ALEX Lesson Plans

Subject: English Language Arts (8), or English Language Arts (8), or Technology Education (6 - 8)
Title: The Giver - Authority
Description: A unit lesson using the book The Giver by Louis Lowry that will have students be researchers and recorders in the process of finding information on Utopian societies, cults and authority. Students will complete a Powerpoint, Glogster, essay or news broadcast by the conclusion of the essay.

Subject: English Language Arts (8), or English Language Arts (8), or Technology Education (6 - 8)
Title: A Dickens of a Time: Discovering the Victorian Period
Description: Before reading Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, students examine different aspects of Victorian Life in London through a variety of research projects requiring hands-on computer activities.

Thinkfinity Lesson Plans

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Star Wars creator George Lucas was born in 1944. Add Bookmark
Description: Students use the Hero's Journey interactive to describe how Luke Skywalker meets each stage of his journey, and then brainstorm other works that use the formula.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: In 1939, Marian Anderson was denied permission to sing at Constitution Hall. Add Bookmark
Description: Students view Eleanor Roosevelt's resignation letter to the DAR in response to Andersen being denied permission to sing. Students write a letter to a newspaper editor about social injustice.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Scaffolding Comprehension Strategies Using Graphic Organizers Add Bookmark
Description: Students learn collaborative strategic reading (CSR). During and after reading, students apply four reading strategies preview, click and clunk, get the gist, and wrap-up and use graphic organizers for scaffolding.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Modeling Reading and Analysis Processes with the Works of Edgar Allan Poe Add Bookmark
Description: Explore reading strategies using Edgar Allan Poes The Raven and other works. Students read Poesworks in both large- and small-group readings then conclude with a variety of projects.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Picture Books as Framing Texts: Research Paper Strategies for Struggling Writers Add Bookmark
Description: Students use picture books as framing texts for research, freeing them from the language of encyclopedia sources and allowing them to focus their attention on the content of their papers.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts,Social Studies
Title: The Statue of Liberty: Bringing the ''New Colossus'' to America Add Bookmark
Description: In this lesson, from EDSITEment, students learn about the effort to convince a skeptical American public to contribute to the effort to erect a pedestal and to bring the Statue of Liberty to New York. The activities in this lesson guide students through an investigation of primary historical documents and an analysis of the poem The New Colossus, written by the nineteenth-century poet Emma Lazarus.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Reading and Analyzing Multigenre Texts Add Bookmark
Description: Students develop a definition of multigenre texts by exploring multigenre picture books. They brainstorm what it takes to read these texts successfully and discuss strategies needed to comprehend the texts.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Exploring Free Speech and Persuasion with Nothing But the Truth Add Bookmark
Description: Students read Avi's Nothing But the Truth and examine the First Amendment and student rights, and then decide whether the rights of the novel's protagonist, Philip, are violated.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Every Punctuation Mark Matters: A Minilesson on Semicolons Add Bookmark
Description: Students analyze stylistic choices and grammar use in authentic writing, focusing on the use of the semicolon in Martin Luther King Jr.'s '' Letter from Birmingham Jail.''
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Heroes Around Us Add Bookmark
Description: Students select, read about, and report on a hero and then identify how their hero matches certain criteria and characteristics. Hero reports are then compiled into a class book.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Get the Gist: A Summarizing Strategy for Any Content Area Add Bookmark
Description: Gist is a summarizing technique that can be used in any content area. Students will learn and apply the strategy while doing online research and writing activities on news stories.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts
Title: An Exploration of Text Sets: Supporting All Readers Add Bookmark
Description: Students create text sets on a high interest topic and use the texts to practice three strategies for reading for information.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts,Social Studies
Title: Women's Suffrage: Why the West First? Add Bookmark
Description: In this EDSITEment lesson, students compile information to examine hypotheses explaining why the first nine states to grant full voting rights for women were located in the West. The take a stand, supported by historical evidence, as to whether or not a single theory can explain why the Western states were the first to grant full voting rights to women.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Thurgood Marshall was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1967. Add Bookmark
Description: After discussing a statement made by Thurgood Marshall, students consider each piece of the comment and create a K-W-L chart to begin an investigation with other resources.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Dynamic Duo Text Talks: Examining the Content of Internet Sites Add Bookmark
Description: An Observation and Inquiry Sheet guides students as they analyze and compare their reactions to the value, engagement, and credibility of three websites related to Anne Frank and the Holocaust.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Biography Project: Research and Class Presentation Add Bookmark
Description: Classroom biography study offers high-interest reading with a purpose, as students begin with inquiry and research, summarize and organize their information, and prepare oral presentations to share with the class.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8