ALEX Resources

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Lesson Plans (22)

Unit Plans (1)

ALEX Lesson Plans

Title: Hear! Here! Homophones
Description: Students will be shown an online slideshow to teach homophones. Students will practice correctly identifying and using homophones to enrich their vocabulary. Students will participate in learning activities that promote a better understanding of the correct spellings and meanings of homophones. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (3) 21:

21 ) Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. [RF.3.4]

a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding. [RF.3.4a]

b. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. [RF.3.4b]

c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. [RF.3.4c]

Subject: English Language Arts (3)
Title: Hear! Here! Homophones
Description: Students will be shown an online slideshow to teach homophones. Students will practice correctly identifying and using homophones to enrich their vocabulary. Students will participate in learning activities that promote a better understanding of the correct spellings and meanings of homophones. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

Title: Fast & Fluent!
Description: The following lesson will serve as an oral reading interactive activity reviewing key elements of fluent readers. During this lesson, the students will have multiple opportunities to practice and improve their oral reading skills using a variety of innovative activities. To address at-risk or diverse learners, cooperative learning activities, audio activities, and technology rich links are included in this lesson.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (2) 21:

21 ) Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. [RF.2.4]

a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding. [RF.2.4a]

b. Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. [RF.2.4b]

c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. [RF.2.4c]

Subject: English Language Arts (2 - 3)
Title: Fast & Fluent!
Description: The following lesson will serve as an oral reading interactive activity reviewing key elements of fluent readers. During this lesson, the students will have multiple opportunities to practice and improve their oral reading skills using a variety of innovative activities. To address at-risk or diverse learners, cooperative learning activities, audio activities, and technology rich links are included in this lesson.

Title: Carle's Crazy Critters
Description: This lesson provides students with the opportunity to read books aloud to the class. Students also spend time researching Eric Carle and his practices as a writer and illustrator. Finally, students become writers and illustrators themselves, as they create their own books and present their books to younger students.
Standard(s):
[ARTS] VISA (5) 2:

2) Demonstrate the methods of the art-making process, including brainstorming, sketching, reflecting, and refining, to create a work of art/design.

Subject: Arts Education (4 - 5), or English Language Arts (3), or Technology Education (3 - 5)
Title: Carle's Crazy Critters
Description: This lesson provides students with the opportunity to read books aloud to the class. Students also spend time researching Eric Carle and his practices as a writer and illustrator. Finally, students become writers and illustrators themselves, as they create their own books and present their books to younger students.

Thinkfinity Lesson Plans

Title: Shapes Art
Description: In this lesson, one of a multi-part unit from Illuminations, students participate in activities in which they focus on connections between mathematics and children s literature. They listen to the poem Shapes from Shel Silverstein s A Light in the Attic and then recognize, draw, and describe geometric figures.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (3) 21:

21 ) Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. [RF.3.4]

a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding. [RF.3.4a]

b. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. [RF.3.4b]

c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. [RF.3.4c]

Subject: Language Arts,Mathematics
Title: Shapes Art
Description: In this lesson, one of a multi-part unit from Illuminations, students participate in activities in which they focus on connections between mathematics and children s literature. They listen to the poem Shapes from Shel Silverstein s A Light in the Attic and then recognize, draw, and describe geometric figures.
Thinkfinity Partner: Illuminations
Grade Span: K,PreK,1,2,3,4,5

Title: Behind the Scenes With Cinderella
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 21:

21 ) Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. [RF.5.4]

a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding. [RF.5.4a]

b. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. [RF.5.4b]

c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. [RF.5.4c]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Behind the Scenes With Cinderella
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

Title: Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 30:

30 ) Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. [W.5.9]

a. Apply Grade 5 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or a drama, drawing on specific details in the text [e.g., how characters interact]"). [W.5.9a]

b. Apply Grade 5 Reading standards to informational texts (e.g., "Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point[s]"). [W.5.9b]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Blending Fiction and Nonfiction to Improve Comprehension and Writing Skills
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

Title: Using Prediction as a Prereading Strategy
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 25:

25 ) Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 22-24 above.) [W.5.4]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Using Prediction as a Prereading Strategy
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

Title: Charting Characters for a More Complete Understanding of the Story
Description: Character Perspective Charting allows students to compare multiple characters and their points of view to better understand a story.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 30:

