Help Spanish-speaking English-language learners unlock the mysteries of their new language by using a bilingual book to recognize unfamiliar words and construct meaning from the text.
Let's Read It Again: Comprehension Strategies for English-Language Learners
Grades
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Writers' Workshop: The Biographical Sketch
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students use the faces and places they learn about in their research to write a biography about a contemporary or historical figure.
Grades
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Read a Song: Using Song Lyrics for Reading and Writing
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
This lesson will be music to the students' ears when they hear that they get to read song lyrics and compose original lyrics for a familiar song.
Grades
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Developing Story Structure With Paper-Bag Skits
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Lights, camera, action, and a bit of mystery! In this lesson, students use mystery props in a skit bag to create and perform in short, impromptu skits.
Grades
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Casting Shadows Across Literacy and Science
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Shadows, shadows, everywhere! In this lesson, students read fiction, informational text, and poetry about shadows to extend their knowledge of the concept before casting their own shadow poetry.
Grades
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Phonic Generalizations in Chrysanthemum
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Minilesson
Students learn about word families by reading Kevin Henkes's book Chrysanthemum, identifying words with certain vowel pair endings, and reading words with similar endings.
Grades
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Learning Centers: From Shared to Independent Practice
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Recurring Lesson
Seven blind mice—see how they spend each day of the week in this lesson that uses the book Seven Blind Mice to guide students through shared reading, writing, and listening activities.
Grades
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Lights, Camera, Action: Interviewing a Book Character
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students get the inside scoop on a story when they create interview questions and answers for characters in the books they read.
Grades
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Using a Predictable Text to Teach High-Frequency Words
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
After reading an engaging yet predictable text about a child looking for his cat, students use a similar format and high-frequency words to craft tales about their own lost pets.
Grades
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Building Phonemic Awareness With Phoneme Isolation
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Recurring Lesson
Students improve phonemic awareness through games and chants that help them isolate beginning and ending sounds and connect them with their written symbols (graphemes).
Grades
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Gingerbread Phonics
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
"Run, run, as fast as you can." Students use this refrain from The Gingerbread Man to learn letter-sound correspondence. Students use their new skills to write an online story.
Grades
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Using THIEVES to Preview Nonfiction Texts
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students become "thieves" in this lesson as they use a previewing strategy to "steal" information from textbooks and other nonfiction texts before actually reading them.
Grades
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Compare and Contrast Electronic Text With Traditionally Printed Text
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Students become familiar with the similarities and differences between electronic and printed text by comparing the textual aids included in a textbook with those of an educational website.
Grades
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The Two Voices of the ow Spelling Pattern
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Variable vowels are the focus of this lesson; students use nursery rhymes and ow to study how vowels can change their sounds according to different spelling patterns.
Grades
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In the Poet's Shoes: Performing Poetry and Building Meaning
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students take poetic license when they interpret William Carlos William's poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" to help create a poem of their own.
Grades
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Getting to Know You: Developing Short Biographies to Build Community
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
How well do your students know their peers? Students transform into investigative reporters as they interview a classmate, compile the biographical data into graphic form, and introduce the student to the class.
Grades
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Digital Reflections: Expressing Understanding of Content Through Photography
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Striking images can leave lasting impressions on viewers. In this lesson, students make textselfworld connections to a nature- or science-related topic as they collaboratively design a multimedia presentation.
Grades
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Music and Me: Visual Representations of Lyrics to Popular Music
9 - 12
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students will whistle while they work on this lesson, creating a photomontage movie of their interpretation of a favorite song's lyrics that will end everyone's day on a high note.
Grades
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Sharing Favorite Books Using Interactive Character Trading Cards
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Using selected characters from a text of their choice, students put their literary analysis skills to work by creating fictional character trading cards.
Grades
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Great American Inventors: Using Nonfiction to Learn About Technology Inventions
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Standard Lesson
Who are the people behind the world's greatest inventions? Students read biographies of a terrific trio of American inventors and create presentations that highlight how their inventions from the past impacted the future.