Anti-Defamation League
10 Ideas for Teaching Black History Month
Celebrate Black History Month with the help of 10 ideas that delve deep into the history, major events, contributions, famous African Americans, and sheds light on how scholars today can take a proactive stance on current civil rights...
Curated OER
Do You Haiku? We Do!
Third graders try their hands at writing Haiku, a form of Japanese poetry. Haiku is usually 17 syllables in three-line form. This engaging instructional activity has many excellent worksheets and website imbedded in the plan. They share...
Curated OER
Blank Writing Lines in Tooth Shape
In this writing worksheet, students use the blank primary writing lines for any creative story or poem writing. The lines are inside the shape of a tooth. There are no directions, but students could write a story every time they lose a...
Curated OER
Poetic Devices in Songs
By teaching about poetic devices in music teachers can provide a creative way to practice reading, writing, and language skills.
Perkins School for the Blind
Tactile quilts that tell a story
Learners with multiple disabilities need to engage in projects that push them to know their full potential. They need to be able to express themselves in a variety of ways, and this very thoughtful lesson does just that. They make a...
Curated OER
"Leap, Plashless": Emily Dickinson & Poetic Imagination
Students read and explore one of Emily Dickinson's nature poems, "A Bird Came Down the Walk-" through interaction with a variety of art forms. Clips of a hymn to hear meter and the viewing of bird images exposes them to the language and...
Curated OER
Out of the Dust: Biopoem
As part of their study of Out of the Dust, readers create a biopoem for one of the characters in Karen Hesse's 1998 Newbery Medal winning verse novel.
Curated OER
Who Am I?
Get to know a person in your class or a famous figure in history. With questions about the person's birthplace, parents, and what they are famous for. A space at the bottom prompts writers to list three things they have learned.
Curated OER
Cinquain Poems
Students write five-line, diamond shaped poems that are very easy to write then submit one through an automatic PIZZAZZ form.
Curated OER
Decades
Students work cooperatively to research the people, places, events, and things that represent their assigned decade. They creatively, write and present ten minute dramatizations of information about their assigned decade.
Denver Art Museum
Descriptive Haiku
Even though this is technically an art activity, haiku poetry is actually the main focus! Learners view photographs of Japanese tea caddies. They list five descriptive words for the caddies, then write haiku poems using the caddies as...
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...
California Academy of Science
Poetic Reflections
Poetry is a wonderful way to explore language, express topical understanding, and incite creative thinking. After a trip to the local natural history museum (or zoo), learners write an acrostic or a cinquain poem describing one of their...
Curated OER
Christmas Candy
Here is a tasty topic for a instructional activity: Christmas candy! Third and fourth graders research classic Christmas candies, then create their very own! They write a descriptive paragraph about their candy, then use KidPix to create...
Curated OER
Getting to Know You
Third graders explore different types of poetry and illustrate their own experiences through creating their own poem. In this getting to know you instructional activity, 3rd graders create and recite their poems with a self-portrait.
Curated OER
News Poetry
Third graders select a small item in a newspaper and then dramatize it in a well-constructed poem. They share their poems with the class.
Curated OER
The Time I Got Lost
Third graders go through the writing process but substitute paper and pencil with the computer to create a story about "The Time I Got Lost".
Curated OER
Cloud Haiku
Students listen as a haiku is read by the teacher, determining what season is being portrayed in the poem. Students work together as a class and create a model haiku, then complete a worksheet, completing their own poem. Students will...
Curated OER
Baseball
In this poetry learning exercise, students write a creative poem utilizing each of the first letters in the word baseball on each line and then come up with words that describe baseball using only those letters on each line.
Curated OER
Subject Poetry
Students examine subject poems and brainstorm a list of possible topics for their own poems. They create a poem using the letters of the subject they are writing about to begin each line. Then they present their work to the class.
Curated OER
Haiku Lessons With Feeling
Haiku, a form of Japanese poetry, can provide a way for students to tap into their creative abilities.
Curated OER
Gallery Walk
After reading Mowgli's Brothers, each third grader will choose an animal and write a poetry, in couplet form, for that animal. Then, they complete a black-line drawing of their animal. Consider having learners post both of their finished...
Curated OER
Introducing Communication Talent with "Casey at the Bat"
Analyze the poem "Casey at the Bat." Your team of analysts will read the poem and complete a variety of activities, including describing how Casey looks and acts, describing how he feels before and after he strikes out, and sharing...
Curated OER
Mother's Day Trip
Help your class develop their public speaking skills. They write original scripts for informative infomercials, plays, or poetry. They work to present their information with purpose.