National First Ladies' Library
We're off to see the Wizard!
Students explore the process of play and movie making from books. They study the basic elements of drama and write and produce a play based on a chosen theme. Students explain the basic elements of a play by looking at "The Wonderful...
Curated OER
Life Skill Communication
Students use digital camera to document the needs for daily living. In this life skills and visual arts lesson, students create class books that include photographs of everyday objects that they use in their home, school and personal...
Curated OER
Going to the Farm
Learners complete a variety of farm-related activities, culminating with a field trip to visit a local farm. They complete a class KWL chart, and write questions for an interview with a farmer. On the field trip students participate in a...
Curated OER
We're Flipping for Nursery Rhymes
Students read a variety of nursery rhymes with a focus on "Humpty Dumpty". While reading, they identify the words that rhyme along with the setting, plot and characters. To end the lesson, they complete a Venn Diagram comparing "Humpty...
Curated OER
Winter Weather Day 5: Follow Up
Young scholars participate in culminating activities for a winter weather unit. They discuss what they have learned about winter weather, and write a diamante poem using winter vocabulary words. Students also construct a pinwheel and...
Curated OER
What's the Weather?
Students explore different types of weather and examine the elements in the sky that create weather. They create a class lift of weather words and examine and discuss a weather poster. Students then complete the "What's the Weather?"...
Scholastic
Thanksgiving Lessons Grades PreK-2
A quintessential resource for teaching an elementary unit on the first Thanksgiving addresses a variety of skills, including informational reading, critical thinking, comparing and contrasting facts, technology tools, and historical...
Curated OER
Let's Learn About Firefighters!
Students explore, analyze and study about fire fighters and fire safety. They listen to a book, list what they already know about firefighters and fire safety rules and compare/contrast types of firefighters. Each student then writes a...
Curated OER
Red Gets Fed
Young scholars practice with the strategy that letters represent phonemes and spellings map out phonemes in spoken words. They work on the phoneme sounds of /a/ and e=/e/ in correspondences with reading. Each student also recites the...
Curated OER
Let's Summarize!
Students, after brainstorming what summarization is, practice the strategy of summarization to help pick out the important parts of text each time they read. They read and summarize the article, "10 Cool Things About Dolphins," from the...
Curated OER
Reading With Expression, Fluency, And Accuracy Makes Reading Fun!
Young scholars observe and demonstrate a variety of reading expression strategies. They listen to the teacher read different sentences with and without expression and discuss the difference, then in pairs read an "I Can Read" book using...
Curated OER
Lively Read of the Tale of Despereaux
Students create a character map of the main characters in The Tale of Despereaux. After reading the text, students create a character chart based on information they gleaned from the story. They use this information to write a letter...
Curated OER
Lewis and Clark
Students investigate the historic journey of Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery. They identify six discoveries made on the journey, participate in an online activity that traces their trail, write a journal in the first person...
Curated OER
Celebrate Our Favorite Authors
Students read and compare and contrast a variety of books by their favorite authors. They sort books from various authors and identify themes and patterns in writing and drawings. They also create their own book in the style of their...
Scholastic
Teaching About the First Thanksgiving
Learners research information about the Mayflower, Pilgrims, the Plymouth Colony, the Wampanoags, and the first Thanksgiving. They take an online tour of the Mayflower, interpret timelines, create a postcard, and compare and contrast the...
Scholastic
Learning About the Pilgrims With Crafts
Students research the pilgrims in terms of why they left England, their voyage to America, the challenges they faced when they arrived, and their relationship with the American Indians. To conclude this unit, the students have a...
Curated OER
That's Exercise?
Students examine a variety of ways to exercise and keep their bodies strong. They make letters of the alphabet with their bodies and listen to the book Baseball Brothers. Students watch a video clip from the PBS show Teletubbies, and...
Curated OER
An Analysis of Jim Crow Laws and their Effects on Race Relations
First graders analyze the role of the Jim Crow laws on race relations. As a class, they are segregated based on the color shirt they have or some other simple criteria and wear either a square or circle sticker representing the majority...
Curated OER
Humpty Dumpty
Students complete a variety of activities related to the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty." They break a real egg and try to put it back together, and complete a class word web. Students also complete egg measurement activities and create...
Curated OER
The Four Corners Region of the United States Cultures, Ruins and Landmarks
Students who live in the inner city are introduced to the four corners region of the United States. In groups, they examine how the region differs compared to where they live and their culture. They develop maps of the area and locate...
Curated OER
I'm Special
Students explore their five senses and what makes them special and unique. They listen to books about their senses and participate in a taste and smell experiment. Students also create a senses journal, and create an "I'm Special" book...
Curated OER
Let's Brush Our Teeth!
Students complete a variety of activities related to types of teeth and how to take care of their teeth. They listen to the book "The Real Tooth Fairy," count and graph how many teeth they have and how many they have lost. Students...
Curated OER
African American Poetry: Family and Traditions
Students are introduced to the elements of African-American poetry. As a class, they are read different types of poems to discover there are different styles of poems and practice rhyming words. They share information on their family...
Curated OER
Beginning Research
Students view and discuss a video segment to discover the importance of researching a topic before writing about it. They use the topic of plants to research information by looking through picture books and observing potted plants in...