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TITLE	ABSTRACT	GRADE	DATE
“America the Beautiful”: Using Music and Art to Develop Vocabulary	Students learn the song “America the Beautiful” and the meanings of its words through shared reading, context clues, images, and a mural project.	K-2	10/8/09
3, 2, 1...Blast Off! Vocabulary Instruction Using a Virtual Trip to the Moon	Capture the qualities of field-trip learning in the classroom. Working independently and in groups students learn vocabulary about the moon; however, the activities can be applied to any content area topic.	K-2	11/21/08
A Schema-Building Study With Patricia Polacco	Help second- through fourth-grade students learn vocabulary and comprehension skills with Chicken Sunday and Rechenka’s Eggs by Patricia Polacco. Students study vocabulary in these books; they then deepen their understanding by making text-to-self and text-to-text connections and by using the vocabulary words to write about the characters and the author.	3-5	4/14/09
A–Z: Learning About the Alphabet Book Genre	Using a collection of alphabet books and websites, this lesson for second graders builds and extends students’ knowledge of alphabet books. After the class generates a sample book together, students work in flexible groups to write their own alphabet books and share them with an audience.	K-2	2/25/09
ABC Bookmaking Builds Vocabulary in the Content Areas	Are you looking for a fun, new way to teach content area vocabulary to your students? How about having them create ABC books? Bookmaking allows students to pinpoint for themselves the words they don't know and to use their own descriptions and illustrations to create an appropriate context for new vocabulary.	6-8	7/21/04
Acquiring New Vocabulary Through Book Discussion Groups	This lesson presents a whole-language approach to a social studies topic (i.e., the Civil War) using the trade book Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco. The approach combines reading comprehension with vocabulary development. The lesson can be extended, modified, and reused for other topics at the teacher's discretion.	3-5	11/7/08
Action ABC's: Learning Vocabulary With Verbs	Having a well-developed vocabulary is important to help students become successful speakers, readers, and writers. This lesson guides students in exploring and learning about verbs, culminating in the creation of an Action Alphabet book. Each page includes a word and sentence describing an illustration of the verb.	K-2	11/18/08
Action Is Character: Exploring Character Traits with Adjectives	In this activity, students "become" one of the major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using Internet reference tools to compile lists of accurate, powerful adjectives. In class discussion, students support their lists with details from the novel.	6-8	2/15/08
Active Reading Using The Enormous Watermelon	Students engage in word recognition activities using character names and high-frequency words from the predictable texts of rebus versions of nursery rhymes online and the Big Book The Enormous Watermelon. Students also identify the main characters in these texts.	K-2	9/17/09
As Slippery as an Eel: An Ocean Unit Exploring Simile and Metaphor	After reading ocean-themed books, students examine the ways that the books use simile and metaphor, creating their own names and definitions of these figures of speech. Using the picture books as framing texts, students then revise a piece of their own writing, to increase its use of figurative language.	K-2	1/31/08
Audience, Purpose, and Language Use in Electronic Messages	With the increasing popularity of e-mail and online instant messaging among today’s teens, a recognizable change has occurred in the language that students use in their writing. This lesson explores the language of electronic messages and how it affects other writing. Furthermore, it explores the freedom and creativity for using Internet abbreviations for specific purposes and examines the importance of a more formal style of writing based on audience.	6-8	4/17/08
Avalanche, Aztek, or Bravada? A Connotation Mini-Lesson	Would you rather drive an Avalanche, an Aztek, a Bravada, a Suburban or a Vue? In this mini-lesson, students examine familiar car names for underlying connotations then proceed through a series of steps, increasing their control over language, until they select words with powerful connotations in their own writing.	6-8	9/16/09
Become a Character: Adjectives, Character Traits, and Perspective	In this activity, students "become" one of the major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using Internet reference tools to compile lists of accurate, powerful adjectives. In class discussion, students support their lists with details from the novel.	9-12	2/15/08
Brave New Words: Novice Lexicography and the Oxford English Dictionary	Students will become novice lexicographers as they explore recent new entries to the dictionary, learn the process of writing entries for the Oxford English Dictionary, and write a new entry themselves.	9-12	9/11/09
Building Classroom Community Through the Exploration of Acrostic Poetry	This lesson explores the genre of acrostic poetry and reinforces positive community practices in the classroom. After looking at various acrostic poetry websites, students participate in a shared writing experience. Students then write an acrostic poem about one of their peers using online resources such as thesauri and an interactive writing tool.	3-5	2/12/09
