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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Building Background Knowledge: Jigsaw to Build and Share Expertise about the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, Part 2

For Teachers 5th Standards
Calling all experts! Using the educational resource, pupils work together in small expert groups, reading an article about the 2010 Haiti earthquake. As they read, they record two main ideas and supporting details from the text.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Organizing Evidence from Multiple Informational Texts to Prepare for Writing: What Makes an Earthquake a Natural Disaster?

For Teachers 5th Standards
Fifth graders prepare for their end of the unit essay assessment by continuing to look at what makes an earthquake a natural disaster. They complete a graphic organizer and write a topic sentence. To finish, they view a model essay and...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

The Painted Essay for Opinion Writing: Writing Proof Paragraphs

For Teachers 5th Standards
It's time to proof read! Pupils read and analyze proof paragraphs from a model essay. They then practice writing their own proof paragraphs to express an opinion about offshore oil drilling. 
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit Assessment: “The Inuit Today”

For Teachers 5th Standards
Then and now. Scholars complete an end of unit assessment covering The Inuit Thought of It by comparing past and modern day life for the Inuit. They complete a main idea graphic organizer, analyze key terms, and write a summary paragraph.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Using Structural Elements to Determine Main Ideas and Supporting Details: “Shelter”

For Teachers 5th Standards
Does the picture tell the story? Learners continue their work in The Inuit Thought of It by creating a visual gist of pages 16 and 17. They then complete a main idea graphic organizer and discuss key supporting details.
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Unit Plan
Crabtree Publishing

The Genius of the Ancients

For Teachers 5th Standards
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. Fifth graders prove this with help from three lessons that examine how ancient cultures used their needs to drive innovations. In lesson one, pupils identify main ideas and supporting...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Drafting an Analytical Mini-Essay: Using Partner Talk and Graphic Organizers to Guide Thinking

For Teachers 6th Standards
Moving on up ... Scholars take a look at how the author of the model essay Elements of Mythology and Theme of Cronus moved up in the writing process from a graphic organizer to an essay. After walking through the writing process of the...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Building Background Knowledge: The Myth of Cronus

For Teachers 6th Standards
Scholars look at and describe a picture of Cronus and Rhea and discuss the process of making predictions. Learners then use the images to write a prediction about the myth of the gods on an index card before completing guided reading...
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Activity
National Endowment for the Humanities

A Defense of the Electoral College

For Students 9th - 12th
Each presidential election year, the debate about the electoral college rages. Michael C. Maibach's "A Defense of the Electoral College" offers young political scientists an opportunity to examine a reasoned argument for why the...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing the Central Claim in The Big Thirst

For Teachers 7th Standards
Quench the class's thirst for knowledge while building analytical skills. Scholars listen as the teacher reads excerpt from the book The Big Thirst. They then complete a close read and answer text-dependent questions from pages one...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit Assessment: Listening for Main Ideas and Supporting Details

For Teachers 7th Standards
Pay attention! Scholars view the video"Why College Students Should Start Paying Attention to Water" multiple times to complete a note catcher. After discussing their thoughts with the class, learners watch "The Water Crisis Isn’t...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Main Ideas and Details: Why Care about Water?

For Teachers 7th Standards
Pay attention to details! After completing text-dependent questions about paragraphs 10-12 of "Water is Life," scholars view the video "Why Care about Water. "They view the video three times and use a Main Idea and Details note-catcher...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Main Ideas and Supporting Details: “Growing Up Digital”

For Teachers 7th Standards
Young scholars continue their exploration of adolescent brain development by reading an informational text, "Growing Up Digital," by Matt Richtel. Then, with partners, they complete note-catcher worksheets to capture the article's main...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading: Excerpt 5 of “The Digital Revolution and the Adolescent Brain Evolution”

For Teachers 7th Standards
Class members consider how technology affects social interactions as they continue reading an article about the digital revolution and adolescent brain development. Then, working in pairs, scholars answer text-dependent questions and...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit Assessment: Development of the Young Brain

For Teachers 7th Standards
Scholars view a video clip about adolescent brain development and work with partners to identify the main idea and supporting details. Next, as part of the mid-unit assessment, pupils watch another clip from the video and complete a main...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing the Main Idea in Video: Understanding the Limbic System

For Teachers 7th Standards
It's time to put on those thinking caps and analyze the brain! Pupils watch a video about teenage brain development, using a note-catcher to capture their thoughts about the main idea. Finally, they select two pieces of information from...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Comparing Text to Multimedia: Understanding How the Brain Changes

For Teachers 7th Standards
Learners explore how the human brain changes over time, comparing an interactive web page about brain development to a text-only version. Additionally, pupils continue reading an article about teen decision making, analyzing the main...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Identifying Main Ideas and Supporting Details: What’s Going On in the Teenage Brain?

For Teachers 7th Standards
What's going on in the teen brain? Pupils consider the question as they continue reading an informational article about the topic. While reading, they use a Thinking Log worksheet and an anchor chart to track their understanding of...
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Workbook
Education Bureau of Hong Kong

Fundamentals

For Students 9th - 12th
"Fundamentals," the first lesson in a series of eight, introduces the basic concepts and strategies covered in a series of resources designed to teach high schoolers critical thinking skills. The worksheets and activities in this first...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part 1: Drafting the Essay

For Teachers 7th Standards
Young writers use the class time to complete a draft argumentative essay.  In answer to the Pygmalion end-of-unit prompt they discuss the change seen in Eliza's inner identity. 
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Reading for Gist and Answering Text-Dependent Questions: Industrial Food Chain

For Teachers 8th Standards
Where do humans fall on the food chain? Scholars read about the Industrial Food Chain in The Omnivore’s Dilemma sections. They use word catchers to record unfamiliar words as they read and place sticky notes in the margins to annotate...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part 1: Best First Draft of an Informational Essay

For Teachers 8th Standards
Writers work to create drafts of their end-of-unit assessments relating to A Mighty Long Way and Little Rock Girl 1957. Using computers to create the first versions of their essays, writers emphasize ideas and evidence before focusing...
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Assessment
California Education Partners

My Librarian is a Camel

For Students 4th Standards
A two-part assessment challenges scholars to gather information from reading then write an opinion piece. In part one, learners read, take notes, and answer text-related questions. In part two, participants use their new-found knowledge...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Close Reading of Pages 4 - 7 and 12 - 15 of Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle: Bullfrog Circle

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Scholars take part in a close reading of pages four through seven and 12-15 of the book, Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle: Bullfrog Circle by Deborah Dennard. Readers identify the story's main idea, list its key details, and examine...