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Sarah, Plain and Tall - Intro to Literature Circle jobs
Students read a book with each student having a specific job for the class. In this literature instructional activity, students read Sarah, Plain and Tall over 10 days, dividing up responsibilities for each student to make sure everyone...
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The Eyes, Nose, and Taste Write It
Third graders generate a list of adjectives about a Reese's Cup using their sense of sight, touch, and taste. Then they write a descriptive paragraph about the Reese's Cup.
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Writing by Committee
Students write short stories of three paragraphs. They focus on the story elements of introduction, body, and conclusion. They exchange papers so that three different students author the stories.
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Monster Voices
Students create stories based upon the techniques of author Maurice Sendak in Where the Wild Things Are. They use a word processing program and the Apple software program GarageBand to create new voices for the story. This...
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Describing Our Senator
Third graders find the narrator or speaker in a story. In this story elements lesson, 3rd graders listen to the story My Senator and Me and answer comprehension questions. They complete a descriptive writing piece from different points...
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The Bracelet: Five Senses
Students investigate the 5 senses by reading children's literature. For this descriptive writing lesson, students read the story The Bracelet by Yoshiko Uchida, analyzing the story and characters as they go. Students identify the use of...
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Found a Peanut
Learners describe a peanut. in this peanut lesson, students get a peanut and they observe it using all five senses to write a very detailed description. They combine their peanuts with that of their group and the group needs to find the...
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Plagarism and Crediting Sources
Before the lesson begins, the teacher writes a paragraph about a favorite toy from his/her childhood. The paragraph is read to the class, and each of the sentences are closely looked at for details and support of the topic sentence....
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Using the Internet to Challenge Young Writers
Designed as a professional development exercise to introduce teachers to the Internet, the activities in this resource ask novice web surfers to access a series of sites, bookmark them, and answer question about information found on the...
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Comparing-Contrasting With Cookies
Students compare and contrast cookies. In this compare and contrast lesson, students complete a graphic organizer and identify the similarities and differences in Girl Scout Cookies. Students write an analysis.
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A Garden of Verses: Poems About Class Gardens
Students explore botany by participating in a language arts activity. In this garden poetry lesson, students read the classic poem "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" and discuss the imagery and rhyming methods used. Students examine their own...
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How To Grow Red Seaweed
Students explore ocean biology by participating in a plant growing activity. In this seaweed lesson, students identify the importance and uses of seaweed in the ocean and examine different seaweed samples. Students utilize an aquarium,...
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Shoe Shuffle
Students review the "word choice" writing trait, and recall how to use descriptive words to paint a picture. They write a description of one of their tennis shoes without sharing it with classmates. They place a shoe on display while the...
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Le School Sac
Students critique their own school bag by sketching and writing a detailed description of it. In this creative design lesson, students then design a more efficient carrier for their school supplies on paper. Students explain to their...
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What else is home to you?
Third graders study homes. In this lesson on homes, 3rd graders write a two paragraph essay on another place they feel could be home.
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The First Americans
Third graders explore American history by researching Native Americans. In this American settlers lesson, 3rd graders research the Native American Woodland Indians and define the actions they took when faced with the European settlers....
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Creating a Story that "Stacks" on Itself and Repeats a Catch Phrase
Students explore language arts by reading a classic children's story in class. For this story structure lesson, students read the Judith Viorst book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Students discuss the...
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Venerable Inventors
Students discuss important historic inventors and read their biographical information. In this world history lesson, students describe Alexander Bell, Thomas Edison, and Guglielmo Marconi using vocabulary terms used in their text....
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Habitat Hunt
Third graders read several nonfiction texts and practice finding the main idea for the text as well as learn about various habitats. In this main idea lesson, 3rd graders read several nonfiction texts and make habitat cards. Students...
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Down the Knoll Without the Water
Students use a thesaurus to find synonyms for selected words in fairy tales.
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Colonial Maps
Students discover the history of America by identifying the traditional colonies. In this U.S. history lesson, students examine a world map and identify where the voyagers left from Europe to arrive at the United States. Students...
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Thinking Syntactically: Using non-print text to faciliate generation of syntax and analysis of tone
Students write with a command of the stylistic aspects of composition. They respond to non-print text. Students demonstrate working knowledge of syntactical choices. They construct sentences using descriptive language. Students analyze...
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Saving the Titanic
Students research the Titanic using fiction, nonfiction, images, and Internet based resources. They determine if it is appropriate to raise and save the Titanic and its artifacts before planning and writing an opinion piece which defends...