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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 Bear of a Poem: Composing and Performing Found Poetry	Using familiar childhood stories, students will work together to create a poem that is “found” in the language presented in the picture books they read. Children will look in texts for writing that inspires them—looking for favorite words, phrases, and sentences. Working together, students will combine their words and phrases to create a class poem. When complete, the new piece will be shared as performance poetry.	K-2	6/11/08
A Getting-Acquainted Activity Using My Teacher’s Secret Life	The first days of school are filled with excitement and uncertainty. Here, in this kindergarten lesson, is a creative way for students to become familiar with the teacher and each other. The students will listen to Stephen Krensky's My Teacher's Secret Life, discuss the content, and make predictions about what everyone does when they are away from school.	K-2	12/2/05
A is for Apple: Building Letter-Recognition Fluency	This lesson, which is most appropriate for kindergartners, provides multiple and varied opportunities for students to work with letters. Students play games, work online, and create an ABC book to become more fluent at letter recognition.	K-2	4/14/09
A Journal for Corduroy: Responding to Literature	This lesson leads first-grade students to reflect on and respond to literature through journal writing. Students read books in the Corduroy series and interact with a stuffed bear to personalize their experiences. They also record their own adventures with Corduroy, share their stories with the class, and create a class book using the computer.	K-2	10/20/09
A-Hunting We Will Go: Teaching Rhyming Through Musical Verse	Rhyming is a natural skill when used in the context of singing songs. This lesson engages children by teaching rhyming concepts through music. Students gain an understanding of rhyming verse by creating new rhyming pairs for a familiar song and support these skills with an online interactive tool.	K-2	4/25/08
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
Acrostic Poems: All About Me and My Favorite Things	Students write two free-verse acrostic poems about themselves. One uses the letters of their names to begin each line; the other uses a word from in their name poem for the letters beginning each line. Both poems are recopied, illustrated, and mounted for display.	K-2	7/1/09
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
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
Adventures in Nonfiction: A Guided Inquiry Journey	Students are guided through an informal exploration of nonfiction texts and child-oriented Web sites, learning browsing and skimming techniques for the purpose of gathering interesting information. They share learned facts with others, develop follow-up questions, and seek answers using Internet search engines in addition to print resources.	K-2	7/2/06
Alphabetizing With Original Stories	Students familiarize themselves with alphabetical order while writing original stories, which can then be showcased in the classroom. Following a brainstorming session, students are challenged with the task of making books solely composed of words in alphabetical order.	K-2	2/12/09
Animal Study: From Fiction to Facts	Students listen to matching fiction and nonfiction read-alouds and explore selected Web sites to identify factual information about animals. To complete their exploration, students predict, question, confirm, and record information about one animal. This lesson plan focuses on ants, but the project can easily be adapted to any animal of interest. Resources are included for ants, black bears, fish, frogs and toads, penguins, and polar bears.	K-2	4/14/09
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
Authentic Writing Experiences and Math Problem-Solving Using Shopping Lists	This activity allows students to use their emerging writing skills to write their own shopping lists. Students are highly motivated to work within a budget, use their problem-solving skills to create shopping lists, and buy their favorite treats at the class store.	K-2	11/19/08
Between the Lions: Exploring Short-Vowel Sounds	Not only is "Between the Lions" an exciting, educational television program by PBS, it also has a captivating website with a variety of activities that students will enjoy. This lesson provides examples of how the "Between the Lions" website can be used by a first-grade class studying short-vowel sounds.	K-2	6/26/07
Bingo! Using Environmental Print to Practice Reading	This lesson assumes that students have some practice reading and writing environmental print and encourages them to use the things they have learned to create Bingo cards and play environmental print Bingo.	K-2	2/25/09
Book Buddy Biographies: Intermediate and Primary Students Working Together	The success of a year-long Book Buddy program hinges on those first few days at the beginning of the year. As intermediate and primary students are first introduced, they have the opportunity to get to know each other on a more personal level by creating personalized biographies by interviewing each other, recording responses, putting the information into book format, and illustrating their books.	K-2	4/3/06
Book Sorting: Using Observation and Comprehension to Categorize Books	This sorting lesson supports the development of critical-thinking and vocabulary skills through observation and discussion of text illustrations and content. With the whole group and then in pairs, students sort books into three or more groups using their own criteria, then explain in writing how they sorted the books.	K-2	11/19/08