Buzz! Whiz! Bang! Using Comic Books to Teach Onomatopoeia	Comic books are one of the tools found in popular culture that can successfully engage children in literacy. This lesson uses comics to teach onomatopoetic vocabulary words and to develop this literary device with students learning to use language.	3-5	2/12/09
Catching the Bug for Reading Through Interactive Read-Alouds	Interactive read-alouds can help beginning readers learn good reading strategies. By listening to, discussing, and analyzing Miss Bindergarten Stays Home from Kindergarten by Joseph Slate, students construct meaning and explore the reading process. As an added bonus, they also learn how to prevent the spread of germs in the classroom.	K-2	3/8/06
Charlotte is Wise, Patient, and Caring: Adjectives and Character Traits	In this activity, students define the characteristics of adjectives and find examples of the part of speech in a shared reading. Then students "become" one of the major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using Internet reference tools to compile lists of accurate, powerful adjectives. In class discussion, students support their lists with details from the reading.	3-5	4/10/06
Choose, Select, Opt, or Settle: Exploring Word Choice in Poetry	Students use an online tool to investigate the effects of word choice in Robert Frost’s “Choose Something Like a Star.” The results of the investigation allow them to construct a more sophisticated understanding of speaker, subject, and tone.	9-12	8/30/09
Choosing, Chatting, and Collecting: Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy	Students self-select new vocabulary and apply context, experience, and conversation to help them understand the meanings and uses of the words. This strategy can be used with any content area, but in this lesson, an online script from Shakespeare is provided as an example.	6-8	9/14/07
Click, Clack, Moo: Reading Word Family Words	The Caldecott-winner Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin provides practice with and a purpose for learning word identification strategies. Using the notes from Farmer Brown and the animals as shared readings, first-grade students learn word families and how to decode new words in a word family.	K-2	10/15/09
Combining Read-Alouds With Economics in the Primary Grades	This lesson combines the benefits of reading aloud to children with exposure to economic concepts. After hearing two storybooks read aloud, students compare them and discuss the economic terms natural resource and producer. This lesson also helps students relate stories to the world around them.	K-2	8/29/07
Connotation, Character, and Color Imagery in The Great Gatsby	Students explore the connotations of the colors associated with the characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby by tracking color imagery in the novel and then writing a character analysis based on their findings. The lesson includes a discussion of connotation and denotation as well as discussion of cultural influences on connotation.	9-12	7/16/09
Delicious, Tasty, Yummy: Enriching Writing with Adjectives and Synonyms	This lesson for students in grades 3 and 4 teaches them about adjectives and synonyms. Students work in small groups using webs and form poems as their primary tools for developing adjectives and synonyms to describe everyday items. Thesauri, webbing tools, alphabet organizers, and picture books are used to help students identify, organize, and modify descriptors.	3-5	2/12/09
Describe That Face: An Interactive Writing Game	Students create vivid character descriptions, which are posted on the wall interspersed with pictures that match the descriptions. Then they walk around and take notes on their classmates’ descriptive phrases, similes, and metaphors, picking one description–picture set to share with the class.	6-8	6/18/08
Descriptive Video: Using Media Technology to Enhance Writing	Grab a pencil, turn on a movie, and introduce your students to a new technology! Descriptive Video can build vocabulary and enhance descriptive writing. During this lesson, students watch a described segment of The Lion King and write an enhanced description.	3-5	3/28/08
Dr. Seuss’s Sound Words: Playing with Phonics and Spelling	Boom! Br-r-ring! Cluck! Moo!—you are bound to find exciting sounds everywhere. Whether you visit online sites that play sounds or take a sound hike, ask your students to notice the sounds they hear then write their own poems, using sound words, based on Dr. Seuss's Mr. Brown Can MOO! Can You?	K-2	2/19/09
Draw a Math Story: From the Concrete to the Symbolic	When students draw first, write second, and then use equations to symbolize their stories, they start from the concrete and move to the symbolic, helping to improve reading comprehension as well as mathematical understanding. Students' higher-level thinking skills are developed by comparing, sequencing, writing and drawing to support their reading, and using symbols to represent meaning.	K-2	3/21/07
Earth Verse: Using Science in Poetry	Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith's picture book, Science Verse, serves as a model for students to use poetry to improve content area knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension—in this case, for the science curriculum.	3-5	10/15/08
