Cluster 1: Text Types and PurposesArchived

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is about the importance of self-respect and acceptance of others. A pompous new magistrate from London comes to a fishing village in Newfoundland after the Second World War. He acts as if he is better than everyone. Only John, who has intellectual disabilities, has the courage to stand up to him. In the end, John gains the magistrate's appreciation and respect. This story may be used in conjunction with studies on Canada (Newfoundland). The lesson plan addresses the following literacy skills: quoting accurately from the story when explaining what the story says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the story; determining a theme of a story from details in the text, including how characters in a story respond to challenges; determining the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes; and writing opinion pieces, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson explores two common issues that students face, feeling different and finding acceptance. In Rules, Catherine tells about her brother, David who has autism. She has always taken care of him and uses rules to teach him what to do. She makes up rules for herself, too. Her rules are challenged when she meets new friends, Jason and Kristi. This lesson addresses the following language arts skills: quoting accurately from text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when making inferences; determining a theme of a story from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges in her life; and writing opinion pieces in response to a text-based question, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will observe a speaker and analyze a piece of informational text (an excerpt from Bill Clinton's 1993 Inaugural Address) to further develop their knowledge of summarizing, identifying central ideas and relevant details, and identifying claims and supporting reasons with evidence. Students will then play the role of the speaker and create their own writing on a topic they think would be important to kids, why they would be a good candidate for president, or how they might motivate other kids. At the lesson's end, students will present their speech to the class. A graphic organizer, student handouts, and rubrics are provided for the writing and speaking activities.

Type: Lesson Plan

A fire caused by faulty wiring set off a sprinkler system, which damaged a school. The school must be remodeled and the electrical wiring must be replaced. Students will decide which materials to use to as conductors and which to use as insulators in the new wiring.

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. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

Students need to make decisions about the correct bakery box to send cookies through the mail to fill orders. Students need to consider the capacity, dimensions, and volume of the boxes in terms of how many cookies each box will hold.

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model Eliciting Activity, MEA, the students will determine the best ad for a tennis shoe company.

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. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

Teams will be given the task of ranking weather tools for a weather station kit. Students will read an informative supplemental reading about the factors that influence weather so students can determine the relation to the tools that measure these factors. Once teams have ranked the tools, they will respond to the client in a letter with their choices. The client will respond by asking that ease of use be considered as a factor and will request that students respond with a second letter with a revised ranking.

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will use tall tales to explore figurative language and to summarize important details to identify the theme. Students will create a narrative writing piece of their own using standard conventions and elements of tall tales.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will conduct research on the history of wildlife refuges in Costa Rica using a variety of reliable resources. They will collect information in pairs and work collaboratively to compare the information they found on different wildlife refuges to make sure the information is reliable. They will use the information they have found to independently create a brochure to present the information with pictures, graphics, or other multimedia elements to support their details.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will engage students in discussions involving how two texts on the same event can be compared. Students will read one text on the Great Chicago Fire that is a primary source, and another text that is a secondary source. For the summative assessment, students will write a summary about the Great Chicago Fire that includes the central idea and relevant details from the texts, and the similarities in how each author describes the Chicago fire.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson 3 in a series of 3 lessons where students create trading cards of superhero characters, write comic strips using the superhero characters and expand the narratives from comic strips to create Reader's Theater scripts.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson 2 in a series of 3 lessons where students create comic strips using superhero characters. Students plan their comic strips and analyze the importance of setting, characterization, and conflict to the development of the prompt. Students work together to revise their plans and create comic strips that include multimedia elements.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson 1 in a series of 3 lessons where students create trading cards of superhero characters, write comic strips using the superhero characters and expand the narratives from comic strips to create Reader's Theater scripts.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model Eliciting Activity, MEA, students help a 5th grader to decide which cell phone she will ask for as a birthday present. Students must use a chart to analyze information and make conclusions based upon their own ranking system within their cooperative group. They then must write a letter to the student justifying their conclusions.

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will have an opportunity to read a portion of President Kennedy's speech to Congress about Space Exploration. Using Text Dependent Questions, students will discuss the speech with partners as well as a class and finally write a text based expository essay.

Type: Lesson Plan

During this lesson, students will learn about analyzing literary elements to see how they contribute to the plot and explaining themes of a text through Pourquoi tales. Students will identify these elements and use them to explain the development of themes in Pourquoi tales. Students will use their understanding of these elements to write their own narrative tale.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students will look over data and rank locations from the most attractive state to the least attractive state and help their friend's grandparents decide what locations would be the best states to move to, based on their needs and wants. Students will consider the following factors: natural disasters, seasons, landforms, bodies of water, climate zones and yearly precipitation.

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. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model Eliciting Activity, MEA, the students' love of technology will hook them on completing the mission. Students will participate in a real-world exercise to determine the best value for the money.

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. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this MEA, students will choose their top choices of field day activities given the cost, number of adult supervisors needed, the area required for event, safety concerns, clean up required, number of students that can play at a time, and peer comments about the activity. Students will need to make trade-offs in cost when the "twist" provides budget restrictions. Students will calculate area and multiply whole numbers and decimal numbers.

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students will use real-world problem-solving skills and collaborative skills to partner with a local university in its efforts to raise awareness to help protect and restore the Florida Panther's habitat. The Florida panther is Florida's official state animal.

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. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students will team up to select an endangered animal to relocate.

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. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this MEA, students will interpret data related to digital cameras to make a recommendation for a school to purchase for students to use.

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. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

After reading the novel Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan, students will analyze the perspective of Esperanza while looking at important characterization features and other parts of the plot development. Students will create a narrative writing piece from the perspective of Esperanza based on the characterization features discussed.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will help a track coach determine which shoe is the best to purchase for his team. Students will be required to convert measurements initially and then rank the shoes from best to worst based on the data provided.

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. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will construct models of the water cycle, draw a diagram, and write a summary on the stages of the water cycle and the states of water throughout the different stages of the cycle.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be able to identify characteristics of electrical energy. This lesson can be completed in one 80 minute time period or over two days. Students will learn about electrical energy, circuits, conductors and insulators through video, a hands on exploration and summarizing informational text.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read, analyze and determine the lesson learned in the Aesop fable "The Four Oxen and the Lion" to set the focus for two subsequent lessons on the importance of teamwork. Students will discuss their findings in whole-and small-groups using a K-W-L chart, concept of meaning maps, marginal notes, making personal connections to the text, writing in a reading response journal, and illustrating the lesson learned. Close-reading will culminate in a position paper in which students answer the question: "Why didn't the oxen work together and how could they have changed their behavior in order to do so?"

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will research properties of the inner and outer planets in our Solar System. They will organize their research by creating a Solar System poster that displays a comparison between the planets.

Type: Lesson Plan

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? Do you think you could survive anywhere in the world or in any habitat? What types of adaptations might help you survive in your dream habitat? Many places seem great to visit, but you won't know if it's the place for you unless you know the characteristics of the habitat. This lesson will encourage your students to research habitats and adaptations that allow plants and animals to survive in their natural environments.

Type: Lesson Plan

It's ALIVE! Or is it? Engage students with a hands-on look at muscles, tissues, bones, bone marrow, cartilage, ligaments, tendons and connective tissue. It is an exciting way to hook students into learning the structures promoting a better understanding of how they work. It will be a lab students will refer back to and remember! The lab takes about 1 hour; however the research and presentations can take up to a week.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will research causes leading up to the Revolutionary War and their specific effects. They will use various informational text resources to research a particular central event during this time period and place key points into a cause and effect graphic organizer. Working in small groups, they will compose a reader's theatre script depicting what they gathered in their research. They will rehearse and present their reader's theatre to their classmates.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will incorporate sensory details into a piece of descriptive writing. Students will revise a piece of writing by using precise and vivid language and word choice.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will determine the main ideas in two informational texts about the work and dreams of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. The culminating activity will require students to show understanding of the information presented and the relationship between the two men's dreams by 1) selecting one of three pieces of art to best represent their civil rights dreams, and 2) writing an opinion piece explaining their choice.

Type: Lesson Plan

This two-lesson study of American History examines the different tribes and geographic regions that Native Americans inhabited in the United States. Students will learn briefly about each tribe and region during direct instruction and then, in small groups, conduct research on one tribe in depth. Part II of the lesson requires students to present their research to the class and compare their Native American tribe with one from another group presentation.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will identify and analyze common proverbs. They will create a definition and understanding of proverbs using vocabulary strategies for unknown words and phrases. Then using the literary text "The Story of Wang Li," students will identify the proverbs in the text, decipher them, and evaluate the appropriateness of them. The culminating activity will require students to use one of the proverbs from the literary text to create their own narrative in a present-day setting.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this project students will research a mountain ecosystem. They will create a presentation of their ecosystem that includes information on animals and vegetation, which will also demonstrate the flow of energy through the ecosystem. Students will interpret and analyze the data to hypothesize what would happen if a species was removed or added to the flow of energy. To finalize, students will write an explanatory piece that describes the possible changes that would take place if an animal was removed from an ecosystem and how that would affect the food chain.

Type: Project

This teaching idea describes a 5th grade project that started with the guiding question, "What makes a good leader?" After conducting a survey of responses to this question, students researched a historical leader, wrote a speech from the perspective of their chosen leader, and created a conceptual portrait representing their chosen leader.

Type: Teaching Idea

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.

Type: Text Resource

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.

Type: Text Resource

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.

Type: Text Resource

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.

Type: Text Resource

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.

Type: Text Resource

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.

Type: Text Resource

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.

Type: Text Resource

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?

Type: Text Resource

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.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article discusses the steps in the water cycle.

Type: Text Resource

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.

Type: Text Resource

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.

Type: Text Resource

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.

Type: Text Resource

The article describes a new kind of solar energy which concentrates light waves from the sun.

Type: Text Resource

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.

Type: Text Resource