30 ) Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. [W.5.9]

a. Apply Grade 5 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or a drama, drawing on specific details in the text [e.g., how characters interact]"). [W.5.9a]

b. Apply Grade 5 Reading standards to informational texts (e.g., "Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point[s]"). [W.5.9b]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Charting Characters for a More Complete Understanding of the Story
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

Title: Thundering Tall Tales: Using Read-Aloud as a Springboard to Writing
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 40:

40 ) Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. [L.5.3]

a. Expand, combine, and reduce sentences for meaning, reader or listener interest, and style. [L.5.3a]

b. Compare and contrast the varieties of English (e.g., dialects, registers) used in stories, dramas, or poems. [L.5.3b]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Thundering Tall Tales: Using Read-Aloud as a Springboard to Writing
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

Title: Q is for Duck: Using Alphabet Books With Struggling Writers
Description: A is for zoo? Q is for duck? The alphabet as students know it is transformed when students create a class book that contains clever associations for each letter of the alphabet.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 36:

36 ) Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, sound) and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes. [SL.5.5]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Q is for Duck: Using Alphabet Books With Struggling Writers
Description: A is for zoo? Q is for duck? The alphabet as students know it is transformed when students create a class book that contains clever associations for each letter of the alphabet.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5

Title: Research Building Blocks: Notes, Quotes, and Fact Fragments
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 43:

43 ) Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal contrast, addition, and other logical relationships (e.g., however, although, nevertheless, similarly, moreover, in addition). [L.5.6]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Research Building Blocks: Notes, Quotes, and Fact Fragments
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

Title: Acquiring New Vocabulary Through Book Discussion Groups
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 43:

43 ) Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal contrast, addition, and other logical relationships (e.g., however, although, nevertheless, similarly, moreover, in addition). [L.5.6]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Acquiring New Vocabulary Through Book Discussion Groups
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

Title: Using Science Texts to Teach the Organizational Features of Nonfiction
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 43:

43 ) Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal contrast, addition, and other logical relationships (e.g., however, although, nevertheless, similarly, moreover, in addition). [L.5.6]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Using Science Texts to Teach the Organizational Features of Nonfiction
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

Title: Readers Theatre
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (4) 43:

43 ) Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being (e.g., quizzed, whined, stammered) and that are basic to a particular topic (e.g., wildlife, conservation, and endangered when discussing animal preservation). [L.4.6]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Readers Theatre
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

Title: Looking for the History in Historical Fiction: An Epidemic for Reading
Description: This lesson pairs the reading of historical fiction with nonfiction to introduce students to the large themes of history.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 22:

22 ) Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information. [W.5.1]

a. Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer's purpose. [W.5.1a]

b. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details. [W.5.1b]

c. Link opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically). [W.5.1c]

d. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented. [W.5.1d]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Looking for the History in Historical Fiction: An Epidemic for Reading
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

Title: Sort, Hunt, Write: A Weekly Spelling Program
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 41:

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]

a. Use context (e.g., cause/effect relationships and comparisons in text) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. [L.5.4a]

b. Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., photograph, photosynthesis). [L.5.4b]

c. Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation and determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases. [L.5.4c]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Sort, Hunt, Write: A Weekly Spelling Program
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

Title: Multipurpose Poetry: Introducing Science Concepts and Increasing Fluency
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 21:

21 ) Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. [RF.5.4]

a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding. [RF.5.4a]

b. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. [RF.5.4b]

c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. [RF.5.4c]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Multipurpose Poetry: Introducing Science Concepts and Increasing Fluency
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

Title: Word Study with Henry and Mudge
Description: Henry and Mudge is used in this lesson to build students' word recognition through rereading, high-frequency word banks, word studies, and writing.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (3) 38:

38 ) Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. [L.3.2]

a. Capitalize appropriate words in titles. [L.3.2a]

b. Use commas in addresses. [L.3.2b]

c. Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue. [L.3.2c]

d. Form and use possessives. [L.3.2d]

e. Use conventional spelling for high-frequency and other studied words and for adding suffixes to base words (e.g., sitting, smiled, cries, happiness). [L.3.2e]

f. Use spelling patterns and generalizations (e.g., word families, position-based spellings, syllable patterns, ending rules, meaningful word parts) in writing words. [L.3.2f]

g. Write legibily in cursive. (Alabama)

h. Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings. [L.3.2g]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Word Study with Henry and Mudge
Description: Henry and Mudge is used in this lesson to build students' word recognition through rereading, high-frequency word banks, word studies, and writing.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2,3

