ALEX Lesson Plan Resources

ALEX Lesson Plans  
Subject: English Language Arts (K - 2), or Science (K - 2)
Title: Amazing Animal Adaptations for K-2
Description: This is a multi-session interactive lesson plan about animal adaptations for kindergarten through second-grade students. The goal of this interactive digital lesson plan is to guide students through activities that help them understand how characteristics such as body covering, body parts, and behaviors help animals survive. These lesson plans also build cooperation and communication skills for students. There are additional resources provided for the teacher to use before or after using the HyperDoc.  This Lesson Plan was created in partnership with the Birmingham Zoo.

Subject: English Language Arts (1), or Science (1)
Title: What Makes Light?
Description: This lesson is an introduction to the concept of light sources (both natural and man-made), as well as levels of light (bright, dim, dark, pitch black). Students will explore these concepts through a children’s literature read-aloud, discussion of personal experiences, brainstorming and sorting activities (with optional technology use), and hands-on activities with lightboxes. Students conclude with a narrative writing assignment. This lesson can be divided and taught over the course of several days, or integrated into multiple subject areas (reading, science, and writing blocks) as time permits.   This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

Subject: English Language Arts (1 - 2)
Title: Let's Describe! (Adjectives Lesson)
Description: Students will learn what an adjective is and how to categorize adjectives using an interactive sorting game. Students will compete with each other by categorizing adjectives by color, shape, size, and kind. Students will have to read and sort the adjective word cards. The student with no adjective word cards first, wins! Furthermore, students will use magazine photographs to describe nouns and write sentences. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

Subject: Arts Education (1), or Character Education (K - 12), or English Language Arts (1)
Title: Are You Jumping for Joy or Pitching a Fit?
Description: What makes you jump? When someone scares you? When you are fuming mad? When you are excited about scoring a goal? In this lesson, students will explore all the reasons that make us jump. The students will write a poem about a time they jumped and make a simple collage of themselves jumping.  This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

Subject: English Language Arts (1), or Social Studies (1)
Title: Listening Comprehension Read Aloud-Who Was Ruby Bridges?
Description: Listening to narrative text offers students a chance to go beyond decoding and word meaning. Listening as the teacher reads a story gives students an opportunity to appreciate, and draw significance, and meaning as well as informal practice using story elements. Listening to read-alouds gives the teacher the opportunity to model "close" reading skills as well as model thinking. This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.