National Endowment for the Humanities
Mark Twain and American Humor
“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is famous, in part, because it established a uniquely American form of humor. For this famous story, Mark Twain combines the tall-tale, the dialect story, and satire. Here is a resource...
Curated OER
Using Comic Strips to Teach the Use of Quotation Marks
Learners identify when and why quotations are used. Using comic strips and speech bubbles, they read and discuss examples of quotation marks, and in pairs write text for a cartoon on a piece of paper using quotation marks around the...
Curated OER
Candy Heart Stories
Learners will write stories using the words that are found on candy conversation hearts. They show the proper use of quotation marks while writing the stories with modifications. Randomly, hearts will be selected to start a conversation...
National Museum of the American Indian
The A:Shiwi (Zuni) People: A Study in Environment, Adaptation, and Agricultural Practices
Discover the connection of native peoples to their natural world, including cultural and agricultural practices, by studying the Zuni people of the American Southwest. This lesson includes examining a poster's photographs, reading...
Curated OER
Concept: Superstition
Students identify the role of superstition in their own lives, in society, and in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In this superstition lesson, students discuss urban legends and listen to a related song to introduce the topic....
Curated OER
Up Close and Personal with Black Bayou Lake
Middle schoolers get up close and personal with Black Bayou Lake. Visiting web sites and taking virtual tours, they write multi-paragraph essays using descriptive words and literary devices.
Curated OER
Chicago White Sox Win World Series
Students react to a series of statements about the World Series, then read a news article about the Chicago White Sox winning the 2005 World Series. In this current events lesson plan, the teacher introduces the article with a discussion...
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Twain: Tom Sawyer—Mythic Adventurer
Students take a closer look at archetypes. In this characterization lesson, students examine the setting and the characters of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as they read and analyze the novel. Students consider how Twain mythically...
Curated OER
Untying the Knot
What are the current trends in divorce? What contributes to this? Examine celebrity relationship trends and how they relate to the general public with this discussion lesson. Middle schoolers analyze the results of a Census Bureau study...
Curated OER
1960 America: Foreign Policy
The 1960's marked shifts in American culture, politics, and policy. Your class groups up to research a series of primary source documents resulting in a timeline and a 15 minute oral presentation. Active learning all the way.
US Mint
Rename That State!
As Shakespeare famously wrote, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," but can the same be said for a state? For this elementary geography lesson, learners are assigned specific states to research using the information...
Curated OER
Ancient Egypt
Pupils complete a series of activities to discover life in ancient Egypt. They create want ads for pyramid workers, design vocabulary flash cards and dictionaries, and research famous Egyptians. They also research the "Curse of the...
Curated OER
Texas Kid Writes Book About Presidents
Arranged into small groups, learners read a paragraph of the news story "Texas Kid Writes Book About Presidents." As one reads, others mark the text (underlining important information and writing notes in the margin of the story). After...
Curated OER
Vocabulary Building - Declaration of Independence
Young scholars read the first part of the Declaration of Independence and mark the words they don't know. First, they try to guess what the words mean by looking at the them in context, and then they look up the words in a dictionary.
Curated OER
The Olympic Medal: It's All Greek to Us!
Students view a graphic of the Athens of 2004 Olympic medal. They discuss the symbols on the medal. Students view the "Greek Alphabet animation" and name the letters in the two Greek words on the medal, They transcribe Greek text by...
Curated OER
Spice Up the Basal
Fifth graders study English reading and writing skills as they participate in exciting interdisciplinary hands-on activities using a basal reading series.
Curated OER
Color Coding Richard III
Tenth graders use color-coded annotation or text-marking to analyze a passage from Richard III. In this text analysis instructional activity, 10th graders read a passage from Richard III and use colored pens to analyze the text. Students...
Curated OER
The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs
First graders compare fictional and real pigs. In this pig comparison lesson, 1st graders read a fiction text then a non-fiction text on pigs. Students complete a K-W-L chart and fill out a Venn Diagram.
National First Ladies' Library
The Space Race
Learners investigate the historical events that have surrounded The Space Race. They conduct research using a variety of resources and focus upon the progress between Russia and The United States. Students describe the events that led up...
Curated OER
Powerful Language
Learners study word choice by authors. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read the book The Little Fir Tree by Margaret Wise Brown and discuss with their classmates the importance of an author's words. Learners...
Curated OER
The Declaration and Beyond
Students are explained that they are going to use a part of Thomas Paine's 1776 pamplet Common Sense as a starting point for exploring about argumentation, or persuasive writing. They are given a copy of the excerpt. Students discuss...
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NteQ Lesson Plan for S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders
Explore literature through the completion of reading comprehension worksheets in class. After reading the classic book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, middle schoolers review each chapter by completing study questions and story webs....
Curated OER
American Robin: A Robin's Menu Through the Seasons
Students read the article, A Robin's Menu Through the Seasons, taking notes and underlining key words and phrases. They create a math grid from the reading, research the animals in the article, and develop various writing assignments.
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American Robin: Territory Study
Students read the article, American Robins: Territory Study, discussing the vocabulary, underlining key words, and taking notes. They write journal entries, and develop various writer's workshop assignments.