Emma Lilian Todd was a self-taught engineer who tackled one of the greatest challenges of the early 1900s: designing an airplane. As an adult, typing up patents at the U.S. Patent Office, Lilian built inventions in her mind, including many designs for flying machines. However, they all seemed too impractical. Lilian knew she could design one that worked. She took inspiration from both nature and her many failures, driving herself to perfect the design that would eventually successfully fly. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Design a new mode of transportation (air, sea, or ground) or select a current mode of transportation and improve it then use household items to create a prototype of your new or updated invention.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

Use wordless picture book, Mirror by Jeannie Parker, to teach writing skills. Even though this lesson is aligned to 6th grade, it can be used across grade levels.

Written by five college reading and writing instructors, this interactive, multimedia text draws from decades of experience teaching students who are entering the college reading and writing environment for the very first time. It includes examples, exercises, and definitions for just about every reading- and writing-related topic students will encounter in their college courses.

Document in Word with loads of words to inspire students to use a different word when writing stories/essays etc. It can be enlarged; then mounted on paper to use as a class poster.

Zaha Hadid grew up in Baghdad, Iraq, and dreamed of designing her own cities. After studying architecture in London, she opened her own studio and started designing buildings. But as a Muslim woman, Hadid faced many obstacles. Determined to succeed, she worked hard for many years, and achieved her goals—and now you can see the buildings Hadid has designed all over the world. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Identify an area in your school that is very traditional. Redesign it to better fit the needs of the end-users. Then sketch out a new design, and then create a physical prototype of the new design to scale.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

In this culminating unit of fifth grade, students read the classic text A Wrinkle in Time. Over the course of the novel, students explore the nuances of good versus evil and how ultimately unconditional love can overpower darkness and hate. Students will also experience the power of believing in oneself and trusting those around you, by watching the main character’s self-confidence evolve over the course of the novel. This novel is the first science fiction novel that students are exposed to over the course of the curriculum. Exposing students to science fiction is important for not only building engagement and reaching a variety of readers, but also for exploring common themes across multiple genres. It is our hope that this novel, in connection with others in the sequence, empowers students to believe in themselves and the power of love and kindness. It is also our hope that this unit inspires students to read and engage with books from a wide range of genres.

As noted above, A Wrinkle in Time is the first science fiction novel that students read and analyze together. Therefore, over the course of the novel, students will be pushed to notice and analyze different genre features. In particular, the multiple settings are integral for both the development of plot and the suspense and intrigue common in science fiction. As a result, students will have multiple opportunities to compare and contrast the different settings. In this unit, students will also spend a lot of time analyzing and noticing author’s craft, particularly the use of sentence structure and syntax as a way to develop tone and emotion. Paired with the graphic novel version of the text, students will also compare and contrast the way Madeleine L’Engle uses description and voice to develop a scene versus how the graphic novel develops a scene. Since this is the culminating unit of the year, students will also review characterization, theme, using context clues to figure out the meaning of words, and plot.

This is an OER textbook for Creative Writing courses. Most creative writing textbooks cover the "big guys" of literature: poetry, nonfiction, and fiction. This textbook is different in two ways, then, because not only does it attempt to cover MORE genres, but it is also a free textbook.This has just been updated to include MORE accessibility AND Creative Commons licenses that are more in harmony than the previous versions.

Unit overview:
The Writer's File is a companion unit to use with the in-class teaching or tutoring sessions concerning writing the informative paper. The unit is directed for writers in middle school with lexile reading levels between 500 and 1000. The unit is broken down into several sections based on the common steps in the writing process.

The students will work with a partner on a "scavenger hunt" for fairy tales.  They will use their personal Raz Kids account to look for fairy tales to read.  They will use a graphic organizer to review the stories and find/list the different components of fairy tales.  After learning the key characteristics of a fairy tale, the students will write their own fairy tale. This fairy tale will include at least four out of the seven key characteristics found in fairy tales.  According to the writing goals of the Common Core state standards, the students should be able to write narratives that include a sequence of events, characters' thoughts and feelings as well as details to describe actions.  This lesson will occur over a course of several days. I will spend time during each Writer's Workshop block to check in with each student to ensure that they are using their graphic organizer and knowledge of fairy tales to compose their own story.

