Text Structures-Informational Writing/Mesopotamia Unit

This 18 day unit explicitly teaches text structures, summary, text features, reading informational text about Mesopotamia, and writing a book about Mesopotamia. Instruction moves from high scaffolding to moderate scaffolding to independent practice as students become familiar with the various text structures, how to identify them, what graphic organizer will work with each text structure, how to use notes recorded in graphic organizers to write summaries, and how to compile an informational book. Mesopotamia is the content used as an anchor.

Material Type: Lesson Plan, Unit of Study

e-Book Reading and Response: Innovative Ways to Engage with Texts

Students in Grades 5 through 12 read and respond to electronic books by using e-book tools and features, including digital note-taking capabilities.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Website Planning in a Bilingual Classroom

In this lesson, designed for a heterogeneous group of students that includes English-language learners, students work together to plan a website based on their home knowledge. An introductory lesson outlines the structure and components of simple websites (home page, titles, headings, links). Students take home and complete a bilingual student and family interest survey, then work in groups of four or five to identify common themes among the responses. Each group makes a flow chart to think graphically about the contents of their planned website. Each student keeps a project notebook to record new ideas, summarize group work, and share the project with family members. The teacher can make the planned websites a reality using one of the online website-building platforms in the Resources list.

Material Type: Lesson Plan, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Lucy K. Spence, Ph.D.

Every Punctuation Mark Matters: A Minilesson on Semicolons

Students analyze stylistic choices and grammar use in authentic writing, focusing on the use of the semicolon in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Playing with Prepositions through Poetry

Students play with and explore prepositions during a whole group reading of Ruth Heller's Behind the Mask, and then by composing and publishing prepositional poems based on the book's style.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

When I Was Young In...A Literature to Language Experience

Past meets present in this lesson in which students practice verb tense when they write personal short stories that they then publish in a flip book.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Unit of Study

Fostering Character in a Collaborative Classroom

Our K-5 Language Arts Curriculum addresses three dimensions of student achievement: mastery of knowledge and skills, character, and high-quality student work. This document focuses on the character dimension, also referred to as social-emotional learning. Part 1 explains what EL Education means by character and how the K-5 Language Arts Curriculum promotes habits of character. Part 2 provides practical guidance about how teachers can set up the classroom environment, structures, and culture that will help this learning succeed.

Material Type: Reading

Author: EL Education

Grade 3 Writing Rubrics and Checklists

Grade level rubrics for three types of writing: opinion/argument, informative/explanatory, and narrative. EL Education created these K-5 rubrics based on an analysis of the grade-level demands, rubrics used by common assessment platforms, and EL Education's own professional expertise (including attention to the Writing for Understanding framework). The downloads include Writing Rubrics, Informal Checklists, and the Phonics and Word Recognition Checklist.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: EL Education

Implementing the K-2 Reading Foundations Skills Block

This guidance document helps teachers understand the why, as well as the concrete what and how, of the K-2 Reading Foundations Skills Block: the overall structure, what students do during Whole Group instruction and during differentiated Small Group instruction and Independent work,connection to the grade level reading and language standards, assessments, how the K-2 Skills Block supports and complements the work from the K-2 Language Arts Curriculum (Module Lessons and Labs), what a day in the Skills Block looks like, and Frequently Asked Questions.

Material Type: Reading

Author: EL Education

Common Core Curriculum Grade 3 (Module 1): Becoming a Close Reader and Writing to Learn - My Librarian Is a Camel: Bringing Books to Children around the World

This module uses literature and informational text such as "My Librarian Is a Camel" to introduce students to the power of literacy and how people around the world access books. This module is intentionally designed to encourage students to embrace a love of literacy and reading. There are 3 units in this module. Unit 1 explores the question ĺづWhy do people seek the power of reading?ĺăĺ In unit 2 students explore their own ĺづpowers of readingĺăĺ that help them access text. And unit 3 explores how geography impacts readersĺăĚă access to books.

Material Type: Lesson Plan, Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy, Unit of Study

Common Core Curriculum Grade 6 ELA - Making Evidence-Based Claims

Making Evidence-Based Claims ELA/Literacy Units empower students with a critical reading and writing skill at the heart of the Common Core: making evidence-based claims about complex texts. These units are part of the Developing Core Proficiencies Program. This unit develops students' €abilities to make evidence-based claims through activities based on a close reading of the Commencement Address Steve Jobs delivered at Stanford University on June, 2005.

Material Type: Primary Source, Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy, Unit of Study

Alphabet Organizer

Students use this online tool to create an alphabet chart or pages for an alphabet book.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Interactive

Notes on the Danish West Indies on JSTOR

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 22, The United States and Latin America (Jul., 1903), pp. 99-110 (12 pages)

Material Type: Reading

Author: Albert G. Keller

Hispanic Heritage and History in the United States

Since 1988, the U.S. Government has set aside the period from September 15 to October 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month to honor the many contributions Hispanic Americans have made and continue to make to the United States of America. Our Teacher's Guide brings together resources created during NEH Summer Seminars and Institutes, lesson plans for K-12 classrooms, and think pieces on events and experiences across Hispanic history and heritage.

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy

The Charlotte Amalie Saladoid Excavation Documentary

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

Material Type: Lecture, Lesson

Author: Government House Virgin Islands

My Family Traditions: A Class Book and a Potluck Lunch

After analyzing "Family Pictures/Cuadros de Familia" by Carmen Lomas Garza, students create a class book with artwork and information about their ancestry, traditions, and recipes, followed by a potluck lunch.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Unit of Study

National Hispanic American Heritage Month 2021

Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. This link will provide you with resources that will encourage learning about the Hispanic culture. Here you can dive deep into traditions, history and famous people who brought about change. I hope you share this with your students. Enjoy!

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Reading

Author: The Library of Congress | Legal | USA.gov

Common Core Curriculum: Kindergarten & Grade 1 ELA: Skills Strand

The Skills Strand teaches the mechanics of reading. Students are taught systematic and explicit phonics instruction as their primary tool for decoding written English. By the end of grade 2, students have learned all of the sound spelling correspondences in the English language and are able to decode written material they encounter. In addition to phonics, students also are taught spelling, grammar, and writing during the Skills Strand. A downloadable story "Kits Hats" with illustrations is provided for instruction.

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Reading

Common Core Curriculum Grade 2 ELA: Skills Strand

The Skills Strand teaches the mechanics of reading_Ŕstudents are taught systematic and explicit phonics instruction as their primary tool for decoding written English. By the end of grade 2, students have learned all of the sound_spelling correspondences in the English language and are able to decode written material they encounter. In addition to phonics, students also are taught spelling, grammar, and writing during the Skills Strand. A downloadable story "Jump!" with illustrations is provided for instruction.

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Reading

Strategy Guide: Assessing Student Interests and Strengths

In this Strategy Guide, you'll learn about a number of specific methods that can help you to gain a fuller picture of the interests of your students as well as what your students understand, know, and can demonstrate by doing. By understanding the varying literacy strengths and habits of our students we can identify what Vygotsky calls their "zone of proximal development" where literacy opportunities are not too hard as to frustrate or too easy to bore but just challenging enough to promote student learning. With a keen eye, we can observe the interests and strengths of our students and, when possible, we can consider these to plan learning opportunities for our students. By providing choice and respectful tasks, we can provide meaningful literacy experiences.

Material Type: Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy