As a way to support teachers with English Language Arts (ELA) instruction during the pandemic, the NCDPI ELA team created choice boards featuring standards-aligned ELA activities.The intended purpose of these choice boards is to provide a way for students to continue standards-based learning while schools are closed. Each activity can be adapted and modified to be completed with or without the use of digital tools. Many activities can also be repeated with different texts. These standards-based activities are meant to be a low-stress approach to reinforcing and enriching the skills learned during the 2019-2020 school year. The choice boards are to be used flexibly by teachers, parents, and students in order to meet the unique needs of each learner.Exploration activities are provided for a more self-directed or guided approach to independent learning for students. These activities and sites should be used as a way to explore concepts, topics, skills, and social and emotional competencies that interest the learner. 

In this short story, a girl celebrates her birthday on Earth Day. As students read, they take notes on how April feels about celebrating Earth Day on her birthday.

In this lesson, students will look behind the story at the historical, social, and cultural circumstances that shape the narrative throughout Esperanza Rising. The lesson also invites students to contemplate some of the changes Esperanza undergoes as she grows into a responsible young woman and the contradictions that she experiences.

This lesson is for grades 4-5 on literacy. At Home Learning Lessons are a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, PBS North Carolina, and the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation. Each lesson contains a video instructional lesson, a PDF lesson plan with a transcript, and a PDF file of extension activities.

Students will read as a whole class or small group Extra Credit by Andrew Clements in conjunction with Wonders Unit 3 (4th grade).  Teachers will assign the google slides to each individual as a reading comprehension completion activity.  Students can use these slides as a springboard for book discussions.  Technology enhanced culminating activities are included in google slides 9-10 for transfer of knowledge at the end of the novel study.  

Students explore different abilities of characters in a literature study of five different novels. Students select their own novel based on interest and readability, conduct research, and create a presentation on the disability of the character(s) in their novel. In addition, students visit an adaptive special education classroom to observe, interact and participate in learning with differently-abled peers. Students collaborate to communicate results of their research with peers, parents, and staff. They are visited by representatives from an organization such as Canine Companions for Independence to learn about how their organization works to improve the quality of life for individuals with disabilities.

In this lesson, students explore the processes involved in getting food from the farm to the table. Note: This lesson was created in accordance with the VIF Global Competence Indicators for Grade 4. For more information about VIF and these indicators, please visit https://www.vifprogram.com/. This lesson was developed by Brenda Todd as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

This lesson explores the impacts of immigration on children using a complex fiction text, The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. Although this book is not an open resource, this lesson was included because after reading the book, students have an even deeper understanding of the immigration and the effects and challenges that it can have on a person, especially a young child. This is a 1 hour per day/5 day lesson. This lesson was developed by Tsianina Tovar as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

Building stories and vocabulary with LEGOS. Students will learn about how the vocabulary words relate to their build and learn to work together as a team to come up with a single concept and idea.

In this lesson, The Jolly Postman is used as an authentic example to discuss letter writing as a genre. Students explore letters to the storybook characters delivered by The Jolly Postman. They then learn how to categorize their own examples of mail. The Jolly Postman uses well-known storybook characters, from fairy tales and nursery rhymes, as recipients of letters. This children's storybook is therefore ideal for using as a review of these genres of literature and as a means of helping children begin to explore rhyme and a variety of writing styles. Several pieces of literature appropriate for use with this lesson are suggested.

In this 2 week module, students will focus on characters within a story, figurative language and word relationships, and writing an informative essay. They will learn how authors can use different types of language to give the reader a better understanding of that character's traits. Before beginning this module, students should have a basic understanding of character traits and the different types of language authors can use. Prior to beginning the module, students should have read Phineas L. McGuire Gets Slimed by Frances O'Roark Dowell.

In this exercise, students will compare two books of the same genre and similar topics using questions that require students to demonstrate understanding of a text by referring explicitly to the text as the basis for answers.

A template for students to write "I Am" poems in english and/or Spanish.This can be used to tell people about themselves as well as diving into characters or people we we read about. This resource was developed as part of a professional learning opportunity funded by the NCDPI Digital Learning Initiative Planning Grant.

This lesson uses a think-aloud procedure to model how to infer character traits and recognize a character's growth across a text. Students also consider the underlying reasons of why the character changed, supporting their ideas and inferences with evidence from the text.

In this lesson, students generate their own list of superheroes from popular culture. They work in groups to read selected books and develop a list of superhero traits from these titles. They then compare the book superheroes with their pop culture counterparts using the online Venn Diagram or the Venn Diagram mobile app. Finally, students explore individual superheroes from multiple perspectives, using a list of guiding questions that encourages them to consider how superheroes might differ depending on audience, gender, or setting.

Students lesson compare and contrast the traditional Three Little Pigs, by Golden Books to The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. Students will discover how an author’s point of view can influence how a reader feels.

In this poem, a boy helps a classmate on the first day of second grade. As students read, they take notes on the relationship between Jessica and Jared.

Nancy Jean Northcutt has written for Highlights. In this short story, a boy doesn’t want to receive kisses from his grandmas and aunts. As you read, take notes on how James feels about his new sibling.