FreeReading is an open source instructional program that helps educators teach early literacy. Because it is open source, it represents the collective wisdom of a wide community of teachers and researchers. FreeReading contains Writing Activities, a page of activities to address important writing skills and strategies.

Writing Commons aspires to be a community for writers, a creative learning space for students in courses that require college-level writing, a creative, interactive space for teachers to share resources and pedagogy. Our primary goal is to provide the resources and community students need to improve their writing, particularly students enrolled in courses that require college-level writing. As mentioned in 'About Us', we believe learning materials should be free for all students and teachers‰ part of the cultural commons. Hence, we provide free access to an award-winning, college textbook that was published by a major publisher and awarded the Distinguished Book Award by Computers and Composition: an International Journal.

In this unit, students continue the reading routines from Unit 1 to finish reading Peter Pan. At the same time, they read chapters of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, another story about Peter Pan written by J.M. Barrie, to compare and contrast the stories. Once they have finished Peter Pan, students recount the story and analyze it to identify the central message. For the mid-unit assessment, students closely read the final chapter of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens to compare it to Peter Pan and also to analyze it for the central message.
In the second half of the unit, students are guided through writing a book review of Peter Pan in which they state an opinion with reasons about whether they would recommend Peter Pan to a friend. For the end of unit assessment, students revise their book reviews for linking words and phrases and to correct spelling errors. They also participate in a text-based discussion in which they share their opinion of Peter Pan and listen to the opinions of others.
RL.3.1, RL.3.2c, RL.3.4, RL.3.9, RL.3.10, W.3.1c, W.3.5, SL.3.1, L.3.1f, L.3.2e, L.3.2f, L.3.2g, L.3.3b, L.3.4.

In this lesson, students practice reading the poem "The Glass Frog" fluently (RF.3.4). Then they participate in a teacher-led Language Dive of the poem. This Language Dive guides students through the text's challenging vocabulary and language structures to help them understand the meaning of the poem (RL.3.1, RL.3.2, RL.3.4, RL.3.5, RF.3.4, L.3.1a, L.3.1h, L.3.3, L.3.4a).
Students will participate in a Language Dive that guides them through the meaning of a stanza from the poem "The Glass Frog." All students learn how to decipher the stanza and will use this knowledge in their further exploration of frog adaptations. Students will apply their understanding of the structure of this stanza when interpreting poetry during the mid-unit assessment in Lesson 7.
In Work Time B, students continue to analyze the narrative model "Why the Poison Dart Frog Is So Colorful." This text is used as a model throughout the drafting process, in addition to "Why the Frog Has a Long Tongue." "Why the Poison Dart Frog Is So Colorful" is an exemplar of narrative writing for students at the third-grade level.
In Work Time C, the teacher and students write the end of the class draft of a narrative text together, both contributing their thoughts and ideas to the process while the teacher acts as scribe (W.3.3a, W.3.4, W.3.5). Shared writing enables teachers to make the writing process concrete and visible to students. This allows students to focus exclusively on the thinking involved in writing, not the process.
Shared writing is also a powerful way to model and guide key skills and concepts related to the writing process (e.g., organizing, drafting, revision, mechanics, and conventions). Students gain competence and confidence in their writing skills as the teacher models and guides the thinking process writers go through. Consider modeling, revising, or editing the completed narrative "Why Do Polliwogs Wiggle?" based on students' identified areas for improvement.
The research reading students complete for homework helps to build both their vocabulary and knowledge pertaining to frogs and specifically frog adaptations. By participating in this volume of reading over a span of time, students will develop a wide base of knowledge about the world and the words that help describe and make sense of it.
Students practice their fluency in Work Times A, B, and C by following along and reading silently as the teacher reads "The Wood Frog" and "Why the Poison Dart Frog Is So Colorful" aloud, as well as choral reading.

