As an extension of a fairy tale unit, or after reading Little Red Riding Hood, students will plan and create a map with a safe path for Little Red to outsmart The Big Bad Wolf and get to Grandma’s house safely. The students will view a map grid of the forest with spaces where The Wolf may be lurking. They must create a safe path and use BeeBots, Dash, Sphero or another robot to follow the path. If no robots are available, it can be done as an unplugged activity.

This unit was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 1st Grade ELA.

Students are often given collaborative learning assignments, but they need to be explicitly taught how to participate in collaborative groups. This lesson uses explicit teaching and a read aloud (Three Hens and a Peacock by Lester Laminack) to instruct students in HOW to work in a group.

Students will construct an animal catching machine using found materials.  You may want to reread the book in order to help students get ideas!

This unit was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 2nd Grade ELA.

Students will use the engineering design process, various materials and their imaginations to make a trap for a leprechaun after reading How to Catch a Leprechaun.

This activity is designed to help students retell a story in sequence in a unique way using coding robots such as spheros and ozobots.

 Students will listen to a close reading of The 3 Little Pigs over the course of 3 days.  (Many versions are accessible via NC Kids Digital Library.  Teacher discretion as to the story version.  Personal copy or online versions can be used.) After each read aloud, students will have the opportunity to engage in The Engineering Design Process to create a new dwelling using materials of varying physical properties.  Students will write to tell about their new dwelling design using sentence frames and an anchor chart for support.  Finally, students will present their new dwellings and read their informational writing to reflect their knowledge of physical properties.  Student informational writing should reflect physical properties such as size, color, shape, texture, weight and flexibility per the NC Kindergarten Science Standards.

Students will research and report on a school system of a foreign country that they choose based on a typical school lunch.  Near the end of Unit 6 teachers will introduce students to multiple cultures by showing them typical school lunches (see website under technology accessories).  Students will base their decision of what country’s school system to look into solely on the lunch example.  

In this unit, students will become familiar with fables and trickster tales from different cultural traditions and will see how stories change when transferred orally between generations and cultures. They will learn how both types of folktales employ various animals in different ways to portray human strengths and weaknesses and to pass down wisdom from one generation to the next. Use the following lessons to introduce students to world folklore and to explore how folktales convey the perspectives of different world cultures.

Share the book Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root and take an adventurous ride with a father, his three children and learn about the creative ways they "fix" their old car on their way to the lake on a hot day. A great introduction to alliterations. Included in the activity is read before, during, and after questions followed by a DO activity.

Share the book Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root and take an adventurous ride with a father, his three children and learn about the creative ways they "fix" their old car on their way to the lake on a hot day. A great introduction to alliterations. Included in the activity is read before, during, and after questions followed by a DO activity.

Share the book Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root and take an adventurous ride with a father, his three children and learn about the creative ways they "fix" their old car on their way to the lake on a hot day. A great introduction to alliterations. Included in the activity is read before, during, and after questions followed by a DO activity.

Share the book Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root and take an adventurous ride with a father, his three children and learn about the creative ways they "fix" their old car on their way to the lake on a hot day. A great introduction to alliterations. Included in the activity is read before, during, and after questions followed by a DO activity.

Students will complete a close reading of Ted Kooser’s poem, Abandoned Farmhouse.  Students will use their knowledge about the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl to determine the setting and characters in the poem. After analyzing the author’s style, use of figurative language, and structure of the poem, students will write an ORIGINAL POEM in the spirit of Abandoned Farmhouse by using the same syntax.  Using the original poem and a template as a guide, students will compose a poem that reveals who they are through the voice of important objects in their homes.

This project can be used as a summative assessment in Middle and High School.

I have used this project as a summative assessment at the end of the school year for many years across two grade levels (6th and 8th). It has taken multiple formats as my students choose the medium that they utilize.

Mini-Lesson for use during guided instruction group to assist students in learning the reading strategy.
Standards:
RL.6.5 Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.

In this lesson, students who are reading Animal Farm, by George Orwell (All rights reserved-Copyright), will evaluate the behaviors of different animals. Students will then research the individuals/groups represented by these characters and they will start to make connections as they think about why the author chose certain characters to represent certain people. Once students have a better understanding of the characters and who they represent, they will choose one character and trace the development of that character throughout the text. 

In this lesson, students who are reading Animal Farm, by George Orwell (All rights reserved-Copyright), will evaluate the behaviors of different animals. Students will then research the individuals/groups represented by these characters and they will start to make connections as they think about why the author chose certain characters to represent certain people. Once students have a better understanding of the characters and who they represent, they will choose one character and trace the development of that character throughout the text. 

Allegories are similar to metaphors: in both the author uses one subject to represent another, seemingly unrelated, subject. However, unlike metaphors, which are generally short and contained within a few lines, an allegory extends its representation over the course of an entire story, novel, or poem. This lesson plan will introduce students to the concept of allegory by using George Orwell’s widely read novella, Animal Farm, which is available on Project Gutenberg.

