Penguin Books
An Educator's Guide to Al Capone Does My Shirts
It's hard to imagine that life on Alcatraz could be dull. A series of intriguing lessons take readers through the novel Al Capone Does my Shirts. Pre-reading questions introduce the text and a range of suggestions, from comic strips to...
Curated OER
Dear Diary
Students analyze a piece of writing by creating diary entries based on a character. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read an assigned book with their classmates and create a sketch of what they believe the main character...
Curated OER
Color My World Grey and Blue
Can colors help to convey a mood in writing? Explore this question with your class using the songs "Grey Street" by the Dave Matthews Band and "Blu is a Mood" by Blu Cantrell. After analyzing the effect of the color words in these songs...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Poems vs. Lyrics
Combine your pupils' love of music with their growing knowledge of poetry! First, have them bring in their favorite songs for a discussion on word choice and literary devices. Then, use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Soldier: Experiencing the Battle of Franklin
Fighting a war over home soil makes a living nightmare even more real. Class members describe the experience of a Civil War soldier during the Battle of Franklin, poised right at a major turning point of the war, after researching the...
Curated OER
Go Away, Big Green Monster! Activities
Students participate in art, math, writing, and science activities to realize they have nothing to fear from monsters. They make masks, shape monsters, toast monsters and monster cookies. They complete monster math problems and make...
Curated OER
Rooster's Night Out
Students explore folktales. In this folktale lesson, students listen to a story from another country and discuss the characters. Students retell the story using puppets and do coloring sheets. Students do a sequencing cut and paste...
Curated OER
High School Poetry Writing Workshop
Students are given an on-screen overview of the Poetry Writing Workshop, including how to access and navigate the 2Learn Site and the web page, prior to signing up for the workshop or commencing work on the site.
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
We Are All Authors: Create a Book
Every child is an author with this engaging reading activity. First the class reviews the various parts of a book such as the title, author, dedication, and author-biography. Then each individual will choose a story of their own to...
Curated OER
A Monster of a Metaphor
What do Jeep advertisements and Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath have in common? They both employ the art of the extended metaphor! Using the Six-Trait Writing model, learners begin to work on their own extended metaphors. Development...
Curated OER
Young People and Television
Middle schoolers explore communication by participating in a role playing lesson. In this media analysis lesson, students answer surveys about their own television watching habits and compare them to the rest of the class. Middle...
Curated OER
Task: Miniature Golf
"Fore!" All right, no one really yells this out in miniature golf, but this well-defined activity will have your charges using lots of numbers in their unique design of a miniature golf hole. Included in the activity criteria is the...
Curated OER
Access Ramp
Just about every public building that your students are familiar with has an access ramp which complies with ADA requirements. As it turns out, designing such a ramp is an excellent activity to incorporate slope, the Pythagorean Theorem,...
Curated OER
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses
Second graders use literature journals and discussion groups to summarize and improve their reading comprehension. In this reading skills lesson, 2nd graders discuss animals they've loved and read the story The Girl Who Loved Wild...
Curated OER
The Big Circle
Students explore geography by participating in a mapping activity. In this concentric ring lesson, students utilize a poster board, string and markers to identify their current location within the entire world. Students write about their...
Curated OER
Let's Sing, Read, and Write
Students sing and read the old favorite song Wheels on the Bus, and write new song text for a poster and a class book.
Curated OER
Paragraph Writing
Third graders receive Gummi hamburgers. They discuss parts and structure of a (real) hamburger. Students dissect the gummi hamburger and rearrange the pieces. Students discuss the problems that would be caused by this with a real...
Curated OER
Brown Paper Bag Family Memories
Students collect a variety of objects that represent a family memories. The objects are and the variety of family experiences that they represent are shared with their classmates. Speaking, drawing, and writing activities ar4 developed...
Curated OER
Persuasion in Print
Advertisers target teenagers. Groups select three magazine advertisements for similar products, analyze the appeals used in each, create a poster that features the persuasive techniques used, and present their findings to the class. The...
Curated OER
Mini Me Society Economy Those Doggone Resumes
Third graders practice writing resumes. In this resume lesson plan, 3rd graders discover the attributes of resumes, complete an activity that exhibits their likes, and write their own resume as they follow the model provided in a...
Curated OER
Editing
Explore the writing process by reviewing previously written work. First, middle schoolers analyze a handout in which they must read the text and correct the mistakes with an editing checklist. They proofread their editing and share their...
Curated OER
In the Winter
Students are read a book about winter activities. They create a drawing of their favorite activity to do in the winter and practice copying a sentence telling what it is.
Curated OER
The Tempest: Picture Poems
Learners, in pairs, write descriptive poems of selected images of The Tempest using vocabulary from a word bank. They pass the poems only to other groups and then they attempt to draw an image solely based on the poem.