Curated OER
Critical Thinking With Fables New and Old
Explore the fables of today along with Aesop's ancient fables. Learners will understand the structure of a fable, critically think about the fable's message, and create a instructional activity that they would like to teach through a...
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Self-Monitoring Strategies and Vocabulary Games
Middle and high schoolers identify how to discover a word's meaning by exploring context clues and any pictures, diagrams, photographs, and charts that might be included. They continue this process with other examples and locate one on...
Newspaper Association of America
A Good Read
Teach your readers strategies for breaking down informational texts. Pupils develop and implement the tools they'll need to decode texts for the rest of their lives with an informational resource that focuses on the structure and...
Curated OER
Using a Title to Determine Main Idea (Nonfiction)
Young readers explore a nonfiction text for its main idea. They will listen to the book Animal Sight by Kirsten Hall, and then observe as the teacher models a main idea think-aloud. Later, for independent practice, they listen to the...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension
After listening to a story learners engage in a kinesthetic activity to answer comprehension and critical thinking questions. Finally, the students identify three main facts about the story. Extensions include a fact and opinion...
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The Important Thing About Reading
Third through fifth graders discover the importance of reading and plan a service project to provide books to children. First, they read the book The Important Book and then they brainstorm about the importance of reading. Afterward,...
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Combining with Participial Phrases
Combine participial phrases and creative writing with this lesson, which is equally helpful for writing skills and conventions. After a mini-lesson on participial phrases and reading the picture book Dancing in the Wings, pupils use a...
Curated OER
The Tell-Tale Hearts of Writers
Knock, knock, knock...Creep out your class with a critical thinking lesson focused on word relationships in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." They investigate the relationship between word choice, mood, and interpretation of...
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Mouse Mess
Scholars practice rhyming and phonemic awareness using trade books and poetry. They will listen to the book Mouse Mess several times throughout the week, identifying rhyming words, and matching words that begin with the same sound. Then...
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Hattie and the Fox
Who is Hattie? Youngsters explore animal characteristics by reading poems and stories in class. They read the book Hattie and the Fox about a fictitious fox and his drama with the other farm animals. Then they reread the story over...
Curated OER
Math in Literature and Life
Pupils read poems, read phrases, and create a poster for what math is and relate it back to literature. They also discuss the impact math has had on literature.
Curated OER
Newcomers
Explore emotions associated with moving to a new home with young learners. First they listen to the books Painted Words/Spoken Memories by Aliki and Going Home by Eve Bunting. Then they are invited to share their experiences as well as...
Curated OER
The Little Red Schoolhouse
Students read about the history of the one room school house and complete language arts activities to go with it. Students answer comprehension questions, role play, group discuss, and more.
Curated OER
Reading and Writing Poetry: Seeing Many Facets of Fresh Water
Students create an original poem about water. In this Robert Frost and water lesson, students read examples of Robert Frost's poetry, write an interpretation, and look for imagery that appeals to the senses. Students use a...
Curated OER
Spring-Aloud Read
Students study the season of spring and create stories about the season. In this spring season instructional activity, students read books about spring and discuss the season. Students then color and create a mini-book about Spring.
Curated OER
Robotics Reading Hour - Robot Dog
High schoolers create a robotic dog for story time. In this story lesson, high school students bring a robotic dog to an elementary school. They read the story Robot Dog by Mark Oliver and then show their robotic dog.
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Grandma Thinks It's Cake Baking Weather
Second graders listen to a read aloud of Patricia Polacco's book "Thunder Cake" to explain how daily life has changed over the past 150 years.
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On the Seashore
Students read the book On the Seashore and complete activities such as reading a book, color and cut out animal cards, model rock making, shell graphing, shell patterns, and more. In this seashell lesson plan, students use the sea...
Curated OER
Bad Case of Stripes Lesson Plan
Students think about why we worry about what others think, bullying, and learning to respect and accept differences in others.In this Bad Case of Stripes lesson plan, students examine cause-and-effect relationships in a story as they...
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Child Literacy
Students read information on the importance of literacy and complete a worksheet. In this community service lesson, students evaluate children's literature and practice reading fluency. Students spend two hours per week reading to...
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The Interactive Read-Aloud
Students listen to a variety of books about immigration themes. They discuss immigration and some of the ideas presented in the books. They complete a variety of immigration-themed art projects.
Curated OER
Chrysanthemum
Our uniqueness should be celebrated, not teased. The story Chrysanthemum addresses having a distinct name and dealing with different perceptions. Pre- and post-reading questions are listed to help your learners understand...
Curated OER
Interrupting and Disagreeing Politely
Explore communication by completing argument related worksheets. Learners discuss appropriate ways to communicate with someone they are having a disagreement with and what techniques are not polite. Students read example arguments and...
Curated OER
Lesson: Ginger Brooks Takahashi: Powerstich: A Forum for Community-Building
This is a great way to build community in your school, experience process-based art, and explore the critical-thinking process. While quilting as a class collectively (just like a quilting bee) pupils listen to poetry and prose of a...