Curated OER
Thomas Jefferson Lesson
Students demonstrate reading comprehension skills, including reading strategies, inference, literal meaning, and critical analysis.
Curated OER
All About Reptiles
Students examine different kinds and characteristics of reptiles, and demonstrate reading comprehension skills, including reading strategies, inference, literal meaning, and critical analysis.
Curated OER
Habitat Lesson
Students students explore animal habitats, and demonstrate reading comprehension skills, including reading strategies, inference, literal meaning, and critical analysis.
Curated OER
Civil War: The North History Lesson
Students demonstrate their reading comprehension skills, including reading strategies, inference, literal meaning, and critical analysis.
Curated OER
The Jigsaw Strategy: Students Put Pieces of Reading Together
Students demonstrate the jigsaw strategy by individually reading different selections of a text, and then coming together to share what they have learned.
Curated OER
Spinning My Tale
Begin writing personal narratives in this writing lesson. Junior high writers start by writing a journal about their favorite holiday. They read a book at their skill level and use graphic organizers to record their ideas for writing....
Curated OER
"Blackbeard's Ghost" Differentiated Lesson Plan
Develop a better understanding of "Blackbeard's Ghost" with this differentiated lesson. Working in groups on a creative project, middle schoolers can reinforce their reading comprehension and literary analysis skills. Use this...
Novelinks
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle: Writing Response
Prior to reading chapter 15 of the book, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, examine the painting, Shipwrecked by Edward Moran, and respond to the feelings that arise within and how it relates to the characters of...
Curated OER
Hoot: Vocabulary Squares
Study the vocabulary from Carl Hiaasen's Hoot with an activity featuring synonyms and antonyms. Kids fill in a graphic organizer for each word, prompting critical thinking as they find additional ways to put the word into context.
Curated OER
Peter and the Starcatchers: Anticipation Guide
Pique your pupils' interest before reading Peter and the Starcatchers with an anticipation guide. Given a list of 10 statements, learners choose true or false based on what they think the book is about. They then discuss in small...
Curated OER
Biopoem: Ender's Game
Here's an activity designed to encourage character analysis. Readers craft a biopoem for a character in Orson Scott Cards' popular science fiction novel Ender's Game.
Curated OER
The Iliad
Explore ancient warfare through a dramatic reading of select portions of The Iliad with your class. They will identify the major characters in The Iliad and explain the strategies, external forces, and alliances of the Trojan War
Curated OER
Proofreading: Lesson 2
Identify and develop strategies for proofreading with your class. They read and identify the grammar rules for capitalization, end punctuation, and commas, correct errors as a class, and complete three worksheets. This resource includes...
Curated OER
Mayan Myths/Folktales
Middle schoolers work on summarizing a story, and they determine if it is a legend, a myth, or a fable. Working in groups to read and summarize stories, they then list evidence whether the tale is a myth, fable, or...
Curated OER
Tuck Everlasting
Clearly written as an assignment for a higher-level education class, this formal lesson plan contains some fun and well-researched strategies for teaching the novel Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. Among the best ideas...
Curated OER
Dinosaur Tracks and Critical Thinking
Get your young scientists excited about geology through the study of dinosaur tracks! They will use their power of observation to learn how tracks are made and use critical thinking strategies to suggest a scenario in which they were...
Curated OER
Quilt Squares-Literature Reporting
Differentiate instruction with this crafty approach to demonstrating comprehension. Learners choose a fictional book at their reading level, and afterward create a quilt square. The square is "decorated" with words, illustrations, and...
Cornell University
Constructing and Visualizing Topographic Profiles
Militaries throughout history have used topography information to plan strategies, yet many pupils today don't understand it. Scholars use Legos and a contour gauge to understand how to construct and visualize topographic profiles. This...
Curated OER
Random Acts of Kindness For Kids
Develop a world-wide, email chain on which class members can showcase their acts of kindness. After defining the meaning of random acts of kindness through discussion and through a reading of Random Acts of Kindness,...
Curated OER
The Physics of Flight
Three activities allow young flight engineers to understand the 4 principles of flight (weight, lift, thrust, and drag), to construct a glider, and to create a propeller. Multicultural history and literature are integrated by reading...
Virginia Department of Education
Identifying Audience and Purpose
Use a fun and creative activity to introduce junior high learners to how writing changes for different audiences and purposes. The activity begins with a reading by the instructor where teens visualize a food fight in the cafeteria. In...
Curated OER
Detective Fiction: Focus On Critical Thinking
Turn your 6th graders into detectives while growing their love of reading. Using critical thinking skills, they will be able to describe the five basic elements of detective fiction, read detective novels, make predictions, use the...
Curated OER
The Human Body
A 'People Scavenge' activity gets students out of their seat and in search for their peers, in order to discover differences among themselves. Prior to the hunt, students will complete a skit based on a portion of the Bible. The students...
Curated OER
Using Games to Reinforce Vocabulary Development in English Language Learners
Practical ways to implement games and activities into whole-class and sheltered English language development time.