| Name |
Description |
| Making It Rain | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that addresses how different types of precipitation are formed. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Options to extend the lesson are also included. |
| Getting the Top Mini-Fridge not a Small Deal | In this MEA, students will create a procedure to rank five mini-refrigerators to determine which one should be purchased for the school by the PTA based on size, type, features, energy usage, and cost. In the process, students will solve real-world problems involving the multiplication of multi-digit numbers with decimals to the hundredths, including using money. Students will also determine the volume of a rectangular prism using a formula. |
| Keeping Your Cool With Your Lunch Bag | On this MEA activity, students will create a procedure to rank five lunch bags as to which one is the best in keeping food and drinks at a safe temperature and appealing to the taste, while keeping design and price on target.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom. |
| The Tiger Rising: A Book Study Using Literature Circles | The Tiger Rising, written by the award winning author Kate DiCamillo, is an engaging story of two children whose lives are thrown together in a small town in Florida. Even though their personalities are in sharp contrast, they become friends who support each other through life's challenges of grief, pain, acceptance and their adventures with the tiger. Kate DiCamillo works her magic through her skilled use of figurative language to develop the characters in a way that engages readers in her character's adventures. Short chapters make this a perfect choice for literature circles. In this lesson, students will answer text-dependent questions as they analyze the two main characters in the story. |
| A Better Understanding of “Civil Rights on a City Bus” | This lesson consists of students reading a challenging text, "Civil Rights on a City Bus," about Rosa Parks. This text requires students to determine the claims made in the article by the author and the reasons and evidence used to support them. Students will also have a chance to use context clues to define vocabulary words within the text and answer text-dependent questions. Upon completion of the reading activities, students will write a short response that provides evidence to prove each claim made by the author. |
| Close Reading of the National Geographic article "Animal Farm" | In this lesson, students will complete a close reading of "Animal Farm," a nonfiction article found online at National Geographic that describes the incredible work one man accomplished as he turned a cattle ranch in Costa Rica into a national wildlife refuge. The students will conduct three close readings of the article, each time for a different purpose. The students will create vocabulary charts and find evidence in the article to answer a set of text-dependent questions. Students will then write an informative essay where they explain how the work of Jack Ewing changed this land. Sample responses are provided along with a writing response rubric. |
| Close Reading: The Great Chicago Fire | This close reading lesson will engage students in discussions that involve how two authors in different genres describe the same event. These short texts, the poem "The Great Chicago Fire" and the informational text "Chicago," will require students to analyze text, make inferences based on text evidence, and defend their understandings through discussion and close reads. Students will use context clues to determine word meaning and unfamiliar phrasing in both texts. Students will participate in partner and small group work throughout the lesson. For the summative assessment, students will write an explanatory essay about the main ideas and key details of each text, as well as analyze the similarities in how each author describes the Chicago fire. |
| Not Such a Secret: Summarizing, Central Idea, and Vocabulary | In this lesson, students will be read the non-fiction article, "A Well-Kept Secret." The students will work to determine the meaning of selected vocabulary from the article and find evidence in the passage to answer a set of text-dependent questions. Students will also explain how the relevant details support the central ideas and summarize the article. |
| Inferring Informational Text - Bridges | Students will learn all about bridges and become "engineers" as they read, comprehend, and infer text to determine the kinds of bridges that need to be built for a variety of scenarios. |
| Human Rights and Discrimination: Analyzing how a Narrator's Point of View Influences a Story | Students will begin to learn about discrimination by analyzing how a narrator's or speaker's point of view can influence the way events are described in a story. Students will create a KWL chart, Venn diagram, and Character web, and then write an essay, all while working collaboratively to explore this important cultural issue. |
| Inventions and Innovations MEA | Inventive minds have persisted throughout history. Inventors have improved our lives with inventions created out of a desire to solve a problem or make the quality of peoples' lives better. Our president is concerned that we are not keeping up with other countries in the area of engineering and inventive thinking. Why is this? As students explore famous inventions from around the world throughout history, they will decide what the best inventions of all time are and support their opinion with strong reasons. |
| The Beginning of A Revolution | In this lesson students learn about the American Revolution. Students will be required to use two or more texts to summarize information some aspect of the American Revolution as well as create a timeline of important events leading up to the Revolutionary War. |
| Sell This Habitat! | In this lesson, students will apply their knowledge of plant and animal adaptations to create an opinion writing piece. Students will write to convince a fictional nature show producer to film plants and animals in a habitat of the student’s choosing. Students will be assessed on elements of persuasive writing including: strong introduction/conclusion, logical sequencing, strong word choice, and supporting evidence. |
| Close Reading Exemplar: "The Making of a Scientist" | The goal of this two to three day exemplar is to give students the opportunity to use the reading and writing habits they've been practicing on a regular basis to absorb deep lessons from Richard Feynman's recollections of interactions with his father. By reading and rereading the passage closely, and focusing their reading through a series of questions and discussion about the text, students will identify how and why Feynman started to look at the world through the eyes of a scientist. When combined with writing about the passage, students will discover how much they can learn from a memoir. |
| Comparing/Contrasting Character Traits and the Approaches to Two Themes | In this lesson, students will compare and contrast literary elements of two literary texts "The Enchanted Sticks" and "The Story of Wang Li." They will use the literary elements of each text to determine the development of each theme. Students will then research stories that have similar themes to the ones they’ve discussed in the lesson. |
| Informational Texts: Analyzing Relationships and Points of View Across Multiple Texts | This lesson is an instructional routine for informational text in which teachers provide guided practice and students practice mapping details from multiple texts. Mapped details are used to analyze relationships and points of view from texts on the same topic.