Building a Matrix for Leo Lionni Books: An Author Study	In this author study, students listen to four books by Leo Lionni and discuss the literary elements of each story. With each new read-aloud story, students identify similarities and differences in the stories and work in groups to add illustrated information to a story matrix. Finally, students compare two stories of their choice.	K-2	8/17/09
Casting Shadows Across Literacy and Science	As they read about shadows in fiction, informational text, and poetry, students bring their own background knowledge and experiences to the text and extend their understanding of concepts. Lesson activities encourage students to use their observational skills, both in science and in literature, and to create their own shadow poetry.	K-2	2/25/09
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
Choosing One Word: Summarizing Shel Silverstein’s “Sick”	After reading a text in the classroom, students work together to determine the one word that summarizes that text. This comprehension activity requires students to work together and highlights their ability to justify their word choice.	K-2	2/13/09
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
Collaborating on a Class Book: Exploring Before-During-After Sequences	In this classroom project, students and the teacher produce a class book through a group-writing activity, focusing on a basic before-during-after sequence of events. In this case, the book focuses on the carving of the class jack-o-lantern, though the lesson plan could be customized for explorations of other items in the classroom.	K-2	10/23/07
Collaborative Stories 1: Prewriting and Drafting	Students participate in two small-group prewriting activities to gather ideas for a story to be written collaboratively by the whole class. After listening to the beginnings of several children’s stories, students work in groups to brainstorm plot ideas and story beginnings. Students then write a collaborative story on chart paper, working individually or in pairs to add to the story sentence-by-sentence, honing their teamwork skills and playing off each other's writing strengths.	K-2	2/28/04
Collaborative Stories 2: Revising	Using a story which has been written collaboratively by students, the teacher leads a shared-revising activity to help students consider content when revising, with students participating in the marking of text revisions.	K-2	5/9/06
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
Comparing Fiction and Nonfiction with Little Red Riding Hood Text Sets	Beginning with a comparative study of retellings of “Little Red Riding Hood” and modern revisions of the folktale, this literature unit continues with a study of fantasy, realistic fiction, and nonfiction texts. As students explore various depictions of wolves, they gain another perspective of the “villain” in the traditional tale.	K-2	11/20/08
Completing the Circle: The Craft of Circular Plot Structure	After exploring the organizing structure and writer’s craft of picture books, students identify, explore and apply the elements of circle plot structures to their own stories. Students use graphic organizers, read and write stories, and use checklists to assess their work.	K-2	2/13/09
Composing Cinquain Poems: A Quick-Writing Activity	Cinquain (pronounced "cin-kain") is a five-line poetic form, using a wavelike syllable count of two-four-six-eight-two. In this lesson, students write simple cinquain of their own as a follow-up to a subject they have been exploring in class (for instance, units on animals, community, rainforest, or on a particular picture book, such as Amazing Grace).	K-2	5/1/09
Connect With Low-Literate Families: A Three-Tiered Approach	Teachers working in schools with a high proportion of at-risk children may send home family literacy activities that are inaccessible to parents and caregivers who struggle with their own literacy skills. This lesson plan suggests a three-tier scaffolding model to help overcome this problem.	K-2	2/12/09
Creating a Class Pattern Book With Popular Culture Characters	As a class, students create a digital pattern book by first taking pictures of popular culture characters in various situations throughout their school and then writing accompanying text about them in a pattern book structure.	K-2	2/25/09
Creating Class Rules: A Beginning to Creating Community	On the first days of school, students are led through a process for establishing year-long goals and needs for the classroom. These become the classroom guidelines which are used as a foundation for continuous community-building in the classroom.	K-2	11/19/08
Creating Question and Answer Books through Guided Research	Students investigate one topic, recording details on KWL charts, through whole class read-alouds as well as individual reading of nonfiction text. The activity concludes with a collaborative writing project as students compose a class question and answer book. This lesson can be easily expanded for any grade level.	K-2	12/8/08
Creative Problem-Solving with Ezra Jack Keats	Students explore problem-solving in this lesson, which explores the challenges faced by characters in Ezra Jack Keats’ picture books. After reading a variety of Keats’ books, students explore the problems that the characters face and solutions that they choose through classroom discussion, story mapping, and comparison and contrast of several Keats’ books.	K-2	12/8/08
