ALEX Resources

Title: Jim Peppler Southern Courier Photograph Collection-Richard C. Boone Asks a Question: Master May I?
Description: When we hear the words Civil Rights Movement, we have visions of Dr. Martin Luther King and a few others. Through pictures, students will identify ordinary leaders in the crowd. Students will have the opportunity to analyze those pictures by doing a picture walk.  Students will learn more about some of the people in the crowd, and how they made a difference in our beloved community. This lesson was created in partnership with the Alabama Department of Archives and History.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (3) 7: Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting). [RL.3.7]

Title: Pros and Cons - Picture Perfect Capitol for Alabama
Description: Pictures of Alabama State Capitols are provided in this lesson to give students the opportunity to research information that could help them to give their point of view. It will be up to the students to provide further information about the pictures. This will start a conversation about the best location for a capital city and its capitol building. This lesson was created as part of the Alabama Bicentennial Commission’s Curriculum Development Project.
Standard(s):
[SS2010] GHS (3) 11: Interpret various primary sources for reconstructing the past, including documents, letters, diaries, maps, and photographs.

Title: What is the View?
Description: This lesson is a third-grade English and Language Arts lesson that focuses on first, second, and third point of views. The students will watch a two-minute video describing the three points of view. During the video, the teacher will stop the video for students to take notes. Then, the teacher and students will use Shel Silverstein’s “Boa Constrictor," Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are, and Adam’s Rubin’s Secret Pizza Party and determine the point of view of each. Next, students will partner up and create three separate comic strips on MakeBeliefsComix.com. The students will use one point of view per comic strip.  Lastly, students will present their comic strips to the class.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (3) 31: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on Grade 3 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly. [SL.3.1]

Title: The Other Side of the Fence: Point of View at the Zoo
Description: This is a third grade English Language Arts project lesson focused on point of view using the zoo as a theme. The lesson includes a zoo field trip or virtual zoo field trip, class discussions, mini scrapbook point of view project, and a short presentation to the class. This lesson could be modified for upper or lower grade levels.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (3) 31: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on Grade 3 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly. [SL.3.1]

Title: Exploring the Subtext Strategy: Thinking Beyond the Text
Description: What is it like to have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day? Students find out in this lesson in which they become the characters in Judith Viorst's book.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 10: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. [RI.5.1]

Title: A Genre Study of Letters With The Jolly Postman
Description: Students read The Jolly Postman, in which a postman delivers letters to storybook characters. They explore different types of mail and categorize letters from the book and their own mail.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 30: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. [W.5.9]

Title: Using Snowflake Bentley as a Framing Text for Multigenre Writing
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 34: Summarize the points a speaker makes and explain how each claim is supported by reasons and evidence. [SL.5.3]

Title: Mapping Characters Across Book Series
Description: Students work on a guided characterization project, using a graphic map to illustrate the ways a character from a book series grows and evolves over the course of the story.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 11: Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text. [RI.5.2]

Title: Talking About Books to Improve Comprehension
Description: This lesson is a conversation-starter! In this lesson, students learn about striking up deep-thought conversations and staying on topic in the form of a book talk.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 6: Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described. [RL.5.6]

Title: Inferring How and Why Characters Change
Description: Students will really get into character when they read short stories and analyze the how's and why's of characters behaviors.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 30: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. [W.5.9]

Title: Point of View and Comic Strips
Digital Tool: Toondoo
Web Address URL: http://www.toondoo.com/
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 22: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information. [W.5.1]
Digital Tool Description: This learning asset tool utilizes Toondoo, an online comic strip creator. Toondoo allows students to just drag-drop or click to create comic strips that express their creativity and show originality.

Title: Educreating and Recreating: A Setting In A Story
Digital Tool: Educreations
Web Address URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/educreations-interactive-whiteboard/id478617061?mt=8
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (3) 35: Create engaging audio recordings of stories or poems that demonstrate fluid reading at an understandable pace; add visual displays when appropriate to emphasize or enhance certain facts or details. [SL.3.5]
Digital Tool Description: Educreations allows you to create and record lessons for students to view independently.  In addition, it provides students with a creative media they can use to prepare presentations for their teachers and peers. It is easy to use, so it makes a great tool for assessing student knowledge. Students can create projects that apply to every level of Bloom's Taxonomy verbally and through illustrations. This is a free application available on iPad and iPhone.

Title: Find favorite book picks in the Children's Choices.
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 26: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration. [W.8.7]

Title: Caldecott Medal-winner Virginia Lee Burton was born on this day in 1909.
Description: Students discuss similarities in Burton's illustrations and writing style in her many books, in addition to her use of personification.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 39: Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. [L.5.2]

Title: November is National American Indian Heritage Month.
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 41: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on Grade 5 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. [L.5.4]