Culminating activity options for this lesson include having students work in teams to create detailed geographical maps or write interactive dialogue to be performed for the class using props. |
| Summarizing and Defending the Theme of Aesop’s Fable "The North Wind and the Sun" | This lesson will engage students in discussions that involve conceptual understanding of vocabulary, theme, and summarizing. After reading a short fable, "The North Wind and the Sun" by Aesop, students will complete activities that require them to think deeply, make inferences based on textual evidence, and defend their interpretation during discussions. Students will use context clues, word relationships, and/or figurative language to determine word meaning and unfamiliar phrasing. Students will participate in a class discussion evaluating conceptual understandings, examining themes, and making inferences. Students will engage in student-to-student discourse and partner work throughout the lesson. For the summative assessment, students will write a summary to convey understandings presented in the text and the discussions with their peers. |
| Name |
Description |
| What Makes it Rain? | This informational text is intended to support reading in the content area. The text informs readers about how several types of precipitation are formed in the atmosphere, including rain, hail, freezing rain, and snow. |
| Why Amazonian Butterflies Hover over Yellow-Spotted Turtles | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The text details the intriguing relationship between turtles and butterflies in the Amazon rainforest: butterflies drink the turtles' tears to get their sodium fix! The article also explores how both organisms are affected by this relationship. |
| Sleet and Freezing Rain: What's the Difference? | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article and graphics explain the atmospheric conditions needed to form different types of precipitation: snow, freezing rain, and sleet. |
| Your Amazing Brain | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This National Geographic article describes the amazing attributes of the human brain, comparing its features to everyday objects like a light bulb or a computer. |
| Sea Horses and How They Use Their Heads | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how the dwarf seahorse's head shape allows it to be a better predator. |
| Carniverous Plants Say 'Cheese' | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how, through high-speed video, scientists are able to see how bladderworts (carnivorous plants) trap small animals very quickly. |
| A Matter of Mixing | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes properties of items as hyrdophobic or hyrdophilic and how they work. |
| The Comet that Came in from the Cold | This resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The comet ISON, believed to originate from the frozen Oort cloud, has been studied in order to make predictions about its destiny – will it be destroyed by, or slung around, the sun? |
| The Water Cycle Adventure | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article walks the reader through the water cycle, from the point of view of a drop of water. |
| Water Cycle | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article discusses the steps in the water cycle. |
| Restoring a Sense of Touch | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This text explores the possibility of creating a prosthesis (artificial limb) that can feel things. |
| The Bad Breath Defense | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes the ability of the hornworm caterpillar to defend itself against predators using its food source. |
| Caught in the Act | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article discusses the study of a population's ability to adapt to the environment. The section of focus is on the cichlid population in Lake Victoria. |
| Tower Of Power | The article describes a new kind of solar energy which concentrates light waves from the sun. |
| Secrets of the World's Extreme Divers | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. "Secrets of the World's Extreme Divers" explores the reason sea mammals are able to hold their breath for long periods of time. |
| Name |
Description |
| "The Wizard of Oz" 5th Grade Unit | This is a fifth grade unit on the novel The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The unit explores fantasy fiction, setting, effects of character decisions, plot, conflict, and theme. The student packet that accompanies the unit includes graphic organizers and worksheets to assist with reinforcing the unit concepts. |
| "Dogs Don't Tell Jokes" 5th Grade Unit | This is a fifth grade novel unit on Dogs Don't Tell Jokes by Louis Sachar. A variety of concepts are explored throughout the unit, including genre, characters, relationships, prediction, textual evidence, plot conflict, and theme. The student packet provides graphic organizers and worksheets that can assist with implementing the unit concepts. |
| The Story of Jackie Robinson: Bravest Man in Baseball | This is a fifth grade book unit on The Story of Jackie Robinson: Bravest Man in Baseball by Margaret Davidson (Lexile 760). The unit features a series of lessons titled: Distinguish Between Biography and Autobiography; Author's Opinion; Retelling a Life; Events and Effects; Text Features. The resource also includes an 18-day pacing guide, student resource packet and answer keys, and a unit assessment and answer keys. |
| The Great Gilly Hopkins 5th Grade Unit | This is a fifth grade unit on the novel The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson. Several concepts are explored throughout this lesson, including plot, conflict, prediction, characters, theme, and relationships. The student packet and accompanying materials provide practice with these concepts. |
| Riding Freedom 5th Grade Unit | This is a fifth grade unit on the historical fiction novel Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan. Several concepts regarding the novel are explored, including genre, setting, real-world connections, and effects of a character's past. The student packet and accompanying materials provide ample opportunities for practice. |
| The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 5th Grade Unit | This is a fifth grade novel unit on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. The unit incorporates instruction relating to the novel's setting, characters, plot, and theme - as well as the basic elements of fantasy fiction. The student packet that accompanies the unit provides some additional structure for the lesson content. |
| Maniac Magee 5th Grade Unit | This is a fifth grade unit on the novel Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. Graphic organizers, charts, comprehension and vocabulary worksheets, and authentic collaborative activities are used to enhance interaction with the novel. Several concepts are pursued, including theme, conflict, relationships, plot, and characters. |
| 5th Grade Novel Unit: Bridge to Terabithia | In this novel unit, broken up into seven lessons, students will learn about the genre of realistic fiction, making predictions, identifying plot conflicts, analyzing character relationships, examining gender roles, determining themes, and tracking character changes through reading and discussing the novel Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Lexile 810). |
