Polk Bros Foundation
Common Core Constructed Response Organizer
Get your writers ready to compose a constructed response essay in response to either an informational or fictional text. Pupils note down the big idea they wish to address as well as up to nine examples from the text that they wish to...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 15: Theme
Build understanding of theme with an activity designed for The Cay and the Common Core. Small groups or pairs use graphic organizers to determine themes, find and record related details from the text, and formulate theme statements. In...
San José State University
Essay Exams: Common Question Types
Novice writers often struggle to determine what style of essay to write when given a prompt. This learning exercise helps to identify an appropriate form based on the language of the question. For example, key words like prove or justify...
Curated OER
Anonymous Sources in the Media
When do people ask for anonymity? Why? After reading the New York Times article "For a Reporter and a Source, Echoes of Broken Promise," young readers participate in a roundtable discussion focusing on freedom of the press and the use of...
Curated OER
What Makes a Good Law?
Why were laws created? Spark a group discussion on why we need laws to co-exist. Should the sale of some things be outlawed on Sundays? Read a case summary between Target and the state of Minnesota that debated this issue. Ask your...
Santa Ana Unified School District
The Giver
Wouldn't it be great to live an a community without pain, without danger? Such a society is the goal of the community in The Giver. Using Lois Lowry's dystopian novel as the core text, class members read primary source materials about...
Curated OER
Rave Reviews
A fun lesson that utilizes toys and persuasion! After reading the article, which was written in 2005, pull some advertisements for toys currently being sold. These will be more relevant to your middle and high schoolers. What toy is a...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.1
Despite English grammar rules, in the e-world the plural of mouse is mouses. lol. Standard American English is constantly evolving. Introduce your class members to a variety of terms that describe different usage changes (economy,...
Shmoop
ELA - Literacy.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.6
Key to understanding scientific or technical texts is identifying the underlying question the author is attempting to answer. Provide your young scientists with an opportunity to practice identifying these questions and the procedures...
Shmoop
ELA - Literacy.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.1
Do your pupils know what a primary source is? How about a secondary source? Provide them with the information here about different types of documents and then test their knowledge with a brief quiz. The quiz is made up of two documents....
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.8
Your learners need to develop skills to argue effectively, and this comes by understanding the traditions that make claims valid, and what detracts from their effectiveness. Although this resource does not give advice on how to teach...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.5: Structure of an Argument
Imagine a cross-curricular project that not only rewards learners for examining the textbooks used in their other classes but builds literacy skills as well! Groups compare the formats and writing style in their various textbooks. Teams...
Curated OER
Digging Up Artifacts On Line
Why is it important to preserve historical documents and artifacts? Examine the role of primary source documents and the availability of these documents on the Internet. Middle and high schoolers write a journal about the nature of...
What So Proudly We Hail
The Meaning of America: National Identity and Why It Matters
Combining a close reading of a classic American text with the study of history can be a very powerful strategy, and this is most certainly the case with this resource using Edward Everett Hale's The Man without a Country. Consider themes...
Curated OER
Rachel's Life is in a Hole
Explore how lack of access to water impacts peoples' lives in poor countries. Through text reading and discussion, middle schoolers are presented with the story of a young girl who lives and functions with limited water resources. They...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Focus: Spelling Common Words
If you’re going to get a tattoo, make sure your artist writes it right because it’s hard to correct their inkings. That’s the big idea in this short lesson on commonly misspelled words like their/there/they’re and it’s/its. Images and a...
Curated OER
Where the Red Fern Grows Chapter 7 Worksheet
Review plot points and character motivation with your class. The worksheet includes six questions about chapter seven of Wilson Rawls' novel as well as an art activity. Require learners to cite specific passages from the text to help...
National History Day
Why Did the United States Enter World War I in 1917?
World War I was the first major conflict on a global scale. Using primary documents, learners determine why the United States chose to enter World War I when it did. After analytical writing and group research, the causes of America's...
EngageNY
What Are Similarity Transformations, and Why Do We Need Them?
It's time for your young artists to shine! Learners examine images to determine possible similarity transformations. They then provide a sequence of transformations that map one image to the next, or give an explanation why it is not...
EngageNY
Analyzing Main Ideas and Details: Why Care about Water?
Pay attention to details! After completing text-dependent questions about paragraphs 10-12 of "Water is Life," scholars view the video "Why Care about Water. "They view the video three times and use a Main Idea and Details note-catcher...
EngageNY
Why Were Logarithms Developed?
Show your class how people calculated complex math problems in the old days. Scholars take a trip back to the days without calculators in the 15th installment of a 35-part module. They use logarithms to determine products of numbers and...
Curated OER
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter: Venn Diagram
“When a person knows and can’t make the others understand, what does he do?” Why (s)he collects evidence and writes an essay! Prepare your readers for a compare/contrast or reflective essay on The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by giving them...
Federal Reserve Bank
Why Scarce Resources Are Sometimes Unemployed
Why do markets operate inefficiently when the world's resources are so limited? Review the various types of unemployment that exist and why some resources, especially human resources, go unused.
Curated OER
Teens Making a Difference
Is your opinion significant? Help your class discover the influence their opinions hold and encourage them to make a positive change in their community. To start, they get in teams and brainstorm why their school should have more healthy...