Curated OER
Trickster Tale Comics: The Cunning Coyote
The trickster tale "The Coyote Places the Stars" tells how a coyote is sneaky but helpful. After listening to the tale, scholars use their imagination to create a trickster tale about a coyote, displaying their journey through a comic...
American Library Association
Creating 21st Century Superheroes
Create 21st century learners by utilizing technology and library databases. Scholars explore the concept of comic books as literature and create a superhero who could uniquely solve a 21st century global issue. Databases such as SIRS are...
Curated OER
Comic Strip
Students work in groups in order to perform research about the different aspects of immigration. Once they have completed the research a comic strip is created regarding the findings.
Curated OER
Causes of the American Revolution
Students answer the question of: How did England impose its political and economic control over the colonies? They create a comic strip depicting the event of the Boston Massacre. Students complete a Wordstoming activity to anticipate...
Curated OER
Classroom Newspaper
Fifth graders study the American Revolution. In this writing lesson, each group of students write a story that will go into the created newspaper depicting a day in the 1770's.
Curated OER
Give Me a Little Sign
Students watch an episode of the PBS show "Maya & Miguel," and demonstrate various letters and words in American Sign Language. They create a message using a comic strip, spell their name using ASL, and answer discussion questions...
Curated OER
Philanthropy and Native Americans
Students examine the philanthropic traditions of early Native American communities. They use graphic organizers to record information and share their ideas with classmates. They create three-panel comic strips depicting philanthropic...
Curated OER
Tears of Joy Theatre Presents Anansi the Spider
Accompany the African folktale, Anansi the Spider, with a collection of five lessons, each equipped with supplemental activities. Lessons offer multidisciplinary reinforcement in English language arts, social studies, science, and arts...
Curated OER
Ethnic Humor
Students define ethnicity and ethnic group in their own words. In groups, they view comic strips and identify how the strips relate to their family life. Individually, they write their own comic strip about their own ethnic group. To...
San Francisco Symphony
Learning Adjectives through the Duke
Duke Ellington, jazz, and jive kick-off a fun and creative lesson on responding emotionally to music. The class will learn about jive talk used in the 1920s and the life and music of Duke Ellington. They'll listen to a selection of his...
Curated OER
American Aloha Lesson Plan: Perpetuating Indigenous Cultural Traditions in Diaspora
Young scholars examine the culture and decline of the culture of native Hawaiian people as the islands were colonized. They study issues of cultural identity for Native Hawaiians.
Curated OER
Heritage: Famous People of the West
Fourth graders examine two famous people, Brigham Young and Jim Bridger, who made an impact on the westward expansion, and create cartoon strip using the information.
Curated OER
Mocking Modern Life
Twelfth graders read "The Nun's Priest's Tale" and "The Rape of the Lock" then brainstorm possible topics for a contemporary mock epic and possible
"grandiose" words and phrases for common objects and activities. They write a mock epic...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Literary Humor
Young scholars examine Nathaniel Hawthorne's style of humor and compare it to other humorists. They discuss the purpose of literary humor and determine how it develops characters and plots in stories. They analyze the use of different...
Curated OER
Technology Integration Lesson Plan
Eighth graders research a novel and provide a summary of the story. They relate this information to their lives and evaluate the positives and negatives of the American Revolution. Groups create a PowerPoint presentation on their findings.
Curated OER
Comedy Across the Curriculum
The New York Times Learning Network provides the resources that permit pupils to examine and then write and perform a fake news broadcast in the vein of “The Daily Show” or “Saturday Night Live” Weekend Update. The generated reports...
Curated OER
Cave Stories - Tales of Adventure
Students list three things about caves that interest them and list reasons why writers choose caves as settings for stories.
Curated OER
The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells
In this literature learning exercise, students respond to 46 short answer and essay questions about The Rise of Silas Lapham. Students may also link to an online interactive quiz on the selection at the bottom of the page.
Curated OER
Reporting A Story: A School Newspaper Activity
Students collaborate to document cultural groups within the school or community. They create a newspaper chronicling different groups within the school.
Curated OER
Sportswriting
Students complete a variety of activities (using the Washington Post Newspaper) that reinforce concepts involved in sports writing.
Curated OER
Author Activities
In this author activity worksheet, students read a variety of books and discuss ideas that go along with the themes of the books. Students read Ruby Rogers books, Stink books, and also Troll Trouble books. After reading the books the...
Curated OER
Superheroes
Students, in groups, brainstorm what they know about superheroes. They examine their powers and how they became a superhero. They read handouts and answer questions to test for comprehension.
Curated OER
Picture Bride
Students share their views and opinions on the state of racism in America. Stimulate discussion by asking if there are specific groups who seem to be the target of racism more then others; also students consider what the true causes of...
Curated OER
Argument in an Athenian Jail: Socrates and the Law
High schoolers consider how Socrates might have responded to extenuating circumstances: for example, if his sentence had been imposed by a tyrant rather than in a trial, or if it had been influenced by prejudice.