Entering History: Nikki Giovanni and Martin Luther King, Jr.	Nikki Giovanni’s poem “The Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.” is paired with Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, taking students on a quest through time to the civil rights movement. After completing student-centered vocabulary activities, students perform the speech readers’ theater style and synthesize their learning by writing reflections.	6-8	1/27/09
Escaping Slavery: Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt	This lesson uses the picture book Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson and an interactive website to enhance third- through fifth-grade students' understanding of the Underground Railroad and slavery, development of reading comprehension skills, and application of mapping skills.	3-5	11/19/08
Everyone Loves a Mystery: A Genre Study	In this lesson, students read short mystery stories and use Internet resources to examine characteristic of the genre, such as vocabulary and story elements. Students then write their own mystery stories and publish them electronically.	6-8	2/12/09
Examining Island of the Blue Dolphins through a Literary Lens	This lesson invites students at all English proficiency levels, including English Language Learners (ELLs), to read, discuss, and react to Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins. Students examine Karana’s character development after discussing personal experiences with courage and adversity. Students then look for examples of courage in their community.	6-8	5/1/07
Exploring Cross-Age Tutoring Activities With Lewis and Clark	In this lesson, cross-age tutoring is a catalyst for interaction between high school and elementary students as they explore the journey of Lewis and Clark. Using the book How We Crossed the West and online interactive activities, students synthesize knowledge from collaborative sessions to write and share adventure stories.	9-12	7/19/07
Family Message Journals Teach Many Purposes for Writing	Family Message Journals are tools for learning, thinking, and self-expression. By writing several messages with varied purposes, students begin to experience that journal writing can serve many purposes—it can help them remember; make sense of new information and ideas; and recognize, develop, and share personal thoughts and reactions.	K-2	9/22/04
Figurative Language: Teaching Idioms	This lesson focuses on introducing idioms to students in the language arts classroom. Through direct instruction of idioms, students gain an in-depth understanding of this form of figurative language. Idioms are presented through read-alouds, literal representations, and the Internet.	3-5	8/2/07
Finding Figurative Language in The Phantom Tollbooth	This lesson is an exploration of figurative language using the novel The Phantom Tollbooth and various Web resources. Students examine figurative language in the story and create a chart representing the literal and figurative meanings of words and phrases.	6-8	11/20/08
Finding the Science Behind Science Fiction through Paired Readings	Science fiction offers students opportunities to discuss the “what ifs” within the context of scientific principles. This lesson plan invites students to read science fiction texts and then use nonfiction texts to extrapolate the scientific principles presented.	6-8	12/9/08
Flip-a-Chip: Examining Affixes and Roots to Build Vocabulary	Flip-a-Chip is a novel approach to word study that promotes vocabulary development. The activity provides hands-on practice with affixes and roots and promotes comprehension through structural analysis and vocabulary in context.	6-8	9/16/09
From Stop Signs to the Golden Arches: Environmental Print	Teachers have long surrounded young students with a print-rich environment within the classroom, but the purpose of this lesson is to bring the print-rich environment of the community into the classroom through the use of environmental print, enabling emergent readers to delight in the realization that they are indeed readers.	K-2	9/24/07
Growing Readers and Writers with Help from Mother Goose	Children can learn rhythm and rhyme from nursery rhymes. But those same poems can be used to help young students make connections to letters, sounds, and word chunks. Let Mother Goose help children grow as readers and writers!	K-2	7/13/07
Guided Comprehension: Knowing How Words Work Using Semantic Feature Analysis	This lesson uses the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen to introduce the comprehension strategy of knowing how words work using semantic feature analysis. The lesson teaches students how to analyze the characteristics of folktales, myths, and fables to gain a better understanding of these genres.	3-5	7/16/09
Improve Comprehension Using a Word Card Game With Root Words and Affixes	This lesson, which is quick, focused, and engaging, has students study common root words and affixes and learn how to improve comprehension and spelling with their new knowledge. Working in small groups, students make and play a card game in which the challenge is to form words with a prefix, root word, and suffix.	6-8	2/26/09
Integrating Literacy Into the Study of the Earth's Surface	Move beyond textbooks to encourage simultaneous science and literacy learning. In this lesson third through fifth graders learn about the features of the Earth's bodies of water using a variety of literacy genres, culminating with a Readers Theatre performance.	3-5	2/12/09
Internalization of Vocabulary Through the Use of a Word Map	Middle school students can internalize vocabulary through the use of a concrete and sequential word map. This multisensory method, which incorporates sketching, is intended as one method that students can choose to increase their personal vocabularies.	6-8	9/14/07
Introducing Shakespeare: Character Journals and Point of View	Students develop insight into character motivations and personality by writing a journal from the point of view of a specific Shakespeare character. They also explore how personal and cultural preconceptions shape our interpretation of characters and events.	6-8	2/25/09
Introducing Shakespeare: The Bard's English	Students are introduced to concepts of language change as they examine how words are borrowed or created and how vocabulary shifts. After exploring the vocabulary of Shakespeare's time and reading scenes from a Shakespeare play, students create original written and spoken dialogue incorporating Elizabethan words and phrases.	6-8	2/25/09
Learning to Learn with Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster	After reading the picture book Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster, students explore vocabulary from a recent unit and create their own vocabulary parade, modeled on the activities in the text. The activity provides a great alternative to testing students on information from a recent unit.	3-5	11/30/07
Learning Vocabulary Down By the Bay	Students learn high-frequency vocabulary words as they engage in singing and reading the song "Down By the Bay." Activities involve recognizing, reading, and writing the words in the song.	K-2	7/9/07
Let's Get Cooking With Words! Creating a Recipe Using Procedural Writing	This lesson focuses on procedural writing, which relies heavily on the effective use of wide-ranging nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Because word choice is vital to the genre, students explore this writing trait before practicing procedural writing.	3-5	2/25/09
Let's Read It Again: Comprehension Strategies for English-Language Learners	This adaptable lesson for Spanish-speaking second graders learning English uses a bilingual picture book and a variety of reading strategies to help students improve fluency and retain what they have learned.	K-2	2/26/09
Make a Splash! Using Dramatic Experience to “Explode the Moment”	In this lesson students learn to elaborate their writing by using descriptive language. They explore models of good writing and engage in shared writing about a surprise dramatic experience. Students complete a graphic organizer to brainstorm sensory details and use the writing process to publish short personal narratives.	3-5	7/1/08
Making It Visual for ELL Students: Teaching History Using Maus	Through the graphic novel Maus, students begin to learn the important historical lessons of the Holocaust. The lesson is appropriate for English-language learners and reluctant readers.	9-12	9/29/09
More than One Way to Create Vivid Verbs	One way to spice up your verbs is to learn new vocabulary. Or you can just use ordinary verbs in a new way! This lesson teaches students how to use old verbs in a new way, thus creating new and fresh descriptive phrases.	6-8	3/20/09
Multimedia Responses to Content Area Topics Using Fact–“Faction”–Fiction	This lesson focuses on students' development of cooperative learning and inquiry-based skills, as well as the ways that fiction and nonfiction can be blended seamlessly into texts. Students read Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin, and then work in cooperative groups to research and synthesize information about spiders.	3-5	4/14/09
My World of Words: Building Vocabulary Lists	This lesson uses students' areas of interest both in and out of school to generate personalized vocabulary lists. Working in small groups, students select their own vocabulary words and research their meanings. In a culminating activity that uses text and illustration, each student will create a "My World of Words Journal."	3-5	4/21/05
Onomatopoeia: A Figurative Language Mini-lesson	In this mini-lesson, students are introduced to the literary device of onomatopoeia and explore how the technique adds to a writer’s message. Students examine Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Bells,” looking for examples of these “sound words”; then they apply their knowledge to additional poems, other readings, or their own compositions.	9-12	6/28/07
Pairing Fiction With Poetry and Performance	This lesson, which is aimed at second-language learners, improves vocabulary and comprehension using dramatic performances of poetry. Student groups read and discuss novels and poetry before developing a performance poem of their own. On completion, students prepare for a formal presentation.	9-12	2/25/09
Playing Name Bingo with Chrysanthemum	The Name Bingo Game is sure to be popular with your students, whether it's early in year and you're still learning each other's names or you've had a new student join the class. After listening to Kevin Henkes' Chrysanthemum, or a similar book, each child develops a Bingo card and the whole class plays the game, learning one another's names and getting to know on another better. An added plus is this activity can become a reading center for your classroom.	K-2	10/8/03
Poetry Portfolios: Using Poetry to Teach Reading and Writing	Teach your students about sentence structure, rhyming words, sight words, vocabulary, and print concepts using a weekly poem. These important skills for reading and writing are demonstrated in a whole-to-parts approach using engaging poems, shared reading, and independent activities.	K-2	3/6/09
