Students choose unfamiliar words from their reading and create a multigenre, multimodal glossary of terms.

Students will learn to mind their ps and qs in this lesson on etiquette and appropriate behavior in the classroom.

In this author study, students listen to and discuss four books by Leo Lionni. They identify similarities and differences in the stories and then compare two stories of their choice.

This lesson is sure to sizzle, not fizzle, as students use comic strips to find onomatopoetic words, develop a vocabulary list from the words, and discuss why writers use onomatopoeia.

The Virgin Islands Department of Education recognizes that literacy is a shared responsibility. In addition to aligning the Kallaloo Framework with the intent to infuse Virgin Islands History and Culture throughout the curriculum, VISA also recognizes the Common Core States Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. These content-specific literacy standards are based on the premise that students must learn to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively in a variety of content areas. To this end, the standards promote the literacy skills and concepts required for college and career readiness in multiple disciplines.

Beginning in grade 6, the literacy standards allow teachers of History/Social Studies, Science, and technical subjects to use their content area expertise to help students meet the particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their respective content. The ELA Literacy Standards are meant to supplement content standards in those areas, not replace them. To date, VIDE has determined that these standards must be intentionally incorporated into all content areas.

The ELA literacy standards are designed to prepare students for life outside the classroom. They include critical-thinking skills and the ability to closely and attentively read texts in a way that will help them understand and enjoy complex works of literature. Students will learn to use cogent reasoning and evidence collection skills that are essential for success in college, career, and life. The standards also lay out a vision of what it means to be a literate person who is prepared for success in the 21st century

This document presents the crosswalk from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts to the Virgin Islands Standards of Achievement (VISA) for English Language Arts. Areas highlighted in red indicate the revisions made to the standards.

The CD/DVD Cover Creator allows users to type and illustrate CD and DVD covers and related booklets for liner notes and other information. Students can use the tool to create covers for books, music, and films that they explored as well as to create covers for media they compose individually or as a class.

This lesson, part of the Digital Literacy series, addresses the importance of locating and verifying reliable sources when working with online information. This lesson is aimed at a young audience and operates on the assumption that many students in the class are not yet reading and writing independently.

Students provide details about a character who is missing a school assignment and use code to describe the character's actions, thoughts, and words.

Students will build a project about an idea, activity, item, or cause they feel strongly about.

This 3-day activity reinforces what students have learned about animals. The activities focus on pets: cats, dogs, birds, and fish. Main Curriculum Tie: English Language Arts Kindergarten Reading: Literature Standard 2, with prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details. Activities in this unit reinforce what students have learned throughout the year about animals. For each activity, a different group of animals is studied. These activities focus on pets: cats, dogs, birds, and fish. Students will re-read both fiction and non-fiction stories that have been previously introduced during the school year. As they read the books, they will have activities to complete in order to earn their “badge” for that animal. Each student will make a paper bag vest on which they will be able to display badges they have earned.

Students explore a range of resources on fair use and copyright then design their own audio public service announcements & PSA to be broadcast over the school's public address system.

C3. Inquiry based lesson plan. Using supporting questions and formative performance assessments, students explore the impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Students analyze a summary of the plot of the book, find the main idea(s), look at connected videos, illustrations, and utilize graphic organizers to assess the power of words within this specific historical context.

Students examine books, selected from the American Library Association Challenged/Banned Books list, and write persuasive pieces expressing their views about what should be done with the books at their school.

Shadows, shadows, everywhere! In this lesson, students read fiction, informational text, and poetry about shadows to extend their knowledge of the concept before casting their own shadow poetry.

The Castle of Otranto is often referred to as the first Gothic novel. Which is fair enough, so far as it goes; Walpole’s novel did establish many key features of this genre, which has been popular with readers ever since The Castle of Otranto was first published on Christmas Eve, 1764. Like the Gothic novels, plays, stories, and films that followed it, The Castle of Otranto teases us by suggesting that the rules of the everyday world do not always apply, that sometimes only a supernatural explanation can account for everything we see. That idea—which runs against the grain of the assumption that the modern novel is all about realism—runs through books like Anne Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series and thousands more works of fiction, be they written as stories or novels, or filmed for cinema or television.

Students learn about story structure, new vocabulary, and a variety of reading strategies by participating in an interactive read-aloud of "Miss Bindergarten Stays Home From Kindergarten" by Joseph Slate.

The list of ten things about Opal's absent mother that her father shares in "Because of Winn-Dixie" serves as inspiration for students to create their own lists describing literary characters.

More than 2,000 years ago there was likely a thriving Taino community in the heart of Charlotte Amalie. In 2013 contractors began turning up shards of pottery and other artifacts during otherwise routine roadwork on Main Street near Market Square. Work was temporarily halted and archeologists were called in to help dig up what was described as a “major” find. Thousands of artifacts were eventually discovered in a relatively small area. A short documentary was later produced about the dig and the many interesting objects found on site. - - US Virgin Islands DPNR and the State Office of Historic Preservation