Curated OER
Moby Dick Puppetry
Such an ambitious lesson! Third graders with special needs listen to an audio recording of the novel, Moby Dick. They stop often to discuss each of the main characters and analyze their actions in the story. They then make puppets of one...
Mark Twain Media
Understanding Informational Text Features
Everything you need to know about informational text features can be found in this resource. Recognizing these types of text features and how they are used in text allows readers to better understand information. Teachers can use this as...
Penguin Books
An Educator’s Guide to Ruta Sepetys
Historical fiction novels give readers a chance to step into someone else's shoes. An educator's guide from Penguin Common Core Lesson Plans provides resources to accompany three historical fiction novels written by Ruta Sepetys: Between...
Curated OER
Storytelling: Oral Traditions Learning Center
Students explore the oral traditions. In this storytelling lesson, students compare and contrast stories from the cultural traditions of Alaska and Hawaii.
Curated OER
Reading the Coyote School News: Lives of Ranchers in Southern Arizona
Fourth graders examine the effects of Mexican-American ranching on life today.
Curated OER
Enchanting Egypt
After reading the Magic Tree House book Mummies in the Morning, learners talk about Ancient Egypt. They identify the plot, characters, setting, etc., explore vocabulary terms, and construct a pyramid. This will motivate your class to...
Curated OER
Portraits of History
Eighth graders research the Post-Revolution to Pre-Civil War era by investigating the life and contributions of a notable person. They create silhouettes which are framed with timeline. Also, they add the research information to the...
Curated OER
Reagan and Bush: The Conservative Years
Students investigate the conservative agenda of the Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush. They conduct Internet research, evaluate an edition of the Wall Street Journal, and write and publish a special-edition newspaper...
Curated OER
With Liberty and Justice for All
High schoolers examine the role of Supreme Court justices. In this judicial branch instructional activity, students consider the civil rights and civil liberties as they investigate Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940) and West...
Curated OER
Life Cycle of the Monarch Butterfly
Third graders access prior knowledge of the monarch butterfly and discuss what they would like to know. In this Monarch Butterfly lesson,students read Monarch Butterfly and discuss the life cycle of the butterfly. Students gather...
Curated OER
Cooperative Classroom Text Features Activities
Fifth graders examine text features and create a PowerPoint presentation. In this text features lesson, 5th graders go over Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures and text features before they choose one to include in a book and...
Curated OER
The Impacts of Human Activities on Biodiversity in New Haven County
Students discover how plants and animal ecosystems are affected by the growth of a city. For this ecology lesson, students study and observe a plant over a period of time. They develop a creative presentation of their data and share them...
Curated OER
Sondage: J'ai horreur des broccolis! A Survey of Food Preferences: I Hate Broccoli!
Students participate in contrived conversation in French to determine preferences for known food items.
Curated OER
Colonial Migration
Students, in groups, create a student book for an assigned group of immigrants to the Colonial United States (Huguenots, Scots, Irish, Africans.) They create drawings for the book and rhyming text that depicts three struggles that...
Curated OER
Role Playing in North America: Mid 1600s-Mid 1700s
Eighth graders apply their knowledge of North American history from the mid 1600's through the mid 1700's to a role-playing scenario. In small groups they plan, write, and perform a dramatic skit of a group that was affected by events in...
Curated OER
Poetry and Our National Anthem
Students express the meaning of the Star-Spangled Banner. For this American history lesson, students read through the national anthem and complete an activities from a list of choices. Some choices include: writing the anthem in your own...
Curated OER
The Postbellum Period and Freemen
Students become familiar with the ways slaves reacted to educating themselves. In this postbellum and freeman lesson, students complete readings from chapters in the book Up From Slavery. Students write about the readings and organize...
Curated OER
The Gullah People of the Sea Islands
Eighth graders examine the lives of the Gullah-Geechee people. In this unique cultures lesson, 8th graders explore music, language, and slavery of the Gullah-Geechee people from the southern low-country in the United States. Students...
Curated OER
Writing Up a Spanish Storm: Using Creative Thinking for Creative Writing
Students in a Spanish class are introduced to the techniques of creative writing. In groups, they focus on the pre-writing section of creative writing and keep a folder of their works throughout the lesson. They end the lessons by...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Digital Commercials
Students create commercials using a digital camera. After brainstorming their ideas, they spend three days writing their commercials. Students practice and edit their commercials and then present them for review.
Curated OER
Immigration Unit
Third graders develop an appreciate for the various cultures that are present in their local community. Through reading and research, they explain how various culture came to live in their area. At the conclusion of the unit, 3rd...
Curated OER
Finding Our Way Home: Immigration to the United States, 1815-1860
Students break into families of 4 members. They brainstorm issues that they would encounter as an immigrant family by creating a web. Students are given roles to research focusing on that perspective: father, mother, grandparent, and child.
Curated OER
Checkmate
Students start identifying the cause and effect relationships in games of Chess. Using the internet, they research the history of the game and how the roles for each of the pieces. They develop a skit based on the roles and...
Curated OER
What Makes a Fable?
Third graders explore fables. In this fables lesson, 3rd graders use Venn Diagrams to organize information about 2 fables they will read. Students work in groups to fill out the diagrams and share their results with the class. Students...