Curated OER
Heeding Advice
Compare and contrast various foreign perspectives on the George W. Bush administration's plans for military action. Middle schoolers read the article "Blair and Chirac Head to U.S. to Talks and a Show of Unity." Then, they analyze...
Curated OER
"I" Witness to History
Young journalists write diary entries from the point of view of a person involved in a historical event. They focus on including facts, clear narration, and accurate description of the individual's feelings.
Curated OER
Good for Goodness Sake?
After discussing their opinions of performing community service, young learners read an article about different benefits of serving the community. They participate in a debate about whether their school should require pupils to perform...
Curated OER
Expository Writing (Informational Brochure)
Design an informational brochure to urge people to move to a specific community. The purpose of this activity is to expose pupils to expository writing. After creating the brochure, they write a three-paragraph persuasive or...
Curated OER
English and Spanish Clothing
Here's a quick way to assess your young Spanish learners without them having to write. Instead, they simply match both the English and Spanish word with the picture that illustrates them. Have them color in the clothing items for some...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phoneme Split and Say
Little ones are provided with all the tools needed to begin segmenting phonemes. There are twenty Elkonin box picture cards, five blank Elkonin box cards, and full instructions on how to help pre-readers practice splitting and saying...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Syllable Hopscotch
Let your little learners move while they practice breaking words into syllables or chunks. Place a hopscotch "board" on the floor (this can be done with tape). Your class takes turns choosing picture cards, and then they say the name of...
Curated OER
Veterans' Voyages
Introduce your middle and high schoolers to a different perspective on war: that of soldier's. Read Guisseppi Ungaretti's poem "Vigil" to kick-start this lesson. After discussing his perspective, read "The Screaming Eagles Fly to the...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Sound Spin
Here is a phoneme segmenting game which incorporates drawing for your more artistic learners. Assemble the spinner using a brad and lay out the picture cards face up. Partners take turns spinning to get either two, three, four, or five....
Curated OER
Cause and Effect Relationships - Silence of the Bees
Why are bees disappearing? Explore cause and effect relationships with this interesting question. As the detailed lesson plan indicates, start by brainstorming some of the possible effects the disappearance of bees would have on the...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Sound Changes
Looking for an auditory approach to phoneme manipulation? You'll find everything you need here for an independent practice activity to get youngsters changing initial, medial, and final phonemes to create new words. They begin with a...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phoneme Challenge
This phonemic awareness game is very similar to the classic card game war; partners divide picture cards, each taking half (included). They place one card face-up at a time and segment the phonemes aloud. Whoever has the most phonemes...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Final Phoneme Spin
Segmenting words into different phonemes helps kids on the road to reading and writing. Have some fun with this spinner game which includes all the print-outs you will need. Simply assemble the spinner using a brad and lay out the...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Treasure Chest
Segmenting and blending phonemes helps budding readers understand words. Use this strategy in an engaging game where partners test each other's auditory processing using familiar words. Using picture cards and a chart (included),...
Curated OER
Working on the Slant
Compare and contrast a major news story from various newspapers. How does the perspective change? Are certain things included in some of the stories and left out of others? Have pupils complete a graphic organizer to compare how...
Curated OER
Short and Sweet Science
Readers learn how to summarize scientific text and evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges in writing summaries. They select science-related articles you've pulled and collected from the New York Times and, with a partner,...
Curated OER
What's the Author's Purpose?
What is the author's purpose for sharing an autobiography? Start this lesson with the short story provided about getting pulled over by a police officer. Then, discuss the acronym PIES and how it stands for the four main reasons an...
Curated OER
Jonas Salk: He Led the Battle Against Polio
Do you know who Jonas Salk is? Print these pages and have your middle and high schoolers read his biography in Time magazine. The reading itself is short, and it is followed with a key date chart, three reading questions, two connection...
Curated OER
Research for State Brochures
Ask your young researchers to create a state brochure by working together to research Alaska and then use facts they have learned from the novel Woodsong to create a travel brochure about Alaska. Pupils must include a bibliography and...
Curated OER
Triangular Trade
This lesson plan has it all, primary source documents, an interactive trade game, clear teacher background information, and sailing to the West Indies chance cards. You will play, trade, and live out the experiences of early colonists in...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Letter Recognition: Poetry Pen
It's always nice to have a great idea and all the tools to make it happen. The class can use these nursery rhyme and alphabet cards to teach each other letter recognition and letter sound correspondence. There is a full set of alphabet...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Letter-Sound Dominoes
What do dominoes and phonemes have in common? Quite a bit in this engaging phonics game! Each domino has a letter on one side and an image on the other. Everything you need is here; partners place the starting domino on the table then...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Rhyming A-LOT-OH!
Rhymes are a great way to help your scholars with phonemic awareness and word relationships. Kids work with partners to match cards from a stack to their rhyming counterparts on a game board. There are six different boards, so this will...
Curated OER
The Workshop
Kids take a critical look at each other's work in order to understand the editing process while providing constructive suggestions. This handout really sets learners up to successfully offer constructive critique to their peers. Helpful...