In this lesson, students research biomes and then utilize iPads to create postcards with the free app PhotoCard by Bill Atkinson. Combining their research notes with corresponding images, students write about their biome in postcards as they “visit” the biome.

This lesson provides a series of literacy activities based on the familiar words and characters of nursery rhymes that can be used regularly to help children grow as readers and writers. Activities include reciting nursery rhymes to gain oral fluency, then adding a written chart so students can follow along with the written words as they say the rhymes. Students can also play and explore at nursery rhyme Websites.

In this lesson, students practice describing a series of objects. They then take turns reaching into a bag to describe a hidden object, using only their sense of touch. After five clues are given, the other students try to guess what is in the bag, based on the descripive language used by their classmates. Finally, after the hidden object is guessed or revealed, students discuss additional ways to describe the object.

Do folktales, myths, and fables all have nonhuman characters? Do they all express a lesson or moral for readers to take away? Students use a semantic feature analysis to find out in this lesson. A semantic feature analysis, a comprehension strategy that helps students identify characteristics associated with related words or concepts, is used to compare folktales, myths, and fables. Students begin with an introduction to the strategy and a teacher-directed lesson in how to use the strategy to analyze a folktale. In subsequent sessions, students continue to practice the strategy in small groups by analyzing myths and fables. After students have read and analyzed the texts, they reflect on how semantic feature analyses helped improve their understanding of their reading.

A majority of students in grades 4 to 6 are beyond decoding instruction and need more assistance with comprehension to help them become successful, independent readers. Strategic reading allows students to monitor their own thinking and make connections between texts and their own experiences. Based on the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen, this lesson introduces students to the comprehension strategy of making connections. Students learn the three types of connections (text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world) using a double-entry journal. They also learn about the life of Cesar Chavez and his work to promote civil rights.

Based on the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen, this lesson introduces students to the comprehension strategy of monitoring.

In this recurring lesson, students use an anticipation guide to preview and make predictions about texts. The lesson begins with teacher-directed whole-group instruction in which students are introduced to the concept of previewing and guided in completing a prepared anticipation guide for Teammates by Peter Golenbock. Students are then given an opportunity to complete a portion of the anticipation guide independently. In the days that follow, students work in both teacher-guided and student-facilitated groups to extend their use of the previewing strategy with other texts. Finally, students discuss as a class how using anticipation guides helped them better understand the reading.

Students learn to use the QuIP (questions into paragraphs) comprehension strategy to organize information and then synthesize it in writing.

This lesson encourages students to pick a turning point in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and show how the action of the play would have been significantly altered had a different decision been made or a different action taken. Students will use a graphic organizer to analyze the plot of the play, create a plot outline of an altered play, and present their new stories to the class.

In this multi-day unit students conduct research, work with an interactive Venn diagram tool, and create a museum exhibit that highlights the work of selected artists, musicians, and poets. Critical thinking, creativity, and interdisciplinary connections are emphasized.

In this lesson, students take turns taking home a book bag that includes a stuffed toy, a book to read with their families, art supplies, a topic to discuss, and a journal to complete as a family. The students then return the bag the following day and share their entries with the class. After every student has taken the bag home, the journal is bound into a book for the classroom library. The goal is to invite parents to join their children in these literacy activities.

In this lesson, students develop an understanding of how texts establish character, explore the concept of the hero and the heroic in a variety of texts, and work collaboratively to negotiate interpretations of texts.

Students will explore the distinction between a hero and an idol. Based on collaboratively established criteria for heroism and characteristics of heroes, students will select, read about, and report on a hero. Students will identify how their hero matches their criteria and characteristics. Hero reports will be compiled into a class book. As a follow-up, the teacher will read aloud and lead a discussion of the poem Heroes We Never Name to emphasize the fact that there are heroes all around us. Students will write about a hero they know and describe this person's noble qualities and deeds.

The hero's journey is an ancient story pattern that can be found in texts from thousands of years ago or in newly released Hollywood blockbusters. This interactive tool will provide students with background on the hero's journey and give them a chance to explore several of the journey's key elements. Students can use the tool to record examples from a hero's journey they have read or viewed or to plan out a hero's journey of their own.

In this lesson, shared reading, guided reading, and small, cooperative-group instruction are used in a first-grade classroom to informally assess students' ability to demonstrate awareness of rhyme or other visual similarities in words. Students practice matching rhyming words using picture cards and apply phonological awareness—hearing rhyme—to analogy-based phonics (i.e., an ability to decode unknown words by identifying words with similar visual structure). Students use online resources to increase phonological awareness through rhyme.

In this lesson, students reflect on their use of language in-school versus out-of-school. They create entries for a pop culture dictionary and assemble them as a class.

The events described in Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” span about forty years of U.S. history. The lyrics include references to people, places and events from four decades of world occurrences. In this lesson, students research and categorize items from the song as well as illustrate their historical relevance. Students use an online chart to display their research. In addition, students make personal connections by working on a self- or teacher-selected lyrical project.

This resource provides a lesson designed to assist learners with acquiring skills needed to differentiate between real and fictious, possibly malicious, websites. Students will evaluate hoax sites prior to outlining and designing one of their own. It is expected that this lesson will help students to better recognize trustworthy sites for online reading and research.

In this lesson, students read The Houdini Box by Brian Selznick. Students then follow the steps of the writing process to create a new ending for this book. Students gain experience brainstorming, drafting, editing, and polishing their writing. Because their story endings must flow well with the rest of the book, students must understand what the book is about. The goal is for them to understand what they’re reading and to demonstrate their knowledge of the book’s content and their own creativity through a writing piece.

In this lesson students work together to plant a garden and study its growth using the inquiry process of questioning and exploring. As they research and study, students record their observations in a field journal, to be shared with others.