Lesson Plan Using Highlights Magazine and "The Timbertoes"
The following lesson plan uses the Timbertoes Family section of Highlights for Children magazine and teaches you how to incorporate them into your everyday classroom activities.
For a sample of the Timbertoes section click here.
Objective: The children will be able to use Highlights magazine and The Timbertoes to boost reading comprehension and sentence development.
Initiation: The teacher will use Highlights Magazine as an example in small groups and focus on "The Timbertoes" section and use it as an example for sentence structure,development, word usage and punctuation. The teacher will also focus on the pictures and their description.
Development: The teacher will direct the students to the "Highlights Center" when appropriate and have them review The Timbertoes page. The student will recognize the word usage, the punctuation, the detailed pictures and the development of the short story. After reviewing this the student will independently or with a partner put the sentence strips in order in the sentence strips pocket holders and make up a short story that the teacher already developed. After putting the sentence strips in order the student will create their own pictures to go along with the sentences.
Closure: The teacher will discuss the story in small groups and ask any comprehension questions about the story. The teacher will ask about the clues that helped the students put the sentence strips together, i.e..capitals, punctuation, beginning clues and ending clues. She/He will then let the students share their art work that went along with the sentence strips.
Materials: Highlights magazine, sentence strips, sentence strips pocket holders, crayons and cut outs for pictures.
Time: 30-40 minutes.
Extensions: Make up your own sentence strips to develop a short story with pictures, or use sentence strips with errors and have the student correct the errors.
For a sample of the Timbertoes section click here.