Protecting Our Precious Planet: Sharing the Message of Earth Day	Show students how their ideas can make a difference by having them participate in the Earth Day Groceries Project. Students design grocery bags with environmental messages to distribute in local supermarkets. After completing the project, students can share their work online.	K-2	5/1/09
Reading and Writing Workshop: Freak the Mighty	This novel study of Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick includes the modeling and practicing of specific reading comprehension strategies, vocabulary and word study, a figurative language activity, and a selection of final projects which can be used for assessment with the accompanying rubric.	6-8	12/8/08
Reading Everywhere with Dr. Seuss	Using Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham as a model, students create a book and a PowerPoint or HyperStudio slide show to help them see all the wonderful places they can read. Where do you like to read? By the pool? At school? In a car? Beneath a star? Here? There? Everywhere!	K-2	3/1/09
Shape Poems: Writing Extraordinary Poems About Ordinary Objects	In this lesson, students learn the characteristics and format of shape poems and write their own shape poems using an online interactive activity.	3-5	2/12/09
Shared Poetry Reading: Teaching Print Concepts, Rhyme, and Vocabulary	This lesson encourages successful reading by introducing kindergarten students to concepts about print, vocabulary acquisition, and rhyme. Students actively engage in a nursery rhyme, pointing out examples of the concepts being taught and following along during several shared readings.	K-2	2/12/09
Shared Spelling Strategies	Students increase their spelling accuracy (i.e., standard) and their retention by "constructing" spelling using sound, sight recall, and analyzing strategies, among others, instead of memorizing lists of words. The aim is to deal with spelling during drafting while preserving fluency.	6-8	3/20/07
She Did What? Revising for Connotation	Did she walk, skip, amble, dance? In this mini-lesson, students examine the simple sentence "She walked into the room." Students act out ways that the student in the sentence might enter the room, revising the sample sentence to increase the specificity of the word and explore connotation. Students follow this demonstration by selecting words with powerful connotations for their own writing.	6-8	4/14/09
Sonic Patterns: Exploring Poetic Techniques Through Close Reading	Students will gain a deeper appreciation for the art of poetry as they develop close reading skills connecting sound with sense in the frequently anthologized poem “Those Winter Sundays” and write an original text that reflects their new learning.	9-12	2/27/09
Spelling Patterns “Go Fish” Card Game	Students use sets of words that share a spelling pattern to create a card game similar to “Go Fish,” then play the game in small groups. These activities can help students improve their spelling skills by building awareness of some common yet challenging spelling patterns.	6-8	2/26/09
Teaching Science Through Picture Books: A Rainforest Lesson	A study of the tropical rainforest is introduced through the picture book Welcome to the Green House by Jane Yolen. This science lesson, which incorporates reading, writing, and technology, is a template that can be used with other books by Jane Yolen to teach about the desert, the polar ice cap, and the Everglades.	3-5	11/18/08
Teaching Student Annotation: Constructing Meaning Through Connections	Believing that the meaning of text lies in the teacher's notes, not within themselves, students often fail to realize that their experiences and understandings are just as important in constructing meaning. Through annotations, students begin to find ways to make personal connections with text and grow in confidence as they work with text.	9-12	3/19/09
Text Talk: Julius, the Baby of the World	This lesson helps young readers interact with and interpret text using Julius, the Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes. The text talk strategy provides students with open-ended questions, which allow them to interpret the language, plot, and characters of the story.	K-2	6/25/07
Textmasters: Shaking Up Textbook Reading in Science Classrooms	Students will become masters at comprehending content area texts with this spin on literature circles. The Textmasters strategy invites students to adopt roles that promote collaborative learning.	6-8	10/7/09
The Big Green Monster Teaches Phonics in Reading and Writing	This lesson incorporates a shared and paired reading of the story Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley to build reading fluency and word recognition skills. Students also examine onset/rime patterns by generating word families, review high-frequency vocabulary through a memory card game, and apply phonics skills during a writing activity.	K-2	4/25/08
The Big, Bad Wolf...Is This a Fact?	This lesson uses nonfiction trade books to increase comprehension, vocabulary, and research skills, and boost students willingness to read. Activities include sustained silent reading (SSR), book discussions, teacher modeling, journal responses, research, and use of multimedia software to create presentations.	6-8	6/25/07
The Comic Book Show and Tell	Students learn about the people involved in making comic books and learn how central the script is to the process. They craft comic book scripts using clear, accurate, descriptive, and detailed writing that shows (illustrates) and tells (directs). After peers create an artistic interpretation of the script, students revise their original scripts.	9-12	1/26/06
