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Lesson Plans (29)

Learning Activities (2)

ALEX Lesson Plans

Title: Sweet Revenge
Description: Students will evaluate the information from chapters 1-3 of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, particularly how the Logan children are treated by the white students and the bus driver. They will then decide if they agree or disagree with the decision made by the Logan children to seek revenge. Students will defend and provide support for their opinion. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
Standard(s):
[SS2010] USS6 (6) 9:

9 ) Critique major social and cultural changes in the United States since World War II.

• Identifying key persons and events of the modern Civil Rights Movement

Examples: persons—Martin Luther King Jr.; Rosa Parks; Fred Shuttlesworth; John Lewis (Alabama)

events—Brown versus Board of Education, Montgomery Bus Boycott, student protests, Freedom Rides, Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March, political assassinations (Alabama)

• Describing the changing role of women in United States' society and how it affected the family unit

Examples: women in the workplace, latchkey children

• Recognizing the impact of music genres and artists on United States' culture since World War II

Examples: genres—protest songs; Motown, rock and roll, rap, folk, and country music

artists—Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Hank Williams (Alabama)

• Identifying the impact of media, including newspapers, AM and FM radio, television, twenty-four hour sports and news programming, talk radio, and Internet social networking, on United States' culture since World War II

Subject: English Language Arts (6), or Social Studies (6)
Title: Sweet Revenge
Description: Students will evaluate the information from chapters 1-3 of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, particularly how the Logan children are treated by the white students and the bus driver. They will then decide if they agree or disagree with the decision made by the Logan children to seek revenge. Students will defend and provide support for their opinion. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

Title: Live at Five! The Devil's Arithmetic Newscast/Podcast
Description: Four to five person teams will be created to research and present an in-depth TV news special about the Holocaust for the Passover Seder holiday. Students will conduct research and assume a specific task of their news team to present a main story in a newscast/Podcast. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (6) 39:

39 ) Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. [L.6.3]

a. Vary sentence patterns for meaning, reader or listener interest, and style.* [L.6.3a]

b. Maintain consistency in style and tone.* [L.6.3b]

Subject: English Language Arts (6)
Title: Live at Five! The Devil's Arithmetic Newscast/Podcast
Description: Four to five person teams will be created to research and present an in-depth TV news special about the Holocaust for the Passover Seder holiday. Students will conduct research and assume a specific task of their news team to present a main story in a newscast/Podcast. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

Title: Glog a Plot
Description: Students will use the Web 2.0 tool Glogster at glogster.com to create a book report, or the tool may be used to create a summary poster for a short story. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (6) 28:

28 ) Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing basic bibliographic information for sources. [W.6.8]

Subject: English Language Arts (6)
Title: Glog a Plot
Description: Students will use the Web 2.0 tool Glogster at glogster.com to create a book report, or the tool may be used to create a summary poster for a short story. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

Title: Forecasting Statistics
Description: Students will research the ten day weather forecast. They will document the high's for ten days as well as the low's for ten days. Once students document this information, they will find the mean, median, mode, and range of the data collected. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (6) 1:

1 ) Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. [RL.6.1]

Subject: English Language Arts (6), or Mathematics (6)
Title: Forecasting Statistics
Description: Students will research the ten day weather forecast. They will document the high's for ten days as well as the low's for ten days. Once students document this information, they will find the mean, median, mode, and range of the data collected. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

Title: What Next? There’s a Hoarder Living Next Door!
Description: This interactive lesson provides students with an opportunity to evaluate how the use of language and wordplay emphasize the theme presented in Shel Silverstein’s humorous poem, "Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout, Wouldn’t Take the Garbage Out." Students will closely read the poem and explain how the use of alliteration, hyperbole, and strong imagery assist in revealing the tone, characters, and theme. By the end of the lesson, students will have a conceptual knowledge of the distinction between alliteration and hyperbole and be able to identify explicit examples from the text. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (7) 7:

7 ) Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film). [RL.7.7]

Subject: English Language Arts (6 - 7)
Title: What Next? There’s a Hoarder Living Next Door!
Description: This interactive lesson provides students with an opportunity to evaluate how the use of language and wordplay emphasize the theme presented in Shel Silverstein’s humorous poem, "Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout, Wouldn’t Take the Garbage Out." Students will closely read the poem and explain how the use of alliteration, hyperbole, and strong imagery assist in revealing the tone, characters, and theme. By the end of the lesson, students will have a conceptual knowledge of the distinction between alliteration and hyperbole and be able to identify explicit examples from the text. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

Title: Life Then and Now
Description: Students have read the novel, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and will compare and contrast the relationship of the blacks and whites in 1930s to the relationship of blacks and whites in 2013. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
Standard(s):
[SS2010] USS6 (6) 9:

9 ) Critique major social and cultural changes in the United States since World War II.

