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Paraphrasing and Summarizing
Read an article about the migration of our ancestors and write a paragraph. Pupils paraphrase and summarize to restate the information found in a nonfiction text. They write a shortened version of the reading to demonstrate the...
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Home Reading Log
Ask your learners to keep track of their independent reading progress on a weekly reading log. There is space to write the title of the book, the pages read, a brief summary of what was read each time, and the minutes read. Each of the...
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Can a Mouse Lift an Elephant?
Read Just a Little Bit, by Ann Tompert as an introduction to levers. Discuss playground seesaws and then turn learners loose to experiment with the placement of a fulcrum. Their goal is to determine where to place it in order to lift ten...
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In a Nutshell
Students summarize a non-fiction article in this lesson. They review a six step process for summarization. They then read the assigned article, and work as a class to write a summary using the five steps provided. They then write an...
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Let's Get Ready to Summarize
Students practice a summarizing strategy in this lesson. They are given a copy of a "National Geographic Kids" article and are encouraged to read it silently. They then use the steps provided to write an individual summary of the article.
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Summing Up SuperCroc
Students read an article in a magazine about crocodiles silently, remembering not to make a sound, and trying hard to understand what the author is trying to tell them. They then write down some important facts they have read on a piece...
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What Did I Just Read
Fourth graders write a summary for each chapter as they read a novel. They summarize the author's purpose and point of view after completing the novel. They also describe about how the author's point of view affected the novel.
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Pumpkin Patch Fun!
Students research a website to find out about pumpkins. For this pumpkins lesson plan, students research the site, make a review sheet for another group to complete, draw a pumpkin, and write a summary about their learnings.
Project SMART
Rocks and Minerals: Touch the Earth
Students complete a unit of lessons on rocks and minerals. They conduct research, write e-mail questions to geologists, write daily journal entries, label maps demonstrating types of rocks/minerals found, and create a web page that...
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Front Page News
Students collect and analyze the front pages of various newspapers and perform research on the Titantic tragedy. They choose a name for their newspaper, a headline, gather photographs, and write a front page article. Using computer...
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Whodunit?
Students bring in a variety of books to be approved for reading outside of class and then complete a book review on each one approved. They remember to include a description of the setting and characters, plot summary and a conclusion in...
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Meaty Words
Headlines from newspapers launch a discussion of image-rich, meaty words. Just as headline writers choose vivid vocabulary to attract readers, young writers develop headlines that capture the essence of a passage from a book they are...
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Super Summarizer!!!
Emerging readers summarize a nonfiction text using a five step process. After a brief demonstration of the five-step method for summarizing text, they read a nonfiction article and write their own summary. A checklist of each summary is...
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Vocabulary 2c - Life Science: From Parents to Young
This life science vocabulary list and definitions will be useful when teaching a parent and offspring unit. Some nice ideas are included in the plan about the word origins, word structure and definition testing methods. There is also a...
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Animal Diary
Young scholars create a diary of an animal. In this creative writing lesson, students read the book Diary of a Worm and conduct a brief research session on their animal. Young scholars fill in a template with facts and create an animal...
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Retelling Information
This scripted lesson suggests using the journalist’s five W’s (who, what, when, where, why) to teach readers how to summarize a story and to how to distinguish between significant and supporting details. A template and rubric are...
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Sense of Hearing
Create a graphic organizer to review parts and systems of the body, then present a new topic. Special education students grades 3-5 learn about the sense of hearing. They draw parts of the ear, sign a song, read Perk Up Your Ears, and...
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Literature Circle Preparation
The secret to a successful literature circle discussion is preparation. Readers prepare for such a discussion by completing a two-page worksheet that asks them to summarize the text, record new words, ask and answer questions, and...
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Autobiography Lesson Plans That Start The Year Off Right
Teaching autobiography or journal writing lessons the first week of school is a wonderful way to get to know your new students.
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Get Dramatic: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Students explain reducing, recycling and reusing. In this science/ arts lesson plan, students create a commercial and display a backdrop made out of recycled goods. Additionally, students write written responses to writing prompts.
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Current Events
Students research current events and simulate a newscast of a current news story. They watch the evening news and write a summary of a story of interest, conduct Internet research and complete a worksheet on a current event, and...
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Masks and Aesop's Fables
Students study and perform Aesop's fables. In this Aesop's fables lesson, students read and/or listen to a number of the famous fables. They make masks based on the characters and perform a fable using the masks. They write about the...
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Pioneer America: Journey West
Fourth graders experience pioneer life on the Oregon trail. In this pioneer instructional activity, 4th graders research the reasons for moving west and what life was like on the trail. They create a map, complete an oral presentation,...
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To Sum it all Up...
Students observe and demonstrate the process of summarizing text. They read and discuss the steps to summarize text, then in small groups read and summarize an article about frogs from "National Geographic" online. Independently they...