Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, University of Texas at Austin
Lesson 13 - Multisyllabic Word Reading
One- and two-syllable words may flow from the tongue with ease, but longer words, such as department and volcano, feel like tongue twisters. Scaffolded instruction explains how to break words into their individual syllables, and then...
EngageNY
Presenting a Research-Based Claim: Visual Aid and Peer Critique
Back to the drawing board. Scholars work on the visual to complement their claim presentations using the Criteria for the Cascading Consequences Chart Visual as a guide. They then practice their presentations with partners.
Curated OER
Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: Mixing Words and Pictures
Create meaningful illustrations to accompany stories in a web-based art and literacy instructional activity focused on "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. The class takes a virtual art safari with the Museum of Modern Art and then...
Curated OER
Seeing Words in a New Way
What's the best resource to use when looking up words? Use Visual Thesaurus to see a word's meaning. The class accesses the interactive website and then compares and contrasts the difference between using a traditional dictionary and the...
Curated OER
Using Words as a Way into Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief
Use the Visual Thesaurus to predict the subject matter of Rick Riordan's book The Lightning Thief. A pre-reading activity encourages middle schoolers to use context clues and word meaning to discover what the book is about. After they...
Haut Gap Middle School
Root Words
Scholars demonstrate their knowledge of root words aqua and aud, and develop vocabulary skills by completing of a chart, handout, and worksheet using creative thinking skills, a dictionary, and a thesaurus.
EngageNY
Final Performance Task: Sharing Visual Representations of Position Papers
It's time to put down those pencils and celebrate! Scholars share the visual representations of their position papers with the class. They participate in a gallery walk to view each other's work, writing a piece of praise for their...
EngageNY
Final Performance Task: Sharing Visual Representations of Position Papers
Take note! Scholars use sticky notes to record information as they gallery walk to look at classmates' visual representations they created for their end of unit assessment. Learners then choose one word that represents the work they...
EngageNY
Final Performance Task: Sharing Visual Representations of Position Papers
Let's take a stroll! Scholars go on a gallery walk to view the visual representations for the performance task created by the class. They then view a variety of books about environment and sustainability and conduct book talks on the...
Curated OER
Word Square: Ender's Game
Ansible. Hegemony. Candor. Readers of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game create word squares for vocabulary words drawn from this award-winning science fiction novel.
Novelinks
The House on Mango Street: Vocabulary Word Squares
Chanclas, muerto, cuando. Spanish words are plentiful in The House on Mango Street and may be unfamiliar to many readers. A vocabulary words squares activity will help kids remember the meaning of these words and add to their...
Curated OER
If Paintings Could Talk: Art and Language
Middle schoolers learn about the artist Canaletto, play a vocabulary game, and create a landscape using collage technique. Background information on the artist is provided along with instructions for the game and vocabulary words to...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Building Through Visualization of Word Meanings to Create Digital Art
Use online dictionaries to define vocabulary words and create a visualization of word meanings through digital art. Middle schoolers go online to define assigned vocabulary words. They visualize the meanings of the words in photo...
Museum of Disability
Taking Visual Impairment to School
What is the world like when you can't see, or when your vision is impaired? Learn about how Lisa communicates with the world around her with Taking Visual Impairment to School by Rita Whitman Steingold. Learners answer discussion...
Sargent Art
Glass Jar Sand Art: Inspired by Navajo Sand Painting
Sand has been used as an artistic medium for centuries and can be found in cultures across the globe. The class examines sand art created by the Navajo people. They mix tempera paint and sand to create their colors, and then fill jars,...
Curated OER
Whose Afraid of Contemporary Art?
Have your class create original modern art sculptures. Learners analyze and discuss "The Profile," a sculpture by Martin Puryear. They work in teams to develop a proposal for a large outdoor sculpture in the community. Presentations...
EngageNY
Introducing the Performance Task Prompt and Beginning a Visual Representation
What exactly is a visual representation? Scholars use a think-pair-share to answer questions and record their information on anchor charts. Next, they use what they've learned to create visual representations of their position papers on...
Curated OER
Using the Sounds of Words Reading Task
Young readers demonstrate phonemic awareness in words and blends, and recognize 100 high-frequency words. Use a nursery rhyme to point out rhyming words, and change the words by putting a new letter at the beginning. Each learner will...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Scavenger Word Hunt
Participate in a scavenger hunt to find objects beginning with a particular letter sound and take digital photos of them with your scholars. Using software, they find word pictures beginning with particular letters and locate picture...
Curated OER
Compound Words
First graders discuss what compound words are and what they look like as a whole group. In this compound words lesson, learnerseach have a single word card and pair up with another student to create a compound word. A valuable,...
Curated OER
Base Words and Prefixes
Once your second graders grasp base words and prefixes, challenge them with this visual word meaning activity. They watch you model it before engaging in guided practice. Use these word cards focused on the prefix re to help your...
TED-Ed
A Brief History of Religion in Art
Did you know that some languages have no word for art? The English language does and the narrator of this short video discusses the aesthetic dimension of religious art as it "visually communicates meaning beyond language."
ReadWriteThink
A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words: From Image to Detailed Narrative
A picture's worth a thousand words—and even more inspiration! A visual activity uses photographs to inspire writers. The process teaches aspects of narrative writing, such as point of view and characterization.
Curated OER
Visual and Meaning Cues
Learn how to apply visual and meaning cues to reading unknown words. Readers will explore what to do when they come to a word they do not know as they watch the teacher model the use of these cues and then participate in guided and...