• Identifying key persons and events of the modern Civil Rights Movement

Examples: persons—Martin Luther King Jr.; Rosa Parks; Fred Shuttlesworth; John Lewis (Alabama)

events—Brown versus Board of Education, Montgomery Bus Boycott, student protests, Freedom Rides, Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March, political assassinations (Alabama)

• Describing the changing role of women in United States' society and how it affected the family unit

Examples: women in the workplace, latchkey children

• Recognizing the impact of music genres and artists on United States' culture since World War II

Examples: genres—protest songs; Motown, rock and roll, rap, folk, and country music

artists—Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Hank Williams (Alabama)

• Identifying the impact of media, including newspapers, AM and FM radio, television, twenty-four hour sports and news programming, talk radio, and Internet social networking, on United States' culture since World War II

Subject: English Language Arts (6), or Social Studies (6)
Title: Life Then and Now
Description: Students have read the novel, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and will compare and contrast the relationship of the blacks and whites in 1930s to the relationship of blacks and whites in 2013. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

Title: Drill and Kill No More - Incorporating Verbs, Adverbs, and Prepositions Within the Context of Argumentative Writing
Description: The technique known as "Drill and Kill" is not effective for the retention of grammar skills. Students are more apt to remember grammar skills when the skills are taught in connection with writing. The following lesson demonstrates a better way. Yes, the skills must be taught first; however, the “dril,l skill and kill” method is only 15% of the lesson. The first thing you must do is correlate the different genres of writing with the grammar concepts that go with them. This lesson will show teachers how to teach adverbs, verbs, and prepositions within the context of an argumentative paper. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 39:

39 ) Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words or phrases based on Grade 8 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. [L.8.4]

a. Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word's position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. [L.8.4a]

b. Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., precede, recede, secede). [L.8.4b]

c. Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech. [L.8.4c]

d. Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary). [L.8.4d]

Subject: English Language Arts (6 - 8)
Title: Drill and Kill No More - Incorporating Verbs, Adverbs, and Prepositions Within the Context of Argumentative Writing
Description: The technique known as "Drill and Kill" is not effective for the retention of grammar skills. Students are more apt to remember grammar skills when the skills are taught in connection with writing. The following lesson demonstrates a better way. Yes, the skills must be taught first; however, the “dril,l skill and kill” method is only 15% of the lesson. The first thing you must do is correlate the different genres of writing with the grammar concepts that go with them. This lesson will show teachers how to teach adverbs, verbs, and prepositions within the context of an argumentative paper. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

Title: Socratic Seminar About Non-Conformity
Description: Students will participate in a Socratic Seminar to discuss the idea of non- conformity as a relative theme in the novel Stargirl. Students will refer to text annotations and class discussions (completed TPFASTT optional) to make contributions to the student-led discussion. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (6) 34:

34 ) Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. [SL.6.4]

Subject: English Language Arts (6)
Title: Socratic Seminar About Non-Conformity
Description: Students will participate in a Socratic Seminar to discuss the idea of non- conformity as a relative theme in the novel Stargirl. Students will refer to text annotations and class discussions (completed TPFASTT optional) to make contributions to the student-led discussion. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

Thinkfinity Lesson Plans

Title: Guided Comprehension: Monitoring Using the INSERT Technique
Description: Based on the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen, this lesson introduces students to the comprehension strategy of monitoring.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (6) 10:

10 ) By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the Grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. [RL.6.10]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Guided Comprehension: Monitoring Using the INSERT Technique
Description: Based on the Guided Comprehension Model developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Mary Beth Allen, this lesson introduces students to the comprehension strategy of monitoring.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 4,5,6

Title: Guided Comprehension: Self-Questioning Using Question-Answer Relationships
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (6) 14:

14 ) Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings. [RI.6.4]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Guided Comprehension: Self-Questioning Using Question-Answer Relationships
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

Title: Guided Comprehension: Visualizing Using the Sketch-to-Stretch Strategy
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (6) 10:

10 ) By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the Grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. [RL.6.10]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Guided Comprehension: Visualizing Using the Sketch-to-Stretch Strategy
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

Title: Using QARs to Develop Comprehension and Reflective Reading Habits
Description: Students are introduced to question-answer relationships (QARs). Using the QAR strategy, students identify different types of questions and learn how to determine the appropriate response for each question type.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 30:

30 ) Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on Grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly. [SL.8.1]

a. Come to discussions prepared, having read or researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under discussion. [SL.8.1a]

b. Follow rules for collegial discussions and decision-making, track progress toward specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed. [SL.8.1b]

c. Pose questions that connect the ideas of several speakers and respond to others' questions and comments with relevant evidence, observations, and ideas. [SL.8.1c]

d. Acknowledge new information expressed by others, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views in light of the evidence presented. [SL.8.1d]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Using QARs to Develop Comprehension and Reflective Reading Habits
Description: Students are introduced to question-answer relationships (QARs). Using the QAR strategy, students identify different types of questions and learn how to determine the appropriate response for each question type.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: Jack London's ''The Call of the Wild'': ''Nature Faker''?
Description: In this lesson, from EDSITEment, students analyze Jack London's The Call of the Wild. They take a stand on whether London can be called a nature faker and on what he is attempting to communicate through his portrayal of Buck. They support their stands with historical evidence or evidence from the text. Finally, students write an essay, complete with hypothesis and textual support, on London's approach to the animal story in The Call of the Wild.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 28:

28 ) Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. [W.8.9]

a. Apply Grade 8 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new"). [W.8.9a]

b. Apply Grade 8 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., "Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced"). [W.8.9b]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Jack London's ''The Call of the Wild'': ''Nature Faker''?
Description: In this lesson, from EDSITEment, students analyze Jack London's The Call of the Wild. They take a stand on whether London can be called a nature faker and on what he is attempting to communicate through his portrayal of Buck. They support their stands with historical evidence or evidence from the text. Finally, students write an essay, complete with hypothesis and textual support, on London's approach to the animal story in The Call of the Wild.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: Weaving the Threads: Integrating Poetry Annotation and Web Technology
Description: Students read a poem by a Native American, explore Native American culture and then create a Website that explains words and phrases from the poem.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 41:

41 ) Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. [L.8.6]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Weaving the Threads: Integrating Poetry Annotation and Web Technology
Description: Students read a poem by a Native American, explore Native American culture and then create a Website that explains words and phrases from the poem.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: Expository Escapade Detectives Handbook
Description: Students create a Detective's Handbook based on a detective mystery they have read. The handbooks include expository and descriptive writing, as well as a letter.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 38:

38 ) Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. [L.8.3]

a. Use verbs in the active and passive voice and in the conditional and subjunctive mood to achieve particular effects (e.g., emphasizing the actor or the action; expressing uncertainty or describing a state contrary to fact). [L.8.3a]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Expository Escapade Detectives Handbook
Description: Students create a Detective's Handbook based on a detective mystery they have read. The handbooks include expository and descriptive writing, as well as a letter.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: Beyond the Story: A Dickens of a Party
Description: Students attend a 19th Century Victorian party to celebrate Scrooge's new outlook on life. They research characters from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and assume those personas for the party.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 27:

27 ) Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. [W.8.8]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Beyond the Story: A Dickens of a Party
Description: Students attend a 19th Century Victorian party to celebrate Scrooge's new outlook on life. They research characters from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and assume those personas for the party.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: Edgar Allen Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the Unreliable Narrator
Description: Students consider a variety of narrative stances in Edgar Allen Poe's short story, Tell Tale Heart, and Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. They examine how Ambrose Bierce and Edgar Allan Poe used narration to create their intended effect in the reader.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 32:

32 ) Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and relevance and sufficiency of the evidence and identifying when irrelevant evidence is introduced. [SL.8.3]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Edgar Allen Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the Unreliable Narrator
Description: Students consider a variety of narrative stances in Edgar Allen Poe's short story, Tell Tale Heart, and Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. They examine how Ambrose Bierce and Edgar Allan Poe used narration to create their intended effect in the reader.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: Can It Be?
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 story The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster, and then explore and interpret the concept of averages.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 9:

9 ) By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of Grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently. [RL.8.10]

Subject: Language Arts,Mathematics
Title: Can It Be?
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 story The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster, and then explore and interpret the concept of averages.
Thinkfinity Partner: Illuminations
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: Analyzing Advice as an Introduction to Shakespeare
Description: Popular culture provides an introduction to Shakespeare's poetic devices in this lesson, which asks students to explore an excerpt from Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 9:

9 ) By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of Grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently. [RL.8.10]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Analyzing Advice as an Introduction to Shakespeare
Description: Popular culture provides an introduction to Shakespeare's poetic devices in this lesson, which asks students to explore an excerpt from Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: He Said/She Said: Analyzing Gender Roles through Dialogue
Description: Students analyze dialogue tags used with male and female characters in a book they have read. They then evaluate the message the dialogue tags convey about gender roles.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 30:

30 ) Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on Grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly. [SL.8.1]

a. Come to discussions prepared, having read or researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under discussion. [SL.8.1a]

b. Follow rules for collegial discussions and decision-making, track progress toward specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed. [SL.8.1b]

c. Pose questions that connect the ideas of several speakers and respond to others' questions and comments with relevant evidence, observations, and ideas. [SL.8.1c]

d. Acknowledge new information expressed by others, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views in light of the evidence presented. [SL.8.1d]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: He Said/She Said: Analyzing Gender Roles through Dialogue
Description: Students analyze dialogue tags used with male and female characters in a book they have read. They then evaluate the message the dialogue tags convey about gender roles.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: Using the Four-Square Strategy to Define and Identify Poetic Terms
Description: How do poets play with language? Students will explore some answers to this question as they search through poems for examples of alliteration, assonance, simile, and rhyme.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 28:

28 ) Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. [W.8.9]

a. Apply Grade 8 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new"). [W.8.9a]

b. Apply Grade 8 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., "Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced"). [W.8.9b]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Using the Four-Square Strategy to Define and Identify Poetic Terms
Description: How do poets play with language? Students will explore some answers to this question as they search through poems for examples of alliteration, assonance, simile, and rhyme.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: Promoting Diversity in the Classroom and School Library through Social Action
Description: Students explore the effects of stereotypes by analyzing children's books. Then they create bookmarks that encourage readers to question the assumptions of stereotyped books and to seek out matching, balanced texts.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 41:

41 ) Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. [L.8.6]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Promoting Diversity in the Classroom and School Library through Social Action
Description: Students explore the effects of stereotypes by analyzing children's books. Then they create bookmarks that encourage readers to question the assumptions of stereotyped books and to seek out matching, balanced texts.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: Reading and Analyzing Multigenre Texts
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 14:

14 ) Analyze in detail the structure of a specific paragraph in a text, including the role of particular sentences in developing and refining a key concept. [RI.8.5]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Reading and Analyzing Multigenre Texts
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

Title: Choosing, Chatting, and Collecting: Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy
Description: Students identify interesting words from Shakespeare's plays and add them to a classroom vocabulary collection.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 39:

39 ) Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words or phrases based on Grade 8 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. [L.8.4]

a. Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word's position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. [L.8.4a]

b. Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., precede, recede, secede). [L.8.4b]

c. Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech. [L.8.4c]

d. Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary). [L.8.4d]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Choosing, Chatting, and Collecting: Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy
Description: Students identify interesting words from Shakespeare's plays and add them to a classroom vocabulary collection.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: The Poet's Voice: Langston Hughes and You
Description: This unit of seven lessons, from EDSITEment, introduces students to a poet's voice. Students develop a general definition of voice in poetry, and analyze and appreciate the poetic voice of Langston Hughes in particular. Included are writing and discussion activities, in which students either write a poem expressing their own voice (as developed in a journal), or write about one of the qualities of Langston Hughes's poetic voice (as explored in class discussion).
Standard(s):
[SS2010] USS6 (6) 4:

4 ) Identify cultural and economic developments in the United States from 1900 through the 1930s.

• Describing the impact of various writers, musicians, and artists on American culture during the Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age

Examples: Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Andrew Wyeth, Frederic Remington, W. C. Handy, Erskine Hawkins, George Gershwin, Zora Neale Hurston (Alabama)

• Identifying contributions of turn-of-the-century inventors

Examples: George Washington Carver, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Alva Edison, Wilbur and Orville Wright (Alabama)

• Describing the emergence of the modern woman during the early 1900s

Examples: Amelia Earhart, Zelda Fitzgerald, Helen Keller, Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Washington, suffragettes, suffragists, flappers (Alabama)

• Identifying notable persons of the early 1900s

Examples: Babe Ruth, Charles A. Lindbergh, W. E. B. Du Bois, John T. Scopes (Alabama)

• Comparing results of the economic policies of the Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover Administrations

Examples: higher wages, increase in consumer goods, collapse of farm economy, extension of personal credit, stock market crash, Immigration Act of 1924

