ALEX Lesson Plans

Subject: English Language Arts (1), or English Language Arts (1), or Science (1), or Technology Education (K - 2)
Title: Fun-Loving Frogs
Description: During this lesson students will use their imaginations and writing skills to write a story from a wordless picture book, Tuesday, by David Wiesner. They will work in pairs and write text to go along with the pictures. They will also view a website to learn facts about frogs.

Subject: English Language Arts (1), or English Language Arts (1), or Science (1), or Technology Education (9 - 12)
Title: African Internet Safari
Description: During this lesson, students read and listen to poems about African animals and try to guess which animal is being described. Students will use the information they already know to identify the animals. Students will have the opportunity to write a mystery poem about an animal. They will get to share their poems and have the class guess the animal.

Subject: English Language Arts (1 - 2), or English Language Arts (1 - 2), or Science (1 - 2), or Technology Education (K - 2)
Title: Beginner's AVL (Alabama Virtual Library)
Description: Students will research the red fox using an online encyclopedia from the Alabama Virtual Library web site and answer questions provided by the teacher. This is a good lesson for students' first experience in using the AVL.

Subject: English Language Arts (1), or English Language Arts (1)
Title: Reading Partners
Description: Students will read a story from their readers in pairs, alternating paragraphs.

Subject: English Language Arts (1), or English Language Arts (1), or Mathematics (K - 2), or Science (1), or Technology Education (K - 2)
Title: "Nuts" About Peanuts!! (Writing)
Description: This lesson will be implemented as part of a unit about plants. The students will describe the characteristics of a peanut and peanut butter (using their five senses) and record their observations/descriptions on a graphic organizer. Student understanding will be enhanced with the use of books, class discussions, and the Internet.

Subject: English Language Arts (1), or English Language Arts (1), or Mathematics (K - 2), or Science (1), or Technology Education (K - 2)
Title: Yummy Apples!
Description: Students will identify, explore and graph characteristics of several different types of apples.

Subject: English Language Arts (1), or English Language Arts (1), or Mathematics (K - 1), or Science (1), or Technology Education (K - 2)
Title: Leo Lionni’s Little Blue and Little Yellow
Description: Students will use Leo Lionni’s literature and his website to learn about the author, mix primary colors, summarize and rewrite a story, and use graphing skills to determine the classes’ favorite color.

Subject: English Language Arts (1), or English Language Arts (1), or Information Literacy (K - 12), or Technology Education (K - 2)
Title: Looks Like Snow
Description: This lesson uses the book, The Jacket I Wear In The Snow, by Shirley Neitzel, to build writing skills as well as introduce students to the skills of alphabetizing, sequencing, and recognizing synonyms. This lesson could be used to integrate a winter weather unit into the Language Arts curriculum.

Subject: English Language Arts (1), or English Language Arts (1), or Technology Education (K - 2)
Title: Getting to Know You
Description: The students will go on an in-school scavenger hunt to get to know the many kinds of people that make up an elementary school community. They will work in small groups and use digital cameras to take pictures of the workers they find. By completing the scavenger hunt, the students will gain a better understanding of how we are all dependent on one another in a small community.

Subject: Character Education (K - 12), or English Language Arts (1 - 2), or English Language Arts (1 - 2), or Social Studies (K)
Title: President's Day for Special Education/Early Elementary
Description: This lesson helps special education/early elementary students learn about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and discuss how each demonstrated the character trait of honesty.

Subject: English Language Arts (1), or English Language Arts (1)
Title: The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant - A comprehension lesson to teach text-to-self connections in reading
Description: This is a first grade reading comprehension lesson to teach students how to make text-to-self connections while reading.

Thinkfinity Lesson Plans

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Let's Build a Snowman Add Bookmark
Description: 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.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Sentence Quest: Using Parts of Speech to Write Descriptive Sentences Add Bookmark
Description: Students learn about sentences by listing verbs, nouns, and adjectives. They use word cards to create descriptive sentences and work in groups to create the longest sentences they can.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Taking Photos of Curious George: Exploring Character Through Images Add Bookmark
Description: Students will be monkeying around in this lesson when they create a digital class book in which they imagine what Curious George would do if he visited their school.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Choosing the Right Book: Strategies for Beginning Readers Add Bookmark
Description: Students make purposeful choices for their reading materials, thinking about their reasons for reading a book and using strategies to match books to their abilities.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Listen, Look, and Learn: An Information-Gathering Process Add Bookmark
Description: After listening to and discussing the story Score One for the Sloths, primary students research the sloth. Students use a variety of resources, including an information wheel graphic organizer.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Collaborative Stories 2: Revising Add Bookmark
Description: Using a collaborative story written by students, the teacher leads a shared-revising activity to help students consider content when revising, with students participating in the marking of text revisions.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Comparing Fiction and Nonfiction with '' Little Red Riding Hood Text'' Sets Add Bookmark
Description: Students discuss and compare differing versions of '' Little Red Riding Hood'' and other tales about wolves in cumulative read-aloud sessions and text set explorations.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2

Subject: Language Arts
Title: It's Okay to Be Different: Teaching Diversity With Todd Parr Add Bookmark
Description: All kinds of characters will enjoy this lesson that celebrates diversity by discussing what makes everyone unique and special.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 1,2

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Rain, Ice, Steam: Using Reading to Support Inquiry About the Water Cycle Add Bookmark
Description: 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.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Digging Up Details on Worms: Using the Language of Science in an Inquiry Study Add Bookmark
Description: This lesson, in which students research worms in order to create a classroom habitat, incorporates reading and writing across content areas as well as math and science activities.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Teaching Audience Through Interactive Writing Add Bookmark
Description: Through interactive writing, students work together and then independently to create invitation letters for a group of their peers and their families.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Shhh! Bear's Sleeping: Learning About Nonfiction and Fiction Using Read-Alouds Add Bookmark
Description: Students explore the distinction between the fiction story Bear Snores On and the nonfiction book Every Autumn Comes the Bear.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2

Subject: Language Arts,Social Studies
Title: Tell a Migration Story...With Interviews Add Bookmark
Description: In this Xpeditions student activity, students become reporters for the local newspaper and conduct interviews with someone who has migrated to their community. After they finish their interviews, students share what they have learned about their interviewees experiences, memories, and feelings about coming to live in their new community.
Thinkfinity Partner: National Geographic Education
Grade Span: K,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Text Talk: Julius, the Baby of the World Add Bookmark
Description: Students are asked to '' talk'' with Kevin Henkes Julius, the Baby of the World by using open-ended questions to help them interpret the language, plot, and characters of the story.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Going on a Shape Hunt: Integrating Math and Literacy Add Bookmark
Description: Students participate in a scavenger hunt for shapes; reading, writing, and discussion of shapes encourage literacy and math skills.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2