Curated OER
Evaluating Nonfiction Texts
Students evaluate nonfiction text. In this evaluating nonfiction instructional activity students read two pieces of nonfiction text and respond with a short free-writing piece. Students discuss the content and focus on the accuracy.
Curated OER
Genre
In this genre study PowerPoint presentation, students read the definitions and characteristics of each literary genre. There are 17 genres that the PowerPoint presentation addresses, such as science fiction, tall tales and poetry.
Curated OER
Using Memoirs to Open Doors to Research
Interesting memoirs can be a springboard into some very enjoyable research assignments.
Folger Shakespeare Library
Julius Caesar Curriculum Guide
Julius Caesar need not be Greek to kids. The background information and suggestions for teachers, as well as the activities for learners, make this curriculum guide a must-have for your Shakespeare curriculum library.
Curated OER
Night: Annotated Bibliography
This annotated bibliography and list of websites are valuable resources for any study of the Holocaust and/or of Elie Wiesel's Night.
Curated OER
Weather Proverbs
Define and write proverbs! Learners define proverbs, use the Internet to find weather-related proverbs, and talk with their parents to learn other proverbs. There's a well-structured worksheet included here.
Reading Vine
Confucius: The Most Famous Teacher in China
Introduce young philosophers to the wisdom of China's most famous thinkers with a short bio. The reading comprehension passage includes an answer key.
Curated OER
Communities in Crisis Lesson 1: Primary Source? What is That?
Distinguish between primary and secondary source documents using the theme of philanthropy. Middle schoolers discuss Anne Frank: The Diary of Young Girl as a way to study the past using a primary source. Then they investigate how to...
Curated OER
Who am I Mobile: Ceramics
A getting-to-know-you activity that is perfect for the beginning of the year! Kids craft their portrait out of clay, then make a mobile by dangling ceramic representations of things they love. This project builds self-awareness, motor...
Curated OER
Personal Experience Narratives
Help your middle schoolers identify personal experience narratives in their own lives through telling stories themselves and from family members or other adults. They study personal experience narratives in Swapping Stories and compare...
Curated OER
Call It a Hunch
Give young scholars a chance to practice making inferences after reading the book Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges. They confirm whether or not their conclusions are true, have a class discussion, and then independently complete an...
College Board
Choices and Consequences
Paul Fisher, the main character in Tangerine, comes to see that it's the choices in life that lead to the consequences that make all the difference. A unit study of Bloor's young adult novel leads readers down this same path.
Curated OER
Onomatopoeia
Fifth graders investigate onomatopoeia. In this reading lesson plan, 5th graders create a list of onomatopoeic words from books read and brainstorm words of their own in small groups.
Curated OER
Identifying Genre
In this identifying genre worksheet, 9th graders read the titles and descriptions of 15 stories, identify and write the genre and subgenre from the list provided.
Curated OER
Create A Genre Crossword Puzzle
In this create a genre crossword puzzle worksheet, 8th graders make a puzzle on the grid provided, using 21 terms, then create clues for each term using a definition or an example; grading rubric included.
Curated OER
Guess Who's Coming to Our Classroom
Students use their research skills to determine the famous person given in clues. Using a character recently dicussed in their classroom, they discuss how they would create a costume for them. They write sentences to be used as dialogue...
Curated OER
Childhood in Early 19th-Century America
Students interpret and analyze primary source documents and compare and contrast childhood today with that of the past.
Curated OER
Jacob Lawrence's Freedom Trail
Students read excerpts of autobiographies from Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. After listening to excerpts of an oral reading of Frederick Douglass' book, they discuss the ways African Americans were treated on plantations. ...
Curated OER
Dr. Seuss Author Study
Young scholars listen to a story, then use the same format to write a class book.
Curated OER
I Search My Family Project
Students research their family's heritage. They follow a guide, document their family's history and put it together in report form.
Curated OER
Introduction to Traditional Oral Narratives
Learners are introduced to the idea of traditional oral narratives and divide them into genres. They explore the genres of context, motifs and variants. Each student finds oral narratives in their own lives and practice retelling them in...
Curated OER
I Have a Metaphor
Learners locate the literary devices used in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. For this figurative language lesson plan, young scholars first distinguish between similes, metaphors, analogies, personification, etc....
Curated OER
The Last Day of Slavery
Students complete pre reading, writing, during reading, and interdisciplinary activities for the book The Last Day of Slavery. In this reading lesson plan, students complete journal entries, go over vocabulary, answer short answer...
Curated OER
Language Arts Exploration
While an interesting lesson idea involving the exploration of a story about an Asian American boy named Imduk, a teacher would need to have assess to the Scott Foresman reading program to make this work. If not, a teacher could use...