Descriptive Writing and the 100th Day of School	To mark the 100th day of school, students will work at home with their families to create 100th day bottles filled with 100 matching items. They will practice descriptive writing as they write about the items in their bottles.	K-2	2/12/09
Diagram It! Identifying, Comparing, and Writing About Nonfiction Texts	This lesson introduces second-grade students to nonfiction by focusing on the differences between fiction and nonfiction and by looking at distinctions among three types of nonfiction. Students create Venn diagrams to categorize the types of nonfiction and compare their characteristics.	K-2	2/12/09
Digging Deeper: Developing Comprehension Using Thank You, Mr. Falker	Good readers demonstrate deep comprehension of text using a wide variety of strategies. In this lesson, a read-aloud of a story (Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco) helps promote deeper comprehension through teacher modeling of questioning to achieve personal connection and discussions of character and theme.	K-2	2/12/09
Digging Up Details on Worms: Using the Language of Science in an Inquiry Study	Foregrounding scientific vocabulary, this integrated lesson invites students to research worms in order to create a classroom habitat. The project incorporates reading and writing across the content areas as well as specific activities in the areas of math and science.	K-2	12/9/08
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
Draw a Story: Stepping from Pictures to Writing	Students draw a series of pictures that tell a simple story that includes character action, problem and solution. They ‘read’ their story to others, transcribe it into writing, and create an accordion book with the drawings and writing. The activity supports the transition from oral to written storytelling.	K-2	11/14/06
Engaging Students in Read-Alouds Using Fractured Texas Tales	This lesson involves read-alouds of traditional fairy tales and their Wild West counterparts to engage students in reading responses. Each session also includes suggestions for supporting English-language learners.	K-2	4/14/09
Exploring Sets through Math-Related Book Pairs	After reading and discussing a book pair of two math-related books, students investigate their home and school environments to find examples of objects that come in sets of twos, threes, fours, fives and sixes. Working either collaboratively or individually, students then create their own books on sets, highlighting their inquiry study.	K-2	10/21/05
Fact or Fiction: Learning About Worms Using Diary of a Worm	This lesson uses the text Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin to introduce effective reading comprehension strategies. Students learn strategies to help them differentiate fact from fiction while reading.	K-2	2/12/09
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
Family Ties: Making Connections to Improve Reading Comprehension	Build a connection! The strategy of making connections can improve reading comprehension. Students listen to three realistic picture books, Bigmama’s by Donald Crews, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, and The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant, and make text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections.	K-2	5/15/07
Ferocious Fighting Fish: An Ocean Unit Exploring Beginning Word Sounds	Focus students’ attention on alliteration, or repeated beginning word sounds, in this unit which explores an ocean theme. Students explore alliteration in framing texts then compose their own class book to explore figurative language in their own writing. The lesson includes a revision worksheet to apply the technique to another piece of writing.	K-2	2/13/09
Four Simple Steps to Small-Group Guided Writing	This lesson describes small-group, guided writing instruction for the construction of information-based texts. Guided writing instruction, taught in four steps, expands students’ linguistic resources, knowledge of text structure, content knowledge, and strategies for writing.	K-2	12/9/08
From Fact to Fiction: Drawing and Writing Stories	Involving students in drawing activities prior to writing helps them to visualize what they want to express in their writing. Drawing before writing makes writing an easier process. In this lesson, students learn story elements, use graphic organizers, and access the Internet to gather factual information about frogs and toads.	K-2	6/25/07
From Little House to My House: Exploring History and Family Roles	This lesson introduces first- and second-grade students to the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, using a story adapted from Little House in the Big Woods. A read-aloud followed by questions helps students explore the book. Students then use a graphic organizer to connect the characters and events to their own lives.	K-2	2/12/09
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
Generating Rhymes: Developing Phonemic Awareness	Phonemic awareness instruction is an integral part of any early reading program. This lesson incorporates song and poetry to help students recognize and generate simple rhymes.	K-2	4/25/08
Getting the ig in Pig: Helping Children Discover Onset and Rime	This phonics lesson offers a clear instructional format for teaching onset and rime. The ig rime is demonstrated through the use of literature, independent and cooperative learning, critical thinking, and hands-on activities. Instruction is conducted in both an explicit and implicit manner.	K-2	4/25/08
