Content Standards

and Objectives

Technology-Based Correlated Lessons and Activities

RLA.O.8.1.01

compare/contrast connotation and denotation in complex passages to understand and enhance meaning of words, sentences and shorter passages

Avalanche, Aztek, or Bravada? A Connotation Mini-Lesson

In this mini-lesson, students examine familiar car names for underlying connotations then proceed through a series of steps, increasing their control over language, until they select words with powerful connotations in their own writing.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=75

Connotation: Effective Word Choice

This unit, designed to promote effective word choice, begins with a fun and exciting introduction of connotation through an examination of sports team names. After examining how word choice influences meaning, students will create and revise writing for vivid language.

http://content.scholastic.com/browse/unitplan.jsp?id=159

(Can be projected on interactive whiteboard for whole class instruction)

RLA.O.8.1.02

use knowledge of Greek and Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes to determine the meaning of words, spell words, change word meanings and generate new words appropriate to grade level, recognize that knowledge of the origins and history of word meanings enhances understanding of a word’s meaning

You Can't Spell the Word Prefix Without a Prefix

Spelling is a form of word study or etymology. Through organized interaction, students explore the role of prefixes, as well as their origins and meanings, and examine how the understanding of prefixes can improve comprehension, decoding, and spelling.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=399

Vocabulary University

A website containing engaging vocabulary puzzles (e.g., crosswords, matching, fill-in-the-blanks.

http://www.vocabulary.com/index.html

Word Images: Index

A vocabulary website that presents students with pictures, definitions, and quizzes. For example, the word kleptomania is shown with a picture of a kleptomaniac in action, surreptitiously stuffing a pair of shoes into her pocketbook.

http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/3672/?letter=A&spage=8

RLA.O.8.1.03

use etymology, context clues, affixes, synonyms or antonyms to increase grade appropriate vocabulary

Using a Word Journal to Create a Personal Dictionary

Students keep track of unfamiliar words they encounter while reading various texts. Using a word journal notebook, students explore the perceived meaning and the standard dictionary meaning of these words. Students then create a personal dictionary in PowerPoint using the words recorded in their word journal notebook.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=20

Using Word Webs to Teach Synonyms for Commonly Used Words

This lesson uses word webs to introduce synonyms for commonly used words such as good, bad, and nice, and to help students adjust their word usage for different contexts. The lesson was designed for second language learners but can be used with all students, even high school.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=282

ReadWriteThink’s Flip-a-Chip Program

Flip-a-Chip is a novel approach to word study that promotes vocabulary development. The technology interactive program provides hands-on practice with affixes and roots, and also promotes comprehension through structural analysis and vocabulary in context.

http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=31

Includes a lesson plan

Word Castles Graphic Organizer

Students record new words, definitions, antonyms, synonyms, homonyms, and pictures.

http://www.graphicorganizers.com/wdcastles.pdf

(Can be projected on interactive whiteboard for whole class instruction)

RLA.O.8.1.04

analyze the defining characteristics, build background knowledge and apply reading skills to understand a variety of literary passages and genres by West Virginia, national and international authors: fiction / nonfiction / myths / fantasies / biographies / autobiographies / science fiction / tall tales / supernatural tales

Compare and Contrast Electronic Text With Traditionally Printed Text

The purpose of this lesson is to familiarize students with the similarities and differences between electronic text and traditionally printed text. Students examine the textual aids included in a textbook and compare them to the textual aids included in an educational website.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=90

ReadWriteThink’s Bio-Cube Program
Bio-Cube is a useful technology summarizing tool that helps students identify and list key elements about a person whose biography or autobiography they have just read. It can also be used as a prewriting activity for student autobiographies.

http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=57

Includes numerous lesson plans

Plot Structure: A Literary Elements Mini-Lesson

Using a triangle-shaped graphic organizer, Freytag’s Pyramid, students explore the basic literary element of plot. The graphic organizer helps students identify narrative structures that are familiar and compare those structures to those that authors use when composing a story.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=904

RLA.O.8.1.05

use pre-reading and comprehension strategies (e.g., generating questions and previewing, activating and evaluating prior knowledge and scanning or skimming texts) to critically analyze and evaluate the composition of literary and informational texts for making judgments / hypothesizing / making complex or abstract summaries

Writing ABC Books to Enhance Reading Comprehension

Comprehension requires more than knowledge of the basic facts in a reading. Instead, readers need to actively in engage in their readings to move toward critical thinking. After reading a piece of literature in this lesson plan, students explore their text, searching for literary elements such as characters, setting, figures of speech, and themes, using the alphabet to organize their findings and publishing their work in ABC books, using the Alphabet Organizer Student Interactive.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=392

All America Reads: Reading Strategies with Lesson Plans

Reading strategies are divided into four categories (before reading, during reading, after reading, and vocabulary strategies. Each contains several lesson plans.

