Students engage in a rich study of vocabulary words from the song "America the Beautiful," using music and art.
"America the Beautiful": Using Music and Art to Develop Vocabulary
Grades
|
Literature as a Jumping Off Point for Nonfiction Inquiry
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students use text sets to research a topic inspired by a fiction book they have read. A text set is a collection of multiple text genres with a single focus.
Grades
|
Investigating Animals: Using Nonfiction for Inquiry-based Research
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Inspired by their curiosity about animals, students work together to research an animal of their choice and present the information they gather to an authentic audience.
Grades
|
Writing Reports in Kindergarten? Yes!
K
Lesson Plan
| Unit
This lesson encourages young students to see themselves as writers with a message to convey. Three types of reports are provided to show what kindergartners and emergent writers can do.
Grades
|
Discovering Memory: Li-Young Lee's Poem "Mnemonic" and the Brain
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students learn about memory by doing a memory-writing exercise, studying the brain to understand how it affects memory, reading Li-Young Lee's poem "Mnemonic," and creating projects to demonstrate their understanding.
Grades
|
Weather: A Journey in Nonfiction
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Questions about weather clear up when students use what they learned from their books to create a presentation to share with the rest of the class.
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.
Grades
|
Predicting and Gathering Information With Nonfiction Texts
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students take a walk on the wild side when they develop an understanding of nonfiction texts with hands-on experiences and intense analysis.
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
|
Rain, Ice, Steam: Using Reading to Support Inquiry About the Water Cycle
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Water is always moving in a continuous cycle from liquid to solid to gas and back again. Students study this never-ending cycle through shared readings, center activities, and experiments.
Grades
|
Nature Reflections: Interactive Language Practice for English-Language Learners
3 - 5
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students whose first language is not English reflect on nature through readings, a visit to a green area, and bookmaking using the writing process and peer feedback.
Grades
|
I Wonder: Writing Scientific Explanations With Students
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students choose a question to explore, research it using a variety of resources, organize their information on a TCF chart, and then collaboratively write a class scientific explanation.
Grades
|
Let It Grow: An Inquiry-Based Organic Gardening Research Project
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students learn about organic gardening by developing their own research questions, conducting research, gardening at their school, creating signs about their plants, and presenting their research to the class.
Grades
|
Reading and Writing About Whales Using Fiction and Nonfiction Texts
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students will have a whale of a good time in this lesson in which they use fiction and nonfiction texts to write a letter to an online scientist.
Grades
|
From Fact to Fiction: Drawing and Writing Stories
K - 2
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Students gather factual information about frogs and toads to create nonfiction and fiction stories. Drawing is used for prewriting.
Grades
|
The Big, Bad Wolf...Is This a Fact?
6 - 8
Lesson Plan
| Unit
Reading is revamped in this lesson in which students use a multimedia approach to study the books by Seymour Simon.
Grades
|
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.