Cross Curricular Resources
Update Your List of Lesson Planning Web Resources So grateful to viewers who share websites that help kept us up to date on resources. Anita Gianakas, library media specialist, invites you to view this resource for helping students understand the value of reading and math to…
Prep for Semester Exam
Prepare Now to Assess Begin now and ensure that your students will be ready to do well on the semester exams. First, write in your own words specifically what plan to measure. Consider these ideas. (1) How well students recall what you’ve taught about ______________. (2) How well…
What’s New About Sexual Harassment?
The Handmaid’s Tale- Characters and Current Events Literature and Life The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is a particularly effective text in a unit on WOMEN'S HISTORY, DYSTOPIA or one linked to CURRENT EVENTS. I've found the unit to be more engaging when I asked to the students to look…
POETRY-African American History Month Project
Celebrate Cultures February is a great time to incorporate an oral language component into your lessons and invite students to memorize and recite a poem by an African American poet. This assignment lists several to get you started. To increase confidence and decrease apprehension, give the students the grading criteria…
Getting Them Into a Book
Inspire Curiosity Are you familiar with the INTO, THROUGH and BEYOND strategy for teaching text? Looking for something that can work in a single period to get students into their next book? Here’s an idea may work for you this Spring. Distribute the book. Invite students to look carefully at…
Which is Which?: Sorting Stories into Meta-Plots
Another Way to Review What fun to have students review stories read during the first semester and try to sort them into categories based on meta-plots. Invite students to sort stories into seven basic plots of fiction, based on writing by Christoper Booker. Overcoming the Monster Rags to Riches The Quest…
Books for Boys
Perhaps, because so many elementary and middle school teachers are female, the books on our standard reading lists tend to appeal more to students of that same gender. Not sure if that's the case, but admittedly teachers of young men in all grades recognize that our male students often are…
GETTING INTO A TEXT
Take a Random Walk Ask students to write on a piece of paper any ten numbers between the first and last page number of the book you are using. For example, 3,7, 27, 59, 78, 87, 115, 143, 205, 212 Then instruct them to turn to those pages, skim the paragraphs…
Collected in the Summer for Use All Year
Tips for Teaching Here are some interesting links, ideas, and video you may find useful as you plan lessons to engage your students. Some will just be fun, others intriguing, some even challenging to you and your students. I'll add to it as I find new treasures. Enjoy! Simple Way…
BACK TO SCHOOL ASSESSMENTS
CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF Students like to know what they know so they'll know what they need to learn. When teachers know what students know, the teacher knows what needs to be taught. Why not invite your students to do a self-check during the first week of school to…