Students take a walk on the wild side when they develop an understanding of nonfiction texts with hands-on experiences and intense analysis.
Predicting and Gathering Information With Nonfiction Texts
Grades
|
Writing Workshop: Helping Writers Choose and Focus on a Topic
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students engage in writing workshop, using a timeline to focus in on and write about a specific event.
Grades
|
Exploring the Subtext Strategy: Thinking Beyond the Text
2 - 4
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
What is it like to have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day? Students find out in this lesson in which they "become" the characters in Judith Viorst's book.
Grades
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Internalization of Vocabulary Through the Use of a Word Map
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students practice with words and develop both definitional and contextual knowledge through two agents—purposeful sequencing of steps and collaboration with peers.
Grades
|
Phonics In Context
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Minilesson
Use an engaging, authentic text to build students' knowledge of phonic elements and give them a taste of Japanese culture.
Grades
|
Press Conference for Bud, Not Buddy
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students read Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, demonstrate comprehension of the story by involving themselves in discussions, and analyze the characters in preparation for a class "press conference."
Grades
|
Choosing, Chatting, and Collecting: Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Recurring Lesson
Students identify interesting words from Shakespeare's plays and add them to a classroom vocabulary collection.
Grades
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Creative Communication Frames: Discovering Similarities between Writing and Art
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Graphic organizers assist the development of comparative vocabulary and generate discussions of analogy and metaphor in art as students go on a real or virtual tour of an art gallery.
Grades
|
Sentence Quest: Using Parts of Speech to Write Descriptive Sentences
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students learn about sentences by listing verbs, nouns, and adjectives. They use word cards to create descriptive sentences and work in groups to create the longest sentences they can.
Grades
|
Fairy Tale Autobiographies
5 - 9
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students read and analyze fairy tales from several cultures, identifying common elements. Choosing common situations, students write original fairy tales, using picture books as models and a peer review process.
Grades
|
Show What You Know: Read, Write and Solve Math Problems
2 - 3
Lesson Plan
| Minilesson
Informational texts, iPads, and interactive games, oh, my! Help students journey through multimodal texts to identify and solve real-world mathematics problems using writing and apps.
Grades
|
Reading Movies and TV: Learning the "Language" of Moving-Image Texts
5 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Minilesson
Introduce students to the idea that movies and TV have their own language and grammar, which gives them special ways of telling their stories.
Grades
|
Blogging in the Primary Grades? Yes, Indeed!
2 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Give students an authentic reason to read and write by researching blogs written by their peers around the world and then writing their own.
Grades
|
Create a Great Future: STEM Career Research Using Close Reading
6 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Minilesson
What if students could see the relevance of their school curriculum to real-world, interesting, STEM-related careers? Let's help them create a great future!
Grades
|
Amelia Bedelia Up Close! Closely Reading a Classic Story
1 - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Through a close reading of Amelia Bedelia, students reread the material to discuss text-dependent questions, promoting deep thinking about the text and its characters.
Grades
|
Bringing Economic Vocabulary to Life Through Video Posters
2 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Minilesson
Imagine if vocabulary could come alive with the click of a button! Students create video posters to demonstrate knowledge of new economics vocabulary.
Grades
|
Finding Solutions to Food Waste: Persuasion in a Digital World
7 - 9
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Using various reading strategies and resources, students explore the issue of food waste. They also create persuasive arguments and blog posts examining this topic.
Grades
|
Inspire Healthful Reading Using Unconventional Texts
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Minilesson
This minilesson encourages children to seek out and appropriately react to nutrition labels and to make healthy food choices, integrating science, math, health, and literacy.
Grades
|
Beyond History Books: Researching With Twin Texts and Technology
4 - 8
Lesson Plan
Students in grades 4–8 activate prior knowledge and research information about a historic event through fiction and nonfiction literature and exploration of relevant websites.
Grades
|
Picture Understanding! Building Comprehension in the Primary Grades With Picture Books
1 - 3
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students move from modeled to independent comprehension of fiction stories by using texts by Jan Brett and interactive tools that demonstrate their comprehension.