Curated OER
Art of Illustration: N.C. Wyeth and Literacy
High school artists observe and research the illustrations and techniques of N.C. Wyeth. They read (and reread) stories and illustrate the texts using methods inspired by Wyeth's practice. Includes detailed instructional plan and useful...
Curated OER
Multiple Perspectives: Newspaper Stories and Editorials
Newspapers are the perfect medium through which to explore different perspectives in informational text. After researching the fur trade and resultant colonization, groups write a newspaper, including an editorial page, selecting one of...
Curated OER
Cartoon Analysis Worksheet
Analyzing political cartoons just got easier! This handout includes ten questions intended to aid learners as they embark on a cartoon analysis. They look at visuals, written text, action, and symbolism found in the cartoon.
K20 LEARN
Analyzing The "I Have A Dream" Speech
The famous words of Martin Luther King still resonate with scholars today. An enlightening lesson helps pupils examine the "I Have a Dream" speech in more depth and learn what impact it had on the civil rights movement. Young historians...
EngageNY
Reading Literature about Natural Disasters: Inferring about the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on People Living in New Orleans
I survived! Scholars read a firsthand account from a natural disaster survivor in the text Save Bella! They record the gist of the text in their journals and answer text-dependent questions. They then take notes to more deeply analyze...
Curated OER
Introducing Visual Literacy
Students view examples of images and discuss why a director or writer chose these images. Using different forms of media, they develop their own standards by which to judge television or films. They discover the use of visual literacy...
Curated OER
Analyzing Civil War Pictorial Envelopes
Students explore the power of political messages contained in visual artifacts and examine the political messages conveyed by the illustrations that appeared on personal stationery used during the Civil War. They create and describe a...
Curated OER
Picture Books, Retelling, and Writing
Students create stories using only pictures. In this visual storytelling lesson plan, students read Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie de Paola and analyze the wordless story. Students create new text for the book by writing on sticky notes.
PBS
Broadcast News
Just because a story is on the news doesn't mean it's being presented fairly. Analyze news broadcasts with a instructional activity focused on evaluating television journalism. At home, kids watch a news show and note the stories...
Polk Bros Foundation
Common Core Constructed Response Organizer
Get your writers ready to compose a constructed response essay in response to either an informational or fictional text. Pupils note down the big idea they wish to address as well as up to nine examples from the text that they wish to...
University of Minnesota
Virtual Neurons
It's electric! Young anatomists use Virtual Neurons software to build, control, and analyze complex nerve circuits within the body. Colorful and packed with content, class members enjoy interacting with the nervous system at a personal...
Curated OER
Pablita Indian Legends
Scholars are introduced to the characteristics of a legend. They read and discuss Old Father Story Teller by Pablita Velarde. Then, in groups, they write and illustrate a poem based on one of the legends from the book. This lesson plan...
Curated OER
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle: Graphic Organizer
After completing the first five chapters of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle By Avi, use direct quotes to make inferences about how Charlotte feels about certain characters. Later, when the novel has concluded, revisit the text to...
Curated OER
Making Connections
Fourth graders investigate visual imagery to aid reading comprehension. In this reading strategies lesson, 4th graders discover how visual imagery helps in comprehending a story. Students use a reader's notebook to record connections.
Curated OER
Water: A Source of Life and Culture
Young scholars explore water as a feature of culture. In this visual arts lesson, students consider the necessity of water in every culture. Young scholars select water symbols and use their artistic skills to create water symbol...
Curated OER
Creating and Using a Checklist of Performance Techniques to Critique and Find the "Message" in Mass Media Performances
Students analyze and critique theater events by evaluating and constructing meanings from improvised and scripted scenes and from theater, film, television, and electronic media productions.
Curated OER
Identify Intended Media Messages
How does media convey different messages? Use this instructional activity to explore media by identifying and analyzing selected images. Middle schoolers analyze a poster and discuss the intended meaning of the imagery and how it makes...
Curated OER
A Movie in Your Mind: Persuasive Text
Students listen to a broadcast of War of the Worlds and illustrate what they hear. In this persuasive text lesson students prepare for making a movie poster intended to persuade a director to make a film based on a short story.
Midland Independent School District
Drama
Ten drama lessons are the perfect addition to your language arts or theater class. With a focus on script elements, plot development, and parts of a dramatic story, the lessons guide young playwrights through the steps of telling a story...
DocsTeach
Pearl Harbor Dispatch Analysis
Scholars play a historical version of the telephone game when they analyze the dispatch from the Pearl Harbor attack. The quick activity uses primary sources to help academics analyze an historical event. Young historians also complete a...
EngageNY
Establishing Structures for Reading: Getting the Gist (Chapter 1)
Class members review expectations for successful discussions before reading chapter one of A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. They engage in a think-pair-share to discuss the gist of the text and add their thoughts to their Readers'...
EngageNY
Analysis, Reflection, and Introduction to the Painted Essay: The Invention of Television
Paint me a picture. Scholars complete a painted essay after examining the author's note in The Boy Who Invented TV. Learners identify various parts of the essay by using different paint colors and then complete task cards, using evidence...
Curated OER
Tuck Everlasting Unit
Natalie Babbitt's award winning fantasy, Tuck Everlasting, is the anchor text in a unit plan that focuses on identifying similes, metaphors, imagery, and personification in the text and analyzing how these elements effect the development...
Curated OER
Heroic Images: Visualization and Media Messages
Students examine media messages. In this media awareness lesson, students analyze online messages about heroism as they complete a jigsaw reading activity.