Giant Story Problems: Reading Comprehension through Math Problem Solving	Students solve "oversized" story problems using drawings, equations, and written responses, helping them understand the links between the language of story problems and the numerical representations of matching equations. The activity also includes oral language and reflective writing, thus bringing together a variety of language experiences into mathematics work.	K-2	11/19/08
Gingerbread Phonics	The Gingerbread Man, a familiar folk tale, is used to help early readers learn letter-sound correspondence in a meaningful context. Students then use their new skills to write an online story.	K-2	11/15/07
Going on a Shape Hunt: Integrating Math and Literacy	After a read-aloud session with a geometry-themed book, students participate in a scavenger hunt for shapes in their school environment. Reading, writing, and discussion encourage literacy and verbal skills; the search for shapes integrates mathematics.	K-2	2/12/09
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
Guess What’s in the Bag: A Language-based Activity	"Guess What's in the Bag" gives students opportunities to interact and play with language. It challenges them to develop and use descriptive language when communicating. This lesson helps not only the speakers, but also the listeners who process the clues given and make predictions about the item in the bag.	K-2	11/19/08
Have Journal...Will Travel: Promoting Family Involvement in Literacy	This project is designed to engage families in shared literacy activities. The students take turns taking home a book bag that includes a stuffed toy, a book, art supplies, a topic to discuss with their families, and a journal to share their thoughts and ideas. Through the experience they build positive memories of literacy activities.	K-2	5/9/06
Hey Diddle, Diddle! Generating Rhymes for Analogy-Based Phonics Instruction	First-grade teachers can use analogy-based phonics (i.e., learning words based on word families) before other phonological skills, such as rhyme, are in place. This lesson focuses on an informal assessment of students' identification of rhyme in the context of a poem and manipulation of online picture cards.	K-2	4/25/08
How Does My Garden Grow? Writing in Science Field Journals	While scientists are working, they often keep journals to document observations, gather information, sketch pictures, write down questions, form a hypothesis, and record reactions. In this lesson plan, students will be keeping their own science field journal as a log of a classroom gardening project.	K-2	11/6/06
I Know That Word! Teaching Reading With Environmental Print	Signs and labels provide even the youngest students with reading opportunities. In this lesson, students practice reading various types of print, starting with contextualized logos and moving on to words with no color or graphics. Students are encouraged to move from whole-word identification to alphabetic decoding.	K-2	2/25/09
I Wonder: Writing Scientific Explanations With Students	Students ask questions all the time. This lesson takes advantage of students' natural curiosity, encouraging them to research a scientific question and write an answer. Second-grade students will learn to research, sort and classify information, and collaborate to write a class scientific explanation.	K-2	2/12/09
Improving Fluency through Group Literary Performance	Repeated readings and literary performances help students with their reading accuracy, expression, and rate. In this lesson, students participate in shared reading, choral reading, and readers theater, focusing their exploration on picture books by Bill Martin, Jr.	K-2	11/20/08
Integrating Language Arts Using If You Give a Mouse a Cookie	This lesson integrates reading, writing, listening, and speaking to boost students' comprehension skills. Students explore Laura Joffe Numeroff 's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie using a variety of techniques, beginning with a picture walk and ending with the creation and publication of their own versions of the text.	K-2	3/6/09
Introducing the Venn Diagram in the Kindergarten Classroom	Graphic organizers are valuable learning tools, but can a Venn diagram be used by kindergarten kids? Yes, if you make it hands-on and user-friendly! In this lesson, students use hula hoops and real objects, as well as online interactives, as they use Venn diagrams to problem solve, explore, and record information to share with others.	K-2	11/19/08
Investigating Animals: Using Nonfiction for Inquiry-based Research	Students document their discoveries as they explore nonfiction, informational texts to investigate favorite animals. The lesson includes whole-group explorations and paired experiences between kindergarten students and upper-grade students.	K-2	4/14/09
Involving Students and Families in Ongoing Reflection and Assessment	In this lesson, students begin by writing a sentence or two each week and progress to daily reflections and records of their school activity. Families respond to these student reflections, which become the basis for discussion among family, teacher, and students. The reflections are also a key resource in regular student-family-teacher conferences that take place during the term.	K-2	11/19/08
Is This the Right Book for Me? Strategies for Beginning Readers	In this lesson students are introduced to the idea of making purposeful choices when selecting reading material. They learn to take their reason for reading into account and how to use some beginning strategies to match the book to their abilities.	K-2	2/12/09
It Doesn’t Have to End That Way: Using Prediction Strategies with Literature	After listening to the beginning of a story, students use details in the text, personal experience, and prior knowledge to predict the way the story will end. Students create illustrations of the story’s ending that reflects their predictions.	K-2	5/8/07
