Curated OER
I Just Want to Say
Eighth graders study poetic devices included in conversation poems and explore their eloquent messages. They read and discuss poems by Langston Hughes and Don Marquis.
Curated OER
Illustrating Student Writing in Grades 1-3
Students depict story elements in a visual medium, exhibit creativity through the completion of the drawn image, and practice computer skills. They use Microsoft Word to write about who they would like to meet, using Microsoft Paint they...
Creative Visions Foundation
Introduction to Pre-production: Developing Ideas
Continue with creating documentaries with the fourth lesson in a series. After explaining the concept of preproduction, send groups off to make some decisions about their films. Groups can use the handout and the four provided questions...
Curated OER
Weaving Traditions - Activity 1
Students practice the techniques of weaving and braiding in this introductory lesson on family traditions and visual art. The lesson includes a video and other resource links.
Curated OER
4-H Photography Beginning Activity Pages
Activate interest in photography with these beginning activity pages! Learners build their own pinhole cameras, fill in a crossword puzzle about camera equipment, complete a service project, and research careers. This resource is...
Curated OER
Go Fish
Here is a good art instructional activity on creating colorful versions of fish. After studying images of a variety of fish, young artists choose one that they want to create an image of. Using some high-quality materials, they create...
Curated OER
Spelling Clue Race
Pupils decode clues in order to correctly spell words. They find clues hidden in the classroom to review for their spelling test. Perhaps this isn't the most effective way to review, but it is creative, so it's likely to capture the...
Curated OER
Getting to Know You
Need a first day ice breaker? Try this getting to know you exercise. Pupils stand in a circle and introduce themselves. The trick is they add an adjective that describes them and starts with the same letter as their first name. Add a...
Curated OER
Gingerbread Baby's Point of View #8
Read the story Gingerbread Baby and use these various activities to connect to grammar, art, and point of view. In one activity, learners create character masks. They practice writing verbs on the back of the masks to tell what each...
Curated OER
Collaborative Editing
With the use of an online editing site, budding authors revise their writing. This is a creative way to have your class practice essay revision. Instead of being a tedious process, editing and revising can be fun.
Curated OER
Ant Writing
Students become effective writers. They need to practice strategies for working through the writing process. By presenting the students with a creative problem, they must choose a position and support it accordingly.
Curated OER
Values Clarification
From 34 possibilities (and two blanks for other options), class members choose their top 10 values and rank them in ascending order to focus attention on what they want to prioritize in life. To the list, I'd add "service to others" and...
Bright Hub Education
How to Outline, Plan & Write a Memoir
Get to know each individual through a memoir project. The lesson outlined here is a bit vague, but has some promising ideas for graphic organizers to help writers prepare their work. In order to succeed with the lesson, you will need to...
Curated OER
Create a Butterfly Mobile
Students construct a butterfly mobile. In this visual arts lesson, students use rice paper, watercolors, a coat hanger, and wax paper to create a unique butterfly mobile. Students use photographs of butterflies to construct a realistic...
Curated OER
Our Global Community
First graders experience literature which shows how communities live around the world. In this global community lesson, 1st graders read books such as Whoever You Are, by Mem Fox and create a work of art based on their feelings about the...
Independence Middle School
Eight Parts of Speech Grammar Project
Young grammarians demonstrate their understanding of the eight parts of speech by creating a scrapbook that uses personal stories and photos to illustrate each term. After defining a term, individuals relate and illustrate a personal...
Novelinks
Words by Heart: Guided Imagery
Sad, depressed, miserable, inconsolable, forlorn: so many synonyms have a lot of variety with their connotations. Through the guided imagery activity, writers explore the use of connotation and its influence on imagery and description by...
Curated OER
Shizuko’s Daughter: Story Impression
Craft your own fairy tale based on Momotaro, a Japanese story referenced in Kyoko Mori's Shuzuko's Daughter. A list of nouns guide learners in writing their own story, and predicting what might happen in the novel.
Valhalla Free Union School District
End of the Year Writing Portfolio Project
Ask class members to reflect on their year-long writing experience by creating a portfolio of their work. Here's a resource that details what should be included in such a portfolio, and provides a rubric that can be used to assess the...
Poetry4kids
Five Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block
Every writer knows how terrible writer's block can feel. Use these five writer's block-busting techniques to help young writers get out of their rut and into a better state of mind.
Curated OER
A Creative Presentation
Students read chapter books by Gary Paulsen. In groups, they identify imagery presented in the book. Students locate 10 quotes, categorize each quote into one of the five senses, and then organize it and create a display of their three...
Curated OER
Blue-Prints
Blueprints are used to help architects plan out their drawings in an accurate and measurable way. Little ones create a grid with white crayon, dip the paper in blue paint, and then draw a series of buildings. However, it may be better to...
Curated OER
Diary of a Wombat
Young scholars create a diary entry from an animal's point of view. In this creative writing lesson, students read the book Diary of a Wombat and conduct brief research on an animal of their choice. Young scholars create a diary entry...
Curated OER
It's a Secret! Writing Prompt
Students write the ending to <i>It's a Secret</i> by John Burningham. In this creative writing activity, students are read the first two pages of <i>It's a Secret</i> and they continue writing what they think the...