Over twenty years teaching, developing lessons and conducting professional development - coupled with fiction and film writing - is who I am. Family, education and writing define what I love.
Over twenty years teaching, developing lessons and conducting professional development - coupled with fiction and film writing - is who I am. Family, education and writing define what I love.
FREE 36-page Print-and-Go NGSS/CCSS Fiction/Non-Fiction Reader for grades 3-5. Chapter 3
File 1 The Lessons, Experiments and Activities
Page 2: Comprehension Quiz
Page 3: Five Minute Fluency Exercise 4.Ob.1
Page 4: Constructive Response Comprehension Quiz
Page 5: The Great Panda Rescue Chapter 3 – Research Project Scientist in the Field
Page 6: RI.4.1; RI.4.2; RI.9 RF.4.4; SL4.1c; SL.4.5; NGSS: 3-LS1-1, 3-LS2.1
Including 2 Non-Fiction Readings
Page 13: Cloze Reading
Page 14: Making Inferences in Reading RL.1
Page 15: Observations, Inferences and Conclusion RL.10
Page 16: Determining Importance RL.1 and RL.10
Page 17: The Great Panda Rescue Words, Words, Words
Page 18: Central Message and Key Details Interactive Notebook Page RL.2
Page 19: Summarize the Text Template RL.2.1
Page 21: Illustrations RL.7
Page 23: Character Trait Templates RL.3
Page 24: Science Words For Analysis and Word Wall
Page 25: Answers where applicable
File 2 – The Great Panda Rescue Chapter 3 Interactive Reader
This is Chapter 1 of “The Great Panda Rescue” Interactive Reader. This is a perfect NGCC, CCSS, STEM story with ELA and other cross-curricular activates and lessons for each chapter. Lessons include: fluency, comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, science, math and more. This chapter is aligned with 3, 4 and 5 New California Standards as well.
Twelve-year-old Claire wants to be a large animal vet when she grows up, but not the typical horse and cow variety. Claire wants to doctor endangered and vulnerable animals – especially giant pandas. Claire gets the thrill of her life when her class takes a field trip to the Randolph Reserve. Not only does she get to see the giant pandas – she and Julia and their group receive the special honor of viewing a set of panda cub twins – only weeks old.
Just when she thinks the day can’t get better, Claire is asked to volunteer at the center for a month that summer. With summer only four weeks away, Claire acts fast. She loves her job; however, she soon discovers that Chenguang, the mother of the cubs, is being sent home to China. A great victory for the Randolph Reserve – as one of their pandas is going back to her natural habitat!
Print-n-Go STEM Readers – Upper Elementary: “Giant Pandas”. STEM Readers is series of STEM lessons that are cross curricular with ELA lessons that allows students to incorporate engaging and essential STEM and ELA themes and standards while learning about engaging subjects – like Giant Pandas. Perfect for centers, early finishers, whole class assignments and more. ALL NGSS-based.
Giant Panda STEM Reader - Next Generation Science Standards:
3-LS1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
LS1.B: Growth and Development of Organisms
5-PS3 Energy and 5-LS1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
S1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
Differentiated PLUS cross curricular – ELA embedded assignments – SPaG and standards based. STEM activities – including two video links (3 minutes and 5 minutes) with activities. Students can complete these items alone or as a class – depending on technology available and student aptitude.
Page 2 Fluency practice: “Life Cycle of a Giant Panda
Page 3: Comprehension Quiz
Page 4: Fluency practice: “Transfer of Matter in Ecosystems”
Page 5: Transfer of Matter in Ecosystems of Giant Panda Worksheet
Page 6: Giant Panda Fact Contraction Check Adjective and Alliteration Practice
Page 7: Giant Pandas – Shrinking Refuge Comprehension and Vocabulary
Page 8: STEM Vocabulary
Page 9: Sentence Structure and Perfect Panda Personification (see what I did there?)