It's Okay to Be Different: Teaching Diversity With Todd Parr	This lesson for first- and second-grade students uses Todd Parr's book It's Okay to Be Different to introduce the topic of diversity. Students participate in discussions designed to encourage empathy and explore the idea of what makes us diverse. They then create books that are meant to help educate their peers.	K-2	2/12/09
It's Too Loud in Here! Teamwork in the Classroom	This lesson meets first- and second-grade students' natural need to socialize when creating meaning about the world. The cooperative learning activities allow students to collaborate and develop an understanding of teamwork while developing classroom rules. It's okay to be LOUD in this lesson!	K-2	7/24/07
Junie B. Jones Introduces Literacy Mystery Boxes	This read-aloud lesson, using Junie B., First Grader (at last!) by Barbara Park, invites students to discuss the story with their classmates, record key events, make personal connections, and create literacy mystery boxes to aid in retelling the story.	K-2	2/12/09
Launching Family Message Journals	This lesson introduces Family Message Journals, a tool for encouraging family involvement and supporting writing to reflect and learn. First and second graders are led into composing through demonstration, guided writing, and finally independent writing of messages that they will bring home for family to read and write a reply.	K-2	3/28/07
Learning Centers: From Shared to Independent Practice	In this lesson, a number of literacy learning centers are developed within the context of a shared reading experience, allowing students to practice skills at their own level (both in interest and ability), within the authentic context of a rich literacy experience.	K-2	11/18/08
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 Build a Snowman	Using both fiction and nonfiction books on the same topic can boost students' understanding of the topic and enjoyment for reading. In this lesson, students use both types of texts, the Internet, and a K-W-L chart to learn about how animals survive during the winter.	K-2	1/23/07
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
Let's Talk About Stories: Shared Discussion With Amazing Grace	Make space for critical literacy in your classroom and engage your students in meaningful and thoughtful discussions. This lesson uses Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman, as an example, to dig deep into themes such as prejudice, courage, and self-confidence.	K-2	4/14/09
Listen, Look, and Learn: An Information-Gathering Process	After listening to and discussing the story Score One for the Sloths, primary students will work together as a class group to seek for information on the sloth. This introductory lesson on information gathering features a variety of resources and formats to be used with notes recorded on an information wheel graphic organizer.	K-2	10/13/04
Literacy Centers: Getting Started	As a teacher engages in individualized guided reading activities in the classroom, what does the rest of the class do? This lesson provides a starting point for creating Literacy Centers in the primary classroom. The centers are easy to launch and provide students meaningful, independent learning experiences.	K-2	3/11/09
Literature Circles with Primary Students Using Self-Selected Reading	After reading self-selected books, students respond to reading in a journal and talk about their books daily in small, heterogeneous groups. The teacher guides and assesses students’ work by rotating among the groups, offering suggested response prompts and writing with them in their dialogue journals.	K-2	6/30/05
Living the Dream: 100 Acts of Kindness	After studying about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and what he believed in, students need the chance to apply those lessons. This is the action piece. This project allows students to participate in Dr. King’s dream by doing 100 acts of kindness. What better way to prove that we can make a difference? What better way to live the dream?	K-2	4/14/09
Mail Time! An Integrated Postcard and Geography Study	Children love to receive mail. Can you imagine their excitement if they received a picture postcard at school? That’s what happens in this project! Children will write and receive postcards from friends and family, and then chart where all those postcards come from on their classroom map.	K-2	3/5/09
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Me: Identifying with a Hero	Martin Luther King, Jr. Day provides a great opportunity to teach about heroes. But how do we help our youngest students identify with an American hero like Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who lived and died long before they were even born? This lesson provides lots of ideas by encouraging students to explore the connections between Dr. King and themselves in journals and inquiry-based research.	K-2	8/17/09
Name Talk: Exploring Letter-Sound Knowledge in the Primary Classroom	Invites primary students to share their letter/sound knowledge in a small group and gives teachers an opportunity to assess knowledge in a meaningful context. Working with name cards, students share observations about their names and the names of their classmates. Extensions are appropriate for a range of primary-aged students.	K-2	3/16/07
