Curated OER
Writing Short Stories: The Fun Way
Do your young authors suffer from writer's block when they try to write short stories? Access their natural creativity with C-Gor, the writing monster! The instructional activity takes aspiring authors through a new writing process...
Scholastic
Smart Quotes Mini-Lesson
Prepare for an interview project with a set of worksheets about asking questions and quoting people. After completing a grammar exercise about quotation marks, kids write out the questions they want to ask their interviewee, and record...
Curated OER
The Mark Twain Project at the Principia School
Students read and write an analysis of The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn and write a paper on another Twain literary piece. In this Mark Twain lesson, students select a Mark Twain literary piece to write an analysis paper for the work....
National First Ladies' Library
Mark Twain's America
Students read Huckleberry Finn, analyze text for historical contexts, and write book report emphasizing historical elements, type report comparing and contrasting events in book to events of today, create Powerpoint presentation...
Curated OER
Getting to Know You
After going over the five steps of the writing process, pupils fill out "Getting to Know You" worksheets. They trade papers with each other, and have the task of writing a descriptive paragraph about the person whose worksheet they...
Curated OER
"Taming the Bicycle"
Eighth graders discuss invention of bicycle and early obstacles to riding, listen to and discuss short story "Taming the Bicycle" by Mark Twain, define vocabulary words from story, and create and present humorous "how to" project to...
Curated OER
All That's Fit To Print
Students use an editor's checklist to help them proofread examples of other students writing, then edit a worksheet embedded in the plan. In this writing and editing lesson, students look for capitalization, spelling, and grammatical...
Curated OER
Frame Story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"
Mark Twain's frame story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" provides an opportunity for a study of this story-within-a-story pattern. Using an illustrated template, class members record a plot summary of the frame story...
Curated OER
Grouchy Ladybug
Second graders listen to a read aloud of Eric Carle's, The Grouchy Ladybug and do a rewrite using a software program. They create an original graphic, insert text boxes, keyboard sentences and set time on a clock face while writing a...
Curated OER
Paper Bag Book Report
Students read books and write a unique kind of book report. For this literature lesson, students use paper bags to construct projects about the books they read. Students present their projects to the class.
Curated OER
Music Video
Learners explore songs that tell stories over various decades and create a Garage band track for their voice. In this story song lesson, students create a video for their song group. Learners present a proposal to their...
Curated OER
All About My School
Students construct a website with several links to pages they create. The site weaves logo titles, photos, animation, and textured backgrounds created and edited in PhotoShop into pages created using Dreamweaver software. The project...
Curated OER
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...
Sharp School
US Geography Landmark Commercial
Experience famous geographical landmarks around the United States right from the comfort of your very own classroom. Learners research national landmarks, such as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, and Niagara Falls, and then...
Curated OER
What's In A Name
Second graders read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. They then discuss where various names come from. They create a individualized biopoem and publish it on word processing software. Their poems are compiled into a class book and presented...
Curated OER
County Chronicles
Students review and use the information from previous lessons about their county. In groups, they write articles for various sections of a class newspaper. They review and edit each others work and publish their newspaper using a desktop...
Curated OER
Turning on Your Light
Students identify philanthropy in a character in "To Kill A Mockingbird". They describe the philanthropic acts in the novel and chart their findings. They write about the character and have their classmates peer edit the paper.
Curated OER
Publishing a Group Book
Students examine various alphabet books. They write several sentences for their assigned letter of the alphabet, type them onto a word processing program, and create an illustration for a class alphabet book.
Curated OER
Small Group Acting: Enlivening Canadian History
Tenth graders research the elements of Canadian identity and history. They analyze and organize the information. They investigate the concept of Small Group Acting, storyboarding, and writing a good script.
Curated OER
Boundaries That Inspire: The Sestina
Pupils study the poetic term "enjambment". They use one word as more than one part of speech and let words (instead of ideas) inspire lines and non-sequential, dreamlike, compulsive narrative.
Curated OER
Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Lesson: Immigration
Many of your class members will have heard of Executive Order 9066 and the Japanese internment camps of World War II. Some may even recognize the terms “Issei” and “Nisei,” but few will have heard of Enemy Alien Hearing Boards, of the...
Curated OER
The Poetics of Hip Hop
The Bard, Nikki Giovanni, Mos Def? “Sonnet 18,” Ego Tripping,” and “Black on Both Sides”? Sure! It’s the poetics. Class members compare the lyrics, rhythm, and rhyme in classic poetry to hip-hop in a richly detailed resource that...
Curated OER
Composer/Musician Study
Students research a musician or composer of their choice and present their research through a written paper and free choice activity. This lesson can be done over the course of five to six classes with some homework. The paper...
Curated OER
Show You Care
Learners construct a four-line poem to be used on the inside of a Valentine's Day card. They use a digital camera to show themselves to their "buddies" (local nursing home patients) who receive the cards on Valentine's Day.