Curated OER
Citizenship
Students reflect on characteristics of good citizens, examine democratic symbolism, create an award and choose an individual to receive the award as part of this lesson on citizenship. Lesson ties together social studies, language arts,...
Curated OER
Beginning with Bosch
Young scholars explore surrealism through the artwork of Hieronymus Bosch. In this surrealism instructional activity, students understand the characteristics of the art of Bosch and create an original artwork and poem to go with it.
Curated OER
Create a Country
Young scholars work in small groups to list features and elements found on a variety of grade- appropriate maps. They develop a class list of map features and elements to draw from as they create a map of an imaginary country.
Curated OER
Working Together to Improve Our Community
Learners from the fourth grade research a solution to a community problem and converse with eighth graders via email. Eighth graders study the political process and work with the fourth graders to present information to the public to...
Curated OER
The Notorious Hope Diamond: What Makes an American Legend?
Students view and discuss a video on the legend of the Hope Diamond then compare and contrast other tales such as Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill and Johnny Appleseed. They analyze basic characteristics of these legends then use descriptive...
Curated OER
Folklife Around the Year and Around the State
Research how seasonal changes in Louisiana affect learners' lives and the folklife of their communities and the state. They investigate differences in the seasonal round in the regions of Louisiana, including celebrations, festivals,...
Curated OER
Impressionism
Students explore and discuss Impressionism and artists, like Monet and Renoir, who defined the Impressionism Art Movement, choose an artist to research, and create web sites based on their research.
Curated OER
Native Plant Research Project
Students study indigenous plants. They examine why they are special, why some might be threatened, by what forces (pollution, habitat destruction), and what else relies on the continued existence of these plants (insects, animals). They...
Learning to Give
Closing Ceremonies
Promote volunteerism in your art or writing classes. In this service learning lesson plan, middle schoolers create promotional materials that include photographs and newspaper articles based on their personal service experiences in local...
Curated OER
Poetry Prodigies
Students in three classes in different locations become Poetry Prodigies as they use iChat AV and an iSight camera to teach and explore from each other about different poetic styles. They explore six types of poetry are taught:...
Curated OER
Poetry Reading
Students express the ideas of a poem. In this poem dramatization lesson, students analyze poems for meaning studying their descriptive words. Students role play the descriptive language of the poem. Students draw a picture of the...
Curated OER
Earthquake preparation: Acquiring knowledge about different ways to prepare for earthquakes
Students develop critical reading comprehension skills while learning how to be prepared for earthquakes, and list at least three things they can do to prepare for an earthquake.
Curated OER
Being There: Exploring China And Japan
Learners discover the culture, society, geography, and history of Asia through games, food, art, and literature in this multi-day lesson about China and Japan. An exciting lesson for upper-elementary or lower-middle school classrooms.
Curated OER
It's All Greek to Me!
While the ideas for Ancient Greek research are solid, there is little detail to help make your job easier. The focus here is familiarizing your class with online databases and print resources in their school library. After direct...
Curated OER
Horror Tales: What Makes Them Spooky?
Before you jump into this lesson plan, be aware there is little to work with. That being said, the ideas are solid and will be brought to life with a little Halloween spirit. Learners examine horror as a sub-genre, and contemplate what...
Curated OER
Children's Literature Across the Curriculum Ideas-Challenger: America's Space Tragedy
Pupils read Challenger: America's Space Tragedy by MichaelD. Cole. They complete a variety of cross-curricular activities surrounding the study of the Challenger space shuttle tragedy. Included are reading, art, math, science, writing,...
Curated OER
"Spelldown" by Becky Mushko
Learners read Spelldown, by Becky Mushko and consider how it portrays the Appalachian community. They define and discuss vocabulary presented in the story and write a comparison/contrast paper analyzing two of the story's characters. The...
Curated OER
The Princess's Point of View
Everyone wants to be part of a royal family. Let your pupils experience the privilege of royalty by rewriting the story The Frog Prince from the point of view of the princess. While the story line remains the same, perspective is bound...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Poems vs. Lyrics
Combine your pupils' love of music with their growing knowledge of poetry! First, have them bring in their favorite songs for a discussion on word choice and literary devices. Then, use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the...
Curated OER
Blogging
A fun, modern twist on journaling! Instead of responding to prompts in their composition notebook, writers use the Internet to complete blog entries. A sample blog (with prompts) is shown here, and writers are assessed on conventions and...
Curated OER
Identifying Setting: Expository Writing
Your class can take turns describing a well know location or setting without giving its name, and the rest of the class can try to identify the location, based on the details given. They chart the elements that helped in the...
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District
Parts of Speech Pronouns: Building Blocks of Grammar
Pronouns are the most helpful parts of speech! Model the ways that interrogative, indefinite, personal, and demonstrative pronouns can specify meaning and enhance writing with a hands-on activity.
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District
Parts of Speech Verbs: Building Blocks of Grammar
Pupils begin with a brain teaser, take notes, and formatively check understanding with a Chinese proverb. In addition to parts of speech, the resource also includes information about parts of a sentence. Teachers may extend instruction...
Curated OER
Respect: Looks Like, Sounds Like, Feels Like
Sixth graders participate in a question and answer discussion on respect and then complete the "Planning to Use Respect" activity sheet. They describe the senses of a stuffed animal to their peers and assess how respect looks, sounds and...