Students are prompted to use comparisons to discuss what they see as they picture walk through books about the ocean. They identify what these comparisons have in common to arrive at an informal name and definition of simile. They then create illustrations showing these comparisons. Next, students picture walk through two additional picture books about the ocean and comment about what they see. They are introduced to metaphor by rewording some of their comments into metaphors. They continue to note metaphors as the books are read aloud, and then name and define this new type of comparison. They again draw pictures to illustrate some of these metaphors. Students discuss why writers use these types of comparisons, then work to revise existing writing to incorporate figurative language through guided practice or independent work. Finally, students use templates to create a book on the ocean that features similes and metaphors.

This lesson is for Grades PreK - K 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 engage in games and chants to recognize the same sounds in different words. Students match objects with the same beginning or ending sound, identify whether a given sound occurs at the beginning or ending of a word, and connect phonemes with graphemes.

This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the Kindergarten English Language Arts content.

This resource accompanies our Rethink Kindergarten ELA course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning.  

This unit was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for Kindergarten ELA in Non-Fiction.

In this lesson, students examine books and discuss how the pictures can be used with the words to help the reader learn more about the topic of the book.

In this lesson, students identify explicit information in nonfiction. Students will understand how they can learn information from the pictures and words in the book.

In this lesson, students read a nonfiction text and identify facts learned from a photograph or picture. They will be able to explain that photographs or pictures teach you information.

ABCya! presents its fifth children's storybook for the classroom. It's called Marvin Makes Music, an original work by Michelle Tocci. The story is about a frog that is sad because he cannot sing like his friends, until one day when he gets a new musical instrument. This is a great storybook to share with kids using an interactive whiteboard.

*This storybook has narration! Students can click the speaker button to have the story read to them.

This document provides a description of what each standard means a student will know, understand and be able to do. The "unpacking" of the standards done in this document is an effort to answer a simple question, "What does this standard mean that a student must know and be able to do?" and to ensure the description is helpful, specific and comprehensive for educators.

The NC Office of Early Learning strongly encourages incorporating play into the daily routine of each classroom.
Children grow and learn in all developmental domains through their engagement in centers; cognitive, physical, social, and emotional. Authentic learning and meaningful connections are made when a teacher intentionally weaves standards and supports development throughout children’s play. PlaytoLearn Center Posters provide information about common areas of development supported during play centers along with prompts connected to kindergarten standards and NC ELI dimensions.

PlaytoLearn Planning Guides (also shared on #GoOpenNC) provide information on why each center is important to children's development, tips for setting up centers, sugessted materials, actions of an intentional teacher, and common connections children make to content. Although these resources are specifically written for kindergarten, teaching and learning strategies can be applied to many grade levels.

The NC Office of Early Learning strongly encourages incorporating play into the daily routine of each classroom.
Children grow and learn in all developmental domains through their engagement in centers; cognitive, physical, social, and emotional. Authentic learning and meaningful connections are made when a teacher intentionally weaves standards and supports development throughout children’s play. PlaytoLearn Planning Guides provide information on why each center is important to children's development, tips for setting up centers, sugessted materials, actions of an intentional teacher, and common connections children make to content. Prompts connected to kindergarten standards and NC ELI dimensions can be found on PlaytoLearn Center Posters which are also shared on #GoOpenNC. Although these resources are specifically written for kindergarten, teaching and learning strategies can be applied to many grade levels.

Students will study Polar Bears:Where do they live?What are their body characteristics?What do they eat?Their lifecycle...How are they different from other bears? (black, brown, pandas)

This teacher's curriculum guide presents strategies for engaging readers before, during, and after reading Jason Chin’s books. It also provides an extension strategy to further students’ understanding and enjoyment of the books. Before reading students will use prior knowledge to think about the topic, make predictions about the possible meaning of the text, and preview the text by skimming and scanning to get a sense of the overall meaning. During reading students will monitor interpretation and understanding by questioning, thinking about, and reflecting on ideas and information presented in the text. After reading students will reflect upon the ideas and information in the text, relate what they have read to their own experiences and knowledge, clarify their comprehension of the text, and extend their understanding in critical and creative ways.

In this lesson, students explain how authors use illustrations to support the key ideas presented in an informational text. They will also use illustrations and details to describe the key ideas in an informational text.

This is a kindergarten unit that covers the topic of weather. It has built-in scaffolds that support language and content development appropriate for grade K.

In this lesson, students will be able to identify what is inside a pumpkin. Students will author and illustrate books with representations of real pumpkins.