http://www.allamericareads.org/lessonplan/strategies.htm

Research Building Blocks: Skim, Scan, and Scroll

“Skim, Scan, and Scroll” is part of a Research Process and Application unit created with a School Library Media Specialist. The focus of this lesson is searching for information on the State of Illinois; however, it can be adapted to any state or other research topic.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=155

RLA.O.8.1.06

determine and interpret the elements of literature to construct meaning and recognize author’s purpose and/or reader’s purpose: theme / character / setting / internal conflict / rising and falling action / point of view / antagonist / protagonist / hero

Audience, Purpose, and Language Use in Electronic Messages

With the increasing popularity of e-mail and online instant messaging among today’s teens, a recognizable change has occurred in the language that students use in their writing. This lesson explores the language of electronic messages and how it affects other writing. Furthermore, it explores the freedom and creativity for using Internet abbreviations for specific purposes and examines the importance of a more formal style of writing based on audience.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=159

Plot Structure: A Literary Elements Mini-Lesson

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=904

Travel Brochures: Highlighting the Setting of a Story

When reading a text, readers are often transported to the places mentioned through words and descriptions. This lesson plan invites students to think about the details in the texts they have read and then create a travel brochure about the setting. Students learn more about the places mentioned in the text while researching the setting of their text.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=961

Writing ABC Books to Enhance Reading Comprehension

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=392

RLA.O.8.1.07

analyze and draw parallels between common themes across a variety of literature and information text (e.g., friendship, honesty, loyalty, survival)

Gangs Throughout Literature
Gang, team and group violence is portrayed in many pieces of literature. This web quest is designed to get students to study the actions of these groups and create conflict/resolution strategies to help prevent future violence.

http://questgarden.com/51/74/3/070524161336/

Literature Themes: Survival

These sites are about survival during natural disasters and in other dangerous situations. Find out which books for teenagers deal with a survival theme. There are links to eTheme resources on other survival literature and natural disasters.

http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001643.shtml

RLA.O.8.1.08

recognize connections

among ideas in literary and

informational text (e.g.

text to self, text-to-text, text

to world connection) and

recognize that global

awareness promotes

understanding, tolerance,

and acceptance of ethnic,

cultural, religious and

personal differences

Proverbs: An Introduction

Out of the frying pan and into the fire! A stitch in time saves nine! Look before you leap! In this lesson, students will be introduced to the concept of proverbs and explore how proverbs such as these, meant to convey cultural knowledge and wisdom, are often closely tied to a culture’s values and everyday experience, although their meanings are not always readily apparent to us today.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=184

Investigating Names to Explore Personal History and Cultural Traditions

In this lesson, students investigate the meanings and origins of their own names in order to establish their own personal histories and to explore cultural significance of naming traditions. After Internet research and interviews with family or community members, students write about their own names, using a passage from Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street as a model.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=878

Lesson of Self-Discovery and Peer Introduction

Students will hone research skills while using the World Wide Web, almanacs, Reader’s Guide, and other reference books to research topics that center on their birth date and personal interests. Each student will create a personal Microsoft PowerPoint presentation that will promote not only self-discovery, but also will serve as his or her introduction to the class members. This activity will help to create a learning community where each student is valued as a unique individual.

http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/classroom/lplan_view.asp?articleID=46

RLA.O.8.1.09

summarize explicit and implied information from literary and informational texts to recognize the relationships among the facts, ideas, events and concepts (e.g., names, dates, events, organizational patterns, graphical representations as found in photographs, captions, maps, tables or timelines, textual features including table of contents, headings or side bars)

Timelines and Texts: Motivating Students to Read Nonfiction

Using an historical timeline and their prior knowledge of events, students predict when specific inventions were produced. After sharing their predictions in pairs/trios, they revise their timelines for accuracy, using Web resources. Through discussion, they consider the connections between historical events and when inventions were created.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=319

Travel Brochures: Highlighting the Setting of a Story

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=961

Teaching Language Skills Using the Phone Book

What literacy skills are needed to use a phone book? Through multiple activities built around an everyday text, students will not only learn how the book is arranged, but what the contents are and also how it is used. In the process, students will be using their research and organizational skills to build their own class phone book.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=18

RLA.O.8.1.10

evaluate the effect of figurative language in text

Proverbs: An Introduction

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=184

FunBrain: Idioms

Idioms add color to language. At this website, students help FunBrain.com's grand master, Salvabear Dali, finish his paintings by identifying the correct expression.

http://www.funbrain.com/idioms/index.html

(Can be projected on interactive whiteboard for whole class instruction)

QUIA: Figurative Language Jeopardy

A two player interactive game where students identify the different types of figurative language.

