Students transform their informative essays into engaging audio recordings by focusing on prosody, pacing, and sound effects, based on the 'Multimedia' extension from the Informatown series.
A lesson focused on analyzing character motivations and perceptions in the short story 'The Lure of Sheila Mant' by W.D. Wetherell. Students will explore how the narrator views the Mant family and Sheila herself through close reading and textual evidence.
A 30-minute introductory lesson where students learn to decode complex words using a list of 24 common morphemes.
The introductory lesson of the Reading Heights unit, focusing on basic CVC decoding and kindergarten/early 1st-grade high-frequency sight words through engaging balloon-themed activities.
The challenge stage of the unit, targeting multi-syllabic words, 3rd-grade sight words, and Lexile 740+ vocabulary to prepare students for high-level reading.
Introduces vowel teams and 2nd-grade high-frequency words, emphasizing fluency and automaticity in decoding mid-level texts.
Focuses on initial blends, digraphs, and 1st-grade sight words, helping students navigate more complex word structures as they 'climb' higher in their reading journey.
Day 5 serves as a final comprehensive quick check. Students read a new passage independently and apply their analysis of character relationships and plot structure to demonstrate mastery of standards 5.8B and 5.8C.
A fun, balloon-themed assessment tool for K-3 students to track phonics, sight words, and high-level decoding skills. Includes a student-facing reading board and a 4-student master score tracker.
An 8th-grade ELA lesson focused on Chapter 15 ('The Cigarette') of Persepolis, exploring themes of coming-of-age, rebellion, and oppression through analytical writing and collaborative discussion.
A lesson focused on helping students master the criteria for successful argumentative writing using a student-friendly checklist based on state-aligned rubrics.
Day 4 serves as a synthesis day using a mystery genre. Students apply their knowledge of character conflict and plot resolution to solve a 'narrative puzzle' and complete a comprehensive assessment.
Day 3 integrates both character and plot (5.8B/C) using traditional literature (a fable). Students examine how a character's traits and choices create the conflict and lead to the climax.
Day 2 focuses on plot elements (5.8C), specifically identifying the rising action, climax, and resolution in an adventure-themed text. Students map the 'Plot Peak' to understand story structure.
Day 1 focuses on analyzing character relationships and conflicts (5.8B) within a realistic fiction text. Students investigate how characters interact and the specific conflicts that drive their actions.
A comprehensive 3rd-grade lesson focusing on metacognitive strategies to deepen comprehension of fiction. Students use listening, speaking, reading, and writing to explore multiple texts through the lens of 'thinking about thinking'.
A 1-hour intensive review session focused on identifying central ideas and evaluating the evidence authors use to build strong arguments, utilizing passages from the NY Grade 7 ELA Interim Assessment.
An 8th-grade ELA lesson focusing on the symbolic power of the Oscar Holden record and other recurring objects in Jamie Ford's *Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet*. Students explore how physical items carry emotional weight and develop deeper themes within a narrative.
An 8th-grade ELA lesson focused on identifying and analyzing the purpose of flashbacks within a narrative structure, specifically examining how they reveal character history and advance the plot.
An introductory lesson on identifying and tracking literary themes like identity, prejudice, and memory, using a detective-style 'investigation' framework.
A weekly homework routine featuring a word search challenge and deep-dive vocabulary exercises for 10 target spelling words.