LAFS.1.W.1.2Archived Standard

This lesson introduces students to a young boy, Andy, who has autism. Students learn about common characteristics of autism and how to act when they want to make friends with a child who has a disability. The literacy standards that are included in this lesson are: asking and answering questions about text, retelling stories, demonstrating understanding of the lesson in the story, describing story elements using text and illustrations, and writing an informative piece.

Type: Lesson Plan

Did you know that chickens are amazing animals? You will after reading the book, From Egg to Chicken by Gerald Legg. Students will identify nonfiction text features, answer text-dependent questions, and sequence the life cycle of a chicken. They will then compose an expository piece of writing about what they've learned in during these reading lessons.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will explore different types of habitats and what animals need to live. This lesson begins with a read aloud of the text The Magic School Bus Hops Home: A Book about Animal Habitats and the class will collaboratively make an anchor chart about the diverse habitats we have on earth. Students will choose an animal to research and write an expository writing piece to share their learning. This research project will conclude with students showing their creativity by making a diorama of their habitat out of a shoebox.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will listen to readings of Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen by Howard Binkow. They will complete a story map, a character analysis, and answer discussion questions. Students will be led to understand the change that the character makes and the lessons learned. Students will write an expository text to respond to a prompt while demonstrating grade-appropriate grammar, conventions, and spelling.

Type: Lesson Plan

Enjoy sharing this enchanting Asian folktale while introducing your primary students to close reading. This story is filled with rich vocabulary and detailed describing words that allow students to interact with context clues and text-evidence to produce a character comparison. Students will be excited about the multi-tiered activities and extensions that will keep their interest throughout the entire lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, the students will listen to the teacher read aloud the folk tale The Little Red Hen. The students will collaborate with their teacher and peers during a close reading in order to determine the story elements and the moral or lesson that the story teaches. The students will work in pairs to describe the characteristics of the Little Red Hen and write a sentence about it.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page to identify the main topic and relavant details. Students will complete a 3-2-1 card, a group poster and presentation, and an independent expository writing piece to demonstrate their new learning about some amazing animals.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be amazed by the book What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page. This book will encourage students to ask questions about interesting animals and learn many new facts. For the summative assessment, students will gather additional information about their selected animal and write an expository paper.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this reading lesson, students will analyze two characters from the same book, Toot and Puddle by Holly Hobbie, and identify their similarities and differences. Students will compare themselves to one of the characters and write a paragraph describing their chosen character and how they are similar.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be engaged with the adorably illustrated and written children's book, Mr. Duck Means Business. They will discuss the story elements, practice retelling it, and create an expository writing piece about how the main character changed from the beginning to the end of the book.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, the students will listen to the teacher read aloud the fable The Tortoise and the Hare. The students will play a story cube game to record the story elements of the beloved fable, study the main characters, and write an opinion piece on which character they would be friends with and what they would do.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this reading lesson, students will complete activities centered around the text, What Plants Need. Students will identify the topic and multiple details, answer discussion questions, and write an expository paragraph about what they have learned.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will participate in multiple readings of the text A Tree Is a Plant by Clyde Robert Bulla, They will complete a K-W-L chart about trees, answer text dependent questions in pairs, and learn about the parts of a paragraph when writing their own expository text. This paragraph will include a topic sentence, supporting details, and a conclusion. This lesson provides great background information and extension activities to support learning in science as well as reading!

Type: Lesson Plan

The teacher will read the stories The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle and Chameleons, Chameleons by Joy Crowley. Students will use the texts as research to answer and discuss the question, “What kind of habitat is good for chameleons?” Students will be assigned to write an expository response about a chameleon’s habitat and draw a habitat for a chameleon.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this MEA the students are to decide what criteria is the most important for a company to consider when choosing life jackets. Students will use data tables of qualitative information to solve the problem.

