A tool that helps students learn - and learn to use - critical academic vocabulary by transforming classroom word walls from passive displays to interactive learning tools.
lesson plan for a student research project on animals
In this unit, students will be introduced to poetry. Students will learn about the different types of poetry characteristics through the use of poetry books, prezi presentations, music, and spoken word.
3rd Grade Writing Training Anchor CKLA
Google Docs is a great word processor, but is much more than just that. Although we can certainly use it to type up a report, take notes, or write a story, we can also get creative with the features and functions built into the program to make some fun learning activities.
Recently I did a video training webinar where I took a look at four creative ways to use regular Google Docs features in new fun ways to practice and develop literacy skills. These include:
The highlighting tool for the activity "Improve Reading Comprehension with Google Docs Black Out"
The special characters tool for the activity "Emoji Learning Activities with Google Docs"
The word count tool for the activity "Have Students Write Better by Writing Less with Google Docs"
The header tool and hyperlink tool for the activity "Choose Your Own Adventure Stories with Google Docs"
See below for the full 1-hour training video, as well as resources, ideas, and templates for each of the four activities.
Session Resources
Session Agenda - Google Docs link
Training Video (1 hour)
1) Improve Reading Comprehension with Docs Black Out
Description: In this activity students use the highlighter tool to black out any text that is not critical, leaving behind just the main ideas.
Resources: For full details and resources for doing this activity, see my original blog post "Improve Reading Comprehension with Google Docs Black Out"
Below is the portion of the training video that covers this specific activity:
2) Emoji Learning Activities
Description: In this activity students use special characters to insert emojis to summarize stories, write creatively, and explore character emotions.
Resources: For full details and resources for doing this activity, see my original blog post "5 Emoji Learning Activities with Google Docs"
Below is the portion of the training video that covers this specific activity:
3) Have Students Write Better by Writing Less
Description: In this activity students use the word count tool to write within a character limit or word limit.
Resources: For full details and resources for doing this activity, see my original blog post "Have Students Write Better by Writing Less with Google Docs"
Below is the portion of the training video that covers this specific activity:
4) Choose Your Own Adventure Stories
Description: In this activity students use headings and hyperlinks to create interactive stories in Google Docs.
Resources: For full details and resources for doing this activity, see my original blog post "Choose Your Own Adventure Stories with Google Docs"
Below is the portion of the training video that covers this specific activity:
Post by Eric Curts. Bring me to your school, organization, or conference with over 50 PD sessions to choose from. Connect with me on Twitter at twitter.com/ericcurts and on Google+ at plus.google.com/+EricCurts1
This unit combines nonfiction reading, biographies, Henry Ford, and Michigan history into one unit. It covers many informational reading standards and Michigan social studies standards all together.
Students will be reading historical fiction book at their own level. They will read, summarize, and create three book projects that correlate with some of the 4th grade common core reading standards.
This unit engages students in a variety of different reading standards through face to face and online components. In this unit, students will practice many skills to aid them in reading and understanding nonfiction texts.
This unit is focused on figurative language, covering common core standards in language, literature for reading, and speaking and listening with the final assessment. It is designed to be used with a workshop model, where there is some form of opening for brief instruction, partner and/or independent work time, and a closing time for sharing within each lesson.
This unit includes a combination of fourth grade writing and social studies standards. It focuses on research and public discourse.
Mini-lessons are a great way to teach students about small tidbits of writing without overwhelming them. These sessions are 10-15 minutes long, which is the perfect amount of time to engage students without them losing interest. Lesson ideas include Character Development, Setting Development, Sequence of Events, Dialogue, Strong Endings
Intrigued by the world of podcasting? This Five-Minute Film Festival features videos, resources, and articles to help any educator get started using podcasts in the classroom as a learning tool.
This lesson will take students through identifying the 5 parts of an argumentative essay with interactivity and a couple of Google Slides activities.
Kinder 5 Senses Anchor Chart CKLA
This lesson uses tall tale read alouds to reinforce the common elements, or text structure, of tall tales. As the text is read aloud, students examine the elements of the book that are characteristic of tall tales. Then using what they've learned, they write and perform tall tales of their own.
These lists for grades 6-8 provide optional texts for students to read on their own to learn more about the module topic. Each grade level document includes texts for all the modules of that grade.
Students will learn the components of an informational essay. Through modeling, mini-lessons and multiple opportunities for practice and feedback, students will go through the writing process to produce an informational essay on the topic of their choice.
This unit addresses four 6th grade reading standards taught throughout the course of a trimester. These lessons are designed to be taught one day a week, while the other days in the trimester are focused on writing units. This unit is designed to be co-taught with a general education and special education teacher, but can be easily adapted if only one teacher is present.
Students will learn the components of a Narrative writing. Through mini-lessons (Ex: dialogue, story elements, figurative language, good introductions,genre study, etc.), daily writing and revising, students will go through the writing process to produce a narrative writing on a topic of their choice.
A lesson about online communication using a simulation of a Twitter conversation in a "telephone game" style.