Spreading Gratitude Rocks
A Note of Gratitude
Gertrude Stein once said, "Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone." Learners break their silence by engaging in discussion and making lists of what makes them grateful. Next, pupils write and illustrate a thank you letter to a chosen...
Curated OER
Water Uses and Children's Lives in East Africa
Students explore water usage around the world. In this "water" social studies instructional activity, students brainstorm ways in which water is used. Students visit the Water in Africa website to view pictures of water usage...
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Family Pictures (Cuadros de Familia)
Designed to be spread across multiple days, this mini-unit gives learners an opportunity to develop family related vocabulary. Start by reading selected pages from "Family Pictures-Cuadros de familia" by Carmen Lomas Garza, and then...
Cooking Matters
Breakfast Boost
A healthy and balanced breakfast is essential to maintaining a day's worth of solid energy and mind-power. Encourage class members to eat a smart breakfast with a learning exercise that provides interesting food facts, a...
Curated OER
How the Kangaroo Got Its Pouch
Students perform a play based on a legend. In this performing arts activity, students read the legend Kangaroo Gets a Pouch and brainstorm ways to turn the story into a play. Students prepare for a short play, including costumes and...
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Have a Backone
Students create a visual organizer that describes different groups of vertebrates in this pre-writing activity. They view and discuss a video on descriptive writing and then form small groups to research vertebrate classes using the...
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Picture the Process!
Students read "Chasing Vermeer," and then study the author's writing process. They make connections between the book and the author's real life experiences. They then write an original mystery story, following the writing process.
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The Giving Tree
Learners investigate the virtue of kindness and giving by conducting a children's literature study of "The Giving Tree". They make a list of words to describe emotions in the story and write a journal daily while looking at the virtues...
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Dots
Students read the story "Ten Black Dots." They brainstorm what you can do with dots. Students create a picture and a story with ten dots. They discuss how a computer uses dots. Additional ideas are listed for cross curriculum.
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Language Arts Curriculum Guide
In this language arts instructional activity, students complete many worksheets that include brainstorming, newspaper article reviews, TV show descriptions, and more. Students complete 54 worksheets total.
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Who Am I? (Intermediate Grades)
Learners write "Guess Who?" poems in a descriptive manner. They listen to the poems as they are read aloud and try to guess who the poem belongs to.
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Using Children's Literature to Teach Writing: Oh, Tucker!
Students are read the book "Oh, Tucker". They write a paper about the positive and negative aspects of having a dog as a pet. They use a graphic organizer to organize their thoughts and they edit them the next day in class.
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A Photo Essay
Students create a photo essay and present it to the class. The students bring photos to use for their essay and develop a story using the photos. The students write captions including characters, setting, and plot for each photo. They...
Poetry Society
Simile and Metaphor
Young poets use word cards to prompt a metaphor poem comparing to very dissimilar items.
National Science Teaching Association
Why Do We All Have to Stay Home?
Learners, especially young ones, might be confused about why or frustrated that we have to stay at home. Help answer questions and calm emotions with a nine-page resource that details topics regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Vocabulary Building - Brainstorming
Students learn new vocabulary words in ways that are fun and enriching. They brainstorm lists of words to be used in sentences, stories, or conversations.
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Why do people write?
Students brainstorm how and why people use writing in their
everyday lives and record answers on chart paper. They create a survey of questions in the computer lab then chart the responses they received from the survey then discuss the...
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Factors That Affect Populations
In this population worksheet, students will brainstorm 6 different factors that can affect an organism's population. Students will write down their ideas in this graphic organizer.
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The Five Values
Students brainstorm and explore the five values of life: truth, love, peace, right conduct and non-violence. They bounce ideas off each other to assess more of a knowledge of each value. In addition, they write their reflections of each...
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Don't Tease Me!
Third graders observe as the teacher pretends to tease a student and try to describe what the problem is. They brainstorm times when they felt unsafe at school either physically or emotionally and write down their responses on the board...
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The Great Kapok Tree..
Students predict what each animal in the story read says and then compare them. They pretend that a tree was cut down and write a new ending for the story. Students explain why the story is not true and create a Venn Diagram comparing...
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Kudos by Kiddos
Young scholars explore types of awards for children's books. They design a new award. Students review books and select one to receive the newly designed award. Young scholars create a "medal" for the book jacket. They write an...
Polk Bros Foundation
Topic Report Learning Organizer
If you'd like to quickly access a simple graphic organizer designed for a class to divide and conquer a larger subject, then check out this resource. Assign class members to study a specific topic within a historical theme or event, and...