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Grimy Gators are popping out of the city sewers! Students will need to remember their subject-verb agreement rules to get rid of them. Students will read the subject at the top of the screen, then click on the verb which agrees with that subject.

This resource contains 40 cards that include a Greek or Latin root word, a related image, and example words. These cards could be used as flashcards, a teaching activity, or classroom decor. In addition, all of the words are related to science and could be used to support the analysis of domain-specific text. This resource also includes informational material for teachers regarding teaching this concept.

Offset elements are words or phrases that can be removed from a sentence and not lose any meaning. Sometimes the meaning is needed, and so it is important to not use a comma in these instances.

This resource allows students the opportunity to practice comma placement with introductory elements and direct address. 

Students get to flex their writing muscles as they use a variety of writing genres to create a zine of their own: letter writing, persuasive writing, narrative, acrostic poetry, comic writing, and biography/autobiography. Each student chooses a prominent figure from popular culture as the focus for a multigenre zine and then plans the project using the Facts–Questions–Interpretations method. Students then write in each of the listed genres about their chosen subjects, using a variety of ReadWriteThink.org tools. Finally, students design covers for their projects, and the teacher binds all the printed documents into individual zines.

The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. The students and teacher can interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. The students will answer the questions associated with the article as an assessment. This learning activity can be used to provide information regarding geologic events that happen over a short period of time, serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept, or be used as an assessment at the conclusion of a lesson. This learning activity includes a StepRead: StepReads are less complex versions of the original article. StepRead1 (SR1) is less complex than the original article, and StepRead2 (SR2) is less complex than SR1. This will allow the teacher to use this learning activity with students of varying ability levels. 

The classroom resource provides a teaching video on comparing and contrasting. The video teaches the students to compare similarities and contrast differences. This classroom resource includes worksheets to help with understanding.

This resource provides looping videos that demonstrate the writing strokes of each of the lowercase letters, including the proper approach strokes, letter formation, and line placement. The videos can be played during whole or small group instruction to demonstrate the proper approach strokes, letter formation, and line placement, while the teacher observes and provides feedback. These videos could also be used at a center rotation while students independently practice their printed handwriting strokes. 

In this lesson, the traditional autobiography writing project is given a twist as students write alphabiographies—recording an event, person, object, or feeling associated with each letter of the alphabet. Students are introduced to the idea of the alphabiography through passages from James Howe's Totally Joe. Students then work with the teacher to create guidelines for writing their own alphabiographies. Students create an entry for each letter of the alphabet, writing about an important event from their lives. After the entry for each letter, students sum up the stories and vignettes by recording the life lessons they learned from the events. Since this type of autobiography breaks out of chronological order, students can choose what has been important in their lives. And since the writing pieces are short, even reluctant writers are eager to write!

See this updated link for the online Alphabet Organizer from ReadWriteThink.org.

The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. The students and teacher can interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. The students will answer the questions associated with the article as an assessment. This learning activity can be used to provide data about solid water (ice and snow) found on Earth. This activity includes a question set on cause and effect, which will help students describe the connection between scientific ideas and processes. 

In this classroom resource, students will learn about conjunctions. A conjunction is a word that joins two parts of a sentence. There are two kinds of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions. This resource offers videos, games, and worksheets to help further understand the concept.

Nervous about giving a speech or presenting to your class? Use these resources from Ford's Theatre to learn more about demonstrating the oratory skills necessary for successful public speaking.

This resource addresses pace, emphasis, diction, tone, and volume. 

This unit introduces the concept of cause and effect with Trinka Hakes Noble's books about Jimmy and his boa constrictor. Each lesson begins with the teacher reading a new story about Jimmy and his boa and the chaos they bring to each place they visit. Class discussions about each event and its cause are followed by tasks for the students to help illustrate understanding of the concept. Students create cause-and-effect pictures, puzzles, and flow charts as they explore the genre. As a culminating activity, students write their own book with causes and effects, which are assessed with a rubric.

Dig into reading practice and meet a cute little mole who loves dirt. Learn about finding the main idea in an informational text about the components that make up soil and get the dirt on how details can support the main idea. 

The exclamation mark or exclamation point ends a sentence that expresses a strong feeling or an important command. It is also used at the end of short interjections such as "Wow!" or "Ouch!" and to draw attention to a fact or opinion (I am the greatest soccer player in the world!). Since exclamation points show powerful emotions, they should be used sparingly in writing and should be only used one at a time. In this classroom resource, the students will learn where to place an exclamation mark. This resource offers informational material, videos, games, quizzes, and worksheets to help further understand this concept.

In this interactive lesson, students explore the importance of setting in literature and apply their learning to the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Students are introduced to the three main components of the setting: time, place, and the social conditions in the story. Using these three components as a framework, students gain a deeper understanding of the setting in To Kill a Mockingbird by learning about the 1930s. This resource also includes embedded vocabulary practice. A final writing assignment asks the students to write an essay synthesizing their knowledge of the time period and the book. This lesson works for students who are already engaged in studying the novel and have read at least the first two chapters.

Circular stories follow a “round” pattern—they begin and end in the same way. Like the cycle of seasons or the life cycle, circular stories follow a predictable series of events that returns to the starting point. Building on students' existing knowledge of plot structure and of cycles in other content areas, this lesson invites students to use a circle plot graphic organizer to explore the structure of this type of story. The cyclical nature of the stories is an excellent match for discussion of prediction and sequencing skills. After exploring the features of circular plot stories and reading a model story, such as Laura Joffe Numeroff's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, students write their own stories individually or in small groups.

Students will identify adjectives in the book Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley.  They will choose an adjective and a shape to create an adjective monster using construction paper and chalk/crayon.  They will create features using paper sculpture techniques.  

This media gallery from Shakespeare Uncovered will help your students understand the many plots in A Midsummer Night's Dream, how they move the play forward, and how they are intertwined. Videos, text-dependent questions, and graphic organizers will highlight what students need to know about the play's Athenian court as well as its lovers, fairies, and rude "mechanicals."

In this collaborative inquiry unit, the real gold is the inquiry skills and content area knowledge that students develop. The class works in small groups, each focusing on one aspect of the same big topic, such as the Gold Rush. After skimming related texts, the class brainstorms people, places and things associated with the topic and develops a list of five or six main subtopics. Students then work in small groups to research one of the subtopics, practicing specific research skills as they work. Finally, students choose an activity, such as an oral report, trivia game, or newspaper, to teach what they have learned to the rest of the class. Group accountability and individual responsibility are built into this lesson process.

While this unit uses the Gold Rush as an example, any event or geographical area could be substituted.

Students will listen to Ludwig van Beethoven's 5th Symphony and write a descriptive essay about how the music influenced them. They will create watercolor artwork while listening to the music.