Students use Internet search engines and Web analysis checklists to evaluate online resources then write annotations that explain how and why the resources will be valuable to the class.
Inquiry on the Internet: Evaluating Web Pages for a Class Collection
Grades
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Paying Attention to Technology: Writing Technology Autobiographies
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
This lesson plan asks students to pay attention to the technologies they use. They graphically map their interactions with technology and compose narratives of their most significant interactions with technology.
Grades
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Paying Attention to Technology: Exploring a Fictional Technology
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students complete a short survey to establish their beliefs about technology. They compare their opinions to the ideas in a novel that depicts technology (such as 1984 or Fahrenheit 451).
Grades
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An Exploration of Text Sets: Supporting All Readers
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students create text sets on a high interest topic and use the texts to practice three strategies for reading for information.
Grades
|
Write Right Back: Recognizing Readers' Needs and Expectations for E-mail Replies
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students who know how to compose and send simple e-mail messages learn to use the reply function with audience needs and expectations in mind.
Grades
|
Renaissance Humanism in Hamlet and The Birth of Venus
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
After reading Shakespeare's Hamlet, students identify, analyze, and explain how elements in Botticelli's painting Birth of Venus and examples from the play illustrate the philosophy of Renaissance Humanism.
Grades
|
Reading and Analyzing Multigenre Texts
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students develop a definition of multigenre texts by exploring multigenre picture books. They brainstorm what it takes to read these texts successfully and discuss strategies needed to comprehend the texts.
Grades
|
Unwinding A Circular Plot: Prediction Strategies in Reading and Writing
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students use graphic organizers to explore plot in circular stories while focusing on prediction and sequencing. After exploring the features of circular plot stories, students write their own stories.
Grades
|
Animal Study: From Fiction to Facts
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students listen to fiction and nonfiction read-alouds and explore selected Websites to identify factual information about animals. This lesson focuses on ants, but can be adapted to any animal.
Grades
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Note Writing in the Primary Classroom
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Recurring Lesson
This lesson provides a wealth of ideas for using notes in the classroom to promote authentic writing among children.
Grades
|
Weaving the Multigenre Web
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students analyze the elements of a novel in many different genres and then hyperlink these pieces together on student-constructed Websites.
Grades
|
Writing Poetry with Rebus and Rhyme
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
This lesson encourages students to use rhyming words to write rebus poetry modeled on rebus books, which substitute pictures for the words that young students cannot yet identify or decode.
Grades
|
Genre Study: A Collaborative Approach
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Recurring Lesson
Students explore multiple genres through genre studies. They record evidence of genre characteristics on bookmarks as they read, and finish by giving a book review for their classmates.
Grades
|
Building a Matrix for Leo Lionni Books: An Author Study
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
In this author study, students listen to and discuss four books by Leo Lionni. They identify similarities and differences in the stories and then compare two stories of their choice.
Grades
|
Beyond the Story: A Dickens of a Party
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students attend a 19th Century Victorian party to celebrate Scrooge's new outlook on life. They research characters from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and assume those personas for the party.
Grades
|
Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Narrative Structure
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
This lesson uses comic strip frames to define plot and reinforce the structure that underlies a narrative. Students finish by writing their own original narratives.
Grades
|
Style: Defining and Exploring an Author's Stylistic Choices
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students find examples of specific stylistic devices in sample literary passages then search for additional examples and explore the reasons for the stylistic choices that the author has made.
Grades
|
Graffiti Wall: Discussing and Responding to Literature Using Graphics
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Tap students' desires to doodle and draw by having them create a Graffiti Wall, using graphics to discuss a piece of literature that has been read by the whole class.
Grades
|
Novel News: Broadcast Coverage of Character, Conflict, Resolution, and Setting
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
This twist on readers theater has students prepare original news programs based on incidents in a recent reading, as they explore standard literary elements of character, conflict, resolution, and setting.
Grades
|
Name That Chapter! Discussing Summary and Interpretation Using Chapter Titles
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students name unnamed chapters in a novel they are reading. They discuss possible chapter names, considering accuracy, word choice, and connotation, before settling on a choice.