Category Archives: English/ Language Arts

Venn Diagram: ELA Lesson 6

📖Standard

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.3 Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.

⏰LESSON TIME

45 minutes including game play

📲TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED

A device with a web-browser – PC, Mac or Chromebook – or phone or tablet.

📃Summary

This is the sixth in a 10-unit English/ Language Arts unit centered around a visit to their grandmother that integrates English/ Language Arts and indigenous history. Grandma and her grandchild disagree on their favorite president. After completing a question on the Venn diagram comparing the two presidents, students create their own Venn diagram comparing the two Making Camp games they have played.

📚Lesson Plan

1. Introduce the Lesson

Use the Google slides presentation to introduce the lesson. This presentation also explains Venn diagrams and directly teaches the vocabulary words, “set”, “union” and “intersection in the context of Venn diagrams.

1a. Students complete assignment using Venn Diagram

After learning about Venn diagrams, students use the diagram included in the presentation to answer questions on similarities and differences between the two presidents. The Venn diagram assignment is linked in the Google slides presentation. You can also find it here.

The answer key for the Venn diagram assignment is here.

2. Students create their own Venn diagram

In this assignment, also included in the Google slides presentation, with example, students create a Venn diagram of the two games they have played, Making Camp Premium and Making Camp Lakota.

3. Making Camp Premium and Making Camp Lakota

Students may wish to play the two games to complete the assignment above.

Related lessons

The previous lesson in this unit is Vocabulary in the Attic.

The next lesson in this unit is Author’s Purpose.

ASSESSMENT

This lesson plan includes three formative assessments. First, the students complete an assignment using a Venn diagram. Second, students create their own Venn diagram. Third, students complete activities in Making Camp Premium or Making Camp Lakota which are recorded and scored automatically.

You can view your students’ progress on mastering this standard by viewing your Making Camp Premium Teacher Reports. You can view the Making Camp Premium reports here.

Vocabulary in the attic: ELA Lesson 5

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📖Standard

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.4. Consult digital reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses) to find the pronunciation and determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.

⏰LESSON TIME

25 -30 minutes including game play

📲TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED

A device with a web-browser – PC, Mac or Chromebook – or phone or tablet.

📃Summary

This is the fifth in a 10-unit English/ Language Arts unit centered around a visit to their grandmother that integrates English/ Language Arts and indigenous history. Now at Grandma’s house, the student finds pages torn out of an old dictionary. After using the page to complete a quiz, the student plays a game to teach or reinforce vocabulary.

📚Lesson Plan

1. Introduce the Lesson

This Google slide presentation introduces the lesson. The grandchild finds a page from a dictionary in the attic. Read the definitions and answer the questions. After finishing the assignments, students will play a game.

1a. Students complete assignment

Dictionary page and questions are linked in Google slides presentation and can also be found here. These can be included in an assignment in Google classroom or printed and distributed to students in class.

Answer key for the questions can be found here.

2. Play the game Making Camp Premium

Making Camp Premium has 18 options for teaching English/Language Arts at the third through fifth-grade level. First, students should watch the idioms video (click on the pot on the fire in the top left of the first screen) and the synonyms video (microscope on bottom left).

For this lesson, we also recommend the food idioms and synonyms activities, which can be found in the middle of the second page in the WORDS section, with the icons with a cake and eggs, as shown above.

NOTE: This is not the same game played in Lesson 3.

Related lessons

The previous lesson in this unit is the Fireball Wand.

The next lesson in this unit is Venn diagrams.

ASSESSMENT: Making Camp Premium Teacher Reports

You can view your students’ progress on mastering this standard by viewing your Making Camp Premium Teacher Reports. You can view the Making Camp Premium reports here.

Fireball Wand: ELA lesson 4

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📖Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2 Determine a story’s theme from text details, such as how characters respond to challenges; summarize the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.5.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.5.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

⏰LESSON TIME

10-20 minutes

📲TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED

None required if learning in the classroom. Copies of assignment can be printed and distributed to students. A device with a web-browser – PC, Mac or Chromebook – or phone or tablet if completed on line.

📃Summary

This short lesson is the fourth in a 10-unit English/ Language Arts unit centered around a visit to their grandmother that integrates English/ Language Arts and indigenous history. Once at grandmother’s house, she tells a story about a wizard who created a fireball wand. The student reads the page, answers a quiz. This lesson may be linked with “Vocabulary in the attic” for a full class period lesson.

