Curated OER
From Formal To Slang
Tenth graders define the term slang, explaining its various social, historical, and racial contexts, so as to articulate when it can be appropriately used as a means of effective communication. They use their own personal slang lexicon,...
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Writing Formal Letters
Help your young writers recognize the importance of composing formal letters. Middle schoolers read letters written by Thomas Jefferson and analyze the components that make it a formal letter. They will then compose their own...
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Breaking News English: Apple Suing Samsung
Why is Apple suing Samsung? Give your English language learners a bit of reading comprehension practice. First, they read the short passage provided, and then they complete 10 activities. There are true or false questions, matching...
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Poet James Whitcomb Riley: Famous in His Own Day
An engaging biography of "Hoosier" poet James Whitcomb Riley serves as a springboard for study of his unique dialect-based verse. Several activities illuminate differences between spoken vernacular and formal language. Learners record...
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Writing - Letters
The basic structure of a useful instructional activity in formal letter writing is here, but there are no procedural details or support materials to implement it. However, the idea is worth pursuing, to help your learners develop a...
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Fantastic Journeys
Middle schoolers design an amusement park attraction based on a fantastic journey from literature, film, or their own imaginations. Each design team must submit a formal proposal. The proposal should include: a two- or three-dimensional...
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Lights, Sounds, Fabrics and Designs: Careers in the World of Design
Students investigate the broad range of jobs that can be found in the world of design. Students explore sound design, language architecture, etc. Students design a resource book and post it on a website for others to share.
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Language Arts: Creating Multimedia Reports
Ninth graders create multimedia presentations about their backgrounds and family heritage. They discover how to use the necessary computer skills and practice them in pairs. Students present their projects to the class and have a general...
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Book Illustrations and Their Illustrators as Artists-K-3
Help learners construct relationships between written narratives and book illustrations, and between the narratives in formal visual art and the subject of the visual art. Look at Caldecott winning books and focus on the pictures drawn....
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The Learning Book
First graders identify, comprehend, and evaluate the content and artistic aspects of oral and visual presentations. Then they participate in formal and informal presentations and discussions of issues and ideas. Students also create...
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Writing a Letter to a Friend
First graders practice their letter writing skills by writing to a fictional character. In this formal writing lesson, 1st graders read the books The Jolly Postman and Frog and Toad are Friends to examine the different parts of a...
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Creating Scrolls Based on the Illustrated Tale of Genji
Now these are learning activities full of fun, art, and cultural exploration. Kids consider the art of storytelling through comic book images. They then look at the Tale of Genji as it was written in the 11th century. They discuss...
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Magazine Production
Analyze magazines as a class, looking carefully for the target audience, advertisements, and topics presented. Small groups then work as a publication team and receive a magazine that they have to "sell." Each individual has a different...
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Exploring Photographs
Learners explore the basic tools for analyzing images using description, reflection, and formal analysis. In this photography analysis lesson, students analyze a photograph as a class and then in small groups. Learners write...
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Creating Scrolls Based on the illustrated TALE OF GENJI
Students identify formal elements that characterize the scroll, work in a variety of media, from traditional to digital, to create their own scrolls, work into digital printout with at least two media, and engage in meaningful critiques...
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Poetry: Serve Warmly and More Often
Students identify the mood and theme associated with the language of poetry. They discuss personal interpretation in small groups, and as a class and * experiment with language and rhythm.
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Elements Picture Assignment
Students identify the basic structural and decorative designs, create examples of line (horizontal/vertical/curved/diagonal), as well as identify and explain the difference between shape and form. Then, they identify and explain the use...
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English
Students view examples of movies and create a movie trailer for an original thematic movie. In this fiction elements lesson, students complete creative event entries and view an abbreviated movie trailer from Alice. Students watch The...
Georgia Department of Education
Exploring Poetry and Poets
Combine the study of poetry and non-fiction texts with this complete and ready-to-use six-week unit. After reading numerous poems from local writers and compiling a personal anthology, high schoolers find and read a memoir or biography...
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Through the Eyes of the Big Bad Wolf
Imagine how the wolf would tell the tale of Little Red Riding Hood or The Three Little Pigs. Young writers re-imagine classic tales by adopting the point of view of another character in the story. After reading models like The True Story...
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Roller Coasters: They're Fun, But Are They Safe?
Students survey people to find out what roller coasters they like, conduct Internet research to find information on dangers in amusement parks, contact experts on subject, and write feature that shows pros and cons of coasters.
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Macbeth News Broadcast
Here is an authentic assessment task for Shakespeare's Macbeth. Young literature scholars prepare, perform, and record a news broadcast about the major events in the play. For example, groups may choose to report on the death of Lady...
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Graphs of the Heart
Students study Greek literature. In this Greek tragedies instructional activity, students explore the dance-dramas of Martha Graham. Students study the choreography that brings ancient Greek literature to life.
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Sondheim: Voice of Cultural Change
High schoolers explore Stephen Sondheim's contributions to musical theatre in the context of the dramatic cultural shift that occurred in American life in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.