In this lessons students identify information from text using titles, subtitles, diagrams, charts, graphs, maps, photographs, illustrations, and captions by using a preview checklist.
Use this PBS NewsHour lesson plan to help students understand the significance of Veterans Day and the meaning of sacrifice. Students will identify important veterans in their lives, examine an interactive timeline of military history and study issues facing veterans today
Students analyze the elements of a novel in many different genres and then hyperlink these pieces together on student-constructed Websites.
This paper addresses the implications, for ELLs, of the new standard's requirement that students be able to read and understand complex, informationally dense texts. The authors discuss the types of supports that learners need in order to work with complex texts. They also provide a sample of what academic discourse involves, using an excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail. They demonstrate how English learners can be provided with strategies for accessing complex texts, such as closely examining one sentence at a time. The authors argue that instruction must go beyond vocabulary and should begin with an examination of our beliefs about language, literacy and learning.
Most students recognize the name Christopher Columbus. They may be aware that his voyages ushered in the first period of sustained contact between Europeans and the Americas and its people. They may not know, however, why Columbus traveled to the New World or what happened to the native people he encountered.
In this lesson, students read excerpts from Columbus's letters and journals, as well as recent considerations of his achievements. Students reflect on the motivations behind Columbus's explorations, his reactions to what he found and the consequences, intended and unintended, of his endeavor.
This "jigsaw" activity will give students the opportunity to work in groups to summarize a 1 to 2 page informational text. It "jigsaws" down to 1 class summary and can be done in 2 or 3 days. This plan was designed for a class of 22 students but can be easily modified by varying group size.
In this lesson, students will address misconceptions they likely have about Christopher Columbus and the colonization of what is now the United States. Students will watch a video to dispel some of the myths associated with Columbus and gain a better understanding of how Columbus Day became a national holiday. Students will then read interviews with Indigenous youth and identify the reasons that celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day matters to them. This lesson can be taught on Columbus Day or leading up to it.
This website has a picture book about a chameleon who has asthma. Through this story, students will learn all about air quality, asthma, and how to stay healthy when the air quality is bad such as reading an air quality chart.
In this lesson students will learn the difference between civic and religious holidays and why some areas have these as days off from school.
This lesson provides teachers with support for using text-dependent questions and Common Core literacy strategies to help students derive big ideas and key understandings while developing vocabulary using the nonfiction informational text, Wildfires. Wildfires can cause damage but also play a critical role in the renewal of forests and grasslands. Through the example of the 1988 Yellowstone fire, Wildfires highlights the effects and cycles of fires and shows the reader how critical fire is to regenerating forests and grasslands.
This is a basic research lesson to give students an opportunity to learn some basic information about Wisconsin Indian Tribes. For more in depth research, this lesson can be added to or changed.
Webpage describing the history, geography, and different cultures of Wisconsin
Plastic bottles are everywhere! About 70% of the plastic water bottles bought in the U.S. are not recycled, and end up in the oceans. It seems obvious that using fewer plastic water bottles would be a good thing for our environment, but sometimes the alternatives can have negative consequences. Do the costs of banning plastic bottles outweigh the benefits?
The Middle Grades Literature Study practiced “reading like a teacher” in order to use high-quality, current and diverse middle grade texts within instructional materials to ensure students are meeting grade-level reading standards, can read and comprehend a variety of complex literary and informational texts, while better understanding themselves and others and experiencing the joy of reading. The resources provided include ideas for meeting grade-level standards in grades 3-6, completed text complexity analyses, and additional resources and texts to consider. We hope these might serve as a model for literacy leaders and teachers to replicate at the local level.
Details: This lesson can be added to 5th Grade Amplify Patterns of Earth and Sky: Analyzing Stars on Ancient Artifacts, with Lesson 2.1 after looking for patterns, making observations, and reflecting on the Model.Pursuits addressed: Identity-Students will learn about constellations from their own cultural perspectives and recognize that people from all over the world have stories related to the stars in the sky.Skills-The students will research constellations from a cultural perspective and create a class book to share with the rest of the school about constellations and their stories from around the world.Intellect-Students will interview their families to find out if their families have any constellation stories or information related to their cultures.Criticality- Students will understand that there are more than Greek and Roman names and stories for the constellations. The stories are told and retold by those in power.
Students learn about an astrophysicist that is working in science to open possible ideas for themselves in science careers. Pursuits addressed: Identity-Students will learn about people who they can relate to who are currently working in STEM related careers and study possible STEM related careers that could be meaningful to their own lives/cultures.Skills-The students will research scientists who they can relate to culturally who are working on STEM related careers and then write letters to these scientists in a way that is interesting, genuine, authentic, and allows them to use their own voice.Intellect-Students will choose which scientists they would each like to study by finding scientists who they can relate to culturally who are currently working in STEM related careers and showing examples of Black Excellence.Details: This lesson can be added to 5th Grade Amplify Patterns of Earth and Sky: Analyzing Stars on Ancient Artifacts, with Lesson 2.1 after looking for patterns, making observations, and reflecting on the Model. Explain to the students that this is exactly what astrophysicists do.