Learning Activities

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.

This activity will introduce students to the features of a fairy tale. Students will recall fairy tales that they know and brainstorm parts of a fairy tale. The teacher will lead students through this discussion and help them identify features of a fairy tale.

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

In this activity, students will demonstrate knowledge of the features of a fairy tale.  Students will listen to the story The Three Little Pigs by James Marshall.   After listening to the story, students will apply knowledge of fairy tale features using a fairy tale checklist and a graphic organizer.

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

This activity will demonstrate student knowledge of fairy tales and their features. Students will independently read a fairy tale of their choice.  They will identify fairy tale features of their chosen fairy tale and add specific information on fairy tale features to a graphic organizer.

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

In this activity, students will be introduced to the different types of author's purposes as they relate to informational text. The students will brainstorm to determine which categories different types of informational text belong in - this is in preparation for citing evidence to explain author's perspective in an informational text. 

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

"Be an Inventor" is an interactive slideshow that students will use to read and determine the author's purpose for writing in various informational texts. Students will use text features, such as timelines and highlighting, to cite evidence to explain the author's perspective towards the topic. 

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

"Dolphins and Porpoises" is a nonfiction text that students will read via a URL provided. Students will determine the author's purpose, which they will record on an exit ticket. 

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

In this activity, students will be introduced to actual historical people who were forced from their homes in Africa, as a part of the slave trade, and brought to Alabama on the ship Clotilda. Students will read a brief informational text and use the content to complete a K-W-L chart, mark the birth and death place of each enslaved person, and formulate questions about the course of the enslaved person’s life.  Students will not be made aware of the enslaved status or the means they traveled to the United States during this activity, but they will begin to recognize, with guidance from the teacher, that Mobile, Alabama, along with other sites, was a center of the slave trade and is home to a port that was a stop on the Triangular Trade routes.

Students will actively listen to the audio of two brief articles about the history of slavery worldwide and in the United States. Using a document that includes landmark dates, the students will use the content of those audio sources to summarize information that identifies the establishment of the slave trade and Triangular Trade routes in the Western Hemisphere as they learn about the overall history of the slave trade worldwide and in the U.S. They will cite information that they have summarized using the citation tool in a library database.  

This activity will give students the opportunity to reflect on and utilize their prior learning regarding enslavement. Students will work in small groups and use an online tool to collaboratively create a timeline of the history of slavery. They will use their own notes from the associated during learning activity (History of Enslavement) to include information that demonstrates their recognition of centers of the slave trade in the Western Hemisphere and the establishment of the Triangular Trade Route. 

After being introduced to the history of enslavement in class, students will reflect on their previous informational texts and class discussions to recall places associated with the slave trade. Students will recognize centers of slave trade by collaboratively indicating countries and continents that were involved in slavery and the trade of enslaved persons using an online digital tool (Padlet). Students will use the online digital tool to determine the three main areas of concentration that formed the Triangular Trade Routes (Europe, Africa, and the Americas).

A quick database search may yield thousands of results. Using advanced search tools can help students narrow down these results and find relevant sources. In this activity, students will explore the Advanced Search tools and research strategies for one database and answer questions on helpful features.

Students will read and view two types of informational texts that address the Triangular Trade. They will take notes to recognize centers of the slave trade and the establishment of the Triangular Trade routes. Students will also analyze the two texts by comparing them for effectiveness.

Students will create a map that depicts the centers of slave trade and Triangular Trade Routes. They will write captions on the map illustrations using grade-appropriate, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases accurately, including those that signal contrasting ideas, additional information, and other logical relationships.  This activity will take place after students have learned about the places, people, and products involved in the Triangular Trade Route used during the trade of enslaved Africans to various locations in the Western Hemisphere.

Students will consult various reference materials found online and in print to clarify and summarize the meaning of the phrase western hemisphere, noting its technical meaning and its common meaning.  The class will discuss how this domain-specific phrase relates to their study of the history of enslavement.  This learning activity is used as a launching point to transition from the discussion of slavery worldwide to a study of slavery in the Americas, specifically in Alabama.

The teacher will lead students through a class search using advanced search tools in the Gale GeneralOneFile database on Alabama Virtual Library. Students will apply knowledge of advanced search tools such as term, field, Boolean operators, wildcards, and search limiters. Students will contribute to the class search and note how the search results change when additional search tools are employed and various research strategies are used. 

After learning to use database advanced tools with teacher support, students will repeat the process with a topic of their choice. Students will apply knowledge of advanced search tools such as term, field, Boolean operators, wildcards, and search limiters. Students will note how the search results change when additional search tools are employed and various research strategies are used.

In this introductory activity, students will learn the characteristics of search engines, identify popular search engines, and learn when to use search engines.  They will talk to classmates about their own recent internet searches and the types of results they received. This task activates prior knowledge of search engines as students prepare to use search engines for academic research.

When tasked with locating information, students usually turn to Google first. In this activity, students will learn strategies for effectively using the Google search engine for answering research questions. They will conduct a Google search in a small group using these search strategies and determine which strategies yield the most useful results.

After practicing strategies for refining a Google search, students will indicate which of the strategies were most effective. Students will rank the strategies using posters and sticky notes or a digital tool of the teacher’s choice. The teacher will lead a discussion about the rankings during which students share their experiences using the search strategies.

Before finding and using audio sources to obtain information, students must define the academic vocabulary in the standard. Students will brainstorm types of audio sources and define the terms useful and credible. They will review characteristics that make a source useful and credible.