📚Lesson Plan

1. Introduce the Lesson

Introducing the Lesson using the attached Google slide presentation should only take 3-5 minutes, including any time for questions.

1a Students complete reading and quiz

You can link directly to the Fireball Wand reading and quiz here in your Google classroom assignment, or print copies for students to read in class.

You can find the answer key for the quiz here.

Recommended resource: This activity uses a reading passage The Fireball Wand from the Have Fun Teaching site. While the site charges a monthly fee, there is also a free starter account teachers can sign up for sample activities.

Related lessons

The previous lesson in this unit is

The next lesson in this unit is Vocabulary in the Attic, where students use a page from the dictionary to answer questions and play a game that teaches about synonyms and idioms.

The previous game in this unit is Dakota Boyhood, where students read a passage, answer questions to check reading comprehension, and play a game that teaches Lakota history.

Assessment

The quiz, linked above, serves as an assessment of students’ mastery of the standards referenced.

Dakota Boyhood: ELA Lesson 3

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📖STANDARDS

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1
Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.2
Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.5.4
Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

⏰LESSON TIME

45 minutes

📲TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED

A device with a web-browser – PC, Mac or Chromebook – or phone or tablet.

📃Summary

This is the third in a 10-unit English/ Language Arts unit centered around a visit to their grandmother that integrates English/ Language Arts and indigenous history. On the way to grandmother’s house, the student comes across an excerpt from the book, Indian Boyhood. The student reads the page, answers a quiz and then plays Making Camp Lakota to learn more about the Plains tribes.

📚Lesson Plan

1. Introduce the Lesson

This Google slides presentation introduces the lesson. The grandchild is walking to through the woods and comes across a note, which happens to be a page from the book Indian Boyhood, by Charles Eastman, a member of the Santee Dakota, who wrote a book about growing up in the 1850s in Minnesota. The link to the passage is in the slides presentation, so you can open the presentation, read the slides to your students and then assign the reading on Google classroom. TThis presentation can be used in the classroom, in a web meeting or done individually by students at home.

1a. Assign students to read the passage and answer the quiz

The link to the passage and the quiz is in the Google slides presentation or you can access it directly here.

The answer key for the quiz, along with the lines in the passage highlighted, can be found here.

2. Play the game Making Camp Lakota

There are 7 options in Making Camp Lakota for learning more about Lakota life

In the game Making Camp Lakota, select the LIFE option and then select any two of the activities to teach about Lakota life before the Europeans came to America.

Related lessons

A visit to grandmother, ELA lesson 2, comes before this lesson in the unit and is recommended.

ASSESSMENT: Making Camp Premium Teacher Reports

You can view your students’ progress on mastering this standard by viewing your Making Camp Premium Teacher Reports. You can view the Making Camp Premium reports here.

STATE STANDARDS

This lesson addresses the following MISSOURI state standards
Reading 1A (5.R.1.A.c) – Develop and apply skills to the reading process. -Develop and demonstrate reading skills in response to text by monitoring comprehension and making corrections and adjustments when understanding breaks down
Reading Foundations 3A (5.RF.3.A.a-b) – Understand how English is written and read. -Develop phonics in the reading process by those tasks described in a-b.
Speaking/Listening 1A (5.SL.1.A.a-d) – Listen for a purpose. -Purpose – Develop and apply effective listening skills and strategies in formal and informal settings by following SL.1.A. a-d.

Visiting Grandma: ELA Lesson 2

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📖Grade 5 Standards Addressed

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.1.A Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

⏰LESSON TIME

45 minutes

📲TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED

A device with a web-browser – PC, Mac or Chromebook – or phone or tablet

📃Summary

This is the second in a 10-unit English/ Language Arts unit centered around a visit to their grandmother. Students organize a letter responding to the grandmother. The lesson ends with playing the words sections of Making Camp Premium.

📚Lesson Plan

1. Introduce the Lesson

This Google slides presentation introduces the unit. Students are given a letter to their grandmother read and correct. The link to the letter is in the slides presentation, so you can open the presentation, read it to your students and then assign it on Google classroom. The presentation includes links to sound files to read the slides and letter to students to accommodate individual students. This presentation can be used in the classroom, in a web meeting or done individually by students at home.