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 lesson, students will complete a KWL chart about bears with a few bear hunts in between. After they learn about topics and details, they will read a book about bears. Using their knew knowledge they will write a five-sentence paragraph. This paragraph will contain a topic sentence, three facts, and a closing sentence. Students will be given a checklist to assess their work.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson focuses on using text features to understand nonfiction text, specifically the Scholastic News Nonfiction Reader: Helping Out by Peggy Hock. The students will examine the particular text features found within the text and will organize the information read in a concept map. They will then use the concept map to write an expository paragraph about ways we can protect Earth.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn about the important jobs of the community helpers in their city or neighborhood. After reading Whose Tools Are These? and Helpers in Your Neighborhood, they will write an expository paragraph about a helper of their choice.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will listen to an informational text about an animal and critique a sample expository paragraph by giving suggestions about how to improve the sample writing. Students will then read an informational text about an animal of their choosing and write an expository paragraph about the animal. They will present their writing to the class and take suggestions from classmates to improve their writing. Students will also revise their writing through use of suggestions given by their peers.

Type: Lesson Plan

This unit focuses on using text features to understand non-fiction text, specifically National Geographic Reader: Frogs! by Elizabeth Carney. The students will participate in a whole group activity where a portion of text will be analyzed for its topic and details and the teacher will write a paragraph about it using shared writing. The students will then apply the skills they learned as they create a topic and detail table and write an expository paragraph.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn laws of the classroom and community all while determining the main idea.

Type: Lesson Plan

Feeling the Fall is a lesson that incorporates fluency, the five senses, and writing all in one. Students will work cooperatively to perform a play on fall, practicing fluency, accuracy, and expression. Then students will explore the fall season using their senses, integrating science standards into academic standards reading. Finally, students will have the opportunity to write about the fall season and publish their writing using technology.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students learn about forces on objects such as a push or a pull. Students interact with items in their classroom testing pushes and pulls. Students explore the strength of pushes through a toy race investigation.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will use biographies to research individuals important to American history. The students will then create "Clue Bags" based on key details about the different individuals to present to the class with the question "Who Am I?" Additionally, the students will use the key details selected for the "Clue Bags" to write an expository paragraph about their selected individual.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson focuses on writing a summary using the topic and relevant details through the reading of a nonfiction text on bird beaks.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this unit, students will read appropriately leveled informational text on dinosaurs and identify the relevant details of the text. The students will create a detail web using evidence from the text and will then write an expository paper about their choice of dinosaur. The students will also participate in a guided class discussion. The students will practice the guidelines and procedures for successful discussion and will also practice how to come prepared for discussion by providing supporting information from texts that have been read.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will identify the text features of non-fiction books and use several informational texts on meat-eating plants to answer text dependent questions. Students will become "text detectives" and learn how to use the text to find the evidence to prove that their answers to questions are right. The students will learn to use evidence from informational texts to write explanatory paragraphs.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson teaches main idea and details incorporating a science lesson on liquids.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson focuses on central idea and details using a science informational text on the states of matter entitled What is the World Made of? All about Solids, Liquids, and Gases. Students will write a summary which identifies the central idea and relevant details from this text.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will work with two texts, Starfish by Edith Thacher Hurd and Discovering Starfish by Lorijo Metz. As they learn facts about starfish, they will also discuss an important text feature that readers use. Students will write an expository paragraph about starfish to culminate their learning.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson focuses on using text features to understand nonfiction text, specifically the National Geographic Reader: Polar Bears, by Laura Marsh. The students will use a text features anchor chart to support student understanding of how these features contribute to the meaning of a text. Students will read and take notes to answer specific questions about the text and use those notes to write a paragraph about polar bears.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson teaches the concept of main idea and details and writing informational/expository text using science content on solids.

Type: Lesson Plan

This teaching idea describes a project called Fruit and Vegetable Mystery, which is a set of note cards created by first grade students. The cards include a written description of a fruit or vegetable on one side and the name and illustration of the corresponding fruit or vegetable on the other. The cards were created as a final product for an expedition on plants and soil.

Type: Teaching Idea