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Ask the Presidents Grade Level: 3-6
Story Preview: Penny shows her lack of understanding of and knowledge about the presidency when she e-mails to her teacher a joke about the president. Her teacher's reaction spurs Penny to go online to learn more about what a president does. There, she discovers a Web site at which former presidents chat about their accomplishments, and learns what those men consider to be the important qualities of a president.
Roles: Narrator, Penny, Ms. Abbington (teacher), I_Like_Ike (Dwight Eisenhower), Honest_Abe (Abraham Lincoln), Gentleman_Farmer (George Washington), Monty_Cello (Thomas Jefferson), New_Deal (Franklin D. Roosevelt), Pillbox_Hat (Jacqueline Kennedy), PT_Boat_Commander (John F. Kennedy), Great_Communicator (Ronald Reagan)
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Setting: present day, school and home
Theme: Presidents' Day
Vocabulary:
- dud: failure or misfit
- secede: withdraw from a group
- Confederacy: union of persons, parties, or states
- morals: values or beliefs
- virtues: good or admirable qualities
- executive branch: the branch of the U.S. government responsible for carrying out the laws; includes the President, Vice President, Cabinet members, and heads of some agencies.
- legacy: something received from a predecessor
- promote: contribute to the growth of
Props: none required
Follow-Up Questions:
- What are the full names of the presidents in the script?
- What is the full name of each of those president's first ladies?
- What branch of the U.S. government is the Supreme Court part of?
- What is the Declaration of Independence?
- Which presidents gave their lives for their office?
- Which president do you think had the most difficult term of office? Why?
- Do you agree that "courage, commitment, and communication" are the most important qualities of a President?
- Do you think Penny only dreamed about the chat room? Why or why not?
Follow-Up Activity:
Separate students into small groups and ask each group to research a president in this script: I_Like_Ike (Dwight Eisenhower); Honest_Abe (Abraham Lincoln); Gentleman_Farmer (George Washington); Monty_Cello (Thomas Jefferson); New_Deal (Franklin D. Roosevelt); Pillbox_Hat (Jacqueline Kennedy) and PT_Boat_Commander (John F. Kennedy); or Great_Communicator (Ronald Reagan). Have students look for information that explains the alias used by each speaker and comments he or she makes. (For example, why does John F. Kennedy call himself PT_Boat_Commander and the "man who accompanied Pillbox Hat to this chat"?) Next, have students create a profile for the speakers that includes the years that each president served, place of birth, and other key facts. Reconvene to share their findings as a class and put the presidents on a timeline based on the events they discuss and their years in office.
Click here for a printable script.
Article by Cara Bafile
Education World®
Copyright © 2006 Education World
02/10/2006
Updated 01/20/2010
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Hot Diggity Dog
Build grammar skills using this activity and answer key for an article about one of America's favorite foods, the hot dog!
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Activity Key
Uncorrected Text
Did you now that July is national Hot Dog Month. The average American eat 70 hot dogs each year. New York City is the hot dog “capital.” More then 105 million dogs was sold there in 2004. Mustard is the topping of choice among people who are more than 35 years old, but most younger eators prefer ketchup. Some people even like they’re hot dogs served in ice cream! The largest hotdog ever made was 1,996 feet long
Answer Key
Did you know that July is National Hot Dog Month? The average American eats 70 hot dogs each year. New York City is the hot dog "capital." More than 105 million dogs were sold there in 2004. Mustard is the topping of choice among people who are more than 35 years old, but most younger eaters prefer ketchup. Some people even like their hot dogs served in ice cream! The largest hot dog ever made was 1,996 feet long.
Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World® Editor in Chief
Copyright © 2005 Education World
07/2005
Subject: ELA- Reading
Grade: 5
Lesson Objective: To read unfamiliar multisyllabic words in and out of context
Common Core Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.5.3.A- Use combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and morphology (e.g., roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context and out of context.
Materials:
Printable Sudent Worksheet Handout
Starter:
Say:
When you come to a word that you do not know when you are reading, what do you do? (Allow the students to answer.)
Main:
Say:
We all find words that we do not know when we are reading. There are different ways that we can figure out a word that we do not know.
You can sound the word out. You are reading books that are harder and longer now and sounding out a word is not as easy as it used to be!
You should start by figuring out the syllable patterns. You know that every syllable has a vowel sound.
The different syllable patterns are closed syllables and open syllables.
A closed syllable ends with a consonant and usually has a short vowel sound. For example, plan-et.
An open syllable ends with a long vowel sound. For example, pa-per.
In addition to the syllables in a word, you should think about the affixes. An affix is added to the beginning or end of a root word to form different words.
For example, the root word scope can be changed to microscope or telescope by adding different affixes.
Now, you are going to be doing a worksheet so that you can practice reading difficult words. You will read the paragraph. There are words that are underlined in the paragraph, those are the difficult words.
After you have read the whole paragraph and tried the hard words, you are going to find a partner and take turns reading the list of words at the bottom of the worksheet to each other.
Does anyone have any questions?
Feedback:
Say:
Who would like to share how to read the words? (Allow the students to share and go over the answers.)
Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer
Kimberly is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.
Copyright© 2019 Education World
Subject: ELA- Reading
Grade: 5
Lesson Objective: To explain what part of a text means while drawing inferences about that text
Common Core Standard: 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.
Materials:
Printable Student Worksheet Handout
Starter:
Say:
What are some situations in which you draw inferences? (Allow the students to answer.)
Main:
Say:
We all draw inferences. We do it every day when we are listening to someone speaking, when we are reading and when we are watching other people.
An inference is a conclusion that we make using things that we already know (prior knowledge) and new information.
An example of an inference is a mother giving her young child blueberries to try. The child puts the blueberry in its mouth, chews it and then spits it out. The mother can infer that the child does not like the blueberry.
Sometimes when we are reading, the text does not tell us exactly what we need to know. When that happens, we need to draw an inference.
A good strategy for drawing inferences is to think “It says, I know, so…”
When you do this, it helps you to think about what the text is telling you and what you already know. You are then able to draw an inference.
Sometimes, when you are explaining how you found the information that used when drawing your inference, you need to quote the text that you are using.
When quoting a text, you must use the author’s exact words and you should always use quotation marks.
If you are quoting a text from a book, you should always include the page number so that others can find the quote.
Now, you are going to be reading a few paragraphs from a book. After you have finished reading, there are questions for you to answer. Remember to use the inference strategy and remember how to quote a text.
Does anyone have any questions?
Feedback:
Say:
Who would like to share their answers? (Allow the students to share and go over the answers.)
Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer
Kimberly is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.
Copyright© 2019 Education World
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