Standard 3: Reading Across Genres

This is lesson #5 in the text unit series for We the Kids by David Catrow. In small groups, students will use the KWL chart that has been filled in throughout the unit to support them in identifying the central idea and relevant details from the Preamble of the United States Constitution. Small groups will then share their retelling through a presentation (act out, posterboard, etc.)

This unit will help students develop the meaning of the Preamble as part of the Constitution of the United States and its direct effect on their daily lives. Students will engage in various activities such as debating parts of the Preamble and complete a play interpreting patriotism. Throughout the unit students will have to identify and interpret vocabulary, analyze the provided text, and demonstrate an understanding of the Preamble by providing relevant details. The teacher’s role in this unit will be to support their students' knowledge of the Preamble by facilitating research, reviewing student writing, and work.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read informational text about Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) as well as the Everglades. Students will annotate and summarize the text using a summarizing strategy. Then they will complete a graphic organizer to organize the information for their children's book. This is lesson 1 of 3 in a mini-unit integrating civics and English Language Arts.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, teachers will engage students in learning about the naturalization process and how becoming a United States citizen gives you the right to participate and be part of a Constitutional Republic while focusing on a The Congress of the United States' central idea and relevant details as well as text features including headings, photographs, and captions.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use the central idea and relevant details from a section of the text The Congress of the United States to explain the role laws play in government. Students will also identify and explain how the text features in the book help convey how Congress creates laws.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams is a delightful story of a family who faces the hardships of life together. The focus of these reading lessons is to identify story structure and discuss how the characters responded to challenges. After students complete several learning centers about the book, they will retell the story through writing using grade-appropriate conventions.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be reading the classic story Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. They will discuss the major events of the story and how the characters reacted to these happenings. Students will get a lot of practice summarizing by writing a short summary of each chapter. They will also be tracking the characters' emotions and reactions throughout the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story.

Type: Lesson Plan

Introduce your primary students to the rhythmic story of the African plains, Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema. This story is filled with rich vocabulary and rhyming patterns that allow students to interact with context clues and and answer questions about the story elements.

Type: Lesson Plan

After reading the biography, A Picture Book of Helen Keller by David Adler, students will retell the life of Helen Keller using the central idea and relevant details by answering who, what, when, where, why and how questions. In addition, students will write a nonfiction narrative piece retelling the events of her life in proper sequential order using transition words.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will practice recognizing and explaining the meaning of common idioms through poetry. As a summative assessment, students will complete an Idiom Art Project demonstrating an understanding of the difference between the literal and figurative meanings of the idiom they selected. Students will also mark and recognize rhyme scheme notation.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson allows students to dig deeply into a popular, fun fictional story by Dr. Seuss to determine the theme and the life lesson it provides. Students will work in groups to act out the story in a skit, participate in a brainstorming activity with higher-order thinking questions, and design a creative response poster incorporating the story's theme to share with the class. Who doesn't love a Dr. Seuss classic that teaches students a lesson they can apply to their daily lives?

Type: Lesson Plan

Using the classic story, The Three Little Pigs, students will learn will use a plot line graphic organizer to record the action in this story. Students will use this plot line to help them retell the story in writing and record their paragraphs using technology such as Voice Thread.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn to compare and contrast texts about life cycles using a Venn diagram. Then, using the Venn diagram, students will write an expository paragraph including an introductory sentence, comparing/contrasting sentences, and a concluding sentence.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will compare and contrast various versions of the Cinderella story through story element charting, partner discussions, carousel brainstorming, and semantic feature analysis. Students will think critically and hold grade-level appropriate dialogue about each story. Students will complete a piece of opinion writing stating which Cinderella story was their favorite and why they liked it.

Type: Lesson Plan

Using the books Seven Blind Mice and Voices in the Park students will learn to identify the unique perspectives that characters bring to a story. After completing a retelling activity and drawing how several characters are feeling, students will compose a short narrative writing from the perspective of a character from Voices in the Park.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will retell a story using story elements. The teacher modeling uses the story Dog Breath: The Horrible Trouble with Hally Tosis by Dav Pilkey. The guided and independent practice activities use the story When Charlie McButton Lost Power by Suzanne Collins.

Type: Lesson Plan

Children love the classic fairy tale, The Three Little Pigs. In these lessons, students will compare the story elements from the original versions with other fractured fairy tale versions. Students will also be delighted to use their creatively to create their own fractured fairy tale.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will identify and describe story elements and compare and contrast two versions of fairy tale Cinderella. Students will write an expository paragraph describing the similarities and differences of the two texts and provide textual evidence for support.

Type: Lesson Plan

Did you know that wordless picture books can ignite creativity in your students? These lessons encourage students to tell interesting stories in their own words based on several wordless books. After practicing identifying story elements, students will write creatively to retell one of the stories.

Type: Lesson Plan

Help veterinary assistant Gabriella identify relevant details and compare the information from two texts about Boston terriers as she takes a big goal and breaks it into small steps with this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Identify story elements in multiple versions of Cinderella and then compare and contrast the story elements in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

In this activity, students will identify similarities and differences between two topics. NOTE: The activity will need to compare and contrast information from two texts on the same topic to fully meet the aligned standards.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify similarities and differences between stories using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will retell a story using story question cards.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will summarize text (narrative and expository) using a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity