ALEX Lesson Plans

Subject: Business, Management, and Administration (9 - 12), or English Language Arts (9 - 12), or English Language Arts (9 - 12)
Title: Pennies for your Future!
Description: This is a hands-on activity that is designed to guide students through the process of finding and applying for scholarships. Students will use word processing software to write and submit a scholarship that is applicable to them. This lesson plan contains a financial aid component. Authors: Mona Coan and Stefanie Weaver

Thinkfinity Lesson Plans

Subject: Language Arts
Title: On this day in 1935, Elvis Presley was born. Add Bookmark
Description: Students visit the National Archives to read a letter written by Elvis Presley to President Nixon. The Letter Generator is used to write a letter to a current artist suggesting a meeting with the President.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Walt Disney was born in 1901. Add Bookmark
Description: Students describe female characters in Disney films, discuss their characteristics, and write a thesis statement about them.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: March is National Women's History Month. Add Bookmark
Description: A scrapbook highlighting the accomplishments of famous American women is created as a class using the Alphabet Organizer and Bio-Cube.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Humorist Erma Bombeck was born in 1927. Add Bookmark
Description: Using lines from Bombeck's newspaper column, students identify allusive or satirical humor. Older students can rewrite the passages for a different audience.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Poe's '' The Raven'' was published in 1845. Add Bookmark
Description: As Poe's '' The Raven'' is read aloud, students note their reactions and discuss the changes or development of their first impressions as the poem continues.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: You re the Top! Pop Culture Then and Now Add Bookmark
Description: Students analyze the lyrics to Cole Porter's You re the Top! and then update them to include current tops in pop culture.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Renaissance Humanism in Hamlet and The Birth of Venus Add Bookmark
Description: After reading Shakespeare's Hamlet, students identify, analyze, and explain how elements in Botticelli's painting Birth of Venus and examples from the play illustrate the philosophy of Renaissance Humanism.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Poet Emily Dickinson was born in 1830. Add Bookmark
Description: Students discuss Dickinson's poem '' This Is My Letter To The World'' and use it to focus on how audience affects voice.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Jackie Robinson was born on this day in 1919. Add Bookmark
Description: Students read messages sent to the White House from Jackie Robinson and discuss his role as an athlete and a civil rights activist, as well as the role of athletes in society.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Gold was discovered in California in 1848. Add Bookmark
Description: Students read letters from the Gold Rush and follow up by writing an imaginary letter to a family member about their experience using the Letter Generator.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Book Report Alternative: Characters for Hire! Studying Character in Drama Add Bookmark
Description: In this alternative to the traditional book report, students respond to a play they have read by creating a resume for one of its characters.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Listening to Poetry: Sounds of the Sonnet Add Bookmark
Description: This lesson, from EDSITEment, introduces students to the formal terms used to describe sonnets. The central focus throughout is on learning to appreciate the sounds of poetry. By focusing on the sounds of poetry, the lesson seeks to demonstrate that there is an underlying sense of form or structure at work in language, whether we happen to know the names for the formal elements of poetry or not. Included in the lesson are seven sound experiments, designed to help students understand how form, meter, and rhythm all combine to shape our experience of poetry and the meanings we derive from it.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Amelia Earhart completed her solo flight from Honolulu to Oakland in 1935. Add Bookmark
Description: Students explore the definition of a hero and use the interactive Venn diagram to identify the most common characteristics of a hero.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Paying Attention to Technology: Writing Technology Autobiographies Add Bookmark
Description: This lesson plan asks students to pay attention to the technologies they use. They graphically map their interactions with technology and compose narratives of their most significant interactions with technology.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Patriot Day is celebrated today on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 2001. Add Bookmark
Description: Students write about the name '' Patriot Day'' and how it marks the anniversary of a huge disaster. An alternative assignment could be to ask students to record their reflections about 9/11.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus. Add Bookmark
Description: Students make believe that the year is 1955 and they just heard about Parks' arrest. Students write newspaper editorials with their points of view on segregation.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Teaching Plot Structure through Short Stories Add Bookmark
Description: Students use an online graphic organizer to analyze the plot structure of '' Jack and the Beanstalk'' and three short stories.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Draft Letters: Improving Student Writing through Critical Thinking Add Bookmark
Description: Draft letters ask students to think critically about their writing on a specific assignment before submitting their work to a reader. This lesson explains and provides models for the strategy.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 9,10,11,12