To, Too, or Two: Developing an Understanding of Homophones	This lesson uses acting and music to reinforce the meanings and spellings of common homophones. Students listen to a song designed to help them remember the spellings and meanings of many homophones. They then work in small groups to write and create short skits depicting homophones, while their peers determine the correct spellings for the homophones. These skits are later made into comic strips.	3-5	4/21/08
Traveling Terrain: Comprehending Nonfiction Text on the Web	This lesson provides strategic teaching lessons to students for comprehending nonfiction text found in website format. Strategies include locating specific information, identifying text features of nonfiction text, and generalizing information read to related topics. The lesson centers on a science-oriented website, but can be adapted to other content area websites.	3-5	11/16/06
Using a Word Journal to Create a Personal Dictionary	Students keep track of unfamiliar words they encounter while reading various texts. Using a word journal notebook, students explore the perceived meaning and the standard dictionary meaning of these words. Students then create a personal dictionary in PowerPoint® using the words recorded in their word journal notebook.	6-8	6/25/07
Using Greeting Cards to Motivate Students and Enhance Literacy Skills	Motivate your students to read and write through a study of greeting cards! Greeting cards can be used to enhance your literacy instruction in reading, writing, speaking, visual arts, and listening. Students explore greeting cards and identify crafting techniques authors use when creating greeting cards.	K-2	4/26/07
Using Personal Connections to Build an Understanding of Emotions	In this lesson, students concretely define the abstract concept of emotions by using their own facial expressions as models, creating happy and sad masks, and discussing their personal experiences. The lesson is appropriate for prekindergarten through first-grade students.	K-2	9/14/07
Using Songwriting to Build Awareness of Beginning Letter Sounds	This musical lesson, focusing on beginning letter sounds, is an engaging way for students to practice using selected letters by creating verses to a song. Students think creatively to develop and sing song verses and then illustrate the verses to be included in a class songbook.	K-2	12/16/08
Using the Four-Square Strategy to Define and Identify Poetic Terms	Through online research and follow-up discussion, students define four poetic terms using a four-square graphic organizer. They then locate and record examples of each term and apply their knowledge as they explore the poem "The Esquimos Have No Word for 'War'" by Mary Oliver.	6-8	8/2/07
Using Word Storms to Explore Vocabulary and Encourage Critical Thinking	Using an inquiry model called POWER, this lesson has students learn new vocabulary related to a social issue, explore these vocabulary words in discussions and journals, and create projects that use the vocabulary to reflect their critical perspectives. It can be applied to different content areas.	3-5	2/12/09
Using Word Webs to Teach Synonyms for Commonly Used Words	This lesson uses word webs to introduce synonyms for commonly used words such as good, bad, and nice, and to help students adjust their word usage for different contexts. The lesson was designed for second language learners but can be used with all students, even high school.	6-8	5/14/08
Viewing Vocabulary: Building Word Knowledge Through Informational Websites	This lesson encourages students to thoughtfully read a text to identify important words, discuss those words with peers, summarize the text, respond in a variety of ways, and read related texts to identify how those words are used in other contexts.	6-8	2/14/08
What’s in a Name? Teaching Concepts of Letter and Word	The purpose of this lesson is to help kindergarten children understand the concepts of letter and word by using their names as a starting point. Ideas will also be given to help assess student progress in becoming readers and writers. What can you do with names? Just see!	K-2	12/4/05
What's in a Mystery? Exploring and Identifying Mystery Elements	In this lesson, students read Nate the Great or a similar mystery and use it to help them identify the elements of mysteries. They then complete a mystery graphic organizer and write their own mystery stories.	3-5	2/12/09
Whose Shoes? Using Artifacts to Teach Reading and Rhyming Patterns	In this lesson first- and second-grade students analyze an artifact and read books about it. They learn to recognize the importance of simple items and further develop their rhyming skills using a poetic book.	K-2	2/25/09
Word Study With Henry and Mudge	This lesson for second- and third-grade students uses a model that incorporates different reading stages and research-based strategies for teaching reading to provide direct instruction for the past tense marker –ed. Students also practice real reading and writing using books from the Henry and Mudge series.	K-2	2/12/09
You’re the Top! Pop Culture Then and Now	This lesson uses Cole Porter’s "You're the Top!" to explore pop culture of the past and present and to practice the stylistic writing technique of cataloguing. If desired, students have the opportunity to extend the lesson into a research project.	9-12	3/7/06