Sofia and Mr. Parrot

Learn prepositions (on, under, next to, over and around) by singing a mariachi song with Sofia and Mr. Parrot! Viewers sing and dance along with Sofia as she learns prepositions demonstrated by Mr. Parrot being on the sombrero, under the sombrero, next to the sombrero, over the sombrero, and around the sombrero. Learning Objective: Understand and use the following parts of speech in the context of reading, writing, and speaking (with adult assistance): prepositions and simple prepositional phrases appropriately when speaking or writing (e.g., in, on, under, over).

Material Type: Lesson

Understanding Character: The Life of Percy Julian

In this blended lesson supporting literacy skills, students watch video dramatizations of Percy Julian's struggles with racism and how he refused to let it limit his possibilities in life. Students develop their literacy skills as they explore an English language arts focus on understanding character. During this process, they read informational text, learn and practice vocabulary words, and explore content through videos and interactive activities. This resource is part of the Inspiring Middle School Literacy Collection.

Material Type: Interactive

Engage NY

EngageNY.org is developed and maintained by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) to support the implementation of key aspects of the New York State Board of Regents Reform Agenda. This is the official web site for current materials and resources related to the Regents Reform Agenda. The agenda includes the implementation of the New York State P-12 Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS), Teacher and Leader Effectiveness (TLE), and Data-Driven Instruction (DDI). EngageNY.org is dedicated to providing educators across New York State with real-time, professional learning tools and resources to support educators in reaching the State‰ŰŞs vision for a college- and career-ready education for all students.

Material Type: Reading

Preparing For Close Reading With Students

This 30 minute video features a discussion between NYS Commissioner of Education John B. King Jr., David Coleman (contributing author to the Common Core) and Kate Gerson (a Sr. Fellow with the Regents Research Fund) on the first 20 paragraphs of Martin Luther King Jr.‰'s ‰"Letter from Birmingham Jail.‰" This conversation represents one of the ways a group of educators might prepare for close reading of text with students. This behind-the-scenes discourse represents the kind of dialogue teachers can have as they build their own fluency and familiarity with a text before diving into it with students. After watching this video, educators might ask themselves: Why are conversations like these important? What role can adult discussions of text play in teacher prep? Participants might also continue the conversation King, Coleman, and Gerson are having by picking up where they left off and engaging deeply around paragraphs 21-30. What happens next in the text? What is King ‰"up to‰" for those paragraphs?

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy

Aesop and Ananse: Animal Fables and Trickster Tales

In this unit, students will become familiar with fables and trickster tales from different cultural traditions and will see how stories change when transferred orally between generations and cultures. They will learn how both types of folktales employ various animals in different ways to portray human strengths and weaknesses and to pass down wisdom from one generation to the next. Use the following lessons to introduce students to world folklore and to explore how folktales convey the perspectives of different world cultures.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Unit of Study

Author: Individual Authors

Beloved by Toni Morrison

This collection uses primary sources to explore Toni Morrison's Beloved. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

Material Type: Primary Source

Author: Melissa Strong

Shakespeare the Player: Illustrating Elizabethan Theatre through A Midsummer Night's Dream

In this activity, you and your students will explore Elizabethan stage practices as the rustic yet enthusiastic amateur actors from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. While it's not necessary to teach Shakespeare's biography while studying his plays, sometimes opportunities to explore his world through his own eyes present themselves in his text. Students' new insights into the text will provide them with a deeper appreciation for Shakespeare’s world. This activity will take one or two class periods.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: Caitlin S Griffin and Carol Ann Lloyd Stanger

Book Report Alternative: Characters for Hire! Studying Character in Drama

In this alternative to the traditional book report, students respond to a play they have read by creating a resume for one of its characters.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Constructing New Understanding Through Choral Readings of Shakespeare

After reading "The Tempest" or any other play by William Shakespeare, students work in small groups to plan, compose, and perform a choral reading based on a character or theme.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Learning Clubs: Motivating Middle School Readers and Writers

Students participate in learning clubs, select content area topics, and draw on texts - including websites, printed material, video, and music - to investigate their topics, and share their learning using similar media.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

PCC OER: A Digital Workbook for Beginning ESOL

This book contains three levels of interactive grammar lessons and reading activities for beginning students of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages). The grammar section includes a select set of YouTube videos, and the three original readers include short picture or chapter stories. Each lesson is accompanied by self-correcting exercises.

Material Type: Textbook

Authors: Davida Jordan, Eric Dodson, Timothy Krause

E-pals Around the World

With e-pals, students develop real-life writing and social experiences, learn the format of a friendly letter and parts of an e-mail message, and discover other cultures, languages, and geographic areas.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

A Christmas Carol - lightly adapted for advanced students of English language by Timothy Krause

This version of the classic holiday story has been slightly abridged and lightly adapted for advanced students of English language. The text includes comprehension checks, discussion questions, and collaborative activities.

Material Type: Textbook

Authors: Charles Dickens, Timothy Krause

The Passion of Punctuation

Using published writers' texts and students' own writing, this unit explores emotions that are associated with the artful and deliberate use of commas, semicolons, colons, and exclamation points (end-stop marks of punctuation).

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Unit of Study

Home and School: Ten Easy Picture Stories for Beginning Students of English

This book contains 10 easy picture stories for beginning students of English. The stories have a Lexile level of 100L-500L and address common home and school situations. Each story includes images, self-correcting comprehension exercises, and a conversation prompt.

Material Type: Textbook

Author: Timothy Krause

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 Grade 2 ELA: Listening and Learning Strand

The Listening and Learning Strand consists of a series of read_alouds organized by topics (called domains), many of which are informational in nature. The goal of the Listening and Learning Strand is for students to acquire language competence through listening, specifically building a rich vocabulary, and broad knowledge in history and science by being exposed to carefully selected, sequenced, and coherent read_alouds. The 9 units (or domains) provide lessons (including images and texts), as well as instructional objectives, core vocabulary, and assessment materials. The domain topics include: Fighting for a Cause; Fairy Tales and Tall Tales; Cycles in Nature; Insects; Ancient Greek Civilizations; Greek Myths; Charlotte's Web; and Immigration.

Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Reading, Teaching/Learning Strategy, Unit of Study

Berkeley Unified School District: Garden-Based Learning Curriculum

This curriculum builds upon many years of educating students in the garden and scales up content across grades and lessons for instructional scaffolding. It is designed as an interactive teaching tool to be co-taught with classroom teachers and garden instructors as leads. Each lesson connects directly to standards: Next Generation Science, Common Core State, Physical Education, and Environmental and Health Education. The concise and easy to-follow lessons are a packed 45 minutes for preschool through fifth grade. Flexibility is important, so some lessons include several activities that teachers can choose from to accommodate their lesson plans. Consistency is also important, so lessons follow themes and structures found in the Curriculum Map. 360 pages.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Written Conversation / Silent Discussion

Silent Discussion takes the strengths of a well-managed verbal classroom discussion and moves into a written discussion. Some of the benefits of this move include: all students participate; students practice writing in a low-stakes, social format; and students engage with content skills and knowledge.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Acquiring New Vocabulary Through Book Discussion Groups

This lesson employs direct instruction and small-group discussion to help students learn new vocabulary skills while reading Patricia Polacco's "Pink and Say".

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan