Read Works
Figurative Language
Here's a richly detailed unit, designed for second graders, that focuses on decoding figurative language, including similes, metaphors, personification and idioms.
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Fossil Footsteps
Fourth graders create their own dinosaur tracks using clay. In addition, 4th graders compose a story about the dinosaur / animal who created the tracks. They study photographs of dinosaur tracks before beginning.
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What's Hatching in Kindergarten?
Students identify oviparous animals. They brainstorm a list of animals that lay eggs, read "Chickens Aren't The Only Ones" by Ruth Heller and then add to the list. Students complete a booklet that shows an egg and an oviparous animal.
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Farm Animal Stick Puppets
Students summarize a children's book relating to farm animals. They act out the events of the book with stick puppets they create. Students experience the concepts of dialogue and role play.
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Why Koala Has A Stumpy Tail
Students practice reading comprehension of an Australian folktale. In this Australian folktale lesson plan, students read the story, Why Koala Has a Stumpy Tail, before completing retells with character puppets, discussing friendship,...
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The First Fire : A Cherokee Animal Tale
Fourth graders discover movement through the telling of "The First Fire", a Cherokee tale. Small groups are given sections of the story to tell by creating dances. Music (live and recorded) adds to the final performance and assessment.
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The Magic Key
Students are able to recall details in a story such as characters, plot, and setting. They are able to create a verbal story about a toy of his/her choice. Students are able to work cooperatively with a partner to create a story.
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Put the Elephant First
Students recreate the order of animals they read about in a book. In this relative positions lesson, students color and cut out pictures of animals in the book. Sudents glue these onto construction paper and line up like the animals...
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"Habitat'
First graders explore and explain that different plants and animals live in different kinds of environments. They illustrate various plants and animals and how they survive in the places where they live. A nature journal for enrichment...
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Descriptive Verbs
Students read a piece of literature and locate the descriptive verbs in the piece. For this descriptive verbs lesson, students understand the value of using descriptive verbs. Students rewrite a story they've written with more...
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Mountains: A Drama Exploration
Young scholars dramatize the formation of mountains. In this earth formation dramatization lesson, students read Anne Issacs', Swamp Angel, and research the how the layers of the Earth move to form landforms. They work in groups to...
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Myth-try Cards Activity
Students read creation myths to learn various cultural explanations for natural phenomena. They select sharks and write myths to explain physical structures, behaviors or roles in ecosystems. They research the animals to provide...
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CREATE A NEW RHYME
Third graders develop basic narratives. They retell a focused story and create a basic publication using available resources (e.g., pictures, colors, computer, copier). They experiment with different forms of creative writing (e.g.,...
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Nature and You
Students recognize the story of creation in the Bible and begin to discuss endangered animals. In this creation lesson, students focus on a specific species that is endangered and complete a worksheet on how to save them. Students make...
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Turtle Lesson
Young scholars identify ways that they can help protect turtles. In this wildlife awareness lesson, students read the story Turtle World and construct a T-chart on the board. Young scholars create a list of problems facing turtles and...
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Stella the Swan
Students analyze the telling of a story with props. They study similarities and differences between ducks, geese and swans, how wildfowl are adapted to life in water, how wildfowl move and feed, and wildfowl family life, how they nest,...
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Migrate, Adapt, or Hibernate
In this migration and hibernation learning exercise, students read a 2 page informational excerpt about animals who adapt to changing seasons by migrating or hibernating. They then use the information they learned to answer the 15...
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Inch By Inch
Students explore the concept of measuring length using a one-inch pipe cleaner "inchworm." They listen to the story "Inch By Inch by Leo Lionni and discuss how the animals were measured by the inchworm in the book. In pairs students...
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We're Zoologists!
Students listen to story, "Never, Ever Shout in a Zoo," by Karma Wilson, practice finding information from Internet, write information about one chosen zoo animal, draw picture of their zoo animal, pair up and read their My Zoo Animal...
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Exploring Values Towards Conservation
Students read First Nation story, identify values expressed in it and discuss how those values relate to conservation issues faced today. Students then seek out stories relevant to climate change from their own Elders and respected...
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The Spider Beside Her
Second graders are introduced to the characteristics of spiders. In groups, they compare and contrast spiders to different insects to discover spiders are not an insect at all. In groups, they create a model of a spider and discuss its...
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Sense of Sight
Students examine the sense of sight. In this human biology activity, students read the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and discuss all of the animals seen in the story. Students use binoculars and take several digital...
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First Grade, First Grade, What Do You See? (Elementary, Reading/Writing)
First graders assist in making a list of the many things that Brown Bear saw in the story. They create an illustration of the person, place, or thing that they wrote about in their pattern sentence.
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The Legend of Jack-O'-Lantern
Learners examine various Halloween traditions and the legend of the Jack O'Lantern. They listen to the story "Pumpkin Pumpkin," examine a map and locate the origins of pumpkins, weigh and measure a pumpkin and graph the results, and...