Students use word webs to choose synonyms for generic adjectives and to learn to adjust their word usage for different contexts.
Using Word Webs to Teach Synonyms for Commonly Used Words
Grades
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Scaling Back to Essentials: Scaffolding Summarization With Fishbone Mapping
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students work in pairs and groups as they complete fishbone maps that highlight main ideas and relevant details from a cause-effect text and then write summaries of content area texts.
Grades
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Persuasive Essay: Environmental Issues
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
How can we convince others to agree with us on important issues? In this lesson, students explore relevant environmental issues and gather information to write persuasive essays.
Grades
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Charting Characters for a More Complete Understanding of the Story
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Recurring Lesson
Character Perspective Charting allows students to compare multiple characters and their points of view to better understand a story.
Grades
|
I've Got the Literacy Blues
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students will be singing the blues in this lesson in which they identify themes from "The Gift of the Magi" and write and present blues poetry based on those themes.
Grades
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Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students use a text set to increase understanding of content area material and demonstrate what they have learned by writing an original piece that blends together narrative and expository elements.
Grades
|
The Big Green Monster Teaches Phonics in Reading and Writing
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
A big green monster helps students build their reading fluency and word recognition skills through choral reading, literacy center activities, and writing stories.
Grades
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Creating a Classroom Newspaper
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students write authentic newspaper stories, including learning about various aspects of newspapers, such as writing an article, online articles, newspaper reading habits, and layout and design techniques.
Grades
|
Wartime Poetry: Working With Similes
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students analyze a photograph, brainstorm words to describe the characters' senses and feelings, work in pairs to describe a character's experience, and create a poem using their ideas and similes.
Grades
|
Guided Comprehension: Evaluating Using the Meeting of the Minds Technique
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Recurring Lesson
Based on the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen, this lesson introduces students to the strategy of evaluating, using the Meeting of the Minds technique.
Grades
|
Catching the Bug for Reading Through Interactive Read-Alouds
K - 1
Lesson Plan
| Recurring Lesson
Students learn about story structure, new vocabulary, and a variety of reading strategies by participating in an interactive read-aloud of Miss Bindergarten Stays Home From Kindergarten by Joseph Slate.
Grades
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Let's Build a Snowman
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Minilesson
In this lesson, students use both fiction and nonfiction texts, the Internet, and a K-W-L chart to learn about how animals survive the winter.
Grades
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Spelling Cheerleading: Integrating Movement and Spelling Generalizations
K - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
"2-4-6-8, students will be spelling great" in this lesson that teaches the y rule for adding suffixes through cheering the spelling of words aloud, word sorts, and writing stories.
Grades
|
Using Writing and Role-Play to Engage the Reluctant Writer
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
What does the world look like through a javelina's eyes? Students become javelinas in this lesson when they analyze a character and write from his or her perspective.
Grades
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Teaching Point of View With Two Bad Ants
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students will be crawling all over this assignment when they use illustrations and text to learn about life from a bug's point of view.
Grades
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Peer Edit With Perfection: Effective Strategies
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students take a fresh look at the revision process and help one another polish their written work through a peer-editing strategy that is simple, systematic, and constructive.
Grades
|
Diagram It! Identifying, Comparing, and Writing About Nonfiction Texts
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students compare the traits fact and fiction by using a Venn diagram to compare fiction and nonfiction books about Native Americans.
Grades
|
Fact or Fiction: Learning About Worms Using Diary of a Worm
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students often believe that fiction writers make everything up, seldom realizing how research worms its way into entertaining writing. In this lesson, students read Diary of a Worm to find out how fact merges with fiction.
Grades
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Telling a Story About Me: Young Children Write Autobiographies
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students tell their life stories in this lesson about autobiographies based on family photographs.
Grades
|
Astronomy Poetry: Combining Poetry With the Content Areas
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students' responses to this lesson will be out of this world after they've researched astronomy to write poetry and compile a poetry book.