1a. Assign reading letter and correcting errors

The letter from you (the grandchild) is linked in the Google slide presentation. You can also find the link here.

The teacher answer key for the grandchild’s letter can be found here.

2. Play Making Camp Premium

Finish the lesson by playing any selections from the WORDS section of Making Camp Premium

4 Choices - Numbers Life Random Words — Select WORDS at bottom right

A Dakota boyhood is the lesson that is recommended to follow in this ELA unit.

ASSESSMENT: Making Camp Premium Teacher Reports

You can view your students’ progress on mastering this standard by viewing your Making Camp Premium Teacher Reports. You can view the Making Camp Premium reports here.

Visiting Grandma: ELA Lesson 1

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This Common Core-aligned English/ Language Arts unit, combines ELA and indigenous history as your students follow in the footsteps of the grandchild on their visit to grandmother’s house.

In this first lesson, students receive a letter from grandmother.

📖Standard

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6
Describe how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1
Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.2
Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.5.4
Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

⏰LESSON TIME

45 minutes

📲TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED

A device with a web-browser – PC, Mac or Chromebook – or phone or tablet

📃Summary

Students will be introduced to a 10-unit English/ Language Arts unit centered around a visit to their grandmother. In this first lesson, students receive and correct the grammar and spelling in their grandmother’s letter. The lesson ends with playing misspelled words and grammar sections of Making Camp Premium.

📚Lesson Plan

1. Introduce the Unit

This Google slides presentation introduces the unit. Students are given a letter to read and correct. The link to the letter is in the slides presentation, so you can open the presentation, read it to your students and then assign it on Google classroom. The presentation includes links to sound files to read the slides and letter to students to accommodate individual students. This presentation can be used in the classroom, in a web meeting or done individually by students at home.

1a. Assign reading letter and correcting errors

The letter is linked in the Google slide presentation. You can also find the link here.

The teacher answer key for the letter can be found here.

2. Play Making Camp Premium

Go to Making Camp Premium. Select WORDS and then go to the third screen.

Bottom left is misspelled words. Top right is grammar.

Play the game on the bottom left to practice spelling. The box on the top right will practice grammar. An example is shown below of a response after the student has answered correctly.

RELATED LESSON

The next lesson in this unit, letter to grandmother, focuses on organization in writing.

ASSESSMENT: Making Camp Premium Teacher Reports

You can view your students’ progress on mastering this standard by viewing your Making Camp Premium Teacher Reports. You can view the Making Camp Premium reports here.

State Standards

Missouri Learning Standards (MLS)

Writing 1C (5.W.1.C.a-b) – Apply a writing process to develop a text for audience and purpose.

-Revise/Edit – Reread, revise, and edit drafts with assistance to do a variety of tasks as stated in a-b.

Language 1A (5.L.1.A.a-e) – Communicate using conventions of the English language.

-Grammar – In speech and written form, apply standard English grammar for a variety of reasons as stated in L.1.A. a-e.

Speaking/Listening 1A (5.SL.1.A.a-d) – Listen for a purpose.

-Purpose – Develop and apply effective listening skills and strategies in formal and informal settings by following SL.1.A. a-d.

Introducing Idioms

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📖STANDARDS:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.5.B Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.5.5.B Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.

[For state-specific standards, click here.]

⏰LESSON TIME

45 minutes

📲TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED

A device with a web-browser – PC, Mac or Chromebook – or phone or tablet

📃SUMMARY

This lesson plan helps students recognize and understand idioms and what they are through different examples. Students will be able to understand the meaning of common idioms through an instructive video, idiom book activity, and Making Camp Premium gameplay.

📚Lesson Plan

1. VIDEO: Idioms

Start your lesson with this video that covers the meaning of idioms and understanding common idioms through different examples.

2. Have your students make their own idiom book.

What you’ll need:

Paper
Pencils
Coloring materials (colored pencils, markers, crayons)
A list of idioms – Click here for a list of idioms at the bottom of this lesson plan.

You can go about this in different ways. You can have students pick their favorite idioms. You can assign different idioms to different students. You can assign all students the same idiom. Or you can make it more like a game and random by having students draw out idioms.

Once students have their idioms, have them write the idiom and what it actually means (this reinforces the memorization of the idiom’s meaning). Then have kids draw pictures as to what the idiom suggests. Students can then share their drawings with the class and see what fun ensues as they share their drawing and explain their idiom.

3. GAME: Making Camp Premium

Have students play Making Camp Premium for 20 minutes. Students should focus on the WORDS section of Making Camp Premium and especially the idioms activity (the first box in the Words section) in order to reinforce the understanding of idioms. You can access Making Camp Premium on Mac, Windows, Chromebook, and iPad on the Games page of the Growing Math site.

Choices screen from Making Camp Premium - Watch movies. Answer questions. Earn points.

ASSESSMENT: Making Camp Premium Teacher Reports

You can view your students’ progress on mastering this standard by viewing your Making Camp Premium Teacher Reports. You can view the Making Camp Premium reports here.

STATE STANDARDS

Arizona (AZ), New Mexico (NM), North Dakota (ND), South Dakota (SD), Minnesota (MN) and Oregon (OR) have all adopted the English Language Arts standards covered in the Common Core Standards.

________________________

List of Idioms & Meaning

Idiom	Meaning
Cool as a cucumber.	To be calm and relaxed.
Going bananas!	To go crazy; to get very excited or angry.
It costs an arm and a leg.	To be very expensive.
Bite your tongue.	To not say something that you want to say.
On thin ice.	Being in a risky situation, usually one where you might upset someone.
Hit the books.	To study.
In hot water.	To be in a difficult situation, in trouble.
Smells fishy.	Doesn’t seem quite right.
It’s a piece of cake.	To be very easy.
Under the weather.	To be sick; not feeling well.
Raining cats and dogs.	To be raining very hard.
More than you can shake a stick at.	A great number; very many.
Drive up the wall.	To become frustrated or annoyed by something.
Break a leg!	Good luck!
On cloud nine.	To be very happy.
Time is money.	Work quickly.
That ship has sailed.	It’s too late.
Like two peas in a pod.	Always together.
Fit as a fiddle.	In good shape.
On the fence.	To be indecisive.

Division and English/ Language Arts

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📖 Standards

CCSS Standard:
Find whole-number quotients and remainders with up to four-digit dividends and one-digit divisors, using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division. Illustrate and explain the calculation by using equations, rectangular arrays, and/or area models.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

⏰ Time

40-45 minutes

📲 Technology Required

Making Camp Premium plays in any browser, so, of course, on Chromebooks. It can also be downloaded on phones or tablets and played offline by students who have limited Internet access. Schools that are part of the Growing Math project or who have a 7 Generation Games site license have access to the game for students to use at home or school.

📃 Summary

This is a fun lesson where students practice division, combined with Ojibwe history and then complete a creative writing assignment.

📚 Lesson Plan

1. Game Play with Making Camp

Open Making Camp. Go to the main choices screen by clicking on the small green icon with boxes at the lower left of the screen.
Click NUMBERS.
Click the box with the numbers to practice division.

Click the numbers box for division practice.

Each correct quotient earns a fridge magnet to decorate the fridge!

Students should play until they earn at least 15 points.

2. Spend the points earned and learn about Ojibwe history

One of the best teachers we know said, “History is more than names and dates. It’s how people lived. It’s the things they used.” When trading for a wigwam, students will watch videos on how to build a wigwam and on trading. They’ll learn that tribes traded with one another for hundreds of years.

3. Short story writing prompt

So how did we get from a refrigerator to a wigwam? You can use this Google slides presentation to tie in Native American history with Sam’s life in the twenty-first century. This presentation can also be added to your Google classroom as an assignment for students. Here is the introduction for Sam and his account:

This is Sam. He’s also Ojibwe but he’s not from a long time ago. He’s 16 years old. He lives on a reservation in the northern United States. You’ve probably heard of it. He doesn’t live in a wigwam. He lives in a white house with a grey roof. That’s the refrigerator in his house. The magnets have been there ever since he was in second grade.

4. Writing assignment

Read about Sam and write a story about him. What do you think happened to him in second grade? Why does everyone except for his cousin, Angie, think he’s not smart? Do you think he and Angie can really walk to Maine?

Assessment

Math problems in Making Camp Premium are scored automatically. You can see how many students attempted and the number correct in the data reports. All Growing Math teachers and all schools with 7 Generation Game licenses receive access to these reports. Writing assignments can be assessed according to the teacher’s own rubric.

