This lesson provides teachers with support for using text-dependent questions and Common Core literacy strategies to help students derive big ideas and key understandings while developing vocabulary using the text, "Heat Wave." A fantastic heat wave hits a Kansas farm, roasting the geese, popping the corn in the fields, and causing other distressing events. The farm girl tries a few clever ways to get rid of it, and finally succeeds when she plants iceberg lettuce.

Angel Arrellano, a nine-year-old girl from Fresno, CA. spearheaded a campaign to raise money to be donated to the local zoo. Her enthusiasm and altruism generated an overwhelming response from the Fresno community and beyond, which allowed for much needed upkeep and improvements for the zoo and its animals.

Designed to explore the hero and the heroic in literature, this unit asks students to discuss their ideas of heroism and analyze heroes in literature.

These activities are designed to promote writing readiness addressing dominate hand use, small muscle development, eye-hand coordination, ability to copy, and an orientation to reading readiness.

These activities are designed to teach students to use their bodies in daily activities, by promoting a regular routine of using large and small motor skills, personal space, and boundary awareness.

Students research the items listed in the song "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel, noting their historical relevance, and then document their findings using an online chart.

This nonfiction piece tells about Barbara del Colorado, a village in Costa Rica. People needed a way to make money; a scientist suggested that they grow butterflies. The town now sells 250 pupae a month, making enough money to buy what they need.

ŕHottest, Coldest, Highest, DeepestĚŇ takes the reader on a journey around the world to various continents found on Earth that contain unique natural features.

When Ruth and her sister Lucille are abandoned in the isolated Idaho town of Fingerbone, their lives become intertwined with the legacy of loss that haunts the Foster family. The Big Read Reader's Guide deepens your exploration with interviews, booklists, timelines, and historical information. We hope this guide and syllabus allow you to have fun with your students while introducing them to the work of a great American author.

ŕHow Animals TalkĚŇ is an informational, nonfiction selection describing how various animals communicate or send messages. Animals communicate with each other to warn of danger, to share feelings, to attract a mate, and even prove dominance.

In this video segment from Between the Lions, Tammy Lionette (Cleo) and Jasmine Guy sing about the confusing sound of the letter "h" in a Western style while a pelican, chicken, and hound make up the band with monkeys as backup singers. Featured vocabulary includes: hung, hard, hear, hope, heavy, hassled, hold, head, howl, hound, handle, hard, hard, harassed, hackles, huff, hung, had, hung, and had. This video segment provides a resource for Fluency, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Language and Vocabulary Development, Letter Knowledge Awareness, and Phonological Awareness. ***Access to Teacher's Domain content now requires free login to PBS Learning Media.

Tell me about it in your own words! If students can paraphrase the information they have read, then youand they can be confident that they understand it.

Dr. Seuss's "The Cat in the Hat" is used as a primer to teach students how to analyze a literary work using plot, theme, characterization, and psychoanalytical criticism.

This text explains the nuts and bolts of how different types of coins, bills, and checks; how they are connected; and how your dollars can earn money through the bank.

In this lesson students build their knowledge base and learn to read and summarize informational texts. Students will be able to read and summarize informational text, identify key details from surprising details, and recognize the main ideas/concepts presented in articles. They will also be able to listen, take notes, and discuss the issues presented in informational texts with a small group.

Students will really get into character when they read short stories and analyze the hows and whys of character behaviors.

The lesson provides an opportunity for students to not only read and view the importance of choosing career choices now, but gives them an opportunity to write about their future career goals and think about the best way to achieve them starting now.

Julia Alvarez's popular novel is a fictional account influenced by the real lives of the Mirabal sisters, who grew up in the Dominican Republic and were involved in the rebellion against dictator Rafael Trujillo in the 1930s. The Big Read Reader's Guide deepens your exploration with interviews, booklists, timelines, and historical information. We hope this guide and syllabus allow you to have fun with your students while introducing them to the work of a great American author.

Filled with radiant depictions of the Mexican landscape and unforgettable characters, Luis Alberto Urrea's novel chronicles a young woman's quest to protect her hometown from banditos. This Big Read Teacher's Guide contains ten lessons to lead you through Luis Alberto Urrea's Into the Beautiful North. Each lesson has four sections: a focus topic, discussion activities, writing exercises, and homework assignments. In addition, we have provided capstone projects and suggested essay topics, as well as handouts with more background information about the novel, the historical period, and the author. All lessons dovetail with the state language arts standards required in the fiction genre.

The "Into the Book" web site is designed to help elementary students practice eight reading comprehension strategies through playful interactive activities. The site focuses on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing. "Behind the Lesson," the teacher area of the site, provides information, lesson plans and other resources for teachers.