Apply knowledge of context clues, figurative language, word relationships, reference materials, and/or background knowledge to determine the connotative and denotative meaning of words and phrases, appropriate to grade level.
: Review of words learned in this way is critical to building background knowledge and related vocabulary.
| Name |
Description |
| The Democratic Process: Introduction to Ancient Greek and Roman Influence on Democracy | This is lesson #1 in the text unit series for the book The Democratic Process by Mark Friedman. Students will be introduced to the concept of democratic principles and how ancient Greece and Rome influenced the American political process. Students will preview content specific vocabulary and identify the meaning of these words through context clues. Additionally, students will conduct a close read to locate textual evidence indicating how ancient Greece and Rome influenced our current U.S. political system.
The unit will prepare students to understand Greek and Roman influences on democracy in the United States, identify individual rights and freedoms, determine the difference between protected and unprotected rights, examine the rule of law, and evaluate the relevance of modern-day government. The activities in the unit will allow students the opportunity to participate in close reading, annotate text, and collaborate on research projects to gain a deeper understanding of democracy, government, and the rule of law.
This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource. |
| Cell Recycling: Nobel Awarded for Unveiling How Cells Recycle Their Trash | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. Cell biologist, Yoshinori Ohsumi, won the Nobel Prize for medicine for his research of how cells recycle unused materials in order to maintain homeostasis. The text describes his research and contains statements from other scientists supporting Ohsumi as the right choice for the award. This lesson includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys and a writing rubric. |
| Arctic Algae | In this lesson, students will analyze an intended to support reading in the content area. The article explains how climate change is reducing the amount of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. Within this sea ice is found algae that forms the base of Arctic food webs. As the sea ice goes, so does the algae, which in turn could affect the entire Arctic ecosystem. This lesson includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| Pandas and Horses "Duke It Out" | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text designed to support reading in the content area. The article introduces readers to a new threat to giant panda survival: horses. The article explains how both species are competing for the limited bamboo supply in the Wolong Nature Reserve. This lesson includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| Sneaky! Virus Sickens Plants, but Helps Them Multiply | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes one common virus that takes a sneaky route to success. It doesn't kill its leafy hosts, instead, it makes infected plants smell more attractive to bees. This ensures the virus will have a new generation of the plants to host it in the future. This lesson includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a rubric. |
| Bee Tongues Shrinking | In this lesson, students will analyze an article that explains how bees have made an evolutionary adaptation of shorter tongues due to their flower food source moving up a mountain as a result of climate change. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. This lesson includes two note-taking guides, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, and sample answer keys. |
| Evolution in the City | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes new research suggesting urban life creates evolutionary changes in plants and animals. Examples of changes to an urban growing plant (the white clover) and a Leapin' Lizard are described as they evolve to suit their new environment. This lesson includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| Spheres of Influence: Interactions of Earth's Spheres and Their Effect on Ocean Currents | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text, maps, and data tables intended to support reading in the content area. The article, "Climate Change Could Stall Atlantic Ocean Current" explains how interactions between Earth's spheres can have a global impact on ocean currents, climate, and weather. This lesson includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys and a writing rubric. |
| What’s the Buzz about the Bee Population? | In this lesson, students will analyze an article that introduces readers to the importance and role of pollinators, factors contributing to their current decline, and easy steps that can be taken to help pollinators. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. This lesson includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| Proxima b: How Earth-like Is It? | In this lesson, students will analyze an intended to support reading in the content area. The article showcases the recent discovery of a planet orbiting our nearest star that may have the necessary ingredients to harbor life. The possibly Earth-like planet is 4 light years away, however. How might we explore it in greater detail? The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Numerous options to extend the lesson are also included. |
| Holy Jumping Earthworms, Batman! | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that shows how a seemingly harmless invasive species of jumping worm may cause much more destruction than once thought. The Asian jumping worm eats the debris on the forest floor at a rate that out-competes the native worms so much so that it is causing a number of problems, including forest re-growth. This lesson plan is designed to support reading in the content area. It includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| Zika Virus Arrives in the Americas | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that describes the spread of the Zika virus through the Americas and its arrival in the United States. The text describes how the virus is carried by specific species of mosquitoes that are common in Florida and other warmer areas of the United States. An added concern with Zika is the link to microcephaly, a neurological disorder affecting fetuses and infants from infected mothers. The text also describes other viruses in the larger group that Zika belongs to and how these viruses affect the human body. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. The lesson plan includes a reading guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Options to extend the lesson are also included. |