http://www.quia.com/cb/125762.html

RLA.O.8.1.11

read, compare and interpret types of poetry (e.g., narrative poems, ballads, lyric, epic) and interpret elements (e.g., lines, stanzas, rhythm, meter or rhyme) to derive meaning of poetry

Robert Frost Prompts the Poet in You

After an introduction to three Robert Frost poems, students co-create a poetry prompt. They then use the poetry prompt to write their own poems in the spirit of Frost's poetry.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=859

Found Poems/Parallel Poems

Students compose found and parallel poems based on a descriptive passage they have chosen from a piece of literature they are reading.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=33

Painting Poetry: Using Visual Representation as a Response to Literature

This lesson has students read the poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams and respond to the poem's language by creating mixed-media visual representations of its imagery. Students then explain their interpretations in writing and compare them with those of their peers.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=780

Academy of American Poets

Website offers a database of poetry, definitions of various types of poems, and examples.

http://www.poets.org/

RLA.O.8.1.12

identify literary technique used to interpret literature: irony, satire, persuasive language, analogies

Sadlier-Oxford Student Activity Center

An Analogy Challenge game in which student try to complete the analogies in a race against time.

http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/phonics/analogies/analogiesx.htm

Flash Quizzes for English Study

A 34-question interactive analogy game. Students type in completions to the given analogy.

http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz67fck.htm

RLA.O.8.1.13

use examples and details in practical texts to make inferences and logical predications about outcomes of procedures in such texts

Teaching Tips: Inference

These websites are about the importance of inference while reading and how to teach students inference skills. There are activity ideas, lesson plans, and graphic organizers. Some lesson plans are about using inference during the scientific process. There are links to eThemes on inference for elementary school students and inference for middle school students.

http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001679.shtml

CyberSmart! Imagining the Future

Students are presented with emerging computer and Internet technologies, and predict how such changes might directly affect the lives of kids in the future.

http://www.cybersmartcurriculum.org/lesson_plans/45_22.asp

Timelines and Texts: Motivating Students to Read Nonfiction

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=319

RLA.O.8.1.14

critique the usefulness of the form and content of practical texts and judge the importance of certain steps and procedures in such texts

Our Classroom: Writing an Owner’s Manual

The first few weeks of school are all about creating rules, establishing routines, and becoming familiar with the classroom. Engaging students in activities that help them get to know their classroom can make the transition easier while at the same time providing students with a sense of ownership. In this lesson, students write an owner’s manual to help them become more familiar with their classroom as well as to let others know about their classroom.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=862

(Can be adapted to middle grades)

Applications and Interviews

Students practice completing a job application and participate in a mock interview.

http://content.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplan.jsp?id=177

RLA.O.8.1.15

increase amount of independent reading and select appropriate graphic organizers (e.g., diagrams, flow charts, story maps, outlines, concept maps, tables, reading guides) to analyze relationships among more complex ideas generated while reading

Developing Reading Plans to Support Independent Reading

Students identify books they have read recently and look for patterns connecting those that they enjoyed the most. Once they've analyzed their past readings, students complete a reading plan, a simple wish list of books they hope to read in the future, based on their preferences in the past. The finished list becomes another supporting resource to guide independent readers.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=836

Education Place: Graphic Organizers

This site contains over 35 graphic organizers in PDF format. All can be used on a mnemonic board for whole class instruction and printed off for independent work. Organizers contain student directions.

http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/index.html

Scaffolding Comprehension Strategies Using Graphic Organizers

To facilitate comprehension during and after reading, students apply four reading strategies: preview, click and clunk, get the gist, and wrap-up. Graphic organizers areused for scaffolding of these strategies while students work together in cooperative groups.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=95

RLA.O.8.2.01

use notes to create an outline for developing a written and/or oral presentation noting the inclusion of computer graphics

ReadWriteThink’s Notetaker Program
Useful for a wide variety of reading and writing activities, this interactive outlining tool allows students to organize up to five levels of information, choosing bullets, Roman numerals, or letters.

http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=55

Includes numerous lesson plans

ReadWriteThink’s Essay Map Program
The Essay Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to organize and outline their ideas for an informational, definitional, or descriptive essay.

http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=63

Includes numerous lesson plans

Lesson of Self-Discovery and Peer Introduction

http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/classroom/lplan_view.asp?articleID=46

RLA.O.8.2.02

analyze how analogies, illustrations, examples, and anecdotes are used to enhance oral and written communication (e.g., letters, poems, brief reports, descriptions, extended texts, illustrations)

Using E-Mail to Develop Letter-Writing Skills for the 21st Century

This unit of study promotes letter writing as a life-long interactive process that allows students to communicate with a variety of audiences and for a variety of purposes. The unit also provides practice in adapting appropriate language conventions according to context. Even though the initial lessons focus on writing the standard friendly and business letters, the main emphases will be on incorporating the student’s knowledge of letter writing with using e-mail as a viable and necessary form of communication in the 21st century.

