Curated OER
Borrowing Narrative Skills from Mr. Fletcher: Using a "Prompts in Reverse" Technique to Inspire Your Writers
Help your class find their writing voices with this lesson which uses the work of Ralph Fletcher to guide a "Prompt in Reverse" activity. Using the chapter "First Pen" from Fletcher's Marshfield Dreams, learners decipher what they...
Curated OER
A BIOGRAPHICAL JOURNEY: USING THE LITTLE PRINCE TO EXPLORE BIOGRAPHY & CREAIVE WRITING
Students integrate Author and Biography study with Students personal perspective. They make connections between research and creative writing. Students enrich research and critical thinking skills. They encourage students to think about...
Curated OER
Personal Narrative
Students explore personal stories by investigating narrative writing. In this nonfiction writing lesson, students participate in a workshop in which they write three events from their own life. Students write first drafts of these...
Weebly
Holocaust Diary Project
Here is a good interdisciplinary project that combines creative and narrative writing with studies of the Holocaust. Your young historians will compose a diary of experiences from the perspective of an individual living during the time...
Ford's Theatre
How Perspective Shapes Understanding of History
The Boston Massacre may be an iconic event in American history, but perhaps the British soldiers had another point of view. Using primary sources, including reports from Boston newspapers and secondary sources from the British...
Nationhood
Telling Stories: Narratives of Nationhood
Three lessons make up a unit on the birth of Canada. Learners in the third grade will analyze famous works of art, research historical events, and discuss the role women played in the early development of Canada. Writing, history, and...
Curated OER
The Palm of My Heart: Poetry By African American Children
Elementary students explore African American culture by reading children's poetry. They read the book, The Palm of My Heart which features poetry by an assortment of young African American boys and girls. Students define several...
American Immigration Law Foundation
No Pretty Pictures
Here is a nice set of activities and discussion questions to accompany your class reading of No Pretty Pictures, a memoir of a young girl's experiences and struggle for survival during the Holocaust.
Curated OER
Writing Up a Spanish Storm: Using Creative Thinking for Creative Writing
Students in a Spanish class are introduced to the techniques of creative writing. In groups, they focus on the pre-writing section of creative writing and keep a folder of their works throughout the lesson. They end the lessons by...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 18: Art Project! Design Your Own Book Cover
Finished your novel? What’s next? Designing the book cover, of course. But how to begin? After examining the covers of published books and noting the common elements of these jackets, young novelists design a front and back cover for...
Curated OER
If I Were the Wind
Eighth graders are introduced to authors in the conservation community. As a class, they describe a personal experience they have had with nature. They identify examples of an author's descriptive writing techniques and answer questions...
Curated OER
Life Cycle of Butterfly
Second graders investigate life cycles of insects by writing a story. In this butterfly life lesson, 2nd graders create a checklist of the many steps a caterpillar takes before growing wings and flying. Students utilize creative...
Curated OER
A Whole Lotta Changin' Goin' On
Here's a fabulous lesson on the life cycle of a butterfly. Youngsters are able to identify and understand the four stages of life. They construct models of a caterpillar and write a sequence story about the life of a butterfly. This...
Curated OER
Bubble and Boyle
Even middle schoolers still enjoy experimenting with bubbles! They execute a series of experiments enabling them to distinguish between convex and concave surfaces, explore the properties of buoyancy, surface tension, and density,...
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Comparing Regimes: Critical Reading of Memoirs and Experiences from Totalitarian Regimes
Can you imagine living in a totalitarian country? Learners will read several primary source memoirs to gain a deeper understanding of what life is like under a controlled government. They'll discuss each piece in pairs, research...
Curated OER
In Hiding: A Choiceless Choice of the Holocaust
Students read various examples of children who lived in hiding during the Holocaust. Using the texts, they identify commonalities between the children and create a timeline of events. They read a first person narrative of hiding and...
Curated OER
Who Gets to Invent and How Do Inventors Change Our Lives?
Students examine the way various inventions have changed their lives. As a class, they create a timeline of the most important inventions during their lifetime and another timeline of how old they were when it was invented. ...
Curated OER
From My Point of View
Second graders read a story from an online picture book. After reading the story, they pretend to be Gilbert, one of the main characters and create a narrative to accompany the illustrations. They compare their narrative with that of...
Curated OER
Ugly? Says Who?
Students explore biology by writing animal poetry in class. In this animal characteristics lesson plan, students research the Internet for facts about an "ugly" animal such as a bug or small critter. Students complete worksheets about...
Curated OER
Swirling, Twirling, Glistening Jewels... Glass Art In Words
Students examine the art form of the glass sculpture. After viewing a three dimensional object, they write creatively describing the object through the use of metaphors. They use peer editing to check for grammatical and spelling errors.
Curated OER
Retelling Nursery Rhymes
Fourth graders explore language arts by reciting a famous nursery rhyme to their classroom. In this oral storytelling lesson, 4th graders read the story "The Three Little Pigs" and identify the characters, setting and story. Students...
Curated OER
We Garden: My Life as a Fruit or Vegetable
Students explore agriculture by participating in a role-play activity. In this farm to fork lesson, students ask and answer questions as though they were a specific plant about to be eaten. Students write responses to critical thinking...
Curated OER
Rain Forest
Young scholars discover three aspects of the rain forest. They describe the people, animals, and vegetation in the rain forest. They identify the changes the rain forest has gone through and the reasons behind the changes. They choose...
Curated OER
Who am I?
Students practice their writing skills by creating a character sketch of themselves. After viewing portraits, they select one personality trait and put their own picture into the painting of their choice. They include a conversation with...