Louisiana Department of Education
Essential Elements Cards
Use essential elements cards to help lesson plan! Each card contains an informational text common core standard for grade levels six through eight and suggestions for activities and supports. Cards address skills such as citing textual...
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Haunted Houses"
Learners read and analyze Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Haunted Houses." They define key vocabulary terms, discuss the poem's technical aspects, and create an original poem about a haunted house or a haunted place.
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Emotion Similes
Students define what a simile is before writing a poem that is based primarily on similes. They brainstorm and write the poem using the give format. They write drafts, revise and present a final poem.
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What Is Haiku
Middle schoolers engage in a instructional activity that is concerned with the study of poetry while focusing on Haiku as a format. They practice reading a variety of different pieces of literature in order to increase exposure. Students...
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Hope Child Theme
In this Language Arts worksheet, students answer 4 questions about the theme of the novel Home Child. For example, "What hope do you think Mrs. Fellowes has for Arthur?"
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Cesar Chavez Biopoem
Students demonstrate their learning about Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union by writing a biopoem. They word process the poem.
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Poetry: What's on Your Plate (Part 2)
Students write a short paragraph using strong descriptions. In this using modifiers lesson, students define modifier, adjective, adverb, metaphor, and simile. Students then write a journal entry in which they write about a...
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Experiencing Nature
Students create their own landscapes based on the topography of their region after studying the artwork of Cincinnati-based artist William Sonntag and other "Hudson River School" artists.
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The Cay: Biopoem
Theodore Taylor's The Cay provides the text for an assignment that asks each reader to craft a biopoem for one of the characters.
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The Coffee House
Students study and write poetry. In this poetry project, students read, analyze, and produce poetry. Students examine and analyze fifteen poems and at the culmination of the unit, perform one of their poems for an audience.
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Bluebottle
Students read the poem Bluebottle and discuss the use of the simile in the poem. In this Bluebottle poetry lesson, students analyze the use of verbs and the energy created by that use. Students text mark all the similes in...
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Humans and the Natural World Poetically
Students read poetry for gist and find images to create a visual narrative. For this poetry lesson, students read Green Lane and Flies and Nettles to examine the relationship between humanity and the nature. Students reflect...
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Andy Warhol/Digital Self-Portraits
Students research the life and art of Andy Warhol and create a digitally manipulated photographic self-portrait. Students conclude the assignment by writing a poem to describe the point-of-view taken in their digital photo.
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My Symbol
Students paint a symbol representing themselves. In this painting lesson students discuss symbols and view the Interpretive Wall. Students write a poem to generate their personal symbol.
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Where the Sidewalk Transcends
Learners use titles of Shel Silverstein poems to generate their own poetry for Students. Each student then compares his or her poem to the Shel Silverstein poem of the same title.
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Stanza Proud
Students examine different decades in American history, finding connections between the historical events and the poetry written during these time periods. They write their own poetry based on current world events.
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Our City, Our Words
Students write poetry that captures their feelings about their city or town. After presenting their poetry at a class reading students compare their poetry to the work of published poets who have written about the same city.
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Learning through The Duke
Students examine the important contributions made by Duke Ellington to the field of jazz, as well as some of the factors that led to his involvement in the field. As they explore the language of the 1920's, connections will be drawn...
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The Last Meow
Students explore the popular culture phenomenon of the musical 'Cats' and the T.S. Eliot poems that were its inspiration. They write original poems about animals, and read them aloud to their peers.
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Painting Portraits with Words
Students examine how an exhibition of an author's writings can become a portrait or biography of that author . They work in small groups, analyzing various poems by Yeats.
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Words of Deep Meaning
Students create their own poems to express a deep feeling or transformative experience, then write imaginary letters to people in the article, responding to their poetry and sharing their own creative process.
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Silhouettes and Interiors
Middle schoolers create a multimedia piece that integrates drawing and collage. Students learn about metacognition and the discovering of self through genres of art and literature by using these steps: inspiration, brainstorm,...
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How I Became Me
Students examine their own identities and read about the experiences of adopted Chinese daughters celebrating the Jewish rite of passage, the bat mitzvah. They write personal poems or speeches illustrating how their identities evolved.
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Versed on the Disadvantaged
Learners reflect on what it means to help those in need, then read and analyze poetry that illustrates the struggle of poor people. They create collages connecting current issues of poverty with poets' experiences.