1 Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Narrative Structure Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Reading Grades: Grades 3–4 Professional Commentary: A strong plot is a basic requirement of any narrative. Students are sometimes confused, however, by the difference between a series of events that happen in a story and the plot elements, or the events that are significant to the story.... Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Reading Grades: Grades 3–4 Professional Commentary: This resource uses fairy tales to teach the literary features and story structure commonly found in narrative texts. This instructional unit, maintained by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, provides opportunities for students to read a variety of fairy tales and create original stories following the structure and conventions of narrative texts.... 3 Seasonal Haiku: Writing Poems to Celebrate Any Season Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Reading Grades: Grades 3–4 Professional Commentary: In this three-part lesson, students write and illustrate haiku depicting seasonal images. First they use their observation skills, real-world knowledge, and knowledge of parts of speech to help them create seasonal word charts.... 4 Emily Dickinson & Poetic Imagination: "Leap,plashless" Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Reading Grades: Grades 3–5 Professional Commentary: In this lesson, students read and explore the poetry of Emily Dickinson to build their understanding of key literary elements. Students examine the use of imagery, sound, and metaphor and discover how to listen for meter in songs and poems.... 5 Teaching the Compare and Contrast Essay through Modeling Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Reading Grades: Grades 3–7 Professional Commentary: This introductory lesson in essay writing supports students in learning to use a compare/contrast structure in their writing. Teachers begin by modeling, inviting students to contribute ideas to the essay.... 6 Poetry Writing with Karla Kuskin Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Reading Grades: Grades 3–5 Professional Commentary: Part of Scholastic's Writing with Writers series, this resource features lessons and activities for use in writing workshop. This poetry writing project is designed to teach students strategies for creating original poetry.... 7 Born on a Mountaintop : Davy Crockett, Tall Tales, and History Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Reading Grades: Grade 3 Professional Commentary: This resource, maintained by the National Endowment for the Humanities, uses historical documents and tall tales about Davy Crockett as the focus for a unit on American tall tales. The suggested lessons allow students to examine the characteristics of tall tales and how these tales reflect historical events.... Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Reading Grades: Grades 3–5 Professional Commentary: This lesson features methods in which students learn strategies for developing strong characters in their own writing. Students explore the development of a character sketch with teacher modeling and guided instruction.... 9 Creating a Classroom Newspaper Resource Type: Lessons Discipline: Reading Grades: Grades 3–4 Professional Commentary: This lesson provides students with the opportunity to write authentic news stories. Using print and online newspapers, students analyze news writing, summarize articles, and plan and write their own stories.... Resource Type: Content Supports Discipline: Reading Grades: Grades 1–7 Professional Commentary: This resource provides a gallery of graphic organizers useful for teaching reading and writing processes. These graphic organizers, designed to help students visualize information in a clear, concise way, are easily adapted for use with fiction and nonfiction text.... |