ALEX Lesson Plans

Subject: English Language Arts (3), or English Language Arts (3), or Technology Education (3 - 5)
Title: Savvy Story Structure
Description: During this lesson, students learn to actively engage in reading by becoming more familiar with the elements of a story. Students will be required to think at a higher level and will enhance their understanding of selected passages and stories. Students should also begin to relate stories to their own lives.

Subject: English Language Arts (3), or English Language Arts (3), or Technology Education (3 - 5)
Title: Literary Elements in Jan Brett's The Mitten
Description: Students will analyze such literary elements as plot, cause-effect relationships, sequence, and prediction in Jan Brett's The Mitten. Students will enjoy predicting upcoming story events and retelling the story from a dialogue that shows a text-to-self relationship.

Subject: English Language Arts (3 - 5), or English Language Arts (3 - 5), or Technology Education (3 - 5)
Title: Newberry Award
Description: This unit will introduce the history of the Newberry Award to students. The selection process will be discussed. Students will also visit websites and the library to select a Newberry book to read. Finally, students will give book talks to accompany slideshows they have created.

Thinkfinity Lesson Plans

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Poetry: A Feast to Form Fluent Readers Add Bookmark
Description: Students improve their reading fluency by selecting a poem online to perform in class.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Guided Comprehension: Knowing How Words Work Using Semantic Feature Analysis Add Bookmark
Description: Based on the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen, this lesson introduces students to the comprehension strategy of knowing how words work.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Book Report Alternative: Examining Story Elements Using Story Map Comic Strips Add Bookmark
Description: Comic frames are traditionally used to illustrate a story in a short, concise format. In this lesson, students use a six-paneled comic strip frame to create a story map, summarizing a book or story that they've read. Each panel retells a particular detail or explains a literary element (such as setting or character) from the story.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Readers Theatre Add Bookmark
Description: Students develop scripts, perform, and use their voices to depict characters from texts, giving them the opportunity to develop fluency and further enhance comprehension of what they are reading.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Book Report Alternative: The Elements of Fiction Add Bookmark
Description: Students identify the elements of fiction in a book they have read and share summaries of them by writing and illustrating their own mini-book.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Caldecott Medal-winner Virginia Lee Burton was born on this day in 1909. Add Bookmark
Description: Students discuss similarities in Burton's illustrations and writing style in her many books, in addition to her use of personification.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Today is St. Patrick's Day. Add Bookmark
Description: St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by reading Irish folk tales and using the Story Map tool to create a graphic organizer and see what characteristics are unique to Irish tales.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Letter Poems Deliver: Experimenting with Line Breaks in Poetry Writing Add Bookmark
Description: Students explore letter poems and experiment with writing letters as poems, using the placement of line breaks to enhance rhythm, sound, meaning, and appearance.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Using Science Texts to Teach the Organizational Features of Nonfiction Add Bookmark
Description: Students explore organizational features of nonfiction science. Students then work together to create a two-page spread using those features to present information about their local environment.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Thundering Tall Tales: Using Read-Aloud as a Springboard to Writing Add Bookmark
Description: Imagination and application are key to this tall tale lesson in which students take what they know about tall tales to spin a yarn of their own.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Today is World Poetry Day. Add Bookmark
Description: Students read and respond to Billy Collins' poem '' Introduction to Poetry.'' Students then write about a favorite poem and imagine the perfect way to read it.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: November is National American Indian Heritage Month. Add Bookmark
Description: Students explore Native American heritage through the study of pourquoi tales, write their own original pourquoi tales, and use the ReadWriteThink Printing Press to publish them.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills Add Bookmark
Description: 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.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Acquiring New Vocabulary Through Book Discussion Groups Add Bookmark
Description: This lesson employs direct instruction and small-group discussion to help students learn new vocabulary skills while reading Patricia Polacco's Pink and Say.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: A Daily DEAR Program: Drop Everything, and Read! Add Bookmark
Description: The teacher shouts, '' Drop Everything and Read!'' and students settle into their seats to read books they've selected. This independent reading program helps students build a lifelong reading habit.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Can You Haiku? Add Bookmark
Description: In this unit of three lessons, from EDSITEment, students learn the rules and conventions of haiku. They study examples by Japanese masters and create haiku of their own.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Using Snowflake Bentley as a Framing Text for Multigenre Writing Add Bookmark
Description: Using Snowflake Bentley as a model, students create a working definition of multigenre text and then use that definition to create their own multigenre piece about winter or another theme.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Escaping Slavery: Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt Add Bookmark
Description: Students read Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson, create a problems/solutions/events chart, and create a map with a key, compass, and landmarks surrounding their home and school.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Charting Characters for a More Complete Understanding of the Story Add Bookmark
Description: Character Perspective Charting allows students to compare multiple characters and their points of view to better understand a story.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Guided Comprehension: Previewing Using an Anticipation Guide Add Bookmark
Description: Based on the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen, this lesson introduces students to the comprehension strategy of previewing.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6

Subject: Language Arts,Religion,Social Studies
Title: Morality ''Tails'' East and West: European Fables and Buddhist Jataka Tales Add Bookmark
Description: In this lesson, from EDSITEment, students learn about Buddhist Jataka tales and then compare and contrast them with European fables. They learn to search for the lesson that is embedded within both fables and the Jataka tales. This lesson can also be used as a springboard for introducing world cultures and literatures through the use of morality tales.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Behind the Scenes With Cinderella Add Bookmark
Description: Cinderella without castles, coaches, or ball gowns? Students use versions of Cinderella to explore how the setting of a story time, place, and culture affects the characters and plot.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Alaska Native Stories: Using Narrative to Introduce Expository Text Add Bookmark
Description: Tradition and technology come together in this lesson in which students learn about Alaskan animals through Native American tales and their own online research.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, was born in 1775. Add Bookmark
Description: Students use the Timeline Tool to organize details about Chapman's life, the Venn Diagram to organize information, and the Shape Poems Interactive to create poems about apples or Johnny Appleseed.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Creating Classroom Community by Crafting Themed Poetry Collections Add Bookmark
Description: Students create poetry collections with the theme of '' getting to know each other.'' They study and then write a variety of forms of poetry to include in their collections.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Find favorite book picks in the Children's Choices. Add Bookmark
Description: Students create lists of their favorite books and then the class creates a '' Top Picks'' class booklist. Students can use the Book Cover Creator to create a book jacket for their favorite book.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2,3,4,5,6