| Moons: Searching for Signs of Life on 'Water Worlds' | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that explains the importance of examining moons in our solar system for signs of life. The text provides evidence on several moons of Saturn and Jupiter and explains how these moons might be good candidates for potentially harboring life, in part due to the presence of water. This lesson is designed to support reading in the content area. The lesson plan includes a graphic organizer, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Numerous options to extend the lesson are also included. |
| Lightning Strikes! | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that addresses what causes lightning and thunder. The text also outlines ways to stay safe during a lightning storm. This informational text is designed to support reading in the content area. The lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| Organelles to Scale | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that addresses organelles in terms of their size, characteristics, and functions. This article, designed to support reading in the content area, "shrinks" the student to put the size of certain organelles in perspective with familiar objects/places. It also describes the characteristics and functions of the nucleus, certain membranes, endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes, Golgi apparatus, and the mitochondria. This lesson plan includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. Numerous options to extend the lesson are also included. |
| The Jet Stream: Rivers of Air | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text intended to support reading in the content area. The article begins by defining the jet stream and then describes how the Earth's rotation and axis affect the movement of wind bands around the earth. Interactions from variables such as the locations of high and low pressure systems, warm and cold air, and seasonal changes are also discussed. 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. |
| The Physics Behind the Fun | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text that describes the physics of roller coasters. This informational text is designed to support reading in the content area. The article was written to answer the question, "Why don't I fall out when a roller coaster goes upside down?" The article is an interesting combination of scientific information about physics of roller coasters along with some fun facts. The lesson plan includes text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| "Uncoiling" the Theme | In this lesson, students will read the poem "Uncoiling" by Pat Mora, determine the poem's theme by identifying personification and connotations in the text and then composing a written analysis of the poem. |
| Employability Skills for We Need to Hire | Using the case study, We Need to Hire, students will discuss what traits and skills would be needed for a new receptionist. They will conduct research to define common employability skills and explain how each is important in healthcare. Then, students discuss what effect hiring a different position (ex. RN or pediatrician) would have on the traits/skills needed. |
| The Rise of the Mongoose: Analyzing Character Confrontations in "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" | In this lesson, students will study the short story "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. Students will analyze the confrontations that drive the story's plot, noting what happens and who is involved, how Rikki's character is developed through each confrontation, and how each confrontation helps develop the plot. A copy of the story is included with the lesson, as well as a text discussion guide for teachers, comprehension questions, a vocabulary key, a graphic organizer and key, and an optional rubric for the summative assessment. |
| Using Evidence to Support the Theory of Plate Tectonics | In this lesson, students will analyze an informational text, a simulation and a video intended to support reading in the content area. The article addresses the use of computer models to predict that the Earth's tectonic plates will cease to move in the future. The evidence provided by these resources will be used to write an argument supporting the theory of plate tectonics. This lesson includes a note-taking guide, text-dependent questions, a writing prompt, answer keys, and a writing rubric. |
| Name |
Description |
| Case Study: Suffering in Silence-The Effects of Cyberbullying | Using the case study students can discuss,"What are the effects of cyberbullying on the bully and the victim?" |
| Case Study: Real-Life Algorithms | Using this case study, students will answer the question, "How can real-life algorithms be used in problem-solving?" |
| Earth's Tectonic Plates Won't Slide Forever | This text is intended to support reading in the content area. The text describes future possible outcomes for the tectonic plates and the movement of the Earth’s crust. Using computer models, the article first discusses when crustal plate movement is thought to have begun. Then, it provides the reader with an account of some of the ways the Earth has changed due to the movement of plate tectonics. It then continues to use computer models to produce a simulation to show that these plate movements may stop millions of years from now. |
| Nobel Awarded for Unveiling How Cells Recycle Their Trash | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article highlights the work of cell biologist, Yoshinori Ohsumi, who won the Nobel Prize for physiology for his research on how cells recycle unused materials in order to maintain homeostasis. Ohsumi studied what the cell did if it started to "starve." He noticed how the cell would start "eating" some of the parts it didn't really need in order to survive. This process is called autophagy. Scientists hope that Ohsumi’s discovery will help find a cure for diseases like Alzheimer's, which is caused by cell trash buildup in the brain. |
| Climate Change Could Stall Atlantic Ocean Current | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes how climate change impacts ocean currents which, in turn, can affect the countries which lie along these currents. A description of a model is included to make a prediction of what will happen to the currents if climate change continues with increasing amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. |
| Zika Virus Raises Alarm as It Spreads in the Americas | This resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The text describes the emergence of the Zika virus and the threat it may pose to the United States. Information is provided about how the virus is transmitted, and the connection between Zika and microcephaly is explored. |
| What Causes Thunder and Lightning? | This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The text describes what causes lightning and examines the science behind cloud-to-ground lightning strikes. It also discusses what causes thunder and explains why we see the lightning before we hear the thunder. The last section of the text provides important rules about lightning safety and lists ways to stay safe during a lightning storm. |
