Summary of activity - students will use a grab bag of questions to pull three out to ask a partner as a getting to know you activity. Students will take turns determining answers by asking the questions of their partner and actively listening to the responses. Responses will be recorded in writing on question strips for later use in another center, then placed in an envelope with the interviewee's name.

Materials - pre-written question strips in a bag, pencils, envelopes

Differentiation - strategic partnering, Google translate for Level 1 ELL students, advanced students may choose 3 questions and then generate a 4th question

Procedures students will need to be familiar with - turn taking in partners, time management cues (timers), active listening practices

How the activity is assessed - students will be recording these in video and sharing with teacher. Teacher look-fors: if three questions were asked and responses clearly written down, if students remained on task

Summary of activity - students will use answered questions from previous activity to create a short (under 2 minute) presentation in the Flip app about their partner to share with the class. Student will record student introducing their partner by reading each question and answer, then will reciprocate for their partner.

Materials - envelope with answered question strips, iPad or Chromebook

Differentiation - strategic partnering, Google translate for Level 1 ELL students, advanced students with knowledge of technology may choose to add editing features into their video

Procedures students will need to be familiar with - turn taking in partners, time management cues (timers), use of Flip app and editing features (if desired)

How the activity is assessed - students will share videos with teacher, who will play them for the class. Teacher look-fors: are students easy to hear, speaking clearly, staying on topic? Is the message sharing information about their partner successfully? If not, are students needing lessons in being thorough? Or speaking slowly, clearly, and audibly so as to be understood? Do we feel like we learned about our fellow students through this activity? Why or why not?

Summary of activity - students will watch Brainpop video on media literacy and discuss as a class. As a class, go through the quiz questions and discuss. Students will then complete Flier Practice - students will use the flyer with matching questions to practice reading and interpreting this type of media. Later the class will go over the answers together after they are assessed.

Materials - smartboard to project video, Brainpop access, copies of flyers, pencils

Differentiation - modified copies of flyers/questions (fewer questions, easier/less text), advanced students can create a mini-flyer of their own that meets certain criteria (if time)

Procedures students will need to be familiar with - class discussion protocols, time management cues (timers), process for storing or turning in paper work

How the activity is assessed - observation of class discussion - do students understand the purpose of different types of media, particularly the main purpose of flyers? Accuracy of flyer activity - do students understand components of a flyer? This can be used to help students create their own flyer in a later assignment.

Summary of activity - after a whole group lesson on topic sentences, students will use this resource to match topic sentences to paragraphs using clues and key words from the paragraphs. After matching, students can read paragraphs aloud to hear fluency of topic sentence into paragraph.

Materials - Monsters to Mustaches resource with pieces cut out

Differentiation - digitized copies of resources with read aloud included (using Mote), advanced students will receive blank mustaches and can create their own topic sentence to complete the paragraph

Procedures students will need to be familiar with - time management cues (timers), caring for multi-use center materials

How the activity is assessed - students will self-check by using answer key, then filling out exit ticket form where they check off which monsters they got correct. Teacher will go over exit tickets for student accuracy and to see if there was a specific type of paragraph or topic sentence that gave students trouble and needs a reteach before shifting focus to writing topic sentences instead of matching.

Summary of activity - after a whole group lesson on homophones, students will use this resource to choose the correct homophone to fit into the context of the sentence. If correct, a picture will form as students work through the assignment.

Materials - Homophones pixel art resource (digital), chromebooks/computers

Differentiation - ELL students and lower readers can have picture cards of the different homophones to assist them in this activity, advanced students can use this version with more advanced, less common homophones

Procedures students will need to be familiar with - knowledge of how to access assignment, how to utilize the resource (drop down menu)

How the activity is assessed - students will self-check by forming pixel art picture (picture won't form if answers are wrong). Exit ticket - students will fill out short list of teacher-generated sentences with correct homophones (those used in this activity) to check for understanding.