How can we convince others to agree with us on important issues? In this lesson, students explore relevant environmental issues and gather information to write persuasive essays.

This lesson engages children in using writing to their families as a persuasive tool to get what they want and need.

A good lesson, to be used during the last month of the school year, for motivating students to remain faithful to reading over the summer. Uses strategies such as student-chosen books and persuasive writing techniques.

Contains plans for a lesson that teaches students the letter-sound relationship for the short /u/ sound using the book "Umbrella" by Taro Yashima. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as well as assessment and reflection activities.

Students learn about phonics by focusing on the letter m and participating in an integrated array of activities, including reading, writing, mathematics, music, art, and technology.

Contains plans for lessons that teach about the letter M using a "Mystery Box" filled with items starting with M and the books "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" and "Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree" by Eileen Christelow. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as well as assessment and reflection activities.

Students use picture books as framing texts for research, freeing them from the language of encyclopedia sources and allowing them to focus their attention on the content of their papers.

Picture Match is a matching game that reinforces the concept of beginning-letter and short- and long-vowel sounds. .

OVERVIEW
Students need to practice all types of writing, and oftentimes argumentative writing is ignored in favor of persuasive writing. In fact, students may not even understand there is a difference between these two types of writing. In this lesson, students examine the differences between argumentative writing and persuasive writing. After choosing topics that interest them, students conduct research which becomes the foundation for their argumentative essays.

Let the students be the vocabulary experts! Prior to whole class instruction, students create online flashcards and teach the class the new vocabulary.

Students move from modeled to independent comprehension of fiction stories by using texts by Jan Brett and interactive tools that demonstrate their comprehension.

Students get the big picture of the Middle East when they read and analyze Marjane SatrapiŐs graphic novel "Persepolis".

The old cliche, "A picture is worth a thousand words" is put to the test when students write their own narrative interpretations of events shown in an image.

This lesson, which can be adapted to fit with any picture you choose, works for students of all levels.

Cooperation and critical thinking are the name of the game as students use baseball facts they find online to create trivia questions for a class Jeopardy game.

In this twist on traditional bingo, the game boards feature students' names, and students answer questions designed to help them learn more about one another when their names are called.

Contains plans for three lessons that ask students to compare narrative writing (short stories) to expository writing (news articles) in order to understand what makes each genre unique. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains links to sites used in the lessons as well as assessment and reflection activities.

Students play with and explore prepositions during a whole group reading of Ruth HellerŐs Behind the Mask, and then by composing and publishing prepositional poems based on the bookŐs style.

The Plot Diagram is an organizational tool focusing on a pyramid or triangular shape, which is used to map the events in a story. This mapping of plot structure allows readers and writers to visualize the key features of stories.