The purpose of this project is two-fold: first, to encourage students to make the reading of poetry a creative act; and, second, to help students appreciate particular literary devices in their functions as semaphores or interpretive signals. Those devices that are about the imagery of a poem (metaphor, simile, personification, description) can be thought of as magnifying glasses: we see most clearly that upon which the poet focuses our gaze. Similarly, those poetic devices that are about the sound of the poem (alliteration, consonance, enjambment, onomatopoeia, and repetition) can be thought of as volume buttons or amplifiers: we hear most clearly what the poet makes us listen to most attentively.

This lesson concentrates on Anne Frank as a writer. After a look at Anne Frank the adolescent, and a consideration of how the experiences of growing up shaped her composition of the Diary, students explore some of the writing techniques Anne invented for herself and practice those techniques with material drawn from their own lives.

This annotating bookmark pairs great with fictional texts to help students understand what they are reading.

This annotating bookmark pairs great with fictional texts to help students understand what they are reading.

Students will review the text content by viewing Drag and Drop slides in Nearpod. This activity focuses on feeling words that appeal to their senses. Students will view various text phrases and images to determine which feeling word is shown through text evidence. Students will drag the correct feeling word to the slide as they complete the task. The activity is completed with a Time to Climb quiz focused on appealing to senses. Kindergarten Wonders Unit 8 is used for this lesson. 

The Bedouins of ancient Arabia and Persia made poetry a conversational art form. Several poetic forms developed from the participatory nature of tribal poetry. Today in most Arabic cultures, you may still experience public storytelling and spontaneous poetry challenges in the streets. The art of turning a rhyme into sly verbal sparring is considered a mark of intelligence and a badge of honor. Students will learn about the origins and structure of Arabic Poetry.

Organized around the compelling question "How have Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders engaged civically and contributed to U.S. culture?" and grounded in inquiry-based teaching and learning, this lesson brings history, civics, and the arts together to learn about the experiences and perspectives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in U.S. history. Primary sources, literature, and works of art created by AAPI individuals and related organizations provide an historical as well as contemporary context for concepts and issues including civic participation, immigration, and culture.

Learn how to identify explicit evidence and understand implicit meaning in a text.You will be able to answer questions about informational text and refer explicitly to the text to support your answers.

 Students will participate in small groups to ask (generate) & answer questions about a text. Students can respond to a fiction or nonfiction text using the available resources. Students will listen and respond to peer answers to further explain or discuss the given “mat card”. Students will program their BeeBot to go to the location. 

I used the idea of the Virtual Word Wall from the Ready, Set, Coteach team. This blank template is just a Google Slide with a table.  You can customize the numbers of rows or column, as well as anything else when you make your own copy.  I like consistency for the user experience, in this case, first grade English Learners.  So the colors stay the same and the format is the same each week.While mine focus on supporting our new adoption of HMH Into Reading, a virtual word wall can work in any content area, at any age level.  It could also be in a World Language setting. 

Through studying Beatrix Potter's stories and illustrations from the early 1900s and learning about her childhood in Victorian England, students can compare/contrast these with their own world to understand why Potter wrote such simple stories and why she wrote about animals rather than people.

Noh, the oldest surviving Japanese dramatic form, combines elements of dance, drama, music, and poetry into a highly stylized, aesthetic retelling of a well-known story from Japanese literature, such as The Tale of Genji or The Tale of the Heike. This lesson provides an introduction to the elements of Noh plays and to the text of two plays, and provides opportunities for students to compare the conventions of the Noh play with other dramatic forms with which they may already be familiar, such as the ancient Greek dramas of Sophocles. By reading classic examples of Noh plays, such as Atsumori, students will learn to identify the structure, characters, style, and stories typical to this form of drama. Students will expand their grasp of these conventions by using them to write the introduction to a Noh play of their own.

A 10-15 lessons (based on time) where students compare / contrast text in literature circles and share jigsawed information using Prezis

Stacey’s original project was created for a 3rd grade lesson with students creating book summary graphics on Canva.com / This idea was remixed for 4th grade AIG and Library collaboration

In the AIG ELA classroom, students will read fiction books in their genre book study groups, as determined by the AIG coordinator. Throughout their reading, students will use Google Keep to manage notes and submit occasional check-in reflections using Google Classroom, with both the AIG coordinator and librarian available to read and respond to these reflection questions.

At the completion of their book, students will use their Google Keep notes and Classroom reflections to create a sharable artifact on a digital platform. Students will be given instruction for three separate digital tools that can be used for their summary: Canva for a graphic, Anchor for a podcast, and Flipgrid for a video.

In the digital artifact, students must include key details (no endings), character and setting descriptions, themes, as well as a “rating”. Students will create their artifact and present them in a digital gallery for other readers in the school to access from the library.

This lesson uses the book, Like a Hundred Drums, by Annette Griessman. The lesson can be used by music educators to practice dynamics and for exposure to classical music, and can be used by ELA or generalist teachers to enhance engagement and understanding of literature.

Combine literacy and music by creating a body percussion accompaniment to the book, Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault.  