Subject: Language Arts,Social Studies
Title: The Poet's Voice: Langston Hughes and You
Description: This unit of seven lessons, from EDSITEment, introduces students to a poet's voice. Students develop a general definition of voice in poetry, and analyze and appreciate the poetic voice of Langston Hughes in particular. Included are writing and discussion activities, in which students either write a poem expressing their own voice (as developed in a journal), or write about one of the qualities of Langston Hughes's poetic voice (as explored in class discussion).
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: Poems That Tell a Story: Narrative and Persona in the Poetry of Robert Frost
Description: In this four-lesson unit, from EDSITEment, students read, discuss, and analyze selected poems by Robert Frost. The activities that make up this unit encourage students to draw inferences about a poem's speaker based on evidence contained within the poem and to gather evidence supporting those inferences.
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: Poems That Tell a Story: Narrative and Persona in the Poetry of Robert Frost
Description: In this four-lesson unit, from EDSITEment, students read, discuss, and analyze selected poems by Robert Frost. The activities that make up this unit encourage students to draw inferences about a poem's speaker based on evidence contained within the poem and to gather evidence supporting those inferences.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: The Statue of Liberty: Bringing the ''New Colossus'' to America
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.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 20:

20 ) Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. [W.8.1]

a. Introduce claim(s), acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically. [W.8.1a]

b. Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text. [W.8.1b]

c. Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. [W.8.1c]

d. Establish and maintain a formal style. [W.8.1d]

e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented. [W.8.1e]

Subject: Language Arts,Social Studies
Title: The Statue of Liberty: Bringing the ''New Colossus'' to America
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

Title: Pictures in Words: Poems of Tennyson and Noyes
Description: In this lesson, from EDSITEment, students explore how poets Tennyson and Noyes use words to paint vivid and memorable pictures. They describe how word pictures emphasize or qualify the meanings of their poems.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (8) 25:

25 ) Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others. [W.8.6]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Pictures in Words: Poems of Tennyson and Noyes
Description: In this lesson, from EDSITEment, students explore how poets Tennyson and Noyes use words to paint vivid and memorable pictures. They describe how word pictures emphasize or qualify the meanings of their poems.
Thinkfinity Partner: EDSITEment
Grade Span: 6,7,8

Title: The Big Bad Wolf: Analyzing Point of View in Texts
Description: Was the Big Bad Wolf really all that bad? This lesson encourages students to analyze multiple viewpoints, view texts from different angles, and recognize gaps in narrative.
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: The Big Bad Wolf: Analyzing Point of View in Texts
Description: Was the Big Bad Wolf really all that bad? This lesson encourages students to analyze multiple viewpoints, view texts from different angles, and recognize gaps in narrative.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 6,7,8

ALEX Learning Activities

Title: Out of My Mind: Learning About the Impact of Assistive Technologies Through Literature
Description: In conjunction with reading Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, students will explore the world of assistive technologies and how they are impacting our world today. Students will begin by using Wordle.net and create a piece of word art to show their understanding of the main character in the book. They will then explore how assistive technologies influenced our understanding of the main character through reading an informational article about assistive technologies. This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.
Standard(s):
[DLIT] (6) 34:

28) Define assistive technologies and state reasons they may be needed.

Subject: English Language Arts (6), Digital Literacy and Computer Science (6)
Title: Out of My Mind: Learning About the Impact of Assistive Technologies Through Literature
Description: In conjunction with reading Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, students will explore the world of assistive technologies and how they are impacting our world today. Students will begin by using Wordle.net and create a piece of word art to show their understanding of the main character in the book. They will then explore how assistive technologies influenced our understanding of the main character through reading an informational article about assistive technologies. This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

Title: Always Play Your A.C.E.!
Description: In this activity, the teacher will introduce the Answer, Cite, Explain (A.C.E.) strategy to help students answer questions that require text evidence. The students will practice answering text evidence questions using a text of the teacher's choice. This activity results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (6) 1:

1 ) Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. [RL.6.1]

Subject: English Language Arts (6)
Title: Always Play Your A.C.E.!
Description: In this activity, the teacher will introduce the Answer, Cite, Explain (A.C.E.) strategy to help students answer questions that require text evidence. The students will practice answering text evidence questions using a text of the teacher's choice. This activity results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

ALEX Learning Activities: 2

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Thinkfinity Learning Activities

Title: Today is World Poetry Day.
Description: Students read and respond to Billy Collins' poem '' Introduction to Poetry.'' Students then write about a favorite poem and imagine the perfect way to read it.
Standard(s):
[ELA2015] (12) 28:

28 ) 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 tasks, purposes, and audiences. [W.11-12.10]

Subject: Language Arts
Title: Today is World Poetry Day.
Description: Students read and respond to Billy Collins' poem '' Introduction to Poetry.'' Students then write about a favorite poem and imagine the perfect way to read it.
Thinkfinity Partner: ReadWriteThink
Grade Span: 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12