Curated OER
Disco - Voices of a New Generation
Students analyze lyrics of selected Disco songs for content, theme and vocabulary. They write an extended response citing specific lyrics in response to three general themes.
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Health: The Three Dimensions
Students examine the three dimensions of health, wealth, and happiness from both emotional and social perspectives. Among the week-long activities are discussions about good and poor habits, minimizing risks by proper planning and...
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Connecting Characters and Themes in Julius Caesar
Fourth graders prepare for the literary analysis. They locate, interpret, evaluate and analyze the relationship between a character and the theme. After a lecture/demo, 4th graders write topic and detail sentences, then correctly put...
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Narrative Writing
Second graders select and read a variety of stories and discuss what happened in the story that made the day so special. Using a graphic organizer, 2nd graders brainstorm ideas about their best day at school. They compose a story...
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Using "Four-Square"
Third graders use a four-square graphic organizer to help a third grade writer organize thoughts and clarify thinking to write a simple expository paragraph, a workshop summary paragraph.
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Plot Summary: The Outsiders
In this plot summary worksheet, students are given several prompts to assist in developing a summary of the first chapter of The Outsiders.
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the Connectors
Young scholars recognize and explain meaning of connectors, punctuate a compound sentence using connectors, and compose compound sentences using the correct connectors.
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Giving Things a Name
Students label images seen on an interactive website. In this early writing lesson, students do their best to write the name of the object seen on the screen.
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The Eyes, Nose, and Taste Write It
Third graders generate a list of adjectives about a Reese's Cup using their sense of sight, touch, and taste. Then they write a descriptive paragraph about the Reese's Cup.
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Researching and Writing About Another Country's Holiday: Documenting and Communicating Information
This lesson is a culminating lesson which follows students researching, collecting citations, evaluating and selecting text, graphic materials and visual aids. In this concluding lesson, 5th graders discuss the assessment task and how to...
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Straight News
Students review the 'Inverted Pyramid' and demonstrate their ability to outline it in a published news story. For this Inverted pyramid activity, students read an article that is out of order and decide which order it should go in.
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Five Paragraph Essay
Eighth graders are introduced to the mechanics of writing a standard-form essay. They draft, edit and polish a five-paragraph essay about spending the day as an animal of their choice.
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Impromptu Speech
Students explore something that they consider to be their favorite. For this speech making lesson, students select a topic and have two minutes to prepare a speech. Students suggest three main points about their topic
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Survival Story
Students discuss the pros and cons of being deserted on an uninhabited island. Then they write their own survival stories and complete a story jacket.
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My Wilderness Adventure
Middle schoolers use a story starter and given questions to continue their adventure. They use the Internet and books to research about winter survival skills, how to find food, water and shelter in the snowy mountains and discover...
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A Courtin' We Will Go
Learners investigate dialect in poetry as an indication of a people's culture in literature. They write a poem about dating in this era.
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Community Brochures
Second graders research facets of their community in order to create an informational brochure. After brainstorming ideas of what could be included in the brochure, student groups get information from the internet, the library or a...
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Paragraph Development In News Journalism
Students identify the qualities of a new paragraph. They develop news paragraphs. They gain an introduction to appropriate paragraph development in news journalism using professional models as a guide.
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Ancient History Cyber-Journalists
High schoolers research a major historical event from the ancient world and write a newsletter about the event.
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Publishing Written Reports
Seventh graders discuss the importance of presentation in report writing. They prepare and publish written reports on pre-selected topics. Students use various media, including covers and visual aids.
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Organizing Writing/Composing a First Draft
Seventh graders access an organizer from an earlier lesson and transition sentences to begin a new essay. In this organization and composing lesson, 7th graders work in small groups to create a draft of an article about natural...
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The Raven: Creator of the Universe?
Students explore biology by researching birds in class. In this raven identification lesson, students utilize the Internet to identify the anatomy, habits and habitat of ravens. Students write descriptive paragraphs about ravens and read...
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Swimming with Crabs
Students explore Earth science by completing several graphic organizer activities in class. In this oceanography lesson, students research ocean inhabitants such as blue crab and oysters. Students complete graphic organizers about the...
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Happiness is A Warm Puppy
Students investigate dog breeds and write a short story from a dog's perspective. In this dog research and writing lesson, students watch the film, "Dog: The Early Years. They apply critical thinking skills to determine which type of dog...