Students brainstorm a list of civil rights-related issues and use the Acrostic Poems interactive to create poems.
Newbery Medal winner Christopher Paul Curtis was born in 1953.
April is National Poetry Month!
Students are assigned to be "poets of the day" and are provided several models to create, illustrate, and present their different poems to the class.
Annie Moore becomes the first immigrant to enter Ellis Island in 1892.
Students explore online resources about Ellis Island, interview an immigrant in the area, and publish their stories.
Veterans Day is celebrated in the United States today.
Students write biographical poems about a soldier.
Celebrate Halloween!
Students research information on Halloween, create masks or costumes from a text they are reading, or write a narrative essay describing their best Halloween ever.
Black Poetry Day is celebrated.
Books and webpages are gathered that focus on the work of African American poets and students explore the resources and find a poem to contribute to a poetry reading.
Today is World Poetry Day.
Students read and respond to Billy Collins' poem "Introduction to Poetry." Students then write about a favorite poem and imagine the perfect way to read it.
John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, was born in 1775.
Students use the Timeline Tool to organize details about Chapman's life, the Venn Diagram to organize information, and the Shape Poems Interactive to create poems about apples or Johnny Appleseed.
Today, the American Library Association announces its annual book award winners.
Students research different awards given by the ALA and do an activity based on one of the awards.
Telling My Story: Make a Bio-Cube
Let children explore an interesting subject—themselves. An online tool will teach them to summarize and organize information as they write.
Write Theme Poems
Use shape and theme poems, or poems that look like the things they describe, as a fun way to introduce children to poetry.
Write a Recipe
Use recipes to help children practice reading and writing step-by-step instructions. Have them sample the results to see how they did.
Create Trading Cards for Favorite Characters
Use the online Trading Card Creator tool to have children make cards describing their favorite characters from the books on their reading list.
Books Will Take You There!
While enjoying a book that features a journey, children write postcards from the perspective of the main character for each stop along the trip.
Amazing Biographies: Writing About People Who Change the World
After reading about historical figures and other important people that have changed the world, children choose someone that they consider to be "amazing"—either someone they've heard about or someone they know—and create a book page that highlights this person.
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein was published in 1974.
Students are introduced to a Silverstein verse and asked for their impressions. They then draw that they imagine when they read one of his lines and then write a line or two to continue the passage.
Mickey Mouse appeared in his first animated feature.
Students create a short, humorous story with at least one action character, and then use online tools to make a flipbook.
The Smithsonian Institution was founded in 1846.
After exploring an exhibit online, students use the information they learned to write "A Day in the Life" narratives that tell about a person, animal, or object they saw in the exhibit.
Star Light, Star Bright: Reading and Writing about the Nighttime Sky
Children watch the nighttime sky come alive as the read a book about fascinating elements in the night and write a poem/story about the things they learn!