State Standards

Minnesota Math Standard 4.1.1.6 – Use strategies and algorithms based on knowledge of place value, equality and properties of operations to divide multi-digit whole numbers by one- or two-digit numbers. Strategies may include mental strategies, partial quotients, the commutative, associative, and distributive properties and repeated subtraction.

Minnesota Math Standard 5.1.1.1 – Divide multi-digit numbers, using efficient and generalizable procedures, based on knowledge of place value, including standard algorithms. Recognize that quotients can be represented in a variety of ways, including a whole number with a remainder, a fraction or mixed number, or a decimal.

Science, language arts and math with wildflowers

📖 STANDARDS

English/ Language Arts

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.7 Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.

Next Generation Science Standard

MS-LS2-1 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.

Mathematics Standard

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.A.3 Recognize that a measure of center for a numerical data set summarizes all of its values with a single number.

📲 Technology required

Optionally, the teacher will have access to a printer to print pages 2-3 of the book and selected pages to color. Since choke cherry and Simpson’s Ball Cactus are mentioned in the problems, it is recommended that, at a minimum, these pages should be printed. Alternatively, the link can be shared to students who are learning from home to read material on their computer.

📃 Summary

This is a true STREAM lesson. Combining science, reading, art and mathematics. Students read a description of the pine forest ecosystem and life zones. They define any new words in their personal dictionary. Students then use information on plant life to identify life zones and locate these zones in terms of altitude. Students who complete the activity before the allotted class time play a game that teaches fractions and basic statistics.

⏰ Time Required

50 minutes

📚 Lesson Plan

Read pages two and three of Wildflowers of Ponderosa Pine Forests Coloring Book – These pages explain the pine forest ecosystem, including an illustration of Life Zones.

Complete word journal

Some teachers call it a personal dictionary, to others it’s a word journal. Regardless, the goal is the same, for students to record new words, give a dictionary definition and “make the word their own”. This can be done by rewriting the definition in their own words, using the word in a sentence or including an illustration of the word.

Two dictionary sites to recommend for definitions are below. An added bonus to mention to students is that they can hear words pronounced.

Since students often ask for an example, here is an example you can link in your lesson.

The personal dictionary assignment, with all links, can be found here. Feel free to copy and paste into your Google classroom or other site, or print out for your class.

Use Life Zones to Solve Problems

Angie and Sam are on their way to Michigan but they have gotten so, so lost! They are somewhere in Colorado. Sam has sent Angie this text:

Hey, Angie! I can’t see you anywhere. All I can see are trees, a whole lot of trees, and if I look up the mountain, I see even more trees, closer together. I recognize this plant with red berries. Grandma called it choke cherry. Where are you? How can I meet you? Should I go up or down?

Angie texts him back,

There aren’t that many trees around me, but there are some of these round cactus plants. We are definitely not in Michigan!

Use the information on life zones to answer these questions. (Hint: You may have to look on the plant pages as well.)

In which of the five life zones is Sam right now? How do you know?
In which of the five life zones is Angie right now? How do you know?
Should Sam go up the mountain or down the mountain to meet up with Angie? Why?

Click here for the life zone assignment as a Google doc.

BONUS 1: Game Play

You might recognize Sam and Angie from the game, Forgotten Trail, where they try to retrace their ancestors’ journey across the U.S. and Canada. If you finish this assignment and your personal dictionary before class time is over, play Forgotten Trail here.

BONUS 2: Art

As an alternate bonus activity, students may color the pictures in the book according to the legend included. This would require that the teacher print pages for students. Since choke cherry and Simpson’s Ball Cactus are mentioned in the problems, it is recommended that, at a minimum, these pages should be printed.

Assessment

Recommended rubric for the Personal Dictionary is as follows:

This assignment is worth 100 points. A minimum of ten words is required. You can include up to two extra words for an additional 20 points.

Each word is worth 10 points.

Dictionary definition – 3 points
Definition in your own words – 5 points
Use in a sentence or draw a picture – 2 points

Assessment for Forgotten Trail math problems

Problems are scored automatically within the game. Teachers who are part of the Growing Math project or with 7 Generation Games site license can access student data from the Reports page.