Alabama Learning Exchange
A Study of Plants
Pupils study and become familiar with parts of a plant by using multi-media resources. They publish a story about plants using a word processing program and include new plant vocabulary that they have learned.
Curated OER
Photojournalism and composition
Students explore photos they find desirable. They read the section of the book, How to Take Great Photographs With Any Camera, by Jerry Hughes, on Composition. They discuss, the Rule of Thirds, Hot Spots, Framing, and Cropping.
Turabian Teacher Collaborative
Parts of Argument II: Article Critique
Break down the parts of argumentative writing with a critical thinking activity. High schoolers read an article of your (or their choice), and use a graphic organizer to delineate the ways the author structures his or her arguments.
Curated OER
Twisted Tales
Experience how a story can drastically change when the point of view is altered. Young scholars first read a review of Disney's film Tarzan, focusing on how the point of view in the classic story is important. They then select another...
Curated OER
Photographic Memories
Explore how photographs can represent a whole story to a viewer. Middle schoolers work on narrative writing techniques in this lesson, focusing on photographs from the New York Times to write first-person descriptive narratives....
Curated OER
Campaign Trailblazers
Explore the backgrounds, qualifications, and platforms of the presidential candidates for the 2000 election. Though the lesson is outdated, the activities within the informational text could be good practice for your young learners as...
Curated OER
Facing the Ghosts of Our Past
A reading of a New York Times review of the movie Beloved launches research into how the Civil War affected the lives of people living during this period. Creative thinkers select a person from an included list of historical figures and...
Curated OER
Health Conscious?
What is your attitude on health and illness? By considering their own experiences, students will reflect on and discuss their attitudes toward health and illness while educating each other by researching illnesses in small groups,...
Curated OER
Hey, Teacher, Leave My Kids Alone
What are the differences between homeschooling, traditional schooling, and unschooling? Middle and high schoolers examine the opinions of their peers on these varied types of education. After reading a New York Times article, they...
Curated OER
Get in the Newspaper Habit
Dive into journalism with your high schoolers! The resources provided here will help your learners write unbiased, clear, and succinct newspaper articles. First they spend time sifting through stacks of articles, filling out a graphic...
Candace Fleming
Ben Franklin’s Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman’s Life
Candace Fleming's award winning Ben Franklin's Almanac is the anchor text for a classroom guide that provides teachers with a cache of pre, during, and post-reading activities.
Curated OER
Creating Bloggers
Blogs provide the motivation for this richly detailed writing instructional activity. After viewing blogs on various websites, class members pick topics, create a blog, and post an entry. Your bloggers then evaluate their work using...
Valhalla Free Union School District
End of the Year Writing Portfolio Project
Ask class members to reflect on their year-long writing experience by creating a portfolio of their work. Here's a resource that details what should be included in such a portfolio, and provides a rubric that can be used to assess the...
Curated OER
Art of Illustration: N.C. Wyeth and Literacy
High school artists observe and research the illustrations and techniques of N.C. Wyeth. They read (and reread) stories and illustrate the texts using methods inspired by Wyeth's practice. Includes detailed instructional plan and useful...
Curated OER
Understanding Plagiarism--Worksheet 1
Understanding plagiarism is the goal of this worksheet. After reading the two definitions of plagiarism listed on the sheet, class members decide whether the eight listed scenarios constitute plagiarism. Their responses are used to...
Curated OER
Party, Party, Party!
Learners explore social situations by participating in a role play activity. In this student psychology lesson, students identify the different social situations they will enjoy as they grow older including weddings, housewarming...
Curated OER
Primary vs. Secondary Sources Notes
What’s the difference between primary and secondary source materials? Here’s a handout, designed as a reference for learners, that does a good job of distinguishing between primary and secondary source materials and providing examples of...
Curated OER
Parts-of-Speech Tall Tales
Here is a lesson that can work for virtually any grade level! Pupils study parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, proper nouns, and adverbs. They create fill in the blank tall tails on a web page for their classmates to complete.
Curated OER
Ten Prompts for Student Writing
Build writing skills and creative thinking. Writers are given a variety of thought-provoking writing prompts to choose from. After they choose what they will write about they share their pieces with the class.
Curated OER
Research, Writing, and the 'Isms'
Students research an art style. They create an original short story, poem, or personal essay and illustrate the written work with the style of art they researched.
Curated OER
Safe In the City
Students read a report about the most dangerous cities in America. Using the internet, they research their own community in regards to how safe it is. They interview local law enforcement and determine the degree of local danger. They...
Curated OER
Subordination Worksheet 1
In this grammar instructional activity, students practice combining several short sentences in fifteen groups of sentences into one effective simple or complex sentence.
Curated OER
I'm The Taxman!
Students develop an understanding of how federal revenues are gained by taxes. This foundation enable students to decipher changes in federal tax policy. Groups of students study different types of taxes and prepare presentations on each...
Curated OER
King Arthur: Man or Legend
Learners research the Legend of King Arthur. In this King Arthur activity, students explore him as he is presented in stories, poems, and art. Learners compare and contrast the real life of King Arthur versus the man in legends and...