MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Magical Musical Tour: Using Lyrics to Teach Literary Elements
Language arts learners don't need a lecture about poetry; they listen to poetry every day on the radio! Apply skills from literary analysis to famous songs and beautiful lyrics with a lesson about literary devices. As...
Curated OER
Lesson: That Long Jakes
Cross-media analysis takes time and attention to detail. The class analyzes the painting Long Jakes and the poem "Backward Bill." They pay attention to the similarities and differences in each piece, looking for details that describe the...
Curated OER
Collective Poetry: Teaching Tolerance
Help your class create collective poetry following a simple, engaging model from Teaching Tolerance (tolerance.org). Each young poet writes five things on an index card: sayings from others, favorite sound, favorite place, favorite...
Curated OER
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
Do your young readers know that poems can be performed as a team? They listen to a few examples from Paul Fleischman's book Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, paying attention to how the how readers work together....
Poetry4kids
Simile and Metaphor Lesson Plan
Similes and metaphors are the focus of a poetry lesson complete with two exercises. Scholars read poetry excerpts, underline comparative phrases, then identify whether it contains a simile or metaphor. They then write five...
Curated OER
Text Features of Fiction, Poetry, Drama: Story Matrix
How do novels differ from plays? Explore with your class the text features of fiction and drama by reading The Hidden One: Native American Legend and then performing a reader’s theater script based on the story. Class members create a...
Curated OER
Praise for a Color
Students discover the 5 senses by analyzing poetry. In this poetry lesson, students read a poem with their class and analyze how each sense plays into their understanding of the poem. Students write a poem based on a specific...
Curated OER
Identifying Text Features of a Self-Written Fable
Make learning the parts of a book fun by having pupils construct their own glossary entries, table of contents, and title page. Beginning with a review of text features and a hunt for examples, kids use previously written fables to...
Curated OER
Preparation -- The Right Way to Help and FOrm for Poetic Reflection
Learners prepare for their service learning project by listening to a representative from the Lake Michigan Federation. They volunteer their time to clean up the coast line. They reflect on the event by writing a poem about their...
Curated OER
Rudyard Kipling's "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi": Mixing Fact and Fiction
"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," from The Jungle Book, offers young readers a chance to examine how Rudyard Kipling uses setting and personification to bring to life the brave mongoose who battles cobras to protect his family. Class members...
Curated OER
Landforms
Young scholars study how landforms affect all aspects of a community. Students work in groups to identify landforms from other works of art. In cooperative groups Young scholars select a work of art depicting a particular land form and...
Curated OER
Science: Suddenly Snow
Young scholars engage in snow-related activities during the first winter snowfall. After explaining the elements needed for it to snow, they preserve snowflakes on frozen slides and observe them under a microscope. Then, they write...
Curated OER
About Life: The Photographs of Dorthea Lange - Images of Children in Dorothea Lange's Photographs
Students examine how visual artists tell stories with their work. In this visual art lesson, students study two of Dorothea Lange's photographs to find elements of art and narrative content, use descriptive language when discussing...
Curated OER
Getting Down and Dirty: An Exploration of the 1930's
Learners complete an exploration of the 1930s. Using artwork and primary source documents, they compare, contrast and identify cause and effect relationships in the events of the decade. They discover how the events then affect people...
Curated OER
Literature Study Contracts
Students complete activities with a leveled chapter book. In this literature lesson, students read a novel and complete several graphic organizers and activities as they read. They focus on characters, settings, vocabulary, and plot.
Curated OER
Weather Words
Third graders gather together as a class and share any facts or words about the science unit "Weather Elements". They listen to the story/poem, "Listen to the Rain" and recall any weather related words from the story.
Curated OER
Using Scholastic News to Introduce the Net
Third graders log on to the net, type in the address for Scholastic and browse the subjects for the week. They select one area of interest and generate five interesting facts about the article.
ArtsNow
Arts Now Learning: Realizing the Power of Your Own Creativity [Pdf]
In this lesson, students interpret a poem called 'The Little Blue Engine' by adding music, movement, visual art, and drama. After performing their creation, they will discuss any mathematical and/or scientific connections that have a...