This video is part of the Learn and Grow with WHRO TV series. Watch Alystra Barefoot teach about bravery and writing a narrative.

This video is part of the Learn and Grow with WHRO TV series. Watch Dr. Deborah Fuge teach about writing sentences on the topic of being brave.

A self-directed project aimed at getting students engaged with poetry on a variety of levels

This lesson is part of the Virginia K-12 Computer Science Pipeline which is partly funded through a GO Virginia grant in partnership with Chesapeake Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and the Loudoun Education Foundation.    During this lesson, students will use a computing device to write a letter. 

Students will be defending the main character’s hero or villain status by analyzing the author’s choices within a text to create an analysis essay. Students may have the option of selecting the text/author/main character/villain or hero and will have the option of selecting the author’s choices to analyze.** This performance assessment was developed by a collaborative team of teachers and division staff from Middlesex, Poquoson, and West Point school divisions.

This is a graphic organizer. The organizer has sentence stems to help students begin their sensory detail writing while visualizing being in a Haunted House.

A quick guide to note pages for self-monitoring reading, and a list of journal prompts to reflect on daily independent reading.

There are currently three million Indigenous people, from more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations, living in the United States. Since 1492 and the arrival of the first European explorers, Indigenous people's land has been violently seized, leading to a devastating decline in population and the striping away of key aspects of Indigenous culture. It is impossible to synthesize the diverse history and culture of Indigenous people into one unit, but it is important for students to understand that Indigenous people have been, and still are, an important part of our country's history and future. Therefore, this unit has a few focuses. The first focus is on providing students with an overarching understanding of Indigenous people and their history, using the book The People Shall Continue as a guide. After reading the text, students will participate in a guided research project to learn more about an Indigenous nation near where they live. The second part of the unit focuses on different Indigenous people who have worked hard and overcome hardships to create equal opportunities and experiences for Indigenous people today. After reading a few biographies as a class, students will research additional Indigenous heroes to learn more about their achievements, sacrifices, and passions. The goal of the second part of the unit is to shine a light on key Indigenous figures and emphasize the idea that Indigenous people have been and always will be an important part of our country.

In this unit, second graders learn about insects and the impact insects have on the natural world. Building on what students learned in Unit 1 about habitats, they will explore how different insects rely on the environment, or habitat in which they live, for survival. Through this exploration, students will learn the unique characteristics of insects, how insects can be both beneficial and destructive, and the stages of an insect's life cycle. By the end of the unit, students will have a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the beauty of the insect world.

This unit is comprised of predominantly shared reading experiences to help students practice different reading strategies and skills. Building on unit one, students will continue to be inquisitive, active consumers of texts by asking and answering questions, and they will continue to deepen their understanding of the role text features and illustrations play in helping a reader better understand the content of a text. Students will also begin to explore the connections between scientific ideas and concepts using cause-and-effect language and will continue to strengthen their habits of discussion as they debate and analyze key ideas of the unit.

The thinking strategy of I used to think...but now I think gives students an opportunity to reflect on how their thinking has changed over the course of time through instruction and experiences. This activity demonstrates a specific way that eighth-grade students can reflect upon their middle school career. This could also work for students at the end of a course, semester, or year.

This activity is inspired by by "The Pocket Instructor, Literature: 101 Exercises for the College Classroom" edited by Diana Fuss and William A. Gleason. In this lesson, students listen to multiple readings of Elizabeth Bishop's, "One Art." As a whole class, we conduct a line-by-line analysis of the poem in order to introduce and understand poetry analysis skills. The lesson culminates with a whole-class and individual reflection. An optional written analysis extension task is also provided.

