Learning Activities

This activity is designed to get students thinking about the ways we use informational media to support arguments and make claims. In this activity, students will analyze infographical information to determine what claim is being made with the evidence provided. Students will have previously built a definition of claims and evidence to transfer to this activity.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

This activity is designed to challenge students to find a claim and evidence within a graphic data set. Students will previously have learned about claims and evidence and will use this activity as a way to show that they can identify them within a set of data. Teachers are welcome to present any argument, but the chosen resource argues around cell phone use in school making it relatable to today's students.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

In this learning activity, students will be introduced to information regarding electronic cigarettes and vaping by answering Fact or Myth questions. Students will indicate their answers using whiteboards or by hand-raising. The teacher will be able to use student responses to gauge their understanding about the effects of electronic cigarettes and vaping on respiratory health. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

Students will complete a guided research activity about electronic cigarettes and vaping and their effects on the respiratory system. Students will read and take notes on two articles retrieved from the Alabama Virtual Library. After taking notes, students will organize the information according to Statistics, Health Effects, Pros and Cons (related to conventional cigarette smokers), and Other Information. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

Following the During Activity (Research: Are E-Cigarettes Safe?), students will argue whether or not electronic cigarettes are safe for human use. Students will write a claim-evidence-reasoning paragraph to argue their viewpoint, utilizing their gathered research. The gathered research should specifically pertain to the effects of e-cigarettes on the respiratory system.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

In this learning activity, students will review an image representing the structures and functions of the digestive system. After observing the image, students will be asked to state what problems could occur in the digestive process, including any diseases or disorders they may have heard of. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

Following the Before Activity (Digestive Detectives: What Do You Know?) students will work in pairs to investigate digestive diseases and disorders. Students will read provided articles to obtain information for their tables and then communicate the information within a provided data table. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

Following the During Activity (Digestive Detectives: Gathering Information) student pairs will be provided with a patient data card. Using notes from their research, students will determine the patient’s diagnosis and create a mini claim-evidence-reasoning poster using an online design platform. The poster will allow students to communicate information to demonstrate an understanding of digestive diseases and disorders. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

Students will begin by playing a teacher-led "I Spy" game with something within the classroom which would be a concrete example. Using the Jamboard activity provided, students will review the concept of details by describing what is taking place in the photograph which would be an abstract example. Students will then work together as a class to come up with the photograph's main idea. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

The purpose of this activity is to allow students to identify details in a text when the main idea is already identified. The "Rosa Parks" article provided through the Alabama Virtual Library will be used to locate details that correspond to the identified main ideas. Students will use the highlight tool to annotate the text. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

The purpose of this activity is for students to apply what they have learned about the main idea and supporting details. Students will choose a picture and write what is happening in that picture (i.e. the main idea) and how they know that (i.e. the details). Students will then share their writings with a partner and work on finding the main idea and details in the shared text. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

Students will look at a picture titled "Portrait of a Flathead Man." They will answer the question, "How does this picture help you understand anything about Native American culture?" This activity will activate students' prior knowledge about American Indians in North America.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

The teacher will share an article about the Pueblo Indians that includes the geography, economic, cultural, belief systems, and community organization of this tribe. After recognizing the elements of this tribe in the article, students will read a similar article on a tribe of their choosing. They will present information about this tribe in a slide show.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

Students will read aloud the picture book, "Because of You, John Lewis," by Andrea Davis Pinkney. This is a biographical book and contains informational text on Senator John Lewis. Then students will discuss with a peer what facts they learned about the senator. Lastly, they will demonstrate their knowledge by sharing these facts with the class.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

In the previous learning activity, students had to discern biographical information from a picture book based on the life of Senator John Lewis. In this part of the lesson, students are going to continue learning about the senator by conducting research using Gale in Context: Elementary Edition. They will demonstrate their comprehension by utilizing the content of the informational text to complete a biographical map of the senator.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

After researching and reading about Senator John Lewis, students will demonstrate their comprehension of the informational text, "John Lewis," by illustrating an important day or moment in the life of the senator. Then they will create a description of the illustration in 2-3 complete sentences to accompany the image with citations from the informational texts.

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

This activity is designed to test students' knowledge of subject-verb agreement. Students will be given response cards that say or represent "Agree" and "Disagree." The teacher will read sentences and the students will hold up the appropriate card to show if the verb agrees or disagrees with the subject. This activity can be used as a preassessment. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the ALEX - Alabama Virtual Learning (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

For this activity, students will read an online article titled "Grammar Cop’s Winning Olympic Facts." They will see rules and information about the correct verbs to use with singular subjects and plural subjects, and also learn how to determine which verbs to use with tricky subjects like indefinite pronouns. They will fill out a guided notes form while reading this article, allowing them to have examples of subject-verb agreement to refer to later. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.

This After Activity is designed to come at the end of a class period when all activities have been focused on the same topic: subject-verb agreement. Teachers may use this exit slip as a daily grade and/or a formative assessment to judge the level of students’ understanding of this topic. Students must read the sentence and determine which verb agrees with the subject of the sentence. The student must then create a variety of sentences with tricky subjects such as compound subjects and collective subjects and demonstrate that he or she can make the verb agree with the subject. 

This learning activity was created as a result of the Alabama Virtual Library (AVL) Resource Development Summit.