Curated OER
Using Drama to Examine Communities: Walking in Others' Shoes
Encourage your readers to make connections between texts with this resource. After compiling notes for each text read (you choose the texts), groups craft skits in which major characters from each text meet. There is a rubric for the...
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...
Curated OER
Theater: Create a Script
Figurative language is the focus in the book Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia. After reading Peggy Parish's book, class members dramatize idioms from the text, using dramatic strategies such as characterization, exaggeration, and...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - The Platinum-Blond Man
Before reading Chapter Six, "The Platinum-Blond Man" in Matilda, readers preview the illustration of Mrs. Wormwood dropping her plate of food, and think about what may have happened to cause the scene. After reading the chapter, class...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - The Third Miracle
Magnus takes a visit to the classroom in the 20th chapter of Matilda. Or does he? After reading, learners interview the person in the hot seat to get a detailed account of what happened during this chapter. Then, they write individual...
Curated OER
Interpreting Dramatic Works
Action! Delve into character development in the play Fences by August Wilson, setting the stage for learners to analyze character nuances. Thespians choose a scene from the script, responding with a written account of the...
Curated OER
Kumeyaay Indians
Useful for literary analysis, citing textual evidence, or summary skills, this activity about the Kumeyaay Indians would be a good addition to your language arts class. Middle schoolers read novels and summarize the literature in their...
Curated OER
Forensics 101
Students interpret how to communicate information and ideas in ways that are appropriate to the purpose and audience through spoken, written, and graphic means of expression. They use information-gathering techniques, analyze and...
Curated OER
Signing a Poem
Young scholars interpret poetry though movement. In this poetry lesson students take a poem they've previously read and discussed in class and work in pairs to develop gestures for each line.
Curated OER
Exploring American Tall Tales
Students explore elements of American folktales and tall tales. In this literature instructional activity, students read examples of American folktales and tall tales and prepare a monologue or news report to present to the class based...
Curated OER
Tell Me A Foreign Language Story
Students practice retelling a simple story representative of the country where the target language is spoken: French, German, or Spanish. Given a worksheet with story details, students fill in missing details and rearrange details to...
Curated OER
Four Contemporary Mexican and Chicano Plays-An Analysis
Students read use their five senses to discover Chicano plays.
Curated OER
Bill Irwin: All in a Day's Work
Middle schoolers research and examine the various roles needed to put on a major drama production. Using this information, they role play one of these different responsibilities. As a class, they perform a play of their choosing and...
Curated OER
Street People
Students research homelessness including how people end up living on the streets and other related issues such as government response and charity. Using their research, students engage in improvisation, role-plays and monologues on the...
Gwinnett County Public Schools
Analysis of the Tuck Everlasting and The Birchbark House Text Exemplars
Looking to introduce some text-based questions into your ELA lessons? Practice the kinds of skills the Common Core demands with the seven text-based questions and the essay prompt provided here. Designed to be a three-day lesson, day one...
Curated OER
The Youth Criminal Justice Act
Students review the Youth Criminal Justice Act and examine the consequences for young people who commit crimes. They investigate the rehabilitation and reintegration processes associated with the act.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan for Waiting to Waltz: A Childhood by Cynthia Rylant
Sixth graders examine the elements of writing poetry. In this creative writing lesson, 6th graders discuss a book of poetry in the setting of Appalachia. Students incorporate childhood experiences into the development of visual and...
Curated OER
Narrative Pantomime: The Great Kapok Tree
Students pantomime the story of The Great Kapok Tree for younger students. For this The Great Kapok Tree lesson, students warm up with a game before volunteering for parts in the story. Students practice acting out the story in...
Curated OER
Current Events Activity
Students investigate world news and create a performance from their research. In this current events instructional activity, students identify major political or news stories in the media and create a performance based on a...
Curated OER
Presenting... the Prime Ministers of Canada
Students access the First Among Equals website and research Canadian Prime Ministers.