| The Jet Stream | This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The purpose of the article is to define and describe the jet stream. It explains how the earth's rotation and axis affect the movement of wind bands around the Earth. Interactions from variables such as locations of high and low pressure systems, warm and cold air, and seasonal changes are also discussed. |
| The Amazing World Inside a Human Cell | This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. This article describes some of the organelles in a cell and explains their functions. It takes students "inside" the cell, by "shrinking" the students and giving the students perspective to the size of these organelles by comparing them to familiar objects. |
| Satellite Data Help Australian Ranchers Meet the Rising Demand for Meat in a Changing World | This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. The article is provided by NASA and discusses how farmers in Australia are able to use digital data provided by U.S. satellites. These farmers are able to use this satellite data to monitor the condition of their land, and enables them to better manage their farms. The author also provides additional examples of how this data is used by countries throughout the world. The article helps demonstrate how space technology positively impacts the world. The text also discusses the impact of human activities on the environment. |
| Why Don't I Fall Out When a Roller Coaster Goes Upside Down? | This informational text resource is designed to support reading in the content area. This short article was written to answer the question, "Why don't I fall out when a roller coaster goes upside down?" The answer to the question results in an interesting article that combines scientific information about the physics of roller coasters, along with some fun facts and photographs. |
| For Already Vulnerable Penguins, Study Finds Climate Change Is Another Danger | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Survival for Magellanic penguins has always been a challenge due to predation and starvation, but the influence of climate change is now making survival even more difficult for them. The study cited in this article is one of the first to show a direct impact of climate change on the population of seabirds. Increased storm activity and warmer temperatures are two factors impacting penguin populations in Argentina. |
| Antarctica: Mystery Continent Holds Key to Mankind's Future | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Scientists from around the world and from many cultures visit Antarctica to conduct research on questions that matter to all mankind. There are a number of important lessons that can be learned through research in Antarctica, such as past carbon dioxide levels, ozone depletion, impacts of meteorites, air pollution, and sea level change. |
| Circulatory System | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes the role of the circulatory system in the human body. The text divides this system into three main parts: the heart, blood vessels, and blood. Each component of the system is explained in detail, including its makeup, how it works, and why it is important. The text concludes by addressing some diseases of the circulatory system. |
| Respiratory System | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes the respiratory system, starting with the major functions. The article describes interactions that take place between the respiratory and other systems of the human body, especially the circulatory system. The article describes the respiratory tract and the many organs that complete it. Finally, the article gives an overview of the breathing process and concludes with explanations of various diseases and disorders that affect this system. |
| Hitting Streaks Spread Success | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Although scientists haven't determined a specific reason why one baseball player's hitting streak improves his whole team's performance, they have observed a very real mathematical pattern. There may be many reasons for the phenomenon, but no one has found them out yet. |
| Hurricane Andrew’s Legacy: "Like a Bomb" in Florida | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article gives an account of the events before, during, and after Hurricane Andrew’s assault on South Florida in August of 1992. The author describes why South Florida was unprepared for what became a category 5 hurricane, why certain areas suffered such extensive damage, and improvements that have been made in prediction and preparedness for future storms. |
| Pythagoras Explained | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The text describes a method for predicting the win-loss record for baseball teams based on runs scored and runs allowed, using the "Pythagorean Expectation" formula invented by Bill James. The text goes on to show the relationship of the prediction formula to the Pythagorean theorem, pointing out a very cool application of the theorem to the world of sports. |
| Building a Better Battery | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. It is challenging to build batteries that are small, hold a big charge, and can be recharged many times. Sulfur-based batteries represent a solution, but they are at risk of explosion because byproducts form when they recharge. Scientists think they have solved this problem by creating batteries out of titanium oxide-coated sulfur particles that allow for the storage of bad byproducts. |
| Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On: Busy Stretch for Large Earthquakes | This article is intended to support reading in the content area. The text investigates whether the number of large magnitude earthquakes has significantly increased. The article explores the challenge of trying to determine why the amount and intensity of earthquakes can vary across time. The text also briefly explores the recent rise in man-made earthquakes. |
| Hurricane Forecasters: El Niño Could Mean Fewer Storms in Atlantic | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Scientific models predict that El Niño will cause fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean—but more in the Pacific Ocean—in 2014. This is because El Niño events affect water temperatures and wind shear, which affect hurricane formation. The article gives the chances of named storms forming in both the Pacific and Atlantic. |
| Return of the Giant Zombie Virus | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article discusses the amazing discovery of an ancient virus found frozen in the Russian permafrost after 30,000 years. The virus is huge in size and only infects amoebas. Amazingly, the virus is still infectious after remaining frozen for so long. |