EL Education created these K-5 rubrics based on an analysis of the grade-level demands of the CCSS, rubrics used by PARCC and Smarter Balanced, and EL Education's own professional expertise (including attention to the Writing for Understanding framework). The downloads for grades 3-5 includes Writing Rubrics, Informal Checklists, and the Phonics and Word Recognition Checklist.

EL Education created these K-5 rubrics based on an analysis of the grade-level demands of the CCSS, rubrics used by PARCC and Smarter Balanced, and EL Education's own professional expertise (including attention to the Writing for Understanding framework). The downloads for grades 3-5 includes Writing Rubrics, Informal Checklists, and the Phonics and Word Recognition Checklist.

EL Education created these K-5 rubrics based on an analysis of the grade-level demands of the CCSS, rubrics used by PARCC and Smarter Balanced, and EL Education's own professional expertise (including attention to the Writing for Understanding framework). The downloads for grades 3-5 includes Writing Rubrics, Informal Checklists, and the Phonics and Word Recognition Checklist.

EL Education created these K-5 rubrics based on an analysis of the grade-level demands of the CCSS, rubrics used by PARCC and Smarter Balanced, and EL Education's own professional expertise (including attention to the Writing for Understanding framework). The downloads for grades 3-5 includes Writing Rubrics, Informal Checklists, and the Phonics and Word Recognition Checklist.

EL Education created these K-5 rubrics based on an analysis of the grade-level demands of the CCSS, rubrics used by PARCC and Smarter Balanced, and EL Education's own professional expertise (including attention to the Writing for Understanding framework). The downloads for grades 3-5 includes Writing Rubrics, Informal Checklists, and the Phonics and Word Recognition Checklist.

EL Education created these K-5 rubrics based on an analysis of the grade-level demands of the CCSS, rubrics used by PARCC and Smarter Balanced, and EL Education's own professional expertise (including attention to the Writing for Understanding framework). The downloads for grades 3-5 includes Writing Rubrics, Informal Checklists, and the Phonics and Word Recognition Checklist.

In Opening A, students receive their independent reading journals. This journal provides a space where students will begin responding to prompts concerning their independent reading book. Students will use these journals both throughout the module and the school year.
In Opening B, students receive an affix list to refer to throughout the rest of the year when determining the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary (L.5.4b, L.5.4c). Consider laminating this resource for students, as it will be referred to frequently.
In Work Time A, students review the components of a sentence and participate in a mini lesson about writing short constructed responses. During this mini lesson, they write a short constructed response to answer a question about Rain School based on their close read in the previous lesson. This helps to prepare students for the End of Unit 1 assessment, in which they will answer short constructed response questions about a new text. After the mini lesson, students write short constructed responses to questions about their research reading text to serve as notes for their discussion for the Mid-Unit 1 Assessment in the next lesson (RI.3.1, W.3.1).
Lessons 3-5 featured built-out instruction for Goal 1 Conversation Cues. Moving forward, this will appear only as reminders after select questions. Continue using Goal 1 Conversation Cues to promote productive and equitable conversation. Refer to the Lesson 3 Teaching Notes and see the Tools page for additional information on Conversation Cues.
Students who finish quickly or require an extension can consider additional things they like and find challenging about their research reading texts.
In this unit, the habit of character focus is working to become an ethical person. Students continue to "collect" characteristics of ethical people on a Working to Become Ethical People anchor chart. The characteristic they collect in this lesson is integrity, based on the accountable independent reading homework they will complete each night.
The research reading that students complete for homework will help build both their vocabulary and knowledge pertaining to overcoming challenges in access to education, books, and reading near and far. By participating in this volume of reading over a span of time, students will develop a wide base of knowledge about the world and the words that help describe and make sense of it.