Inferring How and Why Characters Change
(View Complete Item Description)Students will really get into character when they read short stories and analyze the hows and whys of character behaviors.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
All resources in Cedar Rapids CSD
Alphabiography Project: Totally You
(View Complete Item Description)The traditional autobiography writing project is given a twist as students write alphabiographies - recording an event, person, object, or feeling associated with each letter of the alphabet.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
American Folklore: A Jigsaw Character Study
(View Complete Item Description)Groups of students read and discuss American folklore stories, each group reading a different story. Using a jigsaw strategy, the groups compare character traits and main plot points of the stories. A diverse selection of American folk tales is used for this lesson, which is adaptable to any text set.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Audience & Purpose: Evaluating Disney's Changes to the Hercules Myth
(View Complete Item Description)What drives changes to classic myths and fables? In this lesson students evaluate the changes Disney made to the myth of "Hercules" in order to achieve their audience and purpose.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Book Report Alternative: Glog That Book!
(View Complete Item Description)In this alternative book report, students identify the elements of fiction in books they have read by creating glogs, interactive multimedia posters, and then share their glogs.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Describe That Face: An Interactive Writing Game
(View Complete Item Description)Students write descriptions of characters, incorporate new vocabulary words, practice using simile and metaphor, engage in peer editing, and post their revised descriptions on the walls for a matching game.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Digitally Telling the Story of Greek Figures
(View Complete Item Description)Learn about Greek gods, heroes, and creatures through digital storytelling produced by students who have learned research techniques.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Unit of Study
Figurative Language Flipped Classroom Lesson
(View Complete Item Description)Figurative Language Flipped Classroom Lesson
Material Type: Lecture
How to Find a Theme
(View Complete Item Description)This shows how to find a theme in literature.
Material Type: Lecture
I've Got It Covered! Creating Magazine Covers to Summarize Texts
(View Complete Item Description)Start the presses! Catchy titles, eye-popping graphics, and attractive fonts are all on students agendas in this lesson as they create magazine covers to summarize a topic.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Venn Diagram
(View Complete Item Description)This interactive tool allows students to create Venn diagrams that contain two or three overlapping circles, enabling them to organize their information logically.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Interactive
When Pigs Fly: A Lesson Plan on Idioms
(View Complete Item Description)This lesson plan centers on a fun, interactive activity that allows students to explore and understand common English idioms.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Whittle, Whittle it Down: Summarizing
(View Complete Item Description)This "jigsaw" activity will give students the opportunity to work in groups to summarize a 1 to 2 page informational text. It "jigsaws" down to 1 class summary and can be done in 2 or 3 days. This plan was designed for a class of 22 students but can be easily modified by varying group size.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
CEI: Making a Claim Citing Textual Evidence Lesson 6-8
(View Complete Item Description)This is a middle school 6-8 grade lesson on CEI: Making a Claim Citing Textual Evidence. It may be used as a review lesson for the EOG assessment.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
Active Reading through Self-Assessment: The Student-Made Quiz
(View Complete Item Description)This recurring lesson encourages students to comprehend their reading through inquiry and collaboration. They choose important quotations from the text and work in groups to formulate "quiz" questions that their peers will answer.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Acrostic Poems
(View Complete Item Description)This online tool enables students to learn about and write acrostic poems. Elements of the writing process are also included.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Interactive
Action Is Character: Exploring Character Traits with Adjectives
(View Complete Item Description)Students must "become" a character in a novel in order to describe themselves and other characters using powerful adjectives.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
Animate that Haiku!
(View Complete Item Description)Following the traditional form of the haiku, students publish their own haikus using Animoto, an online web tool that creates slideshows that blend text and music.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
AstroPoetry Writing
(View Complete Item Description)An activity combining language and science to encourage students to think about the night sky to help them write a poem related to astronomy.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
Bio Cube
(View Complete Item Description)Bio Cube is a useful summarizing tool that helps students identify and list key elements about a person for a biography or autobiography.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Interactive