Curated OER
Vivid Mental Images
Students listen to a chapter of "The Tale of Despereaux" while creating vivid mental images. They discuss the images before listening to the next chapter and illustrating those images. Each day, they repeat the exercise and add to a...
Curated OER
The Real Tooth Fairy
First graders listen to the story "The Real Tooth Fairy and explore the concept of mental images. In this mental image lesson, 1st graders create a mental image of what the tooth fairy looks like. Students listen to the teacher model...
Curated OER
The Power of Mental Images: Visualizing Literature
Looking for a powerful reading comprehension method? Try visualization! Learners use this strategy to increase comprehension of a chapter book selected by the teacher. As an assessment, individuals or small groups draw pictures of the...
Curated OER
The Power of Mental Images: Visualizing Literature
With a chapter book in hand, readers practice visualizing the events and characters of the story. The instructional activity gives suggestions of novels that are rich in detail to help facilitate the process. Drawings from what they read...
Health Smart Virginia
How the Namuhs Learned to be Content with Who They Are
The Namuhs have a lot to teach humans how idealized images presented in advertising can impact self-perception and self-worth. After brainstorming 10 traits the media sets as the perfect body, class members read a short story about the...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Word Recognition and Mental Images
Students read short stories containing Dolch sight words and describe the scenes and answer comprehension questions. After relating the stories to their own experiences or observations, they draw pictures illustrating a scene from the...
Curated OER
Sketch It to Stretch It!
Third graders listen to a read aloud of a chapter of a book while creating a mental image that shows comprehension. They draw pictures of their mental images. Next, they read a passage of a book silently and sketch the images they create...
Novelinks
The Dark Is Rising: Guided Imagery
To launch a reading of The Dark is Rising, the second novel in Susan Cooper's award winning contemporary fantasy novel sequence for young adults, class members engage in a guided imagery exercise that asks them to visualize the...
Curated OER
Native Lands: Indians in Georgia
Students research what Native Americans looked like in order to dispel common stereotypes. In this Native American history lesson plan, students begin by drawing their mental picture of an Indian, then they research North American...
Curated OER
Maus: Making a Visual Representation
How do you represent a tragic event? Are stories of tragic events better left untold? After reading chapter two of Maus and studying other representations of the Holocaust (suggestions are included), class members create a representation...
Curated OER
A Plump and Perky Turkey
Help readers recognize elements in a story. They will use pictures and text to gain meaning from written material. Have learners listen to the story A Plump and Perky Turkey and participate in a discussion. They recognize the...
Curated OER
Pictures in Words: Poems of Tennyson and Noyes
Students examine how Tennyson and Noyes use words to paint vivid pictures. They read and analyze two poems, complete an online scavenger hunt, complete a worksheet, and write examples of alliteration, personification, metaphor, simile,...
Curated OER
The Adventures of Visualization
Fourth graders pretend they are going on a trip to Mars as they close their eyes and visualize the journey. They discuss what they saw on the journey to determine how one student may visualize something different than another. Next, they...
Curated OER
Pictures in Words: Poems of Tennyson and Noyes
Eleventh graders describe and analyze the effects of poetry on readers. They participate in an Internet scavenger hunt, an exercise involving interpretation of poetry through visual art, and an opportunity for students to create their...
Curated OER
Reproduction, Day 2: Pregnancy
Nearly all students have seen pregnant women and may have questions about human development. Intended for secondary students with mild to moderate mental disabilities, this instructional activity defines the process of pregnancy in...
Curated OER
Picture This
Students examine how to create mental images to help them comprehend what they read. They discuss what it means to visualize and they draw a mental picture of what they read. Students draw a picture of what they see in their minds while...
Curated OER
Storytelling and Culture
Learners examine the cultural tradition of storytelling. In this storytelling instructional activity, students explore stories from 3 different cultures and evaluate the roles that storytelling plays in each of the cultures to pass on...
Curated OER
Antonyms, synonyms and homophones
Shed light on what antonyms, synonyms, and homophones are. In this lesson, upper elementary schoolers create pairs using an antonym, a homophone, and/or a synonym. Then they play an antonym matching game.
Curated OER
Turn Reading into Watching a Movie!
Students practice visualization by imagining what their favorite person looks like, what they are wearing and doing. They share their imaginings with a partner. Next, listen to a poem while visualizing. Finally, they read along as the...
Curated OER
Bud, Not Buddy: Guided Imagery Exercise
Develop readers’ awareness of the visual power of language with a guided imagery exercise. Set the stage and create the mood with dim lights, soft music and potpourri. Then read the provided section of Bud, Not Buddy. Next, invite...
Curated OER
A Walk Around the School: Mapping Places Near and Far
After reading Pat Hutchins’ Rosie’s Walk, have your young cartographers create a map of Rosie’s walk. Then lead them on a walk around the school. When you return class members sequence the walk by making a list of how the class got from...
Curated OER
Pictures in Words: Poems of Tennyson and Noyes
Students analyze poems by Tennyson and Noyes. They identify examples of alliteration, onomatopoeia, personification, metaphor, and simile. Students create examples of alliteration, onomatopoeia, personification, metaphor, and simile.
Curated OER
Literature: Mapping the Mockingbird
Students read Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, focusing on setting. They list items that create mental images of the novel's setting along with location references to characters and events. Using posterboard, they construct physical...
Curated OER
Lively Read of the Tale of Despereaux
Learners create a character map of the main characters in The Tale of Despereaux. After reading the text, students create a character chart based on information they gleaned from the story. They use this information to write a letter...