Curated OER
The Lorax Explorations
Middle schoolers read and debate the purpose of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, analyze its story elements, and write their own The Lorax II.
Curated OER
Lord of the Rings: The Quest is Achieved
Students analyze what makes a hero in The Lord of the Rings, Book Six. They discuss the characters and the aspects of their behaviors that make them heroes and write essays regarding the climax and heroic gestures of a character. After...
Curated OER
Energy, Light, Heat, and Sound
Fifth graders investigate various forms of energy. They compare potential and kinetic energy at different points during the period of a pendulum, design an apparatus that displays potential and kinetic energy, and analyze the advantages...
Curated OER
INTUITION
Students explore the concepts of intuition, insight, imagination and the reasons not to ignore it, but to enhance it in one's lifestyle. In doing this, one increases the ability to draw deeper meaning from art, poetry and symbolism. In...
Curated OER
Founding Myths, Stories that Hide Our Patriotic Past
Young scholars participate in a scavenger hunt using their textbooks to find information about historical events, people and places in US history during the Revolutionary Era. After creating their list of important people, students...
Curated OER
Burial Ground
Students visit the burial ground at Huguenot Street and work in groups to calculate the average lifespan for a resident in the 1700's and one in the 1800's. They analyze the grave markers for further information.
Curated OER
A Comparative Bilingual Portfolio LessonAbout Japan and Latin America
Students analyze issues and historical questions about Japan as they relate to similar events in Latin America. They use writing, reading, and comprehension skills in completing a research project. Students seek what is similar between...
Curated OER
The Media and You
Students create a system to approach news articles. They analyze media content for main ideas and overall themes and summarize key points. Students draw upon personal experiences to build on ideas presented in news articles.
Curated OER
How Are Boundaries Made, Kept, Broken?
Students examine the works of Noam Chomsky. They collaborate in small groups to read and identify vocabulary words and historical questions. They answer their questions and role-play as emissaries to locate remaining answers. They...
Curated OER
San Francisco, Ahoy!
Fifth graders analyze paintings that share a common theme of San Francisco as seen by some of the first travelers who arrived there. In this art history lesson plan, 5th graders consider the experiences involved with the arrival to a new...
ELA Common Core Lesson Plans
American Romanticism
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" provides the text for an activity that asks readers to select specific passages from the story, identify the aspect of American Romanticism the passage exemplifies, and then provide an...
New York State Education Department
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 3
Teachers turning into students? It's not Freaky Friday! It's a thoughtful workshop that teaches participants how to plan professional development for staff. Third in a 15-part series, the workshop provides a platform for the other...
Code.org
Introduction to Data
Data, data everywhere. Challenge your class to begin thinking about data, the ways people collect information, and what we can learn from this data. Class members discuss sources of data and then individuals answer questions in the...
US National Archives
Documented Rights Educational Lesson Plan
How have groups struggled to have their unalienable rights recognized in the United States? Acting as a research team for the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, your young historians will break into groups to research...
California Education Partners
Telescopes
An assessment challenges scholars to read an informative text then respond with an explanatory essay. The exam begins as participants read a text passage twice then take notes, making sure to jot down key details. Following the...
Curated OER
Focus on Figurative Language
Using the poems "First Snow" by Ted Kooser and "Eating Alone" by Yi-Young Lee (or other suggested poems by Robert Frost or Sara Teasdale), middle schoolers search for examples of figurative language. Guide your learners by discussing...
Curated OER
Life's Lessons: Survival of the Fittest
Students analyze Jack London's use of anthropomorphism to identify the importance of adaptability in life. In this literature lesson, students use the novel The Call of the Wild to identify key elements in survival. Students...
Curated OER
Getting to Know You
Third graders explore different types of poetry and illustrate their own experiences through creating their own poem. In this getting to know you lesson, 3rd graders create and recite their poems with a self-portrait.
Curated OER
Octavio Paz
Tenth graders read and analyze the poem, "The Street," by Hispanic author, Octavio Paz. They research the life of Octavio Paz and identify his literary contributions. They complete an online scavenger hunt and create an author map of...
Curated OER
Teachers See the Truth but Wait: Teaching Short Stories with Literature Circles
Students use literature circles to analyze four short stories from the Realms of Gold, Volume 3. In this literature circle lesson, students are assigned a role in the literature circle to improve their critical thinking skills for...
Curated OER
Forest Activity: The Forest as Inspiration for Literature
Students analyze the role of the forest in literature. They read various literature selections, analyze the role the forest played as a setting, character, or symbol, and complete a writing activity.
Curated OER
Point of View and Mentor Relationships
Tenth graders analyze the role of mentors, point of view, and prejudice using the texts of To Kill a Mockingbird and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. For this literature analysis lesson, 10th graders review Scout's...
Curated OER
A Sure Bet!
Ninth graders analyze Chekhov's "The Bet". They repsond to a journal quesiton and use examples from the novel. In groups, they take on different roles analyzing the novel and then write one of my prompts to complete the instructional...
Curated OER
Developing Open-Ended Questions
Pupils work in groups of two to develop questions and sample answers that are relevant, accurate and use higher level of thinking skills about a literary unit. Students present their questions and answers to the class as a review of the...