Student Achievement Partners
"The Glorious Whitewasher" from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain with Mini-Assessment
It's the classic scene: Tom Sawyer is whitewashing a fence. Expose your learners to Mark Twain's humor while reinforcing reading comprehension. Eighth graders are encouraged to read and reread, achieving as much exposure to the text...
Curated OER
AN INTERNATIONAL MENU
Studentsl expand vocabulary through word study, literature and class discussion (e.g. word origins, roots and affixes, meaning in context, levels of usage, etc.). They recognize food-related words that have entered the English language...
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The Poetry Archive
Students investigate the power of title and poetry in a Langston Hughes' poem. In this poetry analysis lesson, students discuss the poem 'I, Too' for its title and content. Students use the variation in English Words and Phrases website...
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Writing an Original Fable
Students discover how to write fables. In this writing skill lesson, students review the literary elements of fables and take all of the steps in the writing process to create their own fables.
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Create an Illuminated Alphabet Word Book
Young scholars create a class alphabet book. In this letter recognition lesson, students use line and color to draw an object whose name begins with a specific letter. Young scholars use adjectives to create a sentence describing the...
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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Students design and create photo albums that tell the story of the play, Twelfth Night, using pictures they take of themselves recreating various scenes of the play.
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Antonym Snowmen
Pupils demonstrate their understanding of antonyms. They create snowmen and write antonyms on them. Then present their snowmen and antonyms to the class. This is a seasonal theme instructional activity.
EngageNY
Deepening Your Research
Give credit where credit is deserved. Scholars discuss what makes a credible source as they take a look at "An Apparel Factory Defies Sweatshop Label, but Can It Thrive?" Learners read the article to look for answers to the research...
Curated OER
Go Nuts with Peanuts
Students learn about peanuts through online research. In this peanut lesson, students use provided links to research information on the origins of the peanut. Students collect information about peanuts also called goobers.
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Tales of Edgar Allen Poe
Analyze the writing of Edgar Allen Poe by reading and then writing in a similar style. Budding authors learn about the life of Poe and read one or more of his famous works online. Partner groups create an original piece of writing using...
Curated OER
Yo! Conventions!
Learners get in groups, take a list of words, put them into story form, and punctuate them. They present their story to the class and consider how punctuation changes meaning. Great excercise.
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The Recycle Alphabet
First graders recognize words associated with recycling. In this environmental lesson, 1st graders go through the alphabet and think of words associated with recycling that start with a letter. Students create a recycling ABC book.
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Analyzing Verb Use: Part 2
With the Wordle ap in one hand, and their favorite writing piece in the other, 3rd graders analyze their verb usage. They select a piece they have written, type it into Wordle, then analyze their word choices and alter them using synonyms.
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Vowel Sounds
This plan aims to increase the reading proficiency of your fourth grade class. While no materials are provided, a list of activities to practice are included. Various activities include creating songs for short vowel sounds, using cue...
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Vocabulary Strategy: Call of the Wild
Here is a strategy for groups to contribute to whole class vocabulary development. Teams (based on seating rows) work together to look up dictionary definitions of words from upcoming sections of the book (though previous sections seem...
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Gary Paulsen's Canyons: Vocabulary Activity
The final chapters of Canyons (chapters 17-24) present readers with more challenging vocabulary. Two activities provide readers with an opportunity to figure out what they know, and then to use what they know to complete a word search...
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BECOME A LOGOPHILE
It's time to write! First, lead your emerging writers in a power writing activity. It takes six minutes and focuses on creative brainstorming. The class is given two words (duck and apple are suggested, but alter the words for different...
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Creating a Memorial Day Poster Poem
Does your class know about the meaning of Memorial Day? Discuss the history of the holiday in this lesson, which prompts elementary and middle schoolers to create word webs of ideas about the holiday. Additionally, they create poems...
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Heroic Vocabulary: Using Decoding Strategies and Thesaurus
Develop the decoding skills of your middle and high schoolers. Scholars participate in a classroom activity that requires them to decode a word with a prefix and suffix. They apply the skill of breaking the word into parts of meaning as...
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Techno Author
Here is a great way to explore language arts by completing a computer activity with classmates. Youngsters read a fairy tale in class and analyze where the beginning, middle and end are. They create their own story using clip art and...
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Personification Lesson Plans and Resources
This resource on personification provides three different approaches aimed at different levels. The first, appropriate for upper elementary, provides examples of personification, followed by an exercise that requires replacing a word in...
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The Sand Horse
Fourth graders are introduced to the book THE SAND HORSE and discuss the title and cover illustration. They listen to the story listening for words and phrases to describe the setting. They then brainstorm key words to illustrate the...
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Community Ripple
Originally designed to be used along with a text that is not included, this plan contains a graphic organizer and word guessing game to help readers use decoding strategies to gain new vocabulary. A set of questions relating to community...
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Animation Pre-Production
Does your class love reading cartoons? Use their talents and interests to examine the process of writing a story they wish to tell through a cartoon. They develop the beginning, middle, and end of a story based on their original...