Page 10: WoLong’s Pandas (3-minute video link and comprehension questions
Page 11: Bamboo Mountain: China’s Pandas (5:32) and comprehension questions with summary practice
Page 12: Describe Each Picture: Topic Lifecycle of a Giant Panda
This thematic unit contains science, math and literacy across the curriculum activities – as students classify, analyze, inquire about and research snowflakes: including what snow is, snowflake categories, read along research, paragraph writing, 32-math and science task cards and more.
Also included is a PowerPoint presentation to help teach 1st and 2nd graders the process of paragraph writing.
Table of Contents
Page 2 Looking for Winter Instructions and Standards Tie-‐in
Page 3: Looking for Winter – What are the Clues? ELA
Page 4: Looking for Winter: Snowflake Adjective Printable ELA
Page 5: Five Senses ELA/Science Printable
Pages 6-‐7: Adding Snowflakes. Wintery Word Problems. Math
Page 8: Snowflake Science printable. Students read about snowflakes and their shapes. Teacher should read this aloud, as students follow along, and then pair up students to re-‐read and then complete the associated activities. Science, research, ELA
Page 9 -‐ 10: More printables for Snowflake Science. Classification. Two separate activities. Science
Page 11: Mittens Read-‐along Research. Read this page aloud as your students read it silently. Pair students, have them re-‐read the passage and begin their Helping Hand essay. Social Studies, literacy across the curriculum, ELA
Page 12: Instructions for Helping Hand Paragraph on Mittens. ELA, literacy across the curriculum
Page 13: Helping Hand Paragraph Template. ELA, literacy across the curriculum
Page 14-‐15: Mitten Writing Template for students to recopy their Mitten essays and decorate for display.
Page 17-‐18: Snowman Math: Addition number sentences.
Pages 19-‐21: Differentiated Passages. The passages, Mittens (page 11) and Snowflake Science (page 8) are re-‐written to be easier for struggling readers and English Learners to read and comprehend.
Page 22-‐23: A Flurry of Math – Math Game. Math
PowerPoint and Lesson Manual.
Experiments, activities, student templates, observation sheets, snowmen and matter, compare and contrast template, guided reading activity and more! Everything an elementary student needs to know about matter.
Common Core State Standards aligned for 2nd and 3rd English Language Arts
Next Generation Science Standards
2-PS1-1 Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.
2-PS1-2 Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.
2-PS1-3 Make observations to construct an evidence-based account of how an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object.
2-PS1-4 Construct an argument with evidence that some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.
This is an engaging No Prep Unit for Groundhog’s Day that includes: Readers’ Theater scripts, Science Literacy and Comprehension activity, vocabulary, labeling, story writing, graphic organizers and more.
19-pages of fun!
Can you Name 4 states that begin with the letter "S" in 30 seconds?
Can you Name 4 types of precipitation?
Can you Name 4 parts of the sun?
Engaging game for the entire class, as a,center activity, or for partner play. The premise is simple – a team or student draws a card and answers the question by naming four.
Questions based on information students need to know for school success in 5th Grade.
There are:
81 – History/Social Studies Cards
45 – Science Cards
63- Math Cards
45 – English/Language Arts Cards
Winter themed Boogle Word Search. Goes great with my Waiting for Winter -- Snowflake Science lesson! 41 cards in all.
Students love this fast-paced game for work student and spelling and reading reinforcement.
Word Seek -- Boggle is great for whole class or partner play, early finishers, literacy centers, bell ringers and warm-ups. Boggle can even be given as homework.
The rules are easy:
• Players have three minutes to find as many words as they can on a 3 x 3
• grid.
• Players have four minutes to find as many words as they can on 3 x 4 and 4 x 4 grids. Players have five minutes to find as many words on a 5 x 5 grid
Word letters must be adjoining in a chain. (Letters in the chain may be adjacent horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Words must contain at least three letters.
Scoring: The first two letters of each word do not count for score. Each player gets 1 point for each letter after the second.
For example:
• won = 1 point
• come = 2 points
• change = 3 points
Word Seek is great for partner play, early finishers, literacy centers, bell ringers and warm-ups.
