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.

In this poetry session, students learn that shapes don’t have to be silent, and poetry doesn’t have to be linear, as they write shapes in verse, and verse in shapes. This lesson bridges the gap between poetry and math!

Students will complete a word map for building vocabulary by following the eight perscribed steps. Students will also increase their retention of selected vocabulary by making a personal connection to each word. In addition, students will demonstrate internalization of vocabulary by writing an original sentence using the chosen word. Finally, students will generate a journal response by reflecting to this way of learning vocabulary words.

Concept Sorts can be used before reading to gather students’ prior knowledge about the upcoming content, or can be used after reading to assess students’ understanding of the concepts that were presented to them. Have students brainstorm a list of words from reading material or an upcoming unit, lesson, or text (sometimes the word list may need to be provided by the teacher). Students then discuss each word and place it in its correct category; categories can either be defined by the teacher or students.

In this lesson, students learn about archetypes and spend time analyzing their use in both traditional and modern stories.

In this story, the main character, Margaret is affected by the loss of her father and then the loss of her best friend who moves away. As she adapts to that change she discovers new talents and new friends. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments;

What should a good narrative contain? For this lesson, a mystery, a type of narrative realistic fiction, will be composed. Since strong adjectives and adverbs will support a mystery, they will be incorporated into the writing.

Improve student vocabulary with this large collection of student NYT crossword puzzles with answer keys. Search by topics including Black History Month, The Declaration of Independence, The Great Depression,
The Cold War, The Great Recession, American Labor History, Hispanic Heritage, The Pilgrims and much, much more.

Use literacy skills to make connections among those in your classroom with this lesson that focuses on building classroom community by sharing favorite texts with one another. In this lesson, the class explores environmental print then focuses specifically on a teacher-created display on a favorite book. After exploring the teacher’s display, students write about their own favorite book, genre, or author. Students then select one of several options for making a display of their favorite book to share with the class. After creating their own presentations, students share them with the class and complete peer- or self-assessments.

In this lesson, students will take part in a celebration of all the hard work students have put into their research, their position papers, and their scientific posters. Ahead of time, divide your students into two groups. One group will “host” their scientific posters while the other students walk around the “gallery” providing positive feedback. Then they will switch so all students have the opportunity to both host and observe the work of their peers.

Possible Sentences is a pre-reading vocabulary strategy that activates students' prior knowledge about content area vocabulary and concepts. Before reading, students are provided a short list of vocabulary words from their reading, which they group and eventually use to create meaningful sentences. After reading, students check to see if their "possible sentences" were accurate or need revising.

In this lesson, students learn about proverbs: how they work, how they differ from cliches, how to interpret them, and how they can be culturally and personally significant. Students begin by talking about proverbs, interview family and friends to find proverbs that were not discussed in class, and figuring out the meaning of proverbs by creating a new definition of proverbs based on what they've learned.

In this lesson, students identify some basic terms associated with boats, ships, and sailing. Students will also use expressions derived from nautical sayings in context.

After reading narratives from former slaves that were recorded in the 1930's as part of the Federal Writers' Project, students conduct research on slavery and tell a story based on their findings. The lesson incorporates an exploration of storytelling techniques.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 6th Grade English Language Arts. 

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 6th Grade ELA.

In this lesson, students solve unknown words using context clues, select and generate words for semantic gradients, and develop new semantic gradients and contexts.

In this lesson, students are introduced to the genre of American tall tales. Students are exposed to several traditional tall tales, then prompted to write an original tall tale set in contemporary America. The tall tale must address a current event or issue and must feature a "larger-than-life" main character. The students use exaggeration and hyperbole to portray the way in which the main character resolves the issue or problem. Students then dramatize their tall tales for the class.

Students will closely observe objects, encouraging poetic, "outside the box" thinking, encouraging innovation, writing about setting, using descriptive details in writing.