Note Writing in the Primary Classroom	Focus on authentic writing in your classroom by visibly using everyday notes in the classroom and inviting students to write short notes to themselves, friends, teachers, and family. This lesson invites students to write short everyday notes, to remind, plan, request or compliment, providing many natural opportunities for meaningful writing and lots of practice in encoding/decoding written text, drawing them into the world of real writing for real purposes.	K-2	6/15/06
Our Community: Creating ABC Books as Assessment	What is one way we can we assess mastery of content standards with our youngest students in creative and engaging ways? By helping them create alphabet books! This integrated assessment can be used with science, health, social studies, and any other content area. This lesson plans looks at the theme of community.	K-2	11/20/08
Packing the Pilgrim’s Trunk: Personalizing History in the Elementary Classroom	How can young students relate to historical events? How can they make connections to the past? The purpose of this theme is to help primary students form connections between their own lives and the lives of the Pilgrims—making history relevant.	K-2	3/11/09
Persuasive Writing: What Can Writing in Family Message Journals Do for Students?	Composing messages with varied purposes helps children discover the power of writing. When students recognize what writing can do for them, motivation to write increases. This lesson engages children in using writing to their families as a persuasive tool to get what they want and need.	K-2	3/17/08
Phoneme Isolation: Building Phonemic Awareness	Phoneme isolation is an important aspect of phonemic awareness and an essential early reading skill. This lesson helps students isolate beginning and ending sounds and connect them with their written symbol (grapheme) through games and chants.	K-2	3/6/09
Phonic Generalizations in Chrysanthemum	Using the book Chrysanthemum, this lesson teaches first- and second-graders the phonic generalizations for ow, aw, and ew. Based on the strategy "Letterbox Lessons" by Murray and Lesniak, students manipulate letters to construct words. Students then apply the strategy by spelling the words, reading the words in selected nursery rhymes, and playing an online, interactive game.	K-2	12/18/08
Phonics In Context	Many phonics elements can be introduced and taught using the read-aloud framework and quality children's literature. This lesson introduces and reinforces the letter-sound relationship for the short /u/ sound within a meaningful, familiar context. The lesson can easily be adapted for other phonics elements.	K-2	4/25/08
Phonics Through Literature: Learning About the Letter M	With a balance of teacher-directed, student-initiated, and home activities, kindergarten students learn about phonics and the letter m. This lesson uses children's literature, learning centers, and activities that emphasize interactive learning across the curriculum to encourage students to "monkey around" with their knowledge of letters and sounds in a fun, whole-language environment.	K-2	4/14/08
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
Predicting and Gathering Information With Nonfiction Texts	The purpose of this lesson is to introduce second-grade students to nonfiction with an African Savanna theme. The lesson focuses on the purposes of nonfiction texts and how to use them to gather information.	K-2	4/14/09
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
Rain, Ice, Steam: Using Reading to Support Inquiry About the Water Cycle	This lesson for students in first and second grades uses read-alouds, websites, and hands-on experiments to help students discover and understand the three parts of the water cycle that most often affect their lives.	K-2	2/12/09
Read a Song: Using Song Lyrics for Reading and Writing	While exploring well-known songs, students learn that they consist of music and lyrics and make the connection between the words that are sung and the words that can be read.	K-2	10/14/09
Readers Theatre With Jan Brett	In this lesson, first- or second-grade students interact with the story Hedgie's Surprise by Jan Brett. They then participate in a Readers Theatre experience that develops oral fluency in English, reading comprehension, and a richer understanding of text structure and literary elements.	K-2	11/21/08
Reading and Writing About Whales Using Fiction and Nonfiction Texts	This lesson uses fiction and nonfiction texts to teach first- and second-grade students about blue whales and the parts of a letter. Students learn how to formulate research questions and incorporate their questions in the form of a letter. They then send their letters to an online scientist.	K-2	7/18/07
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
Reading Informational Texts Using the 3-2-1 Strategy	This lesson teaches students in grades K–2 how to use the 3-2-1 strategy while reading magazine articles. The 3-2-1 strategy involves writing about three things they discovered, two things they found interesting, and one question they still have.	K-2	2/25/09
Safety Tips With Officer Buckle and Gloria	This lesson uses the book Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann to encourage students to recognize potentially dangerous situations and decide upon safe solutions. They then create posters to communicate their messages.	K-2	11/18/08
Sentence Quest: Using Parts of Speech to Write Descriptive Sentences	Working with class-generated word lists categorized by parts of speech, students learn the criteria for a sentence by manipulating word cards, then collaborate to write and illustrate complete, descriptive sentences. Finally, students work in groups using descriptive words and phrases to try to create the longest sentence they can.	K-2	3/1/04
