Curated OER
Wilderness Lesson Plan
Students investigate the wilderness by reading magazine articles and discussing with their peers. In this wild life instructional activity, students read a page from the Natural Inquirer magazine and examine photographs online of...
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Tell Me That You Love Me 5-7-5
Students listen to several examples of Haiku poetry and discuss the strict format. Then students create and edit their own Haiku poems and enhance them with ink designs.
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Journal Writing
Students examine the published diaries of Anne Frank, or Zlata Filipovic, to gain an appreciation for journal writing, a form of autobiographical writing in which the writer records personal thoughts, feelings, and experiences. They...
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Short and Sweet Science
Readers learn how to summarize scientific text and evaluate the advantages, disadvantages, and challenges in writing summaries. They select science-related articles you've pulled and collected from the New York Times and, with a partner,...
Teaching Tolerance
Journalism for Justice
Roll the presses! Or at least have your class members participate in the time-honored tradition of the student press by creating their own newspapers or journalist pieces on a social problem. After conducting research and collaborating...
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Sports and Hobby Math
Explore math concepts as they relate to real world situations. Young analysts consider a personal hobby or favorite sport and list three ways math is involved in the hobby. They create several related math story problems and write a...
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Keeping Yourself Organized During Writer's Workshop
Writer's Workshop can be a wonderful way to develop a classroom of authors.
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Creative Characterization
Students write a character description journal in which they take on the voice of one of the character's made-up friends or relatives. They write a sketch of that character from the friend or relatives' point of view.
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Myths, Folktales, & Fairy Tales
Srtudents explore the folktale and folklore genres as well as the world of myths. They read myths and folktales to increase knowledge of world cultures and traditions and follow the writing process to create writing in different genres.
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Comic Book Project
Students write a comic. In this writing instructional activity, students discuss comic books and why they continue to be so popular. Students create a comic book using an imaginary character. Students must present a problem and solution...
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Lesson Plan: Before and After a Moment in Time
Think about a moment, frozen in time. Now take a critical look at the painting, Better, Homes, Better Gardens. This painting works to provide learners the opportunity to analyze art, critique artist's choices, and write a story inspired...
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Blogging to Create a Community of Writers #6: Writing a Review
Looking for a good social media lesson for your class? Then, this lesson is for you! They study various written reviews, then must choose an item to review of their choice. They can choose from: a book, restaurant, CD/musical...
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A Picture Says a Thousand Words
Use photographs to trigger memories. Writers use a personal photograph as a starting point for an autobiographical writing exercise. They complete brainstorming activities that have them study their photograph before actually putting pen...
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Same Theme, Different Story Using Fox by Margaret Wild
Middle schoolers work with themes in this instructional activity, which is based on Fox by Margaret Wild. Because the book has multiple themes, it is a great way to transition into exploring literary analysis and writing stories. A Six...
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Writing Workshop: Writing Process
If reading seems to be going out the window due to television or other influences, it follows that writing might be close behind. Here are suggestions for setting up a writing workshop in your classroom to keep writing going strong.
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Audio Aesop: Listen to the Lesson!
Aesop's Fables are the focus of this language arts instructional activity. Young philosophers study and discuss the morals found in the most famous of Aesop's Fables. They write an original fable that teaches a common moral. A "Fable...
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Multi-sensory Writing
Students use their senses to help describe special place they have been. They write short sensory-image essay that incorporate all five of their senses, and identify sensory language while reading different pieces of literature.
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Digital Storytelling
Sixth graders write a creative story and turn it into a digital storybook. For this digital storytelling lesson, 6th graders write a creative story, illustrate the story, and then use computer technology to turn their story and...
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Keeping verb tense consistent (Middle, Reading/Writing)
Middle schoolers improve their personal and academic writing by use of one consistent verb tense.
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Reporting in Letters
Students investigate the cultures and politics of different countries and write radio letters to listeners in those countries modeled after Alistair Cooke's "Letter from America."
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Who am I?
Students develop their writing skills by creating a character sketch about themselves. Students read character sketches, view portraits by famous artists, select one personality traits, and affix a mug shot of themselves into a famous...
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Message in a Bottle
Sixth graders write a short story about being stranded on a deserted island. After a brief geography review of locations at various latitudes and longitudes, 6th graders draft their story about being stranded. They use sensory and...
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Using Personal Pronouns Correctly
Complete personal pronoun practice activities. Pupils use correct personal pronoun form in sentences the teacher writes on the board. They review the function of a pronoun and the various cases and practice placing personal pronouns by...
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Teacher of the Year
Now is the time to identify the great teachers in your school! Discuss the characteristics of persuasive writing and analyze an example. Then, each pupil chooses a teacher who they feel should be named teacher of the year. They plan and...