http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/classroom/lplan_view.asp?articleID=19

Painting Poetry: Using Visual Representation as a Response to Literature

This lesson has students read the poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams and respond to the poem's language by creating mixed-media visual representations of its imagery. Students then explain their interpretations in writing and compare them with those of their peers.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=780

Lesson of Self-Discovery and Peer Introduction

http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/classroom/lplan_view.asp?articleID=46

Introducing Each Other: Interviews, Memoirs, Photos, and Internet Research

Students read, write, speak, listen, and research as they interview a partner and write an article, write a personal memoir, take partner photographs, and use the Internet to find pictures and information illustrating their partners’ interests. Results are shared in the form of a poster and a classroom presentation.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=17

Art as Storyteller

By reading biographies and picture books about famous artists and carefully examining their work, students learn to “read” the story communicated in a painting.

http://www.rif.org/art/educators.mspx

(Scroll down to Grades 6-8 to locate the plan)

RLA.O.8.2.03

use pre-writing, editing and revision techniques (e.g., read, draft aloud, peer feedback or a provided rubric) to vary sentence length, change sentence order, eliminate organizational errors, and use vivid and concise words to create a personal style or voice while clarifying and enhancing the central idea

Once Upon a Fairy Tale: Teaching Revision as a Concept

Students sometimes have trouble understanding the difference between the global issues of revision and the local ones of editing. In this lesson, students use fractured fairy tales to enhance understanding and then practice revision and editing as separate activities when they write their own versions of other fairy tales.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=971

Found Poems/Parallel Poems

Students compose found and parallel poems based on a descriptive passage they have chosen from a piece of literature they are reading.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=33

Using E-Mail to Develop Letter-Writing Skills for the 21st Century

http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/classroom/lplan_view.asp?articleID=19

RLA.O.8.2.04

use the five-step writing process (pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, publishing) to develop a creative or reflective composition (e.g., reflect on an experience or time in the past, draw upon imagination) and identify areas for further research by making personal connections to self, to texts, and to the world to demonstrate that written communication is affected by choices writers make in language, tone and voice

http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=63

Includes numerous lesson plans

Writing Roadmap

Available for all schools, this website offers online practice for the state Writing Assessment. There is an extensive selection of writing prompts for Grades 3-12 covering four essay styles: Narrative, Informative/Expository, Descriptive, and Persuasive.

https://www.writingroadmap.com

(School technology coordinator has log-in information)

RLA.O.8.2.05

from a prompt use the five-step writing process to develop a focused composition that contains specific, relevant details, and vivid, precise words

The Bing, the Bang, and the Bongo—The Five-Paragraph Essay

In this lesson, the teacher uses a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation to introduce students to the organization technique for the five-paragraph essay known as "The Bing, the Bang, and the Bongo." The presentation, designed for beginning writers, focuses on the introduction, organization, summary, and transitions used to create a well-developed essay. The students will practice this technique by completing an essay template and will conclude by composing an original essay on a chosen topic.

http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/classroom/lplan_view.asp?articleID=171

RLA.O.8.2.06

recognize and write a simple thesis statement

Writing Roadmap

https://www.writingroadmap.com

(School technology coordinator has log-in information)

The Bing, the Bang, and the Bongo—The Five-Paragraph Essay

http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/classroom/lplan_view.asp?articleID=171

RLA.O.8.2.07

independently resolve information conflicts and validate information through assessing, researching and comparing data

Inquiry on the Internet: Evaluating Web Pages for a Class Collection

In this lesson plan, students explore a class inquiry project, collecting Web-based resources that can be used for further study during the course of the class or for more in-depth projects. Students use Internet search engines and Web analysis checklists and questions to find and evaluate online resources then write annotations that explain how and why the items they have found will be valuable to the class

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=328

Timelines and Texts: Motivating Students to Read Nonfiction

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=319

Lesson of Self-Discovery and Peer Introduction

http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/classroom/lplan_view.asp?articleID=46

Introducing Each Other: Interviews, Memoirs, Photos, and Internet Research

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=17

RLA.O.8.2.08

conduct research by gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing data from a variety of sources: Internet / databases for periodicals / newspapers / interviews / reference books / card catalogue / miscellaneous resource materials

Wading Through the Web: Teaching Internet Research Strategies

In this lesson, students view an interactive PowerPoint presentation that guides them through the process of research on the Internet. Students then discuss the various types of search engines, how to search for information on the Internet, and how to cite Internet sources.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=983

Critical Evaluation of a Web Page Lesson Plan

Lesson begins with technology-based whole class instruction. Students then evaluate the source and validity of the information found on a Web site.