Title: Poetry: A Feast to Form Fluent Readers
Description: Students improve their reading fluency by selecting a poem online to perform in class.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 21:

21 ) Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. [RF.5.4]

a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding. [RF.5.4a]

b. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. [RF.5.4b]

c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. [RF.5.4c]

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

Title: A Case for Reading-Examining Challenged and Banned Books
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (12) 10:

10 ) Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. [RI.11-12.1]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: A Case for Reading-Examining Challenged and Banned Books
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

Title: The Connection Between Poetry and Music
Description: Students won t miss a beat in this reading fluency lesson that combines music and poetry.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 40:

40 ) Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. [L.5.3]

a. Expand, combine, and reduce sentences for meaning, reader or listener interest, and style. [L.5.3a]

b. Compare and contrast the varieties of English (e.g., dialects, registers) used in stories, dramas, or poems. [L.5.3b]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: The Connection Between Poetry and Music
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

Title: What's in a Mystery? Exploring and Identifying Mystery Elements
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 24:

24 ) Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. [W.5.3]

a. Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator, characters, or both; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. [W.5.3a]

b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations. [W.5.3b]

c. Use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and clauses to manage the sequence of events. [W.5.3c]

d. Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. [W.5.3d]

e. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events. [W.5.3e]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: What's in a Mystery? Exploring and Identifying Mystery Elements
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

Thinkfinity Learning Activities

Title: Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein was published in 1974.
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (9) 33:

33 ) Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task. [SL.9-10.4]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein was published in 1974.
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

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:

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]

Subject: Language Arts
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.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: K,1,2,3,4,5,6

Title: In 1564, William Shakespeare was born on this day.
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 .
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 21:

21 ) Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. [RF.5.4]

a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding. [RF.5.4a]

b. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. [RF.5.4b]

c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. [RF.5.4c]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: In 1564, William Shakespeare was born on this day.
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

Title: On this day in 1907, Rachel Carson was born.
Description: Students learn about Rachel Carson, explore different environmental websites, and write a Diamante Poem about a particular habitat.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 29:

29 ) Write routinely over extended time frames, including time for research, reflection, and revision, and shorter time frames such as a single sitting or a day or two for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. [W.8.10]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: On this day in 1907, Rachel Carson was born.
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

Title: Celebrate International Literacy Day!
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 21:

21 ) Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. [RF.5.4]

a. Read on-level text with purpose and understanding. [RF.5.4a]

b. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. [RF.5.4b]

c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. [RF.5.4c]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Celebrate International Literacy Day!
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

Title: David Wiesner's book June 29, 1999 showcases this day.
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 25:

25 ) Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 22-24 above.) [W.5.4]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: David Wiesner's book June 29, 1999 showcases this day.
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

Title: Children's publisher John Newbery was born in 1713.
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 23:

23 ) Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 20-22 above.) [W.8.4]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Children's publisher John Newbery was born in 1713.
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

Title: The prototype for the World Wide Web was created in 1990.
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 39:

39 ) Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. [L.5.2]

a. Use punctuation to separate items in a series.* [L.5.2a]

b. Use a comma to separate an introductory element from the rest of the sentence. [L.5.2b]

c. Use a comma to set off the words yes and no (e.g., Yes, thank you), to set off a tag question from the rest of the sentence (e.g., It's true, isn't it'), and to indicate direct address (e.g., Is that you, Steve'). [L.5.2c]

d. Use underlining, quotation marks, or italics to indicate titles of works. [L.5.2d]

e. Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed. [L.5.2e]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: The prototype for the World Wide Web was created in 1990.
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

Title: John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, was born in 1775.
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (5) 32:

32 ) Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on Grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly. [SL.5.1]

a. Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion. [SL.5.1a]

b. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions and carry out assigned roles. [SL.5.1b]

c. Pose and respond to specific questions by making comments that contribute to the discussion and elaborate on the remarks of others. [SL.5.1c]

d. Review the key ideas expressed and draw conclusions in light of information and knowledge gained from the discussions. [SL.5.1d]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, was born in 1775.
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