Shared Experiences, Individual Impressions: Buddies Create PowerPoint Stories	This lesson combines the Language Experience Approach with digital features of PowerPoint software. Following a field trip or classroom experience, students respond individually with words and photos. They then create a collaborative timeline online before working with older buddies to organize photos and text into a story on the computer.	K-2	7/1/09
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
Shhh! Bear's Sleeping: Learning About Nonfiction and Fiction Using Read-Alouds	In this lesson, interactive read-alouds introduce students in grades K–2 to the concept of fiction and nonfiction using the hibernation of bears as a topic. A variety of books and poems engage students who actively participate through songs and finger play. Students then write a class book.	K-2	2/12/09
Stop Signs, McDonald’s, and Cheerios: Writing With Environmental Print	Purposeful instruction with high-profile text can serve as a springboard for literacy instruction. This lesson encourages early readers to look beyond the color and context clues of environmental print to identify individual letters, to read words, and to write them.	K-2	2/25/09
Student of the Day: Create Sound/Letter Understanding With Names	This lesson uses students' names and other concrete words to teach the conventions and terminology of print. Kindergarten and first-grade students explore each other's names, making comparisons between initial sounds, ending sounds, syllabication, and letter shape.	K-2	3/21/07
Taking Photos of Curious George: Exploring Character Through Images	In this lesson for first- through third-grade students, a read-aloud and a graphic organizer help students to explore Curious George’s character. After exploring other books about the funny monkey, they imagine what would happen if George visited their school before creating a digital storybook of his adventures.	K-2	2/25/09
Teaching About Story Structure Using Fairy Tales	This lesson for second-grade and late first-grade students uses familiar fairy tales and nursery rhymes to teach about story structure. These stories ultimately serve as inspiration for student writing, which is scaffolded through three levels: shared writing, guided writing, and independent writing.	K-2	2/12/09
Teaching Audience Through Interactive Writing	This lesson teaches first-grade students how to think about audience when writing. By interacting with one another during the writing process, students create invitations for a genuine purpose.	K-2	8/2/07
Teaching Shapes Using Read-Alouds, Visualization, and Sketch to Stretch	This lesson helps students learn about the math concepts of shape and pattern using a combination of strategies including interactive read-alouds of books centered on a winter theme, visualization, and sketch to stretch.	K-2	2/12/09
Teaching Short-Vowel Discrimination Using Dr. Seuss Rhymes	Students develop phonemic and phonetic awareness through word study of common short-vowel word families. Students will use Dr. Seuss rhymes to discover and explore the sounds and spellings of different short vowel word families.	K-2	12/16/08
Telling a Story About Me: Young Children Write Autobiographies	Drawing inspiration from personal photographs, students write and publish autobiographies to share with the class and their families. First and second graders practice sentence composition, writing, and group work.	K-2	2/12/09
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
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 Day Jimmy’s Boa Taught Cause and Effect	Students can often better understand cause and effect if they look at the effect first and then ask, “What caused this?” Trinka Hakes Noble’s books about Jimmy and his boa constrictor are a wonderful way to introduce the concept of cause and effect since the stories are often told in reverse order.	K-2	7/15/08
The Frog Beyond the Fairy Tale Character: Searching Informational Texts	Students consider their prior knowledge about frogs by predicting whether eight statements are true or false. Students verify their predictions through the guided use of the website The Somewhat Amusing World of Frogs. This lesson is best used for grades 1 and 2 and can be connected to the study of amphibians or to the reading of Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad series.	K-2	6/25/07
The Wonder of Leo Lionni: Increasing Comprehension with Prediction Statements	Creating a sense of wonder when reading can help students build their comprehension and relate texts to their own experiences. In this lesson, students read books by author Leo Lionni books and compose “I wonder” statements to help increase their understanding of the story.	K-2	1/31/08
Two Thumbs Up! Get Students Writing and Publishing Book Reviews	In this lesson, students learn the components of a book review and how to write one. To spark excitement and provide a purpose for writing, students publish their reviews either through video recording or on the Internet.	K-2	10/20/09
Using a Predictable Text to Teach High-Frequency Words	This lesson uses a predictable text (Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carle) to help students learn high-frequency words. After reading the story, students form their own sentences using words from the text.	K-2	4/25/08
Using Children’s Natural Curiosity to Lead to Descriptive Writing	Inspired by the book It Starts with an A, kindergarten students are invited to turn their curiosity and guesswork into a class book, complete with illustrated objects and descriptive language. Students can share this book with family members and peers before adding it to their classroom library.	K-2	12/4/05
