Scholastic
Who Am I? What Has Made Me Who I Am?
"Everything we have seen and touched and heard and experienced has, in some way, made us who we are." Your young learners will use this resource to create lists of influences (people, animal, nature, places, etc.) in their lives and to...
Have Fun Teaching
March Journal Prompts
Engage your class in writing right away during the month of March. This resource provides writing prompts for every day in March, and each is decorated with a shamrock. For most of the prompts, learners use creative writing skills,...
Curated OER
Creative Writing: Haiku
Haikus by Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki are used as models for a brief lecture on the importance of poetry in Japan's history and the structure of this poetic form. Students then go on a nature walk, record impressions, and return to the...
Curated OER
Investigating Jack London's White Fang: Nature and Culture Detectives
Pupils explore images of the Klondike and read Jack London's White Fang to become culture and nature detectives. In this novel analysis lesson, students analyze the setting of the novel and the ways London portrays nature and culture....
National Park Service
Petrified Forest National Park
Poetry Soup, a reading and writing unit constructed by the Petrified Forest National Park, will have scholars hungry to learn about nature. The cross-content unit contains topics related to history, science, and language arts. Content...
Curated OER
Change Over Time
Students write a personal narrative that is designed to help them reflect on the nature and meaning of change in their lives.
Curated OER
The Pirates of the Caribbean
Third graders participate in a demonstration instructional activity that shows a map of the Caribbean Islands. They examine a natural resource that each island is known for. Next, they listen to a read aloud of Gail Gibbons, "Pirates:...
Curated OER
Bunyans Lesson Plan
Students practice their map skills. In this early childhood lesson plan, students use a map of the United States and identify the location of several natural wonders included in the book The Bunyans by Audrey Wood.
Waunakee Community School District
Identifying Themes in Literature
If your language arts learners have a hard time determining the universal theme of a written work, use a straightforward worksheet to help them find it. After reviewing a list of common themes, kids note the title, character, plot, point...
Curated OER
The Legendary Raptors
How are raptors and airplanes alike? Combine science and language arts in this fun and interactive project. Young scientists research the animal in order to design their own aircraft, and compete in a contest for farthest, fastest, and...
Curated OER
Saturday Sancocho
Second graders identify the economic principles and processes that are helpful to producers and consumers when making good decisions. Students will read, comprehend, interpret, analyze, and evaluate literary text as well as explain how...
Curated OER
Caught Between Worlds: Frontier Life as Reflected in Captivity Narratives
Students analyze captivity narratives written between the 1600's and 1800's. In this narrative lesson, students think critically about the interaction between Native peoples and the settlers to understand the cultural beliefs held by...
Art Institute of Chicago
Lesson Plan: A Writer’s Odyssey
Looking for a fresh approach to an end-of-unit project for The Odyssey? Check out a resource that has class members write their own hero's journey short story and then craft an illustration that depicts their tale. Apollonio di...
Curated OER
Listen to the Voices of the Holocaust
Connect fiction and nonfiction narratives about the Holocaust to show universal themes of human strength and endurance.
Yale University
Islamic Art; Exploring the Visual Arts of the Middle East
The intent of this unit is to demonstrate some of the traditional arts of the Middle East. Extensive background information on the religion, culture, and nature of Islamic art found throughout the Middle East is provided. Each of the...
Curated OER
Bubble and Boyle
Even middle schoolers still enjoy experimenting with bubbles! They execute a series of experiments enabling them to distinguish between convex and concave surfaces, explore the properties of buoyancy, surface tension, and density,...
Curated OER
The Story of Corn
Students use primary sources to compare the early development of corn with current techniques of biotechnology and genetically engineered seeds, and identify plants natural to the Americas and those natural to Europe that were part of...
Curated OER
Hazards: Sixth Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
Sixth graders explore the damage associated with an earthquake by designing a structure that can withstand earthquake intensities on a shaker board. They then view tips for preparing for an earthquake, and what to do after an earthquake...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "When There Were Ghosts" by Alberto Ríos
Before cell phones, tablets, and computers with access to YouTube, before gleaming multiplexes and even before television, there were small theaters with Saturday night black and white movies. Alberto Ríos's poem "When There Were Ghosts"...
Curated OER
Name the Constellation
Students read stories about constellations. They create constellations by filling in the letters of their names on a test bubble sheet and tracing the design onto white paper. They make up stories about their name constellations.
Curated OER
Book Swap
Young scholars explore the publishing roles of author and illustrator. Stories are written and the illustration done by other students. Answers to several questions act as a motivating force for the creation of the stories.
Curated OER
Migration: An African American Adventure
Learners read the book, The Great Migration by National Geographic, then complete this set of related worksheets. They review vocabulary, complete five short answer questions, discuss push and pull factors for the migration, then write a...
Curated OER
Technology as Change: The Atlantic Canada Fishery
A wonderfully constructed series of lessons on the history of the fishing industry in Canada. They discuss what they already know about the methods and technology used in the fishing industry past and present, create a research report...
Curated OER
Knowledge or Instinct? Jack London's "To Build a Fire"
Learners closely read " To Build a Fire," to explore the use of narrative point of view and debate the distinction between knowledge and instinct. The elements of literary naturalism and how they relate to Jack London's work is examined...