking Skills
By asking the right kinds of questions, you can help improve a students thinking skills. This site lists several ideas and types of questions that can help develop a child's critical thinking skills.
English Zone
English Zone: Simple Present Tense: Fact, Habit, Opinion, or Schedule
This 10question, self-scoring quiz for fact or opinion, but it takes it further to include habit and schedule. Students read the statement and the possible choices and select the correct one. The options are explained with examples at...
Quia
Quia: Metaphor Quiz
Read five short paragraphs and choose the main idea of each. Check the answers when finished to see how many were right.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Journey North: Reading Strategies: Distinguish Facts From Opinions
Learn how to distinguish facts from opinions by using a list of guiding questions.
Other
Mesa Public Schools: Fact or Opinion
Discover the difference between a fact or opinion. Look for signal or keywords for help.
University of California
Cal Heritage Collection: Using Primary Sources
This resource covers what primary sources are, where we can find them, and how we can assess them in the classroom.
McREL International
Mid Continent Research for Education and Learning: Deconstructing Media Messages
This brief lesson plan focuses on the roles that many different people play in the creation of media messages and advertising.
EL Education
El Education: Testing the Waters
Students tested water at several sites in a local creek and write a scientific paper showing their testing and results. Scientific papers include an abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion including recommendations...
Wisc-Online
Wisc Online: Identifying the Main Idea
This resource defines main ideas and is an interactive way to assess a student's ability to correctly find main ideas from paragraphs.
TES Global
Blendspace: Reading Strategies for Complex Texts
A nine-part learning module on reading strategies including links to videos, images, websites, and activities.
TES Global
Blendspace: Informational Text
A twelve-part learning module with links to images, texts, slides, and charts that teach skills to build reading comprehension with informational texts.