ALEX Lesson Plans

Subject: English Language Arts (5), or English Language Arts (5), or Social Studies (5)
Title: Using Primary Sources to Uncover the True Thanksgiving Story
Description: This is an interdisciplinary inquiry-based lesson that focuses on critical thinking. Students are introduced to the true story of the first Thanksgiving with the reading of a NCSS Notable Trade Book Thanksgiving: The True Story. Working in cooperative learning groups, students use primary sources to evaluate the accuracy of the Thanksgiving story currently told in many history textbooks. This lesson teaches students the importance of using primary sources to construct accurate understandings of historical events. Extensions in this lesson also integrate science and technology.

Subject: English Language Arts (5), or English Language Arts (5)
Title: Literary Genres:What are they and why are they important?
Description: During this lesson, students will be introduced to different literary genres. Once students become familiar with the different genres, they will decide which one they like to read best. They will also use their knowledge of genres to decide the best form to write in.

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: Celebrate International Literacy Day! Add Bookmark
Description: Students spend the day participating in a readathon, kicking off a cross-grade reading buddy program, or making original books to share with community members.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Wartime Poetry: Working With Similes Add Bookmark
Description: Students analyze a photograph, brainstorm words to describe the characters' senses and feelings, work in pairs to describe a character's experience, and create a poem using their ideas and similes.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Narrative Structure Add Bookmark
Description: This lesson uses comic strip frames to define plot and reinforce the structure that underlies a narrative. Students finish by writing their own original narratives.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: The Connection Between Poetry and Music Add Bookmark
Description: Students won t miss a beat in this reading fluency lesson that combines music and poetry.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Arts,Language Arts
Title: Rudyard Kipling's ''Rikki-Tikki-Tavi'': Mixing Words and Pictures Add Bookmark
Description: In this lesson, one of a multi-part unit from EDSITEment, students read an illustrated version of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. They examine how Kipling and visual artists mix observation with imagination to create remarkable works, and follow similar principles to create a work of their own.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: David Wiesner's book June 29, 1999 showcases this day. Add Bookmark
Description: Students explore the delightful illustrations in Wiesner's book and identify elements that make the emotions in the story obvious to someone reading the book.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Research Building Blocks: Notes, Quotes, and Fact Fragments Add Bookmark
Description: Students are guided through the process of taking notes while reading factual information, then turning those notes into new sentences and paragraphs written in their own words.
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: Children's publisher John Newbery was born in 1713. Add Bookmark
Description: Each student chooses a book that is special and writes a short story about why it deserves special mention. Students can plan the pages of their own stories and then make a Stapleless Book or use the ReadWriteThink Printing Press.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts
Title: In 1564, William Shakespeare was born on this day. Add Bookmark
Description: Based on grade level, students learn about rhyming structure, experiment with the Shakespearean Insult Kit, or study scenes from Othello and watch an adaptation of that scene from the movie O .
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Multipurpose Poetry: Introducing Science Concepts and Increasing Fluency Add Bookmark
Description: Creepy crawlers, hoppers, and fliers are the focus of this lesson in which students chorally read poems about insects and use the Internet to locate facts about their assigned insects.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: The prototype for the World Wide Web was created in 1990. Add Bookmark
Description: Students look at pictures from the past using the WayBack Machine and brainstorm a few websites to explore to think about how they have changed over the years.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Writing Poetry Like Pros Add Bookmark
Description: This unit of four lessons, from EDSITEment, utilizes poetry to serve as the inspiration for some terrific writing. Using poems available through EDSITEment resources, educators can make poetry an exciting teaching and learning tool in the classroom.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein was published in 1974. Add Bookmark
Description: Students are introduced to a Silverstein verse and asked for their impressions. They then draw that they imagine when they read one of his lines and then write a line or two to continue the passage.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: On this day in 1907, Rachel Carson was born. Add Bookmark
Description: Students learn about Rachel Carson, explore different environmental websites, and write a Diamante Poem about a particular habitat.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Looking for the History in Historical Fiction: An Epidemic for Reading Add Bookmark
Description: This lesson pairs the reading of historical fiction with nonfiction to introduce students to the large themes of history.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

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: Creating a Classroom Newspaper Add Bookmark
Description: Students write authentic newspaper stories, including learning about various aspects of newspapers, such as writing an article, online articles, newspaper reading habits, and layout and design techniques.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Guided Comprehension: Visualizing Using the Sketch-to-Stretch Strategy Add Bookmark
Description: Guided comprehension moves your middle-grade students beyond decoding to become successful, independent readers. The sketch-to-stretch strategy encourages students to use '' brain TV'' to help them understand a text through visualization.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 4,5,6

Subject: Language Arts
Title: A Case for Reading-Examining Challenged and Banned Books Add Bookmark
Description: This ReadWriteThink-reviewed website, provided by Plainfield Community School Corporation, contains a WebQuest that explores the issues of censorship pertaining to the occult content of the popular Harry Potter novels. Students can take on the roles of concerned citizens, public librarians, school librarians, and fans of Harry Potter and decide whether the books should be banned from the public library.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Read a book! The third week of October is Teen Read Week. Add Bookmark
Description: Students are encouraged to read a variety of books and participate in a book club in celebration of Teen Read Week.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 5,6,7,8

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: 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: Using Prediction as a Prereading Strategy Add Bookmark
Description: Students learn about and apply the prediction strategy while reading a trade book. They use response journals to record questions and responses based on prereading predictions.
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: What's in a Mystery? Exploring and Identifying Mystery Elements Add Bookmark
Description: Students identify the characteristics of mystery writing, outline a mystery story using a graphic organizer, write and revise their own mystery story, edit each other's work, and share their mysteries.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Sort, Hunt, Write: A Weekly Spelling Program Add Bookmark
Description: It's easy to make spelling fun. Using a variety of activities from sorting to using words in context will help deepen students' understanding of word patterns.
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

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Guided Comprehension: Self-Questioning Using Question-Answer Relationships Add Bookmark
Description: Guided comprehension moves your students beyond decoding to become independent readers. Generating questions to guide reading helps readers make connections with the text and supports independent comprehension of new texts.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6