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This WPSU interactive Make Connections Game gives students practice in making mental connections between the text and things the reader already knows. These connections can include things readers have read (text-to-text), things they've seen or heard (text-to-world), and things they've done (text-to-self). The game is part of Blue Ribbon Readers, a collection of games designed to help elementary school students learn to read. This game is recommended for students in grades 2 - 5. 

This resource is particularly helpful with allowing students the opportunity to practice identifying text comparisons in the 3rd grade. 

In this activity, students will read the story, Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers by Karen B. Winnick and pick a moment in the story to add a new scene in the form of a comic strip.

The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. Students will 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 introduce students to the concept of designing weather-resistant structures, serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept, or be used as an assessment at the conclusion of a lesson. 

Are you ready for your students to burst into action while practicing contractions? Have them join the fiesta in "Arcade" mode by tapping/clicking on the correct contraction spelling and using the slingshot to make the piñata burst open, or play "Practice" mode to test their knowledge of contractions and hone their slingshot skills.

In this lesson, students explore the power of narrative voice in storytelling and in particular the first-person point of view. They engage with the text through a shared reading exercise and view a video segment from The Great American Read. Finally, students analyze text to identify how authors use language and voice to channel the emotions and experiences of characters.

This lesson supports third through fifth-grade students as they apply think-aloud strategies to reading, as well as to the composition of artwork and poetry. Activities include collaborative as well as individual work. Technology tools are integrated as students research symbols of peace and as they prewrite, compose, and publish their poetry.

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 explain why the sun is visible during the day and other stars are visible at night, serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept, or be used as an assessment at the conclusion of a lesson.

What kid doesn't love ice cream? Use this activity for a simple and quick way to work on the reading skill of cause and effect. Simply look at the four scoops of ice cream on the left, which contain the cause, and try to match them with their effect, listed on the cones to the right. Once you have found a match, drag the scoop of ice cream and place it on top of the cone. Just be sure to wipe your mouth when you are finished. The learning resource also has a quiz, worksheet, and video available to help with understanding.

While plural nouns often indicate more than one of something with a simple "s" or "es," irregular plural nouns do not. They change the word entirely. Elf becomes elves, the tooth becomes teeth! This is a short, fun video that allows students to explore grammar principles.  An activity sheet is included that provides students with an opportunity to practice identifying irregular plural nouns. 

A writing unit focusing on alliteration allows students to strengthen their phonemic awareness while practicing their developing writing skills. Through the use of mentor texts, students construct a definition of alliteration. Using these texts as models, students experiment with creating alliterative sentences. First, working as a class, students create an alliterative book. While studying additional mentor texts, students generate their own sentences to contribute to a class book using the beginning sounds of their names. At the conclusion of the lesson, students use the mentor texts as examples when independently creating their own alliterative books using the Alphabet Organizer interactive.

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.

In this classroom resource, students will demonstrate understanding of words by relating them to their opposites (antonyms) and to words with similar but not identical meanings (synonyms). This informational resource offers videos, games, and worksheets to help further understand the concept.

In this interactive lesson, discover how literary techniques like setting, characterization, and conflict contribute to the overarching theme of a text. Through analysis of Lorraine Hansberry's iconic play A Raisin in the Sun, explore the importance of these different elements individually, then learn how each piece comes together to establish a theme.

While engaging in the processes of researching, writing, and evaluating short biographical sketches, students can master essential writing skills and enhance their content area learning. In this unit, students discuss standard elements in a biography and examine the characteristics of the genre in a workshop setting. After selecting and researching a contemporary or historical figure using online databases, students practice writing short biographies. They then offer feedback on others' compositions and publish final drafts for reading aloud and displaying in class.

The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. Students will 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 will help explain the impact of selective breeding on the appearance of desired traits in organisms. 

In this classroom resource, students will learn about nouns. Every word is a part of speech and has a role in our language. The biggest "star" of the English language is a noun because it names things. A noun names person, place, thing, feeling, idea, or any concept. This resource offers videos, games, and worksheets to help further understand the concept taught in this lesson.

This excerpt from the PBS series, "Looking for Lincoln," features clips of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama quoting Lincoln's oratory- not always accurately- to lend his historical weight to their speeches.

This resource provides a perspective from which students may begin to analyze rhetorical choices. Be sure to read the Discussion Questions found under the Support Materials for Use with Students section.

This video resource directly aligns with the associated standard, specifically using frequently occurring affixes to identify word meaning. Multiple examples are given, and the audio explanations are engaging and conversational. This resource could be used with an individual student for additional practice or reteaching, or it could be used by the teacher as a review or even an engagement before a study of affixes. It presents multiple strategies for determining the meaning of an unknown word through the acronym IDEAS.

No matter where you teach, students are likely to listen to music. Their tastes may vary widely—pop, rap, country, classical, jazz, R & B. Regardless of their preferences, they each bring a rich knowledge of musical tunes and lyrics to the classroom. This lesson takes advantage of that interest by asking students to create a soundtrack for a novel that they have read. Students begin by analyzing how specific songs might fit with a familiar story. Students then create their own soundtracks for the movie version of a novel they have read. They select songs that match the text and fit specific events in the story. Finally, students share their projects with the class and assess their work using a rubric. Examples in this lesson focus on The Beast by Walter Dean Myers, but any piece of literature can be used as the basis of students' soundtracks.

Students will brainstorm the beginning, middle, and end of artwork and a familiar story.  They will create a paper collage to illustrate the beginning, middle, or end of a story. Assessment rubric, letter to parents, examples of artwork, and lesson plan included in PDF.  

2018 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, Randi House, shows students how to look for clues in a text to support answers and gives students several examples of sentence starters they can use to introduce evidence from the text. Ms. House tells students a short story about Milly Hilly and then asks questions that require students to make inferences that must be supported by story details. The accompanying activity gives students an opportunity to practice making and supporting inferences with the short story “The Fisherman and His Wife.”

A piece of math-related children's literature, Sixteen Cows, is used to demonstrate the strategy of problem-posing. After hearing the story read aloud, students are invited to brainstorm some literary and mathematical observations to the story. With the teacher's guidance, students then turn those observations into "what-if" mathematical extensions. These extensions become mathematical problems that students solve, both individually and as a whole class. Since this strategy highlights changing attributes of a story, it underscores for children the range of choices that authors have.