This No Prep Book Unit is a companion to “Cinderella Penguin or The Little Glass Flipper” by Janet Perlman and contains pages and pages of interactive, cross-curricular and engaging activities -- all standards-aligned. This print-and-go unit contains interactive journal pages, a review of Cinderella Elements PowerPoint – with compare and contrast for PowerPoint, essays, social studies assignments, quizzes and a whole lot more. Differentiated for use with the whole class.
Part 1:
This Math and Literacy Unit is aligned with the Common Core State Standards and guidelines for 21st Century Learning for 3rd, 4th and 5th grades and is easily adapted to all proficiency levels. Differentiated by design, this thematic unit is engaging includes the following plus a PowerPoint on the Elements of Fairy Tales Cinderella vs. Cinderella Penguin.
Page 4: Cinderella Penguin Comprehension Quiz
Page 5: Cinderella Penguin Story Connection Summary Template
Page 6: Cinderella Penguin Story Characters – Template
Page 7: Cinderella Penguin – About the Story in P’s Please Literacy Worksheet
Pages 8-10: My Very Own Cinderella Story – Template to Write Own Cinderella Story
Pages 11-14: “Cinderella Penguin After Happily Ever After” Reader’s Theater
Pages 15-16: Penguin Science Nonfiction Article and Critical Thinking Questions
Page 17: Summarize the Article “Penguin Science” Template
Page 18: Cinderella Math Word Problem Worksheet
Pages 19-34: Math Center Activities and Resources
Activity: Fishing for Problems
Activity: Fraction Math – Finding Equivalents Memory and Comparison Game
Page 36: Cinderella Story Elements Teacher Information Streets
Part 2:
Interactive Notebook Pages
Table of Contents
#1 Cinderella Penguin Cover
#2 Questions Along the Way
#3 Story Connectors
#4 Character Analysis
#5 Character Conflicts
#6 Dictionary Skills
#7 Quick Write Compare and Contrast
#8 Story Summary
#9 Text to Text – Connecting Fiction Texts
#10 My Thoughts While Reading Cinderella Penguin
#11 Inferring Character Feelings
#12 Cause and Effect
#13 Compare and Contrast Cinderella With Cinderella Penguin
#14 Think, Question and Analyze
#15 In Brief
#16 Cinderella Penguin Book Review
#17 Lights, Camera, Action – Draw Your Favorite Scenes
Part 3:
From Sentence Sorting to Essay Writing Presentation and Template
Cinderella Elements PowerPoints
This is a 26-page turnkey, print and go unit for early finishers, literacy centers or whole class instruction. It is differentiated and color coded. Students will practice CCSS for Informational Text and:
NGSS 4.4 and 5.5
Winter themed Boggle -typeWord Search and . Snowflake Science unit all in one!
PowerPoint and lesson manual!
Experiments, activities, student templates, observation sheets, snowmen and matter, compare and contrast template, guided reading activity and more! Everything an elementary student needs to know about matter.
Boggle:
Students love this fast-paced game for work student and spelling and reading reinforcement.
Word Seek -- Boggle is great for whole class or partner play, early finishers, literacy centers, bell ringers and warm-ups. Boggle can even be given as homework.
This Bundle combines many of the Cinderella Book Units I have in my shop including"
Cendrillon
The Salmon Princess
Egyptian Cinderella
Fair, Brown and Trembling
Jouanah: The Hmong Cinderella
The Rough-Face Girl
Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella
Prince Cenders
Naya: The Inuit Cinderella
Dinorella
CinderHazel
Cinderella and the Hot Air Balloon
Smoky Mountain Rose
The Persian Cinderella
Cinderella Penguin
This bundle contains SEVEN NO PREP Book Units and contains pages and pages of interactive, cross-curricular and engaging activities -- all standards-aligned. This print-and-go unit contains interactive journal pages, a review of Cinderella Elements PowerPoint – with compare and contrast for PowerPoint, essays, social studies assignments, quizzes and a whole lot more. Differentiated for use with the whole class.
Dinorella
CinderHazel
Cinderella Penguin
Cinderella and the Hot Air Balloon
Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella
Prince Cinders
Smoky Mountain Rose: An Appalachian Cinderella