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
The Sound of…Poetry!
Scritch, scratch, scritch. It's the sound of pupils writing poetry! Focus on sensory language and onomatopoeia with a writing lesson. After listening to some sounds, learners examine a couple of poems that include sound words and then...
Curated OER
A Garden of Verses: Poems About Class Gardens
Students explore botany by participating in a language arts activity. In this garden poetry lesson, students read the classic poem "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" and discuss the imagery and rhyming methods used. Students examine their own...
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...
Poetry Society
How do Poets Use Language?
Why do writers choose the language they do? Here's a resource that has the poet himself answer that very question. Joseph Coelho explains why he chose the words and images he used in his poem, "If All the World Were Paper."
Curated OER
Magnet Poetry
Students engage in a lesson that involves the use of imagery in poetry. They select words from poems that are used for imagery. The words are put onto magnets and then used to create new poems filled with imagery. The hands on connection...
Curated OER
Digital Poetry Books
Learners, after reviewing the writing process and assessing how to use a digital camera to take creative photos, create a Digital Poetry Book. They incorporate the use of Microsoft Photo Draw and Publisher for the creation of their...
Curated OER
Giving with Imagination
Demonstrate gift giving as an act of caring about someone versus gifts for show (or gifts from the purse). Elementary learners practice giving gifts from the heart by creating a poem for someone special to them.
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
Sea-ing More Clearly
Explore works of art with your class by engaging them in a variety of artistic activities including papier-mache sculpture, poetry, performance, and more. After viewing and discussing four paintings of the sea by Robert Harris, learners...
Curated OER
Paws in Jobland: Lesson Plan 35 - Catch of the Day
Students study information for fish farm workers given in the form of a chart, in order to practice interpreting data while learning about the career of a fisherman. In this data interpretation lesson plan, students read the chart to...
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
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 lesson, 3rd graders create and recite their poems with a self-portrait.
Curated OER
Awesome Animals
Students collect data from classmates about their favorite animal. They use the ClarisWorks graphing program to enter data, graph results, and interpret data.
Curated OER
Greeting Cards
Students create greeting cards. They listen to verses from various cards and evaluate each one. They research websites of greeting card makers and complete a chart. They discuss themes and ideas in greeting cards and edit their free...
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
Are You Money Smart?
Learners figure out and discuss the irony of this coin-centric poem. They also practice persuasive letter writing, and identify and count coin/money values.
Curated OER
Patriotic Arts: Influencing Canadians At War
Students study how war has shaped Canadian life, patriotism, propaganda, and music. They research primary source documents, novels, videos, and songs before celebrating Remembrance Day.
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
Jean Fritz's American History Series
Students explore children's literature by reading biographies in class. In this history analysis lesson, students read books written by Jean Fritz about the Revolutionary War and discuss the events that led up to the critical moment....
Alabama Learning Exchange
Straight Line Motion
Students examine gravity, mass, and friction. In this speed and motion instructional activity, students investigate how straight line motion is impacted by gravity, mass, and fiction as they participate in a hands-on activity.
Curated OER
Rhythmic Movement Skills
Young scholars explore rhythmic movements. In this performing arts lesson, students create their own movements and then repeat the each others movement. Finally, young scholars create movements to the Haiku generated by the entire class.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: What Makes Poetry? Exploring Line Breaks
This lesson explains how analyzing poetry is a many-layered process. This lesson introduces the special characteristics of poetry and leads students through a look at how poems are structured and why. Includes links to poems and web...