Combine literacy and music with this fun, rhythmic book!The book is Tanka, Tanka, Skunk! by Steve Webb. The link to the book on Amazon can be found in Resources. Read the book, associate the rhythm of the words with the syllables, add simple movements, and see the literacy connections grow!

This session will bring new, integrated ideas and technology know-how to the K-5 teachers. Our goal for the session is to engage students, teachers, and parents, to share sample lessons, substantial amounts of free resources, and ways to integrate tech.

Link to presentation slides:

bit.ly/Literacy2Life

Reading Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess," students will explore the use of dramatic monologue as a poetic form, where the speaker often reveals far more than intended.

In this lesson from Expeditionary Learning, students will imagine themselves in the role of the main characters of That Book Woman by Heather Henson. They will discover the motivations of the characters through role-playing and investigating the illustrations in the text. Students will use an informational text to investigate why it might be difficult to get books to people, as it was in That Book Woman. This is Lesson 1 of 17 from the Grade 3 Curriculum Map Unit 3, Module 1: http://engageny.org/resource/grade-3-ela-module-1-unit-3 .

Students examine books, selected from the American Library Association Challenged/Banned Books list, and write persuasive pieces expressing their views about what should be done with the books at their school.

Read aloud activity for K-3 that ties in with the character trait "Courage." Book discussion for grades 6-8 to embed core values.

Read aloud activity for K-3 that ties in with the character trait "Courage."After reading Arnie and the Skateboard Gang, students will explore pattern in Amy Sherald's painting of Michelle Obama and then create their own pattern.

Meet amazing characters that will teach you how to define, or understand the meaning of words, by category and by using key attributes, or words that describe.

Learn to describe characters’ feelings, traits, and motivations. You will also learn how to identify and explain how characters’ actions contribute to the events in a story.  

Teacher can project to do this activity for the whole group or students can complete in a station.  There is audio recording for each slide, so students will be able to hear the directions and the statement on each slide. Students will be answering character, setting and main event general questions about the standard as well as text dependent questions. Kindergarten Wonders Unit 9, Peter's Chair text is used for this activity. 

Using the landmark feminist short story "The Yellow Wall-paper," students will employ close reading concepts to analyze setting, narrative style, symbol, and characterization.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story "The Yellow Wall-paper" was written during atime of change. This lesson plan, the first part of a two-part lesson, helps to set the historical, social, cultural, and economic context of Gilman's story.

This lesson provides a Common Core application for high school students for Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart. Students will undertake close reading of passages in Things Fall Apart to evaluate the impact of Achebe's literary techniques, the cultural significance of the work, and how this international text serves as a lens to discover the experiences of others.

Nigerian born Chinua Achebe is one of the world's most well-known and influential contemporary writers. His first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), is an early narrative about the European colonization of Africa told from the point of view of the colonized people.

Students learn the linguistic strategies Achebe uses to convey the Igbo and British missionary cultures presented in the novel and how the text combines European linguistic and literary forms with African oral traditions.

These activities provide students with a way to explore the Christmas Truce of 1914 through multiple media. It lends itself to the exploration of many themes: War, Peace, Kindness, Globalism, Humanity. The discussion questions suggested here focus on the universality of the human experience. Although it uses a picture book as the anchor text, the activities could be used in middle and high school as well. The timing is flexible depending on the use of the discussion questions and how many tasks you choose to do.

These activities provide students with a way to explore the Christmas Truce of 1914 through multiple media. It lends itself to the exploration of many themes: War, Peace, Kindness, Globalism, Humanity. The discussion questions suggested here focus on the universality of the human experience. Although it uses a picture book as the anchor text, the activities could be used in middle and high school as well. The timing is flexible depending on the use of the discussion questions and how many tasks you choose to do.

This is REMIX  with adding accessibility by headers and organize by numbers.These activities provide students with a way to explore the Christmas Truce of 1914 through multiple media. It lends itself to the exploration of many themes: War, Peace, Kindness, Globalism, Humanity. The discussion questions suggested here focus on the universality of the human experience. Although it uses a picture book as the anchor text, the activities could be used in middle and high school as well. The timing is flexible depending on the use of the discussion questions and how many tasks you choose to do.

Created through a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, Chronicling America offers visitors the ability to search and view newspaper pages from 1690-1963 and to find information about American newspapers published between 1690"“present using the National Digital Newspaper Program.

Click the images on the form to watch the videos for each book.  Then, complete the form.After reading or watching the books, students will complete this form that focuses on theme, author's purpose and other skills.

In this lesson from Expeditionary Learning, students will perform a close reading of Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco. They will answer questions using specific details from the text and explain why they chose those details. Students will also use context clues to access new vocabulary. This is Lesson 2 of 10 from the unit Grade 3 Curriculum Map Unit 2, Module 1: http://engageny.org/resource/grade-3-ela-module-1-unit-2 .

Novel based curriculum is an amazing tool. Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty is sure to grab the attention of the students and keep them engaged throughout. These are standard aligned comprehension questions that force the students to develop a deeper understanding of the characters and the novel.