Using Folk Tales: Vowel Influences on the Letter G	Using the folk tale genre, students are introduced to the irregular spelling pattern of hard and soft g at the beginning of words. Students use the Internet to find and categorize animal names that begin with the letter g, and they also read a story about a giant.	K-2	12/16/08
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 Repetition and Picture Cues to Foster Independent Young Readers	This lesson invites kindergartners to share their knowledge of letters and sounds in a large group setting and gives teachers an opportunity to assess student’s knowledge in this area. Each student contributes a page to make a classroom book that is repetitive in nature.	K-2	9/11/03
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 Web-Based Bookmarks to Conduct Internet Research	In this lesson, students participate in a read-aloud, and then use the format of the text to write poems about themselves. They then conduct Internet research using Web-based bookmarks and write a poem about a content area topic (in this case, butterflies). The lesson is designed for grades 2 and 3.	K-2	2/12/09
Vocabulary With Franklin: Helping Students Become Word Wizards	In this lesson, first- and second-grade students learn new vocabulary words, their definitions, and how to spell them. Starting with a read-aloud of Franklin in the Dark by Paulette Bourgeois, students then participate in a wide range of activities from using an online Word Wizard game to performing a script.	K-2	7/16/07
Weather: A Journey in Nonfiction	This lesson outlines a research project designed to allow primary students to engage in nonfiction text, both in print and digital forms. The content focus for resources is weather, but the lesson can be adapted to other content areas.	K-2	7/19/07
Weekend News! A Weekly Writing Activity	The Weekend News writing activity gives students the opportunity to recall and write about personal events on a weekly basis. The writing is done in an encouraging environment, which helps students develop writing fluency and apply what they know about the writing process, spelling, and language conventions. Students also create criteria to self-assess their writing.	K-2	11/21/08
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 the Difference? Beginning Writers Compare E-mail with Letter Writing	E-mail is increasingly popular among beginning writers who find electronic communication highly engaging. Educators also consider e-mail a powerful medium for literacy learning, but e-mail style and conventions differ from traditional writing. Students explore the differences between e-mail and letter writing and experiment with their own messages.	K-2	11/6/06
Whole-to-Parts Phonics Instruction: Teaching Letter-Sound Correspondences	In this lesson, students are exposed to whole-to-parts phonics instruction. After a story has been read to, with, and by children, the teacher assists them in analyzing spoken words by focusing on onset and rime. Students use onset-rime analogies to identify words that belong to the same word family.	K-2	12/18/08
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 Recognition Strategies Using Nursery Rhymes	This lesson uses familiar nursery rhymes to draw attention to words that end with the same letters. Kindergarten and first-grade students are encouraged to create word family lists and compare them to words in different word families.	K-2	12/18/08
Word Sorts for Beginning and Struggling Readers	This lesson uses a hands-on word sort to introduce beginning and struggling readers to short-vowel word families. In addition to learning onset and rime, students practice fluent reading and spelling of the words.	K-2	2/12/09
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
Word Wizards: Students Making Words	This lesson is based on an instructional strategy developed by Patricia Cunningham called "Making Words." Students in first and second grade manipulate a set of letters to construct words dictated by the teacher. Students then apply the strategy using an online, interactive game.	K-2	7/10/07
Write Right Back: Recognizing Readers’ Needs and Expectations for E-mail Replies	Beginning writers find electronic communication highly engaging, and educators recognize the power of e-mail as a tool for literacy learning. E-mail is well-suited to teaching audience awareness—understanding what readers need to know to make sense of a reply message and using the reply function as a way to contextualize replies.	K-2	1/12/07
Writing Poetry with Rebus and Rhyme	This lesson encourages young students to use their developing knowledge of rhyming words to write rebus poetry modeled on rebus books, which substitute pictures for the harder words that young students cannot yet identify or decode.	K-2	5/9/06
Writing Reports in Kindergarten? Yes!	This lesson encourages young students to see themselves as writers who have a message to convey. Three different types of reports are provided to show just what kindergartners and other young writers can do. Reports in kindergarten? Absolutely!	K-2	3/1/04
Writing Workshop: Helping Writers Choose and Focus on a Topic	In this lesson, students construct timelines as a way of choosing and focusing on a writing topic. Afterward, each student selects an event from the timeline, draws an illustration to further explore his or her thoughts, writes about the event in detail, and shares and confers during revisions.	K-2	9/14/07