| Hurricanes | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This interactive, online text explains how a hurricane forms, what storm surge is, when hurricane season starts and ends, how hurricanes are named, and more. It has animations of storm surge and a link to a storm tracking map. The article also includes a glossary and fantastic tables and diagrams. |
| Baseball: From Pitch to Hits | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The text describes the science behind baseball by analyzing an actual pitch that took place in a Royals vs. Tigers game. The text describes how Newton's First Law affects the pitch and then describes how energy is transferred from ball to bat. Finally, the text explains how scientists use several methods to analyze the physics of a pitch. |
| Cool Jobs: Paid to Dream | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Predict the future and get paid for it? This article explores the variety of disciplines that involve dreaming up new ideas for products and technology. From storing data in bacteria to tapping into the geothermal energy between tectonic plates, the article provides an overview of how futurists get "paid to dream." |
| Infected Cutting Boards | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. How has bacteria evolved to be resistant to antibiotic drugs? Scientists have discovered that an ordinary kitchen item, the cutting board, can spread dangerous germs. |
| Kangaroos Have "Green" Farts | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Researchers in Australia have found kangaroos to produce more acetate in their flatulence than methane. Cows and goats produce methane-heavy flatulence twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide, adding to the greenhouse gases contributing to global warming. Scientists are trying to use this research on kangaroo farts to discover a way to alter the amount of greenhouse gases in animal flatulence worldwide. |
| Scary ‘Chicken’ Roamed Earth with T. Rex | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. Fossil hunters discovered a new, bird-like dinosaur and they think it looked ridiculous! Paleontologists have found pieces of this dinosaur before, but couldn't put the pieces together until they found these specific bones in North Dakota. They pieced together information from other fossils and finally discovered this silly looking creature. |
| 11-year-old Designs a Better Sandbag, Named 'America's Top Young Scientist' | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This NBC News science article describes the success of a young inventor's polymer and salt filled sandbags, designed for more efficient flood protection and deployment. |
| The Hydrologic Cycle | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The text explains the continuous movement of water between the Earth's surfaces and the atmosphere. |
| The Transfer of Heat Energy | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The text explains the three ways heat passes into and through the atmosphere by relating examples from everyday life to atmospheric forms of heat transfer. |
| Bones: They're Alive! | This informational text resource supports reading in the content area. The text explains how our bones do much more than just hold us up and keep us moving—they play many other important roles in the body. |
| Weather/ Whiz Kids/ Climate | This informational text is intended to support reading in the content area. The text covers many topics about weather and climate including the water cycle, seasons, greenhouse effect, and climate change. |
| Changing Seas | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This text explains how carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is changing the oceans. The text describes ocean acidification and ocean warming. The text gives examples of ecosystems that are changing as a result. |
| Soft Skills for Managers | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This text is about the importance of managers having soft skills in addition to the technical skills, and it explains ten important soft skills for managers to have. |
| Ice on the Move | This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes scientists' views on glacial movement and global warming. |
| Case Study: A Peer Review Committee Accepts a Challenging Task | Using this case study, students will answer the following question: "What skills and procedures should the committee apply during the meeting to reach an agreement for improving student morale at their school?". |
| Case Study: Be Careful What You Post Online! | Using this Case Study students can discuss how their digital footprints can affect their job prospects or career and what role if any does online privacy play a part. |
| Case Study: Beyond Transactions: A Personal Banker's Touch | Using the case study, students can discuss the question, "How can financial products and services help consumers?". |
| Case Study: Efficiency and Effectiveness in the Workplace | Using this case study, students can discuss, what are ways management can implement consistent, ongoing employee training for efficiency and effectiveness? |
| Case Study: Finding Bugs | Using this case study, students can discuss "How can coding be used to improve a malfunctioning and outdated website? What are the steps to debug CSS? Why is debugging important outside of computer science?" |
| Case Study: From Chaos to Clarity | Using this case study, students can discuss how technology can support business efficiency. |
| Case Study: Helping to Keep Friends Safe | Using this case study, students can discuss, "How can social media sites be dangerous and what should people do to protect themselves?" |
| Case Study: Lunchroom Madness | Using this case study, students will answer the question, "How can a group of students work together to solve conflict?" |
| Case Study: Out with the Old in with the New | Using this case study students can discuss, "Why is maintaining a positive work environment an essential business practice?" |
| Case Study: Social Media Risks and Middle School Students | Using this case study, students can answer the question, "What risks occur when middle school students bring social media to school?" |
| Case Study: Teamwork | Using this case study, students can discuss, "How can members of a team address and solve problems while achieving the teams’ goals?" |
| Case Study: Using Online Tools to Communicate Appropriately | Using this case study, students will answer the question, "How can employees communicate appropriately with team members through online tools?". |
| Case Study: We Need to Hire | Using this case study, students can answer the question "What should be considered when selecting a potential healthcare employee?" |
| Case Study: What Makes a Leader? | Using this case study, students can discuss, "how can a leader build the trust of others?". |
