Cluster 4: Range of WritingArchived

Pendulums are a fun and engaging way for students to learn about physics and the nature of science. In this lesson, students will investigate the effects of gravity, mass, changing variables and energy transfer through building their own pendulums as well as teacher demonstration.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students have an opportunity to make real-world connections by choosing words and phrases for effect and determining an audience and purpose for writing. They will practice using common persuasive techniques used in argumentative writing and advertisements. The lesson includes a summative assessment and rubric in which students design their own ads for a vacation destination of their choice.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will work with similes and metaphors through the use of music and a graphic organizer. At the end, students will write a poem demonstrating their mastery of these types of figurative language.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is an introductory lesson in vocabulary for a unit of study on space. It is designed to assist students with understanding the vocabulary in an engaging game while students and teacher can easily track student thinking and understanding of these vocabulary terms specific to the space content and standards.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will explore various types of figurative language, concentrating on similes and metaphors. They will see how figurative language is used in poetry to add imagery and provide deeper meanings and also see how figurative language is commonly used in popular songs. They will examine different types used in current songs and determine the deeper meanings of the figurative lyrics.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will use different reading strategies such as double-entry journals, text-dependent questions, graphic organizers, and class discussions to examine aspects of societies and determine the themes of the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry. They will use the experience with the novel to create their own utopias and advertise them in a student constructed brochure.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will listen to several versions of the same song. They will read a poem, and make an illustration to identify how the author develops a character's perspective and how that perspective influences the story. Students will write a narrative using dialogue and description to develop a character’s perspective throughout their story.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will read poems, see pictures, and learn about personification- the figure of speech that describes nonliving/inanimate objects by giving them human characteristics. Students will identify types of poems and create lists of characteristics, identify feelings that they evoke, and write sentences using personification. They will be writing sentences using personification to express themselves and illustrate their examples.

Type: Lesson Plan

Paraphrasing helps students make connections with prior knowledge, demonstrate comprehension, and remember what they have read. Through careful explanation and thorough modeling by the teacher in this lesson, students learn to use paraphrasing to monitor their comprehension and acquire new information. They also realize that if they cannot paraphrase after reading, they need to go back and reread to clarify information. In pairs, students engage in guided practice so that they can learn to use the strategy independently. Students will need prompting and encouragement to use this strategy after the initial instruction is completed. The lesson can be extended to help students prepare to write reports about particular topics.

Type: Lesson Plan

Experiencing the language of great poets provides a rich learning context for students, giving them access to the best examples of how words can be arranged in unique ways. By studying the works of renowned poets across cultures and histories, students extract knowledge about figurative language and poetic devices from masters of the craft. In this lesson, students learn about personification by reading and discussing poems by Emily Dickinson, William Blake, and Langston Hughes. Then they use the poems as a guide to brainstorm lists of nouns and verbs that they randomly arrange to create personification in their own poems.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will complete a short research project on famous historical figures from the Old West. In lieu of a traditional research paper, however, students will present the findings of their research by creating a driver's license for that individual.

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

In this lesson, students will be experimenting what independent variable will affect dissolving rates; students will compare results of peers to also determine materials that dissolve and do not dissolve from 5 given materials; and, students will identify and learn what controls in an experiment are and their importance. This is a multi-part lesson that can be broken down by day or presented in one block. Complete all Part As in each phase (Teaching/I Do/Know, Guided/We Do/Understand, Independent/You Do/Do) before Part Bs. This lesson does not address the reference/research component of SC.5.N.1.1.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will analyze the artist's tone in the painting "Washington Crossing the Delaware, December 1776." Using the same techniques of looking at the details, students will analyze the tone of the primary account and secondary account in the informational text "Washington Crosses the Delaware, 1776" to gain an understanding of how authors create tone in their writing. The culminating activity will require students to demonstrate an understanding of their study of point of view, tone, and information presented in "Washington Crosses the Delaware, 1776" by writing a historically accurate first-person memoir of the event in which the tone reflects their perspective of the event.

Type: Lesson Plan

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.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

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.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence