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. 

Students become comfortable with idioms. Students will work closely with idioms to discover meanings and present them to the class. Students will use technology to present the information.

This lesson has two components: 1) a fluency list of poverty words and 2) a world map of poverty cases. In the first component the teacher introduces a list of poverty words organized by part of speech that will be learned and practiced during this lesson. Fluency practice continues to occur throughout the unit in both the reading fiction and non-fiction components. Being able to read content vocabulary words, phrases and sentences fluently is so important in a student’s ability to comprehend complex texts and issues. Providing students with ample time and opportunities to practice academic language directly from their texts will allow this to occur (Rasinski "Fluency Matters" 2014). In the second component a large world map is used to investigate the issue of poverty by comparing the effects of poverty of people in 6/7 continents. Students will engage in speaking and writing tasks using the world map. This lesson was developed by Karie Gregory 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.            

Students will interview an older relative, neighbor or friend, asking them to tell about a favorite hat from their past. Students will record notes from the interview, and later summarize them in a paragraph. Students will share these paragraphs with their classmates in an oral presentation. This lesson was developed by Sarah Owen-Palethore 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.            

A Socratic seminar is based on a text in which a facilitator asks open ended questions (description of roles attached). Students will listen to others, critically think, formulate their own thoughts and respond. This discussion focuses on the importance of water, courage and hope. This lesson was developed by Margaret Derrick 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 article provides a historic background to the fairytales of the fairytales collected by the Brothers Grimm. The original title "Children and Home Fairytales" was first published in 1812. It also focuses on the aspect of cruelty due to the fact they were originally not written for children but to educate common people. An audio link provides an extension of the information and a reflection on modern children stories. The text is written for native speakers age 8 and up. The audio text is spoken in natural language.

In this module, students consider the guiding question: How do writers capture a reader's imagination? as they take a deep study of the classic tale Peter Pan.

Students will learn the difference between the genres, then work collaboratively to identify genres and subgenres. Lessons within the unit have a powerpoint introduction, group work, as well as homework.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 3rd Grade ELA.

This resource accompanies our Rethink 3rd Grade 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 course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 3rd Grade English Language Arts. 

In this lesson, children's literature is used to provide students with an opportunity to explore the concept that all individuals have strengths, abilities, and talents. Through whole-class and small-group dialogue, students determine what each story means in the context of their classroom and themselves as individuals. Students also develop the necessary skills for cooperative learning.

This is a fun activity/game that allows students to :
think
plan
share
discuss
problem solve
rationalize
defend their stance
ask questions