In this unit students meet Joey Pigza, a loving boy with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in the core text Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key. The novel, written in Joey's point of view, gives readers a glimpse into Joey's mind and shows what the life of a child with ADHD can be like. The novel is heartbreaking at times and vividly shows how much of a struggle it is for someone with ADHD to behave and do the right thing when they cannot get their body to listen. Over the course of the novel, students see firsthand how having ADHD not only influences the way Joey feels about himself but also the way that others interact with him, both positively and negatively. It is our hope that this unit will begin to raise awareness and understanding of ADHD and how to cope with it, both in and out of the classroom. It is also our hope that this unit will begin to humanize things that are hurtful and help in continuing to strengthen our students' understanding of empathy and the importance of being empathetic towards others. It is important to note that this book is fictional and told by an often-unreliable narrator. Therefore, in order to ensure that students get the correct impression and understanding of ADHD, special education, and the role of medication, discussions will need to be included throughout the entire unit that challenge and elaborate on what Joey shares in the text. Without these conversations, students could leave the unit with misunderstandings that could potentially reinforce the stereotypes and stigma assigned to people with ADHD and other disorders.

This novel allows students to genuinely connect with a character and fully immerse themselves in the mind of a character. Therefore, the main focus of this unit is on deeply understanding character, character relationships, and how relationships can both positively and negatively impact the way a character views himself or herself. The author, Jack Gantos, includes a lot of incredibly powerful descriptive and figurative language to help readers connect with Joey. Therefore, another focus of this unit is on analyzing the author's use of figurative language and description, and noticing how it deepens a reader's understanding of characters and plot.

In this unit students learn about making mistakes, honesty, and the power of forgiveness by reading the core texts Freckle Juice and Keena Ford and the Second-Grade Mix-Up. In Freckle Juice, students explore what peer pressure is and the ways in which people can influence the decisions that we make. In Keena Ford and the Second-Grade Mix-Up, students explore what it means to be honest, especially when it may seem difficult to tell the truth. Students will also explore the value of friendship and how jealousy can sometimes come between friends. Andrew in Freckle Juice and Keena Ford are both highly relatable characters who are struggling with issues that are common in second grade. Therefore, these books will give students a chance to grapple with and explore the nuances of peer pressure, honesty, friendship, and jealously in a non-threatening way.

For readers, this unit begins the transition from early chapter books that have an equal balance of words and pictures into chapter books where the picture support is removed. Therefore, over the course of the unit students will work on using the strategies they have learned to help build stamina in order to read longer texts. Besides building stamina, there are a few main focuses of the unit. One is on deeply understanding characters, including character motivations, perspectives, and relationships. Keena Ford shares lots of insight into how and why she does the things that she does, which will make it easier for students to internalize what it means to notice and track character over the course of a longer text. Another focus is on holding onto the plot across multiple chapters. This is the third chapter book that students will be reading, but the plot of this text is slightly more nuanced. Finally, students should continue to work on using context to figure out the meaning of unknown words and using the illustrations to deepen their understanding of the text.

As writers, students will continue to work on writing strong, focused text-based answers in response to the text. In this unit students will be pushed to include inferential and critical thinking to support their answers. They will also begin to use transition words as a way to support organizational structure and evidence. All grammar Focus Correction Areas in this unit are a review; therefore, students should be receiving weekly individualized feedback.

Author: Brandon Thompson, VBCPSStudents will listen carefully to sounds and then try to identify which letter or letters would create that sound. They will write the letters down and then put the letters together to make multiple words.  Finally, they will have put a whole sentence together!This is one in a collection of podcasts created by Virginia Beach City Public School teachers and students that focus on active learning for PreK-2 students.

This spreadsheet has links to audio files and lesson plans for the Kinetic Scholar lessons developed as part of the Active Learning grant our school division was awarded. Many are student voiced and all involve some sort of audio lesson paired with movement. We encourage teachers to take students outside to listen and move around with these lessons when possible to increase circulation, get some fresh air, and enjoy our beautiful campuses.

In this lesson, students examine the poetry of Amanda Gorman, who was chosen to read her poem “The Hill We Climb” at President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021. Gorman’s poem will complement Biden’s message and themes of “unity.”