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Text Structure: Organizational Patterns
Explore plot structure by analyzing text samples with writers. They define terms such as problem and solution, cause and effect, and story arc. They also identify the sequences used in modern stories by reading samples and determining...
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I Am a Book
Third graders discuss books that have been banned and the things that they have in common. They explore the concept of freedom of speech and write poems based on their discussion.
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Class Vacation Book
Students, utilizing technology and its avenues, create, produce and publish a variety of works. They generate a bubble map to brainstorm words that describe a specific vacation spot as well as create a pattern book with graphics about...
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Food Webs in the Barnegat Bay
Students investigate the food webs in the Barnegat Bay. In this organisms instructional activity, students use a graphic organizer to illustrate the types of consumers in the bay. Students use reference books to continue to research the...
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Where No Student Has Gone Before
Middle schoolers create a story about an unknown planet invaded by humans as a pre-reading activity for the novel, A Wrinkle In Time. They discuss good versus evil, and identify examples of the theme good vs. evil in books, film, and...
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Publishing an Alphabet Book
Learners research, write and publish an A,B,C book based on research of their own.
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I Went Walking Lesson Plan
Students study writing structure and patterns in repetitive texts. In this writing structure lesson, students read portions of a story and predict what will come next based on the repetitive text. Students create their own repetitive...
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Text Structures in Science Writing
Students recognize that science writing is organized in identifiable patterns called text structures. Understanding and using these different text structures help refine students' abilities to read and write in science.
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Phonics and Vegetable Books
Students participate in phonemic awareness and phonics activities and develop a list of vegetable vocabulary words. They break up words into beginnings and endings, and trace and write the letter s. Students then create a Vegetable...
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Voice Lessons
Students visualize examples of sentence structure by creating patterns with Lego blocks. They apply terms of voice and syntax by critiquing others' writings as well as revising their own writing pieces. Revision is the key within this...
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Publishing a Group Book
Young scholars examine various alphabet books. They write several sentences for their assigned letter of the alphabet, type them onto a word processing program, and create an illustration for a class alphabet book.
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"Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters"
Fifth graders read and analyze the books "Snow White in New York" and "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughter." They analyze the characteristics of the characters in each story, write thoughts of characters in speech bubbles, and write a letter to...
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Spinning My Tale
Begin writing personal narratives in this writing lesson. Junior high writers start by writing a journal about their favorite holiday. They read a book at their skill level and use graphic organizers to record their ideas for writing....
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Insects A-Z!
Alphabet insects! Who has ever heard of such a thing? Get ready because your class is going to research insects that start with a specific letter of the alphabet. In small groups, they'll use the Internet and reference texts to locate...
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Through the Eyes of the Big Bad Wolf
Imagine how the wolf would tell the tale of Little Red Riding Hood or The Three Little Pigs. Young writers re-imagine classic tales by adopting the point of view of another character in the story. After reading models like The True Story...
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Writing with Style: Six Traits of Good Writers
Fourth graders listen as the teacher reads a picture book that emphasized word choice. They discuss words and how word choice impacts a piece of writing. Students view various passages on the overhead, and highlight adjectives and verbs...
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Insects
Students, through books, videos, and readings, explore characteristics of insects. In groups, they choose an insect to research. Students discover their insect's diet, how they move, and where they live. Afterwards, they use the facts...
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Happiness is A Warm Puppy
Students investigate dog breeds and write a short story from a dog's perspective. In this dog research and writing lesson, students watch the film, "Dog: The Early Years. They apply critical thinking skills to determine which type of dog...
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Meet the Press
Students give their book reports as oral "Meet the Press" type interviews. They team up with another student "reporter" and answer questions about main idea, details, and the point of view.
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Help Me Learn About the Holocaust
Young readers select a book from a provided list to use as the basis for an intensive class study of Holocaust novels. After completing their novels, groups create a multimedia presentation highlighting the elements of literature...
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Cloud Poems
First graders make daily observations about clouds, write in their cloud books, make cloud charts, and make a poem about clouds.
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The Important Thing About Technology
Students assess the advantages of modern technology tools by creating a page in a class book utilizing pattern writing as well as the writing process. They organize and develop a composition on a selected topic after going through the...
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The Story of My Life
Students complete autobiographical writing assignments throughout the school year that they save and rewrite to put into a published book during the last month of class. They include photographs, drawings and mementos of their lives in...
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Desert Cinquains
Students use the cinquain structure and correct parts of speech to write a poem with a desert theme.